BogeyDope

Mass Effect- Seraphim

Interactions

Thanking Alexis for taking down the gunship @KaiserElectric, interacting with the team for a little before giving Lawrence the stink eye for executing the wounded @Vulkan, patting Ashton on the back @Letter Bee, thanking Gideon for providing supporting fire @Starlance, asking Saris about her paygrade, and sending a private DM to Alexis and Taria @KaiserElectric.

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Lokea relaxed once she saw the gunship come crashing down. She lowered her barrier strength to passive defense and brought her rifle back up to shoulder. She panted a bit, tired and winded from expending a bit of her biotic energy to create a powerful shield around herself and her comrades. She smiled a little before speaking into the comms. "Lokea to Alexis, kill confirmed. Good hit." She said softly, panting a little before letting go of the 'talk' button. She then noticed the gunship crashing down towards friendlies, and before she can call out to them, it smashed into the ground far in front of her... though her allies were able to get away safely. She sighed in relief, and then resumed her covering fire, blasting what remains of the drones out of the sky with her accurately placed bursts of fire. Well, relatively accurate, she had to re-center her targeting system and scope after the whole ordeal with the gunship. Once Alexis entered the offices, the asari looked to her and gave her a gentle salute. "You have my thanks." Lokea said with a relieved and thankful smile. "Remind me to get you a drink when this is all done."

However, after that, it started to get a little quiet. What remained of the Blue Suns had fallen back, and just as Saris just said on the intercom, they have made a full retreat. Lokea had lost count of how many were just killed in action, but it didn't matter... there was a _whole_ lot. The bounty must've been quite high for them to make a near suicidal wave attack like that. Oh well, since there was zero casualties on the friendly's side, Lokea felt very confident in the team's ability. She looked to Taria, Ashton, Flame and Alexis, panting a little, speaking into the comms the others can hear her too. "Did you all hear that? Zero casualties. I don't know about you but I'd consider that a flawless victory. Good job, team. We kicked ass." Lokea said with a smile before jumping at the sound of a gunshot. She raised her rifle at the source, seeing Lawrence outside executing a wounded merc. She's already not starting to like the guy... normally she took prisoners where she came from. She gave him the stinkeye for a moment before looking back to the kids, ensuring that they were okay. Hearing Ashton's thanks, she pats him on the back. "No problem, kiddo. Just glad you're okay." She said, before looking to the others, gesturing over to the hangar before walking there herself.

Once she made it out into the hangar, she looked at the volus (should he arrive), and simply listened to the others as they asked their questions. Once there was a quiet moment Lokea could speak, she would turn to Gideon and give him a smile. "Hey, thanks for the fire support. You did good." She said quietly to him before turning back to Saris. After everyone had their questions, and if any was asked of the group, she would clear her throat and ask Saris "If you don't mind me asking, what's our paygrade?" While she wasn't out to get rich, the medicine to help treat her condition of clone degeneration wasn't cheap. Saris would most likely know her reasons, though as far was Lokea was concerned, she responded to a resume reply.

In the meantime, she would send a private omni-tool message to Taria and Alexis. Lokea to (names), full disclosure, you girls kicked a lot of ass. I doubt that this group is made up entirely of trustworthy individuals, but both of you pulled through in my hour of need and done more to help me protect the kids. I feel our chances of survival may rise if we stick together, but it's just a friendly suggestion. - Lokea

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All named PCs will be posted here. This post is meant to archive the characters in the game, as well as the CS template that will be fielded. Characters are sorted by those who play them.

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Cast of Characters

FalkiThomas

Ratte - Krista Müller - 27, Human, Female. A night-skulking, lady-loving human, who can be hired to do anything for the right price.

AWACS

Andrea Liana Grant - 28, Cambion, Female. A half-demon with a heart of gold, who has a love for adventure, fun and pizza.
Vincent Macario Morales - ??, Vampire, Male. A CEO and alleged crimelord who prefers to always be in control of the situation.

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Character Sheet Template

[center][img]FaceClaimURL[/img]
[i]"Quote."[/i] - Author[/center]

[b]Full Name[/b] | [indent]Undefined[/indent]
[b]Age[/b] | [indent]Undefined[/indent]
[b]Race[/b] | [indent]Undefined[/indent]
[b]Gender[/b] | [indent]Undefined[/indent]
[b]Appearance[/b] [indent]Undefined[/indent]
[b]Occupation[/b] | [indent]Undefined[/indent]
[b]Personality[/b] | [indent]Undefined[/indent]
[b]Background[/b] | [indent]Undefined[/indent]
[b]Abilities[/b] | [indent]Undefined[/indent]
[b]Extra Notes[/b] | [indent]Undefined[/indent]

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Theme

Hello and welcome to Fairview County!

