Mass Effect Freeform IC (still PM to join)

Despite the potential job opportunity laying before him, Gale was still a bit bitter about the whole fiasco that had gotten him in his current situation to start with. So I accidentally shot the hostage, better to eat a round in the shoulder than one in the brain. Unsurprisingly, his Lieutenant hadn't much liked his reasoning, nor had said Lieutenant's superiors. It was easy for those pencil pushers to look down their noses at him, but they'd not been there, they'd not seen the deranged look in that Salarian's eyes as he held a gun to his own wife's head. Why he was holding his own wife, a young Asari noless, at gunpoint the Turian didn't know, he'd always found Salarians to be rather odd, what with wanting to make seemingly everything into a business transaction. All he did know was that the Salarian must have seen his life falling apart before his very eyes, and the madness that followed had been his futile attempt to try and maintain control of it. CSEC had the area locked down and a hostage negotiator had arrived on scene before Gale and the squad were brought in, but negotiations hadn't been going partiuclarly well. In fact, by the time the Turian sharpshooter and his spotter had gotten set up in a good vantage point across from the storefront the Salarian had holed up in, they were beginning to break down wholesale. More and more the Salarian spoke of 'ending it', and it was pretty obvious what he was going to do.  Lacking a clear shot and having only seconds to spare before he potentially splattered his significant other's brains on the closest wall, Gale took aim and fired.  The round ended up tearing through the woman's shoulder, punching clean through before burying itself in her husband's chest.  She survived, he was dead before he hit the ground, and he'd received a suspension for his trouble.  "It's only until the investigation concludes." they'd said, feh, may as well have just been honest with him and say 'two to three weeks, he knew how this stuff went...

At least he was still making half-pay, but it wasn't the money that bothered Gale, the idea of sitting on his ass doing nothing for three weeks was just sooo...boring, no way he could do that without going stir-crazy.  He ended up visiting the Salarian the day after the incident, to formally apologize and wish her well.  Considering she'd been shot and had lost her husband, she was doing pretty well, though it bothered Gale to find out they'd had a couple kids, not that the man being a bachelor would have made the Turian feel any better about what he'd had to do.  He'd cope with it, it was just part of the job unfortunately, though it would still be better to keep himself busy than sit around at home thinking about it. 

Then a few days later, he saw the ad on the extranet...  Gale had actually heard of Bofnan before, the Volus was a well respected business man and an influential force in the markets.  What the hell he needed mercs for was anyone's guess, but here Gale was nonetheless.  He'd not bothered bringing any of his gear with him, just wore his usual tac-clothing, figuring his CSEC credentials and Navy combat record would speak for themselves.

Having arrived a bit early, Gale wasn't surprised to find he was the first one to show up, and he'd take a seat when the secretary prompted him to do so.  While the news playing on the nearby screen kept his attention for a bit, he'd eventually boot up his omni-tool and launch 'Alliance Corsair'.  It was a fun little game, fun enough to keep him occupied as he waited for Bofnan and whoever else to show up.

One of Eridha's favorite things to do in her free time was to find a nice spot to get comfortable, stare off into space, and reminisce. An eidetic memory had its pros and cons; she could remember most everything she'd ever done, but at the same time, she could remember everything. The pain of being shot, punched, even the fear of being strangled were clear as day, if Eri decided to go looking for them. But so, too, were the better times - everything she'd gotten to see travelling across the galaxy, brief wisps of friendship or camaraderie, the satisfaction of knowing that she'd completed an assignment to perfection. It almost made the hard parts worth it, especially when she tried to justify the violent acts she'd committed--the havoc she'd wrought--as necessary means to an end. One had to make ends meet somehow, after all, while running from the essentially unstoppable specter that was Kepral's syndrome.

The Citadel always proved an excellent place for that, being a space station and all. The small apartment she rented had an excellent view, and Eri had been careful to situate a table and chair such that she'd be able to take advantage of that without leaving her back fully facing the door. She hardly anticipated anyone breaking in to try and kill her, but she'd never really been able to shake old habits - which also explained the Predator on the table and the Locust by the bedside. It something of an awkward angle and certainly didn't make maneuvering around the cramped space easy, but that was a price--hefty rent costs aside--she was more than willing to pay for her own peace of mind. Eri tried to spend as little time in here as possible, anyway, even if it was one of the driest habitable environments she was likely to find anywhere within a parsec or four of the Citadel.

