The Mass Effect RP - RP

*Kate*
The Council can't do that. The Terminus has gotten a lot smarter lately, and they know the majority of Spectres.

(Scott)
Well, if they know the majority of Spectres, then how the hell am I going to avoid attention? I'm a freaking N7 Operative! They're bound to have information on us, and they're sure as hell going to have intel on me.

*Kate*
We realize that Scott, believe me. Command has a solution though: you know about the Normandy class frigates?

(Scott)
Yeah, stealth class frigates. It was a joint project between the Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy. Combined technology and innovation from both races. To my knowledge, only one was ever made: the SSV Normandy.

*Kate*
Yeah, that's was then. Now, we have another Normandy class frigate: the SSV Ain Jalut. She was completed almost a month ago, and she's been on a few recon missions. Now however, Command wants you on her in two days, after she's been prepped. We managed to get some info on the new target: he's an Elcor, so he shouldn't be too hard to find.

(Scott)
Well, that's just great.
=I got up to leave=

Goddammit, I haven't even had time to settle back in, and already I'm being sent on another mission.

*Kate*
I know, but that's the job.
=she laid a hand on my arm=

Hey, come on. If memory serves, I owe you dinner.

(Scott)
=I was stunned=
Wait, I thought you said no.

*Kate*
I told you to focus. Now, why don't you focus on me for the night?
=she flashed me a lazy, wicked smile=

I follow the human as he ran down the darkend tunnel system. He was able to run faster than I had previously thought. But that wasn't the biggest thing on my mind. The warehouse rooftop was going to come down and I didn't want to be near this place when that happend. We ran past some bodies that I assume that this man had killed. Broken neck and spine. Obvious biotic attack...Too sloppy, should have hid the bodies better or gotten rid of the evidence. Others could have found this and called backup, but it seemed that he was fortunate that that didn't happen. I heard this rushing noise behind me. It was getting closer as we ran on. I stumbled for a second an used that to look behind me. I could feel the heat intesify as the giant monster made of blue and purple flame raced toward us.

Why was there an explosion, it was only a roof.

Then as I thought that I remembered that the while behind the crates in the warehouse that they didn't fire upon me. A flash of my memory had resurfaced. I was behind the crate but I was t opreoccupied with my assailants closing. I was not able to see the Batarian sign for warning on the boxes. Then my stomach fell.

Those crates were full of explosives!

The realisation that I could have easily died back there hit me. But from the impending doom of the intense beast the followed us made me rethink my priorities at the moment. We had to get out of this tunnel fast or be swallowed up in the flame.

=I woke up the next morning in bed, wrapped up in my sheets, Kate's warm, nude body next to me, her hip and leg brushing up against me. I laid there for a bit, my arm wrapped around her, keeping her close, her scent washing over me. Though she was still asleep, she snuggled up closer to me, and her hair fell onto my chest like a golden mop. Now, I'm not entirely sure if what I was feeling was love. I liked Kate, and she sure as hell liked me last night. But, we were friends, and co-workers at that. Maybe, somewhere further down the line, we could, you know, be together. But for now, we kept each other company, and made each other laugh (and moan, and make soft, sensual sounds.) I couldn't ask for anything else, at least, not yet. For now, I simply savored her presence, her warmth. I kissed the top of her head, and she murmured something=

Giga wrote:

I follow the human as he ran down the darkend tunnel system. He was able to run faster than I had previously thought. But that wasn't the biggest thing on my mind. The warehouse rooftop was going to come down and I didn't want to be near this place when that happend. We ran past some bodies that I assume that this man had killed. Broken neck and spine. Obvious biotic attack...Too sloppy, should have hid the bodies better or gotten rid of the evidence. Others could have found this and called backup, but it seemed that he was fortunate that that didn't happen. I heard this rushing noise behind me. It was getting closer as we ran on. I stumbled for a second an used that to look behind me. I could feel the heat intesify as the giant monster made of blue and purple flame raced toward us.

Why was there an explosion, it was only a roof.

Then as I thought that I remembered that the while behind the crates in the warehouse that they didn't fire upon me. A flash of my memory had resurfaced. I was behind the crate but I was t opreoccupied with my assailants closing. I was not able to see the Batarian sign for warning on the boxes. Then my stomach fell.

Those crates were full of explosives!

The realisation that I could have easily died back there hit me. But from the impending doom of the intense beast the followed us made me rethink my priorities at the moment. We had to get out of this tunnel fast or be swallowed up in the flame.

I sensed a disturbance but feared what it may be. It was a feeling that something bad had happened. Not bad as in millions of people just went up and poofed. Bad as in my life was in immediate danger from sudden and unwarranted extinction. I felt warm. The air around me was heating up, due some sort of particle activity. The more particles bump into each other, the 'warmer' they get. I was feeling very warm. Which could only mean that something was forcing the particles to rapidly and randomly collide.

The hot air was coming from somewhere behind me, it was strong enough to push me so that I ran faster than normal. Considering that we were in a pipe, I figured the heat source was coming from behind me, naturally, I turned my head ever so slightly. Fire. I saw Fire. It was like a liquid being forced up a pipe. No doubt the explosion that created the flames originated some where in the warehouse where we had just vacated. It was probably the Crates that contained explosives that the Asari had hidden behind. The ones that had the clear markings of 'Flammable, handle with caution'. I saw the opening of the tunnel ahead, we were so close. So close. Yet too far away, I quickly calculated the acceleration of the flames based on what I saw: we would make it to the end of the tunnel but be hit by the blast of the explosion.

It then occurred to me the fate of the two bodies I had killed in the tunnel. Would they be incinerated, and the dust thrown out being no distinguishable than common dust? Would the bodies simply be turned to ash and thrown in the air to settle on everything? I did not know, But I did know that they armour would also be flying of that tunnel. In fact, It probably already did, it probably just blew right past without hitting either of us. I had a feeling I was right .

The initial concussive blast would be find, but the heat would be devastating if either of us were caught in it's full intensity. I through a several grenades around me as I ran, hoping that If the fire blew the grenades the tunnel would collapse and prevent most of it from hitting us. The far latter was inevitable, we would get hit by some of the fire, just not the full blast of it. I hoped. The end of the tunnel was near, but it wasn't near enough, I anticipated being thrown the last 5 meters out of the tunnel and landing painfully on my face, near the cab, preferably.

My legs were weak, my stomach ached, I felt fatigued, I needed rest. If I made it out alive, I would sleep. I wouldn't go eat, or celebrate, I would sleep. Every fiber of my being ached with fatigue. My extensive use of biotics had taken there toll. On the bright side, saved a Damsel in Distress. Funny, soon I'll be the one who needs saving....

[I kind of think that upon nearing the exit both our chars get thrown out, my char taking more damage per se because he's knocked somewhat out by the blast and the impact whereas your char is thrown but has the time to use biotics or something to not injure herself. then you drag me into the cab, which is waiting, and off we go somewhere]

=I decided to gently untangle myself from her, but that only served to wake her up. She smiled up at me, and removed herself from my embrace. We both started getting dressed then (we had to move around the small room though. We had *ahem* scattered most of our clothes.) By the time we were both fully dressed, we were standing out in the hallway of the apartment, heading down for some breakfast. As we walked, she'd casually bump into me, a small smile on her face. I just bumped back into her, and that started to make us laugh. We exited the building, and found a nice little diner for breakfast=

So, I had to get this over and done with. I stood up, dry puke still on my 'uniform'. I left my room... And walked down the hall. It must've been early, as most of the rooms had the purple lock on. (A 'modified' one, meaning 'Do Not Disturb'). Being careful not to make any... Well much noise, I found myself at the Morning bar. Nobody here. I guess everyone was either asleep or had already left. I shrugged, and carried on. Walking past some more rooms, toilets, I found myself at the entrance/exit of the ship.

"Please scan your Omni-Tool." The machine 'said'.

I did as it said.

"Welcome, Bartender Neurras. Are you departing for today, or permanantley?"

"For some time... Not permanantley."

"Data stored. Enjoy your time at stop 1, Illium."

The Door opened, and I walked out.

Difference. Shocked me.

It was... HUGE. It looked... Nice. Safe, even. But nowhere's ever safe.

Negativity.

=Kate and I sat in the diner, eating breakfast. We talked a bit, mostly about last night (which was a little awkward) and then if we wanted to, where we'd go from here. We both quickly agreed that for now, we just remain friends, albeit friends that really, really, enjoy each other's company. Once that was settled, we went back to my "apartment," (She was enough of a saint to not call it a studio) and discussed the details of my mission. Apparently, I was going to Omega. More specifically, I was heading for one of the market zones down there, in search of the target. Alliance managed to pull up a little more info on the target: an Elcor by the name of Heltan. He ran a large shop in the market zones, and from what the information told me, the Batarians had him as their middle man because he was highly organized, and had contacts that were critical for their operations=

=i woke up and stretched. I ate a quick meal and started working out. I beat at the air, punching and tearing at imaginary foes. My breath, turned into mist thanks to my implants, fell to the bottom of the floor and stayed there, giving the impression of a frozen landscape. My movements kicked it up into swirls and patterns, and I could see what I thought were faces and bodies in the mist. I remembered my Rite of Adulthood, the device and the orphanage, the pain and the cold. It was glorious, proving my worth to the other Krogans. I had felt alive, I had felt a purpose, I had felt Krogan=

As I feel my strength leaving me, the dark tunnel was bathing in bright light. I could feel the dark thoughts creeoing into my skull.

Is this how it ends?

I snapped myself back to reality. I couldn't let myself to think like that. My eyes scringed as I peered into the end of the tunnel. I could vaguely see the shadowy outline of the human in front of me. I could smell the fresh breeze of the oustide closing in, but I knew that I would not escpae the tunnel in time, I had to think fast. Could I conjure up a large biotic blast and send it backwards to stall the flames...no I would collapse and the human would run back to help me. That would defeat the purpose. Then it hit me. A statis field big enough to capture us could protect till the danger passed. I had to tell him of my idea. So I yelled.

HEY I HAVE AN IDEA THAT WOULD SAVE US....HEY CAN YOU HEAR ME.

Throughout the whole time I screamed I had not realised the roar that the collosal behemoth behind us had sang. The heat from it neared and with the northern winds fueling it my time lessend. I had to do it. I couldn't think about him in the midst of my survival. I prepared a statis in my hand, feeling the biotic weakening as time went on. I knew I would blackout from this if only for a minute or so, but it had to be done. The flame drew near, I could see the colors of malice drawn on the walls. I shot myself with it. I could feel my whole body stiffen and only my eyes were able to move.

Lets see how strong willed you really are human...

The bright white colors of the outside had vanished and all I could see was the wall of purple and blue that vicously passed me. My mind darkend and the sound vanished.

=Kate and I left the diner, but she headed back to her own home, while I went back to my "apartment" to collect my gear. My armor was back on, and the same went for my weapons. After I exited my building, I got a cab, and headed for the Military docks. The cab dropped me off outside, and I flashed my I.D. to the guards, and they let me in. Around 5 ports later, I saw the SSV Ain Julat. After clearing the airlock, I met the ships captain, Captain Cutter=

(Scott)
=I saluted=
Captain.

*Cutter*
At ease. So, your the N7 operative we're ferrying?

(Scott)
Yes sir. What have they told you?

*Cutter*
They told me that we're entering the Terminus, and dropping you off on Omega. Oh, and that the mission involves stopping a Batarian invasion.

(Scott)
Basically.

*Cutter*
Then you'll have our full support.

Giga wrote:

As I feel my strength leaving me, the dark tunnel was bathing in bright light. I could feel the dark thoughts creeoing into my skull.

Is this how it ends?

I snapped myself back to reality. I couldn't let myself to think like that. My eyes scringed as I peered into the end of the tunnel. I could vaguely see the shadowy outline of the human in front of me. I could smell the fresh breeze of the oustide closing in, but I knew that I would not escpae the tunnel in time, I had to think fast. Could I conjure up a large biotic blast and send it backwards to stall the flames...no I would collapse and the human would run back to help me. That would defeat the purpose. Then it hit me. A statis field big enough to capture us could protect till the danger passed. I had to tell him of my idea. So I yelled.

