16: The Restaurant

Pike's Creek was one of the first all-human settlements established on Anhur, situated by one of the continent's main rivers. The name derived from the founder of the settlement, who had made a name for himself and a sizeable fortune in harvesting certain tasty native vegetables that had become a staple of the local Anhurese diet. The town was small, its central area comprised mostly of blocky prefabricated structures, whereas more traditional timber and brick structures took up the bulk of the outlying settlement.

It was about half past nine in the morning. There was a chill in the air that sent a shiver through Lyssa's spine. Her father, rest his soul, had told her of that old belief that a chill down one's spine signified that someone had walked over your grave. Lyssa had found that belief idiotic even as a child but given all that had happened on Anhur the past few days she could almost believe it now. Getting killed was becoming an increasing likelihood the more she remained here, and she could only hope that Sevarn's superior could assist them in some way. Sure, she did not fancy ending up in turian custody, but she suspected that it would be her best means of avoiding death at the hands of Cerberus.

There was one hotel in the middle of the town, situated by the settlement's central plaza. At this early hour, the narrow streets and laneways were quiet. Shops were opening up for the day to come, but otherwise there were few actual citizens out and about. It was still too early, and the general lack of life brought a certain relief in the sense that the pair's arrival would be noticed by fewer people. Lyssa was especially concerned for Sevarn, as turians were not likely to be a common sight around here.

He had been driving the past few hours, whilst Lyssa had attempted to get some sleep in the passenger seat. It had been a fitful, restless slumber, occasionally broken by images of her batarian torturer and the sensation of the cold, metal bench under her. She still ached in places from the pain that had been inflicted upon her, and she wondered if that neural manipulator had caused any permanent damage. She figured she would find out sooner or later; as it stood, she needed a proper bed to rest in, and the hotel before them seemed a good place to find just that.

It was a large building, consisting of two floors, with its upper level flanked by windows around much of its perimeter. There was even a balcony up there, forming an extension of the dining area that appeared to take up much of the upper floor. Again, the place was quiet, with nary a soul in sight. Sevarn, working the buggy's controls, brought the vehicle to a gentle halt into the designated parking area to the building's right flank.

'This is it,' he told her. 'As the Colonel specified.'

'Looks quaint,' Lyssa remarked. She looked about the lane they had stopped within, her eyes flitting over to the modest shopfront across from them. There, a middle-aged man was opening the shutters at the front of his store. He met her gaze then, some wariness apparent upon it, before his attention went to Sevarn. Seeing the turian only made him shake his head slowly, muttering to himself in turn, before he retreated back into his shop.

'Come on,' Sevarn said, and he climbed out of the car. Lyssa followed, stepping upon the sidewalk where she took the opportunity to stretch her aching arms and legs. She was visibly armed, the M-77 Paladin clipped to her thigh in its packed-up form. Sevarn stashed most of the weapons he had acquired at the camp into the buggy's rear trunk, keeping a Carnifex pistol on him but little else. People being armed around here was not uncommon, especially after the Anhur Rebellions. They could probably get away with carrying a pistol, but certainly not with the arsenal Sevarn had scavenged from the batarian insurgent compound. That would have to be left in the car.

The pair made their way around to the front entrance. The glass doors there slid open as they approached, revealing a sizeable reception area. The carpet underfoot was soft, the walls adorned with framed paintings and interspersed with potted plants. Past the reception desk was a corridor, presumably one that went on towards the rooms for rent. At the far end was a set of stairs leading up to the dining area, if the signage stuck upon the walls was anything to go by. A quiet, easy-listening tune played from concealed speakers. The air within the place carried a citrus-tinged hint, likely some kind of freshener. Lyssa paused after the door, looking about the place and wondering to herself how much business this establishment could possibly get, being so far from the colony's capital?

There was a woman of about forty years working the reception desk. She wore a simple, blue-toned gown, hardly lavish formal wear but certainly not cheap casual wear either. Her brown hair was styled into a bun and her attention, having been set upon the holographic terminal before her, instead shifted to the turian who approached the desk.

Sevarn offered her a smile, which from a turian did not appear as reassuring as he had likely hoped it was. The woman narrowed her eyes, immediately wary. Lyssa loitered some paces behind, keeping an eye not only on the exchange but from the other avenues present, expecting trouble to show itself. Her head throbbed, presumably a side effect of what the batarians had done to her last night. She rubbed at her temple with one hand, wincing as one particularly sharp jolt seemed to shoot through her brain and partway down her spine.

