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

He paused to consider her point as she shifted gears. After a few moments the answer seemed obvious, if still plenty risky. "Then this camp is our best bet... though we need to wait a little while to let things cool off after our visit." While time was not a luxury on their side when levied against a potential terror bombing of the citadel, if they did what he was thinking now then Belia Industries would surely not take the bait in suspecting the spectre's hand at play.

Continuing to stand firm and face Sera, Kar started to explain his thoughts once he had collected them enough to make some sense out of them. "There was a request for more parts already made. Now that we visited though, Belia will either delay that shipment or try to re-route it through a third party. At least, once they find out anyway..." His eyes widened a bit as he made that realization mid-sentence and a grin split his wide mouth. Another moment's pause and he shifted to explain the new thought.

"Right now the camp hasn't sent any messages. If we hang around and intercept transmissions we could stop the headquarters from learning of our visit. We have the transmission data, we have the cipher now, so we could set up the ship as a relay and just scrub anything that we don't want the headquarters to know about. When that shipment arrives, we'll be here. Though, rather than boarding it, we could just... happen to swing by for another inspection in time to see the cargo." He figured this was less likely to get them in trouble but still had risks all the same. If they missed a transmission somehow, if the headquarters suspected something was off, or even if they couldn't find any geth parts in the shipment then they'd have to put Eletania to the stern and head elsewhere at the very least.
 
"That's a bit of a slow idea, but it's probably the safest option," Sera admitted, crossing her arms across her chest and leaning back. "We just have to make sure that we keep vigilant. I'm sure you've already had this occur to you, but this is one time where we can't miss a single transmission. A single transmission could be the one that alerts headquarters. At the same time, we'll have to work quickly. Getting no transmissions at all could also alert their headquarters."

She sighed softly before standing up. "That's definitely the best option, even considering that. All we need is a timetable, and then we'll hopefully be able to intercept the shipment without much trouble. If we can do it without it being obvious that we were waiting for the shipment and tipping them off, all the better." She ran a hand over her visor briefly as she spoke. "How they'll react when we find the geth parts, of course, is a concern, but that is something we'll deal with once we need to. For now, all we can do is sit and wait."
 
"I trust my crew to stay on top of this." One wasn't allowed to serve on a spectre ship without being quite skilled in their field. Not to say that all the best of the best were chosen, personality and ability to work in a relatively thankless and unglorified manner were just as important if not moreso, but a higher level of competency was nevertheless maintained compared to a typical ship. "I'll give the orders. Make sure you share that cipher immediately since we don't know when they'll decide to send their first transmission."

Not to be rude but acting fast was important in this case as he went over to his wardrobe and scrambled to put on a shirt. He needed to tell Calius so that the ship could be positioned and he could use the bridge terminal to input his orders officially for the crew to reference as well. The latter could be done from the private terminal in his room but he figured it was better to just get both done at the same time. Of course Sera had already identified the fact that this plan would require a lot of anxious waiting once set in motion but he hoped it would finally be the trap that could get them a solid foothold; a leg to stand on to really put Belia on their heels.
 
Sera stood up, tapping on her omni-tool. "Done. The crew should all have the cipher available to them now. That will make it much easier to catch any data, certainly. As well as getting the data translated fast enough to act on before they can do much more then send the message." She turned, heading out of the room, lost in thought as her hips swayed slightly from her movements towards the door. Not that she noticed or cared about how her figure looked in her suit.

Belia Industries was proving to be a more wily opponent than she had expected. She thought they were more of a brute by the way they had initially tried to take her out, and the fact that they had someone as harsh as Xilar heading security had also made her believe the same, but that wasn't the case. They were proving very good at having just enough deniability. They would have to change that before Belia Industries did something much more drastic than just plan.


After a few hours, a message was intercepted, and translated through Sera's cipher without much issue. "We can make our move in two shifts. There shouldn't be an issue. The Spectre seems suspicious, but he can't prove anything. One shift to prepare after the shipment arrives, one shift to execute."
 
The first message was about perfect as far as Kar was concerned. Calius alerted the krogan, who was on standby for the time being, and shared the news in question of whether or not Kar wanted to change anything. Ultimately he did not and simply had the ship relay the message forward to the next com-buoy in the chain. There could be value in trying to wait until they started whatever plan they had in mind but he was worried about missing their opportunity if they delayed. "I still think we should intercept the cargo when it arrives though we don't yet know when it will arrive."

