Shu

Mass Effect: Second Vigil

AMINA GALAL

”ROGUE”

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Amina sighed through her nose as she adjusted the heavy brown coat she wore over her armor. Moisture was beading around her hairline and the woman found herself breathing harder than usual thanks to the Cuban humidity. This coat certainly doesn’t help either. Walking down the streets of Cerro Amina carried in her right hand a large, heavy suitcase that contained her Vindicator rifle within, her pistol and all other items concealed beneath her coat. The suitcase she had grabbed from her room after emptying it and the coat was from a shop near the hotel, Amina figuring it better to disguise her appearance than to go parading around in full body armor packing a heavy rifle - especially in a neighborhood like Cerro.

The last thing we need is unwanted local attention. Amina thought to herself, then realizing how foolish a thought it was as she glanced at the two aliens accompanying her. Amina could see people staring and talking among themselves as she, Zenn, and Nadara made their way to the target location. A human with a large coat and suitcase accompanied by two aliens all skulking down the street together at night certainly was not exactly common around here.

Well… if anything maybe we’re less likely to be bothered.

Laughter and jubilant chatter carried over the tin rooftops, fireworks popped all around, and people rushed and gathered in yards and alleyways for the celebration. Cars cruised by honking away at people, some in friendly acknowledgment and some in protest for them to get out of the streets. Even as comparably run down and backwater as this area was everyone was finding ways to have a great time and revel the eve away.

“Keep your eyes peeled and stay ready.” Amina said aloud to her two companions. Amina wasn’t too sure yet what to make of either of Zenn or Nadara. The Asari seemed a bit dense and the Quarian like the type to fall down a well in broad daylight. They seemed pleasant enough on a personal level, and were willing enough to get involved in something like this. At the least it could be said they had drive and a sense of involvement and responsibility. But that still didn’t mean Amina trusted them - being aliens aside, they both whiffed of greenness to her regardless of their backgrounds. Maybe I’m just being too critical…

As the three rounded a sharp corner Amina drew in a sharp breath, eager to get to the alleyway in question and check out the signal but also nervous about what they would come across. Would the three of them be able to handle it? Would the Asari and Quarian be able to hold their own and have Amina’s back if something bad went down? All she could do is hope and keep her fingers crossed that this little investigation did not go awry. And if it did, she had enough faith in her own abilities.

COLD PLAGUE

There was a sudden heavy clopping sound from the nearby aisle, the sound of boots on linoleum. The robber turned back around raising up his shotgun, time seemed to be coming to a grinding halt. Mira burst forth into Omar’s view, gun holstered and instead she wielded her baton in her right hand. She took a sharp forward stride bringing the baton up and then beginning a downward arc. There was a loud crack and the masked gunman cried out in pain as his shotgun fell from his grasp and clattered to the floor. Mira had struck him across the left forearm just as he had brought his gun up level with her.

The man grabbed at his arm in shocked agony which gave Mira the chance to bring him down, jabbing him hard in the stomach and dropping him to his knees. From there she got behind him and drove him down onto the hard floor with her left knee, right next to the hostage he had been threatening. Mira slipped her baton away, keeping the downed gunman pinned as she reached for her handcuffs.

Stupid. Mira though to herself admittedly, Very stupid. Had the gunman been just a second or two faster Mira would have taken a chest full of shot and be sprawled out dead on the floor. She shook her head as she tussled for the man’s arms, ignoring his groans of pain and explicit protests. “My arm, you pig bitch, I think you broke my… fucking arm!” His voice was muffled from his face being pressed into the linoleum but his protests were audible enough. The hostage was scrambling away as he slowly stood, wobbly and big-eyed at what had just occurred.

“Nice little distraction, Omar.” Mira said as the handcuffs clicked together. The Corporal hooked her hands under the robbers’ shoulders and with a loud grunt began to roughly haul him to his feet. “You broke my arm, dammit! Take these off me!” Mira got the man stood up, he was maybe an inch or two taller than her. “Your arm isn’t broken.” Mira snapped.

“How do you know?”

