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Post by Geneenh T'Loris on Mar 13, 2017 12:33:19 GMT -6
It had taken Geneenh several minutes in the ship's security system to find the human she was looking for, mostly due to the fact that most of the crew were humans. She narrowed the parameters to light-skinned males with hair that was--what was the color again?--blond.
She mused over the fur that covered the top of their skulls and wondered how they managed to deal with it. Some seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time arranging it in certain patterns or colors only to change it as soon as a new one came out.
For such a short-lived race, they spend a lot of time on trivial things.
But then she did have the benefit of a lifespan that could be measured in four digits, so there were many things that seemed trivial to her. She expected that if she lived to be one thousand years old that even her pursuits now would be of ultimately little importance.
A slight chirping sound announcing the end of the search broke her from her musings.
She looked over the vidscreen and saw that he was in the mess hall.
She disconnected from the system and started making her way there.
*****
When she reached the mess hall, she found he was still there. He was seated at a small table with a beverage before him as he tapped away on a datapad.
"Excuse me," she said. "May I join you?"
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Post by Eric Lysander on Mar 13, 2017 19:06:01 GMT -6
Maelstrom did not appear too offended at Eric’s recommendation that Joseph act as his second-in-command, at least for the diversionary phase of the mission. The man in Collector armor gave as best a summation as he could manage of Cerberus officials and their pecking order in interactions with each other. Intimidation and ego in the proper measure could help get them past most personnel save for cell leaders or captains. More creative thinking would be required for them.
"If I can think of more, I'll let you know,” Maelstrom concluded. “It's hard to put everything with them into words."
“It’s a start,” reassured Eric. “Guess I need to think snooty maître’d mixed with some ballbuster – kinda sounds like these types.”
He glanced over to Joseph and sighed inwardly. The junior N7 had set up an impromptu target range using a Cerberus chest plate throughout Maelstrom’s briefing, testing the Matlock rifle he found. Satisfied with the quality of the weapon he found, Joseph gave it to Thrak suggesting it as a worthy souvenir. Thrak, while grateful, wished to battle with his more familiar implements. As Eric began to motion for Joseph’s attention something had set the krogan off, sending him stomping off towards Arcus. Apparently he was not very fond of the turian’s taste in music. Arcus attempted to defuse the situation with humor, reaching out to Joseph at one point for assistance.
“Fischer! Should I start looking for a paint kit?” Arcus asked with Thrak still glaring at him.
"Uh, no," Joe replied. "I think we'll go with standard Cerberus white on this one."
Thrak muttered something to Arcus before leaving the locker room.
"Is anyone else reminded of another crazy turian with a fondness for knives, or is it just me?" whispered Joseph to Maelstrom and Eric.
The Merc in Silver sneaked a quick look down ways at Arcus. “He hasn’t been cleaning anything else other than his knife so I’m not too worried. But it couldn’t hurt to check in advance if any of us are already on his wanted list, if you get my drift.”
The confrontation with Arctacus before the mission to the Collector base was a sore point for the team. Even showing that the vid that was provided as evidence of Eric’s guilt was fabricated did not sway the turian, which led to his unceremonious ousting from ship’s company at the nearest fueling depot.
“Besides, maybe he’s packin’ a surfboard and a Hawaiian shirt to go with those groovy tunes,” winked Eric, encouraging Eric and Joseph to inquire further with one of the newest team members.
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Post by Joe Fischer on Mar 13, 2017 20:06:27 GMT -6
"Demonstrator, post!" Joe said. "But seriously, I had an idea about helping us deal with the stiffs at the shipyard."
He looked over at Maelstrom.
"If there's one thing I learned while in the Marines, it's the power of the pen," he said. "With an approved set of orders, there hardly isn't anything we couldn't do. Do you think if we gave them a set of orders telling us to bring the 'crew' to the Okinawa that they would buy it?"
[AUTHOR NOTE: "Demonstrator, post!" is a military term telling someone to demonstrate an action that might be unfamiliar or confusing to others. In other words, Joe is telling Eric to talk to Arcus.]
