Alarms pulled me from my sleep, the lights of multiple different warnings lit up on the control panel, but most of the alarms tied to them deactivated.

"This is what I get for stealing a ship out of drydock." She mused, shaking sleep from her head and stepping to her armor. It wasn't actually her armor, just a collection of pieces lifted from repair or stole outright. The helmet was far too large, and she hadn't had the time to take it apart and rebuild it yet. The chest piece was thankfully sound other than a fracture by the left hip. It just had its paint marred by carbon scoring. Unfortunately, it was also too large for her. she had stolen it from her mother before she left, and her mother is a little more grown up than her. She paused. She could make it work, but it wouldn't be for much more than show. In a fight, she was better off without it. She moved on to the boots, which were in good enough condition and the right size. They had been a gift from one of the officers her parents had served with. Last but not least, she checked the gauntlets. They were still under construction. She had been working on them for a while now and couldn't leave them behind. Currently, they were dismantled, the wiring and intricate pieces carefully arranged on a workbench. She stepped into the boots, testing the mag seal just to be safe. Next, came the alarms.

Apparently, she had stolen a top of the line cutter, rather than a normal run of the mill small ship. Great, it explained all of the hubbub to catch her, and why they scrambled so quickly to find her. The first alarm blinking was the proximity alarms, letting the crew know that another ship was very close. Second was that the ship was being fired upon. Third, that they had lost shields, and finally, the only one that actually sounded, thus waking her, announced that our hull had been breached.

Accessing the engineering diagnostics, it looked like the invaders, whoever they were, had breached the cargo bay. Thinking quickly, she shut down all power outside of the bridge. Yes, it limited her ability to monitor them, but it should buy her some much-needed time. She jumped to the workbench that held the gauntlets. She was currently integrating her omnitool with the internal components. Military grade armor has automatic syncs with the implanted tech, but that must have been why they were in for repair, as it wasn't synching properly. The gauntlets had been resisting her attempts at repair for a few hours before her aching head demanded a nap, but she knew that she was close to a breakthrough. She ran the cycle through the armor again, checking the status on the viewscreen of the workbench.

Integrity: 94%

Composition: 100%

Reserves: 110%

Synchronization: Complete

Display: Error

Projection: Success

Quiet curses colored the air as she growled at the offending armor and halted the diagnostic. Once the power drained out, she dug back in with her tools. Truth be told, it wasn't the end of the world. The gauntlets worked perfectly, other than that they refused to display anything. No meters, no selection menus, no operating instructions. You had to know exactly how to use them in order to do anything with them. If you could do something without looking at them, then it was fine. But, if you weren't familiar or didn't have the muscle memory as to where everything is, then you were screwed, and locked out of much of their functionality. But, missing most of her armor, she needed to have these working at peak efficiency. She made a few tweaks and ran the diagnostic again. An image sputtered up but couldn't coalesce into anything readable. After a few too many experiences with live wires and components, she made sure to wait for all of the power to drain out. These, rather than burning fingers, might just cut them off if the omni-blades forged. Not worth the risk to her, not yet at least. After another round of poking at small components and checking for semicolons, she cycled the gauntlets again. Success! It all ran clean, all displays and synchs working as they should. Quickly, she rushed to put the pieces back together, sliding the housings and components together. Once they were all assembled, she slid them on and stepped to the other workbench. There was one for armor, and one for weapons.

On the weapons bench was a fully disassembled Avenger AR and a partially assembled Shuriken Machine Pistol. Quickly, she put the Shuriken back together, sliding it into a thigh holster. Normally, it would socket onto the hip plate of the armor, but since her armor wasn't functional, changes had to be made. She checked that her stolen Carnifex was still at the small of her back and did a mental tally. She was armored, armed, and the ship is still intact for now. She accessed the ship's VI and routed all access to her omnitool, setting the left to show the schematics of whichever area she's in, as well as any other data it can get. With one last look around, she steps out into the dark hallway, lit only with emergency glows on the ceiling. She let the door close behind her and overrides the local breakers, cutting the power. The hall goes dark. By her wrist radar and the emergency lights, she creeps towards the ladder to the next level. She patrols from the bridge of her 'borrowed' cutter to the middle deck without seeing anyone, which is a bad sign. A very, very bad sign. Only a smart attacker would keep his troops by the breach point, waiting for the crew to come to them. While two ships were linked, they were both incapable of maneuvering, so there was no chance of escape. At least, not without losing all atmosphere and shearing off armor. In other words, suicide. She climbs through the corridor toward the engine room, ducking into a bulkhead when she suddenly hears talking.

