Antediluvixen — Roleplayer Guild

Vetting of Epic Proportions

@Monochromatic Rainbow - @DearTrickster

Dex jogged on from Vellios’ room heading straight for the Medbay, assuming Firuzeh would be there checking out her new workspace. The turian knew she’d get one of two reactions from Firuzeh, at least she’d have the opportunity to walk right off the ship. For Dex it would be a matter of making sure she could sleep the following night not regretting her alcoholic decision making. 

She arrived to the medbay after a few minutes, opening the door.

Firuzeh looked up curiously from the desk in the medbay, still in the process of correctly formatting the computer set up there and properly installing various medical software. “I swear… in the name of…” She never finished her sentence, interrupted by Dex’s entry. Quirking an eyebrow, she stood, walking over to the Turian, “You need something?” She asked, glancing quickly around the medbay, “Not fully set up here, some people don’t seem to understand how half of this equipment works, so if you need an amputation we may have to resort to a bone saw and bite stick.”

Dex laughed, “This ship is a terrible hand-me-down from dozens of crews before us. I really can’t say I’m surprised nothing is in any kind of order. I think Haze tried when he restocked the supplies but other than that…” She shrugged. “I wanted to talk to you about something pretty important.”

Firuzeh folded her arms, she figured she knew what this conversation would entail. “You want to vet me to make sure I have even a vague idea of what I’m doing here, I assume? Make sure I’m not going to actually amputate something because I don’t know how to treat a superficial shrapnel wound, or somesuch?”

She nodded and conceded, “Good guess. Yes, I want to vet you.” She walked across the Medbay grabbing the stool to sit. “I’ll be honest with you as I was when I first introduced myself to the rest of the crew. I used to work as a spy for an information brokerage out of Palaven. I want to vet you beyond your resume, an invasive dig through your private records, files, browsing history. Everything.” Dex replied with unmistakable seriousness. “If you’ve nothing to hide then you haven’t a thing to worry about.”

“Well, I may have a few things to hide in my browsing history, but nothing of the sort that would imply I’m a fraud.” Firuzeh smirked, fishing around in a small bag slung over her shoulder for a moment before pulling out a datapad and handing it over. “Full resume, including my two degrees from the Medical University of Isfahan, extranet IDs to contact if you need to verify them, and some good old fashioned paper diplomas on the wall over there.” She jerked a thumb in the direction of the wall to Dex’s left. “I’m not a fully qualified doctor, I’ll say that up front. But I have extensive medical training and experience as a paramedic and surgical assistant.” She unfolded her arms, looking up at the much taller Turian, “I won’t lie about any of this.”

Dex scrolled through the datapad, humming through her sub vocals curiously. Happy Firuzeh was alright with the process. Standing from her spot she took a close look at the diplomas taking pictures of both from her omnitool. “Thank you for being cooperative, if you had refused the invasive vetting I would have done so privately for my own peace of mind. I’ll confirm with the rest of the crew you’re legitimate after I’m done my dig. It won’t take me long.” She said managing a tight smile. “Rest assured, this will be the only time I’m going to be taking a peek at your shit.”

She winked, “Unless I’m getting paid of course.”

Firuzeh smirked, “Frankly, I’m surprised it took you this long. Especially now that I know you worked for an information broker. You uh, don’t need to look at any sites with lots of x’s in their address, I can assure you of that.” She tugged uncomfortably at the edges of her headscarf, “Unless you uh, want to see some rather, ahem, awkward content.”

Dex threw her head back laughing, “Spirits, Firuzeh. I really don’t give a single fuck about what gets you hot and bothered.” She chuckled adding, “It took me this long because we’ve been on shore leave, personally... I’ve been trying to get back to my roots but old habits and all that.”

“One last thing.” She paused before heading out the door.

Firuzeh raised an eyebrow expectantly, turning around to face Dex again, “Yes?”

Dex’s talons drummed on the door frame, “You still sure about wanting to ship off with us? Last chance to get out while you still can. It’s a shit ship, questionable crew and no guarantee we’re going to get paid.”

