[IC] Mass Effect: Omega's Finest

[Heat]

A quiet, but noticeable bar sits on Omega, far away from the pounding music and flashing lights of Afterlife, this bar, known as Hergon's Dive, named after its Krogan owner. Roman Thornton was inside, in his usual armor, his shotgun clipped to the back, pistol holstered nearby, a small glass in his hand as he sat alone at a booth, one leg stretched out across to the other side.

He hadn't said a single word since he had entered, but eyes of others that followed him when he entered said many. Years of hard, brutal work had allowed him to learn a lot just from a man's eyes. None of the looks he had gathered were ones hiding threat, they were all of curiosity. A pretty Asari bar maid had approached him before, offering him a drink which he had taken. Though he hadn't drank much of it, only very small sips every so often.

His mind was on the meeting that was supposed to be here, the strange messages offering 'massive' amounts of credits from a stranger messenger. He like the others who had been offered payment was told to be at this near silent bar. A small, but solid forward payment had been sent to him right after he accepted, which secured his interest. Roman glanced around briefly, taking in his surroundings, two behind the bar, an older Krogan watching an Asari bartender, two or three waitresses moving around the establishment, two human females, one Asari.

He could count the number of patrons in the place on two hands, which he was actually glad about. A quiet place like this might spell well, louder places drew more attention and often contained wandering ears. He took another sip and waited for the others to arrive, he had been briefly told of each of them, they had likely been told of him. Part of him was eager to encounter them, the other nervous, though he would not ever admit to that.

[agentmanatee]

Jatch sat at the bar for awhile when the heavily armed and armored human walked in, he liked to be the first person at anonymous meetings, get a good look at who may be employing him or who he may be working with. So he sat at the bar pretending to be interested in the bartender, which wasn't to hard as she was asari, when really keeping an eye on the heavily armed man sitting in a booth. He certainly didn't seem like an amateur, his weapons looked high end and his armor wasn't flashy, good. If Jatch had to work with him he was glad if the human knew what he was doing. Rookies were to unpredictable, and Jatch had been done with unpredictable when he left the blood pack.

He drank a few shots at the bar, waiting for either whoever his next employer was to show up, or something else exciting to happen. Hopefully any one else Jatch ended up working with looked as professional as the human, but he didn't have high expectations.

[AdvancedJ3lly]

Sienn immediately walked towards the bar when she entered the building. She took a seat next to the armored Krogan, taking a casual glance at him. It didn’t take more than that for her to realize how intimidating and dangerous he was. One of her hands reflexively hovered near the sidearm holstered on her thigh, although, she figured if something did happen, her handgun wouldn’t do much to the Krogan before he killed her in any number of gruesome ways.

Relax, you’re just being paranoid. Everything is going to be fine.

Sienn turned to the bartender before her face betrayed her thoughts, ordered a drink, then looked around the bar to get an idea of who else was around. Her eyes settled on the human sitting alone in a booth. Based on the way he was eyeing herself and the other patrons as well as the hardware he was carrying, he was likely one of the other mercenaries along with the krogan. She accepted her drink from the bartender with a polite smile, then stood from her seat. She gave the Krogan a slight nod before turning and walking over to the human.

She walked up to the man’s booth and looked down at him, taking in his appearence, the way he looked at her and reacted to her presence, and keeping a close eye on the weapons he carried.

“Mind if I sit here?” She asked calmly, gesturing down at the seat occupied by his foot smiling and shooting the man a disarming smile.

[DaltonSezHi]

Tervius glided through the doors of Hergon's Dive with a bit of a skip in his step. He'd been wanting to meet some new people, and these missions seemed like the perfect way to do it. Of course, the cash didn't hurt at all. He had things to buy! Food, ammo, music...the necessary things.

He took a glance at some of the bar patrons as he sat down on a barstool, shifting a bit in his armor. An Asari stood in front of a Human sitting at a booth, both of them wearing armor and brandishing weapons, so he assumed they were two of the people joining him. The Asari looked to be making an attempt at getting the Human's attention. He already wasn't too sure about the human: He looked guarded and disinterested, but Tervius knew that he shouldn't judge people based on looks. He looked around for other potential mission-mates and saw a similarly armed Krogan sitting a couple stools away from him who appeared to be discretely trying to look around the bar. He looked stern, like the Human, but Tervius still felt like he should acknowledge him. He gave a small wave and turned his body around so he was facing away from the bar. With a few taps on the familiar orange display of his omni-tool, he turned on a song and simply closed his eyes, nodding his head to the music.

