A/N I own stuff, just not this stuff
Thanks for your patience with this. School has been kicking my butt and I am having difficulty finding time to write this. Do not fret, I still plan on doing this story but if there are delays, don't worry. I haven't stopped it. If that day ever comes then I will let you know through an announcement. The delay for this one was because I wasn't happy with the first effort and I decided to rewrite it. Quality comes first. Mostly.
So last chapter had some admittedly mixed opinions. Mostly good, a few concerned. It wasn't an easy chapter to write and for those who felt like it might have been a bit much, I understand. Again, I had originally planned it to be more graphic but decided to cut it back.
However, now that the main introduction story is coming to a close, the timeline will start moving a little faster as the events happen. A few good plans, some good action and more interesting political scenes on the horizon.
Comments:
zapper25, mk0008, DahakStaz, deadtrooper, Artyom-Dreizehn, LordHerod – thank you all.
SneakyDevil – I appreciate your feedback. I am, however, quite familiar with injuries. On the topic of shock, injuries that happen over a long period of time tend to reduce the likelihood of shock occurring. Besides not everyone goes into shock. Though common, it is not a guarantee. As for the rest, well, no writer can please everyone. Thank you for making time reading the first chapter at least.
Madman123456 – well, considering the events of the first chapter there wasn't much time for the wife to get evaluated. Still, I think the level of psych treatment and such that she needed is way beyond what I would be qualified to write about here.
MKauis – don't worry, only the MC has a story that twisted. The others have a few thigns but not to that level. As I said in the warning last chapter, that was likely to be the heaviest chapter in the story.
OpenSourceArtist – thanks for coming along for the ride! As for the issue regarding spelling and grammar, I don't actually have anyone else reviewing this before I post it, it's all me. No beta in sight. I do a couple of reviews before I post but I do occasionally miss things. I tend to see them after I post it, which is annoying but I do my best, in the limited time I have.
Anyway, on with the story!
…
CHAPTER 12 – EXPECTED AND UNEXPECTED
I sat looking at my terminal screen, eyes getting blurry from having been there for the last few hours. I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my eyes. My face felt greasy and my mind was having trouble focussing. I decided to review my week to take my mind off the monitor.
After having seen Aleria's aunty Salaen where I felt like my soul had been attacked with steel wool as I relived the worst things I went through, I had been able to sleep soundly nearly every night since. I had woken up feeling a little like I had lost most of the emotional weight that I hadn't really realised was there but was only left feeling empty. But Salaen had told me to expect that. Now I had to try and fill the emptiness with things that make me happy or uplift me. Not an easy task, considering the reason I am here.
So I threw myself back into my work as a way of focussing on something. The money from the asteroid sale had come through and, after I sent Tevos the coordinates for the asteroid. The very first thing I did was to call a team meeting where I announced that each of the three members still remaining on my crew would receive a three million credit bonus each. Hectar started wheezing as if her was about to pass out while Ely and Aleria both jumped up and down excitedly and threw themselves on me in a massive hug. Aleria even gave me a big kiss on the cheek before sitting back in her chair with a blush on her purple visage. I don't think they had expected it but as far as I was concerned I was happy to give it to them for their loyalty over the Sel issue.
After that I wasted no time getting my plans for expansion up and running. I had posted job openings for another mechanic/engineer, a ships doctor, a master at arms and a personal combat trainer. Well, I didn't say combat but that was what I was looking for. I was also finishing up the applications for a weapons engineer for big ships, an armour technician, a physicist and a quartermaster/logistics manager. I had even begun hiring for workers for the orphanage. I had contacted the asari receptionist, Malaea, that I had used when I was hiring my quarian engineers and had officially hired her to be my full-time secretary. Really she was just going to be running any calls or organising appointments that I got and was really going to be the contact person for anyone wishing to make an appointment or contact anyone in the organisation. Really there wasn't a whole for her to do at the beginning but she was happy to have the regular pay check and I was pretty lenient on her working conditions. I basically let her do whatever she wanted as long as she did the things I needed her to do and I paid her good money to do it, so long as she didn't work for anyone else while she was employed by me. I did give her a few tasks, such as writing up a few templates for acknowledgement letters and kind rejection letters and so forth. I had no idea what sort of things people would ask me yet but I wanted to be prepared and have at least a modicum of professionalism for people that wanted to contact us.