Firuzeh grinned, walking back over, “That’s half the reason I’m here though. Do you know how mind numbingly boring it is working as an assistant in some doctor’s office? I don’t have a full MD, I can’t be a doctor in my own right, but even if I could - what would that get me? Money, stability, and some prestige - sure, it would. But I’d be bored to tears. That’s half the reason I came out here in the first place, a medical job on a far off colony at least has new scenery and some ‘new and exciting people’ to meet in between the monotony of fixing the arm on some idiot who decided to play with an electrical outlet.” She paused for a moment, “I could’ve done without all the heavily armed Batarians shooting at me, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers, I suppose.” She put on a forced smile at the last sentence, shrugging. “Something tells me the rest of the crew isn’t just in this for the adventure and adrenaline rush, though. Lots of tragic backstories and criminal records as long as my arm, I’m guessing?”

She laughed again lifting her talons up in resignation, catching the note of the Batarians, something she’ll find out in due time with vetting her. “There are worse reasons to become a mercenary. We’re not paragons of virtue and upstanding citizens of the galaxy.”

“Hey, if it’s killing people for money, I have no qualms there.” Firuzeh smirked, though with a more dangerous edge. “I hope you have room for another fighter, ‘cause I’m not too content to sit here with a cybernetic thumb up my ass waiting for someone to get hurt worse than medi-gel can patch up.”

Nodding she replied, “Good, we need grit more than you know. We’ll be taking off soon, so any last minute errands you have to run. Now would be a good time to do so.” She waved her off.

“I’ll make sure to update my porn collection, then.” Firuzeh playfully stuck her tongue out, then paused. “Why tell me you used to be a spy? All it does it give me reason to think there’s more you’re hiding - which I’m sure there is. You could’ve run a search on your own. Why come up and ask me and give me time to fake things if I was a fraud?” After another pause she added, “Though something tells me that wouldn’t have done much good.”

Dex squinted at Firuzeh, “For exactly the reason I said. Honesty. Establishes a notion that you can trust me enough to sleep at night without worrying about changing your passwords on the hour. Besides, if I was worth even half a credit, I could still tell a fake from the real thing.” Her mandibles flicked, “In reality, knowing what I know about this crew, my secrets are easily the biggest bore by comparison. Take some comfort in that.”

“Nothing actually.” Firuzeh shrugged, “I tend to reserve judgement on people until I’ve known them a little while - especially when my first impressions are through a haze of alcohol. I didn’t think you had anything to hide, nor did I think you had nothing to hide. It never really crossed my mind - I’ve never been in the business of being suspicious, and frankly I’d make a terrible spy - too willing to give people the benefit of the doubt, not willing enough to lie. Besides, I didn’t suspect anything from the start, I wouldn’t have changed passwords regularly at all, or even thought of it, and yet now I’m wondering why you mentioned that - the average mercenary isn’t usually a computer whiz, so nobody but the more paranoid among us would be inclined to regularly change passwords. But suddenly you say you were a spy, presumably without the Walther and the suit, and all sorts of questions are raised.” She paused for a moment, then added, “Call it the ramblings of an unfocused mind, if you will.”

Dex shook her head, to this day it was outrageous how flippant people could be with their privacy. The reason why information brokers still found lucrative work, the reason why Dex was paranoid as she was about her own privacy. It was so easy. “Simply trying to be straight with you Firuzeh, why I asked to vet you in the first place instead of doing it anyways from the get go. My attempt at creating boundaries. To be perfectly honest changing passwords isn’t going to stop me. Slow me down a little, sure.” She opened up her omnitool, “While we’ve been talking here, I’ve been running background scans for your name, description and keywords through Systems Alliance channels courtesy of Elysium.”

She minimized the window. “Once I’m done vetting you, you and I are going to sit down and build you some decent security that would give the likes of me a run for my money. Alright?” It wasn’t really a question but more of a confirmation she’d be accepting her help regardless of how she felt about her personal security.

Firuzeh grinned, “Fair enough. Maybe I’m being the paranoid one now, that’d be a twist.” She turned back to her computer, gesturing over to it, “And gladly, I can use a computer just fine, but I’d say my knowledge of cybersecurity is amateur at best. Please enlighten me, oh master.” 

“Trust me, I’m more than happy to when we’re cruising. Iosif and Haze are waiting on me.” Heading out the door on that final note heading straight to the cockpit.
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