"Boss wants to know how long." One male says.

"Be in the core in a few minutes. Until then, advise patience." The other replies. From his speech pattern, it appears that the engineer is a Salarian, while the guard is a human.

"Salvage has almost completed the first deck. It's amazing we haven't seen anyone."

"Power spike was detected, so there must be someone. Ship cannot be derelict." The Salarian argues.

"Could have been a power cell finally cooking off. These Alliance vessels aren't known for careful- Aagrh!" A single, well placed shot smashes through his neck, sending his body crumpling to the ground.

She follows up her shot by rushing the Salarian, sliding into his legs to knock him to the ground before training her SMG on him.

"Human, Female, too young to be a soldier. Parent's wouldn't let wander off. Besides, no place on Alliance experimental ship. Stowaway? Has to be. No. Ship is empty, no other life. Joyriding then." He gives her a judgmental look from his place on the floor. "Should not have run away from home."

"Shut it. Who are you, why are you here?" She demanded.

"Identity unimportant. Vessel boarded by pirate gang based out of Omega. Captured by them myself."

She lowers the gun. "Tell me about them. How many of them, how are they operating, what type of arms, anything that could be useful."

"Hmm. Handful of Humans and Turians. Maybe three or four of each? Lead by Krogan. Pirates disable ships are steal anything of value. Take slaves, leave corpses. All I know." He says.

"Alright. Time to push them back to their own ship and get out of here." She scampers to the next maintenance access way. The next level would be a trouble spot. It was the nerve center and held the main airlock. They would be massed there. They also likely got some indication of their friend's demise, so they would be on alert. She very carefully poked her head out of the hole and peeked around. Three guards, two human, one Turian. She was not going to win this one. She needed to be smarter, to outthink them.

She backtracked to the engine room, scanning over the abandoned materials. The drill they had been using on the engine room bulkhead was intact, but it would cause too much noise. If she went all the way to the captain's cabin, she could scavenge some explosives, but again it would be too loud. She had to go up that ladder. The longer she waited, the more likely they would transport the ship to 'safety' in their home system or an abandoned cluster. She was effectively trapped.

If they had the ladder under guard, then they most certainly had the ventilation ducts trapped. She needed a new plan. She couldn't ambush them, but neither could she let them take the ship, or her. She had no armor or means of escape. Trapped like pyjaks in a trench. She needed to have an advantage; a flank point, or to trap them. She had one pistol, a paired set of gauntlets, one SMG, a dead pirate, and one weirdo Salarian. If she could just-

That was it! She dug around in the fallen pirate's armor, searching for the supplies. Using her gauntlets as a base to scan from; she manufactured seven blades like the ones forged by her Omni tool. She took a deep breath and paused below the opening. Hopefully the guards hadn't moved. She leapt to the top rung, throwing two of the knives at the lights. Before the guards could react, she had another two blades in the air. As their gunfire finally roared to life, she folded and fell back down the ladder shaft. She scooped up her SMG and backtracked to the bulkhead, diving behind the cover and listening to her gauntlet.

"Damn! We've got no lights! Dex is down and Fage has a knife in his eye! Contact, contact. There is definitely someone besides us on this ship. He's taken down two at our post and I presume the engineer and West. Captain, we need you! Tere, hunt him down." A voice ordered. A clang came from the ladder shaft as her gauntlet hit the floor. It had been wedged in the top rung, transmitting audio. She waited one, two beats, and then engaged the blade.

A twisted scream came from the shaft.

"He got me in the ankle! Some kind of remote Omni blade! I need backup." The pirate she assumed was Tere shouted. She rounded back to the corner, peeking through her sight at the fallen man. He was clutching his leg, one arm tangled in the rungs. His rifle was out of his grasp. She waited for his friend to show up.

"You can't leave me here to bleed out! C'mon, he's going to kill me any moment now!" Tere shouted again, fear creeping into his voice. He looked around nervously, seeing monsters in the darkness. "Don't leave me." He whimpered.

She was about to put him out of his misery when a blur smashed to the bottom of the shaft, narrowly missing Tere. Its shotgun was trained on the empty corridor.

"Settle down, you wimp." The newcomer growled at Tere, leveling its shotgun at him. "The bastard got me in the eye- much worse than your ankle."