Her little apartment did, however, make for an excellent place to browse through potential hirings, given its close proximity to most of the meeting places she'd found to be most common. It wasn't as uncomfortable as normal when she kicked her feet up on the table, either, resting her omni-tool-clad arm in her lap as she scrolled across the extranet. There were some darker channels she could access, but just trawling the surface was enough for her today. Eri wasn't that desperate for credits just yet, not quite willing to dodge every security force required of her for a hefty payout. What did look appealing, though, was an ad by some volus paying... quite a hefty price to try and hire some well-trained individuals for some unspecified work. Hm. The total lack of detail was surprising and certainly somewhat intriguing, just enough to grab her curiosity. Most ads of this sort that she'd seen had at least a little bit of detail. The amount, however, certainly grabbed her attention. This was the exact kind of thing she was looking to do, after all: experience new things, maybe make a few credits along the way.

Well, that would do just fine for today's job. It looked like the address was fairly close by, too - a win on both counts.

She shifted to a more natural sitting position, thinking for a brief moment about what to take. It was tempting to show up in full combat gear, a pistol at her side, but that might have been overkill for a simple meeting to discuss the job. What she was wearing now, a high-collared sleeveless top and slacks, would do - and her modded omni-tool was probably enough protection if she needed it. Decision made, Eri strolled out her door and towards the markets in the Wards proper. It wasn't too far at all, but it was somewhat nice to take a walk through the hustle and bustle. Maybe she needed to do exactly this sort of thing more often, instead of sneaking behind and around guards. Being alone in a crowd made her just a hair anxious, but just enough to prefer to stay closer to one side rather than walk down the middle of the promenade.

The building Bofnan Can's ad specified loomed before her before too long. There didn't seem to be any surprises here - just a single door, presumably a receptionist on the other side, nothing to it. Eri felt her stomach knot up anyway as she moved to open the door. Meeting employers had never been her strong suit, even less so when she was one of presumably several looking to be hired on. Reminding herself that this was a necessary evil and that she'd done it dozens of times as she approached the door helped calm Eri a bit, but then the sensation returned twofold as she opened the door to the sound of conversation. "What's the next thing that's gonna come in that door?" she heard someone say. "I'm personally hoping for a vorcha, just to see our employee do a double-take."

With a deep breath, Eri stepped in and looked around. There were only three people in here so far, each a bit more distinct than she'd expected - a turian, an asari, and a human, the latter behind a desk and presumably the receptionist. None were in clothes that had any kind of similarity to them, so she had to be in the right place. This fit the rough profile of "a motley bunch of presumably well-trained individuals" so far. It sounded like it had been the asari speaking, just based on the lack of that strange twang beneath turian voices; with another breath, Eri turned and gave that asari a bit of a knowing smile. "Well, I hate to disappoint, but I hope a drell will do," she said, a fair bit more quietly than she'd intended to, as she strode towards the receptionist. Eri didn't even have a chance to open her mouth before the receptionist pointed her towards the seats. Did the volus expect this entire waiting room to fill up? That seemed a little grandiose.

The seat she chose was a little further past the asari, enough space for at least another person to spread out comfortably between them. She didn't want to wind up pinned between two strangers if she could help it; small talk wasn't quite as bad as getting into a firefight, but it certainly wasn't something that had ever come naturally to her.

Gale had only gotten five or so minutes into his little game when what he assumed to be another person interested in the job sauntered through the front entrance, an Asari no less. Pausing his game, the Turian regarded her quietly as she spoke with the secretary.  If she can fight half as good as she looks, she'll be A-OK I think. he'd think to himself with a little smirk, though he'd not let that line of thinking go any farther than that.  By the time she'd finished and was heading his way, he'd returned his attention back to his game, and he'd not interrupt her as she got comfortable and pulled out a data-pad to fiddle with, content to let her do her thing while he did his. That being said, Gale didn't even flinch when she broke the silence, hell he didn't even need to pause his game to make a quip right back.  "Nah, I doubt a Vorcha would be smart enough to find the address."  he'd reply with a chuckle, though the words had barely left his mouth when the doors to the front entrance suddenly slid open, grabbing the Turian's attention.  A drell?  Bit of an uncommon sight, even on the Citadel.  Gale didn't have much of an opinion on them, they usually didn't start trouble, reason enough for him to like them he surmised.  "Heh, I'm sure it will." the Turian commented as the woman strode past them to the receptionists desk.  With that, Gale's attention again returned to his game, though he was content to keep talking to the Asari if she so pleased, even the Drell would have found him to be pleasant conversation, though it appeared she was content to keep to herself after she had a seat nearby.  "Anyways, I was going to guess human, one of my own people would have been a close second though." the man went on to say.