With that in mind I had already put forward a logo to the CBD (Citadel Business Directorate) for Shieldstar Corp, which was accepted and trademarked. I was a cobalt blue background with a white outline of an old knight's shield that had a gold star in the centre. Again, not very original, but I only took about ten minutes to think it up before I submitted it. It wasn't too big a deal to change it later but at least it was memorable and went with the name of the company. That black and gold logo of Cerberus never really made sense to me, but then I admit to not really putting much thought behind my business designs. The goals were more important.
I had to admit I was feeling a little more paranoid. After the therapy session, I noticed that Malitae had been more observant; looking at me from the corner of her eye and turning away when I looked at her, getting close as I opened my omni-tool. It made me annoyed enough to set up a special meeting with Hectar to talk cyber security.
I had begun to think about security for money. I had a bank account linked through my omni-tool that Manuel had set up when he brought me here. I hadn't given much thought on how my money was being transferred around. So I made a detour to Citadel Main Bank, where my account was held, to talk money. Three hours later and I had the most secure banking system that the bank had to offer for its richest and most distinguished clients. The money had been distributed to a few different accounts that I could access straight from my omni-tool and they had even upgraded the security of my little 'tool… for the charitable price of a hundred thousand credits. They assured me at that point that there was no one in the galaxy that would be able to hack into it. If anyone did manage to hack it then they would refund my money in full. I made sure to keep the receipts.
After that I met Hectar on the ship and told him to have a crack at hacking into my omni-tool. As it turned out, it took him a whole ten minutes. Apparently, the security program had an almost unnoticeable 'backdoor' that would allow entry to the device. It was lucky that I had not just accepted the claims of security offered by the salarian bank operator.
I called C-SEC and had a couple of detectives dealing with electronic fraud meet me on the ship. I explained the situation with the bank teller and watched as their faces grew pale at the information. We marched down to the bank immediately. The salarian banker was still there dealing with a new customer. The moment he saw me he stood up and started to move towards the exit. He almost made it before the asari officer with me shot him with a stun weapon, reducing him to a twitching lump of green-grey alien skin on the floor.
The commotion had drawn the attention of the volus banking executive. He waddled down in a black atmospheric suit with gold lining and demanded to know what was going on. After the officers explained the situation with the expensive program and the back door the volus rose up to his full, unimpressive height and stared down at the salarian who was still lying on the ground but had started coming around to the situation.
"Consider yourself *hiss* unemployed as of *hiss* immediately," he growled at the salarian, who flinched and tried to lean away from the angry executive, sounding much more vicious than I would have ever given a volus the credit of being able to sound. "I will not have *hiss* anyone bring this fine *hiss* institution into disrepute. Officers *hiss* take him away and throw the *hiss* book at him. Mr Neilson, *hiss* on behalf of the Citadel Main Bank *hiss* I sincerely apologise and hope *hiss* that this unpleasant situation can be resolved at a local level." His meaning was clear: he didn't want to be sued.
In the end, I received all my accounts without any fees, which saved a lot of money, a full refund on the program that I had bought, and a personal favour from the banking executive whose name was Melat Fin, that I could call in at any time, no questions asked. That might end up being more important than anything else he could have offered me.
As it was, I kept the program and sent it straight to Hectar and told him to make it foolproof. Within a day the little tech genius presented me with a program that he assured me made my omni-tool completely hack-proof. I thanked him and told him that he could keep it and sell the program himself, should he so choose.
I also decided I wanted to test out the quality of that hacking program that Manuel had given me. He took a long time analysing it before coming back and saying that he had never seen a hacking program that was quite as good as this. "In fact," he said, "if it wasn't for what I did with that security program on your omni-tool, this hacking program might possibly have been able to crack into any known omni-tool that I know of." He asked where I got it from.
