SSV Cambrai, Kithoi Ward Docks

Day 2, 1720

"Enjoying your treasure trove, krogan?"

"Heh."

Dax grunted happily, hauling a crate up onto the nearest free table as Araya bounded up to him, swigging from a bottle of Tupari. The armoury around them was almost abandoned, save for a few dozen crates of beautiful, beautiful guns… he had broken two open already, laying out their contents on the armoury tables, and now he set about the third. The latches cracked open easily, and he yanked it open, grinning at the sight of gleaming steel within.

"Ooooh…" Araya cooed, stepping up to his side and standing on her tip-toes to see into the box. "Shiny."

"Shiny!" a happy voice echoed, from the back of the room. Lisk was sat on one of the empty tables, swinging the team's yellow Firestorm around with abandon.

"Is he… supposed to have that?" the vanguard murmured, cautiously.

"Fuel cell's still locked in my stockpile," Dax chuckled. "No ammo in the thing, but if it keeps him happy, it keeps him from breakin' stuff.."

"…fair enough."

The human hopped up onto one of the armoury tables, legs swinging idly, and the krogan just grumbled in annoyance as she sent several handguns skidding off to either side, oblivious. With a grunt, he bundled them up in one arm and transferred them to the next table, taking care to examine each and every one with an oddly paternal look.

"Supplies any good?" Araya asked, again.

"Nice stock so far," he nodded, as he set about disassembling one of the handguns, a sizeable Carnifex. "A dozen rifles, some sidearms, lots of tech for modifications…"

"And… those?" she frowned, nodding to the two man-sized crates stacked by the far wall.

"Not a clue," Dax growled. "Captain won't let me open 'em, says they're for the N7s. Code-locked and all."

"Ooh, secrets…" Araya echoed, still swinging her legs merrily and taking another sugary swig of Tupari.

The krogan just grunted, disinterestedly. He held some doo-hickey from the Carnifex up to his eye, before shrugging and setting it down again, with an expression of evident approval.

"How's your arsenal?" he muttered, absent-mindedly, and Araya almost choked on her Tupari.

"How's my what?" she gawped, hoarsely.

"Ar-se-nal!" the krogan growled, turning to face her and rolling his eyes.

"…oh."

She blushed crimson, and looked down at her boots for a moment, before replying more cheerfully:

"Fine, I suppose. Locust's good. I'm shooting twenty-seven or twenty-eight now."

"And that piece of scrap shotgun?" Dax grunted. Or maybe he'd omitted the 's'. Her hearing wasn't so good, apparently.

"Still… working," she shrugged, avoiding the subject. The rusted frame of the gun was still hovering in the small of her back, as always.

"Working well?"

"It can hit… big things. And the ammo clips still sort of fit."

Dax chuckled, hoarsely, and just held out a big hand, his meaning clear.

"…promise not to steal it this time?"

"I promise," he muttered, gruffly.

Reluctantly, Araya pulled the Graal from her back, and shoved the stock into his big, scaly hand. It fitted much more naturally, she had to admit - a paperweight to him, unlike the hindrance it was to her. He unfolded it in his hands, snapped the breach open with a click and a slight crunch, and peered inside, wordlessly.

"Hmm…"

"That bad, huh?" Araya murmured nervously.

"Loading chamber's all torn to shit," Dax grunted, sticking a giant thumb down the slot where the thermal clip was meant to go. "Muzzle looks worn too. Nakmor crap always did turn to rust."

"Can you… fix it?" the vanguard suggested, quietly.

"I could fit a new loading chamber and fiddle with the choke, but I'd have to tear up a perfectly good Graal to do it, and the whole shell's full of rust anyway."

"Oh. Okay… could you sort me something new, then?"

Dax blinked in surprise.

"Thought you were fond of this thing," he chuckled, good-naturedly.

"Yeah…" Araya admitted, holding out a hand - he gave her the Graal back - and sighing, "but maybe I'll hang it on the wall instead of… using it."

"Fair enough," Dax muttered, with another low bark of laughter. "Let me have a look through this lot, think I might have just the thing…"

The krogan scratched his brow plate, as if trying to conjure up a troublesome memory, and ducked under the table to look through two smaller cases. He popped one open, grunted in annoyance, shut it, opened the other… eventually, he straightened up with a white, snub-nosed gun in hand, about the size of a rifle with a square tail.

"Scimitar," he announced, holding the weapon out horizontally. "Ariake Tech. Twin kinetic generators instead of one for a higher rate of fire. Eight rounds in the clip, but there's spare sockets, I can upgrade that to twelve… and fully automatic if you squeeze the trigger down."

Araya whistled quietly.

"…I could also mess about with the generators, if you gimme an hour or two. Kick it up a notch."

Lisk cheered happily at that, from the back of the room. Araya just held out her hands, setting her Tupari bottle down on the table, and Dax tossed the gun to her. It was half the weight of her old Graal, if that, and manoeuvrable - the short length of the gun and the snub-nose let you swivel it easily from side to side. She wiggled her finger on the trigger, and the empty shotgun gave a series of satisfying clicks. Dax just grinned, wandering back over to the weapons case it had come from, and leaning down to shut it… he paused, however, grin broadening, and looked up to ask:

"You need a knife?"

"Well… I don't have one," Araya replied, frowning and not quite answering the question.

"Then you need one. Swap."

He straightened up, holding out a hand, and she reluctantly gave him the Scimitar back. With the other hand, he passed her a glimmering steel blade, and as he marched over to a workbench to start tinkering with the shotgun, she examined it closely. It was about six inches of steel, curved to a sharp point and with a round guard to protect the wielder's hand.

"Looks turian," Dax grunted, over his shoulder. "Probably came off an Armax shipment. Might do you some good if you ain't got your biotics up close."

Araya nodded, flipped the knife into her hand, and then hopped down from the table. She swiped it through the air once or twice, spun like a ballet dancer to stab behind her, whirled on her tip-toes again…

"Oi!" the krogan barked, as Lisk just cackled happily in the background. "Watch the tech!"

The vanguard stopped dead, blushing again and stepping away from the loaded benches and their rather expensive contents. Dax's expression softened after a moment, though, and he turned back to his work with a shake of his head, chuckling:

"We'll make a proper warrior outta you yet, girl."