Data Raid (03/14/2182- 05/30/2182)

/Major August Lee [AL] Has Joined The Chat...

/Lt. Col. Karl Schultz [KS] Has Joined The Chat…

[KS]: Alright August, what have you got for me? I thought you were busy out on New Kurdistan.

[AL]: I am, but a little bird told me something interesting regarding Councilor Tevos and the Quarians.

[KS]: I'm listening.

[AL]: I'm sending you the data now; I don't want to discuss this over an open line.

[KS]: …Wow…

[AL]: "Wow" he says… of course "wow"; we get this info, and Tevos' political career is done. Hell, it'll probably get the Quarians an embassy on the Citadel if we play our cards right.

[KS]: Don't get greedy mien friend; let Grant deal with all the political wheeling and dealing behind the scenes.

[AL]: Yeah, yeah spare me the talk; I still don't know why you trust him so much, especially considering the fact he's been here longer than you have. Time changes people you know.

[KS]: Have more faith August, the two of us went through hell together; In any case, I'll need a Retrieval team and a Ghost team for this kind of op, any suggestions?

[AL]: I'll send GT Foxhound back to the Spirit; they've been on Urzikstan for a while, so they deserve a lighter assignment. Just make sure you aren't next to them when they learn they aren't being given a vacation.

[KS]: Why can't you tell them?

[AL]: …You want to tell Raven face to face, be my guest.

[KS]: Fair point; what about a Retrieval Team?

[AL]: I think I've got one in mind…

Milky Way/Serpent Nebula/Widow/Citadel/Zakera ward/Mid-ward district/ Sigil's club 20:00 hrs 03/14/2182 CE

"Uff" came the grunt of various cushions among the chairs and sofas of the dedicated section of the travelers owned club as the ghost team flopped to rest after a recent stint in Urzikstan.

"Last goddamn time we do ANY favors to Bubba and check his intel on weapons upgrades, fuck! Did it really have to be a vorcha nest of all places to hide a cache of illegal mods?" The Operator known as Taurus snapped.

"Well at least you got the EASY job; Raven and I had rearguard duty and it was not pretty. Eclipse threw a whole legion of mechs while you were playing 'Indiana Jones: Galaxy Edition'." His partner Leo grumbled in reply.

Their third teammate, Raven snorted angrily, "Shut up Will you! We are here right; could we leave the mess to Orix? It's no longer our problem on how much tech we recovered, and command should be happy now that cryo rounds are on the menu thanks to us."

"... yeah just bitching, tho anybody get the case label in poorly concealed bright red marker 'SECRET' with the asari warp ammo specs / manual?" Joe, Leos friend and fourth teammate, asked.

Raven raised her hand, "Here! Also, don't that raise a lot of questions on how it ended up there?"

"Don't know, don't care! We are out; no more on that please?" Leo replied.

"Fuck! who knew they kept the heavy gear on the other side of the compound and didn't report it ASAP?" Joe demanded

Raven raised her hand again, "Also here, although on my defense we were swarmed so… not our fault"

Phoenix, their team leader finally had enough of their complaining and snapped, "Enough moping! Get your arses rested; we earned it, so by god I better have a pint in my hand now or I will light up that blasted tail of yours if you people don't stop that blabbering!"

The silence following was broken by guffaw of laughter that changed to tired voices and the muffle sounds of the club

Phoenix just shook his head. "God help me I'm among children..." he glanced to the left near the door where the emergencies/comm terminal was blinking. "For the... WOULD IT KILL YOU TO LEAVE US SOME REST!" He bellowed at the blinking light, followed by the rest of the team shooting the little shit.

Taurus just rolled his eyes, "Sarge I think I speak for all and say it can wait a day. I mean, how bad could it get?"

"JINX!" "SALAO!" "FUCK!"

Phoenix just huffed, sitting down on a nearby sofa. "Ok that particular issue can wait until we get trashed so... girl, bring the booze. We need a lot of it! Now that the idiot jinxed it, expect a shitstorm ahead!"

In transit/spirit of fire/D-deck/command center/18:14 hrs 03/16/2182 CE

Walking among the rest of the staff of the spirit, one came to a door familiar to any traveler involved in combat ops.

It was jokingly calls the dem for the particular group of intel monkeys comprise of Egetok Rosboros (batarian), Vato'Shaesal nar Coraka (quarian), Serpius Veridus (turian), Ronall Aemino (salarian), Hector Habersham (human); they had been pouring an unholy amount of time digging deep in any kind of intel every ghost team in the field try to leave with. As with all things there is always a downside, this one in particular was just how in depth they got in every avenue, detail or inquiry on a specific objective they were sent for data mining.

One highlight of this group was the raid of 15 EA cells in under a week of prep time for the assault, so if they gave you tips it was treated as if the words came from God himself around here.

So being tasked by them in an enforcer capacity meant either a whole hell is going to blow up or we were about to wreck some shit up in spades.

"Alright people what's the word?" One looked up from her terminal and responded in usual fast speech at first.

"Oh goodynewfacesletme-" cough, cough "Pardon me. Hi, take a seat we have some wonderful news for the rest of the travelers aboard."

Lifting an eyebrow, Raven asked, "What exactly would do that? Did you find a way home or the reason/means from which we came here?"

"Not yet still trying to solve that one but just as good, hard proof of councilor Tevos dirty laundry and best of all its from way back like junior grade mess that fester to outright sex scandal level!"

Welp that ought to be juicy if this was how giddy she's prattling.

"Well don't leave me hanging; spill girl!"

"Her involvement in the Quarian exile." She said with a shit eating grin uncharacteristic for a Salarian. "Specifically, the obstruction of the Quarian federation and subsequent exodus from Rannoch."

All that could be processed in our mind was a chorus in unison of "SHIT!"

In transit/spirit of fire/B-deck/habitation-crew quarters/14:20 hrs 03/17/2182 CE

"Retrieval Team Jawa, please report to personnel for immediate tasking. Retrieval Team Jawa, please report to personnel for immediate tasking."

I looked up from the letter I had been writing Kala. It had been a slow week; with several Ghost teams deployed, Retrieval teams were holding until escort teams were available. I was signing the letter when it occurred to me that no other teams were being called up. I wasn't sure what that meant for our mission, but I sent a quick message to the armory to have my kit readied.

I arrived at Said's office just before the Brothers. Jaun was already there, as was an unfamiliar Ghost Fire Team, and Intelligence Director Schultz.

"Good, you're all here. We'll begin by reiterating that this meeting is classified and eyes only. You will not speak about what is shown or discussed here." He tapped a control on the desk, bringing up a hologram of two beings: an unknown Salarian, and a very well-known Asari. "Two months ago, we intercepted a communique between Asari Councilor Tevos, and a Salarian business person and outspoken opponent of the Quarian people, Fanin Miralano. This communique hinted at a piece of information Miralano's clan has been holding against Tevos for several generations."

He tapped another desk control, and a list of locations came up. "For the last month, we have been conducting surveillance of several Council Black Sites suspected to be Data control centers. We've turned up a history of such messages from the Miralano clan dating back 300 years," a message popped up in front of everyone, "starting with the immediate aftermath of the Morning War." The holograms closed and everyone refocused on Schultz. "We believe Councilor Tevos and the Miralano Clan had some direct involvement in the events of, or leading up to, the Geth Uprising."

Hans shifted a little in his seat. "So our mission, should we choose to accept it-" there was a slight amount of chuckling.

