"I'm not lettin' some little girl get the best of me!"
"Well for the last three days, that's exactly what she's been doing. We've already had to send most of the men back to the ship due to injuries."
"Yea, and that damn well pisses me off! She doesn't even have the decency to kill 'em! It's humiliatin'. And maybe if you'd let me recruit and train the men like we'd agreed, we wouldn't be in this damn mess. These men are idiots!"
"I've seen vids of the asari commandos. Those space witches carry a load of hardcore weaponry too. She hasn't even pulled that shit out of the bag yet."
"I'm not leavin' 'til that little girl cries. Jessie wants blood!"
Zaeed Massani and Vido Santiago are taking cover behind a rock formation. They'd formed a partnership in crime to create a band of mercenaries, Zaeed providing the military know-how, Vido the ship and contacts. They thought they could make some easy credits tomb raiding, selling ancient artefacts to rich academics and collectors to fund their aims. The asari is covered by a further formation around twenty metres ahead of their position, and she is not making their plans easy.
"You and that old fucking rifle. Forget it. Lets just cut our losses and leave. This isn't worth a few dead alien's trinkets."
Zaeed grabs Vido by the arm, "I ain't leavin'."
Vido pulls his arm away, "One hour and the shuttle leaves, whether you're on it or not. You're a damn liability, Massani." Careful not to move into the line of sight of the asari, Vido makes his way back to the shuttle. "You hear me? One hour!" Vido shouts back.
Zaeed pops his head around the cover of the rocks. He knows the asari hasn't moved position yet. He expertly lobs a grenade, landing it just to the side of the asari's cover. As soon as the grenade explodes, he runs towards the rocks covering the asari, firing his rifle in short bursts. "Come on Jessie! Raaaaaaaaah!"
Once close enough, Zaeed rolls beyond the cover line then points his rifle at the asari, who he finds surrounded by a barrier of biotics, forming a shimmering blue bubble around her. He lets off a few shots, which fail to penetrate the barrier. The crater from his grenade is right next to the bubble, indicating that the barrier can withstand a lot of punishment.
"You'll 'ave to let that down at some point, girly."
"I can keep this up for longer than you think, much longer than one hour. I heard your friend, perhaps you should go to him before you are abandoned."
"You're bluffin', I ain't goin' anywhere."
"That is your choice, pirate. But you have seen what I did to your men. Once alone, do you assume that you will do better?"
She looks away from him towards the entrance to a cave up the mountainside a way, which has revealed an ancient structure within. Her expression is not one of fear or anger, she looks deep in thought and seems more interested in the structure than his threats. Zaeed paces back and forth for a moment, thinking, then places his rifle on his back with an affectionate little tap.
"Sorry, Jessie. Not today."
"Bye bye, Jessie." the asari mocks, amused that he has named his weapon so.
He was in the process of walking away, but this facetious comment by the asari stops him in his tracks. He gives her a dirty look and a growl, then continues on his way. He heads back towards the shuttle, occasionally looking back to ensure his safety. As he approaches Vido, he shouts, "Damn witch had some kind of biotic barrier. No chance. She really wants whatever's in that ruin."
"See? Told you they were tough bitches."
"Damn thing shimmered like the surface of some blue sun."
"Hm. Nice."
As she sees the shuttle rising, Liara lets down her barrier, then gives a little pat to the pistol on her hip, pleased that once again it had stayed in it's holster. So far, Aria's concerns had been for nothing. Liara's biotics have indeed been enough to defend herself against these gangs of pirates. They just don't expect such resistance from, in their eyes, a little girl. They rarely expect a singularity and are generally disturbed by her biotic prowess. She's learned to use this to her advantage, ensuring that any detonated singularities have maximum psychological effect on such groups. And in her experience, most scare easily. However, she always wears her pistol to the sites, just in case.
This had certainly been the most difficult of her encounters so far, evading the group through the forests and rocky outcrops of this planet for three days, with periodic skirmishes. Her transport would not be returning for two more days, and she was beginning to think that she might not be able to keep it up for much longer. But right now, she is more annoyed that she has less time to explore the ruins. First though, some hot food. Being on the run for three days meant she had to be careful about setting camp and had not been able to cook, only eating the ready to eat rations she had brought. They provide sustenance, but nothing beats a hot meal.
She removes her backpack and takes out her cooking implements and starts the burner. She'd found some edible fungi in the forest and a few root vegetables, harvesting them when able. She'd even found some bird's eggs and carefully checked them for life before taking any. She prepares something resembling an omelette and finds a suitable rock to sit on, before devouring the tasty hot dinner.
"Hm, not bad Liara." she congratulates herself on the meal. "Now, what is this then?"
She picks up an assault rifle that one of the pirates had dropped. It is quite larger and heavier than the pistol she has become used to. Liara emulates how she had observed the pirates holding the weapon, looking down the barrel in a tight close grip. She aims through the forest and squeezes the trigger. The weapon fires, lifting up with each shot. The barrel has gone beyond forty five degrees before she releases, with a beeping sound ringing from the gun. She looks at it, and sees the display registering it needs to cool down, with a bar indicating progress.
"Ah, I see."
Liara allows the weapon to cool, and points it again. This time she presses the trigger, then releases quickly to allow the barrel to return to its original position. Then, again. She does this several times, firing in short bursts. Liara then checks the display. It is registering about halfway to overheating again.
"Good. I shall name you... 'Flossy'!" she laughs to herself, still amused by 'Jessie' and Zaeed's reaction to her mocking.
Liara places the rifle next to her bag and takes a torch and datapad from it. She heads up towards the cave and awaiting ruins. Her previous investigations in such places had brought interesting data. There were vague clues, cryptic messages, incomplete texts, all implying that the protheans were not the first great civilization in the galaxy. A cyclic pattern was forming, but there was nothing solid, and any communications with the university had been quite condescending to her. Liara knows she is right, but the evidence thus far just isn't strong enough to support her theory. She needs more.
Two worn statues of prothean build guard the entrance. These types of statues still disturb her a little, with their unfamiliar form looking down on her, protecting these places for fifty millennia. Liara switches on the torch and cautiously progresses into the ruin.