Mass Effect: Coalition -- { Started, Closed }

[CounterAttack]

As the last of the mercenaries fell dead or unconscious, Recarius burst two of the batarian commander's eyeballs with a stab of his talons. Screaming in agony, the merc dropped to the ground, one hand raised in defence while the other wiped away the streams of fluid pouring from his ruined eye-sockets. The Spectre lowered his fists, but instead drew his pistol and got down on one knee to talk to the batarian, momentarily ignoring Jonah's questions. He wanted to interrogate the merc, rather than let him get away.

"Who told you about the meeting?" he snarled, sliding the barrel of his Carnifex under the merc's chin. "Tell me, or it only gets worse for you."

"It was a - a tip-off from a turian delivered directly to my boss! Tarak! He knows more than I do!" the batarian groaned, spilling his guts. "We - we sent an infiltration team to see if it was true! They came back and said it was! They lost their guns 'cause of a - a quarian! Biotic! Never seen one like her before!"

Jira... By the spirit of Palaven, leaving her outside was a stupid idea. Niyessa would never have done that. "What else did you know? Numbers? Offensive capabilities?" Recarius had to know if his messages had been intercepted. Anyone could hack the extranet given time and skill.

"No, no, nothing like that. Just - oh, it hurts... - just that a Spectre was coming to Omega... that's all, I swear... please let me go," the merc moaned. "We have a deal?"

"Not a chance. You tried to kill me," Recarius answered flatly as he stood and aimed his weapon between the batarian's upper pair of eyes. He did not tolerate attempts on his life, and those who tried to kill him did not get a chance to do so again. The last thing the mercenary saw before his life ended with a roar and a flash of light was the turian tilting his head to the right in a swift jerk; a gesture of dismissal. Blood and brain matter splattered all across the floor in place of half of the merc's skull.

"We have to get off Omega quickly, before more of them arrive," Recarius announced, replacing the pistol at his side and picking up a few thermal clips that Jonah had missed in his scavenging. "To answer your questions, Jonah, I have no idea. The merc said something about getting a tip-off, but I don't want to go chasing down leads. My contacts can probably trace the paper-trail... or one of the technicians on the team could do so," he added as an afterthought.

"I was accepted into the Spectres in the year 2162 with a glowing recommendation from the asari Spectre Niyessa T'Saya, my mentor and guide... I will never forget that day. If you want further proof I can contact the Citadel Council aboard my ship and demonstrate my familiarity with them," he continued, leading the way back down to the apartment. As the group got closer, though, Jira poked her head out the door and looked around.

[hr]

With the generators collected and stored away, Jira was free to leave as soon as the order was given. The sounds of gunfire stopped after a time, and she peered out through the doorway to find Recarius on his way back, the others in tow.

"Packed up and ready to go whenever you are," she reported. "Just, erm... be a little cautious of Akanth in the lounge. She may have had a bit much to drink." She hoped her new team-mate wouldn't get in trouble for not helping her new employer; none of them had had any idea that the Blue Suns would be attacking.

Well, except her, of course, but she hadn't had the time to warn Recarius before the attack, what with the recruitment and all.

 

[Lost In The Void]

Brand had managed to salvage a few spare heat clips from the various mercs, but it appeared any credits had already been picked clean by the little shit of a human. Jonah was walking beside the Spectre and Brand knew that he had more than one credit chit on him.

He stepped in front of the small and even by Krogan standards, smelly human and picked him up with one hand, "You feel like sharing the loot human? If I do recall you weren't the one shot; I think I need a little compensation for that; don't you think?"

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

As the Krogan grabbed Jonah, he flinched, all of Jonah's neuroses flaring to the surface. "Don't touch me, you fucking iguana." He smashed his hand into the Krogan's chest, giving him a full-force biotic shove with all the power of Jonah's mind behind it.

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

Morroth stood up from his cover in the apartment, when the fight had been won. He had already wanted to leave Omega, before the fight started. He would like to already be on a ship out of here now. He could see the quarian who had brought him in to the apartment, in the doorway. He walked over to her and saw the others approaching as well.

"Good fighting." He saw the Krogan fight with a human, who he thought was in his new team. "Fighting among ourselves. Krogans." He said in a normal tone. Krogans never changed.

He ignored them. If the spectre couldn't handle it, then Morroth would simply use him to get off Omega. If someone wasn't competent enough as a leader to keep a krogan in line, Morroth would have no problem slipping away if he wanted too. There was the problem with the task they had though. He couldn't leave that behind with good conscience.