HEY I HAVE AN IDEA THAT WOULD SAVE US....HEY CAN YOU HEAR ME.

Throughout the whole time I screamed I had not realised the roar that the collosal behemoth behind us had sang. The heat from it neared and with the northern winds fueling it my time lessend. I had to do it. I couldn't think about him in the midst of my survival. I prepared a statis in my hand, feeling the biotic weakening as time went on. I knew I would blackout from this if only for a minute or so, but it had to be done. The flame drew near, I could see the colors of malice drawn on the walls. I shot myself with it. I could feel my whole body stiffen and only my eyes were able to move.

Lets see how strong willed you really are human...

The bright white colors of the outside had vanished and all I could see was the wall of purple and blue that vicously passed me. My mind darkend and the sound vanished.

The explosion threw me from the tunnel, the concussive blast on it's own nearly made me black out. The heat was intense. I felt some of my clothes get burned by the heat alone. I flew in the air for what felt like an eternity. TIme even slowed, I saw the Asari in a blue light, the fire whipping about her like snakes in the air. Slithering about her hungrily. I hit the ground hard, the force of impact knocking me out cold. The Cabby was staring at my unconscious form and at the smoke coming from the tunnel.

I was suddenly reminded of the flowers I sent to my high-school sweetheart. They were White Lilies, her favorite. Presenting them to her was the most nerve wrecking thing I had ever done. As I lay there unconscious, I thought about my youth. I was a troubled child in my youth. I had been surrounded by death. Parents, brothers, sisters, all died before I was ten. Well, that's not entirely true, I had a sister.

My sister saved my life more than once………

*About ten minutes later*

Uhhg. That was some blast....aahh my ears are still ringing...Well metaphorically haha.

As I regain my senses from the blackout my surroundings come into view. At first its the details were hazy..it seemed the light from the flame messed with my eyes. I sit up and look around, then I get into a kneeling position where I got up one leg at a time. My muscles feel sore...Probably due to the overuse of biotics and non-stop run. That when it hit me.

Where is the human?

I take a quick surveillance of the area. I notice a mark on the ground, I rush to it. The mark has a faint smell of burining, the mark..in the firgure of something curled up. My mind flashes to the explosion, I calculate where he would have landed. So this is where he laid after he fell unconcious. I survey the area some more to find some more burn marks.

These seem to be made from something else. Maybe a taxi...didn't the human say something about that.

I looked around for a place to rest some more, and some time to think. Was he burned to cinders....No there would have been some kind of residue. Most likely the driver took the human to some hospital. I continue down the alleyways till I reach a more populated area. I saw this broken down resturaunt. I walked in and sat down.

First I needed some food.

(Scott)
Glad to know that Captain. Alright, how long before we reach Omega?

(Cutter)
It should take us a few hours to reach Omega, maybe a day.

(Scott)
Okay. I'll go find a place to sit, or something.

Giga wrote:

*About ten minutes later*

Uhhg. That was some blast....aahh my ears are still ringing...Well metaphorically haha.

As I regain my senses from the blackout my surroundings come into view. At first its the details were hazy..it seemed the light from the flame messed with my eyes. I sit up and look around, then I get into a kneeling position where I got up one leg at a time. My muscles feel sore...Probably due to the overuse of biotics and non-stop run. That when it hit me.

Where is the human?

I take a quick surveillance of the area. I notice a mark on the ground, I rush to it. The mark has a faint smell of burining, the mark..in the firgure of something curled up. My mind flashes to the explosion, I calculate where he would have landed. So this is where he laid after he fell unconcious. I survey the area some more to find some more burn marks.

These seem to be made from something else. Maybe a taxi...didn't the human say something about that.

I looked around for a place to rest some more, and some time to think. Was he burned to cinders....No there would have been some kind of residue. Most likely the driver took the human to some hospital. I continue down the alleyways till I reach a more populated area. I saw this broken down resturaunt. I walked in and sat down.

First I needed some food.

[an hour later]

I woke up in whiteness. I thought I was back in an asylum. A padded room to prevent me from killing myself or hurting myself. but I wasn't. The smell was sterile. Over sterile. Reminded me of my time in school, when I got sick because I had been too clean. a bacteria that normally only appears in hospitals was contracted by me out in the woods, camping. worst 8 days of my life. I had a diet of bread, and gatorade, or powerade, or whatever it was called. the nurses were pretty though, I secretly hoped that they would offer sexual services to me, like certain movies or slightly pornographic games portray. It didn't happen, but i twas something to hope for, wasn't like I hoped to live for anything else, really. At the time I had been a pretty sad kid, I had no motivation to live. The only thing that kept me from killing myself was logic. It was illogical to kill oneself or allow oneself to die. It went against humans natural self-preservation instinct.

I was in an Oxygen room. my burns would be healed in a few days, or less, medi-gel was speeding up the process. Thank the makers of Medi-gel, if not for that little feat of genetic engineering millions would be dead or still hospitalized. It was pretty close to a medical miracle gel. In my opinion, I think they could have more prestigious uses, but that was me, and medigel stresses the non-genetic engineering law of the Council. Silly citadel space laws. I breathed in the oxygen, and noticed, groggily, the cab driver sitting next to me, or rather, on the other side of the window. I moved my head slightly, I was in a tube, technically. I hadn't noticed that before, the tube was in the white room.

I suddenly realized that I couldn't move. my arms and legs would restrained. I was in some sort of transportable medical tube. The cab driver knocked on the glass, or whatever it was. he said, "Hey, how are you! you came out and fire was everywhere!" I dimly realized that he had only mentioned me and not the Asari. I would've said something but the masked feeding me the oxygen was in the way. The best I could do was nod slightly and blink. For some reasons my senses remained dull, and wouldn't sharpen, I found myself wanting to just close my eyes and drift off again, but I knew better. I tried to communicate with the cabby, but it was to no avail. I was secured in the tube, I couldn't move my hands, nor my feet, and I could barely move my head.

After struggling for several minutes, and trying to communicate with the cabby, a nurse came in and had me sedated, I was overworking myself. I felt the injection of the sedative, and began to enter the realm of dreamless sleep. The Cabby waited outside for me. I only tipped him 100 credits. Why was he so interested in my well-being?

=It was some time before we entered the Terminus systems. When we did, the ship activated its stealth systems. We weren't going to dock at Omega. The ship was going to fly as close as possible to a nearby maintenance shaft, and I'd be dropped off inside. Then, they'd wait somewhere in the Omega system, for extraction. As we got closer, I prepped myself. Armor was on, weapons were good, and I was waiting at the airlock. Again=

*Cutter*
Okay Bartlett, we're getting close to your drop off point. From here, you're on your own.

(Scott)
Yeah, that's starting to look like a familiar trend with me these days.
=I felt the ship slow down, and then the doors opened. I saw the target: a door, on the outside of one of the massive, hanging towers for Omega. I jumped, and landed on the ledge in front of the door. The ship pulled away=

I woke up in what seemed to be a back-street alley. The tribunes and harships of yesterday meshed together in a blur of adrenaline and chaos. It seemed that I had drunk to much and the mental lines that connected my memory was hazy at best. I stretched my body and I stood, my muscles ached and the faint smell of garbage and B.O tainted my skin. At the least I needed a shower, then a well required bath to sooth my aching body. As I walked to a transit so I could get home the human breifly crossed my mind.

Wonder if he is alright. Hope he got away.

But he was the least of my worries at the moment. I finally reached the transit hub and called for a cab. He arrived shortly. I let my mind wander most of the trip to my apartment and before I knew it I was there. I paid the driver his due and headed down the walkway to my apartmen. The front desk lady greeted me, but then caught a wiff of my smell and cringed. I could see the wrinkles on her forehead get more defined.

Some night huh. Man that was a hell of a party.

She continued to stare at me, I got tired pretty fast and left quickly with a pissed of face. I arrived at my door, noticed I didn't have my card.

Must have left it inside.

I used my biotics to open it. I emerged through and quickly took off my clothes. I heard the door behind me close. I walked to my room and threw the grunge on the floor so not to be bothered by it. I headed to the bathroom and started the shower, while filling the bathtub. I wasn't going to bath in my own dirt. I got in the shower and cleaned off the layer of musk from my body. Each scrub made me feel more pure. I turned off the shower and realised that my tub was getting full. I put some soothing liquid in the tub to help my muscles relax. Before I got in a turned on my radio, put a disk in and listened to the soothing sound of Cheaka the elcor musician. Her music was calming, the use of different insstument from species was genius. I got in the realaxing heat of the tub and let my body and mind rest while I got lost in the music.

=It took me a few seconds, but i was able to open the door, and get inside. Once inside, I managed to get a map of Omega on my omni-tool. Turns out it was free. Apparently, the market zone where my target worked was at the center of the station. And I was on the farthest section. Great=

here's a quick recap of Xion and Nicholas

Nick wrote:

Josh wrote:

*About ten minutes later*

Uhhg. That was some blast....aahh my ears are still ringing...Well metaphorically haha.

As I regain my senses from the blackout my surroundings come into view. At first the details were hazy..it seemed the light from the flame messed with my eyes. I sit up and look around, then I get into a kneeling position where I got up one leg at a time. My muscles feel sore...Probably due to the overuse of biotics and non-stop running. That's when it hit me.

Where is the human?

I take a quick surveillance of the area. I notice a mark on the ground, I rush to it. The mark has a faint smell of burning, the mark..in the firgure of something curled up. My mind flashes to the explosion, I calculate where he would have landed. So this is where he laid after he fell unconcious. I survey the area some more to find some more burn marks.

These seem to be made from something else. Maybe a taxi...didn't the human say something about that.

I looked around for a place to rest some more, and some time to think. Was he burned to cinders....No there would have been some kind of residue. Most likely the driver took the human to some hospital. I continue down the alleyways till I reach a more populated area. I saw this broken down restaurant. I walked in and sat down.

First I needed some food.

[an hour later]

I woke up in whiteness. I thought I was back in an asylum. A padded room to prevent me from killing myself or hurting myself. but I wasn't. The smell was sterile. Over sterile. Reminded me of my time in school, when I got sick because I had been too clean. a bacteria that normally only appears in hospitals was contracted by me out in the woods, camping. worst 8 days of my life. I had a diet of bread, and gatorade, or powerade, or whatever it was called. the nurses were pretty though, I secretly hoped that they would offer sexual services to me, like certain movies or slightly pornographic games portray. It didn't happen, but i twas something to hope for, wasn't like I hoped to live for anything else, really. At the time I had been a pretty sad kid, I had no motivation to live. The only thing that kept me from killing myself was logic. It was illogical to kill oneself or allow oneself to die. It went against humans natural self-preservation instinct.

I was in an Oxygen room. my burns would be healed in a few days, or less, medi-gel was speeding up the process. Thank the makers of Medi-gel, if not for that little feat of genetic engineering millions would be dead or still hospitalized. It was pretty close to a medical miracle gel. In my opinion, I think they could have more prestigious uses, but that was me, and medigel stresses the non-genetic engineering law of the Council. Silly citadel space laws. I breathed in the oxygen, and noticed, groggily, the cab driver sitting next to me, or rather, on the other side of the window. I moved my head slightly, I was in a tube, technically. I hadn't noticed that before, the tube was in the white room.

I suddenly realized that I couldn't move. my arms and legs would restrained. I was in some sort of transportable medical tube. The cab driver knocked on the glass, or whatever it was. he said, "Hey, how are you! you came out and fire was everywhere!" I dimly realized that he had only mentioned me and not the Asari. I would've said something but the masked feeding me the oxygen was in the way. The best I could do was nod slightly and blink. For some reasons my senses remained dull, and wouldn't sharpen, I found myself wanting to just close my eyes and drift off again, but I knew better. I tried to communicate with the cabby, but it was to no avail. I was secured in the tube, I couldn't move my hands, nor my feet, and I could barely move my head.

After struggling for several minutes, and trying to communicate with the cabby, a nurse came in and had me sedated, I was overworking myself. I felt the injection of the sedative, and began to enter the realm of dreamless sleep. The Cabby waited outside for me. I only tipped him 100 credits. Why was he so interested in my well-being?

