19: The Protest

Chas Rofan was supposedly the best hacker on Anhur. Sevarn figured that he should not be surprised that he had never heard of the drell, if only because he did not keep up with latest news in the hacking world. He also figured that a good hacker remained unknown to the greater galaxy, which might have worked in the drell's favour. At the same time, it only amplified the turian's doubts as to his abilities. The only thing that did reassure him on the matter was Lyssa's insistence that the drell knew what he was doing.

They were inside Chas' apartment, a small and cluttered affair that consisted mostly of computers and various other gadgets, with the living room furniture jutting up from amongst it all. The far corner served as the "bedroom", and even that was cluttered with gear that flanked the bed itself on all but one side. The shutters were down over the windows most of the way, allowing only a small measure of morning light to filter inside. Chas himself was seated at his desk, with multiple terminals active in front of him. The climate control systems within the apartment were pouring in an ample amount of cold air, no doubt to keep the computers and assorted gadgetry cool.

Sevarn felt a light chill as he stood somewhat awkwardly behind the drell, with Lyssa to his left.

'You're sure this will work?' Lyssa leaned in over the drell's shoulder, trying to get a better look at the rows of data scrolling down his terminal screen.

'Have I ever let you down, Lyssa?' Chas sounded pleased with himself. Sevarn was the outsider here, and as such he felt far more awkward than he would have liked. These two had a history, one he suspected was much more intimate than a mere working relationship. Oddly enough, he could not help but feel a little jealous, despite how silly that struck him. Why would he be jealous over a human woman, least of all one who had tried to kill him only a handful of days ago? Such a feeling was supposed to be irrational, but nonetheless it irked him deep down. For now, however, he simply kept a lid on it and listened in as to what the plan of action was to be. Lyssa was determined to get to Salak Vok and he could not blame her for that, given all that he had done.

'The security measures they have on the local government network are a joke,' Chas added, and he continued tapping away at his terminal. 'I can adjust a few entries on their logs, slip in something on their schedule and suddenly you're an official courier for the Anhur Administrative Council. With the right kind of ID, you'll be able to get in under the guise of delivering official documents.'

'You make it sound so easy,' Lyssa remarked.

'Like I said, Anhur isn't the kind of place to find a tightly secured server. At least, none that can stand up to me.' Chas looked up at her and smiled. 'I've already made the appropriate entries on the official CED logs. They should be set once they update their systems. All I need to do for you now is get that ID.'

Sevarn leaned forwards then, and Chas visibly slinked away from him as soon as he was aware that the turian was looming above him.

'This better work,' he told the drell. There was a warning in his voice, and it was one Chas picked up on immediately.

'It will work.' Chas sounded insulted. Sevarn might have smiled, if the circumstances were not so serious.

'Well, I'm just saying it better. Because while Lyssa is down there in the thick of things, I'll be right here, keeping an eye on you.' For added emphasis, he lightly patted Chas on the shoulder. The drell seemed to freeze under the touch. Lyssa turned to the pair of them, some amusement to be found in the smile she offered.

'That's right, Chas,' she said, fixing her attention on the drell. 'Sev is going to be right here with you while I'm down there, trying to break into the Governor's residence.'

Sevarn quirked one brow plate upon hearing this shortened version of his name. It was the first time she had referred to him as such.

'You can confirm Salak Vok is in there?' She added. Chas nodded in the affirmative, and he returned his attention to the display before him. He tapped in some more commands, the screen flicking through various files, many of which bore the official seal of the Anhur Administrative Council. He came upon what appeared to be an internal memo, dated to only a few hours before.

'This looks like what you're after,' he told Lyssa, and she leaned in closer to get a better look. 'Internal memo from the Governor's desk. He's requesting the residence be closed off until the protest outside abates.'

'Sounds like standard procedure to me,' Sevarn stated. Chas shot him a frown before he turned back to the screen.

'How about some surveillance feeds, then?' Chas asked, and with the holographic interface enabled he began swiping through various file directories and subroutines. To Sevarn, the whole thing appeared as little more than a mess of boxes and lines and nonsensical code. He had some technical knowledge, but it did not extend into the nitty-gritty of computer code. To Chas, such a thing was a second language, one he was especially fluent in. He sifted through the mass of data with a startling finesse, the dark orbs of his eyes reflecting the blue-tinged interface and the many streaks of raw code scrolling across it.