"Are we leaving or waiting for them to kill each other first?" He asked, no one in particular.

 

[Lost In The Void]

Brand was pushed back, almost falling on his ass from the display of biotics. He heard what the Salarian said and laughed, "We're just talking Salarian; don't worry," he lifted his shotgun and pointed it at Jonah's head, "Do that again and there will be a giant hole where your face used to be; I'm just saying that the loot is everyone's," his lips curled into a smile, "After we're a team."

 

[tsatoma]

With the last of mercenaries now dealt with, Mya followed Recarius as he led the group back to the apartment. She passed Jira and Morroth as she went inside, entering the lounge to grab her things. Some fighting and talking could be heard going on outside, but it seemed to die down after a minute. Her attention was on her things, placing her M-8 back inside while taking out a M-5 Phalanx Heavy Pistol and placing it in a holster on her hip.

Only once Mya picked up her two satchels did she realize the Turian named Akanth was still there in the lounge. "Hey, you missed the fighting...what little there was. We're supposed to head on out, so I'd advise you to get your things and come on out," Mya told the Turian, about to leave before asking, "Why didn't you help us? Not that I'm holding it against you."

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

"Grab me again and I'll break your limbs and space you." He dropped the credits into a small pile. "Next time ask politely. Psycho Space Iguana." He chuckled to himself. "No wonder your people couldn't make it to space without being helped...and no wonder you're dying out." He picked up his share of the credits and pocketed them. "Can we get out of here? I doubt that's the last of the Blue Suns on this station."

 

[Captainguy42]

Akanth was still sitting, a glass filled with some foul mixture of water, juices, and salt was in her right hand, her gun was on sitting on the table with the safety off. As she talked she slurred some words, "Lil' bit too tipsy, figured I'd just get in the way, considerin I never worked with groups in the first place."

Akanth took another gulp of her drink, something she had hoped would sober her up, then re-safeties and re-holstered her gun. "I was planning on hanging back unless they started to overwhelm you guys." Akanth seemed less drunk than she had been before, instead she seemed agitated. Can't believe at let myself get too drunk to fight. She followed Mya out of the apartment and joined the rest out there.

 

[CounterAttack]

"Enough! Stand down, both of you, before I take matters into my own hands," Recarius interjected, putting himself between Jonah and Brand before they came to blows. "This isn't the time to be threatening one another, not when there might be more of them on the way. Let's get out of here before more of them show up. Jira, get that lot out of here. We'll cover you."

"Got it," the quarian answered with a nod before taking off at a run with the platform holding up the somewhat heavy power supply, plus the two cases of additional equipment on her back. She kept her pistol on the platform, ready to snatch up in case she ran into a bit of trouble. She knew where she was heading, having memorised the route to the Steadfast's dock as soon as she had stepped onto the space station.

Recarius watched his companion go for a moment before retaking control of the situation. "Now let's get going before they stop us again. Those with problems can sort them out later, once we aren't in mortal danger," he said, his tone mirroring the thought that he wanted no arguments yet. Already he thought he heard footsteps down the hall, that didn't belong to quarian feet. Drawing his sniper rifle just in case, he began to follow Jira back to the Steadfast, with everyone else close behind him.

The group hurried down the halls and alleyways of Omega, receiving hissed threats and muttered curses from the grimy residents of the streets, until they reached the entrance to the docking bay. Jira stood near the open door to the airlock, waiting for the others to catch up to her.

"Welcome to the Steadfast, ladies and gentlemen," Recarius said as he led the team into the ship. They paused as the door shut behind them, and a decontamination field winked into existence, bathing the nine of them in sterilising white lasers. After a minute or so, the field shut off and the internal door to the ship slid open. A turian stood there, snapping a salute when he saw Recarius at the head of the group. "Welcome back, Recarius... and company," he added with a polite nod upon seeing the motley crew behind him.

"Lalik, take Brand to Doctor Jitaxia's office; he needs a bit of patching up," he said as he stepped into the hallway, indicating the krogan as he spoke. The Steadfast was a large frigate of turian design, but with a few modifications: while it was spartan in furnishings and simple in colour scheme, there was enough accommodation for a considerable number of people, including both the crew and the Spectre's team. It was also outfitted with a decent medical bay, cargo hold, armoury and practice range.

