OoO( 3 )OoO

The trip across the wards was only twenty minutes. Taking one of the many Rapid Transport Terminals, boarding the craft and laying back as he flew towards his destination. He rubbed his eyes as he gazed out the protective barrier. As he watched the wards go about their life, he felt his eyes become heavier and heavier, as if some magic spell were cast upon him. But soon, he jerked upright, hitting his head against the crash-proof panel as a loud noise blared from the auto-pilot console. "Destination in 10 seconds." said the bodiless female voice.

He growled irritably as the car landed, then opened its door. Swiping his hand into the chit scanning slot, he paid for the ride, then pulled out another Blizz and lit it. After exhaling the heavy smoke with a satisfactory sigh, he approached the door, looking the place up and down before finally walking in the door. When he entered, the entire place reeked of machines and smoke.

The first sight he caught was of a turian hammering wildly at a large machine. After a few minutes, he stood, panting with exertion and noticed Leon. "Oh, sorry about that. Was just having a word with one of the new contraptions I'm making." said the turian as he smiled genuinely.

Leon looked at the machine, then back at the turian. "I guess it didn't go well?" he asked, causing the alien to chuckle.

"Not quite. Had to teach it a lesson." he said in amusement. "Now, what can I do for you?"

Leon looked around the place curiously, at all the different parts hanging from the ceiling, as well as those on the shelf. His eyes also locked onto the red gear on the turians chest. "Interesting logo." he said.

Looking down at the logo on his shirt, the turian looked back up at the human curiously. "You aren't here to buy anything...are you?" he asked.

"I'm here to ask you if you know a krogan with a scar over his left eye." asked Leon as he blew another cloud of smoke into the air.

The turian took a step back and shrugged. "Sorry friend, I'm afraid I don't."

Leon smiled. "That's what I figured. And it's a damn shame too." said the officer as he turned from the counter.

"Wait...why? What happened?" asked the scrapper.

Leon turned around after exhaling more smoke. "Do you like owning your own business?" asked Leon. The turian merely nodded. Placing his hands on the counter, Leon smiled. "Good. As a C-Sec officer..." he said, making the scrapper flinch. "to a scrapper, I can point out 6 different parts just out here that belonged to a Lynx."

"S-So...?" said the turian, visibly shaken.

"So? Lynx's are top of the line models. You think anyone on this station is going to believe that someone paid premium for a new Lynx and immediately took it to the scrapper?" asked the officer. "No, so here's how this works. You tell me what I need to know, and your nice little scrap shop here stays in business."

The turian was visibly shaken by the threat. Lowering his head, the alien finally broke. "Fine..." he said with a heavy sigh. "The krogan you're looking for goes by Rynoc Kurgesh. He worked here for a long while." said the turian as he waved his hand to blow away the drifting cigarette smoke. "About a week ago, he said he had a big job, one that could put him into retirement."

"Did he say what the job was?" asked Leon as he eyed the scrapper, looking for any slight tick that said he was lying.

The turian shook his head. "I didn't let him. I know how these big jobs go. You do something big, if you succeed, you get paid, and possibly killed afterwards. If you fail, you die or go away for a long time. I'm more of an under the radar kind of guy, one that knows that getting too greedy puts you in bad places." he said, getting a nod from the detective. "The day after, he didn't come back in for work. The bastard didn't even return the uniform I gave him." he said sourly.

Leon stared at him a few moments longer, before finally putting out the stick on the counter. "Good news Ralek." he said, looking at the turians name tag and causing the alien to look at him apprehensively. "I believe you." The scrapper sighed again. "Would you happen to know where he went?" he asked curiously.

"'Fraid not. In a job like this, it's best if no one person has the gangs personal info. You know...in case you...C-Sec, gets ahold of them." he said.

"A business precaution." said the detective with a smirk.

The turian chuckled. "You could call it that."

Sighing deeply, Leon accessed his omni tool and entered the krogans name, bringing up a profile and picture of the krogan in question. Staring at the rap sheet, he shook his head. "You sure know how to pick your employees. Assault, assault and battery, vandalism, grand theft auto, planning to attempt murder, urination in public, and...loitering?" he asked curiously. The turian shrugged. "In any case, if you're going to sell this crap, at least make it hard for me to find a reason." said Leon as he turned away from the counter and left.

The turian just stared at the door incredulosuly. "Th-Thanks...I guess?"

OoOoO

Once again, he found himself in the dull moments between cases, the kind usually involving surveillance or paperwork. At the moment, he sat in his office, with his omnitool linked to his terminal, the camera footage from Barla Vons establishment playing in front of him. This was the fourth time he had watched it, each time he grew more frustrated.