“We’ll check it then when we get you back to the station.” Mira asserted. “Omar grab his gun.”

COLD PLAGUE

Mira dashed around the side of the gas station and made fast for the rear of the building, hoping the gunman had not caught a glimpse of her and hoping that the back door was not locked. The ground was slick from all the rain and twice she had to catch herself from face planting onto the hard concrete. Mira slowed up as she reached the back corner of the building, pressing herself against the cold brick wall as she reached for her gun. There was nothing saying the suspect did not have a partner waiting out back.

Mira slowly came around the corner, pistol raised and eyes down the sights. There was no one behind the building, the woman releasing a clouded breath of a sigh. A single car, undoubtedly the owners’, was parked in a space near the back door and a line of half filled dumpsters reached down the wall on the left side of the door opposite of Mira. Mira stepped back against the wall once more, sliding down it until she was directly alongside the back door of the gas station. Cold crystals of frozen rain glazed her hair and neck sending a sharp chill down her spine, the corporal ignoring it to her best. The door was thankfully not one of the large heavy metal ones but rather a windowless wooden door. She reached down with her right hand and twisted at the knob - locked of course.

Couldn’t have it that easy I guess.

Mira flinched as she heard another loud blast from the perps’ gun. Fuck it, we don’t have time for backup and I need to get in there!

Mira considered reaching to try and rattle or yank the door open but then decided not. If the gunman happened to hear her he might blind fire at the door, possibly hitting her or someone inside. Or worse yet he may panic and just start shooting people. Mira stepped back sucking in a deep breath, the cold air tightening her throat and chest, her heart beating like a war drum. “Go.” Mira sprinted forward, swinging up her right leg with all her momentum behind it as she slammed a fierce kick into the back door - a slight snap of wood and a rattling of the knob could be heard as the door flew open and slammed against the inside wall.

“What the fuck?”

The bright lights of the gas station interior disoriented Mira for a second, even so she could see the gunman standing behind the front counter dead ahead. Nothing was between them, a line of freezers to her right filled with assortments of booze and to her left was a shelf of chips and crackers that reached just short of the counter. The gunman was facing Mira, the woman could see a short rotund man cowering at his feet. Mira barely had time to react as the perp raised his weapon, a shotgun - the corporal leapt behind the shelf to her left as the wall nearby was blasted spraying chunks of shattered paneling through the air.

“Bitch!” the gunman roared.

“Make it easy on yourself,” Mira shouted back defiantly as she scrambled to a half crouch behind the shelf, “drop the weapon!”

“Fuck you!” Another gunshot, Mira hunkered down as the shelf was blasted across the top raining down bits of metal and shredded chip bags.

“Put the weapon down!” Mira shouted back, not standing again.

“Not a chance!”

COLD PLAGUE

“I- I…” Mira found herself speechless as she retightened her grip on the steering wheel. She had nearly plowed right over the wave of cats and dogs that had came surging forth. If Omar had not shouted fast enough she was not too sure she would have reacted in time. For a second Mira thought she had pissed on herself until she looked down and realized the sudden stop had sloshed some of her coffee out onto the dash and across her upper thigh and groin.

“Well shit.” Mira spat as she reached out and used one bare hand to smear and wipe at the brown liquid on the dash. It would be sticky without doubt but she could wipe it off later, thankfully none of the coffee had splashed out onto the radio. The spill on her pants had already soaked in, it was uncomfortably hot but not scalding thankfully so she could just let it dry and worry about washing her uniform later. She absently wiped her sticky hand off on her pants leg, annoyed and disoriented from the sudden happening.

“Yeah, we need to call that in…” Mira said, her tone a little distant as she tried to process what she just saw. What the hell caused that? All those animals to just go flooding in a singular direction undeterred by any kind of danger. Jesus, this city is getting weirder by the hour it seems.

Just as Mira’s hand started to glide toward the radio it suddenly crackled to life causing her to flinch slightly.

“Attention all units we have a one thirty-two in progress at the corner gas station on Willard Street, all available units please respond.”

