Alliance N4 School, Venus, Sol System

"Alright, I'm patched in," Chaa spoke quietly.

"Good," Patel growled as he risked half his head peaking over the ventilation duct the team was behind. "I hate this place and want to get inside."

"Oh, I don't know. Aside from the scorching heat, ridiculous surface pressure, hellish atmosphere and thousands of volcanos, this place is downright homey," Kelly chuckled, then slapped at Patel. "And get your fucking head down!"

"Feh, there's nobody-" Patel started before being cut off by mass rounds erupting all around him, causing him to flinch down. "Fuck me!"

"They're trying," Kelly quipped grimly. "Something about this whole thing seems wrong."

"Other than the live ammo?" Patel snorted.

Kelly frowned as she leaned the back of her helmeted head against the ducting. They had been separated from the group two days previously by a major she hadn't seen before. Special training, he had said. She had thought it odd, but he had brought her fireteam, so she hadn't said anything. Now she wished she had.

"Bravo two, this is bandit leader," a voice spoke over the newly hacked comm. It was female, deep, and controlled. Profesional. "Report."

"Copy, Leader," a nasal voice response. This one was tight and uncertain. "The intruders are pinned on the cafeteria roof. They seem to be wearing Alliance training armor, are we sure they aren't trainees?"

"They are terrorists," the first voice nearly spit the last word. "Of course they would be using Alliance gear. How else do you think they got onto this base?"

"We have them trapped and pinned on that roof, request to call for surrender," the nasal voice didn't sound any more reassured.

"Negative, sargent!" the woman's voice raised an octave. She seemed to be losing her composior a bit. "Eliminate the targets! That is an order!"

There was a short pause, no more than a heart beat. But it was enough to say something about this setup to Kelly.

"Yes, sir."

Captain's Quarters, Dreadnought Orizaba, On Station Patrol, Citadel

*Beep*

Hannah looked up from her book with a small frown. She had just gotten out of the shower, gotten a nice hot cup of tea. Dap of honey, squeeze of lemon. Perfect. Not that sugar and cream laiden mess John drank. Though, to be fair, it was still better than Jane's coffee. The stuff was bad enough, but she drank it cold, like some sort of barbarian.

*Beep*

Cursing under her breath, Hannah stood and p[ulled on her dressing rope and adjusted the towel on her head before stalking to the door. Seeing as she could slam it open they way she wished, she settled for pushing the button very hard.

"Yes?" Hannah said curtly, through clenched teeth.

Executive Officer Bellweather saluted with an ever so slight smirk on his face. "Sorry to bother you, Captain," the amusement slipping through in his voice. "But I have arrested Seamen Corrigan and Zell as well as Chief Petty Officer Marcus."

Hannah waited for a moment, but Bellweather seemed to be enjoying this. Ah, well, he's been going above and beyond recently, might as well indulge the man, Hannah thought with an internal sigh.

Externally, Hannah frowned and raised an eyebrow, "Fine...I'll bite. Why?"

Bellweather's smirk morphed into a shit-eating grin as he gestured to his left.

Following the gesture, Hannah glanced over at the three men on the floor. The all were propped up, their backs against the wall as a medic, backed by four marines in armor, looked them over. Quite clearly, they had a very rough day.

She also noted the silenced weapons another trooper was placing in a series of evidence bags.

"Okay, spill," she sighed looking back at ever so pleased First Officer.

Putting his fists on his hips, Bellweather turned to regard the unconscious sailors. "Assassins, if you can believe it," he snorted with a chuckle. "Rather poor ones at that. One Armondo Bailey, of C-Sec, contacted us. They were buying the guns from one of his operatives. Apparently they chatted with the dealer about how they were important enough that the Shadow Broker wanted them to kill somebody. Then the spilled the whole plan to the guy. Bailey figured we would want to take care of them personally."

"Man wasn't wrong," Hannah sighed with a shake of her head. "Who kicked their ass so hard?"

Bellweather looked a little sheepish as he coughed into his fist. "Umm, that would be me, ma'am."

Cocking her eyebrow again, Hannah stared at her officer for a moment before pushing the button, closing her door in the officer's face.

Armondo Baily's Office, Citadel

"Two attempted an ambush a block from my house," the drell operative said, passing the Captain a datapad with the details. "I dropped them off at holding as I came in."

