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Tip of the Iceberg: A Mass Effect RP [TBM and Lord DreamCrusher]

Sera and Velira both reached the command deck at about the same time. Unsurprisingly, Sera seemed to still be a bit shaky on her feet, but she didn't let it slow her down, or draw any attention to her current situation. Velira, naturally, seemed to be not just at her full strength, but eager to get started on whatever they were doing on Noveria. As Kar spoke, both of them listened carefully as he brought them up to speed.

"If they have anything to hide, I will find it, don't worry." Sera spoke quietly, but confidently. "I'll also do my best to not be spotted. As you point out, Aptis is one thing, Belia Industries catching on is quite another. I do recall what happened last time they caught me, and that isn't something I want to deal with again. Much less the official fallout if they decide to complain about it to the Board. I'm assuming they don't want us interfering with one of their shareholders any more than strictly necessary."

Velira, meanwhile, remained quiet for a bit before speaking. "I can definitely keep an eye on Sera. I just want to make one thing clear. I will not do anything to antagonize the company unnecessarily. If things get dangerous, though, I can't guarantee there won't be casualties, and I would rather them be on the other side. I won't antagonize, but I won't hold back just to make the Council or the Board happy."

Sera seemed somewhat uneasy at Velira's words, but kept her mouth shut. She knew that Velira was probably remembering what had happened during their last big gunfight, and wanted to avoid a repeat incident. She just hoped that Velira wouldn't jump the gun, so to speak, in an effort to prevent such a repeat.
 
Kar nodded in response to Sera's words and didn't openly react to her somewhat shaky gait but certainly filed that away in his mind all the same. It wasn't much a surprise of course, he'd damn near broken her body during their night of fun, but it certainly reinforced the reason why he was sending Velira with her even besides the fact that Belia was as likely to respond harshly should they be found out. In any case Velira spoke up with concern about her mission and what was expected of her, wanting to clarify a few things, and Kar let her speak her mind before raising a hand as if to calm her.

"I don't expect you to just get shot at, captured, or otherwise impeded without defending yourself. If they come after you in any way, respond accordingly and keep yourselves safe. Just try to make sure you aren't perceived as the aggressors if such a thing happens. Also, as you can see, I'm fully equipped so if things really do get heated I can respond to back you up. Don't hesitate to call for me if you feel it's needed." While Sera did shift a little on her feet at the thought of confrontation, not that he could truly discern the full reasons why, Kar at least hoped that his words would be of some reassurance. He wanted everything to go smoothly and for this trip to prove fruitful to some degree, even a small one, but mostly he just didn't want it to be a disaster. They had other options to turn to if necessary for information but he matched Velira's desire not to see either of them hurt or killed... for perhaps a little more than just professional courtesy in the quarian's case now but that was beside the point. So long as everyone was careful here Belia Industries would be hard-pressed to justify a firefight in the streets even to the Noveria Board. Hopefully they didn't feel desperate enough to push such limits anyway.
 
Velira nodded once in response to his words. "As long as we are in agreement that things may get dangerous, and that if they do, I will not allow anything to risk the mission or our lives. I'm not going to make trouble, but I will respond to it as much as necessary. Hopefully, we won't need to use any force, but it's better to be over prepared than under."

Sera spoke up again. "I think we have about even footing with Belia, even with them having the field. They don't want us discovering anything, but at the same time, they have to worry about the Board if things get too hairy on Noveria. It's a lot harder to hide something on-planet than it was for them to work on a remote research station, after all." Sera hoped she was showing more confidence than she was feeling. Belia would have to worry about justifying actions to the Board, but that wasn't exactly difficult most of the time, especially if they made it into a he-said, she-said situation. And the "she" wasn't able to say anything, because Belia had silenced her forever.

Dismissing that train of thought as best as she could, Sera straightened herself up, ignoring the internal groaning of her body. "We'll take as little time as we need to in order to get whatever information we can. Aptis won't notice us, or if she does, it won't be in time to do anything about it."
 