'Here we go,' Chas announced, after a half minute of work. 'I'll get us into the feeds from inside the Governor's residence.'

'You can do that?' Lyssa actually sounded impressed. Sevarn felt that unwanted sense of jealousy burning inside him again.

'Most couldn't, but I can.'

Sevarn could only roll his eyes at this. Nonetheless, he watched on with some interest as the drell went to work, sifting through data readouts and bypassing firewalls before he finally came upon the internal security network for the Administrative Complex, specifically a main access screen that offered one a choice from numerous options. It seemed that the system had recognized him as an authorised user through some form of trickery the drell had employed, and now he had free reign to pick and choose whatever camera feed he wished to inspect.

Sevarn admitted to himself that Chas Rofan certainly knew his way around a computer system, more so than he ever had. The turian was not sure whether he should be offended or not. As it stood, the small measure of jealousy he felt only became more pronounced. It was irritating, to be jealous over some drell hacker he had only just met, but the fact that he and Lyssa had a history only brought it more to the forefront.

'This is the Governor's residence,' Chas announced, as he brought up about a dozen different feeds. He maximised one, showing the inside of an ornately decorated lobby, all elegant carpet and wood-panelled walls. A few staffers were milling about on their daily errands, but there was otherwise little to suggest anything out of the ordinary.

'The front lobby,' Chas stated, before he switched to another. This one showed a spacious office from an angle, with the camera positioned in a corner that faced towards the desk. There were windows at the rear of the desk, the curtains mostly open but the windows themselves likely being reinforced. Framed photos and the odd Earth-made antique were dotted about the room, whilst a human man in a black suit worked at the terminal on the desk. He had to have been in his sixties, perhaps seventies, slim and weathered, his head mostly bald and his faced lined with the rigours of age. He was alone, tapping away at his terminal.

'The Governor himself,' Chas announced, sounding a little proud.

'What about Vok? Is he anywhere?' Lyssa leaned in a little closer, and the drell tapped another command into the terminal. This time, the screen switched to another feed, this one from a different part of the residence. It was a dining room from the look of it, one side lined with arch-shaped windows and doors that opened onto an enclosed courtyard within which a lush, green garden was situated. The other side was lined with cabinets full of crockery and the like, with a few noticeably batarian sculptures on display between them. And there, seated at one end of the table with multiple plates of food laid out before him, was Salak Vok.

Sevarn sensed Lyssa tense as soon as she saw him. Vok appeared relaxed, cheerfully feasting on the meals provided. He had even changed into something more formal, unlike the more military style wear he had been outfitted in at the camp. Here was a man perfectly at ease, and who would not be such when deep within the most secure location on Anhur?

'That son of a bitch,' Lyssa snarled, turning away from the screen. 'He's in there and he's having a grand old time.'

'What's your plan?' Sevarn asked her.

'Plan? It's simple.' She offered the turian a small smirk. 'I use Chas' fake ID to get in through the front door. And then I find Vok, isolate him and question him.'

'That's it?' Sevarn had expected something a little more intricate. Lyssa simply shrugged.

'Why complicate things? With the right kind of clearance, I can get in there and do what I need to.'

'You won't be able to go in there armed.'

'True. But I won't need to be armed for this. I get that bastard on his own and I can go to town on him with a fork if need be.'

'A fork?' Sevarn quirked one brow ridge in doubt. Lyssa's smile only widened.

'Hell, I'll gouge out his eyes with my bare hands if I have to. But I've got to get in there.'

'This sounds dangerous,' Sevarn stated, realising as soon as he said it that he was not exactly adding anything new to the conversation.

'Everything we do is dangerous. Besides, you two will be listening in the whole time, so I won't be alone. Not really.' Lyssa seemed confident. Sevarn wanted to feel the same, but the entire situation just felt "off" to him. This was a plan of action where so much could go very wrong, very quickly. It was perhaps that typically stiff turian side of him that was shining through here, for he had seldom gone into an assignment without being prepared for just about everything.

'I'll have the ID ready shortly,' Chas said, and he swivelled his chair about to face the pair. Dark eyes regarded both of them with curiosity. 'I will want something in return for this, Lyssa.'