'Good morning, sir,' the receptionist said, eyeing Sevarn carefully. 'Welcome to the Pike's Creek Hotel. How may I help you?'

'I'm looking for someone, a turian by the name of Calen Venarus. I was told that he's here.'

The woman nodded, apparently unsurprised by what she heard.

'Mister Venarus has been staying here the past few days,' the woman said. 'May I ask who's inquiring?'

'Sevarn Valus,' the turian replied. 'Could you let him know I'm here?'

The woman nodded. She activated the communicator at her ear, patching the line through to Venarus' room. Sevarn rapped the fingers of one hand upon the desktop between them, shifting slightly where he stood.

'Yes, Mister Venarus?' The woman spoke through the communicator, one finger held to it, her eyes skirting over Sevarn before glancing Lyssa's way with a curious glint to them. 'Sorry to disturb you, sir, but there's someone in reception who wishes to see you. His name is Sevarn Valus, he says you know him?' The reply she received was inaudible to outside listeners. Sevarn perked up nonetheless, eagerly awaiting an answer.

'Of course, sir, I'll let him know.' Another pause as Venarus spoke, then: 'Yes, he has someone else with him. A woman.'

'Her name is Lyssa Raine,' Sevarn interjected. Lyssa had not been keen on giving her real name to anyone here, let alone the turian Colonel, but it seemed the well-intentioned Sevarn had gone ahead and put a stop to that plan before she could even put it into action.

'Lyssa Raine, sir.' The receptionist went quiet as Venarus delivered another response. After several seconds, the receptionist spoke again: 'Yes, I understand.' She ended the call then, before resettling her gaze upon Sevarn.

'Well?' Sevarn had been through far too much to get jerked around by hotel staff. Lyssa felt much the same way.

'He told me he is willing to meet, but that he will be about half an hour. It seems he has some business to attend to.'

'Can't I just go to his room?'

'With his permission, certainly. Mister Venarus instead insisted you wait for him in the restaurant upstairs. He understands that you and your companion have had a long journey here and that you are both likely to be hungry. He is willing to pay for any food or drink your purchase.' The woman offered Sevarn a smile. 'We do have a small selection of dextro-based foods for you that should be to your satisfaction, Mister Valus.'

Sevarn sighed. Lyssa strode over, eyes narrowed.

'We have to wait?'

'Unfortunately,' Sevarn replied. He turned to her, and she saw some uncertainty grace his silvery features. 'Sounds like breakfast's on him.'

'Good. I'm starving.' Lyssa wasted no time in heading for the stairs, with Sevarn hurrying along after her. If this turian Colonel wanted to waste their time, he could go right ahead. As long as he was paying for the food, Lyssa was all too happy to be left waiting.

The restaurant took up much of the upper floor, forming an outer ring of sorts around a central section wherein the kitchen and a lounge area was situated. The breakfast menu was apparently out in full force, given the score or so people scattered about the restaurant. Most looked like locals, but some were evidently travellers, perhaps even mercenaries. Even a few tourists were in the mix, and not everyone present was human. Out of the patrons present, there was at least one asari and even a pair of vorcha mixed in amongst the predominantly human crowd.

One unusual thing she noticed were the presence of multiple bird cages about the place, most hanging from the rafters above. Native Anhur birds were caged within, small colourful things that made rollicking song when they were not jumping about the insides of their cages in that frantic manner panicky avians had. Sevarn had gone for a table near the window, but Lyssa put a hand to his arm and made him pause.

'Maybe away from the windows might be better?' She suggested. Sevarn nodded in agreement. Given their circumstances, they could not be too careful.

The pair settled at an empty table closer to the restaurant's centre, tiled wall on Lyssa's left and the kitchen entrance a short distance behind her. Soft music played from about the restaurant, interspersed by the chittering of the native birds and the layers of conversation occurring all around. Lyssa picked up the computer pad in the middle of the table, upon which one could select from the menu. As she skimmed through the offered food, she noticed Sevarn seemed anxious. The turian was sitting upright in his seat, taller than most here (as was generally the case with his kind), hands flat against the tabletop.

