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Post by spartan560 on Mar 15, 2015 10:26:14 GMT -6
Izahm hears the Salarian's outburst but then notices one of the other humans pop up to see what he's yelling at. Taking an opportunity Izahm starts to fire more controlled bursts from his Revenant hitting the human's kinetic barriers causing him to focus on Izahm just as his opponents barriers fail. Stunned for a few seconds Izahm pushes his advantage and throws him into the wall with bone crushing force.
"Whoever you are I'll take care of the lackeys you got the mech and engineer right?" Izahm shouts activating his tech armor full strength causing the normal orangish color to turn electric blue. He then charges forward switching to his Disciple, "COME ON YOU SONS A BITCHES TASTE MY FURY!!" he shouts attracting the attention of every enemy and starts firing the Disciple. The remaining engineer refocuses on his original target thinking nothing of Izahm as the remaining human turns and begins unleashing a hailstorm of bullets at the charging Sentinel but Izahm's modified superdense armor handles it long enough to reach the now desperate and panicking human.
Izahm vaults the cover the human was crouching behind and tackles him to the ground turning a firefight into a fistfight. His opponent then activates an Omni-blade stabbing at Izahm who rolls under it and slams his shoulder into the human gaining him enough room to deploy his own Omni-blades, "Let's dance," Izahm says grinning under his helmet. The human quickly obliges and charges at Izahm who meets the charge head on and after a flurry of blows and counter blows successfully buries one of his Omni-blades into the humans skull killing him. He then turns to see how his rescuer is faring against the remaining enemy.
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Post by Esteban Bridges on Mar 16, 2015 1:27:01 GMT -6
Esteban sat quietly in a comfortable plush chair inside of one of the most secure rooms he was aware of in the Citadel. It was where his financier, Corwin Havens, did his business. While Corwin was not the wealthiest man on the Citadel, his 20 year history of assassin work made him one of the more feared people. Of course, none of the assassinations were ever linked to Corwin nor his recently deceased friend, Benewan. The Engineer shifted in the seat nervously, glancing around at the strangely comforting decorations scattered around the room. He saw flowers, pictures of Corwin and his daughter, River, on vacation at various settings. Both of them looked so happy. So unlike the reputation that both of them carried.
"You weren't the only one hit," Corwin's voice was as cold and lifeless as his gaze, sending chills down the Engineer's spine. "Every single person who went to the Collector base was. Most survived, but I haven't been able to find Iskra or a few others. They are most likely dead."
The last word hit Esteban like a charging Krogan.
Dead.
"Was it worth it, Bridges?" Corwin asked coldly. Esteban didn't answer. He couldn't. He didn't know how to answer. "That's what Ben and I wondered after each hit, when we went to the funeral. It was the least we could do, pay our respects."
Esteban imperseptively nodded. He couldn't bring himself to move, or speak. The weight felt too much. He didn't mean for anyone to die on the team. Corwin kept on talking once it was clear Esteban wasn't speaking yet.
"I'm not sure who ordered the hit. There were no contracts. Every avenue I investigated was a dead end. Whoever did this used channels that I've never seen before. Nobody is this good.
Nobody."
Esteban blinked, not realizing he was starting to slump in his seat from the sheer weight of the words.
"You need to send out a message to the team to bring them together. And you'll need to hire new people to replace the ones we lost..."
"To what end?" Esteban finally spoke up, lifting his eyes to the Devil Himself, trying to find hope.
"Revenge."
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Post by Eric Lysander on Mar 16, 2015 10:45:33 GMT -6
Maelstrom brought up his omni-tool. "Activate your omni-tool and copy this application. It should allow a stable link-up to Emily." Eric followed Maelstrom’s instructions and shortly the connection to the VI was established. He made a metal note to himself to review his device’s memory sometime later.
“Okay,” said Eric. “Your Emmy’s on call… let’s do this…”
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Post by Maelstrom on Mar 16, 2015 12:23:57 GMT -6
“Your Emmy’s on call… let’s do this…” Lysander said.
Maelstrom nodded, then headed into the bathroom.
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Post by Shala'Bekk vas Neema on Mar 16, 2015 20:51:25 GMT -6
If it hadn’t been for the turian at her side, Shala would never have entered C-Sec of her own free will; there had been far too many bad experiences by her people at the hands of the human officers.
“Hey Theraxos, another vagrant?” one called out from behind a large desk that dominated the lobby.
“Actually, she’s consulting on a case,” the turian replied.
“What can they consult on other than how to create AIs that go out of control?” another one said.
Anger flared up on her, and she might have done something stupid if Theraxos hadn’t placed a hand on her forearm, reminding her of why she was there.
*****
Before they could go to the tech lab to verify the footage, she had to go through a short procedure to be put in the system as a consultant. With Theraxos present, the process was speeded up considerably.