'Like what?' Lyssa strode up beside him, before she leaned in close. Chas smirked, and she gave him a light kiss on the cheek. 'Because that's all you're going to get. Now, when I'm out there, Sevarn here is going to be keeping an eye on you.'

'He looks like he might try eating me.'

'Turians are predators where they're from, so maybe he might do just that.' Lyssa gave the drell a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 'Of course, he'll only do that if you step out of line. If you behave, then you'll have nothing to worry about. And if this all goes well, then you'll be up for a reward then, won't you?' She added something a little sultry to her voice and Sevarn could see the drell's large eyes somehow widen further in excitement.

'Hey, Lyssa, could we talk?' Sevarn motioned for her to come over. 'In private?'

'Sure.' Lyssa left Chas to his work, and she followed Sevarn to the far end of the apartment. There, he spoke in a low voice, such that the drell would be unable to hear them:

'Can we trust him?' He asked her. Lyssa appeared to consider this for a moment, before she simply shook her head slowly.

'Not completely. He's still sour about what happened last time I enlisted his help.' She then shrugged her shoulders. 'We haven't got many other options, not since your Colonel got himself killed. My people are after us, and now it looks like some of your people are after us. Vok is our only real lead.'

'And if that doesn't pan out?' A valid question, they both knew this. He saw Lyssa's eyes narrow, her features turning grim for a moment.

'It needs to,' she told him. She put a hand to his shoulder, a reassuring gesture that caught the turian a little by surprise. 'I trust you to keep an eye on frog boy over there, all right? In fact, I trust you more than just about anyone else right now. You pulled me out of that batarian torture chamber. You didn't have to, but you did.' Her voice had adopted a slightly wavering quality, no doubt from recalling the agonies she had felt in that room. What had happened in there had affected her deeply, even if she was not the kind to outright admit as much.

'You don't trust the drell, but you and him are what, involved?' Sevarn had to ask. Lyssa smirked then, before she gave him something of a conspiratorial look.

'It was nothing deep,' she told him. 'A physical thing. Lust, curiosity, not love. Besides, drell venom does wonders to enhance the experience.'

Sevarn felt a little awkward upon hearing this piece of information. Lyssa gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder.

'But as I said, I don't trust him. Not completely. Frog boy's always working his own angle.'

'And this "reward" you promised him?'

'A lie, Sev.' She paused, and her smile deepened. 'Why? Are you jealous?'

Sevarn shook his head. Of course, he would be lying by denying it, but he hardly wanted to admit that he may in fact have feelings for this rowdy, reckless and even ruthless human female. The turian women he had known were mostly military sorts, and they were all very good at giving orders. He thought of Major Gavian then, just another casualty to the mess they had found themselves in. Lyssa reminded him of her, in some small way. A soldier and a leader, and one who was not unwilling to get their hands dirty if it meant getting the job done.

'I don't think I've ever met a turian who was good at lying,' Lyssa remarked, before she took her hand from his shoulder. She looked him in the eyes, and when she spoke again her voice had taken on a somewhat huskier tone: 'You have beautiful eyes, by the way. Ocean blue. Reminds of the seas of Elysium.'

Sevarn looked at her dumbly for a moment, trying to keep the blush from coming on. Lyssa just smiled at him again before she walked by him, heading back to where Chas worked. Sevarn scratched at his mandibles then, feeling that rush of warmth as his cheeks turned a slightly darker shade of blue. Was he really developing feelings for a Cerberus operative? These last few days had certainly proven crazy, that much was clear.

The morning was cold, and the sky was scattered with clouds. The streets were slick from last night's rain, but even the inclement weather had not dissuaded the masses of protestors now surrounding the walls of the Administrative Complex. Police were out here, CED specifically, and they were supported by reserve units in blue uniforms, little more than rent-a-cops who would have been better suited to guarding shopping malls. Nonetheless, the increased security was necessary, as the crowd had only grown since dawn. The volatility through it all was almost palpable. Kanen could certainly sense it, something akin to an overextended elastic band that was merely millimetres from snapping.

He pushed his way through the disgruntled and mostly human citizenry. Many cleared aside when they saw the quarian coming, the modified environment suit he wore providing him a much more imposing figure. Some people hurled insults his way, though most were the sort he had heard many times in the past. He wondered if it was wise to be out here with a bounty on his head. Still, it was unlikely anyone would try anything in a public place, with people everywhere and cops surrounding them.