'Something wrong?' She asked him.

'This doesn't feel right,' he answered.

'I know what you mean.' She put the computer pad aside and mulled it over, biting her lower lip in thought. 'I didn't expect this place to be so busy.'

'Must be a tourist spot,' Sevarn suggested.

'Sure, with a lot of mercs passing through.' She nodded in the general direction of two vorcha, both of whom were seated over by the far corner. The ghastly pair were arguing about something, a heated argument in which their words were giving way to hisses and growls.

'Can this Colonel of yours be trusted?' Lyssa asked. The question seemed to give Sevarn pause.

'He's a hero back home,' the turian replied, after an extended moment. 'He's killed more slavers, terrorists and pirates than you or I.'

'Sure.' Lyssa was unconvinced. Given that she was now a target within Cerberus' sights, she knew she could not really trust anyone, human or otherwise. Sevarn, however, was an exception there. They had been through too much together for him to turn out to be some kind of Cerberus double agent.

'What happened between you and Vok?' Sevarn asked her, suddenly. The question caught her off-guard, and for a fleeting instant there her face took on a more surprised expression. However, she reined in it quickly, instead offering the turian a cautious frown.

'What do you mean?'

'What he said when we met him. You two had met before.'

Lyssa sighed. This was one subject she was not particularly keen on discussing. Sevarn's blue eyes, having previously carried a cool, if gentle quality, had now narrowed into a much firmer expression.

'It's complicated.'

'We have time, Lyssa Raine.'

'Well, I can see you're not going to take "no" for an answer.'

'If we are to work together, then we can't have any secrets that may jeopardise our chances. You have a history with Salak Vok. I want to know about it.' The turian's voice was firm, and Lyssa could see he meant what he said. This was not mere curiosity driving this inquiry, he was simply making sure her personal feelings would not prove a liability. Hopefully their impromptu working relationship would end soon enough, or at least as soon as this turian Colonel made an appearance.

'I was in the Marines,' Lyssa explained. 'Fought slavers and pirates along the border of Alliance space. Did some more covert operations towards the end of my tenure. One of them involved taking a team to Yamm, a scummy little colony in the Terminus Systems. We had intel that some batarian terrorist group was plotting something out there, and we tracked them down to a camp some ways outside of the capital city, New Karnak. They were plotting more than one attack against the city using chemical weapons that we suspected had been covertly supplied by the more extreme elements of the batarian government.'

Sevarn listened with rapt attention. Lyssa had hardly spoken of this mission to anyone else, not even to her sister. It was strange, then, that she was telling all to a turian she had only known for a few days. A turian who had been part of a team that had tried to kill her. Now, for all intents and purposes the pair were allies, and there was no denying the fact that Sevarn had saved her life back at the camp. And that was after the time he had saved her when facing that Cerberus assault team. She could hardly distrust him now, after all of that.

'Salak Vok was there as one of the ringleaders. Apparently, slaughtering innocents on Anhur hadn't been enough for him, since he was planning on doing the same on Yamm. I was on point as team leader, and I went in posing as an arms dealer with the help of a local Alliance Intelligence operative. Somehow, Vok and his lackeys knew we weren't legitimate arms dealers. The whole thing went south very quickly, and my team swooped in to salvage the whole mission.'

Lyssa could remember the whole thing very vividly, and she did not much like to think about it. Even now, she could feel that dull ache at her back where she had been injured, an injury that had almost crippled her.

'Vok had more men, and they were prepared. The whole thing turned into a slaughter. A lot of batarians were killed, but my entire squad went down with them. I took a bullet in the back, and you want to know something, Sevarn?' She felt comfortable enough with him that calling him by his first name felt like the right thing to do. He was not simply "Lieutenant" or "turian" anymore, not in Lyssa's view.

'What happened?' He asked her, genuinely curious.

'It was friendly fire. One of my own people shot me in the confusion.' Lyssa sighed, shaking her head slowly. 'And Vok got away, but not with the weapons he and his friends had been planning to use against the colony. So, the mission was a success, but it was a costly one. And I was practically a cripple, barely able to walk. The whole thing was a mess, and the Alliance put me out to pasture not long after. Saddled me with a desk job after multiple operations had been tried to rectify the problems caused by my wounds.'

'I get the impression they didn't work out?'