Schultz didn't laugh. "There's no should about it. Fire-team Foxhound and Retrieval-team Jawa are being tasked with the retrieval of any or all data relating to this matter. This will require the assault of secure Council Government Black Sites, possibly the acquisition of persons associated with the information. Fanin is high on that list both as a potential intelligence source, and as a hostile actor against the Quarian people."

Said tapped the desk, and three star systems came up. "We've identified three targets: Vard in the Krogan DMZ, Kensal in the Dis system," there was some more uncomfortable shuffling and muted curses for that particular system among the gathered in the room, "and Halegeuse in the Pranas system."

Schultz picked up the briefing. "As of this point our assets placed near mister Miralano have been in a deadlock. As many of you know, and to those who are not aware of Salarian customs or families structures, the simple version of it is an Indu-cast/medieval household; so lots of intra-house and inter-house confrontations. As a means to get an easy excuse to cover for this quagmire, we sent some of our own to get a lay of the land so to speak, and possibly what enemies the Miralano line had up to now."

A new set of individuals appeared on the hologram. "So far a few of our Salarian Assets going by Caehan Farajie, Venall Depone, Sarparp Irajia and Pegann Vukso have tried to get the size on the targets and have reported unusual responses to inquiries in certain areas; particularly, reaction to question where his finances are concerned by themselves speak VOLUMES. Tevos wants this on the down-low. We're talking millions of credits going to supposed R&D, but we can't verify that at all."

I glanced nervously at the other members of Jawa, as well as the mystery Ghost team. "Sir, it sounds like this is going to be a fairly serious raid. With all due respect, that's Ghost work." I nodded to the five person team. "What do you need us here for?"

"To help us haul everything esta maldita sabandija tiene" one of the Ghosts interrupted.

Another added "Also all current fireteams have their hands full with the EA acquisitions supply chain over on New Kurdistan."

Juan nodded. "Alright. So what are we picking up? I doubt you're going to want us to ir a paso de caracol in the Marvin, so the hauler shuttle's out of the question."

Frans looked thoughtful for a moment. "What about the Turian shuttle we picked up on Cocytus?" Everyone looked at him. "No I'm serious! It's a government transport, it's hella faster than anything else we've got and-"

"You want to name it the 'Tydirium', don't you bruh?" Hans snarked.

There was a sharp rap on the table and everyone refocused on Schultz. "The shuttle is a possibility for one of the phases of this operation, but for now we focus on this in stages." The image of the Dis system returned. "We need a data encryption key stored on a secure server on Kensal. Without it, we have nothing. Not to mention that Miralano is guarded 24/7, so nabbing him will be an ordeal in itself."

Juan frowned slightly. "Can't say I'm happy with the idea of kidnapping; I spent the first ten years of my career fighting that sort of thing."

Said waved in a placating manner. "That's going to be Ghost work." There were some aside glances between us and Ghost Team Foxhound. "Your team is to focus on the second and third stages: the Cypher Key on Kensal, and the final data raid on Halegeuse."

Schultz tapped the desk again. "We've set up a series of scenarios at a remote site in the holodeck on Zonness station in the Armstrong Nebula. We'll be leaving the materials necessary for the job there. Let me be CLEAR; at no point can any clue about us appear in this op. We want all of the geth specs they have been hoarding for anti-geth measures and upgrades."

Schultz shut the projector off and stood up. "So if there's no further delays I suggest that you get acquainted. You are dismissed."

Everyone else stood up and saluted, then filed out to gather their equipment for transfer to Zonness.

One of the operatives piped once out of Schultz sight. "Well this will be sooooooooo much fun."

"Oh come on it's not that bad; we get some time with the dungeon masters now that the station is up and running."

"Says the guy who doesn't personally know any of the DM's." A sigh escaped the rest of the Ghosts. "We are aware of where Alastor had parked his ass once the bastard got pulled from that job in omega, and let me tell you Phoenix by the end of our visit you will wish to blow him to bits."

The Ghost Team turned to address us. "Well since the orders were issued and we are going to be rooming in the playground that is Zonness for the foreseeable future introduction are abound. My callsign is Phoenix and this ragtag band are," pointing at his teammates, "Raven, Taurus, Leo, Joe and Lion; Hound Beast or more known among the fireteams as Foxhound, so now who are you?"

Juan squared his shoulders. "I'm Lt. Juan Rodriguez-Rivera, Policía de la Ciudad de México, grupo de Fuerza especiales." He grimaced for a moment. "Formerly, now commander of Retrieval team Jawa." He gestured to the rest of us.

"Oh que bien al fín otro latino aparece en este bote lleno de gringos ¿mira como te ha ido desde que tu ticket al más allá? ¿que parece haberse perdido con San Pedro?" [Oh good finally another latino shows up in this boat full of gringos. So how have you been since it looks like your ticket to the pearly gates seems to be lost with Saint Pete?]

Juan barked a laugh. "Guiando a este grupo de dementes y tratando de ganarle a ese hijo de puta Gordon de Ajax en el campo;" Juan crossed his arms in frustration, "el cabrón jugo profesional para el Arsenalt antes de unirse al SAS, sin mencionar las modificaciones genéticas desde que llegó acá." [Wrangling this motley crew, and trying to beat that son-of-a-bitch Gordon from Fire Team Ajax at football; the bastard played for Arsenault before joining the SAS, and that was before traveling here and getting gene mods.]

I saw Hans and Frans shuffling uncomfortably out of the corner of my eye. "Relax, he's not talking about us."

Hans straightened up. "Yeah, how do you know? You speak Spanish all of a sudden?" Frans crossed his arms and nodded.

I chuckled. "No, but I listen; El Jefe's annoyed, and he mentioned 'puta Gordon', so he's probably grousing about yesterday's route, I mean bout."

Juan growled without looking at me. "Ese puto gringo is a fucking cheat and he knows it." He turned back to the Ghosts and threw a thumb over his shoulder at me. "This pendejo is Hiram; former American Air Force, and our crash-recovery and hazmat specialist. Those two cabezas de chorlito are Hans and Frans, Fire Jumpers from the Sierra Madres. They're our medical and flight specialists."

Hans waved, while Frans smiled at Raven and winked.

Raven's response was a bit of a mixed signal for Jawa. "Careful boy, I'm already taken; or more accurately, you need to ask him." She pointed at Leo and displayed a shit eating grin. "We have a let's say Turian agreement." Leo looks Frans up and down as if measuring while outwardly licking lips. "So unless you want to be third wheel or the filling, leave while you are ahead."

Frans back off in panic faster than a sugar daddy with a whoe looking for government support at that reply while the rest of us laughed.

"So, with that out of the way can we focus our attention on the incoming and potentially ruin of one bitch supreme?" Phoenix said to everyone. "Given our current location, it's a few days to Zonness. I suggest packing the bags now so anything important isn't left in this tub."

Juan nodded and turned to the rest of us. "Sure. Hey, you heard the man; gather your stuff cabrones, we're jumping ship. Vámos! "

In transit/spirit of fire/D-deck/Research & development wing/ 17:30 hrs 03/17/2182 CE

After separating from Jawa, Foxhound went to R&D for an update on the recovered tech from the last job on Digeris, the third planet in the Castellus system near a Turian settlement.

Taurus smiled and waved to a familiar Asari as he walked into the labs "Yo! Heliix baby where are you!? Your daddy's back! So come a give me a kiss"

"I'll say it no matter how many times… LEAVE ME ALONE YOU OAF! IT WAS ONE TIME AT THE CHRISTMAS PARTY, SO BACK OFF!" The normally level headed Asari Traveler bellowed, her Biotics flaring in anger as she glared at Taurus.