This RP is currently an experiment to test the idea of a 1x1 where the IC is closed to two folk, but readers can publicly comment about what they read in the OOC. This RP might be expanded to include more players, as those who regularly engage with the RP might be included into the fold. For now we'll see how it goes, and we'll post any updates here. As a general rule, all narrative and IC stuff will go into the IC sub, world/game notes will be in this post here with OOC interactions here, and all characters will be separate posts in the CHAR tab.

All relevant info is listed in the hiders below. Keep in mind that all of this is a WIP, and information would be updated as the RP plays out.

Lore and story of Fairview County

Springfield began as a town that was created by a vampire and his thralls in the 1800s, during the American Expansion into the west. This vampire wanted to escape persecution from Americans, and created a place that was relatively hidden and secret. His magical cultivation and changing of the land brought a few creatures nearby and made the place a magical hotspot. The town survived in peace until atomic warfare at the end of World War 2 shattered the magical masquerade in an event known as Mythic Dawn, where the energy of the atomic bombs broke the magical threshold, and brought a variety of magical creatures from other realms. Having brought the magical and mundane world together, the world struggled to cope with the discovery of magical creatures and society, but with time, the world eventually got used to it and essentially merged with it in the 1960s (we operate on a similar timeline but things happened for different reasons, the hippy movement for example was the movement to embrace magic and the occult). Mundane tech still exists, but mages and creatures existed alongside it. But when the Mythic Dawn happened, the vampire’s rivals learned of his location, and went there with the new arrivals to settle the score. The vampire was killed in 1961, and in his place a powerful magic beast ruled. After the upheaval was over, Springfield became a small city in its own right over time, and by 2015, it had a sizeable population of 35,000.

Springfield is a pretty basic city. It’s got everything one would need. Grocery stores, general stores, pharmacies, insurance agencies, adventuring guilds, etc. It doesn’t have much of a nightlife but it’s there. Most of the economy is based on service and agriculture, though there is a little bit of light industry supported here through the creation of magical items. The population is rather diverse, with humans, vampires, werewolves, demons and a few other sentient monsters roaming around. While most non-humans exist as otherworldly creatures, they typically live in their own neighborhoods/enclaves. Below are the races of folk that exist here:
Humans
Elves
Orcs
Goblins
Lizardfolk
Mermaids
Centaurs
Demons
Vampires
Werewolves
Undead
Dragons
Medusas
A few other DnD Monsters
Most of these creatures live in relative harmony with their own subcultures of sorts, but thanks to the Mythic Dawn, they are all American Citizens regardless, and participate as working members of society. However, some of their subcultures and values sometimes clash with the American values most of the long-timers have, and it causes some issues, but otherwise, most people are able to get along and enjoy the quiet life together.

Map and written locations of Fairview County

_{Map not entirely to scale. Made with WonderDraft.}

Springfield | A small city of 35,000. Set in the American Midwest, this small city is otherwise unremarkable save for the incredibly diverse populace that call this place home. Springfield is normally a quiet town forgotten by the public, but every now and then it might show up on the news for the odd event that might happen in the state.
Morval Castle | This was the original castle that once belonged the vampire lord that started the original settlement.
Madison Heights | A wealthy suburb.
River Rock Villa | A mansion where the current city leader lives.
Bristol Township | A farmer town.
Kistch Lumber Yard | Active lumber yard.
Fairview Gate | A strange portal to another dimension.
Missile Silo NV2 | Abandoned cold-war missile silo.
Abandoned Grain Factory | A large grain factory that went out of commission in the 90s.
Abandoned Mine Shaft | A magic crystal mineshaft abandoned in the 2000s from monster infestation.
Ardenbrook Cave | A calm cave covered by soft waterfalls.
Mudwater Cave | A shitty cave with muddy water constantly flooding it.
Jasperkeep Farm | An abandoned farm that used to be part of Morval Castle.
State Highway 20 | An active but lightly travelled state highway, with a large bridge that crosses Fairview river.
Silver Lake | Massive lake filled with fishies, mermaids and maybe Cthulhu.
Fairview River | River that runs from the North to the South with several tributaries. Clean and lovely river with lots of biodiversity.
Tall Tree Forest | An enchanted forest with some insanely tall Kashyyyk trees.
Clinton Mountain Range | Smaller mountains that mark the northern county line for Fairview.