The only snag that occurred was when she had to get her picture taken for her ID badge and the human performing the procedure insisted she remove her helmet. Neither side was willing to budge until the turian pointed out the very possible consequences of her doing do.
The human finally complied, grumbling under his breath that she could be anyone under the suit, and gave her the badge.
*****
“What do you need, Theraxos?” said one of the salarians as the pair entered the tech lab.
“New video footage of the Cronauer killing,” the turian said, handing over the OSD. “It appears to clear the prime suspect.”
“Impossible, we already authenticated that footage,” the salarian said.
“Then you must have missed something,” she said.
“We do this for a living, twenty hours a day,” the salarian said. “What do you do?”
“We got the evidence from a store with cameras that looked into the crime scene,” she said.
“Obviously it was faked by the store owner,” the salarian said.
“Then prove it wasn’t,” she said. “And while you’re looking at that footage, let me look at what you say is real.”
“So you can alter it? Impossible!” he said.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, annoyed at his stubbornness. “Afraid I’ll do something that you can’t fix?”
He only hesitated a moment before answering, but that moment spoke volumes.
“Very well, you may examine the footage,” he said, but then pointed at another tech and said, “Watch her. If she attempts to access other areas or alter the evidence, stop her.”
The other salarian nodded.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2015 20:44:06 GMT -6
As the drone and the mech charged Naetilia, the drone swept around to her right and the mech continued its head-on charge. She prepped her overload attack and directed it towards the mech, which fell to the ground in a heap.
She was halfway through her turn towards the drone when it attacked, disrupting her tech armor, and then seconds later she felt a burning fist punch her in the back, sending her to the ground.
She rolled over to see the salarian standing over her, leering at her as his omnitool glowed in preparation of another attack.
“This is what you get when you mess with Eclipse!” he gloated.
A shot rang out.
They both looked over to see the human female, pointing her pistol at the salarian in a shaky two-handed grip.
“Damn bitches!” he hissed as he turned towards her.
Naetilia struggled to get to her feet, but her limbs refused to listen; the damage from her burns was too much, and she knew in the time it took to apply medigel to them, the female would be dead.
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Post by spartan560 on Mar 18, 2015 1:33:33 GMT -6
Izahm saw his rescuer go down and without a second thought charged forward tech armor at full power. Whatever drug his rescuer had put in him had worn off by now; he was running on pure adrenaline same as McKay but she was unused to the feeling and couldn't focus it like Izahm could. He is still holding his Disciple so he needs to get close to use it giving the drone time to turn and hit him with a blast before he can destroy it with a few well placed shots then the Salarian fires a panicked Incinerate somehow managing to hit him but his tech armor barely handles the combined attacks giving him enough time to reach a close enough range to use his Disciple. Izahm empties the Disciple into the Salarian the last two shots connecting with flesh and blood killing the engineer in a spectacular explosion of blood and gore as his chest explodes from the Disciple heavy explosive rounds.
Once he reaches the two women breathing slightly labored he switches to his Revenant and begins sweeping it back and forth, "Yo Turian lady you need help?" he asks focusing on her reply and keeping an eye out for more mercs though seeing none he decides to check his tech armor's durability finding it at one quarter from the charge there, concerned he looks over at the visibly shaken Doctor McKay, "Hey McKay check on the Turian we need," he pauses as he has a small coughing fit his adrenaline rush wearing off, "We need her up because I'm running outta steam and ammo, and I don't think we could survive another round with more mercs,"
McKay had just seen the strongest member of their little group go down and realized they were going to die if she didn't help but the drugs and her flight or fight response was confusing her body and mind but as soon as the enemy stepped over the Turian doctor she fired off a wild shot the Predator held in a very shaky two handed grip. As the Salarian starts turning her way she freezes and her whole body locking up when out of nowhere a blue blur rushes past her firing its gun destroying first the drone that had been deployed and shortly after their Salarian aggressor. The whole fight lasted less than a minute but to McKay it felt like hours, she collapsed to her knees totally lost when the voice of her rescuer brings her back to the real world. He had just asked her to check to see if the Turian needed help having a small coughing fit showing that whatever drug they had been given was starting to wear off or in her case just starting to wear off she had no idea as to the status of her rescuer.
"I'll see what I can do," McKay says anyway crawling over to the downed Turian immediately applying medigel to her skin, "There that should help."
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2015 8:05:51 GMT -6
Several blasts from a shotgun caught everyone’s attention, and Naetilia turned to see the human male pointing his shotgun at the combat drone, which faded out of existence.
The salarian fired an incinerate blast at human and hit him, but the human’s tech armor took the brunt, allowing him to close with the engineer and put two blasts in his chest.