Wonder who else will show up around here.

[World Traveler]

"This place is going to hell Tallik. If we don't get replacement locks this whole enclosure is going to rip itself free from Omega." Devin said in his matter of fact voice. The engineer was working with another in the lower residential area where a minor scuffle between gangs did some damage to the outer holdings of the station. Everyone knew Omega was a dangerous place, but it was the engineers who kept the scrap heap in one piece that knew the reality. You didn't need to worry about you stepping on the wrong persons shoes or saying something offensive. Those you could avoid. It was another person doing it and then using a well placed grenade to blow the whole damn station into kingdom come.

"You know they only asked us to do a patch job Devin." Tallik said. He shook his head since he knew this wasn't enough, but at the end of the day it was all they were paid for. both Devin and Tallik weren't in the business of working for free. Still Tallik was going to pull his emergency suit a little bit closer. Unlike Devin the chemical engineer didn't wear his armor as often. The two liked and worked with each other a lot. Though Devin was more combat/ground support in experience Tallik dealt with the bureaucracy of the Cidedil and became a force to be reckoned with after applying what he learned to Omegas unique chain of command.

Tallik was why Omega wasn't so dangerous for Devin. While working under Tallik, Devin had worked for and fixed nearly every section of Omega at least two or three times and the best customers were the merc groups. They had a grenade situation come up? They called Tallik who sent Devin. Most people in the residential knew Tallik and Devin as well thanks to a small fund given by some of the more charitable winners (Casino owners). Of course this is because without Omega they don't have a place for their illegal gambling and drug dealing.

"Well I got a meeting I need to go to." Devin said after the finished up the patch work. Tallik gave him a uncertain look that was all too common when Devin talked about going to meetings. "Just going out of curiosity." Devin said to assure his friend. Though he knew those could be rather famous last words depending on what this meeting turned into. "I'll tap my transponder if things get hot." Devin added as he turned his omni-tool off. It was now fully charged so if things did get hot he wasn't going down with out a few tricks.

He knew the bar well and when he walked in he started chatting with the bartender. The history between the two was uncomfortable to some; however, some people get over you dating their sister when you save their life from venting atmosphere. "So gonna nod to the sore thumbs?" Devin asked who had been the ones who weren't regulars. The ones the bartender didn't recognize. He gave a nod here and there as Devin looked to see a krogan sized human, a krogan sized krogan, and a Turian.

[Leodiensian]

<<At some point, you'll have to talk to them.>>

The Quarian in the corner held a quiet conversation with the digital projection of a dancing, cartoon-style Rachni coming from his omni-tool. Suen tottered unevenly on odd legs, his red-purple chitin vivid technicolour shades. Only Davo could hear Suen's side of the conversation, relayed to him through his suit's internal electronics via AR layering. Davo had taken the most defensible position he could have in the bar, a corner seat in a booth near the door so he'd have plenty of room to bolt if things went south. He didn't care for places like this; they were always crowded and loud. Even through the muffling of his suit, they'd pulse music so hard it blasted away all his resolve. But this place was smaller, quieter, not so crowded. But a place like this was a place like this and he was never quite comfortable. It felt like he was sitting on a hot plate.

"Mm." He called up an AR keyboard and began typing away quickly in mid-air. The program was checking in on some of the automated cooking he'd left behind him in his home base. Free Will wasn't expensive to get materials for but it was tricky ot get just right if you didn't pay it heed. After checking the temperature gauges were nominal and the pressures were all in acceptable parameters, Davo wiped away the screens and moved on to another program. This was more blue-sky stuff, drawing chemical signs with his finger tips, testing bonds and trying to extrapolate end-results from there. Assume a precursor material of medi-gel, standard-issue civilian-grade packs (contains enough complex neuro-active ingredients for value; opiate painkillers, adrenal stimulants, nano-active colonies) Boil down to base components, add..