Story thus Far

Basic RPGuild and common sense rules apply here. 18+ content is handled in the classic "fade to black" method, and while we are aiming to have a lighthearted RP here, we're taking a 'by the seat of our pants' approach to this. Information will be filled out as the RP goes on. While the IC and CHAR tabs are currently restricted to AWACS and FalkiThomas, anyone is free and welcome to make comments and ask questions in the OOC tab. Thanks, and have fun!

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This was meant to be the 0th post but whatevs. xD

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Mass Effect- Seraphim

Interactions

Brief reply with Gideon (@Starlance), sarcastic response to Laurence (@Vulkan), brief advice to everyone in the office, introduction and brief dialogue with Taria (@KaiserElectric), some announced covering fire for Elijah (@RangingWolf), some announced covering fire for Alexis (@Rune_Alchemist), and finally throwing up a barrier for the kids (@Letter Bee) and anyone else to take cover behind, and a general distress call to get the gunship taken down.

Post Theme

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As Lokea was preparing the defenses, she looked back to the Geth unit and gave it a little smile. "The pleasure is mine, Gideon." Lokea nodded softly to the synthetic. The asari still didn't trust the thing, given her implanted memories of the ones that opened fire on innocents at Feros, but this one doesn't seem all that bad. Yet, at least. She turned back to Laurence, hearing his rather... cold demeanor. She didn't really know what he meant by 'former slave', and assumed it wasn't directed at her, so she ignored it. Looking towards Laurence, she raised what resembled an eyebrow, or at least a part of her face above her eye. "You're a real people person, huh?" She sighed. "I look forward to working with you." She said sardonically, turning her attention towards the window, bringing her assault rifle up as she eyed the incoming targets. There seemed to be some gunships, aided by small swarms of drones. "Gideon's right, you need to spread apart. Stay away from the windows too if you don't want a direct hit from one of their missiles. My biotic barriers could only defend against so much." She then moved some of the desks and crates up to the windows, to better protect against missiles, and give them a smaller opening to attack through.

Lokea looked to Taria once she arrived. "Hey, welcome to the clubhouse. Lokea Zhu at your service." Having herself resting behind a cubicle for cover, and aiming through one of the smaller openings that she created, she let off a two round burst at one of the drones. Shields down, and one well-placed shot... the drone was down. She could barely see what was happening outside, but considering that quite a few drones were focused on one area, maybe Elijah's plan was a little too effective. She spoke into the radio to Elijah. "Lokea to Elijah, I'll try my best to keep the pressure off of you. No need going in alone." She said before scoping out and designating some of the drones, shooting one down with a well-aimed burst of fire. She turned back to Taria. "Sorry for the small openings, I wanted to make it harder for them to shoot missiles at us. You might get a decent firing arc from that angle though." She said, letting off a small burst of fire again, downing another drone. "Good to have a biotic with us though. The more barriers the better!"

Having heard Alexis in the comms, Lokea replied in the shortband. "Copy that. I'll give 'em the one-two. Come back to the offices once you've had your fill." Lokea said before bringing her rifle to shoulder once again. Having lightened the load for Elijah a bit, she decided to lighten the load for Alexis too, trying to shoot down the drones that would threaten one of the few RPGs they had on the front line. A few bursts of fire downed a few drones, and with some longer bursts of suppressing fire to let them sustain damage, Lokea tried her best to provide covering fire for her teammates. It was the least she could do at this point, other than provide the barriers that protected the non-combatants in their crew. The vague bubble of force that protected them remained there for the time being while Lokea shot out from it, downing one drone at a time.

However, there seemed to be a problem. While Lokea hadn't been paying attention to the kids' strange chatter this entire time, instead having focused entirely on the mission at hand, she saw the gunship that came for them. Are you really going to try it? Lokea thought as she saw the gunship. Son of a cunt, he's really going to try it. While having the small opening to prevent missile fire was a nice preventative bonus against explosives... it wasn't necessarily effective against autocannons. Instinctively, Lokea lowered her assault rifle and concentrated hard on her existing biotic barrier, allowing the kids and other non-combatants some time to take cover while the bullets sprayed past them, many of the bullets slowing down in the force of the barrier and falling to the floor. "I can't hold this for too long! Someone please take that cunt out!" Lokea shouted as she kept the barrier up as strong as she could, as long as she could.