“Yo, turian lady, you need help?” he asked, stepping towards her as he swept his shotgun back and forth.
She tried to push the pain away, but it was too much. Whether by luck or skill, the incinerate blast had impacted right on her spine, exposing nerves to open air and making every movement feel like she was being dipped in acid.
Then she felt the cooling sensation of medigel against her skin, and she looked over to see the female kneeling over her. “There, that should help,” she said.
“Yes, it did,” Naetilia said as she slowly got up and retrieved her SMG. “Let’s get to your shuttle.”
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Post by spartan560 on Mar 18, 2015 9:19:09 GMT -6
Izahm breathed an internal sigh of relief as his new found Turian ally got up retrieving her weapon. "Now off we go," he says before having a small coughing fit as he shoulders McKay once more his back sending him pulses of pain but he grits his teeth and continues on.
"Barring anymore surprises we should reach the shuttle in five minutes," Izahm says his breathing becoming more labored as his adrenaline wears off in addition to trying not to let the pain hinder his movement.
"Give or take a minute," he adds as every step now sends shockwaves of pain up his spine but Izahm doggedly keeps going determined to bring McKay home and finish his mission.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2015 12:18:22 GMT -6
The trio staggered into the shuttle bay, which Naetilia saw was about half full of ships of varying configurations, all of them guarded by a variety of species: batarian, human, krogan, turian, vorcha, as well as some asari and salarians.
She paid close attention to the batarians, but they gave the group only a cursory glance as they limped by.
They reached the shuttle the human had pointed out, and it was one of the few that was unguarded, though the body of a vorcha lying in front of it suggested its security systems were more than adequate.
The male opened the door and loaded the female into it.
“Here are some additional medications for you…if you need them,” Naetilia said, pulling several hypo sprays out of her medkit and handing them to him.
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Post by spartan560 on Mar 18, 2015 15:03:33 GMT -6
"Thank you for all your help,"Izahm says gratefully taking the medication, "Doctor McKay should be adequate enough to get us to the citadel. Izahm then starts walking further into the shuttle before turning to face the Turian, "What's your name before I go?" He stands inside his shuttles darkened cargo area ready to close the hatch, "My name's Kahn."
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Lekuhn
N2
"Let me see if I can remember...yeah, I can."
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Post by Lekuhn on Mar 18, 2015 16:54:04 GMT -6
"Looks like you need one too" said the Volus behind the bar.
Lekuhn knew he had to act fast. C-sec would be at this location quickly. He applied some medi-gel to his wound. It stopped the bleeding and relieved some of the pain, but when he put pressure on his foot it hurt badly. Using his omni-tool, he transferred 1000 credits to the Volus.
"Clean this up and keep it as quiet as possible and you'll have the other half in the morning."
"Consider it done, Drell" he puffed.
"Got a pen?" said Lekuhn.
"Hard to come by in these parts" said the Volus, "But I just happen to have one."
Figures. If anyone would have a unique item, it would be a Volus.
Lekuhn took the pen and walked over to the now stirring Krogan. He took the paper he pulled from Rock's pocket and below the orders that were on it wrote: "Not today." Then, he stuffed it back in the giant's pocket.
"I'm Tol Velon" said the volus. "and what may I call you, Drell?"
"Just call me 'The Skink'" said Lekuhn as he engaged his in invisibility cloak.
For someone with as many years experience in blending in as he had, an invisibility cloak was almost as effective as disappearing from the station altogether. He knew to walk in just the right places and how to pace the movement of others so their line of sight was not on him. Plus, he had a perfect memory, so he knew every detail of where he had been. When he cloaked, people gasped and muttered as if he was some sort of magical creature.
He made his way carefully back to his room. It was hard to be stealthy due to the pain in his foot. He knew the wound must be relatively bad, because the medi-gel still had not subdued the pain. He walked carefully past some C-Sec officers responding to the bar fight. His breath caught in his chest when one came within a few yards from him.
His mind went to the events that transpired that night.
I hope Tol keeps his word and is up to the task.
Paper...why paper? I suppose it's less traceable than digital information in this age. Rock was probably going to burn it...or eat it.
Lekuhn got back to his room and undressed. He needed to sleep.Taking his armor off of his wounded foot was terrible. He bit his lip, trying not to scream in pain. The wound was deep and went through the middle of his foot. No bleeding though.
As he drifted off to sleep he thought, Sure would be nice to have a friend that is a doctor.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2015 21:07:37 GMT -6
Naetilia’s emotions got the better of her and she cursed the human’s stupidity in her native language, then cursed herself for losing control.
“You should not have told me that,” she said after switching back to the common tongue. “If your companion is as dangerous as the Hegemony thinks, they would not have just sent one operative. If they capture me, I cannot guarantee I will not reveal what you have told me.