Humorously, that's just what ended up coming through the door next.  Hey, that's the guy that wasn't waiting outside isn't it?  Why didn't he just come in and sit down if he was already here?  That was a little odd to Gale to say the least, but he supposed the human had his reasons, they were an odd species sometimes.  Gale had mixed feelings when it came to humans.  He was too young to remember anything about the Relay 314 Incident, but he could very clearly remember the resentment some of his elders held for the humans afterwards when he was growing up.  While he'd never share it completely, it did rub off on him enough for him to be naturally more distrustful of them, or at least more-so than the other species.  They were an ambitious race, recklessly so at times, and they liked to push boundaries a bit too much for his taste.  All that said, they certainly had admirable qualities.  They were adaptable, and when the Geth attacked a couple years back they'd proven they weren't afraid of a hard fight.  Gale could remember quite clearly how the Fifth Fleet came roaring in, one could even argue they'd turned the tide of the battle.  Sure the Asari, Salarians, and his own people had some warships present, but the Geth and that damn dreadnought of theirs hit so hard and so fast that it was anyone's guess which way the battle was going to go before the Systems Alliance showed up.  It wasn't until after that mess that he'd really started to feel comfortable around them though, if only because he'd not had any choice.  The Geth inflicted high casualties on CSEC during the battle, and the majority of those that replaced those that were lost ended up being human.  Well, at the very least this particular one looked to have some quality armor, hopefully he had the combat experience to match it.

Interestingly, no one else came through those doors as the minutes ticked by.  As high a payday as Bofnan was offering, Gale was a little surprised there weren't more interested parties.  Then again, a high payout and next to no information looks pretty sketchy on paper, and this isn't Omega...  The Turian had never been to Omega before, but boy had he heard some stories about it, if Bofnan had advertised this job there, he'd likely have had half the mercs on that station beating down his door.

Speak of the devil.

At about that time, the man of the hour arrived, Bofnan Can in the flesh...er, suit.  The volus appeared suddenly when one of the doors behind the receptionists desk slid open.  The short man's gaze immediately shifted towards the little group that had gathered, who knew what he was thinking, his face obscured underneath his helmet revealed no clues.  Was he disappointed at such a low turnout?  Or perhaps happy he'd not have a dozen or more candidates to sift through?  Regardless of his thoughts, the moment passed and the volus made his way to the group of aliens proper, giving Gale plenty of time to quit out of his game.  "Greetings." Bofnan began.  "I'd like to thank you all for showing interest in my little advertisement, if you'd be so kind as to follow me, we can discuss the task I'd like completed in greater detail, privately."  The volus was very well spoken, though as was the norm, his suit made his breaths quite noticeable.  Assuming the four complied, he'd lead them back towards the door he'd come through to start with, talking towards his secretary along the way.  "Please hold my calls for the time being Ms. Alison."  The woman nodded promptly to his request, replying with a simple "Of course Mr. Can." as they left the lobby.  A brisk walk down the corridor that lay beyond saw them to another door, one that led to what looked to be a meeting room of some sort.  It's furnishings were rather modest, a large oval table and several chairs dominating the center of the room itself.  "Please have a seat, make yourselves comfortable." the volus instructed them, Bofnan himself taking a seat at the head of the table. 

"Now, I'm sure it's obvious, but the job I'm needing done entails a certain degree of...danger.  Thus the reason I'm offering such generous compensation for your work.  That being said, the work itself won't be breaking any laws, I simply need a team of talented individuals too...retrieve someone for me."  Pausing briefly, Bofnan clasped his hands neatly together in front of him before continuing.  "Now, as this is a sensitive matter, I'd like to hear your qualifications before I divulge anymore information.  Consider it a...precaution.  Why don't you start Mr...?" he'd say as he turned his attention to the Turian.

