The Desert's Tears
Shrub Velik winced in pain as he tried to smile in gratitude but it hurt too much so he just nodded and accepted the proffered ice pack in silence.
"I tell you Kel she is completely out of control, she did this to me just for accepting a job and this was after spending months bitching about not being able to find work. What's her problem?"
Kelron'Baj, the Desert's Tears Quarian first mate, grunted in such a way as to imply that Shrub was an idiot.
"You couldn't see the truth if it punched you in the face, which it just did, you only need the insight to see it. What did you say to her exactly?" Shrub's brow wrinkled as he struggled to remember through the haze of painkillers.
"Um… I said that the shadow broker wants to pay us to travel the human home world find out what happened to the citadel."
Kelron made that tutting noise that really got on Shrub's nerves.
"Well there's your problem. Karla hates the shadow broker didn't you know that? She has some kind of vendetta against them."
"How was I supposed to know? Karla never mentioned it." Kelron might actually have winked, it was hard to tell behind his visor.
"These are the kind of things that you really should learn if you want to avoid being punched in the face in the future."
Shrub had just formulated a witty comeback when the bulkhead to the engine room cycled open and Karla limped in with a huge grin plastered all over her face. She was clutching what looked like a deep stab wound with her right hand and a belt of knifes in the other.
Kelron was back in soldier mode instantly, already on his feet and running a diagnostic on his Omni-tool.
"Karla? What in the name of the ancestors happened to you?" Karla tossed the belt into Shrub's lap and plonked herself down on the engine block before replying.
"Here Shrub, a peace offering, take these knifes and lets bury the hatchet. Maybe you can stab me in the back with them further down the line. As for what happened I told the shadow broker exactly where he could shove his offer and killed two of his agents." Shrub could only blink in astonishment.
"Why?"
"That is a valid question." Said Kelron without looking up, Karla only shrugged.
"Why the fuck not? I roughed up that Elcor you mentioned and two thugs rushed me, this dumbass Turian wasn't much trouble but the other (an Asari) damn near finished me off." To illustrate her point Karla squeezed her wound until a trickle of violet blood seeped from the crack in her hardsuit, causing Kelron to physically wrestle her hand away so he could apply medi-gel and painkillers. He talked as he worked, stripping off the leg plate and underlying body glove to bind the wound.
"Shrub and I have been talking while you were out. He thinks you are out of control." Shrub blanched.
"Kelron! What the Hell?" Karla only looked around dopily. Obviously the painkillers had kicked in. all her only reply was a questioning 'Hm.' Taking this as encouragement, Kelron ploughed on.
"So I was thinking that if you don't mind we could hire on another member. Don't take this the wrong way but I think your attitude might be scaring away some potential customers. We need an emotional counterweight and neither me or Shrub fit the bill. What do you think?" Karla was taking so long to blink that Shrub thought she had fallen asleep but she eventually replied.
"S'fine. You're the first mate right? Do what you want."
'The fight must have really tired her out.' Thought Kelron.
"Thanks boss. Why don't you go to bed and we'll talk more in the morning." Once Karla had shuffled off Shrub turned on his Quarian superior.
"How much medi-gel did you give her? You did that on purpose didn't you, doping her up so she'd agree to anything?"
"So what if I did, don't you want somebody else around to keep Karla's temper in check?"
Karla jerked awake. She immediately tried to sit up and the resulting blood rush made her fall out of her bunk. Lying there, all wrapped up in the bedclothes, she struggled to recall why her head was so fuzzy. She hadn't gotten drunk last night had she? She vaguely remembered the attractive Batarian bartender and tentatively lifted her head again to glance at her bunk but it was empty. Not a drunken one night stand then.
A dull ache in her right leg dredged the memories back up. Medi-gel overdose. Ripping off the blankets Karla saw that her right leg had been bandaged around the upper thigh, near the pelvis and that she was clad only in her underwear and an old white vest. 'Who undressed me?' Managing to stand up without triggering a bout of dizziness, Karla slammed her fist on the door panel and limped through to the Desert's Tears' modest galley.
An extranet screen was being projected against the rear bulkhead and the small clock in the corner read 7:50SST. Despite that Shrub and Kelron were already up, huddled close to the screen, squinting at fine text that was too small for Karla to read.
"Mornin' fellas. What are you looking at?" Shrub turned to face her and she winced at the mottled bruising that covered most of the left side of the Salarian's head.