Mass Effect- Seraphim

Interactions

@Letter Bee@Senhara@Vulkan

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As Lokea ate her snacks, she listened to Ashton, looking to him. She listened to his case, before leaning back. "You read my mind, kid." She popped in another cracker, levitating it into her mouth before putting the package back into her duffel bag. "I hope Saris did his research on everyone, if he got someone like me I'm pretty sure he at least did some searching." She sighed. "But yeah, I feel like this party isn't gonna stand together if he plans on making this a permanent thing. A whole lot of people here don't seem like team players. I'm sure the three of us and a few others will do just fine, but I don't know. I just hope the pay is-"

Lokea couldn't even finish her sentence as a merc smashed through a nearby wall into their fortified area, causing the asari to immediately raise her rifle and take aim at the source, seeing the merc fall through the ground. And then a huge hulking figure stepped on through, wearing some thick ass armor. She watched as the hulking figure stomped on the man's neck about four times until it snapped. She winced at that, not even wishing that upon mercs. Fuck.

Flame broke the silence, and Lokea kept her rifle trained on Laurence. She immediately gestured for Ashton to remain behind her against the barrier wall while she kept her rifle trained on him, enabling her biotic abilities, her energy pulsing as she created subtle barriers around them. She simply spoke to Laurence. "Are you here for Saris Fen?" She asked Laurence, aiming at his head, before turning to the kids. "And will you two cut the chatter please?" Lokea asked, as more pressing matters were standing right in front of the three.

She remained with the kids until she heard that there were gunships inbound with drones. She took a quick look at her omni-tool before speaking into the comms. "Lokea to team, we have enemy aerial forces inbound. Gunships and drones. I suggest you all find a cozy place to hold out at, and arm anti-air weapons hot." She said before looking to Laurence. "Name's Lokea Zhu of the Nos Astra Freedom Battalion. If you're here with us, I suggest you give us a hand with the defense effort. The less fire they can concentrate the better." Using her biotics, she tossed the dead merc out of the window into the hangar. She kept herself interposed between the two boys and Laurence as much as possible, though.

Mass Effect- Seraphim

Interactions

Conversation with the Geth platform (@Starlance), providing cover fire for Galm (@Senhara), reassuring Alexis (@Rune_Alchemist), briefly checking in on the kids (@Letter Bee), and speaking to the team in general a few times.

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_{Netzone - Ace Combat 7 Briefing Remake}

She had gladly exchanged her contact info with Elijah several minutes earlier, and during the firefight she witnessed his awesome biotic ability. Well this mercenary hotshot might not be so bad after all... Lokea thought to herself as she covered Drex. A few more exchanges of fire later, she asked her question to the Geth platform. Hearing that answer, she was satisfied with it. She was a little surprised that this geth can speak their language, so she may as well keep up the conversation if she can. Speaking to the platform, gave it a thumbs up. "Good to know. Keep up the pressure on them, we could use someone of your talents." Lokea noted before a well-placed shot from a particularly nasty Turian sniper dropped her shields. Immediately taking cover and casting barrier, Lokea kept a light focus on herself to retain her safety while her shields slowly recharged, remaining in the fight.

Once she heard Galm, she looked around to find out where he was, before getting eyes on him. She spoke into the radio. "Copy that unknown friendly party. I'll do the best I can." She focused her fire towards enemies that were closer to Galm while he worked his turret. She continued the covering fire until he was done, pausing every now and then to keep herself covered. She witnessed Drex use his inferno grenades on the enemy, seeing a large explosion spreading fire along the enemy front line, and witnessing him smash a few mercs with his hammer. Damn. She was already impressed with the abilities of this barely cohesive unit, not seeing the heavy unit that Pixy sniped just now. Okay, I take that back. She thought as she kept some more mercs off of Galm. She had listened to Ashton earlier, but she was a little busy trying to cover some of the units ahead of her. Thankfully, the Blue Suns were a bit too busy to deal with the team in the front to deal with anyone that was in the control offices, so Lokea didn't have to worry about any incoming fire anymore. She kept up the pressure, firing a few shots towards the enemy to keep them suppressed and away from the others, using two-round bursts to down the lightly armored foes, or at least keep them down. Once the Blue Suns advance had halted and started dying down, she lowered her weapon and listened in on the friendly transmissions.