“I have…concerns…of my own that I must deal with, so I will not tell you my name,” she said. “In the event you are captured by them, I do not want you or your companion to reveal information about me.
“But you have impressed me, human,” she said. “Until now, I have not had any good experiences with your race. I thought your people to be undisciplined and without honor, but your actions today show that I may have been…premature…in my judgment. I do not know what your future endeavors are, but I wish you well in them.”
She extended her hand.
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Post by spartan560 on Mar 19, 2015 9:16:51 GMT -6
Izahm reaches out and shakes the Turians hand, "I have always found Turians to be selfless and have a strong code of honor," he turns and heads into his shuttle saying over his shoulder, "I enjoyed fighting with you I hope someday we might do it again," and with that he closes the hatch and after making sure McKay is safe takes a seat in the cockpit.
"Azrael warm up then engines and thank you for keeping ship safe," Izahm says. "I performed my programming sir," Azrael responds his avatar popping up nearby Izahm, "Although the vorcha was so persistent I had to use lethal force. Any further attempts at entry were dissuaded by the remains." Izahm chuckles but doesn't say anything gripping his older analog controls and easing the shuttle out of its berth and into traffic then shortly after headed back to the relay, "Plot course for the citadel," Izahm says maneuvering the shuttle for a relay jump, "Done sir," Azrael replies his avatar disappearing as Izahm prepares to launch. The shuttles wings fold into the body and after a quick inspection to make sure the hull is uncompromised activates the relay jumping back to civilization.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2015 7:06:44 GMT -6
“I highly doubt that,” she said, watching the shuttle until it disappeared from sight.
She turned to see the guardians of the various ships looking at her with more interest.
“What a surprise,” she said, activating her tech armor and administering herself with the same simulant she had given the humans.
She had to kill over half the guards before the rest let her leave.
*****
As she exited the shuttle bay, she was greeted by one of the Fenris mechs that the Eclipse mercs had sent against her.
But it did not attack her. It simply stood in front of her, its head swiveling as if looking for something. When its head looked in her direction, it walked toward her slowly and upon reaching her, it looked her over and made a sound she could not identify.
She prepared an overload attack, but then let it go. It was no threat to her and she had no use for it.
She left, but as she did so, she heard it moving. She looked down to see it was keeping pace with her. She made a shooing gesture, but it once again made the unidentifiable sound.
She shrugged and resumed her journey back to her apartment, the mech following close behind.
*****
“Must have been quite a patient,” Augunus sneered at her when she returned.
She responded by giving him his shot and then packing their meager belongings.
“How does it feel to be the one at fault this time?” he asked.
She just looked at him.
“It can’t be my fault we’re leaving,” he said. “You’ve had me locked up here the whole time.”
“I’ve received a job offer,” she said.
“Whoever he is, he can’t be that smart,” he said. “What’s with the mech?”
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Post by Eric Lysander on Mar 21, 2015 15:47:15 GMT -6
Maelstrom entered the bathroom and Eric took a few steps back into the middle of the hallway, pretending to wait for him. He smiled oddly at two orderlies walking by; his expression quickened their pace. He put his hands in his robe pockets and started pacing back and forth grunting. Then he stopped and squeezed his eyes shut, clutched his stomach and bent down slightly giving the security cameras a show as he turned and staggered in place. He took a swig from his medicine bottle, capped it and then disappeared through the locker room door. To the cameras it would seem that in his throes he mistook it for the restroom door. If his timing was right Maelstrom would emerge in under a minute ready to run interference.
Eric sloshed about the medicine in his mouth and spit into a waste bin by the locker room entrance after finding no one in the vicinity. He exhaled into his hand and waved it before his nose; his breath wreaked enough to convince anyone that he was under the influence. The room was lined with lockers on either side and bent off to Eric’s right a short distance away. His pajamas resembled the uniform of some of the staff but he would need to discard the robe and slippers that were a dead giveaway to his being a patient. He checked his omni-tool for a moment then switched it off. Even if Emily could hack into the lockers without tripping any alarms it would only raise more suspicion should he get caught. He crept up to the bend. He had the room all to himself. At the corner against the wall was a hamper filled with used scrubs and lab coats with a separate compartment for footwear. Eric rummaged through them, stopping occasionally to check if his finds would suit him.
As he found a reasonably unsullied lab coat he could use the opposite entrance to the room suddenly opened up. He whirled about and froze as a bald human male, late middle-aged with gray-white tufts of hair, backed into the room hunched over and sniffling with his arms curled in front of him. He hobbled around as he straightened up and spied Eric at the hamper. His hand slowly reaching up to his face, the doctor apparently had quite a stressful day and stole into the locker room to decompress with a dose of red dust, not even waiting until he was safe inside. Dazed, the man stared and wondered why a man he had never seen before was in a staff locker room trying on dirty clothes. The demolitions expert fortunately knew how to defuse an awkward situation between two lawbreakers.