Giga wrote:

I woke up in what seemed to be a back-street alley. The tribunes and harships of yesterday meshed together in a blur of adrenaline and chaos. It seemed that I had drunk to much and the mental lines that connected my memory was hazy at best. I stretched my body and I stood, my muscles ached and the faint smell of garbage and B.O tainted my skin. At the least I needed a shower, then a well required bath to sooth my aching body. As I walked to a transit so I could get home the human breifly crossed my mind.

Wonder if he is alright. Hope he got away.

But he was the least of my worries at the moment. I finally reached the transit hub and called for a cab. He arrived shortly. I let my mind wander most of the trip to my apartment and before I knew it I was there. I paid the driver his due and headed down the walkway to my apartmen. The front desk lady greeted me, but then caught a wiff of my smell and cringed. I could see the wrinkles on her forehead get more defined.

Some night huh. Man that was a hell of a party.

She continued to stare at me, I got tired pretty fast and left quickly with a pissed of face. I arrived at my door, noticed I didn't have my card.

Must have left it inside.

I used my biotics to open it. I emerged through and quickly took off my clothes. I heard the door behind me close. I walked to my room and threw the grunge on the floor so not to be bothered by it. I headed to the bathroom and started the shower, while filling the bathtub. I wasn't going to bath in my own dirt. I got in the shower and cleaned off the layer of musk from my body. Each scrub made me feel more pure. I turned off the shower and realised that my tub was getting full. I put some soothing liquid in the tub to help my muscles relax. Before I got in a turned on my radio, put a disk in and listened to the soothing sound of Cheaka the elcor musician. Her music was calming, the use of different insstument from species was genius. I got in the realaxing heat of the tub and let my body and mind rest while I got lost in the music.

The world was aswirl with dark colours and blobs. I knew not what had befallen me, nor what hath forsaken. I lay in a metal tomb that which hath not been forgotten. Men in white come hither and go thither without the thought of him. Such trivial times are linear and without the need of modification. Quoth the doctor stand over thee and watch the forlorn become laden with thought of unspeakable demise. The lights flicker and blink, eyes that never close but always watch.

I felt a heavy-hand on my shoulder. It was gently shaking me. I came to consciousness in a rush of colors and sounds. The Cabby was not in the room. In fact, the room was empty. I removed the IVs and stood up. My clothes were on the chair, clean clothes. From my apartment. on Elysium. I changed into my clothes and noticed two pistols. They were matte black, the company signatures removed. They were the equivalent of .44 magnums. Semi-automatic with nearly 3000 shots per clip, and the thermal clips were cheap, to make overheating less of a problem (original concept, see Mass Effect 1). I was now wearing the most out-of-place outfit on Illium. I had Black Spec-ops Combat boots, Black Cargo pants, and a Marine (green) under-shirt. I had no place to hide the pistols. The Pistols had fresh thermal clips in them, so they wouldn't need to be reloaded until after the 26th shot or so.

I dressed myself quickly and without pause. Shirt, underwear, pants, and then boots. I holstered the pistols, which were out in a sort of cowboy-ish fashion. I checked myself, I had everything except omni-tool, and my wallet. I needed to get it from the hospital, So i pressed the 'call-nurse' button on the side of the bed. When the nurse arrived, and saw me fully dressed with the pistols at my sides, she almost screamed for fear of her life. I held up my hands innocently, trying not to seem threatening, though I knew what I looked like, I hadn't shaved in a day or more, however long I was here. So I had the beginning of a beard growing in. She calmed down, a bit, and asked what I wanted, I said plainly that I needed my omni-tool and my wallet and whatever else was confiscated while I was in the hospital. She nodded, timidly.

After about 15 minutes the nurse returned. She came in to the room with security, as I sat on the bed and looked out the window. I didn't even need to turn around to know that three people entered the room. Two lightly armed men, Turians, and the Asari nurse. The Security guards didn't say anything, they didn't have to. I figured I would turn around and they would ask me to drop my weapons, and then arrest me. Without turning around I said: " Can you place them on the bed please." I heard her take a deep breath and step forward with my things. She took a step back, but didn't leave.

"Did you want something?" I asked softly. She didn't say anything. She didn't need to. I didn't move much, I put my hand back and pulled the sheets, pulling the omni-tool and my wallet toward me. I did so slowly, as to not startle the security. I equipped the Omni-Tool and slide the wallet into my pocket. One of the guards coughed. I stood up and looked out the window. The glass would be easy to break, and the fall would not be fatal with biotics. But there was another option. I turned around to face them. "I have a question: why did you bring a security detail with you?" I asked, knowing the answer was because I was armed and presumable dangerous. She answered much to what I expected her to. I sighed, I'm too quick a learner sometimes.

The Turians looked at me and I them. "Shall I leave then?" I asked, trying not to sound arrogant. "I don't want to keep you from your duty." I tried to be diplomatic. But crooked Security is pretty much the norm, in some places, sometimes. They were crooked, they had a bounty on me, dead. I suddenly felt like a cowboy. Forgetting my biotics I slowly reached for my pistols. They raised their rifles before my hands touched the handles. They were nervous. "Who put the bounty on me?" They didn't respond. "Who. Put. The. Bounty. On. My. Head." I repeated, slowly. Emphasizing the 'who'. I think they had no idea who I was. "Are you Commander Olaf?" one of the Turians spoke up, finally, the way he said 'Olaf' was amusing. "No, I'm not, I am Nicholas Umbrulus, Mercenary for hire. You're not a security force." I said calmly. They looked at each other and put the rifles away. "Sorry to disturb you." The other said, and the two turians left. I looked back at the asari, who had been so frightened, she nearly stopped breathing where she stood.

I walked over to her and she fainted. I caught her, of course. She wasn't the heaviest person I've had to catch. I lifted her up and set her down on the hospital bed, gently. I checked her pulse and got her some water. She started coming to, as I got her water, I handed it to her and sat on the side of the bed. "How do you feel?" I asked with sincerity. "Better now, thank you." she said, trembling slightly. I looked at her and smiled. I left some credits on the small table next to the door. Hopefully she would take them. I left the hospital.

=i had practiced for what felt like minutes, but turned out to be hours. I only could tell because I could hear the humans starting to go at it again. I banged on the wall=
What did I say? Don't do it again.

=the music promptly shut off=
Thank you.

=i put my armor on, but left my weapons, save my Phalanx pistol, behind. The armor's filtration system was unique, it amplified the breath I put out into more cold mist and fog. Needless to say, I generated quite a sight whenever I went anywhere, but the cold cares for nothing, so I didn't either. Although, the mist also meant that I was very easy to track. Not that I cared. I had been attacked several times, I managed to beat off most of them. Only a few ever escaped, but I knew they would not be back for quite some time. Having an arm and a leg frozen solid three times does that to people. I walked out of my apartment, making sure I had a comm link to Jun, even if it was unencrypted, and walked out the area. The mist swirled behind me as I walked, making a form of cape or train. I suspect it would be funny or scary to a human, but most species just didn't care, to be honest. One of the many places I went to included an "underground armory," really it was just a place people went to talk about weapons, test weapons, purchase/sell weapons, and various weapon accessories=

Let's see if any new cryo or snowblind upgrades came out...

=Four hours of non-stop walking later, and I found out I hadn't even made it to halfway. My stomach grumbled, and I looked around. The area I was in, a market by the looks of it, had a large variety of food vendors, bars, clubs. Oh, and there were armed gang members in every alley, some Krogan, others Batarians, and the rest were Vorcha. I found one vendor selling skewers of Varren meat, which thankfully, was safe to eat for Humans. I paid for a large skewer of meat, and continued on my way=

=i found some new cryo rounds, which I always enjoyed, but they were too expensive for right now. I needed to do another job or two before I could afford them, and even then, it'd be tight. I got a comm from Jun, he said that there was a new bounty up. Some idiot who couldn't keep his mouth shut about the Blue Suns' operations. I quickly bought a new targeting scope for my Revenant and then hurried out towards the taxi's, and then from there, to the docking bays. I commed the other mercs who shared custody of the Kodiak, and they all said that they didn't need it. I got to the taxi's, then remembered that I needed to get my other weapons from my "house." I quickly hurried over there, the fog billowing behind me, making what I assumed was a white cloak-ish looking thing. Personally, I didn't care what it looked like, as long as it told people who I was, I was fine with it=

=while I kept walking, I had to fight the urge to draw my gun. Everywhere I looked, gang members were kicking the helpless, the weak. The fear that their victims gave off, was a palpable thing, even from inside my helmet. I had to remind myself, that if I stopped to help even one person, I'd be painting a target on my back, and bring all sorts of hell on me. So much of it would come in fact, that it could derail my mission. Hell, not 'could.' It would, derail my mission. Stealth was maybe my one greatest tool for this assignment; the less my target knew of my presence, the easier it would be for me to get to him. Still I had to wonder: if this guy was the middle man, and he did know the names and locations of all involved in this plot, then how much protection would he have? Or would he even be alive? A loose end like that, is too great a liability. Any self respecting terrorist group worth the name, would make sure to dispose of the liability once they had outlived their usefulness. I just had to hope that the target was still useful to them=

Nic wrote:

here's a quick recap of Xion and Nicholas

Nick wrote:

Josh wrote:

*About ten minutes later*

Uhhg. That was some blast....aahh my ears are still ringing...Well metaphorically haha.

As I regain my senses from the blackout my surroundings come into view. At first the details were hazy..it seemed the light from the flame messed with my eyes. I sit up and look around, then I get into a kneeling position where I got up one leg at a time. My muscles feel sore...Probably due to the overuse of biotics and non-stop running. That's when it hit me.

Where is the human?

I take a quick surveillance of the area. I notice a mark on the ground, I rush to it. The mark has a faint smell of burning, the mark..in the firgure of something curled up. My mind flashes to the explosion, I calculate where he would have landed. So this is where he laid after he fell unconcious. I survey the area some more to find some more burn marks.

These seem to be made from something else. Maybe a taxi...didn't the human say something about that.

I looked around for a place to rest some more, and some time to think. Was he burned to cinders....No there would have been some kind of residue. Most likely the driver took the human to some hospital. I continue down the alleyways till I reach a more populated area. I saw this broken down restaurant. I walked in and sat down.

First I needed some food.

[an hour later]

I woke up in whiteness. I thought I was back in an asylum. A padded room to prevent me from killing myself or hurting myself. but I wasn't. The smell was sterile. Over sterile. Reminded me of my time in school, when I got sick because I had been too clean. a bacteria that normally only appears in hospitals was contracted by me out in the woods, camping. worst 8 days of my life. I had a diet of bread, and gatorade, or powerade, or whatever it was called. the nurses were pretty though, I secretly hoped that they would offer sexual services to me, like certain movies or slightly pornographic games portray. It didn't happen, but i twas something to hope for, wasn't like I hoped to live for anything else, really. At the time I had been a pretty sad kid, I had no motivation to live. The only thing that kept me from killing myself was logic. It was illogical to kill oneself or allow oneself to die. It went against humans natural self-preservation instinct.

I was in an Oxygen room. my burns would be healed in a few days, or less, medi-gel was speeding up the process. Thank the makers of Medi-gel, if not for that little feat of genetic engineering millions would be dead or still hospitalized. It was pretty close to a medical miracle gel. In my opinion, I think they could have more prestigious uses, but that was me, and medigel stresses the non-genetic engineering law of the Council. Silly citadel space laws. I breathed in the oxygen, and noticed, groggily, the cab driver sitting next to me, or rather, on the other side of the window. I moved my head slightly, I was in a tube, technically. I hadn't noticed that before, the tube was in the white room.

I suddenly realized that I couldn't move. my arms and legs would restrained. I was in some sort of transportable medical tube. The cab driver knocked on the glass, or whatever it was. he said, "Hey, how are you! you came out and fire was everywhere!" I dimly realized that he had only mentioned me and not the Asari. I would've said something but the masked feeding me the oxygen was in the way. The best I could do was nod slightly and blink. For some reasons my senses remained dull, and wouldn't sharpen, I found myself wanting to just close my eyes and drift off again, but I knew better. I tried to communicate with the cabby, but it was to no avail. I was secured in the tube, I couldn't move my hands, nor my feet, and I could barely move my head.