Hearing the geth's suggestion, she spoke to the Geth platform. "I like the suggestion you brought up. I don't have the tech necessary to pull that off but... I know someone that does." She says, turning to Ashton with a thumbs-up, before turning back to the platform. "By the way, what do I call you? 'Geth' is a really impractical name to address you as so... I feel like we can give you a callsign that can make things easier for all of us, or at least me." Lokea chortled. Once Alexis brought up her concern for the kids, Lokea turned to the two boys in question and spoke into the comms. "Affirmative, the kids don't even have a scratch. You can rest easy now." She said, her smile hidden by her helmet. She took a look out into the battlefield once more. She noticed the Blue Suns fall back slowly, and since the gunfire towards her position sort of stopped, she stood a little more freely, stretching a little. After hearing what Pixy said about their retreat, she spoke into the comms again. "Copy that uh... White Glint. To all friendly parties that we just met, name's Lokea. I'm the green-skinned asari-" She cut herself off, realizing that she was wearing armor that covered her entire body head to toe. "-outfitted in camouflage armor. I'm in the control offices near the geth. Pleasure to meet you all." She got off the comms for the time being. Speaking of... she looked back to the geth platform. She tried to think of a name, searching through her blurry but still coherent planted memories. She wanted something that started with G like the word Geth, finding the name Gideon. Further recollection on that name revealed that it was the name of a colonist's son, the name having been ripped straight from the bible. The character was a tactician who was victorious in some historical battle of some sort, so she figured it may be appropriate for this rather tactical platform. "Do you like the name Gideon?" Lokea asked.

As everything died down a little, Lokea set up the fort a bit more. She made some more cover from the walls and desks to accommodate for some of the newcomers, before looking to the Geth. "You can come in here if you like, just stick around near the windows where I can see you." Lokea said softly. While the the platform didn't seem too bad, her flashbacks to Feros makes her distrust it somewhat. Having seen the geth massacre civilians in the memories planted within her, she didn't have any qualms of using her Slam ability to crush this geth platform into scrap. But Alexis did bring up a point earlier, from the comm chatter there did seem to be a whole lot of distrust between everyone. She did see the batarian have a hostile attitude earlier, and you got some Ex-Cerberus bitch providing sniper fire for folks. At this point the only thing bringing them together was Saris and the Blue Suns attack. She hoped that at least half of the people hired are reasonable individuals, but if push comes to shove, she's not going to let anyone hurt the kids, Saris be damned.

Meanwhile, she unpressurized her helmet and took it off, revealing her very green asari nature to the newcomers. She decided to keep it off for the time being, but she kept it near Ashton and Flame, swapping it out with some snacks using biotic levitation. She popped some high-calorie crackers, chewing on them. "How are you boys doing?" She asked Ashton and Flame, levitating the chips into her mouth while she carried her assault rifle with both hands. Biotics are great for combat, but for lazy multitasking? They are even better.

Mass Effect- Seraphim

Interactions

Directly speaking with Alexis (@Rune_Alchemist), an exchange with Ashton @Letter Bee, quick thanks to Taria and Galm (@KaiserElectric & @Senhara), question to Geth Platform (@Starlance) and occasional radio chatter to all friendly parties

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_{Red Faction Guerilla OST - Mission Capstone}

As Lokea was setting up defenses in the control offices, she looked out through the small windows that peered into the hangar. She saw everyone take defensive positions, sighing in relief that no one was out in the open. She watched as Alexis made her way into the office, and started setting of fortifications. Lokea helped where she could, setting up a few choke points and barriers with her biotic abilities, placing the furniture and cubicles around to create some cover and choke areas. Once Alexis finished and spoke to her, Lokea nodded, giving Alexis the Alliance 'OK' signal. Those planted memories from the human colonists were infinitely useful. "Thanks." Lokea said as she levitated the grenades to her, keeping them stashed right next to her. After Alexis left and notified the party of the turrets, Lokea took note of the ones inside and outside of the office, grateful that they were not completely fucked in defense. She spoke back into the radio to Alexis. "Copy that, and much appreciated. Just give me a shout if you need covering fire."

Making sure her M8 Avenger rifle was ready one last time, she listened carefully on friendly communications and heard a rather unfamiliar voice. This 'White Glint', despite not even meeting or discussing strategy with the others, seemed to be asserting an air of dominance over the airwaves. Sounds a bit like a fool too, what did they mean by liability to survival? Well at least Lokea got some solid intel on them. To confirm what this White Glint said, the asari pulled out her rangefinder and scoped out the area far away. Indeed, there was a large contingent of Blue Suns infantry. Humans, batarians and turians all wearing their trademark blue armor, carrying shotguns, assault rifles and pistols, heading straight into the group's killzone as the White Glint predicted. Perfect. She turned to the kids. "Got a huge infantry contingent inbound as I speak. Stay sharp." Lokea spoke, her face obscured by her helmet still. She turned back to the windows, the fortified position nicely arranged to allow firing ports in three directions, Lokea facing towards the empty space the hangar provided. Bringing her rifle to shoulder, she watched as the Blue Suns made their way towards their position, about ready to fire until...