They were in agreeance and so he didn't feel the need to carry on the conversation any further between himself and Velira. Sera on the other hand spoke confident words but the fact that she was still here and not rushing off headlong without a second thought suggested she was amping herself up more than anything. He was a krogan but he wasn't a fool; he could recognize such antics as he'd seen them plenty before. Nevertheless he wouldn't call her out on it and he wouldn't be assigning this task out if he thought the risk was too high. There would always be some risk, sure, but he wasn't asking them to get inside Belia's holdings directly, just a little digital snooping.

"Just take a look at this warehouse first and see what you can find. Try to avoid trespassing if you can, just to be on the safe side with the board, but use your best judgement all the same. I trust you both to handle things and keep me informed. I'd rather you turn up nothing then get in over your heads. We can adjust the plan depending on what happens." Unless either of them had any objections he made a point to turn and focus his gaze back on the handful of image screens fed to the ship. In his opinion they'd spoken enough and all that was left was to act. He still hadn't gotten any hits on Aptis since she went inside the warehouse but that didn't necessarily mean anything at this point. She could just be inspecting some supplies for all he knew, though that seemed like overkill for the turian's skillset. This operation would either turn out to be very boring and uneventful or everything would go sideways in a hurry. Very rarely did a stakeout fall somewhere in the middle as per his experience.
 
Sera left with Velira to get to the warehouse as quickly as they could. Aptis had quite a bit of a lead on them, and there was no telling how much longer she'd be in the warehouse, nor was there any indication what she was doing in there. She'd been in there for quite some time, so most likely whatever business she was in there for was at least close to wrapping up. Sera was definitely not in favor of being caught doing anything untoward, especially by Aptis.

Once they were at the warehouse, Sera and Velira got into position. With Velira standing guard, Sera began hacking into what she could access outside of the warehouse. It was safer to avoid trespassing, after all. While Sera wasn't able to get too much information from communications, at least nothing that seemed out of the ordinary, she did find at least one thing of interest.

A new screen appeared on the ship's feed, showing the inside of the warehouse. It seemed to be a live feed, with Aptis herself visible on camera. The room that the camera was in seemed to be set up almost like a morgue...or a torture chamber of some sort. Whatever had happened there was over, it seemed, dark red blood on the table in the center of the room as Aptis washed off her talons in a sink. As she did so, a krogan entered the room, approaching Aptis. Wearing a long robe that concealed her body, the krogan was large even by krogan standards, and it didn't seem to be purely muscle, indicating that while she was definitely still quite strong, the krogan likely had spent time in administration of some sort rather than anything physical. As the pair conversed, the camera feed also picked up the audio, albeit without nearly as good quality as the video.

"He didn't know anything," Aptis commented before the krogan could speak, not even bothering to turn around. "I made sure of it. All he knows is that some Spectre is investigating us because of that quarian. Which we knew already."

"We have more pressing matters," the krogan commented, her voice as gravely as Aptis' was smooth. "You've been here more than long enough to be tracked. Not just to Noveria, but to this warehouse. If the Spectre is even half-competent, he's already found his way to Noveria."

Aptis shrugged slightly, turning around as she shook water from her talons. "And if they are? What do you expect me to do about it? Or what are you going to do about it? I can't attack someone that isn't there."

The krogan let out a short chuckle. "They'll be here soon, if they aren't already. Just keep an eye out for them. This warehouse isn't exactly hard to find, and neither are you. I'm counting on it." As she spoke, the krogan glanced at her omnitool. "I have pressing business elsewhere. Remember, if you spot anyone who isn't supposed to be there, don't get fancy unless they are wearing an environment suit. If they are, draw it out." With that, the krogan left the room, moving somewhat quickly, but not exactly rushing.

After she left the room, Aptis shook her head slightly, then seemed to check something on her own omni-tool, then spoke again as she connected with someone. "I don't know who or what it is, and it could be a false alarm, but we have a proximity alert on the northeast side, just out of our private area. Clearly, if it is legitimate, someone who is trying not to trespass."

Sera paused as she overheard from her own feed. "Time to go," she commented to Velira, deactivating her omnitool and making for the path out.


In a private car, as she was being taken to another location, the krogan contacted a private number. "Find me any ship that's landed recently, and make sure that when it leaves, it has one more passenger than it came with. If you have to send five assassins, it's the cost of business. I'd rather have 4 mistakes and one investigation ended prematurely than let them get away."
 
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