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Post by Corwin Havens on Mar 13, 2017 20:30:30 GMT -6
The blond mercenary sat alone in the mess hall, staring down at his data pad. His bright blue eyes scanned the screen, proofreading the message he typed for his daughter. She was out on a her own mission, hunting a Blue Suns mercenary who upset a very wealthy client. He wanted to give her advise, like how to sneak up on a target or the best way to dispose of a body. But River already knew everything that she needed to. Benewan trained her flawlessly.
"Excuse me," a woman's voice said. "May I join you?"
Corwin blinked and slowly looked up from the data pad, towards the Asari. He smiled to himself, realizing that he was so lost in thought that someone accidentally snuck up on him.
"Of course," Corwin replied, gesturing to a seat across from him while rising to his feet. Old habit. Always stand when greeting anyone. "Please, have a seat. I don't think we've been formally introduced. I'm Corwin... and you are?"
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Post by Geneenh T'Loris on Mar 13, 2017 21:17:20 GMT -6
"I'm Geneenh T'Loris, it's a pleasure to meet you, Corwin," she said, extending her hand.
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Post by Maelstrom on Mar 13, 2017 22:49:58 GMT -6
"If there's one thing I learned while in the Marines, it's the power of the pen," Fischer suggested. "With an approved set of orders, there hardly isn't anything we couldn't do. Do you think if we gave them a set of orders telling us to bring the 'crew' to the Okinawa that they would buy it?"
Maelstrom thought it over, but it only took him half a second to reach his conclusion. "Never work. Even if could properly forge such orders, keeping in mind that we don't even know who their direct superior would be, there's no way they'd let a group of aliens onto the Okinawa without calling The Illusive Man directly first. It would just look too much like... well... like someone trying to steal the ship. No, smuggling them over on the Vengeance is still our best play there."
Looking off in the direction the krogan had just stormed off, he added with a slight chuckle to his voice, "Except maybe him. Think we could convince him to stand still on a hovercart and get painted bronze? Might be able to pass him off as some krogan artwork the captain bought."
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Post by Urdnot Thrak on Mar 14, 2017 1:48:35 GMT -6
Thrak had finally settled on a crate next to the Vengeance. For some reason, he liked the all black vessel even before its owner had proudly, if without detail, explained its stealth capabilities and modest armaments. Maybe it's the name.
"Doc," he called, bringing up the channel the group had set aside for the turian doctor. He did not like bringing an alien in on the Rite, but there were no other krogan, and it needed to be done. "I need a hand. Can you meet me by the Vengeance?"
"I'm rather busy at the moment, preparing for the upcoming mission," the turian's voice came over the comms unit in his helmet. "Is this an urgent medical need."
"Not yet, but it will be," he answered.
"Which member of the crew should I come prepared to treat?" she asked, displeasure clear in her voice. If Thrak had to guess, she was going to call Lysander and warn him of whomever Thrak planned to attack.
"Just me, Doc," he said, hating the stereotyping of his people. Even if it was largely accurate, it was not appreciated.
"Then how do you know..."
"Just get here, Doc, then you'll understand," Thrak interrupted.
He heard a sigh. "Very well. Could this possibly wait for five minutes?"
He cocked his head. Even if she was trying to buy time to get the others to come stop him, he did not think any of them would think of trying to deny him his rite. It was not that he thought they would be scared of him. These humans actually seemed to appreciate the diversity in their group, trying to figure out how to make it work for them rather than how to make everyone else conform to their way of doing things.
"Sure, Doc. See you in a few minutes."
With that, the Krogan drew a long knife concealed in his armor and set it on the crate next to him. Off next were the plates protecting his hands and arms; they came off easily. After that was the rather large chest-piece, which took significantly more work, Thrak having to manually enter a sequence of commands to deactivate the clams and cause several pieces of plating to retract before he could even reach the manual clamps he had to disengage. He had practice, though, and all his upper armor had been removed in less than a minute. Next, he took off his shirt and sat waiting for the doctor.
"So, what's this urgent medical need that's about to happen?" the doctor asked, turning the corner around a pile of crates.
With the question, Thrak grabbed the knife, flipped the blade towards himself, and jabbed it into an unscarred portion of his hump. He knew exactly where he was driving it. It was nowhere near his spine. No major nerve clusters were located nearby. No organs, redundant or otherwise. Just a lot of fatty tissue meant to sustain krogan through times of drought or famine. It took a lot of muscle to puncture the natural armor plating of the hump, and it took more to pull the knife down in a long, ragged gash, ending nearly at his shoulder.