"Achadros, Galerius Achadros, but please, call me Gale." the Turian responded as he removed his beanie, revealing his abnormally short head crest.  "Well, started bootcamp at fifteen, the norm for my people.  Served as a marine aboard the PFS Havincaw for over a decade.  We were deployed primarily along the border between the Terminus Systems and the Attican Traverse, squared off against more than my fair share of pirates.  Promoted pretty steadily, even lead the squad the last couple of years before my deployment ended.  Got a criminology degree on the side during my downtime, came to the Citadel to put it to use in CSEC, been on one of their counter-terrorism squads for about five years now.  I also saw more action than I would have liked when the Geth attacked the station a few years back."  As Gale spoke, he'd power up his omni-tool and send his service record Bofnan's way, to back up what he was saying.  The volus viewed the information with seeming interest with his own omni-tool, though it didn't take him long to move on.  "Thank you Mr. Achadros.  What about you Miss...?" he'd inquire as he turned his attention to the Asari, followed by the Drell and human respectively.

(Reminder for me: 3b4bff)

[Obligatory "Zen has too much shit on his plate at this exact moment to have the mental agility necessary to write at his best, so he'll throw something up to keep the thread moving and apologize if it's somewhat unpolished" OOC disclaimer]

It was a good thing, Eri reflected as the asari shot her a wink, that she wasn't capable of blushing. The shy smile and averted gaze she responded with probably communicated something resembling embarrassment or something close to it about as effectively, but at least her face didn't overtly reflect her emotions like a human's often seemed to. She had to wonder, though if this was the asari honestly flirting or if she was just being a little playful. Eri had never been able to tell with their kind; her lack of experience definitely played in a fair bit, but there just always seemed to be something about the demeanors of asari--and of hanar, but that was probably more because they were so different biologically--that made their intentions harder for her to gauge. Humans were usually pretty easy; they were diverse, but most wore their emotions and goals out on their sleeves. Turians and krogan, in her experience, tended to be somewhere in the middle. Intergalactic culture was always a fun little minefield like that.

She wasn't too surprised to see a human stroll in the door not too long after she did. They weren't quite as rare as they used to be around the Citadel; and besides, their prospective employer already seemed to be falling into something of a multiracial team here. What was one more species? What surprised her a little more was that he was fully armored and still looked somewhat uncomfortable. There wasn't much point guessing what had perturbed him; the few humans Eri had interacted with at length had always seemed quite easily put off, not to suggest she was terribly levelheaded. It was hard to say if that had been because of her--she'd ended up shooting one of the probably three individuals in question and knocked the shit out of another, after all--or if they had just tended to be more skittish creatures. The source of his discomfort could have been anything from a weird look from a passerby to something more personal, whether thoughts or conversations.

The few minutes after the human's arrival were fairly quiet, but that suited Eri just fine. She spent it running through a couple of different scenarios about how this discussion with Bofnan would proceed - maybe he was going to try and hire them for bodyguard duty, maybe he wanted to build a hit squad for some reason and thought an ad in plain sight on the intranet would attract the kind of talents he deemed necessary. Hell, maybe he just wanted to talk to some nice mercenary types for some reason. It wasn't too long before the volus showed up, though, and even less time after that before the four interviewees found themselves in a meeting room with Bofnan. His request for more information before he received more seemed fairly reasonable; after all, the ad had been an open request and it didn't seem like much of a stretch to ask to know who had shown up before proceeding.

One of the perks of eidetic memory at a drell's level meant that even if she wasn't necessarily paying enough attention to form an opinion on the words, she could probably at least piece together roughly what the two had been saying just by trying to remember later. Accordingly, aside from being sure to catch and clearly remember the names of this turian and asari, Eri spent most of the time they spoke trying to figure out just what would be acceptable to divulge. Belik had always been somewhat unwilling to give a whole lot of background information, but the difference between 'I served as a hanar's personal hitwoman for six years' and 'I killed one hundred and nine beings over a span of six years so that my hanar employer could rise to the top of his trade as an arms dealer. I was nothing but a tool to him and now I've moved on to serve my own interests' was still a quite significant one.