After struggling for several minutes, and trying to communicate with the cabby, a nurse came in and had me sedated, I was overworking myself. I felt the injection of the sedative, and began to enter the realm of dreamless sleep. The Cabby waited outside for me. I only tipped him 100 credits. Why was he so interested in my well-being?

Giga wrote:

I woke up in what seemed to be a back-street alley. The tribunes and harships of yesterday meshed together in a blur of adrenaline and chaos. It seemed that I had drunk to much and the mental lines that connected my memory was hazy at best. I stretched my body and I stood, my muscles ached and the faint smell of garbage and B.O tainted my skin. At the least I needed a shower, then a well required bath to sooth my aching body. As I walked to a transit so I could get home the human breifly crossed my mind.

Wonder if he is alright. Hope he got away.

But he was the least of my worries at the moment. I finally reached the transit hub and called for a cab. He arrived shortly. I let my mind wander most of the trip to my apartment and before I knew it I was there. I paid the driver his due and headed down the walkway to my apartmen. The front desk lady greeted me, but then caught a wiff of my smell and cringed. I could see the wrinkles on her forehead get more defined.

Some night huh. Man that was a hell of a party.

She continued to stare at me, I got tired pretty fast and left quickly with a pissed of face. I arrived at my door, noticed I didn't have my card.

Must have left it inside.

I used my biotics to open it. I emerged through and quickly took off my clothes. I heard the door behind me close. I walked to my room and threw the grunge on the floor so not to be bothered by it. I headed to the bathroom and started the shower, while filling the bathtub. I wasn't going to bath in my own dirt. I got in the shower and cleaned off the layer of musk from my body. Each scrub made me feel more pure. I turned off the shower and realised that my tub was getting full. I put some soothing liquid in the tub to help my muscles relax. Before I got in a turned on my radio, put a disk in and listened to the soothing sound of Cheaka the elcor musician. Her music was calming, the use of different insstument from species was genius. I got in the realaxing heat of the tub and let my body and mind rest while I got lost in the music.

The world was aswirl with dark colours and blobs. I knew not what had befallen me, nor what hath forsaken. I lay in a metal tomb that which hath not been forgotten. Men in white come hither and go thither without the thought of him. Such trivial times are linear and without the need of modification. Quoth the doctor stand over thee and watch the forlorn become laden with thought of unspeakable demise. The lights flicker and blink, eyes that never close but always watch.

I felt a heavy-hand on my shoulder. It was gently shaking me. I came to consciousness in a rush of colors and sounds. The Cabby was not in the room. In fact, the room was empty. I removed the IVs and stood up. My clothes were on the chair, clean clothes. From my apartment. on Elysium. I changed into my clothes and noticed two pistols. They were matte black, the company signatures removed. They were the equivalent of .44 magnums. Semi-automatic with nearly 3000 shots per clip, and the thermal clips were cheap, to make overheating less of a problem (original concept, see Mass Effect 1). I was now wearing the most out-of-place outfit on Illium. I had Black Spec-ops Combat boots, Black Cargo pants, and a Marine (green) under-shirt. I had no place to hide the pistols. The Pistols had fresh thermal clips in them, so they wouldn't need to be reloaded until after the 26th shot or so.

I dressed myself quickly and without pause. Shirt, underwear, pants, and then boots. I holstered the pistols, which were out in a sort of cowboy-ish fashion. I checked myself, I had everything except omni-tool, and my wallet. I needed to get it from the hospital, So i pressed the 'call-nurse' button on the side of the bed. When the nurse arrived, and saw me fully dressed with the pistols at my sides, she almost screamed for fear of her life. I held up my hands innocently, trying not to seem threatening, though I knew what I looked like, I hadn't shaved in a day or more, however long I was here. So I had the beginning of a beard growing in. She calmed down, a bit, and asked what I wanted, I said plainly that I needed my omni-tool and my wallet and whatever else was confiscated while I was in the hospital. She nodded, timidly.

After about 15 minutes the nurse returned. She came in to the room with security, as I sat on the bed and looked out the window. I didn't even need to turn around to know that three people entered the room. Two lightly armed men, Turians, and the Asari nurse. The Security guards didn't say anything, they didn't have to. I figured I would turn around and they would ask me to drop my weapons, and then arrest me. Without turning around I said: " Can you place them on the bed please." I heard her take a deep breath and step forward with my things. She took a step back, but didn't leave.

"Did you want something?" I asked softly. She didn't say anything. She didn't need to. I didn't move much, I put my hand back and pulled the sheets, pulling the omni-tool and my wallet toward me. I did so slowly, as to not startle the security. I equipped the Omni-Tool and slide the wallet into my pocket. One of the guards coughed. I stood up and looked out the window. The glass would be easy to break, and the fall would not be fatal with biotics. But there was another option. I turned around to face them. "I have a question: why did you bring a security detail with you?" I asked, knowing the answer was because I was armed and presumable dangerous. She answered much to what I expected her to. I sighed, I'm too quick a learner sometimes.

The Turians looked at me and I them. "Shall I leave then?" I asked, trying not to sound arrogant. "I don't want to keep you from your duty." I tried to be diplomatic. But crooked Security is pretty much the norm, in some places, sometimes. They were crooked, they had a bounty on me, dead. I suddenly felt like a cowboy. Forgetting my biotics I slowly reached for my pistols. They raised their rifles before my hands touched the handles. They were nervous. "Who put the bounty on me?" They didn't respond. "Who. Put. The. Bounty. On. My. Head." I repeated, slowly. Emphasizing the 'who'. I think they had no idea who I was. "Are you Commander Olaf?" one of the Turians spoke up, finally, the way he said 'Olaf' was amusing. "No, I'm not, I am Nicholas Umbrulus, Mercenary for hire. You're not a security force." I said calmly. They looked at each other and put the rifles away. "Sorry to disturb you." The other said, and the two turians left. I looked back at the asari, who had been so frightened, she nearly stopped breathing where she stood.

I walked over to her and she fainted. I caught her, of course. She wasn't the heaviest person I've had to catch. I lifted her up and set her down on the hospital bed, gently. I checked her pulse and got her some water. She started coming to, as I got her water, I handed it to her and sat on the side of the bed. "How do you feel?" I asked with sincerity. "Better now, thank you." she said, trembling slightly. I looked at her and smiled. I left some credits on the small table next to the door. Hopefully she would take them. I left the hospital.

Nothing is better than fresh air. Too bad I was on Ilium, where it was all technology. I hate fucking stereotypes. I passed by a room in the hospital that had an Asari prostitute getting treat from some Sexually transmitted disease. I heard the doctors talking about possible treatments. I guess some aren't as lucky as others. Some don't respect authority, some join authority, some wish authority was destroyed. I prefer to walk on the thin ice of the gray world. Prostitutes were seldom willing. Pimps, or whatever they're called are dregs of society. They may make a lot of money, but I strongly disagree with the methods. I understand brothels, they make sense, and they don't threaten anyones well being. That, and they keep damn good records.

I had a client who had been to a brothel one-to-many times and wanted his debt erased. I ended up working for the brothel and got my former client to pay back hundreds of thousands of credits. The man was a sex addict. I mean seriously, who spends hundreds of thousands of credits on sex, in less than a month? That's like going in four to five times a day for sex. The man must've had some serious problems. Unless he was paying for multiple people which would make more sense than just him going in. I may have been tricked by the brothel. Well, shit. I may have just made an enemy out of a legitimate client who got screwed by an organisation that was probably using the brothel as a front. That would also mean that he was somehow involved with it. Which means the whole thing was crooked from the start. I may have to look into that later. When I have time.

Now, I had to find out…wait. The Taxi-driver was waiting for me. Where is he now? Why was he waiting for me? I need to find him. Maybe he has answers, and where did that Asari go? Shit, I have too many questions right now. I need to focus on one at time and the others will fall into place. For now, I need to focus on where the taxi driver is now. I walked back into the hospital and asked the receptionist if he was in. I gave her a description of the man and she said he had just walked out, even said he'd be back shortly. Unfortunately he said that four hours ago. I left the hospital looking for the man that had taken me to the hospital.

After several hours of searching I finally found him. In an alley. Laying face down. Dead. He was stabbed in the back the old fashion way. I contacted the authorities and they began to investigate, I told them about him visiting me in the hospital, but not about how he got involved in the beginning. I knew of no mercenary groups who used old fashioned blades to kill people, or assassinate them. To my knowledge, I was the only one who did, because using them almost guarantees total innocence, as most primal weapons are. Especially when they are hand forged and not mass produced. When I took assassinated a Turian drug lord, which was strange, but they could never track the killer. The smart thing to do, when you kill someone, is to never leave a signature. I learned that the easy way. I took several psychology classes when I was taking classes at a university.

So now, I was without a lead in an investigation I wasn't being paid for. Fantastic. Now all I needed to do was sprout wings and join the angels in heaven. I was caught in a trap of nothingness. Now what? I had nothing to do. I was stuck, with no one to confide it. My lifestyle didn't exactly promote friendships. I wasn't exactly trying either.

I wandered around for a bit. Searching the crevices of my mind for answers and insight. I was thinking about my next move, my next action.

=While I walked, I checked my omni-tool for the map of Omega. The goddamn station was huge, hell, maybe even bigger than the Citadel. I had at least another day of walking before I reached the market zone where my target worked=

If only this guys lived closer to the outer parts of Omega.

=I heard a commotion down an alley to my right, and I looked to see what was happening: a gang of Batarians had cornered a lone Asari. They had grabbed her arms, and were holding her against the wall, and I had a sick feeling of what they were going to do. Now, call me stupid, call me a chivalrous idiot if you want, but I do not tolerate violence against women (unless of course they are an immediate threat, like with a gun or knife) especially rape. So, despite all my training, and all the advice I had received about not getting involved, I headed down the alley, my hand pulling out my pistol=

"Hey, assholes!"

=they all turned to look at me. One of them drew his weapon=

*Batarian*
Walk away human. Me and my friends here are just trying to have some fun.


=I aimed the pistol at his head=

"Yeah, that's not going to happen. I suggest you let the girl go."

*Batarian*
In case you haven't noticed, there are four of us, and we have guns.

=I smirked from underneath my helmet=

"Then bring along five more of you, and it'll be an even fight."

=and that was all I had to say. I fired the pistol, and hit him square between his eyes. He went down in a spray of blood, and his buddies let go of the Asari, hands on their weapons. One of them dove for cover, and I fired off a few more shots. They were moving backwards, while the Asari had flattened herself against the wall, eyes shut. I kept moving forward, toward the Asari, laying down fire with my pistol. Unfortunately, the clip was getting hot, and I had to take cover behind a large dumpster to insert a new clip. Once that was done, I moved from behind cover, and fired again, and moved closer to the Asari. The Batarians had gone farther back, taking cover around the corner. As soon as I got close enough, I asked=

"Are you okay?"

*Asari*
Yeah, I'm fine.

=I lightly grabbed her arm, and moved her behind me=

"Get behind me!"

=she did, and then she spoke again=

*Asari*
Well, who said chivalry is dead?

=and then next thing I knew, I felt a biotic force hit my back, and I went flying=

Darkness littered my mind, the fumes of death were nearing, I tried my hardest to escape but it was futile. Everywhere I ran there was tragedy and the sounds of those who had lost. But their faces were obscure, blurry, and soon they were out for my blood. They ran at me with blades, guns, whatever they could get their hands on, yelling for my name. I felt terror for the first time in my life as I ran as fast as my little legs could carry me. My mother appeared before me, I could almost feel the protective aura of my guardian as I grew near, but the feeling never came. I ran up to her, yelled, but to no avail. She looked at me with those cold, empty eyes and quicly turned away, as if to forget her helpless child in the void.

The dark mist evaporated and what was left was a image of my mother and an unkown child walking in the park. The child said to my mother, "Mom, do I have any sisters?"

"No dear you are my only child." My mother said. The sting of that emotionless lie struck the figure in the brush as she spied on a familiar figure. A tear ran down the aquamarine face of the observer. The figures stopped and the sound of the wind running past is heard. The figures were blown away as the passing gust grew. All that was left was the void...empty.