"What? No! Stop that!" she yelled, trying to run and stop him, but he was done by the time she reached him. As she opened her medkit and started to work on him, she was clearly upset. "What were you thinking?"
"I have no interest in explaining the rites of my people to a turian," Thrak grumbled. "But I have to do this before each time I face a new enemy."
"How many times have you done this?" she asked, her gaze fixated on his wound.
"I'd need two mirrors to answer that. I might have a long memory, but not a perfect one. Plus, I may or may not have done it while drunk a couple times," Thrak said.
"You would do this to yourself right before a mission?" she asked harshly.
"Never was a problem before... well, except the one time it got infected. That's why I called you," he said.
"Please, at least tell me you sterilized the knife," she said.
He cocked his head to the side, "Huh. Didn't think of that."
Rather than berating him, she just shook her head and started in on her work.
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Post by Arcus on Mar 14, 2017 4:15:04 GMT -6
Arcus watched as the annoyed krogan left the room. He shrugged to himself. Maybe he had overdone it, just a little.
His attention turned to the humans in the room. They were all eyeing him and the doorway that Thrak had jusy exited through. After a moment they began talking amongst themselves in quiet tones, undoubtedly questioning the stability of the newcomers to their group.
Arcus couldn’t blame them. So far, he hadn’t exactly portrayed himself as a model turian, and Thrak was. . . well, a krogan. Certainly more interesting a krogan than most Arcus had met in the past, but a krogan all the same. That brought with it some caveats. The fact that Arcus has just broken one of the most important ones, don’t provoke the krogan, didn’t help his case any.
Not that he had much of a case for sanity in the first place, he mused, fiddling with the handle of the knife on the table.
Still, it was best to get to know this new team a bit better. From the sounds of things, he might be stuck with them rather longer than he was accustomed to. That meant that simply staying removed from the group, as was his usual preference, would not be beneficial. Arcus frowned, inwardly. He wasn’t sure his was interested in pursuing a relationship with these people, but their were some things that were unique, interesting even, about them.
Firstly, at the meeting, it was implied that the Shadow Broker thought these people to be the cream of the mercenary crop. It was an implication Arcus didn’t believe to be idle flattery. And yet, he had never heard of any of them. Clearly, they all knew each other and had clearly been working together for some time. What had they done to distinguish themselves so much without seemingly even raising a whisper of their names within their profession? Arcus supposed it must have something to do with their mysterious prior encounter with the collectors.
The group of humans had begun to talk shop about the mission again. Tall-Dark-And-Collector (Maelstrom, was it?) suggested painting Thrak and smuggling him in as a statue. A joke, clearly.
Arcus sighed. Now was as good a time as any, he supposed, standing up and making his way to the others. “I’m not entirely sure I would suggest that to Thrak just now, If I were you.” Arcus reached the group and stopped. “I think he has reached his limit for today, and possibly tomorrow, but maybe on the next mission.”
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Post by Joe Fischer on Mar 14, 2017 5:29:59 GMT -6
As Joe listened to Maelstrom explain why his idea wouldn't he realized he had assumed that their crew for the Okinawa would be human.
Damn, he thought. Oh well, better now than later...
He listened further as the biotic suggested the possibility of painting Thrak bronze and disguising him as a statue, and realized the man was joking.
"Getting a krogan to stand still when he's surrounded by enemies?" he said. "If you can convince him to do that, then you'd be my hero. Wait, no that spot is already taken...my number two?"
He made a show of thinking.
"No, not number two, but definitely my number three," he said.
Before the one-man crusader against Cerberus could respond, Arcus approached and said, “I’m not entirely sure I would suggest that to Thrak just now, if I were you. I think he has reached his limit for today, and possibly tomorrow, but maybe on the next mission.”
"You say that as if you know him," Joe said.
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Post by Arcus on Mar 14, 2017 6:11:29 GMT -6
"You say that as if you know him,"
Arcus nodded. "Thrak and I share a certain. . . proclivity, in our work. It has resulted in our securing the same contracts on occasion, by coincidence." He nodded towards the other two. "And what about you? I have certainly recieved the impression you all know each other fairly well and, I must say, I never would have expected to see a human wearing collector armor. My understanding is that at least the three of you share a history with the collectors?"