…that's odd, we look at the gigantic NFL and ask with our gaze.

"What? Oh that? She's just denying a most joyous night of passion and it's still regretful for not having enough fun while on the mount" Taurus explained while doing a lecherous gesture outright missing the thrown petri dish at his head, he turn to a biotically charge maelstrom in the shape of Dr Heliix "baby don't be like that; it's the truth!"

She shrieked. "LIKE HELL IT IS!"

Before any more damage could be caused in a sensitive and extremely important part of the ship, we grabbed the fool and threw him out with the help of some scientists on duty.

"Doctor, if you'd be so kind to relax now that the idiot is out of the picture... how is it going with the cache from digeris?" Pheonix asked with a placating gesture, looking like he wanted to bolt.

"Remarkably well actually," releasing the last of her anger, she continued, "thanks to you the time table for the field kits have been reduced by a substantial margin, although the asari warp ammo is a whole beast to dissect that's for sure." A look of disdain plastered itself once the asari warp ammo was mentioned "We still don't get how in the blazing hell the warp effect is sustained outside the breach, but there is progress nonetheless."

Breathing with relief at the good news brought by risking our hides, the team minus dumbass left the area to prep for the stay at Zonness.

Armstrong Nebula/ Zonness station/ 05:25 hrs 03/20/2182

Once everyone set foot on the station, the two teams were greeted by a krogan female by the name of Noksan: master of the playground, avid designer, former wildlife photographer and one chatterbox rivaling Mordin with that huge mug of coffee in hand.

"Welcome, welcome all aboard my humble abode!" With a flourish of mannerism the mountain of activity faces the teams. "My, my, my new faces in these places! What brings such a group of beautiful men to such a lonely tub mmmh?" Ending it with a peppi tone.

For such a massive creature the traveler across the room gave the vibes of a really mischievous broad, once you ditched the exterior case and just listen to the words alone...

Hans elbowed his brother and smirked while Frans took a hesitant step back. Juan Shook his head. "infantes." He looked over at the hostess. "We're RT Jawa. We're here with them." He nodded to GT Foxhound who just shrugged and replied in kind.

Phoenix nodded, adding "Well ma'am, aside from the view we need a couple of days for a little extraction. With your permission I'll want some of the room available for all the people here."

"Of course! But first as a custom of us dungeoneers is to set a little puzzle at the entrance. Don't worry; it's not that hard to solve." Noksan replied cheerily.

Following our guide we arrive at the door with a deliberate front resembling the Gates of Hell and a plaque near it. "Just answer the question here and we can proceed to the rest of the station."

On the plaque the question glared back at the Retrieval and Ghost teams.

Taurus bent over to see what it was "audiet clamorem caelum plenus stellarum per solitudinem suam nec solum secum auferret particeps conatus fiant luminaria, ego vis ad vitam surje suo purior lux in responsione ad surruga. Dic mihi ignotum mysteria adulescentulum secreto ambulantem in vita post hanc futura expecto te?... welp this is one for the literary major's-"[The sky full of stars cries for its loneliness without response or partner, only its vibrant lights accompany it, for the purest wish it must be that from its light life arises in response to its wrinkle. Tell me young man that you walk towards the unknown what mysteries await in the afterlife?] looking at the rest of the group he asked, "Any ideas?"

Hiram blanched slightly. "Enzio could tell us. Can I get a lifeline?"

Juan palmed his face, grumbled and passed a cursory glance at the brothers. "Anything?"

Raven deadpanned. "Seems easy enough"

Taurus looks aghast at that declaration. "How!? It was in latin for starters and it makes no sense!"

Leo looked at everyone "Well if you'd have bothered to scan it would notice the meaning of the question."

Joe looked at Noksan. "It's an easy riddle no?"

The smile plastered on Noksan's face said it all.

Phoenix snorted, "really?" walking to the plack she leaned over and observed before walking around it ending at a sedated pace for like 2 minutes.

"A'ight got nothing anybody care to try?" She said.

Looking between each other, nobody came forward.

Leo rubbed his chin. "...The sky full of stars cries for its loneliness without response or partner, only its vibrant lights accompany it, for the purest wish it must be that from its light life arises in response to its wrinkle. Tell me young man that you walk towards the unknown what mysteries await in the afterlife?... light life arises in response to its wrinkle..."

Raven joined him. "...walk towards the unknown what mysteries await in the afterlife? Mmh… maybe something to do with motion?"

Leo glanced at her. "Perhaps? *mumbles* it's motion towards a point or goal…" He snapped his fingers. "Hey I think I got an idea of what it is!"

Hiram shrugged. "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here? We already know what awaited us in the afterlife." Hiram swept his arms to encompass everyone.

Phoenix looked at Hiram skeptically. "Well we could try that one." He wrote the response below the plaque and... nothing. He turned his gaze at Hiram again in deadpan and looked to the rest. "Any other suggestions?"

Leo stepped forward and began to type on the plaque "Alright here goes" and the doors open with a hiss and mist rumbling for effect "Huh… it worked"

Hans huffed. "Let me guess, the elvish word for 'friend'?" His brother elbowed him in annoyance.

Leo shook his head. "Nah, didn't go with Tolkien; movies were good don't get me wrong but that wasn't what the door was asking remember? It alluded to a goal; the answer was tricky tho."

"And that would be?" Frans said intrigued.

"un viaje a las estrellas"

The Jawa team all looked at Juan for clarification. "A journey to the stars." There was a collective Oh and everyone refocused on their hostess.

Noskan clapped excitedly. "Bravo! Bravo there is a head in proper conditions in this group! Now if no more games are of your palate allow me to show you the rooms you'll be bunking in."

Passing the entrance a tour of the facility with a fairly comfy look to the habitation parts, followed by the holodecks ending in the main room. Noskan turned after finishing the tour. "Now that the fun is over, what do you require of the dungeon masters?"

Phoenix Stepped forward with a tablet. "Well ma'am if it's no problem recreations of these places; we have some rather pressing time tables put here."

Noskan quickly looked the data over. "That can be arranged, what force are we putting / expecting? Ground support, air support, assassins, IED's, azure dripping asari hookers?"

"I WISH it was that!" Hans laughed with an unfocused gaze.

Leo looked at the Fire-Jumper with a little concern. "Really? Need I remind you they're a psionic species?"

Raven snarked. "Like you are the one to talk." Her tone sent a shiver down everyone's back. "Need I remind you of the shitshow in Beckstein where that Eclipse commander was hounding for your ass after you played with that tail hanging at your waist?"

Taurus laughed while shivering. "Yeah, but honestly what exactly did you do? Cuz the way she pursued you was outright scary; like yandere levels of crazy."

Leo looked distressed and said, "Let's not talk about it!" and ran away to secure a room.

(Leo's POV)

Entering a door for the rest area and finding a crew quarter plopping on the bed

Well that got awkward fast, what was Raven even thinking? let alone know about the mild psionic contact bits in the wires at the end of it, just hope nobody piece together the asari cell's on it... urgh! please no more just business to be dealt please.

Frans looked over at his brother. "Looks like you got some competition, bruh!" The rest of Jawa shook their heads and began gathering their effects.

Taurus laughed at that display and gave his two cents "Well how about that! Knew there was something he was hiding!"