"Ouch. Listen Shrub… I'm really sorry. I wasn't myself last night; it's the shadow broker, any mention of that bastard gets my blood all riled and the thought of working for him…" Shrub's blank eyed stare was making her nervous; she started rubbing the back of her head crest. "I shouldn't have hit you and I should have told you about our history. I'm sorry." Shrub held her gaze for a few seconds then turned back to the screen.
"It's alright." Before Karla could let her breath go Kelron spoke up.
"Actually it isn't alright. You're wrong Karla you where yourself last night. I'm not casting any judgments but you need to find a better outlet for your aggression and courier work doesn't seem to be cutting it." Blunt as ever huh Kel. Karla shuffled her feet awkwardly. "You may be right. So what was that about a new recruit last night? You're not serious are you? You know how we do things." Kelron shrugged.
"It's your ship captain we won't take on anyone you don't want. That said I think you should at least take a look at some of the dossiers me and Shrub have picked out, you might be interested." Karla huffed and puffed but lacking anything better to do they spent the rest of the morning skimming through dozens of potential new crew members.
"That one." Said Karla without a shadow of doubt in her voice.
The profile currently on the screen was a muscular Batarian with serious facial scarring and only three eyes.
"Vito." Shrub retorted.
"Oh come on! What's wrong with him?"
"Karla, I don't know if your Batarian thing is a weird fetish or some kind of disturbing father complex but we aren't hiring people just because you think they are attractive."
Karla pouted and put on an aggrieved tone of voice. "He's not just attractive he's also qualified, look." She pointed at the 'prior experience' column.
"Former Special Intervention Unit, worked with the Blue Suns, survived a run in with Commander Shepard on Zorya…" Kelron pricked up his ears at this.
"Seriously? That's a selling point now is it?"
"I heard that Shepard was dead. Again. Maybe it's a brush with greatness kind of thing." Shrub chipped in.
"We're getting off topic here guys, I vote for him: Servrn Coreal."
"He'll go in the maybe pile." Kelron said.
After hours of debating they had narrowed the selection down to four resumes:
The Batarian SIU member, a Vorcha brawler, an Asari huntress and a human sniper.
"Not the Vorcha." Karla said it in such a way that meant no arguments but Shrub opened his mouth anyway. 'Always pushing the envelope' thought Kelron.
"Why not?" Karla shot him a withering look. "Because, jackass, I say so."
Before Shrub could say something snide that would probably get his face broken again Kelron intervened.
"Because" He said, positioning himself between the Salarian and the Asari. "Not to sound racist or anything but I have yet to meet a Vorcha that wasn't antagonistic and that's the last thing we need. We have enough of that."
"True." Shrub cast a withering look of his own in Karla's direction.
Kelron's plan of getting everyone distracted was in danger of flushing itself down the toilet. In a desperate bid to stop the situation from deteriorating into more domestic violence he stabbed a finger at one of the merc resumes at random.
"I vote for them!" It was the sharpshooter: Human, female, formerly part of an anti terrorism unit in some country called 'Australia' on the human home world. Claire Perry. Shrub nodded but Karla only sighed.
"I guess she's as good as any, seeing as I'm out voted, but before we get ahead of ourselves what we are going to pay her with. Mercs don't work for free and last time I checked D'mel enterprises was close to bankruptcy, suggestions?"
"What's wrong with quarter of the loot we pick up on a job?"
"Loot is all well and good Shrub but it's inconsistent, mercs prefer a salary."
"Which we can't pay." He shot back at the Quarian.
Karla stood up suddenly; drawing quizzical looks form the other two.
"I've had enough of this. You where right earlier Kel: courier work isn't for me and I don't think it's for a former soldier like you either. We need to shake things up; if we hire a mercenary then doesn't that make us mercenaries?"
"No." Said Kelron flatly.
"Maybe we should become mercs then. Think about it; lots of action, an abundance of cash and enough respect to actually get somewhere in this shitty galaxy." There was a fire in Karla's eyes that made it clear to Kelron that the idea had such a firm grip on her that nothing he said would dissuade her.
"Fine, but lets at least conduct an interview first." Karla's face split into a massive beam and she pumped her fist in the air. "Alright! What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Kelron dialled the number on Claire Perry's dossier and set up a meeting for the four of them at a place called 'Jarg's assorted meat burgers' in the market district.