Lyssa shrugged.

'Only partially,' she stated. 'The pain was almost constant, something to do with my spine and the nerves there. I was hobbling around like an old woman. It was Cerberus who fixed me up, using some advanced new procedure. They offered me a job, given my past experience. They sent me to Anhur because they knew that when it came to Vok, I had the most experience in dealing with him directly.' She paused then, and she noticed Sevarn's features adopt a more thoughtful expression. He was mulling over what he had been told, no doubt putting it all together with how he perceived Lyssa now. What had made her the woman she is today?

'Cerberus helped me, and they paid me well for my services,' Lyssa added. 'If it wasn't for that bastard, Rickard, then maybe I'd still be working for them.'

'They're terrorists.'

'In the eyes of your people, sure.' She hardly wanted to argue about all of this again. She met Sevarn's eyes, trying to determine if he intended to push the matter further. Instead, he seemed to relax, his silvery features adopting a more thoughtful expression.

'For what it's worth, I'm sorry about what happened. Friendly fire is a hell of a thing.'

'Yeah, and it's not very "friendly", either.' Lyssa looked down at the computer pad again, skimming over the menu. 'I'm starving, Sevarn. If you don't mind, I'm going to order. Thing is, I left my credit chit back at the facility. Give my regards to your turian Colonel when he shows up. You may need to apologise on my behalf, since I don't plan on holding back when it comes to the first proper meal I've had in days.'

'I'm sure.' Sevarn sounded slightly amused. When it came to putting payment through, the computer pad indicated that their expenses were to be covered by a certain Calen Venarus, so at least someone had remembered to put that through on the hotel's systems. Lyssa ordered several items, intent on eating just about all of it. The thought that the turian taxpayers were funding her meal offered some small measure of amusement.

Lyssa leaned back in her chair, attempting to relax. Hopefully, the food would arrive soon. The restaurant was starting to become rather busy now, and she found herself surveying the room before her and the many patrons who had settled in. Again, most were human, with a smattering of batarians in the mix. She saw no other turians, so the Colonel was presumably taking his time.

Sevarn did much the same as she did then, turning his head to better regard the restaurant spread out before them. Sunlight streamed in through the windows along the flank and at his rear. The alien birds in the scattered, hanging cages chirruped and twittered, some flapping about when anyone got too close. Lyssa wondered, absently, if she had to be concerned over bird droppings ending up in her food.

She did not need to wait long for her meal. A young waitress approached with a tray in one hand, adorned with the multiple items she had ordered, all neatly arranged on their plates. Lyssa thanked the young woman as she set each plate down upon the tabletop, all while Sevarn watched through increasingly narrowed eyes at the sheer volume of what she had purchased. Soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, salad, hash browns, some form of meat taken from a local livestock animal and cooked to medium rare perfection; Lyssa looked over the smorgasbord before her with a beaming smile, before she plucked up the knife and fork from one plate and proceeded to dig in. Sevarn watched her for a moment, and she noticed his intrigued expression.

'You want anything?' She asked him.

'Human food is likely to make me sick.'

'Not all of it. People tend to exaggerate the amino acid incompatibility.' Lyssa motioned to the garlic bread she had ordered, still partially wrapped in its foil. 'Try the bread. Just one piece. You might enjoy it.'

'The smell's enough to put me off of that.'

'Fine, whatever. You can watch me eat, if that's how you want to be.'

'I might check out their dextro menu.'

'You do that.' Lyssa carved a piece off of the alien steak and stuck it in her mouth, chewing. Perhaps a little tough, she thought, but flavoursome, nonetheless.

Sevarn perked up then, his gaze going past her and towards the far corner of the restaurant. Lyssa froze, immediately assuming trouble. However, the look of recognition that took hold upon the turian's face caused her to relax, somewhat.

'He's here.' Sevarn went to stand up. Lyssa followed his gaze, sighting the unmistakable figure of a turian, one dressed in unassuming blue civvies. As expected, he was taller than any human or batarian who might have been near him, and he moved with a confidence and mildly haughty gait that Lyssa had only ever seen on turians. His features were noticeably more weathered when compared to Sevarn's younger visage, the older male's facial plates a dull silver with simple black markings along the cheeks and chin. He turned to Sevarn, waving him over.