Raven looking upset chided the man. "And you've got no shame it seems; Heliix was wanting to throw you the airlock last time so zip it!"

Phoenix whistled sharply, gathering everyone's attention. "Well people let's meet here in an hour to start the first run-through." He activated the tool to message Leo for the sim.

Phoenix looked at the trashed remains of jawa. "Ok that could have gone better, and really could have if the brothers," he looked pointedly at Hans and Frans, "would have stopped looking in fascination at the first ever salarian striper in their lives when more important matters were at hand."

Taurus with a look of puzzlement "That is the first female Salarian I ever saw that skimpy; didn't know they even had stripers!" Leo and Raven nodded absentmindedly at that remark.

Hans and Frans shivered. "That wasn't fascination… that was Horror!"

Hiram stepped out of his hardsuit and rolled his shoulders. "At which of our three sites do we really expect to encounter random Strippers?"

Joe piped up. "You'd be surprised"

Juan whistled sharply. "Enough about the damned Strippers! We're here to practice, and so far we've learned that we need to focus better. We're all better than this." He turned to Phoenix. "Let's take an hour to review and catch our breath, then hit it again."

Phoenix nodded. "Agreed, and you lot," he looked at his own team, "care to not level a city block worth of mooks; remember it's an extraction! Not a search and destroy!" He looked to the control booth. "Again if you will Noskan?"

Armstrong Nebula/Zonness station/ 09:25 hrs 03/21/2182

Foxhound was scanning the area around their 'extraction shuttle' when a comotion came from one of the adjoining corridors. Raven looked at Taurus in confusion as the training hall filled with a frantic cry.

"Wubba-Lubba-Dub-Dub!" Jawa came barreling around the corner. Juan and Hiram were carrying a complete Salarian data terminal and core, while Hans and Frans gave bounding harassing fire on something behind them. Foxhound was preparing to move when Juan yelled out, "Yeet!" The terminal sailed over their heads to slam into the passenger compartment of the shuttle.

As soon as they were free of their burden, Jawa hit the deck giving Foxhound a clear view of the Baker's Dozen mechs in Eclipse colors, including one YMIR.

At the sight of such a horde of metal the only response was a judicious application of dakka courtesy of 3 heavy geared cavemen shouting, "Waste them!" "Rip and tear!" "Suck it skynet!" followed by the rest as they hauled ass to the shuttle.

A prompt hail of return fire that ended their futile efforts as the shuttle caught fire from the other side of the station, blasting the teams to the floor to be overrun by mechs.

Noskan nodded with a strained smile at the progress done in the sims. "Ooooohhh that's gotta hurt!"

Foxhound and Jawa staggered out of the simulation area. Leo slumped against a wall. "Mierda! Why'd bring the whole damned computer?"

Juan desperately gulped down water. "We didn't have time to transfer the data through it's encryption; we learned that on the last run through."

Hiram was absently making repairs to one of the Waldo-arms on his suit. "We already know the info gets lost in holographic storage if it loses power, so we needed the terminals back-up power." There was a creak and whine as the arm retracted into his backpack. "We know the setup now, so I think I can rig something as external power, but it's still going to be a bitch getting the core out and hooked up in time."

Juan slumped down. "This would be a lot easier if we had a peer-to-peer system we could download to, but we'd need a Salarian Datacore with the right..." He trailed off. "Mierda hijo de la grandisima puta! Por que no se me ocurrió desde un principio! Noskan, I have a call to make. Everybody, get some rest." He levered himself up and headed for a secure comms terminal.

Armstrong Nebula/Zonness station/ 12:45 hrs 03/22/2182

Noskan lounged in her chair and mused on how the teams had performed the past few days in the sims, when a bleep brought her back from her thoughts.

Success! Well, well, well, looks like fun is over. "Congratulations brave adventurers!" She exclaimed.

The exhausted Ghost and Retrieval teams gave a weak 'Yay' and limply waved their hands in the air; all except Hiram who fiercely gripped one of the data-cores he and Juan had liberated from the Q-ship in the George system a couple of years back. It had been modified to have a dedicated power source, and was fully capable of interfacing with any known Salarian computer system.

Phoenix rising from his kneeling position asked the beat up crew "So anybody else sick with being in this toy box?"

Hans scowled. "Considering our next stop is the Dis system, I'm quite happy staying here until the last minute."

Taurus added "Suit yourself. I'm one of the poor souls that have to drag that frog to a brig while on the run."

Raven asked. "What, not coming?"

Leo tiredly waved at his teammates. "Leave it; we have this bozo to do the drudge work for us once the lead starts flying in every direction."

Joe grumbled. "Ain't that the usual."

With little energy the group left the room and headed to the dormitories for their last night of rest before beginning their respective missions.

Milky Way/Hades Gamma/Dis System/Klensal/wastes/former Alludest't robotics complex/ 20:15 hrs 03/25/2182

Once the shuttle neared the OA, it was shrouded in low power stealth and settled down on the planet. Adjusting to the 0.86 gravity of Klensal the frigid temperatures did not help with camo at all. The emitters of the ghost's cloaks, not to mention the sensor suite were not designed for the environment.

We circled the landing zone twice trying to get a solid enough sensor read to confirm we wouldn't be landing on an ambush. Frans was by now a steady hand on the Kodiak's controls so when Phoenix finally ordered us to land, there wasn't the slightest bump. All of us were nervous working in the shadow of a former Reaper gravesite. There was little need for conversation as Phoenix, Raven and Lion activated their cloaks and slipped out the side door. Juan, Hans and myself readied to make a dash for the nearby mine entrance. Frans was prepared to take off as soon as we were clear, and land again for a quick getaway.

The ghost leading the charge to the door trying to be the least amount of time in this curse system threw drones left and right at a close distance for dealing with the interference and reached the door and secured it for jawa. Lion crouched and started working in bypassing the lock and checking for traps and alerts being sent in any direction disabling the mag seal to the building.

Once he was sure the area was secure, he pulled out a small flashlight and flashed it at us.

The red light blinked from the open shaft, and the three of us darted out into the biting cold. The wind rushing by almost drowned out the sound of the Kodiak lifting off behind us.

We stacked up behind the Ghosts who made way for us.

Juan set to work on the lock face, his years of experience at disarming bombs making quick work of the locking mechanisms. Once the door was open, time was of the essence. Phoenix signaled the rush for the server and urged us to hustle.

At the middle of the hall, some sentries could be seen in the back out of optic sensor range; mainly Lokis and nothing more in the area. Still, if these were deployed here numbers were key to know.

Looking for alternative routes... nope!

Moving the drones around led to a better view for all the feed being played to all and having to carry the retrieval team at the back. The added guns are a welcome plus but...

I glanced at Phoenix. "Go Ghost, or go loud?" He glanced back as I unlimbered my now somewhat infamous 'Smart-Gun'. The current generation of Mass-Effected Plasma Wakefield Accelerator was generally more than enough for anything short of a Jiris IFV. The main factor in limiting large scale deployment was its complexity and temperamental nature.

While that was happening, Lion kept manning the drone to deeper parts of the complex, scouting more but finding what could be considered a pity force. Not leaving a half assed job activated the ground pulse and well… that got attention from all parties. A legion of 300 Loki units came running around the entire complex. "Boss... we have a problem..."

Palming his face Phoenix sighed. "Keep it ready; we'll try to be as quiet as we can be but the moment we grab the info be ready to light this joint." Using chained disruptions on the mechs and a rapid dose of buck shot from Raven, the team started to plow to the objective now that the force was revealed.