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Post by Eric Lysander on Mar 14, 2017 8:09:09 GMT -6
"Demonstrator, post!" Joe said and then turned to Maelstrom . "But seriously, I had an idea about helping us deal with the stiffs at the shipyard. If there's one thing I learned while in the Marines, it's the power of the pen. With an approved set of orders, there hardly isn't anything we couldn't do. Do you think if we gave them a set of orders telling us to bring the 'crew' to the Okinawa that they would buy it?" "
Eric’s brow skewed. That might work on business execs but to paramilitary spooks, it’s free toilet paper.
Maelstrom agreed. "Never work. Even if could properly forge such orders, keeping in mind that we don't even know who their direct superior would be, there's no way they'd let a group of aliens onto the Okinawa without calling The Illusive Man directly first. It would just look too much like... well... like someone trying to steal the ship. No, smuggling them over on the Vengeance is still our best play there."
The man in Collector armor shot a look to one side and back in reference to their missing team member and chuckled "Except maybe him. Think we could convince him to stand still on a hovercart and get painted bronze? Might be able to pass him off as some krogan artwork the captain bought."
“Th’ only still life he’s probably inta is th’ ones he creates himself wit’ his mole whacker!” said Eric.
"Getting a krogan to stand still when he's surrounded by enemies?" added Joseph. "If you can convince him to do that, then you'd be my hero. Wait, no that spot is already taken...my number two…? No, not number two, but definitely my number three"
“I’m not entirely sure I would suggest that to Thrak just now if I were you,” came a voice increasing steadily in volume. Arcus had walked up to join in on the conversation. “I think he has reached his limit for today and possibly tomorrow, but maybe on the next mission.”
"You say that as if you know him," said Joe.
Arcus nodded. "Thrak and I share a certain. . . proclivity, in our work. It has resulted in our securing the same contracts on occasion, by coincidence." He nodded towards the other two. "And what about you? I have certainly received the impression you all know each other fairly well and, I must say, I never would have expected to see a human wearing collector armor. My understanding is that at least the three of you share a history with the collectors?"
Eric folded his arms. “Yep. We’ve had two missions against those buggers so far. Chased the first batch offa dig site with Maelstrom. Joe signed on with us later ta help swat the second. Fried one o’their bases an’ even ticked off a Reaper in th’ process.” He gestured at Maelstrom’s armor. “Mal here’s been makin’ good use of some o’their stuff since – payback in a way since Collectors seem ta like usin’ ours.”
The Merc in Silver tilted his head. “Say… you a beachcomber by any chance? I hear Bysorrn’s got some pretty good surfin’ action lately. Only mention that cos’ of th’ music…”
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Post by Joe Fischer on Mar 14, 2017 8:42:41 GMT -6
"We're the only ones left from that mission...at least that are still part of this team," Joe said. "Karn, the boss, Iskra, Morgan, Murchadh...
"I think I miss the boss the most," he continued. "One of the most uptight guys I ever met, and a civilian no less, but he was cool under fire."
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Post by Eric Lysander on Mar 14, 2017 9:37:30 GMT -6
Eric's face dimmed and looked to the deck. "... guys like him are few and far between... we've earned us some real powerful enemies."
He looked up at Arcus. "Your buddy Thrak's gonna have th' time o'his life..."
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Post by Maelstrom on Mar 14, 2017 9:37:52 GMT -6
Maelstrom nodded at Fischer's recollection. They had certainly lost their number of compatriots, but that was the nature of the universe. All they could do was push themselves to be smarter, faster, and just better. Then maybe they could stop it from happening to someone else.
"Don't forget Meldom. Can't say I've spotted him since we've been on the freighter, but I think he signed in. I know I saw him at the meeting. He's our stealth expert and sniper. Lysander is our explosives expert and generally-accepted XO. Fischer is our tank on two feet. Me... I'm the biotic artillery. Also, for some reason, I always seem to be the one providing the nuclear devices..." Maelstrom explained. Remembering one other member of the combat team, he added, "And then, of course, there's Naetilia. She's never hit the collectors with us, but she did help out with a few mercs and a little geth incident. The team doctor, ever since Iskra went MIA. Lekuhn may be around here somewhere. Can't say I've seen him since the meeting either, but he joined up at the same time as Naetilia."
