Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2014 16:00:35 GMT -6
Graal stepped into Chora’s Den, surveying the scene before him: an assortment of races and genders standing around in low light and talking while electronic music pumped in loudly through speakers. Above the bar danced scantily clad asari, and human females, wearing even less, circulated through the crowds delivering drinks. He supposed the asari and human females were meant to entice patrons into buying more drinks, but they did nothing for him; seeing all that exposed flesh only made him think how easy it would be to crush their bodies with his bare hands. Krogan females, on the other hand…
As he looked over the bar, he spotted two other krogan. One of them, from another clan, stood near the back, dressed in some type of uniform; a bouncer. Back on Tuchanka, entering the land of another clan demanded a test of strength and dominance, usually a head butt. Standing up to it would gain one entry, failure meant denial. But this wasn’t Tuchanka, and this bar didn’t belong to the bouncer’s clan, so no test was needed; besides, the bouncer was neither armored nor armored, there was no challenge to it. The other one he recognized, another scout from his clan. He was smaller than most krogan, but he had survived the Rite, mostly by hiding from the thresher maw. Tradition only demanded that one survive it, not kill it; had that been the standard, not even he would have been admitted into the clan.
But at least I fought the thing, he thought.
He shouldered his way through the crowd, not caring if he ran into anyone; if they didn’t want him running into them, they needed to get out of his way.
He approached the other krogan, who bowed his head in deference. Graal tapped at his omnitool, bringing up a picture of the human he was supposed to meet. “I’m looking for this human, he wanted to hire me. Have you seen him?” he asked.
The runt studied it for a moment. “Yes, but he left the station, six, seven days ago,” he said. “He met with a member of Clan Khel, but he didn’t make the trip. A quarian met with him too. She had to fight a batarian just to meet him. She had a quad on her.”
Graal glared at the runt. What did he care who the human met with, if he wasn’t part of the job? But if the human was hiring quarians, the job probably would have been beneath him.
So now what? Stuck on this disgustingly clean space station with all these annoying humans...
An idea occurred to him. He looked back at the runt and said, “A place this big has got to have some people worth killing. Who do I see about that?”
The runt considered the question. “Go see a volus named Barla Von, he works in the Financial District,” he said.
He looked around furtively then leaned in and whispered, “He’s an agent of the Shadow Broker. I hear the jobs are good and the pay is better.”
As he looked over the bar, he spotted two other krogan. One of them, from another clan, stood near the back, dressed in some type of uniform; a bouncer. Back on Tuchanka, entering the land of another clan demanded a test of strength and dominance, usually a head butt. Standing up to it would gain one entry, failure meant denial. But this wasn’t Tuchanka, and this bar didn’t belong to the bouncer’s clan, so no test was needed; besides, the bouncer was neither armored nor armored, there was no challenge to it. The other one he recognized, another scout from his clan. He was smaller than most krogan, but he had survived the Rite, mostly by hiding from the thresher maw. Tradition only demanded that one survive it, not kill it; had that been the standard, not even he would have been admitted into the clan.
But at least I fought the thing, he thought.
He shouldered his way through the crowd, not caring if he ran into anyone; if they didn’t want him running into them, they needed to get out of his way.
He approached the other krogan, who bowed his head in deference. Graal tapped at his omnitool, bringing up a picture of the human he was supposed to meet. “I’m looking for this human, he wanted to hire me. Have you seen him?” he asked.
The runt studied it for a moment. “Yes, but he left the station, six, seven days ago,” he said. “He met with a member of Clan Khel, but he didn’t make the trip. A quarian met with him too. She had to fight a batarian just to meet him. She had a quad on her.”
Graal glared at the runt. What did he care who the human met with, if he wasn’t part of the job? But if the human was hiring quarians, the job probably would have been beneath him.
So now what? Stuck on this disgustingly clean space station with all these annoying humans...
An idea occurred to him. He looked back at the runt and said, “A place this big has got to have some people worth killing. Who do I see about that?”
The runt considered the question. “Go see a volus named Barla Von, he works in the Financial District,” he said.
He looked around furtively then leaned in and whispered, “He’s an agent of the Shadow Broker. I hear the jobs are good and the pay is better.”