'Looks like this is between the Colonel and I,' Sevarn told Lyssa. She had expected as much, and she offered the turian a curt nod.

'Sure, sure.' She started spooning soup into her mouth then, the warm liquid providing a welcoming sensation in the face of this chilly morning. 'I'll be back here, keeping an eye out.'

Sevarn rose from his chair, offering her one last curious glance before he turned his heels and made his way for where Venarus had seated himself. Lyssa watched him, before she shifted her attention to the incognito turian Colonel. Indeed, she could not shake the feeling that nothing in here felt truly "right", the Colonel included.

With this in mind, she ran her eyes over the other patrons dotted about the restaurant. None stood out to her, save for the odd alien in the mix. Most were occupying themselves through food and conversation, and none gave her a second glance despite the outfit she wore and the gun she had clipped to her thigh. There were a few others in here wearing guns on them, a generally accepted fact of life here on Anhur.

She continued to eat, all the while she kept her eyes fixed upon Venarus and Sevarn. It was strange, to think that the only one she could actually trust here was a turian who had been her enemy until a few days ago. Anyone else in here could be working for Cerberus or be part of Salak Vok's rebel force. It was even stranger to think back on just how utterly messed up her life had become in such a short time.

'Colonel.' Sevarn seated himself across from Venarus. The Colonel was hardly dressed as such, having chosen a less conspicuous civilian outfit, the latest in turian fashion no less. Even so, his hardened features could not be mistaken, nor could his tall militaristic demeanour.

'It's good to see you alive, Lieutenant.' The Colonel kept his voice low. They were a few tables away from any potential eavesdroppers, but even so one could never be too careful. 'I thought the entire team had been lost.'

'Just about.' Sevarn could not keep the sour note from tinging his voice. A lot of good people had died, and there was something slightly off about how he was the sole survivor. Guilt, most certainly, but a guilt compounded by the sense that he had been betrayed somehow. 'I had help, getting out of that mess.'

'Yes, I noticed.' Venarus chanced a glance across the restaurant floor to where Lyssa was seated. She was eating, doing so with a strangely casual demeanour. As Venarus looked her way, she returned the gaze, her eyes narrowing. Venarus turned back to Sevarn, his own features grim.

'She is Cerberus, isn't she?' He asked.

'They betrayed her, from what I can tell. Some kind of internal power struggle. The organization is not as unified as we thought.'

'No, no it isn't.' Venarus shook his head slowly. 'I have uncovered some troubling information since your team was lost. It is imperative that we work together to get to the bottom of it all, as it suggests a far-reaching conspiracy that could have consequences for the Hierarchy, not to mention the Human Systems Alliance.'

Sevarn perked up, intrigued, if not a little worried. Venarus was not one so easily troubled, so to see him like that now simply made the seriousness of the situation all too apparent.

'To put it simply, we were used,' Venarus explained. 'A rogue Alliance Intelligence operative used us as a means for their own infiltration of the Cerberus facility. The information we received from that quarian mercenary came from them. The encrypted data we were to snatch from the mainframe was this rogue's objective.'

'What do you mean?' Anger started to flare within him. Not at the Colonel, but rather at the thought that the team had been duped somehow. 'You're saying we're being manipulated?'

'Rogue elements, Lieutenant. This strike team seems to have been little more than a useful distraction. A cover, so when Cerberus determines what was stolen they would blame us, rather than any Alliance assets.'

'But what about the batarian ambush?'

'The team's position was betrayed, likely by the same rogue elements who set us on the path to this facility,' Venarus replied. 'With no survivors, the whole affair would have been neatly tied up. Cerberus would believe the perpetrators were dead and the stolen data retrieved. You being alive is a danger to that scheme, I would imagine.'

Sevarn attempted to wrap his head around all of this. Venarus was being dead serious, this much was obvious. And Salak Vok had made it clear that his people had been acting on intel provided by some outside benefactor; as for who that was, it was impossible to determine. However, he thought back to Lyssa's confrontation with the Cerberus Director, Rickard. She had been accused of stealing data from the facility's mainframe, presumably the same data that these rogues had apparently gone after. Had this whole affair been an inside job by Rickard? If so, just what did that man intend to gain from it all?

'Are you sure about all this, sir?' Sevarn asked the Colonel.

