Aran and I began to approach the door at the end of the corridor. We were flanked by opaque perspex doors with holographic locks. The walls were stained with old leaks which made the paint peel. The floor always stuck to your shoes, making a velcro-ripping sound as you walked. There was a constant stale odour, which could have been the overflowing waste outside or the vorcha that dotted the corridors, who hiss as you pass them. Aran never looked, he always kept his gaze focused straight ahead of him. As we arrived at the door, Aran placed his hand on the lock, it whirred and lit up with his omni-tool for a few seconds. He beckoned me over sternly, and I stood waiting next to him. The lock beeped irregularly, and the door opened a crack. I shot my hands in as the door began to slowly close, buffering on my fingers. I pulled it open enough so Aran could squeeze through, who held it open for me. Once we were both inside, the door softly closed behind us.
The room was lit with an ultraviolet hue, with metal cans intermittently strewn across the floor. There was an unconscious turian propped against a wall in front of the door. We continued through past the kitchen, which had lost all semblance of its functionality. The sink was filled with broken cups and plates, and any food preparing equipment had long been removed or broken. The only function it served now was an extra room for inter-species sex, at that moment, we were treated to human-on-turian. The corridor lead to a doorway, minus a door. The room was lit by a small, red lamp and contained a solitary mattress, a long table and a fornax poster (hanar pinning a woman to a bed). This was our home.
I threw my jacket into a corner, it was caught briefly on some exposed brick before falling to a heap. I peered out of the tiny window, looking at the streaks of light from cabs passing by. Aran lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. I could hear him breathing from the window, I could tell he was frustrated. I went to perch on the table, so I could face him. I stared at him for a few seconds, thinking of how best to dress my words.
"You know it won't work", I finally said.
"Of course it will", Aran replied confidently. "My plans never fail."
My eyes stayed with him for a second before being drawn to the doorway. A salarian poked his head into the room.
"Hey Aran! I thought I saw you come in!", He said excitedly with his arms raised as he entered.
"Hey Jeet, what's up?", Aran said, sitting up.
"Not much, not much. Just wondering if you gave any more consideration to my offer?", Jeet said, propping himself on the crumbling wall adjacent to the doorway.
"My brother dosen't think it'll work", Aran replied, gesturing lazily to me.
Jeet looked up and glared at me, "With all due respect, kid, what the fuck do you know?"
I met his gaze and straightened up.
Jeet looked back to my brother, his face now friendly again, "I'm slowly working on the finer details, but I need you to do something for me".
Aran turned to me. I made the disapproval show in my eyes, before Aran turned back to Jeet, "What do you need?"
"You need to talk to a trader", Jeet said quickly.
"Talk to a trader? Why do we have to?" I asked suspiciously.
"Because, I have a history with this guy, and if I go to him, he's gonna know somethings up".
"Who is this guy? What does he have to do with Aria?" Aran asked.
"He he, This 'guy' is Aria's main exporter of Hallex, this 'guy' is our ticket to the biggest score of our lives!" Jeet answered excitedly, his head shaking slightly.
"So, we go talk to this guy, then what? 'Hey my man, where do you keep all your fuckin' Hallex?'" I asked sarcastically.
"No. You subtly imply, you can be a valuable asset to the business, that if the going gets tough, you're the go-to guys, get it?" Jeet eyed us both suggestively.
"How are we gonna do that? They've already got tonnes of muscle and sellers, why would they want us?" Aran said, slightly confused.
Jeet shifted excitedly on the wall, "You're gonna love this, you say you can get it onto the Citadel".
Aran and I stared for a second, Jeet's eyes darted back and forth between us, occasionally nodding.
I finally said it, "So? Citadel is full of Hallex".
"Hallex has completely dried up on the citadel since C-Sec have cracked down on smugglers, every twitchead on that station is gonna pay triple for any Hallex they can find", Jeet replied, now visibly shaking with glee.
"I got my hands on a code that flags our ship as safe, so they won't touch you!" Jeet added, before pulling out a small datapad.
"Woah", Aran said, amazed. Jeet handed the datapad to Aran, smiling widely.
"Wait a minute", I said. "I'm guessing you're not going through all this to get us a job...what's in it for you?"
Jeet paused, smirking, "Once you're on the ship, you take control and I'll meet you at the spaceport".
"'Take control of the ship'?" I asked.
Jeet rolled his eyes, "Your brother, he's a real tough nut to crack. Everything will become apparent".
Jeet stood up and moved towards the doorway, as he left he called back, "I'll be in touch, fellas!"
I turned to Aran, who lay back on the bed. He closed his eyes before voicing contentedly, "See? Its all gonna be fine".
I stood up, speechless. I opened my mouth to restart the debate, but instead formed an annoyed grunt. I decided to try and catch another inter-species sex show.