I opened my eyes, or so I thought I had. There was still darkness but the warm comfort of my bed and been replaced with the cold harshnes of the floor. I quickly searched for a wall and to have an understanding of the area. "Hello." A voice had said on a speaker nearby. Damnit I was captured, but by whom and why. These questions raced through my head. The bright blistering lights had come on, the blinding effects were emminent. I tried my hardest to get my eyesight focused. Soon I could make out the small room. The walls white, I could hear this muffled noise. Even though I couldn't tell where it was, I understood what was making the noise. A mass effect nullifier. My powers would not get me out of here, I was stuck. Under the control of whoever brought me here. I had one question for them.

Why am I here Marcus?

=I landed on the ground, close to where the Batarians were. I got up as fast as I could, pistol still in hand, and turned to face the Asari, who was walking towards me, slowy=

*Asari*
It really is fun, using that method. I swear, the whole 'damsel in distress' routine? Get's them every time.
=I saw the air shimmer around her as she readied another Biotic attack. Thankfully, she didn't know that I was a biotic=

(Scott)
Lady, you really picked the wrong guy to fuck with.
=The air shimmered around me too, and next thing she knew, I had charged at her, and sent her flying across the alley. Oh yeah, pay-backs a bitch=

=i reached my home and quickly grabbed my gear, attaching the targeting scope to my Revenant as I went. I hurried back to the taxi area and commed Jun=

Jun, who is my contact and where am I going?

"Omega. Your contact's name is Voluk Yanmeshir. A Batarian."

=i groaned when he said Batarian=

I hate those things...

"What don't you hate?"

Good point.

"Anyway, once you get there, contact the Batarian, and he'll give you the face and name of your target, as well as the last known location."

Got it. I'll contact you once I get back.

=i got into a taxi, not the easiest thing to do when you have four fairly large weapons on you and you're a Krogan, and told the driver to go to the right docking port. Once there, I took the Kodiak, flew off to the Mass Relay, and headed towards Omega. Mass Relays always fascinated me. They took something that could easily become a weapon, and turned them into transit stations. I mean, who does that? They could be the greatest weapons ever created, why use them for mundane things like moving from star system to star system? It makes no sense=

=the Asari may have been caught of guard, but she floated back up to her feet, the air around her shimmering in a dark blue haze=

*Asari*
So, you're a biotic? This should be fun.
=she sent a massive biotic attack at me, some kind of solid sphere. I concentrated, and sent out my own blast of biotic power, and it impacted hers'. They collided in midair, a small shock-wave exploding from the impact. I already knew how much trouble I was in: between fighting another biotic, and then the Batarians behind me, I was screwed. So, I did a move I was not sure would even work. First off, let me make it clear that I train in my biotics almost every day I have off. This includes new ways of using my biotics. For example, what I was about to do, was something that in theory, would work, but this would be the first time I would ever do it. I charged at the Asari, while at the same time, I sent a biotic shock-wave behind me towards the Batarians. For all intents and purposes, I looked like a 21st jet-ski, biotic style. I slammed into the Asari again, sending her flying out of the alley, across the street, and into the side of a building. Bones cracked, and she went limp. As for the Batarians behind me, they resembled nothing more than bowling pins. Now the downside: I was tired, and hungry as hell. Using that much biotic power, including a move I had no idea would even work, left me drained. I needed food and rest, but I doubted that staying here would allow me a chance to get any. So, I left the alley, and almost ran to my objective, my body screaming in protest=

=Not soon after I left the Citadel, I "entered" the mass relay. Really, I just went close enough to activate it as I plotted my course to Omega. An instant later, I was in the Omega system. I flew towards the Omega asteroid, which was more of a station inside of an asteroid, but you know what I mean. I hailed it and made arrangements for my landing. Not surprisingly, they didn't mind a bounty hunter coming to collect on a bounty=

I'm glad I don't have to smuggle my way on there. That'd just be too much.

=I thought about the last time I had to smuggle myself on-board a space station. I had to hide in an airtight cargo container so my mist didn't escape. That promptly left me in the dark for a few hours as my contact negotiated with the dock hands to not open the container for a while. I could hear some of it, mostly it was just things like "if it's exposed to the air, it will spoil very quickly. You have to wait until they are ready to eat it" blah blah blah. I didn't really care as long as I got on-board to get my target. This was one of the few "alive" targets, the ones who I had to capture and take back. Yes, I could kill them if I had to, but I would get less pay. Something about "Hazard pay" or some other form of what humans called, bullshit=

=So, anyway, I had managed to get on-board no problem, but because they, whoever they were, didn't like Krogans, I almost immediately had to fight my way, tooth and nail (literally) to my target and slap some restrainers on him. This was earlier in my career when I didn't pay attention to who was what or what was whom, just "is this my target?" Anything else was background. Race, weapons, time, locations, none of it mattered unless it was part of my assignment. Those people I killed could've been humans, Turians, Quarians, Asari, Hanar, whatever. I wasn't interested. I simply did what I did and that was that=

Glad I don't have to do that again. I used up a lot of clips, and it took me a while to get all those back.

=It was maybe thirty minutes of 'running,' before I found a small, secluded alley somewhere. I got behind a dumpster, and sat down, my assault rifle out. I ran a small medical check through my armor. Turns out that I actually got a little banged up: my arm was fractured from the biotic throw, and I actually tore something with the new move. Thankfully, I had plenty of medi-gel. It wasn't an outright cure, but it would get me functional. Still hurt like hell though, even with the local anesthetic the gel applied=

Fucking idiot, what the hell were you thinking? You could have been killed, and your mission failed, and all because you couldn't reign in you goddamn chivalry. Who know how many colonies are at risk? If you died before getting the information, then the deaths of millions of colonists will be on your head.

=I sat there, having a silent conversation with myself. No comments, please=

True, I could have been killed, and that would have blown my mission. But I will not stand by, and let people get hurt, especially women.

=The rational side of my brain, the one responsible for my survival, spoke again. It's voice was cold, and devoid of any real emotion=

Your chivalry almost cost you your life. And let's not forget, your mission, will potentially save millions of lives. This women, even before you found out what she was, was nothing more than a distraction. One life, however innocent, however good, is worthless, insignificant, compared to the lives of millions.

=It was scary, to hear that part of me. I mean, we all have our dark sides, don't get me wrong. But to hear it talk about life like that, as if one life was a trivial thing, scared me. Because that voice, that logic, was me. Well, apart of me anyway, and thankfully, not the dominant part=

=I flew into the docking bay of the station. It was huge. Coming from a Krogan, that meant a lot. Basically, it was the entire "bottom" half of the asteroid, carved out and turned into a space station. It had plenty of space for me to manuever around, but anything bigger might have a problem. I found my proper docking port, landed, and got out. The fog/mist instantly spread all across the nearby area. A few asari nearby yelped as the cold brushed against their exposed legs. It made me chuckle to see that. Anyway, I moved on to where I was told I would meet my contact=

=I didn't know much about my contact other than their name and race. I didn't know what they looked like, what the code word was, or anything. All in all, I was going in just about blind. That didn't inspire any confidence in me. Then again, I was Krogan, and Krogan don't back down easily. So, I continued on my way to where I was supposed to meet him/her, making several heads turn in my direction as I went, and making more Asari and Humans jump in surprise of the cold=

Aw don't be angry at me Cresa. I mean it was only a matter of time till I found ya. You can't hide forever.

Who said I was hiding from a worm like you. Tell me how is your daddies trust fund holding.

*long pause*

See now you are getting on my bad side Cresa. You don't want to go there.

Ohh fear strikes me as we speak.

Hope you like new life inside this room, because you aint leaving.

Moron.

Cresa...how I hated the nic-name he chose for me. The name of a ice cold river that ran through Antala...where we met. He only uses it to piss me off. As that name stood in my head my memory flush through chapters in my life. The planet Antala, the first human-asari commerce planet popped up. Where I first met Marcus. I was young and stupid. Still in the Commando Unit. Me and my squad was stationed there to protect a Matriacrch that was trading with some humans to help build a bond between the two species. The matriarch let a few of us lavish in the scenery of the planet. I let my emotions get in the way of my mind. It was a warm soothing night. The midnight life was at it fullest. The mood was perfect. I had left with a group of my team as we went into the camp. As fate would have it the humans were throwing a party. It wasnt the flashiest but it did as it intended. Both Asari and Human drinks were available, which was covenient since at the time no one knew the effect they had on the opposing species. I had moved to the bar to grab a couple of drinks for my sisters when he arrived. Acting all suave and smooth. His voice had calm feel to it, like you could trust the man. His vibe was insatiable, the aura pulled me to him like a singularity. A couple drink later and bam we were in the sack together. And before I knew it the night had vanished and I had started my first realtionship. We were meant for each other. Anytime i could get away from my job I spent with him and 2 years later I thought I had found my soul-mate. That was until I found him with another woman...more specifically 3 of them...at one time, and more than once. My anger grew the further I ran from our apartment and my dark mind gathered evil thoughts from the deepest part of my mind. I devised a instatiable plan. I knew that he was rich since his dad owned one of the largest Iridium organisation in the galaxy. So I stole his money. It took me a couple of months but all the pieces soon fell into place creating one big perfect planned puzzle. I had stolen half of his fathers money using any crime fitting idea that involed stealing large amounts of money. I didn't use any of it..no that would make it easy to find me. No I gave the money to charities across the galaxy all im his name to make sure that he knew it was me. His father furious with him disowned him and he became the title picture of a failure and was a huge embarrasment. I left the commandos to further my life knowing there was more out there, I do admit he was one of the reasons I did. It took him twenty years to find me but he did. What a waste of a life, but I was stuck now. In his trap and I needed to find a way out.

=The other part of me, the compassionate part of me, spoke loudly against the logic=

Then I would be no better than our enemies! Turn a blind eye to one atrocity, and you may as well turn a blind eye to them all. Even if it is pointless, to try and fight it all, to try and burn away all the darkness, that doesn't mean I shouldn't try.


=The logical part made something of a tsk sound=

You would die for your principles? You would condemn millions, for the sake of your conscience?

=I got up this time, my weariness gone. The compassionate voice in my head only grew stronger=

Our history, the whole of human history, is mired by the results of people that turned a blind eye to the horrors of the world around them. I will not, be one of those people.

=and with that, I started walking again=

[A few Days later, on Illium]

I eventually found myself in a familiar place. The warehouse. Where the explosion happened. Where I got separated from the Asari. It's time I properly investigated this place. I had been to the storehouse, where my armour was located. All black, and the best that money could buy. It increased my biotic powers too. I didn't look into it though. I loved learning new things, but I get carried away with some things. So for the sake of not destroying my armor to learn it's secrets and science, I didn't try to learn the science behind my armor.

I had gotten the armor as payment for a job. The man who had hired me was impressed with me private investigation skills. So as thanks, he gave me the most up-to-date armor money could buy. I refused the offer flat out. I knew the price of the armor. It was insane. He wouldn't allow me to refuse however. He was so insistent. So nice, I've never had such a client. I guess something can be said for Turians of a noble nature.

Recovering from the explosion was quick. I had gotten to a hotel and slept for sixteen some hours after leaving the hospital. I was, however, still incredibly sore. Medi-gel can only do so much. I stood at the entrance to the warehouse where I tracked the Asari. I stood in front of what appeared to be a sewer entrance. God knows it smells like one. I figured this is where the Asari met the guards, and the guards escorted her through the sewers to the main warehouse. I slowly entered the sewer.

Xion wrote:

"We were in the slums of Illium. In all my life I had actually never been here and I am glad that I haven't. Everything was dirty, it felt as if I could catch some crazy disease from being down here too long. I couldn't let my female mind get to me, I had to be professional, I had to be prepared. I finally gained my composure and realised that we were at some some low down bar. A place for those who have lost everything.


The merc's guided me through the door and right away I could smell the mix of liquor, puke, and depression. It was dark and and the low electrical outage of the lights didn't help this place either. No matter how much they tried this place will always look like shit.

The merc's took me to the back to what appeared to be double doors and with a krogan bodyguard in front of it. The merc's said something and the krogan nodded. I passed by some sad-sack that was passed out on the floor in his own vomit...Pathetic. Behind the doors laid some stair that led down.

Why do these places always have something like this...so cliche.