The main street passed along a large, open public square that was now full of people. The main gate of the administrative complex had been barricaded, now with dozens of armed and armoured mercenaries standing before it, keeping the rowdy crowd at bay. Further along, a somewhat smaller cluster of batarian counter-protestors had gathered. Riot police had set up barricades and taken positions between the two different groups. Nonetheless, items were occasionally thrown and many angry shouts were exchanged. From what Kanen could gather, the New Thebes city square was going to be the sight of some serious trouble if the situation continued the way it was. He hoped he was well away from it when the trouble did start, and so with this in mind he gradually pushed his way through the crowd and towards the front gate.

'I'm getting close.' He spoke seemingly to himself, but his voice filtered through the transmitter in his suit and to where Booker and Alvarez had taken position. The two overlooked the square on a rooftop nearby with a strike team in waiting. Kanen found he had to speak a little louder to actually hear himself over the noise of the crowd.

'Keep going.' It was Booker's voice, cutting into his helmet. 'See if you can't make a direct entry. You want the Governor to know you're here.'

'Understood.' Kanen sighed, figuring that he was on the verge of falling into some serious trouble himself. He came upon the first barricade ahead of the main gate, and here he found himself looking at about four CED men in full armour, faces concealed under helmets and visors. He held up his hands to show he was unarmed. None of the men threatened him directly, yet they held onto their guns with visibly tense grasps.

'I need to see the Governor.' He had to shout to be heard. The request, however, fell on deaf ears. After all, he was hardly the first person out here to demand to be let in to see the Governor.

'Please, I need to see the Governor. It's important.' Again, the guards did little to recognize he was talking. One of them set their gaze upon him, before motioning to him with one hand.

'Please step away from the barricade, sir,' the guard warned. 'If you continue to persist, you will be arrested.'

'Arrested? I used to work here, you idiot.' Kanen's frustration only started to mount. 'Look, I know the Governor personally. I used to work for him. I need to speak to him, urgently. I have information about the current situation that he will want to hear.' He saw a camera then, situated by the main gate and pointed in his general direction. He waved to it, hoping someone on the other end might notice the quarian at the front of the crowd.

'Tell your boss Kanen'Jaslek is here,' he said, turning to the guard again. The armoured trooper's visor turned to him, but otherwise there was no way to determine just what this man was thinking. 'He'll know me.'

The guard appeared to perk up then, and Kanen got the impression that he was listening to something inside his helmet. A call, no doubt, and the guard nodded his head.

'Understood, sir.' He then looked to Kanen again. 'Kanen'Jaslek?'

'That's right…'

'You have permission to enter.' The guard motioned to his subordinates at either side, and they promptly moved the waist-high barricade enough to allow the quarian entry. The crowd behind him tried to push forwards, but several more troopers moved ahead to quell the attempted push. Kanen found himself immediately flanked by two guards, and they guided him towards the little guardhouse by the gate. The officer there, a middle-aged man in a blue uniform, regarded the quarian with clear disdain.

'Is this the one?' He asked.

'Kanen'Jaslek,' the quarian declared. 'I need to speak with the Governor.'

'Take him through to security.' The officer hit a button at a control pad before him, and the gate ahead began to slide open. Behind Kanen, the crowd began to roar all the louder, no doubt outraged that this quarian had been allowed entry so easily. It may have appeared easy, but Kanen's heart was pounding in his chest like a jackhammer. He was unarmed, and now he was being led into what some human acquaintances of his would regard as a "den of jackals". Or was it "den of wolves"?

The thought escaped him as he was led into the compound, wherein he was taken along a winding footpath to what he knew to be the security building. This structure was little more than a glorified brick rectangle that took up the lower south-western corner of the compound. He had been here before, during his time as a member of this compound's security force, and so it was all familiar sights to him now as the guards took him through the front entrance of the building. Here, he stepped through a scanner, which cast him in a deep blue glow. His suit was promptly scanned for the presence of any weapons or other illegal devices.

Thankfully, they did not detect the SOTIG transmitter hidden within his armour. It seemed Booker and his friends were good for something after all, and so Kanen allowed himself a sigh of relief as soon as the scan was done.