"Well now," Bailey let out a whistle. "Busted elbows, one knee fracture, ruptured eardrum, three broken ribs, and one shot through the foot?"

"Well," the drell looked aside for a moment. "When I broke the woman's elbow, the gun went pointed down and shot the man in the foot."

"Heh," Bailey chuckled. "Either way, no big deal. Oh, I'm glad you came in, I wanted to let you know, the Orizaba called to let us know that the tip we gave them paid off."

"Good," the drell smiled with a nod. "I owe the Commander a lot more than I can repay, it's nice to be able to do something."

"I hear that," Bailey nodded. "And good work with these two." Bailey tapped the pad. "You have some good moves."

"Runs in the family," Kolyat laughed.

John Shepard, Exterior, Shadow Broker's Ship, Hargalaz

"I wanted to thank you again Commander," Thane said as he shattered a merc's face plate with a bioticly enhanced knife hand strike. "You have done a lot for myself and my son."

"Least I could do," John smiled behind his own helmet. A three round burst from his rifle spun another merc around and over the railing. "I am dragging you off to almost certain doom."

Thane fired two rounds from his pistol, and two holes opened the front of a man's chest. "If anybody can succeed, it is this team. You have gathered the best the galaxy has to offer."

"Damned right he has!" Jack cackled wildly as she slammed her foot down. A shockwave of biotic energy burst out, erupting in a line that buckled deck plates, and pulverized mercs.

"If a bit eccentric," Thane chuckled.

Quarian Migrant Fleet, Tonbay

"Dead, but at least it was quick," Xera sighed as she ran her omni-tool over Poor'an Kelzan's body. "Old fool tried to resist and they put a blade through his throat."

"Should have killed them slower then," Kal grunted as he wiped thick blood from his knife. Quarian blood.

"Well, you certainly killed them," Xera said ruefully as she stood and looked around the greeting room before Shala'Raan's office. It was a gruesome sight. The three would-be assassins were laid out, limbs straight, arms crossed over their abdomen. Sort of. One had the sheered off left arm draped over him, and one's helmet was twisted nearly all the way around. The security officers that arrived shortly after the first shots were fired where... a bit queasy with the thought of adjusting it.

Xera could tell, however, which of her friends and family had killed which assailant. The one missing the arm had several more slashed to the body along with four deep stab wounds, all vital places to quarians.

The one with it's head spun around was clearly Jane's work. The sheer number of broken bones gave grim testimony. The neck...shatter, break wasn't even an appropriate word, was probably a mercy, as several ribs had been broken in and punctured organs.

At least there one Shalla killed was, more or less, clean. Eight shots, all in a tight cluster in the center of the chest, might have been overkill, but at least... no...it was just overkill.

"Wanna get something to drink later?" Jane sat on the desk next to Xera, her legs swinging lightly.

Blinking, Xera looked at the human. She wasn't really shocked by Jane's behavior, she had know her too long for that. What was a little worrisome was how blase she, herself, had become to all this...adventure. "Yeah, sure. Maybe we can check out the observation deck."

"Oh, ho?" Jane's smirked and leaned over enough to bump Xera with her shoulder. "Looking at a bond?"

"No," Xera said, coldly as she hit Jane's shoulder. Hard. With the cyber arm.

"Ow! Shit" Jane spat, pushing away from the small quarian, her hands up. "Okay, okay! Sorry, I didn't think before I spoke!"

"Mmph," Xera sniffed and turned to her am'ma. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, fine," Shala said wearlily. "I'm not as young as I was, it seems, and I've been out of the field for a long time. Not used to this kind of thing."

"Nobody in the Fleet should be used to this," Xera crossed her arms as she looked over the bodies. "This isn't the kind of thing that happens here."

"Think it was Cerberus?" Kal tossed the rag onto one of the bodies as a pair of marines lifted it and began to remove it.

"No," Jane sighed, sliding down from the desk and crouching next to the one she had killed. A look of sorrow flashed across her face almost almost too quickly to see. Except for Xera. "If I had to guess, it would be the Shadow Broker."

"The Shadow Broker?" Shala stood and walked over to join Jane. "What makes you say that?"

"He sent me a message to watch my back, that he was going after the shit," Jane pulled the omni-tool from the body and slapped in on her own wrist, activating it. "No encryption, typical."

"These people were logistics, Jane," Kal snorted. "What would the Broker have over them?"