“I didn’t see you in here doing that if you didn’t see me in here doing this,” Eric pointed to the doctor and to the hamper. The man quickly rubbed off the excess around his nose.
“Works for me,” he said nervously, agreeing with the proposition in spite of his better-though-impaired judgement.
He allowed Eric to exit the room with his ill-gotten gains and a knowing smirk. The N7 shuddered to think of what the good doctor specialized in. Hopefully he was not one of the people who operated on him.
Well out of Nurse Weaver’s sight, Eric made himself out to look more like he worked there and consulted a nearby visitor’s map. The morgue was down on the first sublevel of the hospital. Eric followed a group of visitors and interns into an elevator to further obscure him and entered his floor number. The ride down was accented with music playing over the car speakers. It sounded like a non-human rendition of a very old Earth standard - Eric’s best guess was that it was “The Girl from Ipanema.” The elevator dispensed and took on passengers from each floor. The mischievous Alliance dropout scatted quietly to the music, moving his hands from side to side in his coat pockets. At one point a woman’s moistened eyes met his causing him to stop. He mouthed “sorry” and was quiet in consideration of the bad news she must have gotten, whether she was a patient herself or had seen to a loved one. At the ground level everyone else cleared off leaving Eric to finally reach the first sublevel alone twelve minutes since he first dropped out of sight.
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Post by spartan560 on Mar 22, 2015 15:10:13 GMT -6
Back at the Citadel Izahm waits in a different booth than before but still towards the back of Chora's Den. Fidgeting beside him is Doctor Eliza McKay her eyes darting from person to person. "Relax Doctor I didn't let anything happen to you on Omega I'll certainly not let anything happen to you here, neither will C-Sec," Izahm says sipping at a non alcoholic fruit drink. "I know but still what if the Hegemony sends someone after me again?" McKay says her eyes darting around again. "Again relax Doctor I've got a good view of things and if anybody tries anything all I gotta do is lean forward and any shots sent your way will hit my tech armor," Izahm says trying to assuage her anxiety. Thankfully before she can voice anymore paranoid comments Issen walks in with four C-Sec officers all armed with assault rifles and dressed in full armor. Izahm flags Issen over and when the Turian officer notices him he starts walking over followed quickly by the four officers.
"Thank you so much for finding McKay," Issen says once he is seated across from Izahm while the four officers take up guard positions, "I hope it wasn't too difficult?"
"It was..." Izahm pauses remembering the Turian doctor that helped them, "Interesting to say the least. One thing you didn't tell me was that the Hegemony was interested in Doctor McKay." at the mention of the Hegemony Issen leans forward interested.
"What happened exactly on Omega?" Issen says and so Izahm tells him everything except the fight with the mercs and the Turian Doctor, "So the Hegemony sent an assassin after McKay and her data."
"Correct," Izahm says simply sipping at his drink again, "Now all I need is my payment and the good doctor is yours," he sits back and waits fro Issen's answer which isn't long.
"Four thousand for the Doctor and all relevant data," Issen says bringing up his Omni-tool, "Just tell me where to wire it?"
Izahm brings up his own Omni-tool, "Send it over this channel it should wire directly to an account." Issen does so and after Azrael secretly confirms it Izahm nods and says, "She's all yours Issen."
Issen once again thanks Izahm then gets up McKay gratefully following him and the four C-Sec officers, but before she walks off she turns to Izahm and says, "Thank you for everything you've done for me. I never would have made it off Omega without you." Izahm merely nods and says, "Happy to be of service." Once they all leave Izahm continues enjoying his drink and after paying the bartender walks to his shuttle. Once there he sits down and begins performing his routine after battle meditations as taught by Niniah. "Sir you have a priority one message waiting," Azrael's voice says from the shuttles speakers interrupting his meditations. "Alright i'll take it on my Omni-tool," Izahm says standing up and bringing up his Omni-tool. He starts reading it going to the cockpit and sitting down finishing up the message. "Interesting," he finally says, "Very interesting. Azrael I think we have a new job, and this one will prove to be the best one yet."
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Post by Maelstrom on Mar 22, 2015 17:51:42 GMT -6
Maelstrom exited the bathroom and was pleased to see Lysander nowhere in sight. Given that he had heard no sort of struggle or argument from outside, he assumed that meant the N7 was doing his part of the plan. He took up his place by the doorway to the restroom, doing his best to give the impression of someone waiting on a friend.
"I do not like this," Emily said, her emulation still running for him.
"Tough luck," he said, far more interested in the risks Lysander was taking on than that his VI's typical prioritization of resources as compromised at the moment.