"Everyone else, follow me and I'll show you where you can put your possessions," he added as he began walking down the hall. The ship's pilots, one from each race that made up the crew - humans, salarians and turians - were already working to disengage from the dock and leave the space station. Both Recarius and Jira were happy to put Omega behind them.

 

[blaze96]

"Well this is quite the ship you have here. I'll almost miss the shuttles and cramped quarters I'm used to." Selyna responded as she walked through the ship, nodding back or snapping salutes off to crew members as they passed depending on how they greeted her.

"Though I will miss seeing others of my species as often as I used to."

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

Morroth followed after Recarius, walking through the ship. He was glad to finally be onboard a ship heading away from Omega. He was also pleased to see that there were other Salarians working as crew.

"Quite the ship, indeed." He said in agreement with the Asari. He didn't pay the crew much attention, more than a couple of nods here and there.

"Pleased to leave Omega. Wondering, what's our next destination?"

 

[CounterAttack]

"Our next destination depends on the leads my contacts have dug up. I do not expect any results yet... unless you want to take a hand at it," Recarius answered Morroth with the turian equivalent of a human smile, leading most of the group into the central area of the ship. Brand was being led away by Lalik.

A set-up common among all turian vessels - and one notable Alliance vessel - was evident in the ship's command center. About half a dozen crew stood at their stations, quietly talking to one another as they worked. A large holograph of the Steadfast, in a style similar to that of VIs, dominated the scene. The commanding officer's bridge was placed at the far end of the set-up, with a few computer terminals built into its structure.

"In the meantime, allow me to give you the tour of the ship," he continued, leading the rest of the team into. "This here's the armoury and training range... Jonah, you still have that missile launcher? I'm gonna have to ask you to leave that here. You can all keep your usual weapons on hand, though," he added to forestall the inevitable question that someone would ask. "It's nothing personal, Jonah. I just don't want anyone to accidentally blow a hole in the side of the ship."

The armoury was fairly extensive, including the practice ranges which added a fairly decent length to the room. Weapons racks stood on the walls, displaying a considerable number of guns of most types and models. Two of the larger shelves held the few heavier weapons Recarius possessed: there were a couple of grenade launchers, flamethrowers and two missile launchers, counting the one in Jonah's possession.

[hr]

As Recarius's group took the tour of the primary deck, Lalik gestured for Brand to follow him to the medical bay, which was on the same level as the ship's primary entrance. It was opposite the ship's armoury: where the Spectre and his new team had headed to the right at the command center, Lalik turned left.

"Just this way," he said, indicating the door ahead of the krogan and his guide. As they approached, it automatically opened to reveal the medical center. One man stood there, examining something on an omni-tool. Dressed in a white, floor-length lab coat, gloves and comfortable shoes, with a mop of loose blonde hair complemented by thick goggles on his forehead, Doctor Jitaxia looked around as the wounded Battlemaster walked in, accompanied by Lalik.

"Ah. You must be part of Spectre Kallidan's new team. Welcome... have a seat. I'm Doctor Ludovic Jitaxia, though some call me Bones." The doctor raised an eyebrow at the sight of Brand's injuries, his mind already recalling the specifics of krogan anatomy. "Hmm... I assume you guys got into a firefight down there? Not difficult on Omega, of course. Krogan cellular regeneration means you're already healing around the bullets... Quick application of medi-gel should cover you." The doctor pulled a small vial of the gel in question from his breast pocket and began to treat Brand's injuries.

[hr]

Jira followed Recarius through the ship, giving friendly waves and 'hello's to crew as she passed them. Long since familiar with the layout of the Steadfast, she remained silent, but stuck around in case anyone had questions that she might be able to answer. While waiting for someone else to speak up, she switched on her omni-tool and patched herself into the ship's communications channels, leaving the orange hologram active in case she was needed elsewhere.

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

Morroth thought about Recarius offer, as they made their way to the armory. It seemed like the armoury had most kind of weapons the group might find useful. He didn't usually use anything else than his handgun though.

"Wouldn't mind trying my hands at it. It's what I'm here for, after all, isn't it?" He said, thinking that there was no time to waste. "What kind of equipment do this ship have, that I could use, for the task?"

 

[Lost In The Void]

"Its not often a human knows the intricacies of Krogan biology," Brand said, slightly impressed at the Doctor's knowledge, "At least these rounds went through and through, I hate getting rounds pulled out."