Lion and Phoenix led our squad through the twists and turns of the abandoned mine. Lion seemed to be doing a solid job of diverting the Lokis to anywhere but where we were. The Ghosts swiftly and efficiently dealt with the few stragglers that managed to stumble onto us. We finally arrived at the entrance to the data center.

Near the server the Ghosts spread wide and prepared the 'exfil-and-boom' for the moment to run. "Ready for the escort; be fast!"

Hans hung back near the Ghosts in case they came under fire and needed medical support, while Juan and I moved up to the terminals. He quickly identified the server stack we needed. I hooked our Macro-USB up and drained the data core dry. It turned out our salvaged core was worlds better even than the Miralano clan could use. A nod from Juan and I repeated the process for three more server blades before I got the indicator that our device was full.

"Got incoming! How's the mining!?" Raven shouted.

I disconnected our device and hooked it to one of my secondary utility arms to be stowed. "Done!" I spun around just as Juan finished rigging a string of thermate and Det-Cord to the terminals. We stacked up behind the Ghosts again as the server room began filling with smoke from liquified computer equipment.

Spraying lead to the bots coming through the left, we did the only sensible thing and lay out the dakka, singing it's beautiful song of rrrrrtttt to a ravaged audience.

Milky Way/ Hades Gamma/Dis System/Klensal/wastes/outside of former Alludest't robotics complex/ 23:10 hrs 03/25 /2182

A breaching charge blew a hole in a wall near the south side of the assembly line with us doing a fighting retreat. I was the first to leave the hole and sprint to the LZ before turning to cover the rest while signalling Frans for a hot pickup. The Ghosts and Jawas other half bathed the inside of the breach in lead, plasma and enough explosions to impress an action movie crew.

"El Jefe!" I yelled out over our comms. "Frans is thirty seconds out!"

"Comprendo! Cabrones, vamanos!"

The team dashed the rest of the way to the LZ while arcs of purple lightning lashed out at the breach. The hole was half filled with wrecked droids when our ride nearly slammed into the ground behind us. The side door swung open and all of Jawa piled in while Foxhound covered us.

Juan barked out, "Phoenix, secure!" The Ghosts rushed onto the shuttle as I played door gunner. The moment Raven hit the hatch closure, Frans began his frantic climb to space. There was a faint flash as our fusion demolition charge eliminated any evidence of the mine ever existing.

Lion cheered for the rest of us as the adrenaline was somewhat spent. Everyone eventually joined in a round of roaring laughter at that close call.

Milky Way/Krogan DMZ/Nith System/Vard/draneue/space port/20:50 03/25/2182

Once off the shuttle to the planet, we set out for the safe house in the low income area of the city. We mingled with the rest of the crowd near the lower arm of the station, making sure to not stand out like a sore thumb. We finally made it to the safe house. Inside, we were greeted by Caehan Farajie near the entrance as he typed in a terminal with constant data streams zipping by his face. "Hi sorry if I can't do a proper greeting right now; there is a visitor in the target's house and they seem important enough to rush them through security."

Grunting, we closed the door and made ourselves comfortable in the room. Dropping his boots on the table Joe asked "Who exactly?" We were rewarded by a projection of a very angry asari just leaving the premise and warping a trash bin in the vicinity. "Wow." Joe shook his head. "That is a lot of anger if she just took it out barely out of the gate!"

I had to agree there. "Do we know her?" I committed her face to memory for later.

Farajie supplied "Latest bimbo is what I would call her. But if that is not enough for you beasts, she is one of the partners in the Miralano clan's business. Her name is Ben'sa T'saris; daughter of a prominent matriarch that was part of the diplomatic group tasked with interacting with the Quarian Federation, and a follower of Tevos." He started pulling files up for us. "Also an apparent gold digger if Irajia's notes are accurate. Not a good day to be the side chick."

Taurus snorted "What, did the frog dump her?" He received a nod from our host.

Joe looked puzzled and read the highlights. "Relationship started in 2178... dude's been selected for a breeding contract… Miralano's dalatrass is ill… asari is seen near the bride... first batch of eggs and side chick found out by the bride in no so subtle way, ouch! How is he not pulp?"

That was one bad relationship right there for sure. Shaking my head, I decided to get the topic back on track. "So did the scorned lover do anything of note while there?"

At this he turns to address us "Oh you bet! Listen to this." An audio file played.

"Fanin what in Athame's name is this! You are a father and it didn't even occur to you to mention it?" -some shifting and knocking follow by a fast collision- "What does it have to do with you? I was called by my house to provide to the clan." -a screech "It does when my partner doesn't tell me that he has offspring!" -a shock is heard- "Again what does it have to do with you? You are not part of the clan; the Dalatrass kept a record of the contract from 4 years ago and last month was the fertilization of the eggs, yesterday was supposed to be the day the little ones come to the living." -a heavy thump- "Moreover I know about that little exercise with the bouncer at Cora's last week. Did you think I was blind? I'm not keeping a waste of space; I'm leaving for better opportunities now that a couple of avenues have opened on Sur'kesh. Your cloaca isn't that attractive anymore." -a roar followed by a slamming door.

Welp that is not good at all, have to make this nab fast! "When?" Farajie points to a screen that has a shuttle in bay 42E, 5 decks up from us surrounded by mechs. 6 hours from now was noted at the bottom as a countdown.

"Alright gente; grab your gear and prep for a fast snatch!"

Welp snatching duty should be fun to do even if it is a frog deserving of good old inquisisción. I wonder how the rest are doing?

Milky Way/Hades Gamma/Dis System/Klensal/wastes/former Alludest't robotics complex/10:10 hrs 03/26/2182

"Somebody was snooping around." Asari commando Falil Ateor remarked at the wretched facility which had hosted a surprisingly numerous horde of synthetics, now little more than scrap metal and silicon.

The scenery matched that of a protracted battle. The commando was familiar with the carnage of battlefields, and she was mildly impressed and re-evaluated the piles of scrap littering the field.

Still, an assignment delivered from a counselor was no laughing matter, so finding what went down here was crucial not only for her career, but life if she failed.

She moved her gaze to the group of Eclipse engineers swarming the other perimeter and yelled through the comms. "Hey! Anything there that might help us figure out what happened!?"

A salarian in Eclipse colors responded with the usual 'dry as a desert' tone his species was known for. "Someone willing to use sub-kiloton thermonuclear devices on a," he paused and looked around, "garden world. Almost no radiation, so probably a fusion device."

He walked over to one of the destroyed mechs. "Weapons damage more telling. Here," he pointed to the severed upper torso of a Loki, "multiple heavy impacts consistent with Krogan or older Human weapons."

Falil sniffed and toed the melted lower half. "Maybe, but that sure as hell isn't. That looks more like a Geth Plasma strike."

"Possible, but doubtful." The salarian considered. "Geth particularly reclusive: do not trade with anyone. Possibly salvage? Krogans may have scavenged off of Geth. Very few groups could successfully pull off such a raid, though if they had, it would explain effectiveness here."

Falil wanted to spit in frustration, but that would mean opening her helmet. "Alright, salvage what you can of their data-cores. Hopefully we'll luck out and get a look at our competition." She looked over at the collapsed mine entrance. "Whatever they wanted, they didn't want anyone else knowing about."

Oh this promised a headache she just knew it, and it wouldn't be pretty. Athame's ass, please just be a lowlife this time, she thought to herself. If not I'll have to ask the Justicars if those dry cunts even deem this worthy of the code.