<<Hey!>> Suen intervened to jolt Davo out of his little trance with a subtle electric shock delivered subcutaneously via his cybernetic implants. <<Eyes on the prize, bitch!>>

"I never programmed profanity into you. Where did that come from?" He murmured softly to himself and quashed Suen's projection, though the VI's rant continued inside his ears without visual accompaniment. He was taking in the scenery, really he'd never stopped, but now he was really looking instead of just seeing. Turians, an asari, humans. Not a hugely different demographic than the Omega populace averages, given the sample size, though one whole asari in the group worked out to be a statistical over-representation. She only needed forty percent of her mass, to compensate. Replace the remaining biomass with vorcha and the room would come closer to average.

<<You are going to socially interact and you are going to like it!>>

"Unlikely, based on previous empirical evidence." He sighed and twitched again.

[Heat]

"So two humans, an Asari, Krogan, Quarian and a Turian? Sounds more like a bachelor party than a meeting of mercenaries."

"How many bachelor parties have you been to where the people are carrying shotguns?"

"Sounds like a fun party, but, this should be a piece of cake. We get in there and confirm that they're all sitting in there like fish waiting to be caught then we call in some backup and mop the floor with them."

"Try not to look like we're looking for them. If they figure it out and run away then we can't do crap. Plus, our heads will be on spikes."

"What about other casualties?"

"They're on Omega, if we don't get them, someone else will."

With that the two humans exited the alley beside Hergon's. Both were clad in casual clothing, nothing that would distinguish them as thugs. But each of them had pistols tucked in their belts as well as radio links in their omni tools that were to be hit as soon as it was confirmed that their targets were all gathered in the bar.

Both of the men entered the establishment, one after another. They took a seat at a booth far from Sienn and Roman, right near the entrance where they each could have a nice view of the place. A waitress approached them as the two acted like they weren't in the place for morally incorrect reasons.

---

Roman glanced at the Asari, his attention on her as soon as she had left the bar and moved towards him. She spoke to him, asking to sit at his booth. She fit the description he had been given of the other mercenaries, from his scouting of the bar he counted that all of them were here, she was the first to make a move though. He moved his foot off the seat, then took a long drink before he spoke.

"Odd way of breaking the ice, but I can't fault you. Not easy to approach someone visibly showing a shotgun on themselves." He said, setting the glass down as he looked at Sienn. His expression one lacking any real emotion, like it was many other times. But he was curious of the current situation.

[agentmanatee]

Jatch was uneasy... the whole little group appeared to be here... but where was the employer? From what his experience on Omega had been employers liked to be the last ones there... but on time. He should be there... or her or whatever... so Jatch went into scan mode. He picked up his glass and casually scanned the room, taking a sip or two. His gaze never stopped anywhere for long, that would be suspicious. He checked to see who had co.e into the bar after his arrival, he counted the ones in armor he guessed were his fellow... employees, and two casual men at a booth next to the door. Nothing to suspicious, but Jatch had that feeling, after all you don't live with the blood pack for almost a century and a half and ever let your guard down. In his gut something felt wrong... and he was to exposed... then he took in possible attackers. The bartenders? No... to restrained, and the waitresses couldn't hide weapons on their person, so that left the 2 most recent arrivals... but Jatch was getting ahead of himself. Where was the best cover? Obviously, a booth... the one where the quarian was sitting next to the door.
So Jatch hammered his shit down, stood up and made his way over, rather heavily sitting down I'm the seat across from the quarian. And crossed his arms. "So, quarian, who are you?"

[AdvancedJ3lly]

Sienn said a quick “Thanks,” to the mercenary and slid herself into the booth, trying to find a comfortable sitting position that her armor and the rifle slung on her back did not interfere with. She took a small sip of her drink and set it on the table while Roman addressed her.

She gave a slight nod in response. These kinds of meetings were usually awful for the her. Sienn always felt awkward enough walking into bars and other public places in full combat gear, then add in a half dozen people eyeing her threateningly... She found the best way to alleviate this was to act friendly, but that usually wasn't easy with mercenaries.

The asari swept her eyes around the room again, noticing the krogan had moved to bother someone who had been secluded in the corner until now, as well as a few newcomers that had entered. A brief examination showed none probably were not the currently absent employer, most likely just regular patrons. She internally scolded herself for being paranoid again, then turned back to her companion.

The two silently looked at each other for several moments before Sienn extended a guantleted hand across the table.