Com traffic was normally near instant and this should be no exception. Since he and his crew were focused and aware there shouldn't be any noticeable delay. A small hiccup could be chalked up to mechanical error which certainly happened from time to time. Everyone active on the bridge waited with baited breath for the reply and, thankfully, it came through soon enough to cause no alarm. Running the translation through the cipher revealed a curt and simple response; one that showed no signs of suspicion that anyone was listening in.

"The shipment will arrive in three cycles. You better not delay once it arrives." Again Kar nodded and waved his hand to send the message through without edit. While the crew would still need to stay on station for these next few days in case more communication came through he trusted that they could handle it without him looming over their shoulders. He planned on doing a bit of training and exercise to make sure he was back up to full condition but otherwise would keep his eye on the prize; a chance to finally nail Belia Industries on something concrete.
 
For their part, after the pair of messages were sent through, Sera and Velira both prepared for the mission as well, but in very different ways. Velira made sure she was comfortable with any weapons she was going to bring with her when they went to the ground. It was not very likely that they would run into conflict, Velira thought, but that didn't mean that it wasn't going to happen. After all, it was very possible that the cargo would be guarded even if Belia Industries wasn't expecting to be confronted. They had been ahead of them this whole time, after all. That proved that they were both intelligent and well-prepared. It was up to them to be even more prepared.

Sera, on the other hand, spent most of her time before the shipment arrived tinkering with her omni-tool programs. She knew that this would be very important to not go wrong, and making sure all of her programs were fully operational and at peak ability was crucial. They had Spectre authority, for what it was worth, but if the shipment was as crucial as Sera and Kar believed, Belia Industries would do just about anything to keep the shipment under cover. If that meant eliminating a few people...well, they had clearly not shown any hesitance to do things that way. Velira and Kar could handle themselves physically better than Sera could, but that didn't mean Sera didn't have options. As long as her stealth programs and other omni-tool programs were at peak efficiency, she still could more than contribute if things went wrong.

After three cycles passed, right on schedule, a large cargo ship made its way to orbit the planet. It was clear from the size of it that there was a fair bit of a load on the ship, and the tracking data would show that it had come from Noveria, indicating a direct connection to Belia Industries headquarters. As it orbited, several small shuttles left the docking bay in carefully timed intervals, allowing the cargo to be offloaded as quickly as possible without overly crowding the small landing pad allowed by the geography of the research camp.
 
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Kar was thankfully already up and on the bridge when the ship arrived to deliver the cargo. Once Calius could get the appropriate scans to confirm the vessel's point of origin to mark it as the ship they were waiting for he put out the notice to Sera and Velira to get armed and armored while he went up to his quarters to do the same. When he was geared up and ready to go he stopped by the bridge momentarily to give standing orders to Calius. "Make sure that ship doesn't leave orbit. If it attempts to break off then drop stealth and inform it of our authority to detain it. If it still tries to flee then target the engines but don't use full force. The last thing we want is for it to get destroyed."

He'd head down to the hold to meet up with the two women immediately after, reminding them of the general objective even though he doubted they needed to hear it. "We take a shuttle down while the Pa'vex keeps the cargo vessel from fleeing. We lock the scene down and search the cargo. Expect them to get pissed about our presence but don't shoot first. If they open fire on us though, make sure you damn well return it."
 
"Of course. That ship isn't going anywhere, and that includes getting destroyed. We'll make sure that they don't get away from us." Calius focused on the ship at that point, barely acknowledging when Kar left the cockpit.

"I don't intend to fire on them if I can help it," Velira noted. "I am ready if I need to, but if I don't, I won't. I don't think they'll fire on us, though. From what we saw when we were there, they don't seem to be heavily armed. Enough to hold off a few stragglers, but against a Spectre? Even they'd think twice about that."

Sera nodded once, keeping a bit more quiet. She had a suspicion that they were approaching a real turning point in the investigation. If they found geth parts, as she suspected they would, it would be impossible for Belia Industries to play dumb or deflect. That was about as black-and-white as it could get in terms of lack of deniability. How they reacted when their backs were against the wall...well, that was something she was a bit worried about. The alternative, of course, wasn't worth considering. They had to be stopped, but Sera was starting to feel real concern about how much she was risking doing so. She wasn't going to stop, of course. No matter what, unless she was left in a condition that made continuing physically impossible.
 