To avoid any questions about creators of the universe and their messengers, I merely smiled and said "It was a gift. The person who made it is gone." He accepted this. Then we tested the hacking program against the firewalls that he copied onto his 'tool. Nothing. We tried for ages and got nowhere. Excellent.
Now I had a nearly unhackable omni-tool and a high-powered hacking program. Sweet.
Malitae was still with me through all of this until the coordinates I had sent the councillor after I got the money were verified. She had stopped trying to surreptitiously spy on me after I had my omni-tool security upgraded but she still watched me closely. I had only allowed her in the same room, but I made sure that I had sat far enough away that we wouldn't have been overheard. Stayed within sight but not sound. Not to mention a little electronic bug that I had Hectar cook up that would block any electronic audio receptors from picking up our whispers. I was busy and new to this universe, but that didn't make me stupid. If anything I was overly paranoid.
Other than that, Torrin had officially accepted, which I thought was great. I had a powerful turian biotic on my team, which was awesome. He was going to prove his worth over the next couple of years, if he stuck around that long. I thought he might. The kid certainly had a chip on his shoulder when it came to dealing with slavers and there were certainly going to be slavers in my near future. He would get his fill. In the meantime, he was currently coordinating with some of the other homeless kids to find a building that I could buy and set up as an orphanage. I still had a soft spot for kids and thought that it was about time that someone did something to help them. Klara had already agreed to live in the orphanage, which I was pleased with. I could drop by and see her anytime.
"Mr Neilson, your next appointment is ready," Malaea's voice came over the intercom and broke into my thoughts.
I sighed and rubbed my eyes. "Give them a minute and then send them in," I instructed.
That brought me back to what I was currently doing. I had been interviewing new potential crew members. This round of interviewees were doctors, applying for the ship's doctor I had posted a week before. Most of the applicants were qualified in in general but many of them had a few small issues of racism against quarians or they were not overly familiar with human physiology due to our recent emergence in the galactic community. The racism thing was something that was a big concern considering the value that I had placed on Ely and Hectar as people in my crew. They had gone above and beyond in making sure that the journey so far was going according to plan. I didn't want anything that would make their time under me uncomfortable. The human biology issues, interestingly enough, came mostly from salarians. The turians had learned plenty about human biology from the invasion at Shanxi, treating wounded soldiers and civilians which they had added to their medical databases with a surprisingly high level of efficiency. Asari just enjoyed humans and the variety of human cultures. Salarians, they tended to ignore us more than the others did.
But I wanted to have the same level of inclusion and camaraderie that I had enjoyed thus far even with an expanded team, which meant that I was a little more selective. I mean, I would settle for someone that maintained a professional demeanour but I would prefer a natural melding into the crew while at the same time being trustworthy enough to stay loyal to their employer, namely me. So far I didn't feel that many of the applicants were able to fit the mould. Maybe one or two would be alright but I still had some reservations.
The other problem with these job openings is that I was a little more suspicious of any applicants ever since I had my little 'meeting' with the asari councillor. She'd gone so far as to have a Spectre standing by for that meeting and I doubted that she would be so happy as to just give me money for selling asteroids if there was another way to take them. It was easier and cheaper to just have someone snuck into my crew or have someone follow me into space. That way they would get the location and I wouldn't get a single credit.
As such, I had my little quarian friends running background checks on all of the candidates. I told them to be very thorough but Ely was only happy to do it. She had been in the meeting with Tevos and she was smart enough to know the stakes. I didn't ask how they got their information, just that they were accurate. So far it had yielded mostly benign results but that there had been one or two interesting things come up. Such as the latest candidate.
The door hissed open and an asari walked in. She looked more mature than Aleria but less than Salaen, so my first thought was 'matron'. Not that the title meant that much really; matrons were still hundreds of years old.