BANG! Lokea watched through the scope of her Elkoss assault rifle as one of the humans leading the assault took a round straight through the chest, having been killed instantly. Damn. Clean shot. Lokea smirked just a little, aiming down the scope once again. Having had plenty of target practice on cannibals, husks, marauders, pirates and terrorists, Lokea brought the rate of fire selector from 'SAFE' to 'SEMI', tapping two rounds towards a turian that continued to charge at them... one round in the neck, next in the head. The turian collapsed instantly, and Lokea smirked. Wow, all of that weapon maintenance has really paid off this time. Lokea took aim again, ignoring the two small holes she left in the glass and the gunfire from the turrets outside, until she heard a synthetic voice speak through their comms channel, letting the team know that it was joining the fight by 'engaging hostiles'. Do we have a robot now? Before she knew it, a Krogan charged into battle.

Wait, not only did Saris bring a robot, he also brought a krogan? Lokea hoped that he was one of the cool Urdnot guys that she met on Illium rather than the stupid ones she's already ran into just an hour ago. She caught sight of Drex, and seeing how he entered the fight almost right after the White Glint did, it seems as if they were much later to the party than Lokea herself was. She watched as he mowed down mercs left and right with his shotgun, smashing others with the hammer. While the krogan was already causing a lot of damage, he was also drawing a lot of attention to himself. She spoke into the radio. "Lokea to team, we got a surprise guest out in the hangar. Mind giving him a little covering fire before-" BOOM! A grenade exploded, and quite a few of the Blue Suns mercenaries exploded into a gory mess. Lokea blinked before speaking again. "-never mind." She then started letting off a few double taps, getting some mercs in the chest, a few in the head, gunning them down one by one, trying to keep the pressure off of Drex and Alexis. POW-POW! POW-POW! POW-POW!

Suddenly, her omni-tool lit up, and after parsing the notifications, it turns out that it was the Blue Suns' communications channel that has now been decrypted. Every single text message, attachment, data piece and radio transmission was the group's to digest. Lokea put on the audio channel, listening into their communications on a separate volume so she could tell the difference between friendlies and enemies.

"What the... they're gonna blow us all to hell!" One Blue Suns merc called out over the radio.

"Don't be a wimp! There aren't that many of them!" Another called out.

Lokea smirked a little, dimming down the volume just a little to where she can tone it out easily, but can hear important info if necessary. She turned to Ashton. "You did the decryption, right?" If given an affirmative answer, she would smile underneath her helmet and give him a thumbs up. "Good work, kid. Figured you were here for a good reason." She turned back to the fight, and squeezed off a few more shots at the enemy, downing another few mercs. One of them was a particularly nasty batarian with combat shields, but with about ten rounds to the center of mass, the batarian only had a split second to realize that his armor was only as good as its unprotected parts. A bloody hole emerged right between his four eyes, his head well exposed after his shields were dropped.

Lokea looked up to the catwalk to keep an eye on their flanks, seeing two friendly turians up top giving them some fire support. She gave them both a little wave. "To the friendlies on the catwalk, we didn't introduce ourselves, but I appreciate the fire support." She said to them, and once she turned around, she saw a Geth Trooper standing right outside the office walls. Standing behind the pillar that held up the catwalk in front of the control office that Lokea fortified, the Geth Trooper seemed to have appeared there when Lokea was looking away. She blinked, looking to the geth platform. She was already having some light flashbacks to Zhu's Hope, memories of Saren's geth gunning down innocent civilians. She thought that almost all of the geth were destroyed when the Crucible hit, maybe this one was rebuilt and came here with friendly intentions? She had a hard time trying to comprehend just who came to this fucked up party. She called out to the geth platform verbally, her helmet obscuring her face and filtering out her voice. "Hey, Geth...uh, platform! You're friendly, right?" She asked it before she promptly returned fire at several mercs that fired at her position. She managed to keep them suppressed for now, as some of the Blue Suns had enough functioning brain cells to take cover. Unless all of them were tripped up on Red Sand or something.