"I'm not concerned about the pansy-ass researchers at the base but we don't know what the crew of this new ship is capable of." His tone was a bit stern to suggest that Velira not take this too lightly. He doubted that this encounter would end with any of the trio dead, considering, but carelessness foiled far more plans than damn near anything else in his experience. His time ordering mass waves of vorcha at a problem showed him that in the past as numbers did, indeed, not solve everything.

He got situated behind the controls and took the shuttle out of the cargo bay, no doubt immediately registering on the cargo ship's sensors as appearing from nowhere. Still, their mission was on the ground and he flew them again into the atmosphere of the semi-hostile planet. Though this time he flew a bit faster and with a touch more purpose as if any unneeded delay might somehow cause them to find nothing of note within the cargo being offloaded.

This time Kar did not transmit his authority to the base during their descent as he did not want them to have any advance warning and when the landing platform came into view from afar it was clear to be a tight fit if he wanted to set down there; the shuttle occupying it was about as centered as could be and askew enough to take up as much area as it could. While there wasn't much space on the small plateau that made up the camp in question he figured he could squeeze a landing in between some of the tents and prefab structures. More importantly, doing so would give them a better tactical position should this break out into conflict compared to trying to pile out on the edge of a cliff face.

With all this in mind Kar brought them down a little distance away from the landing pad but still well within shouting distance, causing some dust to kick up from the thrusters as he could see some alarm in the motions of the camp. The landing was a little rougher than normal, shocking them down into their seats somewhat for a brief moment, but he rushed to unfasten his harness and direct Sera and Velira out the door to secure the area. Three individuals in full battle gear, let alone one krogan, was a sight enough to set most of the galaxy's bladders quivering and Kar was counting on the shock and awe to help prevent conflict if at all possible; though he expected, much like Sera, that a cornered company would lash out in fear rather than roll over.

"Hold it! We need to inspect that cargo before it goes anywhere in this camp." He boomed, his deep voice as commanding as he could possibly make it; which was saying something from a krogan. These next few moments were everything. The reactions of the research crew and the shuttle crew from the cargo vessel might only take seconds but would ultimately determine just how horribly, or how smoothly, this shakedown would end.
 
Velira nodded in response to Kar's concerns. "That is a fair point. I don't know if they'd have much in way of armed guards on the ship unless they expected trouble, but they are definitely a much more unknown quantity." Velira and Sera both strapped in as Kar took off for the base, preparing for the landing.

As the shuttle landed somewhat roughly among the makeshift camp, Sera took a little longer than Velira to recover, but neither of them took too long to do so, both leaving the shuttle as Velira held her rifle at low-ready, not directly threatening any of the people on the ship or in the camp, but making it quite clear that she was ready to open fire at a moment's notice if the crew tried anything untoward. Sera, on the other hand, simply kept her hand near her omni-tool, trusting the uncertainty of what she could do with the omnitool to do an equally good job of making the crew hesitate as Kar's commanding presence or Velira's rifle.

A tall man stepped forward, doing his best to seem calm under the circumstances, but also being careful to not do anything that would draw Kar's ire. He began to ask for something, possibly proof of Kar's authority, but he quickly seemed to recognize the markings on Kar's armor, or maybe he was simply informed by the research crew through his headset, and reconsidered. "...Very well." The foreman walked over to the nearest crate and, with only a moment's hesitancy, opened it up. Inside, the evidence was undeniable. While some of the robotic components could have come from simple LOKI mechs rather than geth, Juggernaut parts were a lot more distinctive, and there were more than enough of the latter to be impossible to explain as a simple mix-up.

As he opened up the crate to reveal the parts, the tall man spoke quietly. "I know how this looks. Rest assured, I will personally cooperate as much as I can, but I am just a middle-man, and I don't know too much about the people above me."
 
The first crate was all the evidence they needed, though he suspected that the others would prove just as damning. In response to the man's attempts at removing himself from responsibility, Kar replied as calmly and evenly to match. "I expect cooperation from everyone involved and will make note in my reports of those that play nice." Inwardly he was smiling but he had to hold himself together for the time being to focus on the work. "Should anyone try to interfere though, try to hide details, run, or even be stupid enough to fight, I'll bury you. Literally or figuratively."