The entire video was little more than residents entering the building. A few moving trucks had pulled up to the building at some point, garnering a little interest from the detective. However, unless the mercenaries had stuffed her into a couch, it was unlikely that they had anything to do with the kidnapping. He yawned again as he saw the familiar garbage collecting vehicle land in front of the building, then drive off.

Again, he felt his eyelids starting to close, their weight becoming too much for him. Suddenly, he was alerted by his omnitool beeping. Tia materialized and looked down at him. "Leon, you have a dinner request from Inspector Corvus. He wants to check on you and the case, see how you're doing so far." she said to him as she relayed the message.

He glared at her. "Did you tell him I've hit a brick wall?" he asked sarcastically.

"Sorry chief, not in the job description. Put on a nice jacket though. It's for Aurala's." she said, then vanished from the omnitool. He sighed as he stood again.

"Never a moment of rest." he said as he stood.

OoOoO

As Leon arrived at Aurala's, a small but legendary diner in the middle of the Kithoi Ward, he immediately saw the turian sitting at one of the outdoor tables sipping on a small teacup. He sat down at the table, immediately grabbing the Inspectors attention.

"My god Zechs, you look like you were hit by an elcor." said the chief as he examined the detective.

"Feel like it too." said the man as an asari wearing the restaurant uniform walked up and asked for his order. "Coffee, strong coffee, strongest you've got." he said, getting a chuckle out of the inspector. He then placed his face in his hands, elbows against the table.

"I take it the investigation is rough going?" asked the turian.

"The only thing I have to go off of is camera footage from across the street. But the camera doesn't seem to show anyone leaving with anything that looks like it could fit our target." he said, leaning back and rubbing his eyes again. The asari brought over a tall cup with black coffee in it and sat it down on the table. Leon picked it up and blew the steam off the top. Taking a drink of the strong liquid, he finally sat back relaxed. "Otherwise, whoever did this knew what they were getting into, and covered their tracks pretty good. I don't imagine this will help, but here." he said as he activated his omnitool and forwarded it to Corvus. "It's the profile of one of the kidnappers."

Corvus looked at the profile, his mandibles clicking briefly. "Quite the character. Looks like this gang is recruiting some real talent. Don't worry, I'll get this on vidcoms across Citadel Space." he said, putting the file away. Looking back up at the detective, he set his drink down again. "In the meantime, you really look like you've been through a year without sleep. Are you still..." he asked, but the death glare from Leon stopped him mid-sentence.

"No." said the human forcefully. The inspector nodded, knowing the conversation was at an end.

"Well, at the very least try and get some rest tonight. We've still got a few more days until the trial. It's not going to kill you to power down for a few hours." said the turian. Leon sighed, then nodded. Picking up the coffee, the detective went to take another drink when a loud sound startled him. The coffee splashed onto his shirt, staining the white button-up and searing his skin.

Immediately he jumped up and began dancing in pain. "Son of a..." he shouted, but stopped when he saw the source of the noise. It was another garbage disposal vehicle. Despite his scalding skin, he stopped and stared at the truck as it made the loud noise once more.

"Zechs, what is it?" asked Corvus as he walked up to the detective.

"The truck..." he said. Immediately he pulled up his omni tool as the truck now drove away. Again, he opened the video and fast forwarded through the feed. Finally, he stopped it and pressed play. Corvus eyed him warily, then watched the video. The same kind of truck pulled up to the front of the building and opened its compartment. The ones going inside were obscurred by the truck itself, but they came down with multiple bags of waste and threw them into the truck. The compartment closed, then the truck drove off. A slow smile creeped across Leons face.

The turian looked at him curiously. "The truck?" he asked. Leon nodded. "It just looked like a regular waste truck to me. How's that a lead?"

Rewinding again so that the truck was in front of the building, he smiled at the inspector. "They didn't compact it. Each time one of these abominations comes down my street, they throw the trash into the back, then they make that..." he said pointing to where the truck used to be. "That noise!" Turning back to the video, he continued. "They didn't compact it."

"They forgot?" asked Corvus, only to result in Leon shaking his head.

"The building has a trash chute, I saw it while I was inside. There is absolutely no reason for this truck to be at this building. Paired with the fact that it didn't compact its cargo, tells me that they stole a truck, kidnapped her, threw her in the back, then drove off!" he finished.

A look of understanding dawned on the inspector. "I'll get Mortalus on the coms about any missing trucks. In the meantime..." he said, looking at the detective. "Take a power nap. When we find these guys, we're going to need you fully charged."

Leon nodded, though reluctantly. He took another sip of his coffee as the inspector began walking towards his vehicle. Slowly, a smile appeared on the humans face. "Tia." he said. The VI immediately popped up.

"You called chief?" she asked.

"Call Namek, I've got a job for him." he said, lighting another cigarette.