The drab grey corridors he knew all too well, and as the guards took him to the far end he realised very quickly just where he was headed: the office of the Complex's Chief of Security. During his time as an employee, this role had been filled by an old Alliance soldier who had moved out here because he had wanted a job that would give him an excuse to beat on batarians. That old-timer had likely retired, or had perhaps even died, Kanen could not be sure. As such, the new Chief of Security was unknown to him, or at least he was until Kanen stepped into the office and saw the rather broad figure seated at the desk ahead.

This man he knew, and upon seeing him Kanen felt his heart sink. Of all the people who could have been promoted to the role, just why had Frederic Taft been catapulted into this office? Taft was hardly known for his reliability, and from the look of him now it appeared he had truly started to let himself go.

The office was fairly plain, all drab grey walls and barred windows. Taft was seated at the solitary desk, his blue and black officer's uniform barely fitting around his oversized waistline. The man looked as if he had been poured into his seat, and through a set of orange-tinted sunglasses he regarded the quarian with noticeable disdain. Those sunglasses also worked as some form of visor, an expensive piece of fashionable tech at that, and no doubt they were offering him all manner of readings on the quarian visitor being brought before him.

Taft's features were puffy and lined with age. He had to be well into his sixties now, yet his short-cropped hair was black as night and fashioned into a sharp widow's peak. He had an equally black beard goatee taking up the lower half of his face. Dark eyes watched Kanen through the specs, and he placed his hands upon the tabletop before him and clasped them together.

'Well, well, well, look what the monkey dragged in,' Taft stated, his voice carrying with it a slight mocking quality. 'Kanen'Jaslek', just what the hell brought you here?'

'I need to see the Governor.'

'The Governor don't want to see you, boy,' Taft countered, giving the quarian a small, dismissive wave. 'I mean, you can't just stroll your ass back in here after all this time and act like everything's all hunky-fucking-dory. You walked out on the boss. Your choice.'

'I have information.'

'Then you can give me that information.' Taft was the kind of man who did not take "no" for an answer. 'And then I will relay it on to the Governor, and if it interests him then maybe, just maybe you might get in to see him. Now, in case you haven't noticed, we're in a bit of a crisis here at the moment. So, pardon my suspicion, but it seems mighty convenient that you've gone and showed up on today of all days?'

Kanen had not expected to run into Taft. The man had worked here during his previous time as one of the Governor's bodyguards, but he had not been Chief and had rather been in charge of some tactical operations outfit that had specialised in counterinsurgency. Taft and the Governor had been acquaintances, but they had lacked the closer connection Kanen had shared with the Governor through his work as his bodyguard. Or at least, this was what Kanen had assumed. Evidently, things had changed since he had last been here.

'I've got information about the people behind what's going on,' Kanen stated, gritting his teeth. The guards standing either side of him had firm grasps upon his arms, offering him little chance to really move.

'Do you now?' Taft's doubt was clear as day. He unclenched his hands and tapped them upon the desktop. 'Well, I'm all ears, suit-boy.'

'It's not for you. Governor's ears only.'

Taft smiled, shaking his head slowly. He emitted a short chuckle then, a somewhat wheezing noise at that, showing off a set of pearly white teeth that had evidently seen much work done to keep them in such a state.

'The Governor is a busy man,' Taft replied, once his chuckle was over. 'So am I, as a matter of fact. If you have information, you're going to have to give it to me, you hear? The Governor ain't accepting visitors right now.'

'Is that because he has Salak Vok in there with him?' Kanen ventured, and he noticed Taft's puffy, wizened features noticeably sour at mere mention of the name. 'Are they having brunch together or something?' He regarded Taft with a wry smile, making a show of gauging the man and his overall statue: 'They probably figured they ought to do it when you were occupied, huh? Otherwise, there'd be nothing left by the time they reached the table.'

'You're a funny guy, Kanen,' Taft remarked, and he looked up at the quarian with a smile. He then glanced towards the two armoured troopers keeping hold of him, and the pair of them emitted their own respective laughs.

'You come in here, thinking you're still top shit around here,' Taft continued, his voice level, betraying no evidence that he was offended by Kanen's remarks. 'You show up at an awfully convenient time, you ask to see the boss and yet you ain't even ready to humour me. And I thought we were friends?'

'The only friend you have is the buffet table.'

Again, Taft smirked and slowly shook his head. He reached under his desk then, and Kanen could not help but tense at the sight of the movement. He was on the verge of making a move against the two men keeping hold of him when he saw the pistol come out, but Taft simply laid the weapon upon the desk before him.