Mass Effect- Seraphim

Ashton, and Flame

Interactions

Collab between AWACS and @Letter Bee, briefly interacting with @Rune_Alchemist, @RangingWolf and @CaptainSully

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_{Red Faction Guerilla OST - Uprising Ambience}

Barely a minute has passed and the rest of the party seems to be arriving. Not the Blue Suns, yet, but other folk gathered here for Mr. Fen's request it seems. Lokea squinted her eyes, seeing a quarian in the distance. Hm. She only had rudimentary knowledge on Quarians, just stuff implanted from Shiala telling her the basics. This one must be on her pilgrimage or something, though before Lokea could give it more thought, another human approached the group. This man in full armor, she blinked to him. Elijah Messner the mercenary hot-shot, huh? It's good to have someone like him on the team anyway, if he is what he says he is. She was just about to greet him before Alexis filled him in on the situation. "Yeah, that's basically it. The mercs got air support too, so I'll make sure to grab whatever cover you can. Lokea Zhu at your service." Lokea did a little bow while she rifled through her duffel bag, grabbing an energy bar, snacking on it. It wasn't the best tasting bar, but it would give her the energy needed to operate at intensity with biotics. She finished the energy bar while listening to Alexis.

After Alexis mentioned protecting the two 'brats', Lokea couldn't help but return to the important thought she buried. Oh yeah. Those two are just kids. What the hell are they doing here? She looked to Ashton and Flame. She would probably never live with herself if they got hurt, she's seen enough dead children in the Reaper War to last a lifetime. "I agree with uhm... Alexis here. I'd rather you two stick with me. I can keep you both covered and protected while you both do your thing." She nodded towards them, before tilting her head a little. "Aren't you boys a little young to be doing this sort of thing anyway? None of you look old enough to join the Alliance yet."

Flame blinked and said, "Yes, yes we are. I'm a former slave who escaped back to Alliance Space, then got 'farmed out' to an abusive foster home and a therapist more interested in selling my life story than actually helping me. So I decided I'd prefer to make my living as a Biotic merc."

Ashton sighed and said, "During the Reaper War, I was part of a refugee convoy with a few Batarians on board; outcasts and political dissidents. I was taught the basics of locksmithing, cybersecurity, and security by one of them, Rigger. Rigger disappeared into Omega a few years ago and as he was against the Batarian Hegemony's policies, I doubt he'd have willingly vanished."

Flame looked at Ashton. "I still can't believe you'd risk your life just to save a Batarian. At least tell me that you had other reasons."

The response from Ashton was arch in tone, "Other than repaying a debt for learning valuable life skills? Well, I did want to prove myself better than other kids my age. Other 'normal' kids, I mean. Either way, we should go towards the control tower; we're wasting more time."

Lokea nodded a bit at the two, biting her lower lip. She'll comment and ask about all of that later. However, Lokea couldn't agree more with the last statement, until Rob arrived. She was just about to speak to him, but Ashton already began filling him in. So instead, she synced up her omni-tool with this new contact Ashton met, hoping it wasn't a spammer, and she fished for her helmet from her duffel bag. As Ashton introduced himself and the others to Rob, she smiled and waved, before donning her helmet. It took a little bit to maneuver it around her head, but once she got it down, she used her biotics to help seal it and connect the tube to her oxygen supply, allowing the helmet to supply her air, filter out harmful gases and whatnot. The helmet let out a hissing 'click', indicating that the helmet was indeed sealed. Patting her helmet as a little 'good luck test', she looked ready for battle, to say the least.

Once Ashton finished, she spoke to the two, her voice filtered by the speaker that amplified it. "Are you two good to go?" She asked, raising her assault rifle to shoulder, allowing her duffel bag to levitate next to her. "As Rob said, the bad guys are getting really close. We gotta hole up quick and get ready." She turned to the others. "My shortband channel is NAP-8492, we should all keep in contact as much as possible. The rest of you should hole up somewhere safe so we can hold out against the assault. I'm taking the kids with me to a safe place so we can assist in the op." Lokea said as she stepped backwards. "See you on the other side!" She looked to see if the kids were following her, and if they were, she would continue on her way to the control area. It was a bit of ways away from the dock into the hangar, but they got there in short order.

Ashton obediently followed her, while Flame said to the Asari as he walked beside the 'security expert', "You look like a skeleton in that armor."

The redhead found his new friend turning towards him, saying, "Stop that - Don't be insensitive!"

Lokea chuckled a little bit at that as she made her way to the control center, periodically raising her rifle to check for enemies and hazards. "It's fine, little one. At least I'll look a little frightening to the Blue Suns." She said, a smile in her voice.

Flame looked at Ashton, before saying as the door to the control center came in sight, "Are you sure you're not scared?"

Ashton gazed back at Flame, "I'm a 16-year old who made a series of bad decisions. Of course I'll be scared. But there's no other way out; I have to make it through this battle if I am to repay my debt to Rigger and prove myself better than other kids. Plus, who doesn't want an astronomical sum of cash?"