The woman was a dark blue colour with pink facial tattoos on her cheeks and forehead. It almost looked like some of the turian face markings that I had seen around the Citadel. It made sense though. Asari of all ages sought to expand their personal horizons beyond their own cultures, if only slightly. That mostly meant doing minor cosmetic things like copying the turian face markings or having human-style eyebrows painted on.
I stood as she entered and nodded in greeting. The blue alien walked up and sat down in the chair I gestured for her to take.
"Greetings Doctor D'Melie," I said, calling her by the name that was on her application. "My name is Brock Nielson."
She gave a single nod in greeting. "A pleasure to meet you," she replied, her voice soft but pleasant and very cultured. "Thank you for receiving my application."
I sat back in my chair, watching her closely. "How could I not?" I stated evenly. "I need a ship's doctor and you have been a practicing medic for longer than humanity has been in space, according to your application."
She gave a small smile but didn't reply. She just eyed me closely, but it didn't feel like it was a suspicious or glaring look. More like she was waiting to see what I would do. Maybe it was evaluating.
I deliberately pushed the terminal containing her information to the side, slightly out of the way. "Tell me about yourself," I said.
She sat upright. "I graduated third in my class from the Lady Athame Medical School on Thessia nearly four hundred years ago," she said, sounding like she was reciting something from memory. "I worked with the Quarian Parliament during the geth uprising aiding soldiers in battle and after that I spent nearly a hundred years as a traveling surgeon throughout the Republics. After that I moved her to the Citadel where I have been since…"
She trailed off and looked surprised as I raised my hand to interrupt her. "My apologies," I said. "That was the information I could just read from your application. What I want to know is more information about you. Likes, dislikes, weaknesses, personal preferences, interesting connections… that sort of thing."
She stared at me in mild confusion for a long moment before responding. "There isn't much to tell really," she replied uncertainly. "I like opera and bioball tournaments. I have a slight weakness for drinking Thessian wines in my off time but not so much as to be a concern or to disrupt my work. I don't really know anyone all that influential. I'm sorry but I don't really know what you want me to say."
I raised an eyebrow, trying to look politely surprised. "Is that all?" I replied, making it sound as if I was merely being curious. "So a gambling habit and personal meetings with the asari councillor wouldn't be of note?"
She looked as if she was doing her utmost best to imitate a goldfish. "Yes," I continued, keeping my voice casual. "I think I can understand how such a high-profile connection could be so insignificant to such a medical professional as yourself." I looked at the terminal screen, bringing up the information that Hectar and Ely had sent me on this particular applicant. "After all, for a woman who has really been a medical professional for the Eclipse for the last fifty years, I imagine that meeting privately with Councillor Tevos yesterday at four-thirty in the afternoon, Citadel Standard Time would possibly be quite routine for you."
I looked back at her to see her face had gone considerably more pale than it had been when she walked in. "Now, I don't know what the nice councillor told you about me but I don't like having my time wasted and I feel that anything you were going to say would be nothing more than another step in wasting my time. Thank you for your time, Doctor D'Melie. I do hope that you can play cards better than you play at quasar machines."
Her faced flushed a dark purple at that but she stood up and left as fast as she could while maintaining her dignity.
I shook my head at the closed door. I opened up my terminal and quickly tapped out a message.
Nice try with the doctor. Remember, I don't like having my time wasted, here or out there.
Kind regards,
Brock Nielson, CEO, Shieldstar Corp.
I sent it to the office of Councillor Tevos. I sat there and wondered if I should take any further action for her little trick as payback. I decided against it, for now at least. I had money but I didn't have enough cards to play yet. None that I was ready to use anyway.
I turned back to my terminal and got ready for the next applicant.
…
Tevos looked at the screen in front of her, feeling irked.
Nice try with the doctor. Remember, I don't like having my time wasted, here or out there.
Kind regards,
Brock Nielson, CEO, Shieldstar Corp.