"Fucking asshole" Tere spat. Her position had just gotten worse. She couldn't dodge a blast from the scattergun, but neither could she engage the Krogan in close. He would tear her apart. She could blind throw a knife, but the chances of it hitting anything were slim. Thinking fast, she tiptoed back to the fallen pirate and hid her weapons and armor. She dipped her fingers in the pooled blood and smeared it along her hip. Next, she cut at her pants legs before slicing off a few of her shirts buttons and ripping the undershirt. To complete the look, she tensed and drew the blade across her side. It was only a scratch but by spreading the guard's blood she made it look worse. Rebuttoning the dress shirt wrong and standing in a pair of torn fatigues with an obvious injury, she was fairly certain she could get out of this. Human men liked to 'protect' and she would be the perfect target. He'd want to enjoy her before killing her, she hoped.

She scampered back to the corner, nudging loose tools and wires as she went. No, I'm not trained in anything. I'm just a girl, lost in a ship. She let out a whimper of pain, holding the bloody knife. Tere's gaze shot up, and he licked his lips. The Krogan grunted and gripped his shotgun tighter. She peeked around the corner, squeaking in mock surprise.

"Surrender." The Krogan demanded, chambering his scattergun. She put a hand on the corner and slowly staggered forward, playing up her injury. Tere read his companion and yanked on the shotgun, right as the Krogan, applying the 15 pounds of pressure needed to activate the mass effect field, fired. His modified shotgun shot mostly into the floor, but one lucky shard punched through her upper arm in a spray of blood.

"Dammit." Tere swore, hobbling to her body as she sunk to the floor. "Fale, we have something. A girl, appearing to have escaped from the soldier who attacked us. She's injured. The bastard shot her when she tried to run. She also has a knife wound in her side."

"I'm bringing her to medical." Tere said, grabbing her wrist. She doubted she'd make it to medical.

He manages to drag her up the ladder, swearing a storm as his foot flops around. to get her up the ladder, but not without a lot of jostling. He drags her past the Turian guard and through the airlock, shoving her into the wall as a Salarian passes by. The Salarian almost turns to go back through the airlock, but something triggers. She can see the spark in his eyes. He's turning back, hand moving for his sidearm. She kicks Tere in his knee, drawing his pistol and firing directly at the pirate. The first shot breaks on his shield, but the third and fourth break his head into pulp. The fifth ends Tere's suffering, and the remaining shots go into the Turian as he runs for cover. She runs out of ammo, but he is still moving, so she ducks behind a crate.

The Turian's AR spits out a steady stream of fire at the crate, which is falling apart fast. He must be using Armored piercing rounds. Right before the crate breaks she darts out again, scrambling to grab one of her knives. The AR fire gets closer and closer as she runs, the Turian locking in. Her hand hits one of the knives and she throws it, dropping to the deck as soon as it left her hand. The knife is moving too slow for the shields to activate and buries itself in his chest. She staggers closer, arm pressed against her side, which has torn more during the scuffle. The Turian is gasping and wheezing, his lung punctured. He'll dead in minutes. She moves to finish him off, but an arm grabs her neck and lifts her up.

"You're a crafty one, I'll give you that." The Krogan rumbles as he carries her back towards the pirate's ship. "But you're worth a lot of credits. You'll fetch a fine price in the market."

A dull click sounds, and something happens outside of her view. "Suggest you let her go. High caliber, incendiary round. Direct firing to neck of target resulting in paralysis. Permanent for most species."

"I am not most species." The Krogan bellows.

"Indeed. Still, debilitating, even if temporarily. Propose deal, let Krogan go with his ship, he leaves girl and technology here. Otherwise, fire into neck of Krogan. Then, drag Krogan to airlock. Throw Krogan into space. With so many redundant organs, Krogan will die within the week, but not much sooner. Deal?"

"We have an accord." He grumbles, dropping the girl, and whirling around. The Salarian stands, with the drill in his hands. The Krogan laughs. "You've got a quad, lizard brain. We best never meet again. It would be harmful to your health." He lumbers back to his ship, kicking the dead bodies into the cutter and closing the airlocks.

The Pirate's ship slips away, and the Salarian drops the tool on the floor. The girl hasn't moved since the Krogan dropped her.

"Non-responsive. Erratic pulse. Blunt trauma coupled with blood loss and partial strangulation. She needs medical attention. Needs more than what is on ship. Best bet is to continue to Omega, Aria owes a favor." The Salarian says aloud, wrapping her arm and side with parts of her shirt.

"Wonder why she knows she stole a spy ship? Curious, either way, given her identity. Cannot be Alliance sanctioned mission. Most Curious." He mutters.