"At a guess? Smuggling," Jane said absently as she skimmed over the data. "Pretty mundane, but there are allusions to a cache somewhere."

"I'll get security on it," Shala shook her head sadly as she took the omni-tool. "I'll have them go over the data in the suits as well."

"They probably got into trouble on their pilgrimage," Xera said, as she assisted the team with the body of Poor'an. "He got hooks into them. I'd guess he made them smuggle for him, which got them in deeper. Now...this."

Standing, Jane glanced over her shoulder at Xera with a small smirk. "Well, if John's involved, it will probably be a mess."

Planet Bob, Terren Second Wave, Sector Two

The air smelled of ozone and metallic blood as the figure in the center of the room breathed heavily. Her breaths came in deep heaves as she stood, her arms half raised before her, the fingers curled like unto claws. Biotic energy whipped around her, lifting her hair in a storm only she could feel.

Orianna peeked around the tipped table she hads ducked behind when the plates started flying. She had been as shocked as everyone else when the one person she actually did consider a friend snapped and smashed a man's head into the ceiling so hard the body still hung there limply, swaying in the biotic storm. Well...Maybe he shouldn't have gotten handsy.

Miriah had crushed another of the dark clad people with a flick of her wrist, another flew threw the plate glass of the shop and into the street with a wave of her hand. Mass rounds flared on her shields as plates, cups and silverware embedded themselves into the body of the woman that went to make coffee. The last two humans ducked out the back door and broken window. Now there was just the krogan.

"Okay, I am impressed," the female krogan nodded, looking around the shop with an approving nod. "I didn't think humans had that kind of juice."

"I'mmmm...specialllll," Miraiah's words vibrated in her throat, her teeth clernched so tightly Orianna could see the muscles in her jaw bulge. "Exxxxperimentsss...Hurttttt...lotsss..."

"I would bet," the krogan gave Miriah a sympathetic look. "The process for giving biotics to krogan born without them is pretty rough. Most don't survive it." The female unclipped the gauntlet on her left hand and showed the thick scars that ran up it. "Father had it done. He was a Battlemaster. Ashamed I was 'normal'" She made little air quotes with her fingers.

A look of pain crossed Miriah's face, and she flinched back slightly. With a shake of her head her biotic field flickered before popping like a balloon. A thin trickle of blood ran from her nose as she started to collapse, only to be caught by the krogan.

"Whoopsie," she chuckled, she had virtually teleported to Miriah in time to catch the falling girl. "Overdid it." The krogan grinned at Orianna, her teeth were large...and very white.

"Um...so...what now?" Orinna stood after a deep breath, her hands straightening out her shirt. After only a moments hesitation she waled to her friend and knelt, checking her pulse. It was strong.

"Well, seeing as how my employers are all dead, and they already paid in advance, I'd say we put up a table and have something to drink," the krogan stood, holding Miriah lightly in her arms. "Orders where to keep you isolated, and eliminate you if an order came. And, well, here we are, and the person who was supposed to get the order is..." she glanced at the man in the ceiling. "Hanging around, I'd say we were pretty well done."

"Morda!" A loud voice called from the street. "Morda! That you in there?"

"Yeah, in the shop," the krogan, Morda, called back. "Finishing up a job."

Around the corner came the biggest krogan Orianna had ever seen. His crest was thick, spiking up in three distinct rows, the edges worn and greyed. His hide had a slightly ashen look and bony spurs angled out of his chin like a beard. Even his chipped orange body armor, bones of some enormous creature strapped to it like a trophy, looked old. "Oh, there you are," he rumbled. It was like listening to a mountain talk. "Eating humans now?"

"Ha!" Morda backed a laugh as she lifted a table with a biotic glance, setting it on its legs. "Too stringy and soft. No work out for the jaw." She set Miriah down, more gently than Orinna expected, on the table. "What are you doing here anyway, Drak."

"You're late for pick up. I got Kesh and was headed to the place the quarians and humans put up that drydock," Drak rumbled as he stepped over and through the missing window. Glancing around he chuffed in amusement. There was really no other word than 'chuffed'. And orianna knew a lot of words. Drak gestured to the Hanging Man, "You're work?"

"Nah, the human's" Morda smirked, gesturing to Miriah.

"Really?" Drak looked shocked as he looked around, seeming to notice the carnage for the first time. "All of it?"