A moment later, Maelstrom saw a familiar form walking the other direction in a lab coat. He almost laughed to think of Lysander the Doctor. It was not that he would doubt the man's ability in the slightest- the two of them had done surgery on explosives together- but that the man would be such a radical departure from the norm of the medical community. His attention shifted back to the hallway, and he was again thankful for the helmet he wore and its ability to conceal his smile.
Maelstrom ran through the layout of the hospital in his mind, keeping an eye on the time. He figured Lysander had to be half-way or more to the morgue. His confidence in their little op was running high by the time the "charming" Miss Weaver turned up.
"Where's Mister Lysander?" she asked.
Social interactions were not exactly his area of expertise, particularly when having to avoid giving direct answers. Reaching deep inside, he did his best to figure out what Lysander would do and to get back into character as the man's old war buddy.
"I'm telling you, this place is seriously FUBAR," Maelstrom said, trying to keep his tone even and serious. Pointing with his thumb back at the bathroom door, he said, "I haven't heard explosions like that since the Skyllian Blitz. People crying for mercy, begging to be put out of their misery. I'm just lucky I had my respirator on."
Unaffected by his humor, she demanded, "Where is he?"
"The demolitions expert is probably just about done blowing this building's plumbing system up from the inside out," Maelstrom insisted.
She stared at him with a steely gaze. Maelstrom smiled to himself. The nurse was trying to intimidate the man who nuked places as a form of personal therapy.
Weaver started for the bathroom, but Maelstrom put an arm in her way. Her glare returned to him.
"Truth is, a player like Lysander doesn't belong in a place like this. Monitors on all the beds. Actually... I don't know, he might like a recording. All I'm saying is that a couple weeks in here without a little action... Let's just say there's a certain white-coat in there getting horizontal... well... probably staying vertical... with him," Maelstrom confessed.
"Really?" she said, skeptically. "What's the name?"
Maelstrom found himself speechless for a moment. Emily stepped in, showing him a snapshot of the chart on Lysander's door as he entered. "Doctor Jones."
"Good. I can't stand Jones," she said, heading for the door again.
"Real bitch, huh?" Maelstrom asked, getting in her way again.
Pushing him aside, she said, "A real dick is more like it." With that, she disappeared into the restroom.
Deactivating external speakers for a second, Maelstrom said, "Emily, remind me to work on your comprehension of humanoid sexuality at some point."
"Note made," she replied.
Maelstrom considered for a moment using the basic welding tool on his omni-tool to seal Weaver in the bathroom, but he decided that would cause more trouble than it would solve. She came out looking even more unpleasant than when she entered.
"So... I take it Jones wasn't in there getting it on with someone?" he asked somewhat sheepishly.
Her expression drooping into an even more disapproving snarl, she said, "He was. Lysander wasn't."
"Are you sure there isn't a female Doctor Jones that maybe he slipped away with somewhere?"
"Where is he?"
Acting nervous, Maelstrom said, "Well, he's definitely not in the storage room stashing pain pills."
She just stared at him.
Sighing, he said, "Nope... definitely not doing that."
Without taking her eyes off him, she brought up her omni-tool and an application for tracking patients.
He stood his ground.
Finally ignoring him, she turned to her omni-tool. "Huh? What's he doing on Sublevel 1?"
"In fairness, I did say earlier that he was getting vertical..."
"Go wait by the reception desk... now!" she said, heading in the same direction as Lysander.
Maelstrom held up his hands and started heading away. "Fine, but keep in mind, I'm the same guy who apparently got a bathroom and an elevator confused. No telling where I'll end up."
"Don't you dare!" she yelled.
With that, he started towards Lysander's room.
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Post by Shala'Bekk vas Neema on Mar 22, 2015 22:25:14 GMT -6
Examining the video did not mean simply trying to examine every minute detail of the footage with her eyes; if the salarians had not found anything, just looking at it would be a waste of time, she needed to dig into the coding itself to find any discrepancies.
As she looked at it, everything seemed normal, that it really was the unvarnished truth: Maelstrom just walked up to the man, shot him and ran away.
But it went against everything she thought she knew about the human. While he was certainly capable of killing, he was all too aware of the forces arrayed against him, and therefore stealth was his greatest weapon against them; he would not make the mistake of leaving such footage to be found so easily.
Wait…
Something in the coding looked familiar, something Tali’Zorah had shared when she described working through a geth's memory to find the traitorous plans of Saren Arterius.
She looked at it again. While it was similar to the coding her crewmate had described, there were some differences in it as well.
“I think I found something,” she said, pointing at the suspect code.
“I don’t see anything,” the salarian supervising her said.
“It bears some similarity to geth coding,” she said.
“Are you saying the geth are behind this?” he asked.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “That’s not how the geth operate. If it had been them, they would have sent an infiltration unit. And they wouldn’t have bothered trying to frame an organic.”