She had to admit, if he had done this to either of the other councillors then she would have found it far more amusing than it currently was. Though privately, after how he had so easily controlled their meeting, she might have been a little disappointed if he had fallen to her attempt at having someone on his ship. The advertisements he had put up looking for crew meant that it seemed far too easy to have one of her people there to report on him. But he hadn't disappointed; he had found the doctor out very quickly. It was a moment that was both satisfying and disappointing in equal measure. Finally, a human with a modicum of intelligence that could be respected. Much more enjoyable than the braying of Udina. Mr Neilson had said it true: if the ambassador was the best that the Alliance could find to represent them, then they would not be well received for a long time.
Remember, I don't like having my time wasted, here or out there. She considered that line again. Should she continue trying to have someone infiltrate his ship, it might be almost entertaining to see what he would do to retaliate. Her train of thought stopped as she felt a flash of annoyance run through her at thought of the fallout that was still going on from Maryssa's attempts to annoy the human. The receptionist was good, very good. Good enough that Tevos was reluctant to let her go. But the behaviour she had displayed, not to mention looking up drell porn on a work station on her shift… it meant that there had to be at least some disciplinary action. The maiden was still on suspension for hurting the reputation of the Office of the Councillor. It would be a long time before she would be able to move her career forward now. Too bad, too. The girl had so wanted to become a politician. That was likely to be pushed back nearly a century.
No, it wouldn't do to risk it now, she realised reluctantly. The human seemed to be very capable at cooking up benign revenge plots that could do significant damage while not actually doing too much, and he was paranoid enough to be able see most likely traps. Frustrating, but respectable. She would let things run their course for now and deal with him above board. Besides, with the way that the batarian ambassador was starting to make complaints about reparations to, well, everyone, she was going to be too busy to focus on the human for a while.
She turned back to her terminal, not even noticing the small smile she had on her lips as she did so.
…
Another week passed with me on the Citadel before I had enough crew to begin the next stage in Operation: Save the Galaxy. I had settled on a turian woman named Liserias as the ship doctor. She was passed middle age for a turian and had actually fought in the First Contact War as a field medic. She had left the military life straight afterwards due to problems she had had with the whole conflict. She had disagreed with the need for there to be a war in the first place, but as she was in the minority with her opinions she had felt that the armed forces were not for her. Afterwards she had left to work on the Citadel and was doing work in the clinics throughout the Wards. Now she wanted to get back out into space and figured that joining up was as good a way to do it as any. I promised her that she was likely to see a lot of work. She kind of reminded me of Dr Chloe Michel later on, just turian and more formal in her mannerisms. From the work in the Wards, she had plenty of experience in dealing with quarians and didn't have a problem. I didn't see her really letting her hair down and becoming overly chummy with the crew but she could keep things professional which was good enough for me.
As an armour technician I had gone with a salarian that went by the name Chop, though his full name was far too long for me to memorise. He assured me that it was fine as only other salarians would most likely be able to memorise it. He was very laid back and didn't care who he had to work with so long as he was able to get paid to work on new armour. I told him that I had plenty of plans for modifications and other things I wanted done and he had been happy to join up.
The final member of my crew for the moment was a young human engineer that was little more than a university graduate. Carlos Santini was his name and he was an eager young kid that wanted to get out there and see the galaxy. I wasn't sure how he would fit into the crew but I would let Ely be the judge. The kid certainly had energy.
During that time, the crew hadn't been idle. I had Aleria and Ely out shopping for weapons. I told them I wanted the strongest shotguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles and pistols that they could find. I gave them a budget of two million and told them to go nuts for me and have it delivered to the ship. I also had Chop bring a suit of armour for seven crew members. I didn't give him specifics for what I wanted, I just told him that it had to be upgradable. He enthusiastically agreed and went off whistling.
I was walking through the Lower Wards looking to pick up some supplies for the journey when I swung by a bar to pick up a crate of drinks, both levo and dextro. I had Torrin with me as Aleria refused to let me walk around on my own. With her running the pre-flight warmup and getting the rest of the new people settled in the ship, Hectar looking out in engineering and running a few anti-tracking programs, as well as updating the communications array for me and Ely out shopping for another ship for when I planned to expand, it left my newest crew member as my chaperone. Aleria still wasn't happy, but Torrin was familiar with the Lower Wards and while untrained was still a powerful biotic. Honestly though, Aleria was worrying about me a lot. It was starting to get a little cloying.