I was having a special investigator moment. I remember the Asari I had followed, I looked around. I tried thinking like her, getting into her mind. It's not something that just anybody can do, it takes years of work and practice. I closed my eyes, and opened them with a new perspective. This place was dirty, the slums of Ilium, a place that wasn't tolerated by the Asari in the least bit. I knew for a fact that Asari politicians were trying to clean this place up.

I didn't walk into the sewer. I walked into a bar. It felt the same to me. Lowlifes occupied the bar, scattered around irregularly. People whose lives had hit rock bottom, or worse. The lighting was terrible. Probably for a good reason, I don't think I'd want to see what I was stepping on. I could smell the liquor, which wasn't so bad, I could probably get drunk by walking from one side of the bar to the other. I'm not even going to talk about the vomit.

I scanned the bar, it didn't appear to have any other exits. At least not at first glance, and not from where the entrance was. I ventured into the Bar and continued to search. I saw double doors at one side of the bar, a Krogan was standing nearby, he looked bored. I walked over to him. I asked him straight up where the doors led. He looked me up and down and coughed. He didn't answer. I asked him if he'd seen an Asari come through the doors recently, again he said nothing. I regarded him silently for a moment.

Finally I asked him about the clan he came from. At that he gave me a glare. It wasn't something he wanted to talk about. His armour bore no clan symbols. Nor did his flesh. A castaway perhaps? I bought him a drink, r-something or other, supposed to be a strong Krogan drink. He took it. He watched me buy it and the bar-tender pour it. I asked him again if he saw an Asari recently, he looked around before answering me. He had. She had gone through the double doors with an escort of two mercenaries. I asked if he knew the mercenaries, he did, he thought they were little pieces of shit.

It took about fifteen drinks and some tales about the battles I've fought in to get him to let me pass. He respected me for the fights I've had alone. Besting a Krogan in unarmed combat, beating down Turians and Salarians. He especially liked how I beat a Salarian to death with a pole, which I made up completely. The stair way was dark, and slightly dank. I continued my investigation.

Xion wrote:

I reached the bottom of the 3 flights of stairs that I had to trek only to find myself in large maze. It seemed that this "secret club house" was comprised of old unused sewer drains. The smell gave it away. As they led me I kept a mental map just in case I needed to make and escape. Never know when you are going to need it. After some time and distance I came upon some other stairs.

Three flights of stairs. I was underground now. I activated my flashlight on the Omni-tool. The lights were out. I wouldn't be surprised if they were knocked out when the explosion happened. Now I was in the sewers. This was an illegal entrance to the sewer. It was added after the building here was built. Someone had serious influence. I walked down the unused sewer drain, slowly, looking for evidence. I found some scraps of paper, but they were inconclusive, didn't have anything that could be useful.

Walking farther down I found another set of illegal staircases. I followed them up, as I walked up the stairs I could smell burnt material. I was getting close now.

Xion wrote:

Soo what is up with all the secrecy.

To no avail these goons were not answering, it made me what to punch them in the throat. But I held back my urge. We had arrived in what seemed to be a warehouse. Not to picky on the color though. It was big and mostly empty excluding the crates that lightly littered the floor.

I looked around. There was quite a few of Merc's in here. Seven..no eight snipers on the rafters along with the 15 merc's this guy had gathered around. If this becomes a firefight I won't stand a chance. I look around for the nearest exit. The roof seems to be the best bet and the obvious sewer exit but hopefully this won't come to that. I was urged to the center of the warehouse where there were some sitting arrangements.

My first guess was this guy was too into himself and he would obviously have a grand chair with his cliche grand chair entrance...I was right. Along came this raspy voice. Batarian...the way his voice was harsh made it easy to recognise. He turned around with his legs crossed and his hands together in a maniacal fashion. This moron had seen too many movies.

"Welcome my beautiful Xion. The rumors about you were true. I heard about my buisness partner on the news. They have no idea it was you. So can we procced?"

Of course, but first my money.

"Of course. Here are the credits you require."

I take the the suitcase of credits and put them in my bag.

Great now lets get this done with.

I walk up to the batarian and put my face level with his. I look into his eye and he looks into mind.

I could imagine her asking questions to the Mercenaries as they escorted her to the final destination. They probably didn't answer her. They probably would've been killed if they had. In the end it didn't matter. They died anyway. After heading up the stairs I came up inside the partially destroyed warehouse. I could see where the start of the blast was. It's origin. I remembered how many mercenaries had been in here. I could see the damage my biotics had done to the rafters and the stone.

Workers had come and removed some of the rubble. they couldn't do all of it to be sure. This site was still blocked off from the public. The remnants of a chair laid in the far corner, thrown there and burned, but still intact. Perhaps I could mangle some evidence from it. I noticed that there were no dead here, all the bodies had been removed. but the blood hasn't been cleaned up yet. Most of it was burned anyway, still, I could save a few and run tests.

The chair had some fibers on it, that took me half an hour to find. They were of a suit, of that I was sure. I placed them in a bag. I switched to UV light to find organic traces. I found a little on the chair, but not enough to use. I found various blood samples that I could take back to the lab to use. I had a few samples of blood, and some fibers. Better then what I thought. I also found some other things. One of which I thought was the Asari's.

Asari Police showed up, unexpectedly. They caught me, said I was trespassing and arrested me. They took me to a cell in one of the stations. While I was sitting in the cell, fully armed and armoured, a female Asari came up to my cell. She looked familiar. Xanalia. Twas a strange name, but one I remembered. We had a thing going a while back, before I left the Alliance, or Cerberus. We had dated for a few years, off and on, it was a good time. We split after we both decided it would be better for us to be friends than lovers. Now, she was on the other side of the cell from me. She was in her uniform.

I smiled, weakly, I had a lot on my mind and she saw it right away. Without speaking she left and obtained the keycard to the cell. She let me out. We talked a little bit about what's been going on and if he's heard anything about the warehouse that was destroyed. She didn't have anything new about it so I confided in her the evidence that I found. She looked at me square in the face, which was something considering she was 5'6" and I was 5'11". I told her what I knew of what had happened, I had complete trust in her. She nodded, saying that she would help me and led me to a lab to work on the identification of the fibers and blood.

After a few hours and database hopping we found a match to the fibers, and after a few more, the blood samples. The fibers were of a jacket, particularly expensive brand that had high sales to Batarians. The blood samples were of known Mercenaries how had been in prison. Tracking the mercenaries location was easy, finding their employer was another matter and another few hours waiting for a match in another database. I had fallen asleep, so Xanalia woke me up with the information ready at hand. I wasn't entirely shocked. One of them tracked back to a known suspect in a case that had gone cold. She wanted to work on it again, I said I was glad for the help, and to help. That was all we could do for the day, so I asked her out to dinner.

I had slummed around before, but I knew some really fancy places on the higher end of things. I took her to one of these fancy restaurants, you had to pay to get in and the food was expensive. High-end dining. The food was alright, I'm fine for anything, but she was impressed with my taste. She was impressed. After dinner she said I didn't need to prove anything to her. I kept silent and sort of nodded. She knew I had been slumming for a few weeks with nothing to do. She knew that my pride wouldn't let me not try to prove that I was a better person to her. But her words comforted me. Like any good friends' words would. I took her home and wished her good night. I enjoyed seeing her happy. Gave me a sense of purpose sometimes.

I looked up at the starry night and sighed. I went to my apartment, a small thing, but it did it's job. I stripped down and crawled into bed and fell asleep.

=Okay, it took at least another day of walking, but I finally got to my destination. Well, in the area anyway. According to my intel, the Elcor was running store, somewhere in the market area of this district. And the district in question, was the size of Old Manhattan. I was tired, and already starting to drift into sleep. I'd have to find a place to rest, and luckily, there was. It was a cheap place, called the Midnight. Yeah, I know, not much of a name, but it was a cheap motel. I didn't want to draw any unwanted attention. I purchased a room, and slept. In my armor. Hey, if you had seen the beds in that place, you'd be sleeping in your armor too=

I cringed at the sudden flash of bright lights that appeared in my cell. It had been days. Maybe weeks. Didn't know they spread the meals out so long that I couldn't tell anymore. It seemed that my attempts to escape have resulted in failure. He has thought this out well..he has had to much time to think about this. Such a waste of a brilliant....who am I kidding, I should have killed him a while ago. I needed to meditate on things. I stood in the middle of the room and sat on my legs. I could feel my other senses dulling as my biotic essence wrapped around me in a dark blue cacoon of raw energy. My mind and body feeling further apart from each other the long I stayed in suspension. I took myself back to the time where I met the nuisnace who later became my savior, then I traveled further back. I went back to my time on Omega..the dark, extacy induced party trip. I was at the bar of afterlife when.....

Hello Yureka..

My mind quickly snapped back to my body fast then I could fire a throw at a target. I quickly surveyed the room only to find a blank emptiness that surrounded me. Something triggered in my mind, I knew something I had locked away was arriving...but when. I had not like what my feelings were triggering. Time would be ticking.

=i went into some club named "Afterlife." It was just like most clubs, flashing lights, loud music, random dancing Asari, random dancing species. Seen one club, seen them all. I went over to the table where I was going to meet my contact, and, well, waited. Not long after I sat down, a Batarian walked up to me=

"You the Frozen?"

Does it look like anyone else is?

"True."

You Voluk?

"I might be. What's in it for you?"

I get payed. Now, sit, talk, and don't play games.

"Okay, okay, fine. Chill out."

=i growled at his bad pun as he sat down and began to tell me everything he knew about my target. It wasn't much, but it was something to go on=

"The target is an Elcor named Heltan-"

Wait wait wait. An Elcor?

"Yes."

You have got to be joking.

"I'm not. It's an Elcor. Deal with it."

=i glared at him under my helmet=

Fine. Continue.

"As I was saying, it's an Elcor named Heltan. He's wanted dead, no alive. He get's out free, you don't get paid. Payment will be given, from me, upon verification of death. Any questions?"

Yeah, where?

"I don't know-"

What?!

=i almost punched the Batarian right in his eyes, but calmed myself. The guards looked unhappy about me simply mucking up the decorum of the place with my mist, so I didn't want to give them a reason to throw me out. I stayed my hand, barely. I did put my Phalanx on the table, pointed at him=

Talk fast.

After some short time from my relapse I had gained my composure. My surrounding were clear again and my legs were now standing me up straight. I felt this shiver up my spine as the lights turned off. I started to hear gunfire througt the walls that held me prisoner. I braced myself for what was bound to come through that door. So I turned around and sat on the bed and waited. I closed my eyes and followed the soft footstep that were marching around the base where I currently resided. A blinding light shone through as the metal doors opened.

Well it was simple to find you. Security...not elite. Infiltration...easy.

A tall night shaded character walked into the room and stood before me. I looked up into her eyes as they peered at me.

Why are you here.

It seemed obvious to me...Liberation.

My soul wanted to rip that face apart and paint the room in her blood...but she did get me out of this pathetic place. I stood up and stared at her. She quickly turned around and marched out the room.

Seriously..of all known sentient life in the galaxy..she would be the one to rescue me.

I followed her down the bloody mess they left in the halls. It seemed that they had handled almost everyone in the building. I soon found myself in the musky feeling of the night wind as it flew past my, the damp smell of veggitation surrounded me. I followed the person to a neaby tranport and hopped in. A nearby soldier handed me a bottle of water. I greedily drank it. The cool wispy liquid slid down my throat as I gppled it down. Before I could realise it we were in the air heading to a unkown destination. The figure turned to me with her winter like eyes.

How have you been...sister

Nic wrote:

[A few Days later, on Illium]

I eventually found myself in a familiar place. The warehouse. Where the explosion happened. Where I got separated from the Asari. It's time I properly investigated this place. I had been to the storehouse, where my armour was located. All black, and the best that money could buy. It increased my biotic powers too. I didn't look into it though. I loved learning new things, but I get carried away with some things. So for the sake of not destroying my armor to learn it's secrets and science, I didn't try to learn the science behind my armor.

I had gotten the armor as payment for a job. The man who had hired me was impressed with me private investigation skills. So as thanks, he gave me the most up-to-date armor money could buy. I refused the offer flat out. I knew the price of the armor. It was insane. He wouldn't allow me to refuse however. He was so insistent. So nice, I've never had such a client. I guess something can be said for Turians of a noble nature.