Armed robbery, Mira felt the hair on her arms and neck raise, Willard Street. That’s just two blocks over!

Mira put the car in gear and drove her foot down into the pedal, the patrol car lurching forward as the engine roared to new life. “Take that for me!” Mira nodded toward the radio as she made a sudden hard turn. The animals will just have to wait. What a shift this is looking to fucking be!

Sum up your week in roleplaying in just 3 words

Great new partners ☕️💯

COLD PLAGUE

Mira Feng

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___________________________________ P R O F I L E Age 30 Sex Female Height 5’10” (177.8 Cm) Weight 135 Lbs (61.235 Kg) Ethnicity Mixed (Han Chinese and Jewish) Rank Corporal ____________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________ SHORT BACKSTORY & PERSONALITY Mira Feng was born in Lambour City to a Chinese father and a Jewish mother, the youngest of three children and the only daughter. Mira’s father was a real estate agent and her mother a nurse at a local health clinic. With two high earning parents Mira and her two older brothers had a very easy life growing up and more often than not had the best of everything - or at least close to it. Mira was close with her family, her mother was kind and attentive and her father a patient and dedicated parent if hard-spoken at times. Mira and her brothers were very tightly knit through their youth and well into their teenage years. As wonderful as things were though this ideal family would be shaken by tragedy. When Mira was fifteen her father was gunned down after being held up in the street, the terrible happening leaving the entire family grief stricken to say the least. Mira’s mother particularly went into a spiraling depression and became more distant as she tried to focus on working to hold things together. Thankfully extended family on both sides stepped in to help, but no amount of financial and familial support would heal the scars left on the Feng family after the death of Mira’s father. After graduating high school Mira’s brothers both went into respectable career fields, the elder becoming a real estate agent like his father and the younger a chemistry instructor at the University of Maine. Mira meanwhile went into law enforcement which was a blend of surprise but also a deeper understanding to those around her. On the death of her father - murdered in broad daylight - Mira had decided she wanted to go into law enforcement to serve the city, help protect the communities at large, and generally stop others from becoming victims of tragedies like her family was. All of the usual idealisms. After finishing police academy Mira would serve with Lambour City Police Department for four years before moving over to the Williams County Sheriff’s Department. In no time she made corporal and was soon after promoted to Investigator. However her growing abrasiveness and bullheaded approach would soon see her demoted back to corporal after stepping on the wrong superiors’ toes too many times. Mira is a blunt, straightforward woman that has no tolerance for any kind of nonsense or beating around the bush. She likes to tackle problems head on though not stupidly, her ideal approach being a quick but tactful handling of any kind of situation. When quick is too dangerous she can settle on tactful alone and when tactful is too slow and the risks are not too severe she is more than willing to go for the quick direct approach. Her sometimes bombastic way of policing have earned her as much criticism as praise and she has been reprimanded before for “playing the hero”. Despite her aggressive and relentless demeanor regarding her duties as law enforcement Mira also has an empathetic and caring side, particularly towards her family and close friends. Mira Feng is the best of friends and the worst enemy to have.

COLD PLAGUE

EPISODE 1
OUTBREAK

“Fuck, it’s cold.”

Corporal Mira Feng shuddered intensely as she slid into the drivers seat of her patrol car, two polystyrene cups of coffee in hand. She placed one of the coffees in the cup holder while reaching to hand the other to her partner, Deputy Omar Barajavan. As Omar took the coffee Mira reached and pulled the car door shut, albeit a little too hard, anxious to be out of the freezing November night air. Mira tugged her coat collar up snugly around her neck as she reached and turned the car key, the engine roaring to life. The time was one fifty-eight. “Look at that, still two minutes ahead of schedule.” Mira quipped monotonously as she put the patrol car into gear.

Mira and Omar were pulling out of the station for their regular shift, two to twelve. Normally they would be leaving a bit earlier than they were now but with the weather like it was Mira felt the need to hang back and grab a coffee for them both. Mira turned on the windshield wipers as they pulled up to the edge of the street in front of the station. There was a modest sheet of freezing rain coming down and according to the weather over the next few days it would get progressively colder and bring some heavy snow. Mira knew what that meant, working vehicle wrecks and directing traffic just as a start, especially now - never mind chasing hoods and punks down slicked roads and sidewalks.