'Most of it. I'm working on clearing up some of the details now. Getting our intelligence assets out here isn't easy.' Venarus scratched at one mandible then, his previously grim features adopting something more thoughtful. 'I think you and I need to go to ground for a while until we sort this whole thing out. And you can bring along your Cerberus friend.' He nodded in Lyssa's general direction. 'She might prove helpful.'

'I think she'd be more than happy to tell all now that her own people betrayed her,' Sevarn remarked.

'All the better. I—'

The gunshot that rang out from across the restaurant sounded more akin to some large factory machine punching a hole through solid steel. It was a thunderous noise, made all the more so by the confines of the restaurant interior. The round struck Venarus in the upper back and he doubled over, slumping upon the table with dark blue blood spilling forth, staining the white tablecloth. Sevarn looked on with widened, shocked eyes, stunned into inaction for a few critical seconds. It was perhaps a few seconds too long, as the shooter shifted his aim towards Sevarn, his finger squeezing the trigger on the bulky rifle he held…

Another shot rang out, this time from somewhere further beyond him. The turian shooter stumbled, the rifle clattering to the floor, blood flying from a hole that had been tore through their left forearm. Another shot sounded off, but at this instant the shooter had dived behind the nearest cluster of tables. Lyssa, standing up with her Paladin pistol in hand, darted about her table and fired again. The shot slammed into a table by the turian marksman, the high calibre round splitting it down the middle.

By now, there was panic throughout the restaurant. People were up on their feet, and some were screaming. As Lyssa went to scramble for the prone marksman, the windows at the far end of the restaurant shattered. Glass rained down before them, sending patrons running. A trio of armoured turian gunmen, faces concealed behind tinted visors set within their helmets, came storming in via rappel lines that had been dropped from the rooftop. They opened fire without preamble, the likes of their Phaeston and Vindicator assault rifles blazing. Lyssa dived to the floor as the column behind her and the wall to her left were torn to pieces, shards of tile and plaster dust exploding all over her.

The initial shooter, the apparent leader of this group, was on his feet then. He had pulled a Predator-model pistol from where it had been clipped to the thigh of his armour and he ran, shoving aside a panicked woman who stumbled into his way. His wounded arm hung limp and bloody by his side, yet he moved quickly despite the handicap, racing for the entrance to the stairwell. Unfortunately, it had become crammed full of panicked people trying to escape. With a huff, he blasted a man in the back who was taking up the doorway, shoving aside his crumpling body before pushing his way past the frantic citizens.

Sevarn reacted automatically now, his biotics flaring into life. In a flash, he had sent a cluster of biotic energy lancing forth that struck one of the intruding gunmen, hitting this one squarely in the chest. The force of the impact was enough to lift him off of his feet and send him falling back through the window he had just crashed through, his body landing hard on the street below. The other two swept their guns in his direction, and Sevarn had little option but to jump behind the nearest piece of solid cover, this coming in the form of a tiled column. Assault rifles thundered and chunks were blasted from the other side of the column. Nearby, Lyssa took the chance to rise to her feet, gun raised. She stepped upon the nearest chair, getting a bead upon one of the turian gunmen before she opened fire, diving forth as she did so, planting a least three rounds into the intruder before she landed on the cushioned chair ahead of her.

The third shooter swept fire in her direction, tearing up the row of tables and chairs in front of her. Lyssa threw herself to the floor, sliding some ways along, firing her gun at the turian as she moved. Above, stray rounds tore apart birdcages and sent the creatures within fluttering in a panic. Several civilians lay dead or wounded about the restaurant interior, little more than the victims of stray bullets.

This had been a coordinated hit, not only against the Colonel, but against her and Sevarn. The conspiracy ran deep, and as Sevarn pulled his Carnifex pistol from his waist, he found himself very curious as to the identities of these turian assassins.

Lyssa put two shots into the gunman by the time she came to a sliding halt, back against a column. This turian had stumbled under the potency of the Paladin pistol's stopping power, with at least one round having punched clean through his armour at the chest. Sevarn leaned past the column and added his own volley of fire to the mix, working the Carnifex quickly, four shots sounding out. The assassin stumbled, twitched and spasmed with each impact. Dark blue blood streamed down his front as he went down, his Phaeston rifle clattering to the floor.