He didn't need his weapon drawn to be imposing and could react just as quickly with a tech or biotic power should something happen but it seemed unlikely at this point that a firefight was what any of them wanted when faced with the authority of a spectre. "Open every crate for our inspection and any of them that have contraband like this can get loaded right into our shuttle." Tedious work to be certain, and they'd need to conduct interviews of everyone involved afterward to try and wring out all the information they could from the group, but he expected little of their word would prove damning just as the tall man said. Of course, the researchers of the base certainly had more to provide regarding their use of geth platforms but with the proof of their intercepted communications Kar doubted they'd hold firm this time around.
 
The foreman relayed the orders to the crew, putting clear emphasis on not trying to pull any tricks or trying to fool the Spectre. Obediently, the crew opened each of the crates. While several of them contained equipment for the research camp, most likely as some sort of cover, most of the crates contained further geth parts, too many to be innocently explained away by any sort of mixup.

With further orders from the foreman, the crew loaded the shuttle with as many crates as could fit into the shuttle without weighing it down or overcrowding it to the point where Kar, Sera, or Velira wouldn't be able to fit onto the shuttle. It would take multiple trips for the unloading, which would indeed prove to be tedious work, but after three trips, all of the contraband, as well as the off-loading crew, were on the ship, the latter ready to be questioned.

The foreman, naturally, was left isolated from the majority of the group. As the one in charge of this stage of the operation, he would likely know more information than the grunts, even if that information was scant. Velira was left in charge of keeping an eye on him until Kar was ready to begin questioning, just in case he tried to do something, but it wasn't likely he was going to resist at this point, seeming resigned to the fact that they had been caught in a way that was impossible to avoid.
 
Kar took his time in questioning the others before getting around to the foreman. Not because of any agenda to build anxiety or such but rather that he wanted to be thorough with the questioning of every individual and not allow any detail to slip through the cracks. Most of the individuals knew precious little as to be expected. Hell, even the ones that admitted to being responsible for the construction and maintenance of the geth platforms didn't have any clue why they were doing this; they just couldn't risk breaking the silence and kept their heads down for their own good. Still, Kar was pleased that he had enough tidbits of information to dispute any lies that the foreman might try to offer him in a last-ditch effort.

Kar was still armed and armored when he entered the room with Velira and the foreman and the added bulk of his suit made squeezing through the doorway slightly tricky. Nevertheless he managed and moved to stand near the center before he nodded to Velira towards the door. "Wait outside." Being in the room with him, a krogan, was scary enough without having anyone else to raise the stress levels. When she had departed the room he spoke up again to begin the interrogation. Though a far cry from how he used to get information out of people the council wasn't too picky with the methods employed by their spectres so long as they got results. "I already know this shipment was routed from Noveria. I know it was requested by the base camp and approved by a member of Belia Industries at the Noveria headquarters. What I need from you is the details that you know, including the names of anyone you had contact with when it came to the shipment."
 
Velira nodded once at his command, leaving the room without argument. In truth, she would have rather been in the room to watch the interrogation, but that wasn't an option when given a direct order from a Spectre. Even if it had been more of a suggestion, disagreeing with the Spectre in front of the foreman would have weakened the interrogation, making it seem like resisting or dissembling was a valid option for the man.

As Kar laid out his position, the foreman seemed to listen carefully, but without showing any signs of intimidation. When Kar finished, the foreman sat back in his seat, remaining silent for several more seconds as he considered his options, and what the foreman actually knew compared to what Kar had revealed The Spectre knew. "I don't have a lot of details, to be sure. As you can imagine, something of this magnitude has a lot of layers of subterfuge, shall we say. Names are hard to come by, unless they are false, or a cover of some sort. I can't say too much for that reason. All I can do is tell you what I've heard."

He sat forward. "I'd ask for immunity, or something in return, but just being caught has probably sealed my fate as far as Belia Industries is concerned. That's the problem with maintaining power through threats. It works to encourage people to go to the effort to not get caught, or get out if they do get caught, but loyalty is not the same thing. I'm fucked either way, so might as well try to take them down with me."