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Post by Urdnot Thrak on Mar 14, 2017 10:36:30 GMT -6
"I have done what I can for the injury. The wound had been sterilized, and the coagulant I used should prevent any excessive bleeding. These staples should be enough to hold closed the torn scute. Change out the dressing once every twenty hours or so, and you should not experience any problems. Since you were so insistent I not use any more sophisticated techniques, you will experience significant scarring... not that the rest of your back suggests you have any aversion to that. Are you sure you will not accept anything for the pain?" the turian asked.
He smiled a big smile, as he pulled his shirt back on and started assembling the armor again. "Hardly counts. Besides, being pissed off helps me in a fight."
She grumbled something under her breath which he could not hear. "I need to get back to my work. Please, refrain from inflicting any more urgent medical matters upon yourself... or any other members of the crew for that matter."
"I'll try," he said, as she started walking away. "No promises, though!"
She missed half a step, but then continued on her way once more, muttering what sounded like curses under her breath.
"I've never met a krogan before," another feminine voice chimed. He looked over to see someone he had not laid eyes on before. In front of him was a smallish human woman with a slight-but-toned built. He could not say he found her particularly attractive, but he had been in enough bars to know that males of most species would have drooled over her. She had long, reddish-brown hair too. Thrak never understood why human women allowed such a tactical weakness. Curiously, she was dressed in clothes more suited to a civilian than a mercenary. She was sitting on the floor of the Vengeance, the hatch opened fully. "I was really impressed that you didn't even make a face when you cut yourself, or when Naetilia fixed you up."
He raised an eyebrow. "You weren't here when I cut myself."
"I watched on the camera," she said, cocking a thumb towards the cockpit of the craft. "Maelstrom's VI kind of freaks out when people get close."
He grunted. "I didn't see you when I was in there earlier."
"He's a little protective of me," she said. She furrowed her brow for a moment before turning her attention back to Thrak. "I heard your voice before, though. I was in the back, watching some vids."
Explains why he didn't want me back there, Thrak thought.
"Are you two lovers? Or did he buy you off some batarians?" Thrak asked. His thoughts drifted to one of his old jobs. Come to think of it, those aren't always mutually exclusive.
"Nothing like that. I was being held at a Cerberus facility, and he and some of his friends broke me out," she said, though she seemed uncomfortable talking about it.
Huh. Guess he might be a Cerberus expert. Doesn't explain why he's dragging her along with him, though.
"Are you fighting with us on the mission?" Thrak asked.
"I kind of don't have any weapons... or armor..." she said sheepishly. "I lost mine."
Thrak found that curious, but it would not due to have a defenseless party with them. Even the other members of the crew who Thrak had seen so far had simple sidearms and woefully inadequate armor stowed in Maelstrom's shuttle, for when they made their infiltration. Until then, the ones who could pass for human were pretending to be the crew of the Patroclus for when Cerberus would inevitably search the ship.
"There's a bunch of weapons and armor in some lockers not far away," Thrak suggested.
She looked nervously in the direction of the room. Thrak found it curious that she knew exactly where it was.
"VI, do you know who's there right now?" the woman asked.
"Maelstrom, Eric Lysander, Joe Fischer, and Arcus," the VI, which sounded quite similar to the woman, responded.
The woman had brightened at the mention of the first three names and then seemed to shrink back at the mention of the fourth. Looking to Thrak, she said, "I'll think about it. My name's Emily, by the way."
"Urdnot Thrak," he said, as he finished strapping on his heavy armor. "Think you'll be sticking with us after the mission?"
She shrugged. "Probably. I really have no idea what I'm doing with my life."
Thrak let out a deep belly laugh. "You aren't the only one, Girlie!"
With that, he headed back towards the armory. He wanted to ask this "Maelstrom" why he had dragged this young woman along without giving her any way of defending herself.
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Post by Joe Fischer on Mar 14, 2017 17:34:13 GMT -6
Joe nodded at Maelstrom's mention of the team's stealth specialists.
"I guess it's just a sign they're so good at their job I completely forget about them," he said.