Noting that Gale and Velira had opened their omni-tools, presumably to send files to Bofnan, Eri followed suit. She ticked off some of the highlights of the career vitae she'd had fabricated a few years back and updated every few months since. It wasn't an entirely truthful document--it was hard to be when your only serious job experience was as a borderline-criminal hitwoman--but there was enough honesty present to get by without any crises of conscience. She spoke quickly and more loudly than she had before, her attention focused more on the memory of that CV than her surroundings. "Uh, let's see. Where to start? My name is Eri Galazos. I left Kahje at age nine to see the galaxy and fulfill my share of the Compact--the debt my species owes the hanar for saving us--by working in a hanar's employ. I started combat training and education a year later in order to serve as its bodyguard. I eventually rotated into wet work, spent a fair few years defending it from and eliminating, um, unsavory types." The CV she'd sent went into more detail than that, of course, but Eri figured it wouldn't do to just openly announce she'd been an assassin most of her life.

"Drell don't react well to humid atmospheres, especially not excessively humid ones, and I quit when I realized it kept sending me to places that fit that description. Took a couple months off and got back to work on my own not long after the geth attacked." Eri paused briefly, taking a second to define her skillset mentally before she laid that out, too. She hadn't exactly had to bother much. "My training was fairly multidisciplinary, but most of my experience is centered around being discreet--hacking, infiltration, keeping my mouth shut--or blowing things up. Which, I guess, is pretty much the opposite."

[Obligatory "Death also has a bunch of stuff on his plate (like a final next Tuesday) and is also too out of practice to write at his best, but will also put something up to keep things moving" OOC disclaimer.]


Siri stepped off the X3M shuttle she'd used to escape the section of the wards she was staying in, walking briskly through the strangers of the Citadel. She made sure not to move too quickly, otherwise she might raise another C-Sec officer's suspicion, which after having evaded them three times already today, she wasn't thrilled about having to avoid them any further today. The human jacket and tank top were unassuming, and with the asari style pants she was wearing, she just looked like another person having a casual day out. except she wasn't legally allowed to wear the biotic amp yet, and the first C-Sec officer who had been supposed to get that problem taken care of for her had decided to have a change of heart, and she'd been forced to kill him before he could get anyone else involved.

Despite the mornings problems, she stepped inside the greeting rom of the location advertised in the ad. The volus businessman was offering a good sum for. . . Something, but not having the full details of a job wasn't high on her priority list. In fact it was typical of jobs she used to take back on Omega, the less you put in the advertisement, the less the wrong person was likely to find out about it.

The greeting room wasn't all that telling, and was mostly empty except for the receptionist sitting off to one side. Siri was fairly certain she was late - a payout like the one advertised was unlikely to have a small turnout - and a quick conversation with the employer-to-be's assistant confirmed as much. It took a short bit of convincing, but the secretary eventually directed her to the conference room where the briefing was taking place.

She'd hoped to come in quietly and unnoticed, but as the door slid open a human across from her was introducing himself. He looked surprisingly heavily armored for being out on the citadel, but she quickly took note of the lack of weaponry. It seemed the others in the room followed the same suit, and she'd not brought a weapon herself, but she doubted any of them were harmless. The asari seated at the table would be at least passably skilled in biotics, the drell she expected to have a few knives hidden somewhere, and the turian. . . Was wearing something that looked suspiciously like an off duty officer of some kind. C-Sec, Military Police, it didn't quite matter, but she'd have to keep an eye on the lot of them if this was going to be a by the books job.

Siri headed for a chair, staying silent as the human talked, noting the movement of his Omni-tool - probably sending a more detailed list of his qualifications to his new employer, typical the first time you worked with a new contractor. She took the moment to pull up her own fake 'resume' as the human made his jokes, sending it off to the volus. Unlike her real history, most of the jobs listed were technically legal, carried out by unidentified operatives for various agencies, most of which played to her strong suits. A few additional ones were jobs of questionable intent she'd actually participated in so she could give more details if needed, but only ones that hadn't been directly tied to the Eclipse. It had been part of the deal with acquiring her new identity, and so far no one had been able to discover her secret.

The human finished talking, and an expectant look gave her the impression she was supposed to go next. "I see I missed most of the meet and greet. . . Well, I'm Sirinithia M'doris." The name felt strange on her tongue, but she'd abandoned her old name completely in favor of her new identity. No point dwelling on the past.