'You know what this is, boy?' Taft asked him.

'It's a gun.'

'Yeah, but it ain't no ordinary gun.' He had a point: this was a particular model that Kanen had never seen before. It was coloured a deep red and emblazoned with the white skull logo of the Blood Pack mercenary organization. For a pistol, it was large and bulky. Kanen could not stop the small smile that formed under his faceplate, for the simple fact that a large and bulky gun certainly suited Frederic Taft.

'This here they call the "Executioner". It fires a fat armour piercing slug that will absolutely make a mess out of any motherfucker who gets in its way. You gotta reload it after every shot, so you gotta make every shot count, you hear me boy?'

'Yeah, yeah I do…' Kanen trailed off. Just what the hell was Taft telling him all this for?

'It's what I'm going to use on you if you fuck me around,' Taft added, and he picked up the gun and racked the slide, exposing the empty chamber. 'A few holes in that suit of yours and the germs will kill you if the bullets don't.'

'You're going to torture me?' Kanen did not really believe it. Judging from the look Taft gave him, he thought he might have to reconsider this initial judgment.

'Listen here, boy, and I'll spell it out for you: I don't think you came here to help out the Governor. I don't think you came here to provide information, useful or not. I think you came here because you're looking to start trouble. And maybe if that old fuck of a Chief was still here, he might have let you in. But me?' Taft looked up at Kanen with a scowl. 'I've been in this game a long time. You don't get far in it without being smart. Seriously, boy, do I look like I was born on a fucking turnip truck?'

Kanen frowned in confusion.

'Ah, well, I don't know what a turnip is, so…'

At that instant, Taft's communicator started beeping. He put a finger to the piece in his ear, answering the call. Kanen listened, watching as Taft's features hardened.

'Yeah, this is Taft.' A pause, as the caller spoke, before Taft replied: 'Yes, I understand. He's here with me now. Thing is, I don't think it's a good idea…' He trailed off, interrupted. Kanen knew Taft well enough to know that any kind of interruption irked him immensely, but as this was no doubt his superior calling he did not let his displeasure be known.

'All right, I'll have him sent in.' Taft shut off his earpiece and looked up at Kanen. His displeasure was clear in the way he scowled at the quarian, dark eyes narrowed behind his tinted spectacles. 'All right, boy, looks like you got lucky. The Governor knows you're here and wants to see you.' Taft scratched at his goatee, presumably trying to look thoughtful. He then motioned to the pair of troopers keeping hold on Kanen. 'Get the suit rat out of here. Take him over to see the Governor.'

'You know, Taft, it's always real fun talking with you,' Kanen stated. Taft said nothing, he simply kept his scowl fixed on the quarian as he was taken out of the room. Feeling some relief to be out of there, Kanen allowed himself to relax a little, even if he was still deep inside potentially hostile territory.

He was escorted out of the security building. Beyond the walls and the gate of the compound, the protestors continued chanting and yelling and throwing bottles and the like. If anything, things sounded even more heated now than they had earlier. Kanen was tugged along through the middle of the compound, past the Administrative Assembly building and towards the lavish mansion that served as the Governor's residence. The Assembly building was a large dome-shaped structure, with arches over the windows and doors, flanked by immaculately maintained gardens. The Governor's residence was a three-floor mansion of considerable size, looking more like something one might see on an old Earth postcard than on a Terminus Systems colony. There were certain intricacies to the brickwork and the manner in which they had been made, suggesting batarian hands had put this place together. And until the Rebellions several years ago, a batarian Governor had been in residence. Of course, things had changed on Anhur since then, to the point that the humans here held much of the political power.

The estate was surrounded by another wall, and it was through another guarded gate that Kanen was taken. Multiple armed soldiers roamed the grounds here, and the ones standing guard at the building's main entrance eyed him with suspicion. The lobby beyond the front entrance was certainly ornate, all lush carpet underfoot, with framed paintings and old batarian sculptures about the walls. More guards were on the prowl inside, and Kanen felt further curious and judgmental looks get directed his way. Some human pieces of décor had been put in place about the interior, gradually taking over the free spaces at the walls and no doubt pushing aside the batarian items that the previous government of Anhur had likely had in their stead.

Outside, the volatility amongst the protesting crowd only continued to increase.