Recovering from the explosion was quick. I had gotten to a hotel and slept for sixteen some hours after leaving the hospital. I was, however, still incredibly sore. Medi-gel can only do so much. I stood at the entrance to the warehouse where I tracked the Asari. I stood in front of what appeared to be a sewer entrance. God knows it smells like one. I figured this is where the Asari met the guards, and the guards escorted her through the sewers to the main warehouse. I slowly entered the sewer.

Xion wrote:

"We were in the slums of Illium. In all my life I had actually never been here and I am glad that I haven't. Everything was dirty, it felt as if I could catch some crazy disease from being down here too long. I couldn't let my female mind get to me, I had to be professional, I had to be prepared. I finally gained my composure and realised that we were at some some low down bar. A place for those who have lost everything.


The merc's guided me through the door and right away I could smell the mix of liquor, puke, and depression. It was dark and and the low electrical outage of the lights didn't help this place either. No matter how much they tried this place will always look like shit.

The merc's took me to the back to what appeared to be double doors and with a krogan bodyguard in front of it. The merc's said something and the krogan nodded. I passed by some sad-sack that was passed out on the floor in his own vomit...Pathetic. Behind the doors laid some stair that led down.

Why do these places always have something like this...so cliche.

I was having a special investigator moment. I remember the Asari I had followed, I looked around. I tried thinking like her, getting into her mind. It's not something that just anybody can do, it takes years of work and practice. I closed my eyes, and opened them with a new perspective. This place was dirty, the slums of Ilium, a place that wasn't tolerated by the Asari in the least bit. I knew for a fact that Asari politicians were trying to clean this place up.

I didn't walk into the sewer. I walked into a bar. It felt the same to me. Lowlifes occupied the bar, scattered around irregularly. People whose lives had hit rock bottom, or worse. The lighting was terrible. Probably for a good reason, I don't think I'd want to see what I was stepping on. I could smell the liquor, which wasn't so bad, I could probably get drunk by walking from one side of the bar to the other. I'm not even going to talk about the vomit.

I scanned the bar, it didn't appear to have any other exits. At least not at first glance, and not from where the entrance was. I ventured into the Bar and continued to search. I saw double doors at one side of the bar, a Krogan was standing nearby, he looked bored. I walked over to him. I asked him straight up where the doors led. He looked me up and down and coughed. He didn't answer. I asked him if he'd seen an Asari come through the doors recently, again he said nothing. I regarded him silently for a moment.

Finally I asked him about the clan he came from. At that he gave me a glare. It wasn't something he wanted to talk about. His armour bore no clan symbols. Nor did his flesh. A castaway perhaps? I bought him a drink, r-something or other, supposed to be a strong Krogan drink. He took it. He watched me buy it and the bar-tender pour it. I asked him again if he saw an Asari recently, he looked around before answering me. He had. She had gone through the double doors with an escort of two mercenaries. I asked if he knew the mercenaries, he did, he thought they were little pieces of shit.

It took about fifteen drinks and some tales about the battles I've fought in to get him to let me pass. He respected me for the fights I've had alone. Besting a Krogan in unarmed combat, beating down Turians and Salarians. He especially liked how I beat a Salarian to death with a pole, which I made up completely. The stair way was dark, and slightly dank. I continued my investigation.

Xion wrote:

I reached the bottom of the 3 flights of stairs that I had to trek only to find myself in large maze. It seemed that this "secret club house" was comprised of old unused sewer drains. The smell gave it away. As they led me I kept a mental map just in case I needed to make and escape. Never know when you are going to need it. After some time and distance I came upon some other stairs.

Three flights of stairs. I was underground now. I activated my flashlight on the Omni-tool. The lights were out. I wouldn't be surprised if they were knocked out when the explosion happened. Now I was in the sewers. This was an illegal entrance to the sewer. It was added after the building here was built. Someone had serious influence. I walked down the unused sewer drain, slowly, looking for evidence. I found some scraps of paper, but they were inconclusive, didn't have anything that could be useful.

Walking farther down I found another set of illegal staircases. I followed them up, as I walked up the stairs I could smell burnt material. I was getting close now.

Xion wrote:

Soo what is up with all the secrecy.

To no avail these goons were not answering, it made me what to punch them in the throat. But I held back my urge. We had arrived in what seemed to be a warehouse. Not to picky on the color though. It was big and mostly empty excluding the crates that lightly littered the floor.

I looked around. There was quite a few of Merc's in here. Seven..no eight snipers on the rafters along with the 15 merc's this guy had gathered around. If this becomes a firefight I won't stand a chance. I look around for the nearest exit. The roof seems to be the best bet and the obvious sewer exit but hopefully this won't come to that. I was urged to the center of the warehouse where there were some sitting arrangements.

My first guess was this guy was too into himself and he would obviously have a grand chair with his cliche grand chair entrance...I was right. Along came this raspy voice. Batarian...the way his voice was harsh made it easy to recognise. He turned around with his legs crossed and his hands together in a maniacal fashion. This moron had seen too many movies.

"Welcome my beautiful Xion. The rumors about you were true. I heard about my buisness partner on the news. They have no idea it was you. So can we procced?"

Of course, but first my money.

"Of course. Here are the credits you require."

I take the the suitcase of credits and put them in my bag.

Great now lets get this done with.

I walk up to the batarian and put my face level with his. I look into his eye and he looks into mind.

I could imagine her asking questions to the Mercenaries as they escorted her to the final destination. They probably didn't answer her. They probably would've been killed if they had. In the end it didn't matter. They died anyway. After heading up the stairs I came up inside the partially destroyed warehouse. I could see where the start of the blast was. It's origin. I remembered how many mercenaries had been in here. I could see the damage my biotics had done to the rafters and the stone.

Workers had come and removed some of the rubble. they couldn't do all of it to be sure. This site was still blocked off from the public. The remnants of a chair laid in the far corner, thrown there and burned, but still intact. Perhaps I could mangle some evidence from it. I noticed that there were no dead here, all the bodies had been removed. but the blood hasn't been cleaned up yet. Most of it was burned anyway, still, I could save a few and run tests.

The chair had some fibers on it, that took me half an hour to find. They were of a suit, of that I was sure. I placed them in a bag. I switched to UV light to find organic traces. I found a little on the chair, but not enough to use. I found various blood samples that I could take back to the lab to use. I had a few samples of blood, and some fibers. Better then what I thought. I also found some other things. One of which I thought was the Asari's.

Asari Police showed up, unexpectedly. They caught me, said I was trespassing and arrested me. They took me to a cell in one of the stations. While I was sitting in the cell, fully armed and armoured, a female Asari came up to my cell. She looked familiar. Xanalia. Twas a strange name, but one I remembered. We had a thing going a while back, before I left the Alliance, or Cerberus. We had dated for a few years, off and on, it was a good time. We split after we both decided it would be better for us to be friends than lovers. Now, she was on the other side of the cell from me. She was in her uniform.

I smiled, weakly, I had a lot on my mind and she saw it right away. Without speaking she left and obtained the keycard to the cell. She let me out. We talked a little bit about what's been going on and if he's heard anything about the warehouse that was destroyed. She didn't have anything new about it so I confided in her the evidence that I found. She looked at me square in the face, which was something considering she was 5'6" and I was 5'11". I told her what I knew of what had happened, I had complete trust in her. She nodded, saying that she would help me and led me to a lab to work on the identification of the fibers and blood.

After a few hours and database hopping we found a match to the fibers, and after a few more, the blood samples. The fibers were of a jacket, particularly expensive brand that had high sales to Batarians. The blood samples were of known Mercenaries how had been in prison. Tracking the mercenaries location was easy, finding their employer was another matter and another few hours waiting for a match in another database. I had fallen asleep, so Xanalia woke me up with the information ready at hand. I wasn't entirely shocked. One of them tracked back to a known suspect in a case that had gone cold. She wanted to work on it again, I said I was glad for the help, and to help. That was all we could do for the day, so I asked her out to dinner.

I had slummed around before, but I knew some really fancy places on the higher end of things. I took her to one of these fancy restaurants, you had to pay to get in and the food was expensive. High-end dining. The food was alright, I'm fine for anything, but she was impressed with my taste. She was impressed. After dinner she said I didn't need to prove anything to her. I kept silent and sort of nodded. She knew I had been slumming for a few weeks with nothing to do. She knew that my pride wouldn't let me not try to prove that I was a better person to her. But her words comforted me. Like any good friends' words would. I took her home and wished her good night. I enjoyed seeing her happy. Gave me a sense of purpose sometimes.

I looked up at the starry night and sighed. I went to my apartment, a small thing, but it did it's job. I stripped down and crawled into bed and fell asleep.

[Eight hours and thirty-seven minutes later]

I had woken up a short while ago, and had begun my daily routine. I did nine-hundred abdominal crunches, nine-hundred and fifty-seven push-ups, and five-hundred and sixty squats. It was a relatively easy exercise. I had had an operation not long back. A lengthy operation. I had scraped money together from doing odd jobs and mercenary work, and a little thieving on the side, to pay for it. The operation was one that I regretted and was grateful for. I had had my muscular system augmented, as well as the respective bones and tendons so that I wasn’t injuring myself every time I moved. I proceeded to stretch my muscles. All of them, atrophy was a terrible thing.

Today was a free day. My friend, Xanalia, would be continuing the case from here on out. She would keep me informed of any progress she made. So today was a today I had to myself, for the most part, other than eating and working out, I had no plans. Not a single one. Gah, where had my social life gone? Never-mind, I worked too much. Even in school, friends were minimal, I always focused on getting a better quality education. Always focused on my Ph.D. I must be a work-oholic.

The sun hadn’t even risen yet, It was still dark on Ilium. The morning still young. I left my apartment. I had finished stretching and my workout. I had no books to read, no computer to do whatever it is people with computers do. I had an Omni-tool and my armour and my weapons. That was all the technology I needed. I Had my armour on. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to return to my apartment. I looked around. My apartment was one room, a bed in one corner, a small fridge next to it, a table, and a chair. Nothing in the room said anything about me, other than I wasn’t home all that often. Not that the apartment was my home. I have yet to find a place to call home.

I sighed. Things would always be tough. Especially with this life style. I left the building my apartment was in. The building wasn’t much to look at. Though it was dwarfed by the buildings around it. I paid and tipped the Salarian who owned the place. God knows the man deserved it. He was old, for a Salarian, he was also one of the most respectable Salarians I’ve ever met. Next to some crazy scientist Salarian who lives on Omega. I’ve read some of his research findings. Fascinating reads, if you understand them. I tried showing them to some Alliance crewmen and they had no idea what he was saying. I think explaining it made them even more confused. I guess some people didn’t have the mind for science.

I walked toward a place I knew would be open. It wasn’t the best place, but the place served good food for cheap. I need to eat more than four-thousand K-calories a day. Yes, k-calories. I’m a biology major, so when I see “Calories” on the back of a can, I think kilo-calories. Why? Because I nutritionists “calories” is a biologists “Kilo-Calorie”. I sat down at one of the table and an Asari waitress approached me asking me what I wanted, my response made her look at me strangely. I had to eat more than four thousand kilo-calories a day, I ordered a lot food, mostly fruits and vegetables. I didn’t trust where the meat came from, unless I killed the beast myself, I wouldn’t eat it.

She brought me my 5 plates of spiced fruits and vegetables of an assorted nature. I ordered a dark human beer to go with it. She didn’t know if they had any, so she went back to ask the manager. While she did that I consumed the fruits and vegetables. She came back to five empty plates stacked on the table and me wiping my face of any food that got on me. She blinked a few times before bringing me my requested beer. I sat a the table for a while, sipping at my beer.

Mulling over my thoughts and actions over a beer was typical of me. I must’ve adopted the habit from somewhere, or it was from one of those old books I used to read and I subconsciously added them to my queue of mannerisms. It’s pretty interesting what you can do all by yourself, when you just sit and think. I thought of where I’d get my next contract. I could always head to Omega. It had a reputation for violence, and violence creates jobs for men like me. Or I could contact someone I knew about any assassination contracts, those were always interesting. Or I could contact my guy who works for the Shadow-Broker, he’s bound to have some work for me. Or I could go to the public forum, see if anyone has any standing contracts out for any mercenary to take. That seemed like my first choice.