An hour later the Eclipse engineers delivered their findings. As expected, it was not pretty. "Is this all you got?"

The same salarian had the honor to dumb down the technical report to a simple "Yes. Unless you want a more indepth report." With annoyance she agreed. "Very well. Between the EMP from their sapper charge and whatever plasma weapon they were using, nearly all the optical data was unrecoverable save this image." A garbled hologram of hulking humanoid shapes moving towards the landing platform was displayed.

"We also managed to get a very small burst comm transmission from the group out of one of the mechs that was blown clear of the mine shaft." The speakers played the equally mangled audio. "Compre-rones, vama-"

So it was organics and not Geth that leveled the factory. Well that narrows it down.

In truth, it actually did. Blood Pack and Blue Suns were both ruthless enough to pull something like this off, though they each had their reasons not to. Then there were the various governments. It was just a matter of figuring out who would want what had been here, and that would require knowing what had been kept here in the first place.

This time, she did spit. It looked like she was going to have to spend a couple of bonuses and put in a call to the Shadow Broker. "Alright, we got nothing else here. Let's get off this rock. I've got a call to make."

Milky Way/Krogan DMZ/Nith System/Vard/draneue/space port/01:50 hrs 03/26/2182

Alright last touches and... done! Now time to wait for HVT to show up.

I performed one last systems check. "Mike check!"

Taurus replied. "Check!"

"Comm's are fine here!" Joe watched from his vantage point in contact with Farajie tracking the HVT. "Ok here comes the frog surrounded by some mechs in 30 sec."

Alright let's start this show! We moved to place ourselves beneath the shuttle in merc gear, so we didn't have any cloak to hide, sadly. For this op we did have vacuum rated gear, and the extra we brought for what was gonna be a good scare to the fool.

We felt the engines starting, so it was time to board. "Ok, remember to keep the gear sealed and mag holds on the ride out." Once the craft lifted off, our asses were revealed to the automatons and lead started flying in the bay. But too bad for the tin cans, we had hacked the controls from the beginning. So it was 'pedal to the metal' with an upset asshole locked in a ride, with no stops except a change of rides midway to the relay.

I signaled Joe to head inside and grab the frog and Taurus to keep me covered in case of stray debris or intentional shot while I piloted this brick to a safe distance before bailing. We stayed on course to Irajia on a stealth STG shuttle waiting for our jump.

Joe called from the back. "Package secure and ready!"

I sighed. "Good. Be ready for doing a little bit of physics people; we jump in 5...4...3...2...1... Now!" And so into the ever expanding void we went. Breathe in, breathe out, keep a steady pulse and there's our ride out of here. Making contact with the grav plate in the corvette, we shuffled the guy to a locked room. For extra misdirection, Joe posted a ransom for the guy in the net. Hopefully no snag was done here… and it just got jinxed didn't it?

Milky Way/Krogan DMZ/Nith System/Vard/draneue/spaceport/15:50 hrs 03/26/2182

Falil wanted to tear out her scalp from the news. The salarian that was responsible for the scrap heap in that barren waste had been snached, and now the "Revolutionary Daughters of Selene", whoever the hell they were, were demanding a ransom for his safe return.

Not only that, but the bawling bitch that had been sent to keep eyes on him got involved in the bed and was NOT making this any easier for at all!

"Will you shut the hell up!? You're the one that screwed the varen, or in this case, the Salarian." Falil leaned in dangerously. "You had one job, just one; watch the slimey, keep tabs on him."

"Yeah well I was!" Discharging some biotics with the end of that outburst she continued. "And I was also trying to see what was so important. I was going to deliver to the boss by the end of the month, but he just kept the info away from me every time we melded!"

"No shit he was keeping things from you! Any Salarian worth watching is former STG and they fucking know better than let state secrets slip in the sheets. What are you, 75?"

"No you dry cunt! I'm 106 so back off and help me find his ass!"

She's got spirit alright, Falil thought, but that won't help in this moment. With few clues and the broker being unusually quiet... what was taking them so long to give her information? Everybody knows the Broker had someone in any place of importance!

*Beep*

Huh... well nevermind let's see what group messes with the real power of the counsel… is this a joke? There is barely ANYTHING here! No known groups with the tech displayed in Klensal or MO, just garbage! How does a group manage to slip under the broker's grasp? I mean look at their outfits it's distinct for Athame's ass! What with the helmet with external filters! Falil took a deep breath, then turned to Ben'sa. "Brat do you have any idea of how fucked we are at this moment?"

Of course the cunt won't even know how bad it is by the answer. "Yes we're going to be sent to the huntresses camp for revaluation."

*smack*

"Bitch we are gonna be used as target practice for the Justicars at the minimum!" Now the stakes made it to this little brat! "Now help me find the slimy waste of breath and pray to Athame, cause we sure need the goddess' grace now!"

*beep*

Falil paled at the sight of the caller id, and like a resigned inmate in death row responded to Tevos visage in her tool's screen. "Counselor how pleasant to see you."

Her expression not showing anything was a bad sign already. "Falil dear, I was expecting to hear good news by now from you... so what do you have so far in this assignment?"

Sighing for the lack of progress being done so far, she sent what little she had along the broker's list of suspects or lack of by the size of the file.

After some time on the line the head and representative of the most powerful race in the galaxy finally spoke. "This makes me quite disappointed in you Falil, truly I was expecting more … but oh well what has been done is done as the humans say."

That didn't bode well for her one bit. "I want you and that young screw up of a Maiden Ben'sa with you to this location and await further orders... I have some calls to make." Ending the call that way left some truly dreadful atmosphere in her wake.

Oh goddess please have some pity for me and help get through this mud filled swamp to calmer waters.

Looking back at the frightened child she said, "You heard the boss; pack your belongings and move!"

Milky Way/Annos Basin/Pranas System/Halegeuse/Aifa/11:50 hrs 03/30/2182

Jawa and Foxhound were crammed into the back of the formerly Turian shuttle. Unsurprising for such militaristic people, the shuttle was almost ideal for small unit transfers, so the nine strong team would fit well, if it weren't for the bulk of their equipment: demolitions gear, heavy weapons and hardsuits, and the portable data core now only having the program cypher.

All of this was in locked cases. Foxhound were in low-aspect armor of private security, while Jawa was dressed as technical support.

Schultz had worked his dark magic on Fannin and the group now knew the precise location of the data they needed, both in the building and in the system, so far no complications in the insertion of our merry band of thieves.

"Anybody else have the feeling we have it easy so far in?" Taurus piped up once they were out of customs.

Juan thumped his head on the seat back. "Gracias señor, for jinxing this operation."

Leo just shook his head. "No empieces a joder cabrón con tu actitud, por favor. Ok wanna know something useful for this place? It has a nice and I mean really nice atmospheric shielding protecting our sorry hides from being turned medium rare, so be glad for it beefcake."

Raven spoke in a mocking tone. "Leave it Honey; this oaf is just looking for the slaughter house. Oh such a shame, he had so much to look forward to!" She finished with a flush of hair swinging her head.

Hiram was going over the building map one more time. "Looks like Atmo-control is collocated in the data center." He glanced at Phoenix and Juan. "We could cause quite the stir once we have what we need; send everyone scurrying for storm shelters while we stroll out with the prize."

Frans came over the intercom. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are beginning our final descent. Please place your tray tables and machine guns in their upright and stowed position."