“Name’s Sienn.” She introduced herself, giving another small smile.

[baskets]

Illium, a week earlier
“Are you sure about this? What if it’s a setup?”

“Shit, Laira, you’re my best friend, not my mother. Besides, this meet is on Omega. Everything there is a goddamn setup. I’ll keep you updated as often as I can.”

“Ashei…” Laira sighed. She leaned back onto the couch, throwing her feet onto its clearly expensive leather. “I worry about you, you know. You couldn’t have picked a safer line of work?”

Ashei laughed. She stood up from the couch, picking up her rifle case in the process. “Girl, then I would never have saved your sorry ass. You should be thanking me eternally,” Ashei shot with a feisty smirk.

“Saving me doesn’t really count if you only killed my attacker for a job, asshole,” Laira shot back with an equally feisty smirk. Hell, if being an assassin wasn’t so damn dangerous, Ashei might have taken this asari and married her years ago. But that opportunity had come and gone, and both Laira and Ashei understood that they were better off setting their feelings aside, especially given Ashei’s occupation. So here they were, content being friends and nothing more.

“Whatever you say. Take care of the apartment while I’m gone, yeah?”

“Yeah. Don’t die.”

Ashei grinned. “Hasn’t happened yet, right?” With that, she left Laira alone in the apartment and stepped out into the afternoon sun.

“Famous last words, hotshot,” Laira whispered to herself, as the door hissed shut.

--

Omega, present
“Damn, I’ll probably have to take three showers after I get out of this pisshole,” Ashei muttered as she stepped out of her cab. It was the first time she’d been on Omega for almost a year, and she remembered why she’d stayed so far from the asteroid. She sported her rifle on her back and her SMG on her leg, definitely catching the eye of several passers by. The cab pulled away, and Ashei took in her surroundings, quickly locating Hergon’s Dive.

Instead of immediately walking in, Ashei turned and began a walk around the block. She kept an eye out for possible escape routes, exits, the like. Anything that could prove beneficial should shit hit the fan. In an ideal world, Ashei would have had more time to scout the area, but the world she lived in was imperfect and she was late already. She would have scouted several days in advance, but the dancing and sexual appeal of Afterlife caught Ashei in its hooks. No regrets, right?

About ten minutes later, Ashei finished her expedited scouting trip and found herself in front of the Dive once more. She arrived just in time to watch two men step into the building. She checked the time on her omnitool; way too early to be drinking for Ashei’s standards, but hell, what do you expect from Omega?

Ashei walked into the bar, standing at the threshold for a moment as she looked around. Everything seemed in order. For the most part, it was easy to tell who she was working with; they were the armed ones that almost looked like a ragtag commando team scattered around the room. The Mattock and Scimitar in particular caught Ashei’s eye, which led her eye to the asari and human that owned each weapon.

It was as if a switch flipped in her head; the witty, sarcastic Ashei found in the comfort of her apartment and the presence of her friend was gone, replaced by the silent but confident Ashei typically found at the right end of a sniper rifle’s barrel.

Ashei took a seat at the bar and ordered a drink. She spun on her seat to face the human and asari in the booth directly. She leaned back, stretched her arm out onto the bar, and crossed her legs, flashing a smug grin at the pair.

[Vilhelm]

Tasi laid prone on a roof some three buildings from Hergon's Dive, rifle settled neatly beside him- Scope currently detached and in his hands as he peered through it, the thermals giving him a fairly decent idea of who was inside and what was going on through the walls- Though of course, everything was a touch fuzzy. Omega was, after all, a rather hot place. Still, it was enough- And various V.Is helped to identify who was who. Some humans, an Asari, a Krogan, a Turian... And a Quarian. Normally that fact alone might have been enough to cause Tasi to simply turn around and leave, but he'd already taken payment for this job... Well, the advance pay, at least. Leaving wasn't an option yet. That didn't, however, mean he would be going inside.

He was just too wary for that.

Instead, he pulled up his omnitool, a swift bit of typing opening up a comm channel to only those identified as the other mercenaries here on the same invitation as him. Assuming none of them hung up, it would include the lot of them. Tasi didn't waste time speaking.
"Hello, fellow mercenaries and bounty hunters... Or whatever else your employs might be. My name is Tasi, and I get the sense our employer isn't in there with you yet. So, would somebody mind terribly if I borrowed their suits cameras a moment and had a look around? If it helps, I promise not to hack the rest of your suit in the process. I just want to get an idea of who all is in there... Well, beyond hazy outlines."