You signed up for it. Mira thought wryly as she turned out into the street and peeled down the way.

Traffic was minimal but Mira knew that had to do with the epidemic that was suddenly shaking the city. The day before, early in the morning hours, people were coming into the hospital and showing severe symptoms that resembled a flu. A winters’ illness outbreak was to be expected this time of year but this was something different. It was so sudden. Reports said that by the dozens and then the hundreds people were just flooding in wracked with symptoms, and it was worsening by the hour. By that afternoon hospitals and clinics were overflowing with sick people, many barely able to sit up straight in the waiting rooms - all this within less than twelve hours. Mira had never heard of anything like it. Ambulances were screaming up and down the streets all day and night from people having to be picked up from their homes, not even able to make it to their cars or to a cab to get to aid.

Mira had just woken up from sleeping earlier that evening when she heard about the wave of deaths. The news said people were dropping like flies, slumping over in their waiting room chairs or hospital beds. Mira still remembered that sudden, dreadful chill that had rushed through her as she watched the tv from her living room couch. The mayor had declared a state of emergency and was reaching out to the governor and Washington for immediate aid in this epidemic - whatever it was. Mira was no doctor but she imagined it to be some kind of freak mutant flu. And yet I have never heard of anything that could shake up and shut down a whole city in less than one day.

The Corporal shook her head as she reached for her coffee and took a long sip, the hot coiling steam feeling good against her face. Nearly every business Mira and Omar passed had signs indicating being indefinitely closed amid this strange pandemic. Doors were all locked up tight and blinds and window covers masked the insides of everything from stores to street side restaurants. Few people were on the sidewalks and most wore masks and gloves and were all giving each other a wide birth. A red flashing caught both deputies attention as they passed an apartment complex, an ambulance was parked outside and Mira could see EMT’s were rushing up the stairs.

Mira glanced sideways at Omar as she made a sharp turn down a side street on their route. “What do you know about this virus or whatever it is, Omar? This… flu…” Mira hoped he had something for her, anything other than just a shrug or an “I don’t know”. This whole thing was making her nervous to put it to the least, so many hospitalized and dead with no end in site reported.

COLD PLAGUE

RESERVED

Shu’s Character Catalogue

Mira Feng

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___________________________________ P R O F I L E Age 30 Sex Female Height 5’10” (177.8 Cm) Weight 135 Lbs (61.235 Kg) Ethnicity Mixed (Han Chinese and Jewish) Rank Corporal ____________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________ SHORT BACKSTORY & PERSONALITY Mira Feng was born in Lambour City to a Chinese father and a Jewish mother, the youngest of three children and the only daughter. Mira’s father was a real estate agent and her mother a nurse at a local health clinic. With two high earning parents Mira and her two older brothers had a very easy life growing up and more often than not had the best of everything - or at least close to it. Mira was close with her family, her mother was kind and attentive and her father a patient and dedicated parent if hard-spoken at times. Mira and her brothers were very tightly knit through their youth and well into their teenage years. As wonderful as things were though this ideal family would be shaken by tragedy. When Mira was fifteen her father was gunned down after being held up in the street, the terrible happening leaving the entire family grief stricken to say the least. Mira’s mother particularly went into a spiraling depression and became more distant as she tried to focus on working to hold things together. Thankfully extended family on both sides stepped in to help, but no amount of financial and familial support would heal the scars left on the Feng family after the death of Mira’s father. After graduating high school Mira’s brothers both went into respectable career fields, the elder becoming a real estate agent like his father and the younger a chemistry instructor at the University of Maine. Mira meanwhile went into law enforcement which was a blend of surprise but also a deeper understanding to those around her. On the death of her father - murdered in broad daylight - Mira had decided she wanted to go into law enforcement to serve the city, help protect the communities at large, and generally stop others from becoming victims of tragedies like her family was. All of the usual idealisms. After finishing police academy Mira would serve with Lambour City Police Department for four years before moving over to the Williams County Sheriff’s Department. In no time she made corporal and was soon after promoted to Investigator. However her growing abrasiveness and bullheaded approach would soon see her demoted back to corporal after stepping on the wrong superiors’ toes too many times. Mira is a blunt, straightforward woman that has no tolerance for any kind of nonsense or beating around the bush. She likes to tackle problems head on though not stupidly, her ideal approach being a quick but tactful handling of any kind of situation. When quick is too dangerous she can settle on tactful alone and when tactful is too slow and the risks are not too severe she is more than willing to go for the quick direct approach. Her sometimes bombastic way of policing have earned her as much criticism as praise and she has been reprimanded before for “playing the hero”. Despite her aggressive and relentless demeanor regarding her duties as law enforcement Mira also has an empathetic and caring side, particularly towards her family and close friends. Mira Feng is the best of friends and the worst enemy to have.