Everyone made sure they were braced, as the two team leaders glanced at each other. "We'll consider it an option. For now, focus on reaching the objective." Phoenix did a quick check of his personal barrier as he said this.

Hiram nodded and highlighted the base's Computer-cooling control room, located directly over the data-center. Leo added a bit more to the surrounding area by indicating the security level and response time from the colony's minimum numbers of salarians in the vicinity of the objective. Lion put the finishing touches, patching the group through the radio of said security along with a kill switch for the chatter that would grant them some 20 minutes of leaway.

Phoenix reviewed the parameters one last time to make sure it stuck with the teams, "Ok people, 5 mikes to insertion. Remember we are to grab the info as fast as humanly possible and run out of here. This is the salarians home system so we are already on thin ice here; I don't wanna end in a frog's version of a gulag, so stay focused!"

The shuttle touched down and we departed in good order. Hans and Frans stayed with the shuttle, while Phoenix dealt with the inevitable administrative graft. The Salarians looked at us with general disdain; we were here to fix the AC, so how important could we possibly be. We passed a small entourage of Mercs in Eclipse colors arguing with a customs agent.

Leo had an easy smile as he glanced back at Juan and Hiram. "See huevones, this is why you pay your bribes on time and in full."

Phoenix noticed one of the Asari Eclipse look at the group oddly as they passed. "Heads on a swivel people, we may have been made." Everyone tensed as they left the hangar area. "Consider us on the clock now."

The map showed that they needed to head to the sub-basement of a building three blocks away. Phoenix slapped a small device onto a parked aircar as he passed. It would allow him to remote recall the craft to him with the push of a button.

The two GST teams made their way to the civic building that housed the secret Miralano database. Every step brought more tension and everyone was sweating bullets by the time they arrived in the lobby, though that could simply have been the humidity.

The two groups were waved through once Phoenix flashed their papers, and they headed into the elevator. They unlocked the cases on the way down, but left them closed until they had reached the HVAC room. Lion triggered a setting on the comm-kill switch. "Alright boys and girl," Raven shot him a cross look, "we have 20 minutes!"

Everyone popped open the cases, and after all of the practice runs on Zonness, were kitted up and cutting through the floor in less than two minutes.

Falil wasn't sure at first.

She'd only heard a snippet of the language from that salvaged recording, and the word she'd heard from the passing human was only similar. But when every Salarian security officer started fiddling with their comms at the same time, she was sure of it; the humans who had strolled past her were the same group that had hit the mine in the Dis system!

"Okay, play-time's over." She biotically threw the customs officer to the side. "Ladies, we're on mission right now!" Every member of her Commando Squad unlimbered their weapons. "By order of Councilor Tevos of the Asari Republics, under General Order 12 of the Citadel Accords, we are declaring a general emergency." She locked eyes with the local security head. "Get in our way and die."

The Salarians wisely parted, and her squad moved through to the building the Shadow Broker told her was the likely objective. She didn't actually have Tevos' authority to act here; the old bint was fixated on some, "Revolutionary Daughters of Selene" supposedly working with Aria T'Loak. Goddess help her if she ever got that kind of tunnel vision when she became a matriarch.

It wouldn't take the Miralano's long to figure out what the real threat was, and when that happened, no amount of legal bluffs were going to save her from a mass-effect round through her skull.

Cutting through the floor was another two minute task. Taurus and Raven dropped a pair of flash-bang grenades, and then leapt in after them. There was a short, very wet sounding altercation with the security and technical crew. "All clear." Raven shouted through the hole.

The rest of Foxhound remained in the HVAC room while Juan and I got to work with the computer. The process was actually easier than any of our practice runs, and we had the data before our timer reached 10 minutes.

Juan yelled up the hole. "Phoenix, we have the data. Are we hitting the shield system?"

"Considering there's somebody coming down to meet you, I'd vote yes!" We could hear the elevator coming down now.

"Hiram, lock it!"

I nodded and headed to the elevator doors. I fabricated a pair of hard, very sharp-pointed bars with my industrial Omni, and just as the elevator reached our floor I jammed them into the tops of the doors near the walls. They tried to open, and I could just see the tell-tale sign of biotics through the gap. "Time to go, El-Jefe!"

"Done!" He stepped back and opened up on the terminal and server stacks with his SMG. We both went up through the hole, followed by Raven and Taurus just before there was a tearing sound of the elevator doors slowly being ripped apart by the biotic inside.

Juan rigged a Claymore to IR lasers just over the hole, and we climbed into the elevator shaft.

We were scaling up when the mine went off, and had just reached the ground floor when a shrieking banshee of an Asari in Eclipse armor stepped onto the roof of the elevator and opened up with an SMG.

Lion promptly dropped a grenade which sent the Commando ducking back into the room.

Not that it did much aside from taking a hard blow to her barriers and snatching Leo's helmet in the process of throwing a stasis field at us from where she was; it was a good thing he had a balaclava on before hitting the deck from that grab.

Falil had to grab something from these scum to save her ass from the reprisals that no doubt will follow this debacle, although that was the least of worries right now. Part of the colony shielding was compromised and radiation was leaking into the surrounding area. and consciousness was leaving her fast…

She just hoped the bastards got cooked along with that brat for this shit they made her go through, at least she will live but wasn't sure for how long...

It was a target rich environment, that was for sure.

Once we had high tailed it out of the elevator shaft, we had mechs on the left, asari commandos on the right, back against a wall and front and center eclipse mercs being brought low by the heat and overloading and taxing their shields.

It was prime for the hail of slug fire coming their way courtesy of our guns and friendly fire from turrets in the perimeter.

We opted for a fighting retreat as we neared the exfil point, and waited for the shuttle to pass by and cake the area with the modified yeet cannon I had rigged up.

Leo was debating what was more useful in enclosed spaces: super shotgun base hail of sand cannon or plasma wave of doom until they sequence the thing to shoot the plasma first and then with the heat from said release propel the grains and mines to the sods with depleted shields.

"Hiram!" I looked over at Phoenix as he activated his Omni. "When it's over the Op-For, hit it with your cannon!"

I was puzzled for a moment until I saw an air car coming directly towards us. The moment it was in position, I blasted the lifting system and dropped it on a small Commando Team near the street's intersection.

The failure of the mass core caused half a tonne of metal to drop on top of them. We didn't wait to see how effective it was, as the Banshee was coming up behind us fast.

She biotically lifted a nearby air car and was about to fling it at us, when Hans and Frans arrived on station, belly gun blazing.

This sent the remainder of the Mercs and Salarians ducking for cover.

It was a mad dash to load everyone onto the shuttle as nearly every gun-toting alien on the planet came out from cover. But it was too late, as we were already accelerating hard for space before even shutting the shuttle door.

Milky Way/Annos Basin/Pranas System/Halegeuse/Aifa/ 16:10 hrs 03/31/2218

"Vepus Lothram reporting live from the site of a massive radiation leak from the center of the colony's Mirallano's robotics and mining building and surroundings. Local forces were attacked by a group funded by what authorities have found to be the Revolutionary Daughters of Selene. We don't know the identity or nature of this group, but so far they seem to be an asari group operating in the terminus systems, presumably under the pirate queen herself.

"So far, the head of the colony's security has made no statements confirming the allegations so we will keep in touch with the people managing the investigation. This is Vepus Lothram, from Citadel News Network (CNN) and stay tuned for updates in this case."