He stretched as the medigel was applied. There was always the cool sensation as it spread throughout the entire wound, but soon it was all over and the pain was lessened to a dull ache. Brand stood up and shook the doctor's hand honestly. He may not have liked humans, but any that managed to glean any knowledge from the Krogan had to be ok in some way, "Thank you sir, hopefully this becomes a regular thing," he laughed and clapped the doctor on the back.

He wandered around the ship for a while, getting his bearings. It was Turian designed, minimalism and a circle jerk to the person in command. It was also too small but then he also had to thank someone for the fact that it wasn't a Quarian vessel.

 

[socialtangent]

Kel had seen holos of the SSV Normandy and similar turian vessels before, but actually being aboard one was breathtaking. As a quarian, the ships he spent his life on ranged from several decades to several centuries old; the Migrant Fleet ran entirely on hand-me-down and repaired vessels. Being in such a new, advanced ship like the Steadfast made Kel rather excited. The engines, the shielding, the weaponry...all of it was the cutting edge of turian technology.

He looked around in the armory, nodding approvingly at the selection of firearms. Though he preferred lighter weaponry, at the most a submachine gun, the extra firepower was definitely appreciated. Scanning the weapons, a fancy-looking submachine gun caught his eye. Although unwilling to part with his customized heavy pistol, he was in the market to obtain a new SMG.

"Question, are we free to take whatever weaponry we need?"

 

[blaze96]

"Hmm it would be interesting if we could. So much to choose from here, and such high quality too." Selyna said as she walked along the rows of weapons of varying types, sizes, and shapes.

"Then again I would expect no less from a spectre." She said as she picked up a sub-machine gun and looked it over.

 

[CounterAttack]

Many of the crew members shot sideways looks at the wandering krogan aboard the ship, and Lalik, Recarius's turian assistant, shadowed Brand from a distance to ensure that he didn't get into trouble... or start making trouble.

Under Recarius's instructions, given prior to docking on Omega, the krogan was free to wander around the central area of the Steadfast's command center, as he was part of the team the Spectre had recruited. He was, however, subject to restrictions. At first, crew members did not have access to the cockpit, the armoury or engineering without a crew member's supervision. Nor did they have access to life support or any of the other critical functions of the ship. Recarius would, of course, relax these restrictions for certain people if they had the skills to operate the relevant machinery.

Lalik recalled all of this as he continued to follow Brand. He carried out the latter cautiously, though, as he had no desire to be threatened by the krogan.

[hr]

"You are free to add most weapons to your personal arsenals: pistols, rifles and the like. But I repeat my request that all experimental technology or heavy weapons, such as missile launchers, flamethrowers or cryo-guns, are stored here unless we are taking them on a mission." Recarius answered the questions of both Kel and Selyna with the same response.

"You are free to visit the training range at any time... or, if you prefer to fight unarmed, there is the sparring arena on the deck below. I'll continue the tour for now, so you can come back and obtain what you want once you know the layout of the place. Let's move on, shall we?" With that, Recarius led the way out of the armoury and back into the command center.

"The medical bay is on the opposite side of the elevator, which is just behind the commander's podium," Recarius continued to describe the ship as he walked. "Let's hope we don't have to see any more of the place than we need to, eh?" he added, hoping to get a laugh out of his team.

"Everyone into the lift, and we'll visit the lower levels."

[hr]

Jira's omni-tool bleeped at her as she brought up the rear of the group. Something had come up. She tapped a button and brought up the offending note on her helmet's heads-up display. An extranet message had come in from Arlena Lirai, one of the two asari among the information brokers Recarius paid to keep him informed. The subject title read:

Mercenary Activity - Thought You'd Be Interested.

Jira dismissed the message: Recarius would have received it on his own omni-tool, had it been online and connected to the extranet. For now, she simply observed the group. Her eyes occasionally wandered to the asari, Selyna. Jira had seen many asari in her time, working with Recarius and otherwise, but they never failed to capture Jira's gaze with their ethereal beauty.

The quarian shook her head a little, focusing her thoughts back on Recarius and the words leaving his mouth. She believed she was expected to retain at least some form of professionalism, since she had been recruited by Recarius years ago.

 

[tsatoma]

Mya stayed silent as she followed near the back of the group, being sure to keep her hands to herself and not touch anything. It was extremely tempting once Recarius showed them the armory filled with weapons. It had been a long time since Mya had used any heavy weapons, but seeing the different types Recarius had brought back pleasant memories. She smiled lightly after eying the flamethrowers, her smiling growing wider when Recarius said that there was a training range.