"Anyways, what I know. I know I was asked to get geth parts here and there. There being a few other bases, mostly in remote outposts, I'd imagine for testing. There was one exception, however. Ilium. That was a very interesting case, not just because Ilium is more populated, but because I was under the impression that the person who met me to accept the shipment was no underling. At least, not one on my level. She outranked me, to put it in her terms. Never knew her name, but she was a turian, and she had Palaven facial markings. The most distinctive thing I noticed about her, however, was a missing mandible. Probably a battle wound, or skirmish injury. Either way, it should make identifying her with your resources a bit easier."
 
Kar frowned a bit and huffed in exhale at the way the man danced around the topic of names. He agreed that the man might not known the true names of people involved but even still it was mildly annoying. Nevertheless he didn't interrupt and allowed the foreman to say everything that he wanted to before Kar would offer any reply. "I'll still want those codenames or aliases that you heard. Might come in handy down the line. While I can't make Belia take a liking to you in the wake of this, I can easily leverage my influence to help you out in the eyes of the council and your stay in council space."

Course the man had already given plenty of useful information regarding this female turian but a little incentive could hardly hurt. Sometimes details weren't always on the mind in the moment but could be dredged up later. "This turian. What color was her carapace? Which mandible was missing? Each bit of information you give me can only help you." Realizing how cheesy that might sound from his c-sec days he paused and shook his head to clear the air in an attempt to establish an air that would demonstrate his sincerity.

"Look, I personally don't care what shit you did for Belia. I'm not looking to take you or your crew down on any personal level, I'm after the company; or rather the ones higher up and in charge of the crap they are trying to get away with. I've got a shipment of geth parts to repair geth platforms, I've got mineral gathering and alloy-synthesizing to make bomb casings that would be undetectable to most scanners, and the firm belief that someone in Belia Industries wants to spread some terror on the citadel for whatever reason. Your part in all this might be relatively small but I'm not just busting this up for simple smuggling." Not that he needed to share all this information to the foreman but hey, maybe he'd get lucky and the man would have some other tidbit or rumor that might shake loose with this new context.
 
"Belia doesn't take a liking to anyone," the foreman noted, leaning back in the seat slightly. "After all, they are a corporation. Any employees, or contracts, or whatever role anyone plays, is just a matter of convenience. The second we stop being a convenience, cut loose. I'm not a fool. In this situation, there's no way I can be seen as anything other than an inconvenience for Belia Industries, is there?" The question was clearly rhetorical, as he continued without pause.

"Again, the problem with fear and threats being your means of control. It does work as long as the person is willing and able to help, but if they are caught in a position, like myself, where there is no way out, there's no need to be loyal. As for the turian, left mandible is the missing one, and..." He closed his eyes, apparently willing up a mental image of the turian. "...Magenta, I believe is the best way to describe her carapace color. She was certainly no bare-face, which was surprising."

At the word of what Kar reported was likely Belia's plans, the foreman opened his eyes again, but kept them narrowed. "Terror on the Citadel? Now, that is something. I can't confirm anything, of course. I'm pretty far down the ladder. All I can do is tell you what I know, and maybe what I hear. I can't confirm the latter, of course, so how useful it is for your Council is probably limited, but I don't want any part in something like that."

He paused for a bit, again seeming to recall from his past memories. "There are three codenames or aliases that I've heard. I've heard reference to "the cleaner", "the assassin", and "Fehr'sala". I thought the last was a name for a little while, but it turns out I'm just a bit rusty on my quarian. Means "odd mind". I'm guessing whoever was referred to by that is not too high up in terms of hierarchy, if she is given that sort of sobriquet. And yes, I know it's a she, just because of the context she was talked about. As for anything else I've heard...I can't confirm this, but there are serious rumors that they have someone on the inside of the Citadel. Not in terms of C-Sec, either. Some sort of politician. High enough to get some stuff overlooked, low enough to not be noticed doing so. My guess, judging from what you've said? Transportation or security in some way."
 