In transit/spirit of fire/D-deck/command center/10:36 hrs/05/30/2182 CE

Schultz stood in front of the combined teams. "First, I would like to congratulate you all in a job remarkably well done, despite the time constraints. However, given the collateral damage, some of the places being turned to slag by what the CNN are covering, and the use of Aria as a front is somewhat harmful for our goals in the long run."

Phoenix stepped forward. "Thank you sir glad we got out of there with some bruises and minor injuries "

"Don't mention it; you all have earned some shore leave and R&R." He tapped at the console, scrolling through the data collected by us and being sifted by R&D. He gazed at our lot. "And as a way to let this cooldown so you have time, head down to the medics for post op bio check." He chuckled at the end.

Leo sulked. "Yay… more needles... Why are we still using needles? Why?"

Juan stood and rolled his shoulders. "Quit bitching and get this done so we can get out of here. There's a pick-up game in Vehicle Bay three, and I want on the roster."

I heaved myself out of my chair. "Beats using air guns. I just want this done quick so I can catch the next shuttle to Benning. Kalla's been asking for me to visit, and I definitely think I've earned it."

Phoenix started towards the medical section. "Looking for some blue ass?" Everyone chuckled at the look I shot the Ghost. "Second that, so long as this muscle head doesn't antagonise Heliix when I'm not looking! It's hard enough to find a good meat shield in these parts."

Leo followed his commander while waving at Jawa. "Hey if any of you ever goes to Sigil I'll buy you a beer, it's on me!"

In transit/spirit of fire/B-deck/habitation-Leo's crew quarters/15:36 hrs/05/30/2182 CE

Once done with medical I was ready to sink in the comfort of a plush bed. On my way to the arms of Morpheus for some well-earned rest I met Raven arms crossed with her back against the wall near the door to my cabin. "Hey, so the medics free you too?"

She walked up to me. "Yeah, so far no complications. Just cosmetic as the worst from our little adventure."

Mmm... that was a rather clipped answer… "What's with the sentry at my door anyway?"

Passing me, she turned around and spoke. "Just checking if you were free from medical as well. Up for some sparing?"

I palmed the door's control. "Maybe later. I was going to catch some z's. Perhaps in, I don't know-" I brought up my tool's screen, "- four or six hours in the bay-" being interrupted by a pair of claws clamping at my arms and a set of teeth at the tip of the tail making me shiver; dragging me inside my room as the light are quite dim barely illuminating the outline of the individual behind me.

Purring from her place at the doorway Raven went on grabbing something from the side near her. "Oh don't worry that spar will be done soon~" Closing and locking the door to drop her garments and strap something with a *click* on her heading my way. "Just relax and let's enjoy some exercise together."

"Do note that when I'm free you will pay..." I was making that an empty threat given my current situation… and oh fuck that tongue is really distracting me...

Closing in on me she leaned and breathed near my ear "Oh~, I'm sure of that; but can you wait for a bit?" She asked with an actual feathery touch. "I'm in need of some good bites from my kitten~" She sat on my lap, drenching it a bit.

Welp I'm so boned...

Milky Way/Athena/Thessia/Unknown location/20:02 hrs/05/30/2182 CE

Falil had not been a happy camper ever since this shit assignment had been pushed on her, without mentioning the scars running down her left flank and near her ass. All she had to show for it was leaving that carnage alive with some form of info on the mysterious group; the only salvageable thing was a helmet that one of those "merc's" left behind in the heat of battle before she was kicked down the elevator shaft.

Now there was this hearing by some matriarchs that she knows little of…

"Commando Falil Ateor please step forward in the chamber." Being put on the spot light, she couldn't see any of their faces. "How do you plead for this failing?"

Taking a deep breath. "I am not guilty of any failing, renowned matriarch; just a victim to the goddess' fate." She stood as straight as she could.

"We will determine that commando," spoke Tevos, "for you have failed in a spectacular way. The STG is combing the entire colony and Miralano's holdings, no doubt to seize the assets from rival families." Taking a moment to parse through the data. "You also lost the valuable intel on this so called Daughters of Selene."

Knowing if she didn't diffuse that line of inquiry now she wouldn't leave here in any semblance of aliveness, she spoke. "With all due respect honored matriarchs and Counselor, this so-called maiden group is nothing more than a smoke screen for the real perpetrators of this heist."

"Mmh... and how could you tell it is not a declaration by foolish maidens not knowing how to respect their betters? Please do tell." Tevos said, almost sneering as she talked.

Bringing the most memory from the cam in the helmet she grabbed from one of the humans. "As you can see, the way they fought with the Eclipse mercs and myself, as well the deceased Ben'sa T'saris, their MO was to cause as much mayhem along their exit. It almost seems to be a way of ego boosting as can be heard clearly form this recording."

She played the file while turning up the volume. (Agents of Mayhem Franchise Force Theme (OST)) ... Agents of mayhem~... "We are either dealing with a delusional group of gun-nuts, or some very competent and unknown mercs. Every indication is that this particular team is responsible for three, closely timed, and closely related strikes. My bet's on them being competent unknowns"

Tevos winced at the noise coming out of the helmet. "All this proves is that Aria's Revolutionary Daughters have the presence of mind to use mercenary proxies. Unless you are implying you were out played by mere humans?"

Falil locked eyes with the Matriarch. "If so, then you were, and still are." There was a murmur and the sound of nervous static discharges. "Aria is furious at being accused. Not getting on stage and railing like a Batarian politician, but commissioning Mercs to hunt down whoever is framing her. I should know; she contacted me directly. The Daughters of Selen is a ruse, and if you're two fixated on this tit-measuring contest with her to see you're being played..."

Tevos slammed her fists onto the table. "Insolent little bitch! You will show me respect or in Athame's name I will-"

"You will do nothing in the Goddess' name, Counselor." The room froze as the lone Justicar in the room stood. "You are a servant of the Goddess and a representative of her daughters, not the adjudicator of her laws. That is the remit of my order."

It took nearly all of Falil's willpower not to whimper as Matriarch Samarra turned her full attention on her. "I too have received... interesting intelligences of late, and I would speak to young Mistress Falil. Alone."

Being dismissed by the rest, she followed Samarra to an empty room and listened. "Child, I must say your view holds merit in the way you stood. But if there is one thing I will caution, it is how you respond to your elders."

Lowering her head "Understood matriarch, but it doesn't change the facts," she looked at her and continued, "And if the counselor was offended by the truth, it is not my fault."

Relaxing, the matriarch placed a hand on her. "Child, I'll say this once and expect an answer from you."

Falil asked in an even tone, "And that would be, honored matriarch?"

"There have been some new clues regarding the 'demons', and assistance in such endeavors would free you from these unfortunate events."

Falil paled after hearing that admission. "In what capacity should my help be placed in such efforts, if I may ask?"

"Merely that you forward and confirm the information provided to me in the field hunting any unfortunate child of the goddess."

So I'm either fucked now and die by a dry cunt of an old fish, or in the field behind a Justicar quest… until I find a way to run and hide… well not much of a choice really.

"I'd be honored to contribute to your cause matriarch." She said with a painfully fake smile; she would live for another day.

A/N: Beyond the brief intro conversation between Schultz and Nomad, and some editing, I didn't write any of this; this was a collab between Ian and MP07. I hope you all enjoyed, and check out my main story if you're new to this universe.

Link to my discord is /rUQYqjJ, If it doesn't work, check my profile for an updated link; or PM me to let me know so I can update it.

I wish you guys well, and I will see ya when I see ya.