[Heat]

"Roman." He said as he grasped her hand firmly and shaking it. Then as he released it he signaled for one of the waitresses to come over and fill his glass which she did. The mercenary gave her a nod as she left the table, then took a sip, right as Ashei turned towards him and Sienn.

"Eavesdropping is impolite dear." He said, turning his head to her as Tasi patched through to communicate.

"Why don't you come join us all in here? It isn't a set up, if it was then they would've already shot us or blown us up." He said in the comm channel right as the two blokes that had entered the Dive quietly popped out of their seats, both holding pistols. As Roman reacted a group of men all clad in black armor stormed in behind them, each one carrying shotguns or assault rifles.

"That's them! The mercs that asshole is paying. Take them all out, no prisoners." One of the armored men shouted as his compatriots rose their weapons, some stalking forward and taking cover behind now overturned tables.

The non combat ready civilians in the place either dove to the floor or sprinted out, not wanting to take part in the firefight. Roman jumped out from his booth, kicking over a table and sliding in behind it. He peaked over to count twelve enemies.

"Nothing is ever easy." He grunted, drawing his shotgun.

[baskets]

Ashei dropped her grin as soon as the guns started being waved around. She kicked her legs up and threw herself over the bar, taking cover behind it. She drew her Tempest and took a quick mental evaluation of the situation. With the firepower they were throwing around, Ashei was virtually useless at such close range. She holstered her SMG before cloaking and making her way as far to the back of the bar as she could.

From the back of the bar, she was well out of range of the shotguns, though the assault rifles would pose a problem. In such a close-quarter environment, Ashei would have to depend almost entirely on her powers and the other mercs she was supposed to be working with. She drew her Viper and took a shot at one of the assailants ducked behind one of the overturned tables. Ashei's cloak deactivated from after the shot, forcing her back down behind the bar. The round ripped straight through the table and hit her target in the shoulder, knocking him down, but it didn't take him out of the fight.

In the same moment, Ashei used her omni tool to overheat the weapon of a mercenary that had decided to point his weapon at her; hopefully that would buy her enough time to either relocate or let the firefight take care of itself.

[AdvancedJ3lly]

Sienn let her drink drop to the ground as she leapt from her seat. The room around her seemed to slow to a crawl as her adrenaline kicked in and her mind and body raced to react to the attack. Around her, the other mercenaries appeared to move in slow motion as they readied their own weapons and dove for cover. Sienn didn’t bother going for her handgun, she would be too heavily outgunned. Instead, she pulled the rifle from her back with one hand and snatched a fragmentation grenade from her belt with the other. She sidearmed the grenade towards the hostiles and leveled her rifle.

The Mattock kicked against her shoulder as she pulled the trigger, and while she was firing the weapon as fast as she could, an eternity seemed to pass between each gunshot as the weapon cycled. She was used to the heavy recoil, and at this close range it made little difference to her, her shots hitting their intended target with deadly accuracy, overloading his kinetic barriers and punching through his armored chest. Her grenade detonated, sending shrapnel flying indiscriminately among the enemies and anyone around them.

Suddenly,time seemed to speed up again in a burst of motion. The armored man she had shot quickly collapsed to the ground like a puppet whose strings were suddenly cut. Gunfire roared around her, tables were being overturned, people were running and some were screaming.

She swivelled and made a dash for the nearest effective cover, the bar. The asari was fast, but far from fast enough to avoid being shot. Enemy gunfire slammed against her armor's kinetic barriers, and she hoped the shield would last long enough for her to reach cover.

[Vilhelm]

Tasi watched with minor disinterest as the flood of new bodies and the bangs of gunfire made their way into his awareness. Casually, he reattached the scope to his rifle, chuckling softly.
"What was that you were saying about it not being a set up, human? Really, somebody -do- lend me their suit cameras. I'd rather avoid hitting any of you."

