Impression

As nerve-wracking as this was, Hyrn was still very excited.

He had thought about being a mercenary for a while. His family didn't approve, but they also didn't approve of his interest in chemical engineering. When he went out to experiment on different materials, he'd come home to long, loud lectures from his older cousins.

But Hyrn was hoping that mercenaries would understand, or at least let him experiment in peace. Exploding things was a part of their job, he figured. They might even see him as an asset.

And now he had a chance to prove himself. The other four recruits, however, made him anxious.

Vilnius was a typical turian as far as Hyrn was concerned. Demanding, intimidating and impolite. He wanted to avoid Brek as much as possible. The way he looked at people, like they weren't even there, was terrifying. Javern seemed to be the nicer of the two batarians but he still acted unpredictably. Shawna had seemed the least scary at first, the human had been nervous just like him, but they had been willing to shoot the recruiter without hesitation.

The whole group put him on edge. Hyrn just hoped this would all work out.

Brek was not happy, but that was not new. At least Javern was here.

They needed credits, so they needed work. Javern said that joining a mercenary group would pay well, so that's what Brek did. He went where Javern led.

Being a mercenary wouldn't be hard, Javern had said. He just needed to do what he was told. Brek had done that before. Sometimes he would have to shoot at people, but that wasn't a problem. He'd done that before too.

The other people were a problem. Other people were distractions or threats.

Salarians were annoying, especially this one. But they did make such fun little squealy noises went they were hurt. Brek could only hope it would get itself killed soon. The turian was quiet, but tried to order them around. They might have to put up with it for a while, it looked tough. The human Brek just wanted gone. Brek didn't care but he knew Javern didn't like humans, which meant it was a problem.

They all were problems. It was just him and Javern. That was all that mattered.

Javern was still not sure at all about this, but at least both he and Brek had gotten in. They could handle this together.

The more violent mindset Brek had been showing lately was concerning. He understood why Brek was the way he was, and in some ways Javern was thankful Brek was willing to show that part of himself, but it was still unnerving. And joining up with a mercenary band wasn't likely to help with that, but they needed the credits. They had to do this, even if it meant working with a bunch of aliens.

The ones they'd ended up stuck with weren't all that bad, at least. Hyrn was annoying but potentially useful. The turian, Vilnius, was obviously a professional and definitely the sort you didn't want to make an enemy of. Shawna, the human, was as conceited as the rest of her race and didn't belong here in his opinion but at least it didn't look like she'd be slowing them down.

If Javern had his way, he and Brek wouldn't have been there. But the money he'd left with was running out.

Brek and I need this, He reminded himself. That was all that mattered.

Well, Vilnius supposed, it could be worse. They could all be completely useless.

If there was one good thing he could say about his new teammates, it was that they each had something useful about them. He hadn't been expecting much from a bunch of prospective mercenaries. Of course, now he was one of those prospective mercenaries. He didn't like that he had been reduced to this, but the fact was he needed credits and the one good thing he'd gotten from the military was training. Mercenary work was one of the few things he was qualified for.

Having looked over the other four members of his team, he realized he might have been overqualified.

Vilnius didn't trust the batarians. The pale one was simple-minded but cold, a thug. The biotic was of average intelligence at least, but Vilnius still felt uneasy with him. In the military biotics were seen as a necessity, but they were unreliable at best and a threat to normal soldiers at worst. The salarian, Hyrn, concerned Vilnius. If he was not overstating his skills then he could be a useful asset, but his apparent fascination with explosions was potentially dangerous. Not to mention his stuttering gave Vilnius a headache. Another one to be wary of.

The human, Shawna, confused him. Vilnius was having a hard time identifying it's gender. It's voice was higher pitched than the males of most species and it's body shape was similar to an asari's but the fur on it's head was short, something had been told was indicative of a male, and it was applying to what was customarily a male's job. Either way, it seemed competent enough.

Father had always told him that batarians were filthy war-mongers, salarians were untrustworthy pyjaks and humans were honorless monkeys. He also said that everything the military did was right. So, it stood to reason that he would be wrong about other things.

Time would tell.

[Edited 3/2/2017]