Mass Effect: Second Vigil

AMINA GALAL

”ROGUE”

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Amina Galal picked up a cigar from the table, one eyebrow raised as she rolled it over in her fingers. Amina had never been a smoker and only a casual drinker, though she felt it rude not to at least give the rolled tobacco that had been set out for the assemblage a once over. She lifted it to her nose to smell, her nostrils wrinkling and upper lip curling in revulsion at the scent. Amina had noticed their hostess coughing on the cigar that she was so amateurishly sucking away at as well as the fact that she was not the only arrival that did not partake, therefore she eagerly lay the stinking cigar back from where she had taken it. No need in starting a new habit just because the earth as we know it has gone to hell and back. Amina thought.

Amina did not take to the sofa but rather had pulled up a nearby chair with a leather seating and back. She had been the second person to arrive at the little meeting, the first a Quarian male. The human woman had sat silently the whole time, legs crossed and arms folded as she waited for the rest of the people that were meant to come. “People” being aliens as it were, mostly anyway - aside from the Quarian the group at hand consisted of one other human and then an Asari and a Turian. Amina chewed viciously on the inside of her cheek as she looked between the aliens, trying her best to keep her glances and foul expression on the low.

There is no point in letting it burn you up, they are stuck here and you with them - at least for the time.

The scientist woman - Lizbeth - had made her introduction and ordered rum. Rum was not Amina’s favorite but it was better than nothing, so she gladly helped herself to a glass as Miss Baynham proceeded forth with the details. The former ExoGeni scientist laid out the details of what was facing the would-be team at current; investigating the distress signal of the last SRN team, meeting with a contact to discuss an item the last team had with them, and then recovering a shuttle for transport. Amina started to consider all of what Lizbeth had said as she took a careful sip at her rum, then the Quarian spoke up.

“You can leave the distress signal to me. Reconnaissance is my speciality. I could probably investigate the area and be back without the locals ever knowing I was there. And if I’m caught. Well, I think I can handle a bunch of thugs with guns. Still, if anyone else wants to come, I'd never say no to backup.”

Cocky little suit rat. Amina looked over the rim of her glass as she let the sweet rum rush over her full lips. One person going to investigate into the missing status of a whole team sounded foolish to her, no matter how good the Quarian claimed to be at recon. There was no telling what was the cause behind the disappearance. It made more sense for the whole team or maybe two or three people to go at the same time to check things out. The woman finally lowered her glass and licked some of the rum from her lips as she sat forward, placing her half empty glass on the table. The rum was setting in as Amina was feeling a little buzz in the back of her skull and she decided it best to ease off for the moment. Deciding to make her own opinion known she considered her words carefully before speaking up.

Amina looked at Lizbeth, avoiding eye contact with the others, “I say we split into two teams. Half of us go to investigate the signal while the other half go to secure the shuttle. You can handle the politicking at the good mayors’ party. Safety in numbers plus we can accomplish more at the same time.”

“Or,” Amina added, sitting back, “we can all go investigate the signal together if people don’t want to split up and find group transportation later on.”