We arrived at the bar, named Rustic Chalice, and I was drastically underwhelmed. The place looked like an old dive bar and that would be overly generous. It was in a dodgy area and was little more than a hole in the wall with an overhanging eave and a few grimy stools at the bar. Already there were three large krogan, two in red armour and one in black. I had a feeling that the ones in red armour might be Blood Pack mercs.
"Get lost, whelps," the black armoured krogan growled at the other two.
"Come on old man," one of the red armoured krogan grunted. He was slightly shorter than the other one and had a grey head plate. "You can join us, make some quick cash, kill a few squishies. It will be just like old times."
Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say as the black armoured krogan turned around and gave a massive headbutt to the smaller merc. The smaller alien was completely unprepared and fell on his armoured backside five meters from where he had been standing. The taller red armoured merc started to reach for the weapon on his back before a massive fist caught him in the jaw and sent him stumbling back. He started to rise only to see a massive shotgun in his face.
"Don't even think about it," the black armoured krogan growled, his voice cold. "Garm stole the best part of my life. He and the rest of the Blood Pack can go rot for all I care." Suspicions confirmed.
The mercs slowly got to their feet, being careful not to reach of their weapons.
"Come off it Jurt," the smaller one said, amazing me with its attempt at negotiation. "There are plenty of other asari out th…"
He didn't even finish the sentence before the black armoured krogan, Jurt, aimed at him and pulled the trigger. The mercs shields flashed blue as they failed and he went down bleeding. The taller merc didn't even have a chance to flinch before the shotgun was back aimed at his face.
"That wasn't enough to kill him but he will be down for a while," Jurt spat angrily. "Get him out of here and tell the others that I won't be so gentle with the next lot."
The taller merc growled but didn't reply before he went over to his downed comrade. He grabbed the smaller and hoisted him over his shoulder. He walked away carrying his load, not even looking back as Jurt went back to the back and ordered a drink from a salarian bartender that I hadn't noticed earlier.
"What was all that about?" Torrin whispered to me.
I eyed Jurt. "I would hazard a guess that the Blood Pack hurt or killed his woman and that he now doesn't like them very much," I responded.
A plan started to form in my head. A krogan could be useful. A krogan that didn't like slaving mercs like the Blood Pack could be even better.
I led a very wary Torrin over to the bar.
"Ah, customers," the bartender said in the typical quick pace associated with salarians. "What can I get you, gentles?"
"I have an order ender the name Glasgow Knight," I replied. I hadn't wanted to use a name that meant anything to me, my crew or my ship so just came up with random words. Not that it mattered to a salarian.
"Of course," the salarian said, his face shifting into a smile. "One moment." He disappeared into the back room.
I looked casually over at the krogan who was sitting there drinking what I could only assume was a bottle of ryncol. He noticed me looking out of the corner of his eye and turned to glare at me.
"What do you want, human?" he growled.
I just looked at him passively, not intimidated. "I saw your conversation with the mercs," I replied. "Somehow I get the feeling that you don't like mercs very much."
His mouth twisted into what I assume was a sneer. "None of your damn business," he said, his tone threatening.
I shrugged, doing my best to not let the tension that was starting to build up show. "You're right," I confirmed. "None of my business why you hate them. But, I figure that maybe you would be more willing to hire on because of it."
Torrin stiffened next to me but I ignored him. The krogan looked at me fully, his face now twisted into a frown. "I ain't looking for work," he said dismissively.
"Maybe not," I replied. "But I am looking at doing some work that is going to kill a lot of slavers and possibly a few mercs. I reckon that you might be able to teach me more about that."
He looked at me with an expression that was what I was going to assume was sceptical. "Skinny thing like you?"
I chuckled and looked down at myself. Over the weeks that I had been here I had been keeping up with my exercises. Plenty of running around my cargo hold and lots of weights meant that my strength was coming back. Combine the exercise with increasingly regular amounts of food and I had started to gain a little size, mostly muscle. But Jurt was right, I was still skinny.