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Post by Arcus on Mar 14, 2017 20:38:41 GMT -6
“Yep. We’ve had two missions against those buggers so far. Chased the first batch offa dig site with Maelstrom. Joe signed on with us later ta help swat the second. Fried one o’their bases an’ even ticked off a Reaper in th’ process.”
Reapers again, Arcus thought. Either they are crazy, or they have some motive for making me believe that. Surely not merely to brag. He remembered their drell host mentioning collectors as being agents to the Reapers. Coincidence, collusion, or -more disturbingly- truth? It was probably best not to play into whatever the oddly accented man was aiming at until Arcus knew more. He maintained an even face. "Poke-her-face," humans called it. The expression made no sense to the turian. He nodded in acknowledgement, but gave nothing else.
“Say… you a beachcomber by any chance? I hear Bysorrn’s got some pretty good surfin’ action lately. Only mention that cos’ of th’ music…”
Arcus rolled the phrase over in his head. "Beachcomber?" He asked with a quizzical expression. "Surfin. . . . No, I'm, not entirely certain. . . Ahh, The Beach Boys. No, I'm afraid I don't comb beaches. I greatly enjoy human classical music. The renaissance and baroque periods, such as the Beach Boys, Ray Charles, and Nirvana, are my favorites, though I do listen to other periods. Unfortunately, some things tend to get lost in translation. I'm not really sure what surfin is."
Fischer chimed in, "We're the only ones left from that mission...at least that are still part of this team. Karn, the boss, Iskra, Morgan, Murchadh, the twins.... I think I miss the boss the most," he continued. "One of the most uptight guys I ever met, and a civilian no less, but he was cool under fire."
Maelstrom interjected, "Don't forget Meldom. Can't say I've spotted him since we've been on the freighter, but I think he signed in. I know I saw him at the meeting. He's our stealth expert and sniper. Lysander is our explosives expert and generally-accepted XO. Fischer is our tank on two feet. Me... I'm the biotic artillery. Also, for some reason, I always seem to be the one providing the nuclear devices... And then, of course, there's Naetilia. She's never hit the collectors with us, but she did help out with a few mercs and a little geth incident. The team doctor, ever since Iskra went MIA. Lekuhn may be around here somewhere. Can't say I've seen him since the meeting either, but he joined up at the same time as Naetilia."
Arcus could see that there was a complicated past surrounding this group, for better or worse. "I see," he said. "I am a biotic, close quarters specialist. I have never met my match in the use of a blade. My particular biotic abilities allow me to move across the battlefield rapidly for both assault and feint attacks. I'm no stranger to stealth and I'm decent at infiltration, but I wouldn't say I'm a master."
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Post by Joe Fischer on Mar 14, 2017 21:05:10 GMT -6
"So...like a vanguard, eh?" Joe said, glancing meaningfully at the other two humans before looking back at Arcus. "We've had a pretty good team so far, mostly because the boss had an eye for talent--except once, a turian vanguard named Artacus. He was good at fighting, but social interaction and teamwork? Not so much.
"Along the way to the Collector base, we picked up a distress call from a volus freighter, turns out they were under attack by pirates," he explained. "He and I were paired up as part of the effort to retake the ship. About halfway through he just up and went off to do his own thing.
"Later on, he drew down on Lysander here," he continued. "He had received a video of what looked like the old man in his N7 armor gunning down one of your officials. Totally fake, but he fell for it hook, line and sinker. I was about to send him to your version of the afterlife when he finally backed down. After that, we tossed him off at the closest port we could find.
"The Broker hired you, so you must be good at what you do," he said. "But it's how you get along with everyone else that will determine how long you stick around."
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Post by Corwin Havens on Mar 14, 2017 21:21:33 GMT -6
"I'm Geneenh T'Loris, it's a pleasure to meet you, Corwin," the Asari cheerily spoke, extending her hand. Corwin's smile warmed ever so slightly.
"Gotta say," Corwin started, shaking the Asari's hand... "This is far nicer than the headbutt Krogans give me for a greeting. I get to stay conscious for the conversation."
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Post by Geneenh T'Loris on Mar 14, 2017 21:52:03 GMT -6
"If you want one I can give you one, and I'm fairly certain you'd stay awake afterwards," she said, smiling. "The best of both worlds."
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