"All of it," Morda nodded. "Didn't think humans had it in them."

"Well..." Orianna started, but froze for a moment when the two warriors turned their gazes on her. "Ahem... Humans don't have this kind of power. Would you care for a pastry?" Orianna gingerly walked to the display case that has somehow survived intact. Keep busy, keep your mind moving. Don't freeze... she internally chanted as she knelt slightly and gathered her wits.

"Sure," the male, Drak, nodded as he regarded a chair dubiously. With a sigh, he turned and stepped out onto the street, reemerging a few moments later with a duracrete road barrier under each arm. He dropped them next to the table with a thud, and sat on one, Morda on the other. "Maybe bring a few. And tell me about this girl, I suppose."

"Do you have any preferences?" Orianna asked before thinking for a moment. "Ah, I'll just get them all." Grabbing a tray she began piling bread products. "Anyway, humans don't have that kind of power, normally. My sister does, and Commander Shepard, my sister and I are engineered, and Shepard is... well...Shepard."

"This one you're sister then?" Drak asked as he pushed Miriah's leg to a side as Orinna came to the table and set the tray down on a small table next to them.

Passing a couple of plates to the krogan, Orianna shook her head. "No, my sister is out doing space adventures with the illustrious Commander. I'm here learning how the old America's civil war worked. Miriah... apparently is some sort of experiment."

"So she said," Morda nodded eyeballing a bear claw.

"Yes...which is a problem," Orianna sighed taking a bite from a cinnamon roll. "See, she is unregistered. The Alliance takes biotics very seriously. In fact, if they knew she had biotics, she wouldn't have been allowed to come here, grades or not."

"That's right!" peevish voice cried out from the back of the room. Glancing back Orianna watched Sarah struggler her bulk back onto her feet. "The monster should be put out of its misery! I can't believe Iet her touch me! What if I get the biotic!"

"I...what?" Morda blinked a few times before looking to Orianna, perplexed.

"I forgot they were here," she groaned. "Miriah will probably be arrested. And will certainly be kicked off planet. Her family isn't rich, she only got into this school because of her grades, as she told it. Now, though, I am beginning if any of that was true."

"Drak! Morda!" another voice called as a third krogan actually came in through the door, causing the little bell to gingle softly. This one was female as well. "'I'll be back in fifteen minutes' you said. Instead you leave me on the shuttle and smash up a cafe!"

"Wasn't me, Kesh" Drak held up his hands, a half eaten honey bun in one. "She did it!" He used the pastry to point out Miriah.

Kesh's eyes narrowed slightly before she snorted and walked over. Picking up a maple bar with bacon, Kesh eyed the unconcious girl and Orianna. "She in trouble? I caught some of that as I came in."

"She should be executed!" Mary yelled from behind the table. She still wasn't willing to show herself.

"Forget it," Morda stood, wiping crumbs from her hands. Carefully she slid her arms under Miriah's head and legs, lifting her up. "I like this one. I'm keeping it."

"She's not a pet, Morda," Drak gave the other krogan an odd look as he stood. "You can't just kidnap the girl."

"Yes I can," Morda grinned evilly. "Who's going to stop me? If I leave her here they will probably do something stupid."

"We are leaving the galaxy," Kesh added dubiously. "What are you going to do? Put her in your foot locker?"

"Nah, but she's pretty light," Morda hefted the girl a couple of times. "I'll leave Dragg. Don't like him anyway."

"He...he's your mate!" Kesh stuttered as Drak chuffed in amusement.

"Honestly?" Orianna held up a hand to get the groups attention. "It might be best if you did take her. I'll get ahold of her family and they can pick her up from you or something."

"See?" Morda laughed at Kesh, who rolled her eyes. Turning back to Orinna Morda smirked. "Tell them I'll pay a good price."

"She isn't a varren, Morda," Kesh threw up her arms as she turned to leave. "Let's just go before police arrive. I don't want my last planet fall to be a running gun fight."

"Spoilsport," Drak chuffed again as he stood to follow.

Honestly, you are all wasted on me. I got a little teary there.

Well, I was going to post this yesterday, but my internet went down. So, I am at a McDonalds, posting this from my phone, lol. So you get to see a rougher cut than normal. Also, I'm a bit rusty it feels, so I'm not as pleased as I could be with this one, but it'll do.