"Yeah, I admit that I am going to be getting a lot of training in before that," I said still looking down. "But yes, that is…" I looked back up to see his shotgun in my face and whatever I was planning on saying stopped dead.
"Never take your eyes off your mark," he growled at me.
A flash of blue out the corner of my eye warned me of Torrin charging his biotics and I quickly held up a hand to him, keeping my eyes on the krogan and not the gun in my face.
"You are not a mark," I said, doing my best to keep my voice even. "Not as far as I am concerned anyway."
"Yeah right," he spat. "What do you really want? Speak quick, my trigger finger is itching."
"I want you to help me kill slavers and free slaves," I said, speaking fast but keeping my voice calm, despite my heart pounding. I thought it might leap out of my chest; it was like facing that riot all over again. "My friend here has had a lot his other friends kidnapped by slavers taking out the duct rats." Torrin twitched a little but kept silent. "I need experience in fighting and the galaxy isn't going to miss a few slavers and slave owners. I am going to Earth to get a combat trainer and a few other things before I start doing anything and after watching your little pow-wow with the Blood Pack mercs I figured you would be a great addition. I can pay you well for your services and your time and having a krogan would be great for a few of the things that I plan on doing."
"Freeing slaves, huh?" The krogan had a hard look in his eye. The barrel of the gun didn't move but his finger came off the trigger. A positive step in the right direction. "Why do you care about them?"
"Because they matter to people like my friend Torrin here," I said. "And I know enough about being held against my will to know that many of them would rather not be there."
A long tense silence passed before the gun lowered, collapsed and disappeared behind the back of the krogan. I let out a silent breath slowly, trying to not let the others show.
"What do you know about being held?" he asked suspiciously.
I cocked my head a little. "If you join me then maybe you'll find out."
He grunted and turned back to his drink. I looked at the bar and noticed that the salarian was standing there watching. I had no idea how long he had been there; he must have arrived while I was busy looking at the gun in my face.
"Here is your order good sirs," he said cheerfully, now that blood wasn't likely to be shed on his bar. He placed two large crates on a hover trolley and passed it to me. "The trolley is yours, you paid for it with the order."
I nodded my thanks to the bartender.
"Three conditions," Jurt said from his spot. I looked at him and saw him staring hard at me. I gestured for him to continue.
"One: you help me with a little job of my own while we do your work," he said. "Two: if we come up against Garm, I get to be the one to kill him. Three:" his mouth opened in a wide grin, "you bring the ryncol."
I looked at him and considered his conditions. "What's the job?" I asked.
"You'll find out if I join you," he countered, a large toothy grin on his face.
I raised an eyebrow at him, feeling a little irked for having my own statement turned on me. "Touché."
I turned to the bartender. "Give me all the ryncol you have." Jurt chuckled and stood up.
"Sounds like we got a deal," he said.
I nodded and held out my hand. "Brock Nielson," I said.
He reached out and shook it, nearly crushing my hand in his armoured glove. "Ravanor Jurt."
I told him where the ship was docked and advised him that we left in three hours. He went off to grab his gear. I paid for the ryncol and another crate was added to the trolley. We walked until we were out of sight of both the car and the newest crew member and I collapsed to my knees.
Torrin was right by my side. "Are you ok?" he asked, his tone worried.
I stared at him in wonder. "I just had a krogan hold a shotgun to my face," I exclaimed. "I think I need some clean underwear."
He started laughing and I joined in. "That was either the bravest or the stupidest thing I have ever seen," he said, his voice full or mirth.
I coughed a couple of times as my laughed began to subside. "Oh, trust me, my turian friend," I replied, wiping a tear from my eye. "Stick with me and you are going to be saying that a lot."
He chuckled again and helped me to my feet.
"Come on, let's get back to the ship," he said. "I don't think you want to have the crew surprised by a krogan rocking up unannounced."
I agreed and we headed for the nearest fast transit aircar.
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