This did not, however, stop him from firing off a pair of shots, one after the other, a quick two seconds between each- The Black Widow took a moment to chamber, after all. Each shot took one of the invading 'assassins' in the head or neck, dropping them as fast as it takes for a pin to fall, the edges of their helmets, along with their skin beneath and the holes in the walls where the rounds had come through, all burning away from the incendiary rounds used. He didn't risk any further shots, waiting for somebody to give him a clearer view of the inside. Thermals were only reliable for basic shape, after all. And he didn't want to drop his fellow mercenaries by mistake.

[Heat]

The firefight raged on with no sign of stoppage. Outside of the tavern more armed grunts appeared, four more, all with assault rifles. They swarmed inside seemingly taking over for their fallen allies. One with a sniper rifle could be seen running around outside of the place as he dove behind cover, loading his rifle as he scoped out the area for Tasi, the grunt getting the Quarian in his scope. He squeezed the trigger once, his shot just rocketing over Tasi's head, far too close for comfort.

The thug that Ashei had hit fumbled with his weapon, slamming his hand into it before dropping it at his feet in favor of a pistol which he rose towards the merc, firing off a couple shots, all but one of which missed target, the one that hit mark not breaking through her shields. Meanwhile, one shotgun tooting grunt turned his attention on Sieen, blasting the weapon in her direction, almost but not quite taking out her shields. As he rose to deliver what might have been a fatal blow he lost his footing along with three others as Roman unleashed a biotic shockwave forward.

"Try not to hit any of us, Quarian," Roman said into the comm channel to the sniper as he patched a view for the man through the cameras on his suits. "They're all wearing identical dark armor. Have to be some kind of gang or something, not any I'm familiar with though." He added into the communications channel.

[Geardirector]

Prey say this place is 'Omega', I say it is 'Big rock. Big, biiiig rock', i use burn-kill to prove my name is best.

I come here because of credits. headless voice (wasn't me, hahahaha) wants me to hunt, so I come here to find out what to hunt. Graaaah, waste of short Vorcha years. Why not point me at kills right away?

I reach small cave of metal, but see only bodies in the way, the same color as the big, cold thing that cover sky at night.

'Allies' fighting black prey. Does that mean... yesyesyesyes, I get to kill right away.

I fly forward, I use BURN-KILL to killkillkill at black prey

"YOU DIE NOW"

[Ghosthands]

The sniper rifle-toting thug suddenly got a taste of his own medicine: a flurry of sniper shots struck him from behind. They ripped through his shields in moments, and continued their relentless onslaught until muzzle climb brought their trajectory up to a final headshot. The grunt dropped with more holes in him than a hanar's t-shirt.

A little way down the street, a salarian raised his eye from the scope of an M-90 Indra with a 'boom, headshot' kind of smile.

"Sorry I'm late," came Jek's voice over the mercenaries' comm channel. "Took the liberty of patching myself in."

Tossing a small metal object through the doorway of Hergon's Dive, he glanced up at where Tasi was perched on the roof and gave the quarian a mild smirk.

"Your encryption's a little light."

As he spoke the grenade-like object revealed itself to be a compact sentry turret, deploying behind the black-clad attackers and immediately opening fire.

[Vilhelm]

Tasi gave a semi-amused grunt at Jek's actions- And his words.
"Doesn't need to be heavy on an open-mic mercenary channel. Nice shooting, Salarian."

As he spoke, he moved the images patching through Roman's suit-cams to one corner of his visor, the rest taken up by his scope's thermals, linking which image went with which shape, carefully taking aim and firing off a pair of shots- Both ripping through the wrists of a pair of assailants, crippling them without causing their death- It always helped to have a person or two to question later, right?

"If anybody has one handy, might I suggest a disruptor grenade? Might make this bloodbath go a little faster so we can all shake hands."

[Geardirector]

"GRAAAAAH"

Sound of battlecry will frighten prey. I see one raise gun to shoot, I lift BOOMSTICK and shoot first. Battle only over when heads pop, I is very good at popping heads.

Notice thin grey pop head. Head explode but not his, he must be good.

I reach prey trying to pop me head. He tries again, and I feel small bite in shoulder. NO-HEAD-POP is up to ensure no head-pops. My turn.

"KRONN PREFER PREY WELL ROASTED" I inform as I unleash BURN-KILL to kill prey. Flames gobbles up prey like Vorcha younglings, omnomnom.

"WHO NEXT?"