Lokea held up a hand at Ashton and Flame to signal them to stop, before gesturing for them to form up at the wall behind her. She turned to Ashton while she kept her rifle pointed at the door. "It's okay to be scared, kid. It tells me that you still have your head on your shoulders." She turned back to the door.

Gently using her biotics to use the door interface, she waited for the door to open, and once it did, she entered, sweeping her gun over the large abandoned control room. She activated the night-vision in her helmet, allowing her to see in the dimly-lit room. She checked the corners, looked for hiding spots, and even for hidden ceiling vents. After seeing nothing but desks, computers and several walls separating different workspaces, Lokea relaxed. "Clear!" She shouted, gesturing for the kids to enter.

Flame and Ashton entered, with the former leading the way. Once the door was shut again, Ashton began trying to connect his personal computer with the computers in the control room in order to maximize computing power. As the computer whiz did that, Flame then looked at Lokea and said, "He doesn't deserve to be in this situation. He's smart but he's naive and he has a future ahead of him. I don't."

After leading the two to a nice cubby area that has equal distance to all of the exits, Lokea put her duffel bag down and began using her biotics to lift the desks and other non-computer objects towards them, trying to build as much cover as possible. While the walls that made their cubicles should suffice, Lokea didn't trust them entirely. As she worked, she turned to Flame. "As far as I'm concerned, all three of us have a future ahead. The galaxy is way too big for any of us to run out of opportunities." Lokea said as she shored up their defenses. "While I'd rather have you both not be here at all, there's nothing I can really do to stop you kids from doing what you want. I'm not your mother." Lokea opened up the duffel bag to reveal some clothes and snacks. "But since I have about 7 years experience of protecting non-combatants from bad guys, I may as well keep you boys out of trouble for the time being." It was the least Lokea could do anyway. The asari raised her rifle to shoulder, preparing for a fight.

Flame takes a bag of chips while Ashton takes a fruit drink, before the latter says, "I'm just glad I met a friend before, well, before this entire conflict starts." The boy was multi-tasking between drinking, accessing the control room's mainframe, and talking to Flame. "And for all it's worth, I'm sorry you had to suffer even after you got free from slavery."

A pause as Ashton continued, "You are strong, you know that?"

Flame smiled. "I'll protect you. Also..." he looked around, frowning uncomfortably, "If you umm... Like boys, and we survive this encounter -"

Ashton choked on his drink, before saying, "I do! I do! And girls too. But you're the hottest person I ever met."

Flame's frown faded as he said, "Live, then. Let's both live. And for the love of... Anyone, can we not give the Asari a free show?"

Lokea couldn't help but smirk underneath her helmet. "Hey now, Flame has a point. Please save the awkward flirting until after we kick the Blue Sun's ass, okay?" Lokea asked with a smirk. Regardless, it warms her heart a little to see a budding romance happen right in her presence, despite the circumstances. A thought came to her mind, before it went out of her mouth. "How long have you boys known each other anyway?" She asked, keeping an ear on the comms.

"We just met," Ashton said bluntly. "I had just escaped a bunch of mercenaries who wanted to enslave me after going back on a deal I made with them through the extranet. You see, for the past two years, I've been masquerading as 'Aegis', a freelance security specialist who prevents both cyber and mundane thefts. I then spent most of the funds and connections I made using that identity to get to Omega, although I still have a small nest egg left - it doesn't compare to the sum this job will pay me, though."

Lokea listened. "You know, for an asari you just met, you seem to be trusting me with a whole lot of information about yourselves." Lokea said, chuckling a little. "I'll give you a tip, be careful about what you share. Information out there is valued to the point where people sell that shit. It's why information brokers exist. They can easily use that shit against you." Lokea explained. "But, in good faith I'll give you both a bit about me." Lokea continued to check for hostiles, staying alert. "You've heard of the Thorian from Feros, right?"

Both shook their heads.

"Well, it's this... super old plant being that was like 50,000 years old, and it can control the minds of other beings through spores. An asari commando under Saren's command was given to it as a bargain for some Prothean stuff, and the plant took that commando and made clones of her it can control to speak for it, defend it and perform other tasks." Lokea sighed. "I'm one of those clones."

"Oh, cool!" Ashton said, "Clones are people too."

Flame said, "How do you deal with the degeneration?"

Lokea couldn't help but smile quite a bit. Those kids were so precious! "Oh uh... I appreciate the thought, Ash. So uh... yeah, that's why I have green skin." She turned to Flame. "Oh, I take medication for it. It's expensive but it helps. It's kind of why I'm here." She paused for a moment, thinking about what she said earlier to them. "I'll tell you more about it when we have the time. I'm pretty sure the Suns are getting close."