Kar nodded at the repetition that the man offered for not being loyal to Belia Industries. At first the krogan hadn't fully understood what the man was trying to convey but he got it now, believing that the foreman indeed would help as much as possible. The extra detail regarding this turian female helped to prove that, as did the codenames he had overheard in recent history, though the man knew nothing of the greater plot going on behind the scenes which was hardly surprising. "I don't have anything else I need to ask right now but that may change during the journey. So you understand, I'm keeping you in custody and will be turning you over to the council. Doubt they'll have much to do with you but I'm sure they'll want to keep you close for the time being. If nothing else to try and protect you. Most everyone else I'm letting go back to their duties. Anyone that had involvement with the geth parts and platforms is also getting handed over though."

Unless there was anything else that the man wanted to bring up, Kar would make to leave the room and pass around his orders regarding these individuals. As he said, the foreman along with anyone else that dealt with the parts of platforms would be taken prisoner while everyone else would be let go. Of course, those that were let go still had their information and interviews recorded and logged so it wasn't exactly a free pass. He'd need to get into contact with the council to update them on the situation and to coordinate a rendezvous to exchange prisoners. Though he could take them all back to the citadel directly he supposed but still he didn't want to get ahead of himself. That was a decent journey that could leave him out of position for future investigation.
 
After everyone was taken care of, including the foreman being safely secured, most of the information Kar and the crew was able to get from the other workers proved minimal at best. Not exactly surprising, given their level in the operation, of course. Most of them were simply workers doing as they were told, at best. Once they were released, they would simply go back to their research as best as they could. Once Belia Industries got word of what had occurred at the research base, it was quite likely that they'd be shut down, or even "liquidated", but that was in the future, if it ever happened at all. For now, the research would continue, at least, although the geth parts being secured meant that research was all that the camp would be capable of.


About an hour later, the councilors were set up for a private meeting with Kar, to receive the information that he had gathered from the interviews. Her hands folded behind her back, the asari councilor began the meeting in a soft voice. "Spectre Kar, I trust your investigation has turned up some results. We can manage to look the other way for a while longer, but not indefinitely." As she spoke, the other three councilors stood silently, but their body language each showed a different state of mind. The turian, tense. The human, more relaxed, almost casual in her clear confidence that the meeting was going to have some fruit to it. The salarian, somewhere in between, her expression blank and body language neutral, although it was somewhat clear from other elements of her demeanor that she was going to lengths to keep it that way, rather than it directly reflecting her state of mind.
 
When the council came into view it was hardly a surprise to see their mix of emotions. While they claimed neutrality in all things he had always felt there was something of a chip on his shoulder, or rather that they were more reluctant to have him as a spectre. Nevertheless he did have information to report that he felt would secure this investigation as something far more official and thus he didn't allow their moods to bother his own.

"I've caught a shipment delivering geth parts from Noveria to a Belia Industries research camp on Eletania. I've also intercepted communications between the camp and an individual within the Belia Industries headquarters on Noveria which back up that this request was made, and approved, within the company. Furthermore I have the communication logs from the camp which suggest that they have fully active geth platforms patrolling the surface of the planet and that these parts were intended to repair damage incurred during a firefight of some kind. The parts in question, as well as everyone that had involvement with them, are safely aboard my ship. I can make a hand off to whoever you like to get them back to the citadel. Or bring them myself if that's not an option."

He was dropping a bombshell upon them by speaking about everything so quickly, and he certainly expected questions to be asked of him, but his pride wanted to see their shocked reactions if at all possible in the face of this breakthrough. Not to mention a part of him wanted to rub in the fact that he'd managed to make headway despite the concerns of many of them.
 
The Council all seemed to take the information in and process it before anyone responded. Unsurprisingly, it was the human councilor who spoke up first. "I believe we have some secure ships in the area that should be able to handle the transfer. We'll have to question everyone on arrival, of course. It's not a matter of trust, but of verification."

The turian councilor sighed softly. "Do you have any evidence that the communication logs are genuine? It is not impossible that there was some external sabotage to make Belia Industries look guilty of a third party's efforts."

The salarian spoke surprisingly sharply. "That is highly unlikely, given that we have geth parts being brought to the research camp. There is no innocent explanation for such an act, nor is there any other loophole to give Belia Industries a pass for using geth parts. Geth parts are to be destroyed if found, without exception. With this physical evidence, the communication logs only emphasize any guilt, not needed to prove it."

The asari councilor gestured for silence. "We will send a transport to your location in order to facilitate the transfer of your prisoners and the geth parts. The nearest ship for such a purpose will take two cycles in order to arrive, however. Is there any pressing business that will require you to be elsewhere in that timeframe?"
 