“Then what are you saying?” he asked.
“That another party got their hands on geth coding and modified it for their own use,” she said.
“Do you know who?” he asked.
“No,” she said. “This is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
“Remove it and see it what it reveals,” he said.
“Already on it,” she said, her fingers flowing over the keyboard.
*****
It took her the better part of an hour, but she finally removed the false coding, revealing footage that matched up exactly with what they had gotten from the store owner.
“Let’s go over the rest of the footage,” the salarian said. “If they created this false footage of the shooting, then the rest of it was probably altered too.”
She nodded as she began typing furiously. Now that she knew what to look for, it would only be a matter of time before the truth was revealed.
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Post by Eric Lysander on Mar 23, 2015 9:15:00 GMT -6
Eric consulted the chronometer on his omni-tool and kept to one side of the darkened elevator bay leading to a locked double-door with viewports. He peered through one and saw the floor looked empty other than someone manning a reception desk and two C-Sec officers making their rounds. Eric moved off to the side and stared at the security lock. He sighed and activated his omni-tool linkup. “Emily?” he whispered into it. “Can you buzz me in?” He held out his device in front of the lock and in milliseconds Maelstrom’s VI was able to forge an access code that allowed the doors to open and yet not register as an anomaly in the security logs. The doors slid open and Eric walked in quickly and purposefully around the reception desk, trying to avoid eye contact and look like he was there on official business. He managed to slip past an officer into a hallway leading to the morgue. After checking that no one was behind him Eric palmed the wall panel to open the door; fortunately it was not locked. If Cronauer was inside somewhere the lack of military presence indicated his standing among his peers. That or N7 thought there was no longer a threat from whomever had him killed to warrant extra security.
The room was gray and cold with cadaver storage compartments on the far wall. A few assorted bodies were laid out on gurneys covered in dark grey sheets, a couple of them human. But none of them were the assassinated colonel, however. Eric grew concerned that maybe the coroner had already finished and either had the body put into storage or it was already taken away by Alliance officers. His eyes darted about the room as he went further in.
“Any chance Cronauer’s stuffed in one o’ these?” He held his omni-tool up before the storage wall.
“His name is not one of those listed for these compartments,” replied Emily.
Eric soon came across an operating room of sorts. Seen through the large rectangular observation window was a body laid out on a gurney with its head exposed, a human head with a familiar long face and cropped gray hair.
Cronauer.
"Found ya," Eric heaved with relief, glad that the autopsy was not quite finished despite Maelstrom's report of the victim receiving only the one fatal wound. Eric entered the room and searched about for some rubber gloves. There was a box on a desk beside a data terminal filled with them. Eric fished out a pair, put them on and went over to the gurney. A cart was situated by the gurney with some of Cronauer's personal effects. From these Eric recognized and picked up the wrist emitter for the colonel's omni-tool.
Examining it, he keyed his own device and whispered. "Emily, see if you can access the data from Cronauer's omni-tool."
To the N7s chagrin, Maelstrom's VI did not immediately comply and noted “Our primary objective is to obtain ballistics evidence to clear Maelstrom of murder char-"
“This guy had shit – intel on your master if he got up the nerve to try to recruit him," Eric countered tersely. "Any intel on me and Esteban Bridges could link to Maelstrom, too. While we’re here might as well be thorough, right? Can you grab the data or not?”
“Procedure will take approximately 112 seconds” Emily estimated.
"And while you're doin' that." Eric lifted up the cadaver's sheet. No other trauma or injuries were seen. He lowered the sheet again and recalled the Shadow Broker's thwarted promise as he looked over the erstwhile intelligence agent.
“Geez, Willie. Couldn’t ya get caught bangin’ the C-in-C’s ol’ lady?”
Eric then carefully tilted Cronauer's head forward and to one side to examine the bullet hole.
"Uh-huh... shots from an SMG don't make a hole this clean, not even at point blank range. Definitely a high-powered sniper round. Spread on the forehead side shows the shot came from behind... entry at a slightly elevated angle. The shooter was on the same level as Willie and Mal but in cover up behind some crates or hold supports."
Eric laid Cronauer's head back down the way he found it and moved over to the data terminal with holos and autopsy report on display. He flicked between them reviewing the notations.
“And the medical examiner… agrees!”
Eric's omni-tool chimed with Emily's voice. "Flash-ghosting of device complete."
"Verrry good." The aspiring detective looked at the forms on screen, commenting. "There's another copy of the autopsy report up here."
"Likely to be transmitted to C-Sec for their investigation," conjectured the VI.
The N7 looked closer at the reports. "No kiddin’ ... so if this is a copy... why don't the wound descriptions match?"