'This seems like a damn dream come true,' she thought to herself optimistically as the tour of the ship continued.

 

[CounterAttack]

The rest of the tour of the Steadfast completed without incident: Recarius gave his new team a look at each of the rooms available. This included the sparring arena - a common feature on turian ships - situated exactly below the armoury on the deck above; the mess hall, large enough to accommodate about half of the crew, plus Recarius's team, at any given time; a few rooms specifically refitted for giving the team a living and sleeping area - most crews used cryo-pods or swapped beds, but Recarius wanted to give his team a bit more dignity than that - and the cargo bays and engineering on the deck below that.

The Spectre was of the mind that each of his team would find themselves with plenty to occupy themselves, be it in their chosen field or otherwise. As such, he gave them a full twenty hours, the galactic standard day, to become properly acquainted with the ship. They were free to wander around - under armed supervision by either a crew member or Jira, until he was absolutely certain that they could be trusted - and get used to the slightly redesigned turian frigate. Making themselves at home would help them to relax and get an idea of how things worked under Recarius's command, he reasoned.

For now, though, he had other concerns. The Council needed to be informed of how his mission had begun. He made his way to the small chamber just behind the elevator on the main deck. This room was private, built for the explicit purpose of contacting the Citadel Council directly. As soon as the door swished closed behind him he tapped a button on his omni-tool. Four burnt-orange figures flickered into existence before the turian; three male, one female. Recarius snapped to attention immediately before his superiors.

"Spectre Kallidan. Your team is ready, we trust?" the turian Councilor asked.

"Yes, Councilor. They are assembled on my ship: we are ready to begin the task you have given us," Recarius answered. If the Council had any information related to his investigation, they would provide it in this conversation.

The asari councilor spoke up. "Good. We have not heard from four more of our operatives during the time it took for you to gather followers; we would hate to lose more."

"I agree whole-heartedly, Council," Recarius stated. He meant it.

"Unless you have any other leads, begin your investigation at the border of the Terminus Systems and the Traverse. That was where we last heard from three of the missing Spectres," the asari continued. "We await the results of your efforts." The four figures faded into thin air as the connection was terminated on the Council's end. It was standard procedure, in Recarius's experience, for the Council to 'hang up' first. But that was irrelevant. He now had a location in mind, a starting point for his search.

Leaving the private comms chamber, Recarius stepped up onto the bridge of the Steadfast's command center. A flick of a switch patched him through to the navigator and pilots simultaneously. "We have a destination: the Terminus-Traverse borders. We'll start at the far end, the Hades Nexus, and work our way inwards."

"Understood, sir. Course set. Destination: Hades Nexus," the salarian navigator confirmed.

"We are en route, sir," the voice of one of the pilots added. It was likely to take a decent length of time to get to the farther reaches of the galaxy: Recarius revised his estimate of a full day for his team getting to know the ship. But then, they had plenty of things to take into account, on their new home.

The Spectre stepped down from his command bridge, and called the elevator up from the decks below. With the course set and out of the way, he was in the mood to talk with someone.

 

[Lost In The Void]

Brand cracked his neck and felt the neural fluid shift with the muscle and bone. A thin line of the orange substance bled from a cut above his left eye, stinging until the second membrane slid over it. He smiled and looked at his opponent across from him. Brand wanted him to use weapons; you always fought better when your opponent posed some kind of threat.

This trainer, in particular, was likely to give him a difficult fight; he was Turian; natural bad blood between them. Hand to hand combat wasn't Brand's particular strength, that was why he was practicing on the training area rather than the firing range. You were only as good as your weakest element.

The two opponents circled each other, each daring the other to make the first move. It ended up being Brand who lost patience first, lunging at the other being. The Turian swung wildly and slashed Brand across the abdomen. The Krogan ignored the pain and picked the Turian up by his neck, causing the knife to clatter harmlessly to the ground.

Brand smiled, "You lo-" a quick sharp kick silenced him as it struck his crown. He dropped the Turian and kicked him as he tried to rise, sending him across the ring. Brand was just about to step on the Turian's head when the door hissed open. Recarius walked in, looking as if he had no direction. Brand decided that this was the best time to really get to know the 'fearless' leader. He kicked the trainer one more time and made his way to Recarius.

He stood casually looking down at his captain, "Nice boat you got here, lot better than the one I had hauling my ass around the Galaxy. Looks like being a Spectre has its perks at least."