"I've been a mercenary since I was young, mostly on contract for different organizations in a quiet role. I work best at infiltration, acquiring information, and keeping the collateral damage to a minimum. If something needs hacked, I can get in and get what's needed without leaving a trace, and if you need something done I can do it without having to kill anyone in the process." That sentence came out a bit more as bragging then she intended, but after the human mentioning thresher maws it didn't seem too out of place. It also occurred to her that mentioning murder probably wasn't the best idea in front of law enforcement of some kind, but that was a habit from Omega she hadn't mentioned to break herself of yet. Being able to do something without killing anyone was a rare trait among the gangs after all.

She resisted the urge to put her feet up on the oval table, something probably frowned upon in the Citadel. "Of course, you have my files, so you can see what I'm capable of. If no one has any objections, might we dispense with the pleasantries and you tell us what the job is? I assume I haven't missed that part yet if negotiation for fighting thresher maws is on the table. "

Velira remained relaxed as the others started talking about their own exploits, quietly evaluating them and trying to figure out what kind of quality support she'd have. She wasn't opposed to rookies of course, but from the sounds of it they didn't have that. The drell was a Compact recruit, which told a lot about her, even if she wasn't entirely forthcoming with all of the details; would certainly be able to pick up the slack in the stealth department. Was nice to hear they'd have a demolitions expert too--if they needed something blown up, it was always good to get the most bang for your buck. Literally. The human seemed a bit of an 'old-timer,' relatively speaking, but while his boasting about his armor had her a little off-put, everything else was encouraging. Anyone that could survive war with the turians knew what they were doing, and he had similar credentials compared to Velira herself, even if it wasn't the same amount of time. They may have been the newcomers on the block, but humans knew how to put a lot of living into a short timeframe. Though, the thought of fighting a thresher maw again sent a brief shiver down her spine. At this point, her plan in that case was to run like someone set her ass on fire.

Of course, she hadn't been expecting someone else to come barging in, and while some might have found it annoying, Velira simply smirked and gave the new asari a once over. As boastful and varied as her claims were, it was plenty obvious that she was plenty young, maybe even younger than Velira herself. That was impressive actually. Most asari combatants she met were either older or Eclipse mercs destined for an early grave. Well, age wasn't everything, plenty of asari grew up unsavory places, and from the age comment it sounded like she might have been on that branch. That or she was just full of it, which very well might have been the case.

Regardless, Bofnan eventually got into what they were doing: namely rescuing his son, Orlan Can. The name vaguely rang a bell for Velira, though judging from the fact he was a scientist, it was probably just someone that her sister had brought up at some point. Didn't mean a thing to Velira herself of course, credits were credits. Though, while she was paying attention and found the circumstances of the kidnapping a little suspicious, her train of thought came to a screeching halt as Bofnan revealed that the group responsible was Cerberus. "Goddess's taint," she reflexively muttered. While Gale confirmed who they were, she rapidly started reevaluating how interested she was in this job. She had actually crossed paths with Cerberus agents on a few occasions, tangentially though--most of the time she just happened to be nearby when they hit someone in the same vicinity of her job, and generally just mucked things up for her. While she didn't know for certain, she suspected that she'd unknowingly done a job for them at some point; she didn't have any real facts to back it up, but something about Henry Lawson made her think he was one of their supporters (or at least would be sympathetic). They were real pieces of work.

However, as she started hearing more about the job, she found herself considering a simple fact: they were being compensated for any expended materials, the man was paying an exorbitant amount, and the only objective was to get his son back. Could it really be possible that he was being straight with them? While Gale and Bofnan talked minutia, Velira pulled up her omntitool to do a very quick search on Orlan; nothing special, just confirming his story that he was a simple geneticist. Well, that wasn't quite the case, but rather a leading mind in the Hierarchy, which explained why his name was ringing a bell. Her attention was briefly piqued by the mention of however Bofnan knew the base's location, but that was nothing new to her. Information brokers were powerful forces, and some of them could get pretty spooky. While everyone debated on it, she brought up a quick search on Proteus, but the information was rather limited (check OOC for a basic codex). A few of the others might have actually been able to come to their conclusions before her. Eventually though, the offer of money upfront and the promise of reimbursement for expenses, as well as an offered transport, was enough for her. "Well, I suppose they'll forget me by the time I'm a matron. Count me in." If we pull this off, I'm gonna have to get Etira Orlan's autograph.