His omni-tool flashed briefly. “Form and holo comparison completed. Copy deviates from original by 28%. All indications suggest a forgery is in progress.”
Eric stuffed down astonished laughter. The forger was either a rank amateur or so confident in his or her own abilities that they could start their work, leave the room to take a break then come back to finish with no one being the wiser. He went back to look over Cronauer's body with his hands on the side of the gurney, his back to the observation window as he considered the evidence. The only possible way he could see them pulling off this deception was if the body was somehow disposed of. If C-Sec figured out the report they would be given was fake the coroner would be blamed, allowing the guilty parties to escape.
"Emily, make a copy of those reports for Maelstrom. I think whoever's comin' ta collect this corpse won't be Alliance. Both were created under the same login, right?"
"Terminal login name corresponds to medical examiner's signature," the VI confirmed.
"Nice. Examiner's runnin' a lil' late, hands the keys over to his trusty assistant ta wrap things up. Only the examiner's gonna be wrapped up in-"
"Excuse me - what are you doing in here?" came a voice from behind.
Eric's gut knotted and tensed. His shoulders shrugged up as he turned to face a curly haired young man in a short sleeved orderly’s uniform. The VI interfaced with Eric's omni-tool was clever enough to deactivate his device at the sound of an unknown voice. For a moment Eric was disoriented, having been so involved in gathering evidence for his friend stalling for him several floors above. He then remembered that disorientation was his defense and did something someone clearly not in their right mind would do. He grabbed the sides of his pajama pants, yanked them down to his ankles and stood up tall, bouncing on his toes with his arms held over his head.
"PUDD-IIIING!!!"
The young orderly's face contorted with horror. He scurried up to Eric with outstretched hands.
"No-no-no! No pudding here! Not in here! Take it easy... okay... okay, stay calm. Let's get you out of here." He cautiously pulled Eric's pants back up and gently led him out of the morgue, the N7 looking about in a haze and spouting utterances every step of the way.
"But I-I was lookin' for th' rest-room... this isn't the rest-room...? Everyone in here's rest-ing... sleep-ing... not even breath-ing... they must really be tired..."
Eric was lead back to the reception desk where he received another surprise. Nurse Weaver was on the floor talking to the man at the desk about him. Spotting her missing patient from the corner of one eye, she sprinted over and reached out to grab his shoulders with a scowl. Eric bolted out from the orderly’s arms into hers.
"H-h-heyy, Miss Weaver!" Eric exhaled into her face. Weaver's throat caught and her eyes rolled back a moment in disgust.
The curly-haired orderly helped peel him off with the help of a female turian C-Sec officer. "Real sorry about that, Jackie. I was about to take him back to the mental ward - what are you doing down here?" Jackie? Her name's Jackie? thought Eric.
Jackie took a firm hold of Eric's arm. "He's with me, Pete. He's not a psych patient but it certainly would explain some things if he was. Remember the patient I told you about at lunch? Ex-marine? Gastro-intestinal trauma?"
“This is ‘Draino Guy?’” the orderly's face skewed as he pointed to the captured patient. It was Eric's turn to roll his eyes, though he did so without present company noticing.
Draino Guy? Jackie pulled him forward. "We gave him some meds to take for the pain. Some of the side effects... well, you see this mess here."
"Blasted again," chuckled the orderly, coming in close to look. "You think if I gave him a cup of hot lava now he'd drink that too?"
"Lava? Why would I drink lava?" said Eric groggily.
With the two hospital staff members and C-Sec officer gathered close, eyes on his face, they failed to see his free hand fiddling with the orderly's waist drawstring preparing a surprise for the young wiseacre.
The officer and nurse backed away with Eric, each draping one of his arms over their shoulders. "All right - let's get him back in his room. Thanks for finding him, Pete," said Jackie.
The orderly gave a friendly wave and a smile and backed up. "No problem, Jackie..."
It was then that he felt a slight breeze about his middle. He looked down and was shocked to discover that his pants had lowered below his groin. He swiftly gripped and yanked them back up, nearly giving himself an old schoolyard torture in the process. "Bye, pervert!" blurted Eric as he was led out through the double doors he snuck past minutes earlier. "Hey! You saw that, officer? He was ex-posing himself! Arrest him, not me!"
Eric behaved himself better on the elevator ride back to his floor, only fidgeting quietly between his escorts. But upon spying his friend waiting by the reception desk he resumed his shtick.
"Hey, Black-ayy!” he called to Maelstrom. “Got a lil’ lost on th’ way to th’ rest-room but these two nice ladies found me… I think a thank-you-double date iz in order!"
Eric's head angled at Nurse Weaver, face scrunched into a smile. "I got dibs on her."
[Author’s Note: C-in-C: Commander in Chief (of Systems Alliance military)]
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