=the Batarian stammered and stuttered. It was obvious he had had no experience in violence, despite his now ruined "aura of calm." He stared at the gun, then back to me, then at the gun, then back to me. Back and forth, back and forth. I thought his eyes would explode from the constant movement=

"I-I-I don-do-don't-t-t kn-know..."

And you didn't feel this was relevant because...?

"Di-did-didn't want-t-t you to-to k-k-kill me."

A wise choice, but also foolish. Do you have anyway of finding where it is?

"Yes!"

=I put the gun away and glared at him=

And what exactly are you waiting for?

=He sat there, awkwardly, shaking, obviously scared, before getting up and running off, presumably to find a bathroom or something. I just sat there, waiting. I ordered a drink and watched the Asari dance, every once in a while chuckling as the mist hit one or two of them and made them jump. To their credit, they incorporated the flinch into their routine, as well as the fog. That made it all the more enjoyable for me, watching the mist flow around their feet and reflecting the flashing lights of the club. They even incorporated a small shiver every now and then, probably not hard to fake, if it was faked, due to the fog/mist flowing around them. All in all, I thought it was very enjoyable. the guards, on the other hand, looked a bit peeved that I was messing with their atmosphere, but since I had done nothing wrong, was a paying customer, and was a Krogan in full armor with an arsenal on his back, they didn't do anything to stop me from making the mist=

=The next two days passed without much incident. I scouted the target's store, and even followed him home a few times, memorizing his route. I had to act soon though, there wasn't much time left before the Batarian attack. Still, I stayed in the motel. Say what you will about the stains on the bed sheets, but they respected a man's privacy there. While I was there, i took note of hundreds of other things happening in the area: red sand dealers were lining the streets, gangs with big guns just strolled out of stores, shaking down the owners. Slaves were traded, collars around their necks. Some were Asari, but the most prominent species, was human. Always human. Despite my mission, and my past experience with deviating from it, I still wanted nothing more than to kill those slavers, and free the slaves. No sentient life form, no matter the race or species, should be a slave=

It has been two weeks since my aparent rescue from my sister, we chatted a bit, but nothing worth meaningfull. Just as I expected. I was staying at a base where she and her team stayed but soon I felt that it was time to leave. The monotony of this place drove me crazy. I hated it especially since she was here always in my face. So I decided to steal one of her rides and took off to the nearest port when I landed the vehicle and took off without a trace. So here I am stuck in this hell hole of a ship travelling to Omega where I knew I could make some money and a living. Everything would be great if these batarians would stop staring at me. They were second away from me turning their putred brains to mush. I decided not to get angry and make a scene so I took myself to one of the room nearby, so I could relax and sleep. Oh my how I knew what was next.

What do you want.

"You know what we want baby, there is only one reason one such as yourself goes to Omega..Why not show me and my pal here a preview."

Alright I needed to blow some steam after this stunt that they pulled, so I guess I will have some fun.

*In a sexy voice*

You caught me..haha. I would like to show some men such as yourselves my moves. Would you like to see, I do need the experience and I would love if you would watch.

=One of the batarian nudge the other in excitment=

Men...easy.

Follow meee.

I took them to a place I knew to well.

So boys why don't you stand over there while I get ready.

"This will be fun. See I told ya good luck will come our way if we go to Omega."

'You were right, I am sure glad I didn't listen to my ex..!'

I stand them by a metal door coaxing myself smoothly over to the button on the nearby wall..They were so tranced it was pathetic. I arrived at my planned place by the open button.

Bye bye boys! HAhahaha!

By the looks of their reactions they knew what was about to happen. They took out their guns.

"You bitch! Don't you dare!."

But I dare.

I charged a powerfull throw and threw it at them. They fired their guns but it was too late. I pressed the button and the doors slide open. The resulting biotic slammed them into the back of the metal room. I quicly pressed the close button and watched frivilously as they rushed to get up and escape. They were to slow. I walk up to the window and look at them.

You should have listened to your Ex..she's smart. Bye bye...

They said some harsh words in their language but it only propelled me to press the eject button more. I sadistically waved by to them as I hit the eject button. I watched as the doors to space behind them opened with them fearfully swept by the vacuum of space. I watched as the air left them as they slowly died from the exposure. Their helpless bodies gasping for air. It was peotry in a sense. With my darkishly deed done I glided back to my room and fell asunder for the trip.

= Two weeks had passed. =

I had taken a rather interesting contract, I had to act as the temporary go between for a Red Sand dealer. It wasn't a job I'd normally take, but it was something. All I had to do was bring a sample of the Red Sand to the customer, if they liked it they sent me back with some unspecified sum of money, the Dealer would then give the appropriate amount of Red Sand to me and I'd give it to the Customer. It was one of the easiest jobs I'd ever done. I didn't like that.

Jobs that are too easy often have hidden dangers that aren't immediately seeable by the guy doing to the job. I, of course, was not the average guy. I look like the kind of guy who'd you stay away from on a day to day basis. I'm not someone you bump into and have a chat. People bump into me, mutter their apologies and walk quickly away. I wasn't intimidating, at least, I didn't think so. But I felt that taking this Red Sand Job was associating myself with a stereotype. What that stereotype was, I could only guess, but that's how I felt.

The Job took a few days, but they were the most droll days in my mercenary career. If I wanted to be an errand boy I would have signed up for a postal service, or some messenger. Nevertheless the job paid well for my time, I made more on this job, since it was illegal, then most of my more challenging jobs. I still felt like I had to spend a few days cleaning myself in order to get that feeling off my conscious, and the feeling from my body.

The Red Sands job landed my on Omega. The city in an asteroid belt, and built of an asteroid. From the files I've read on Omega I knew that it was built in a mined-out husk of some metallic asteroid that was, obviously, mined for minerals. It's been a haven and meeting place, among other things I'm sure, for the scum of the scum of the galaxy. It was filled with criminals, however petty or grand, terrorists and their associated groups, general malcontents, and more. Not to mention the fact that there was no law or government on Omega. Like it's name, it was the last place you'd want to go. The chances of you being mugged entering are fairly hire, unless you look like you'd tear them to bits.

When I first arrived on Omega, to meet the man paying me for the Red Sand Job, I was approached by not one, not two, nor even three, but four Krogan. they were looking to intimidate me and score some money. I gave them a bruising, and with the the help of the Red Sand Dealer, drove them off. I wasn't really surprised that the Red Sand Dealer operated here, on Omega, it's been a hub for narcotics for as long as I can remember, which isn't very long, relatively speaking. I knew a guy who essentially struck it rich with illegal weapons trafficking. For a while there was eezo trafficking, I haven't kept up in those circles so I don't know if it does still, but there's not even a pretense of civilian government or even a legitimate military power in control of Omega, so really, if I heard about any sort of trafficking, I wouldn't be surprised.

However, I have heard that Mercenary groups have been able to instill some form of order amidst the chaos. I remember one of them, off the top of my head, an Asari syndicate run by Aria T'Loak, I have heard pretty terrible things in regards to how ruthless she runs things. I would even go as far as to say she's the ruler of Omega. Whether or not that's true, I still like to send her a favor or two, usually in the form of information. She's also the one I normally send word to if I need a job, sometimes she hooks me up, sometimes she doesn't.

Now, however, I had some free time. For the moment I decided to view Omega, go to its clubs, try and have fun. Then my Omni-tool beeped. The ID system dubbed the message classified and from the Alliance. Classified materials generally meant that it was N7. Which means my sabbatical was up and that I had to return to the program. I'll read the message later. Now, I'm going to see a contact.

=Scene=

He walks across Omega, going through the clinics filled with people caught between the crossfire of rivaling mercenary groups, whether it by Blue Suns, Eclipse, or Blood Pack it didn't matter. The people here, were passerby's. He passed by without a second glance. He followed his gut. He knew where to go. This contact wasn't difficult to find. He seldom left his home. Or is lab.

He was a Tech-expert. He specialized in upgrading software. Whether it be legal or illegal. Nicholas needed his omni-tool upgraded, for advanced hacking purposes. He also needed parameters fixed before he returned to the Alliance. He had been working undercover as a mercenary. Working undercover allowed him access to state-of-the-art weapons, and tech. It was because of his independent work that he was able to afford new Biotic implants, stronger, more stable.

The contact was in his home, as usual. The inside of the home was a mess. Old food boxes littered the floor, dirty clothes, cans, junk, it was sordid. Nicholas walked carefully around the piles of trash to get to the back room.

-It had been... Sometime. I'd spent it looking for some sort of clue of where whatever I was looking for was. And I'd had no sucsess. This entire stupid trip... It was ridiculous. So, out of pure tired-ness, I found myself in some sort of Bar. And that was when I found myself... In a tricky situation. I was still in my bartender clothes... And there were angry Krogan wanting drinks.-

K1: Hey! You Turian! Get us a drink!

"I'm not a bartend-"

K2: Just get us a god damn drink!

"Like I said, I'm not a bart-"

K2: Get us a drink!

"I'm not a god damn Bartender here!"

-One of the Krogan stand up, walking over to me.-

K1: Get. Us. A. Drink.

"I can't -"

-That was the last thing before I hit the ground. Krogan had strong punches.-

=It was time to move in on the target. I had waited long enough, and the target was right where I needed him to be. After following the Elcor for two days, I learned that there was an area on his route where he would be easy to capture. I had a window of maybe 3-5 minutes, before it would be too late, and I could not afford any set-backs. So, I left the motel, after paying of course, and joined the crowd of people, after watching the target leave his shop=

I could feel the eccentric and techno filled aura of this asteroid in space as we neared. Omega was looking the same as always and ambient feeling that someone is watching you. I enjoyed this place like a drug addict loves Hallex. This place called to me, like a warm haven in the middle of the cold solitude of space...a warm war ridden haven. A smile came upon me as I thought this. I exited the ship and was soon met by the poor seeking a ray of hope...I was not one of them. A little one, human, and if my memory served correct of the human life span this one was a little over five. I was lenient on him since he was a child and did nothing to him as he pestered me, but my patients wore thin and I fired off a small biotic push to scare him away. I slithered my way around the area looking for some kind of taxi. After some friendly conversations with a group of turians I found out where they were. I took on deep into Omega to a place I knew all to well. I stopped on a big street full of people selling supplies that they had obtained from their trips. I walked to the far end of the street and took a right into a backstreet. My memory had not diminished from my time away. I came upon a small building, 3 stories tall with one floor underground. I walked and on the right was the reception desk, no one was there. I walked past it and met a flight of stairs. I walked up to the second floor and open a door into the hall. As I walked down the hall I could hear the families and travelers from behind their doors. I came upon my room 25E1, I opened it and looked around. My room was left unattented and bothered...which was good since it meant that nothing was stolen. I locked my door and started cleaning. After I was done I saw that I has some messages on my phone, I was too tired from the trip and instead jumped on my bed and fell asleep.

=The target moved along his usual route back to his home, through the market sections of Omega. He had picked out a very public route, filled with people. Not that it really mattered here; On Omega, getting mugged on your way home was a daily occurrence, and it was rare to find people that would step up to defend the one getting mugged, or kidnapped, or stolen from......you get the idea. What worried me though, was the fact that there seemed to be a higher number of armed gang members along the route than before. Also, a lot of them were Batarians, with the same markings on their armor, which seemed familiar, but for the life of me I could not place=

I had decided to walk the crowded streets of Omega. There were things I needed to do but first I had to do some shopping:armor, guns, medigel. I knew where to get these and that is where I was headed. I had found a supplier in the market for some asari based armor. It was an elcor, these slow beasts always drove me crazy, but I had to deal. After a couple minutes of his talking I paid the man his credits and had my armor sent to my place. I knew it was safe because I knew that my "neighbors" wouldn't dare steal my equipment, or I would flay them alive. As I ventured further into the markets it seemed that I entered a no-no zone. The batarians were notorious for their pirate lives and slavery. Even on Omega, they were able to do it out in the open. it sickened me but what could I do. One asari vs a couple hundred. People stayed clear of these areas in fear of becoming slaves. The bad thing was I forgot this rule and walked right into their path.