'I'll get that son of a bitch,' Lyssa declared, jumping to her feet and starting for the stairwell. Sevarn went to follow, but part of him was drawn to the gunman nearby. He had to find out who this was, if only because it might offer some insight as to who was behind this whole thing. Kneeling by the corpse, he reached for the neck, finding the seals on the helmet. With a few flicks, the seals released and he was able to pull away the helmet.

He found himself mildly surprised by the face he saw under there. It was familiar, if only in passing, and he recalled a certain turian intelligence operative he had encountered prior to this mission. It was the one at the Talon-3 outpost, the same man who had let him inside to meet the team and Colonel Venarus. He did not have a name to put to the face, but he recognized the face nonetheless. As for what this meant, he could not be certain, just that it added a new layer of complexity to the whole affair.

Lyssa came upon the landing partway down the stairs, just in time to catch sight of the turian assassin as he attempted to push his way through the small crowd of panicked civilians on the stairs. Evidently impatient, he grabbed one man by the shoulder and shot him in the lower back, before he simply threw the wounded man over the railing of the stairs. Another woman, screaming in response to the violence, received a shot dead centre of her chest. Again, the turian tossed her over the railing, haphazardly clearing himself a path.

Lyssa had somewhat more compunctions towards such senseless violence. She had to try and squeeze her way past one vorcha customer, who smelled vaguely of rotting meat, before coming upon a portly human man who was taking the stairs a little too slowly for her liking. The turian assassin had by now reached the bottom step, and he was able to hit full stride as Lyssa struggled through the panicked citizens. She could hardly get a line on her enemy with the people in front of her, and with some frustration she began to shove harder.

The assassin turned back around then, stopping partway across the lobby floor. Pistol in his hand, he raised it and started shooting, peppering the stairs and the people still on them with bullets. The man in front of Lyssa fell backwards against her, two bloody holes having been cut into his chest. She shoved the dead man aside, trying to raise her gun, only for another woman to fall backwards against her. The doors ahead of the assassin slid open then, and two more armoured turian gunmen barged in, weapons raised. At the same time, the wounded leader darted through them, leaving his subordinates to finish the work.

Lyssa saw the pair bring their rifles to bear and so, with a quick vault, she climbed upon the railing. Backside hard upon it, she allowed gravity to take hold and send her sliding down the remaining flight of stairs, gun up and shooting. One of the turians was cut down where he stood, a high calibre round having busted a hole through his helmet's visor. The other opened fire, his automatic rifle cutting a swathe along part of the stairwell before a bullet caught him in the arm and sent his aim flying wide. Another round hit him in the chest, followed by another, his armour doing little to halt the penetrating power of such a potent weapon. His finger locked about the trigger of his rifle, and as he fell the weapon sprayed wide, tearing into the far wall, spewing forth eruptions of plaster dust whilst laying waste to the framed painting that had been situated there.

From outside, Lyssa could hear sirens. Local cops, no less, and she hardly fancied being caught by them. The Anhur CED was notoriously corrupt, as tended to be the case when it came to the authorities on Terminus Systems colonies. Her forward momentum carried her towards the end of the banister, whereupon she landed on her feet, taking a few quick steps forward to ensure she did not simply tumble forwards and land flat upon her face.

Heart pounding, she looked about the lobby. Just about everyone still standing had cleared out now. The police sirens grew louder, and Lyssa guessed they had little under a minute before the cowboy cops of Anhur came storming inside. Footsteps sounded from behind her and she spun around, gun held at the ready. With some relief she relaxed, for it was Sevarn who had appeared at the landing back further up. This time, he carried a distinctly bulky rifle of a model Lyssa could not properly place. The one that the assassin had used to shoot the Colonel, no less. Even at a glance, it appeared to be heavily modified.

'Come on,' she told Sevarn, as he raced down the stairs towards her. 'Cops are on their way. I don't want to end up in an Anhurese prison.'

'Did you get them all?' He asked her.

Lyssa shook her head.

'The one who shot your Colonel got away,' she told him. She jogged for the entrance doors, peering outside and into the street. There was a sizeable crowd forming across the road, no doubt drawn by all the noise and the panic in general.

'Any idea who they are?' She asked him. Judging from the somewhat grim expression he wore, he likely had some clue.

'I'm not entirely sure yet,' he told her. 'We should go somewhere quiet and try to figure this out.'