Kar wanted to explain how they acquired the logs but the salarian, surprisingly, jumped in to support him in this instance and he saw no reason to get in the way of the conversation. In response to the asari councilor though, he shook his head side to side before explaining. "No, but I'd like to not linger in this system as a precaution. If Belia Industries is involved with any or all of the other things that I've been reporting on then I'm sure they won't be happy about this and would likely go to great lengths to try and stop me from providing any evidence against them. I'd like to make the meeting point in the Hades Gamma Cluster, or the Kepler Verge depending on what direction the ship will be coming from. This will also cut a cycle off the wait since we will meet in the middle."

The Kepler Verge was in the Attican Traverse and thus naturally more dangerous than the Hades Gamma Cluster which was located in Alliance Space, though ultimately either one should be fine in this instance. It wasn't like any travel through the Traverse was deadly or anything, just less patrolled. He wasn't even convinced that Belia had the means to detect a cloaked spectre ship but if anyone could, outside of true military vessels, it would be a mega-corporation with the money to throw at the problem. Kar was not about to make it easy for the company to surprise him.
 
The asari councilor nodded in understanding. "That is reasonable. We will have the ship meet you at Hanila Station," she confirmed, the station orbiting Trebin in the Hades Gamma Cluster. "They should also have the resources to replenish any supplies you may need at that station. We will await any further communication on your end, although I will also confirm that the information you have gathered will allow us to more overtly investigate Belia Industries. If we should find any further information, we will be sure to inform you of our own findings." With that, the Council disconnected to discuss their findings.

Elsewhere on the ship, Sera was running the turian's description through her underworld contacts, to try to determine if she could identify the mysterious woman. She trusted Kar would be doing the same with his Spectre resources, but it couldn't hurt to tackle the problem from multiple angles. The turian probably wouldn't be too hard to identify if she had any sort of record either criminal or otherwise, of course. Especially with a facial disfigurement. As she waited for responses to her queries, she relaxed in her quarters. There was nothing that she could do until the next steps. Whatever those steps were.
 
The call was rather brief as the asari councilor finished establishing the meeting point and they all disconnected. He hadn't gotten to much savor the satisfaction of their surprise but a short conversation told him plenty; that they had much to do and discuss behind the scenes that he didn't need to be present for. Not wanting to waste any time, Kar contacted Calius and gave him the orders to head to Hanila Station before turning back to his secure connection so that he could spend some time digging through the spectre database.

The codenames likely wouldn't result in any revelation but he entered them in all the same, logging them at the least in case anyone else stumbled upon the same information but hopeful that there might be some tidbit of them floating around already. Much like Sera suspected though, the additional information about the turian female was much more likely to show up considering how much description they had already. And, within minutes, she'd come up as a match in the system; Aptis Terid.

"The turian councilor is gonna fuckin' love this." He couldn't help but say aloud as he skimmed over the details and noted the stand-out words such as "war crimes" and "discharged". He'd need to go over everything in more detail but it appeared that she got trigger happy during her time in the turian military, or paranoid, as her actions resulted in civilian casualties in some otherwise small time conflicts. She had reached officer status at the very least so she wasn't an idiot, just perhaps not possessing a firm grip on reality. So, really, she appeared to fit right in with a company that seemed to be looking to incite terror and destruction.

Ultimately though he'd wait to do a deep dive on her information in the hopes that something might also crop up regarding the other names. So far he was only getting false positives regarding Fehr'sala and a number of mental institutions. Seemed to be a term thrown around somewhat regularly rather than just calling people crazy. His main focus was on the transfer though so he'd push aside these results until after they could secure the hand-off. Afterward he could sit down with Sera and Velira to go through what his inquiries had found by then; unaware that Sera was doing much the same thing as he was just with different sources.

He doubted there would be any problems getting to the station and was ultimately proven correct when they arrived in the next cycle. Kar was alerted as he awoke from his slumber to the news but they had appeared to have beaten the council vessel to the rendezvous. Hopefully it wasn't a sign of anything going wrong but there was little to do but wait for the time being and go about their business. Kar washing up and heading down to the mess to get some food.
 
It took more time for her resources to get results, but Sera got them just the same. Aptis Terid. Sounded like a real good combination to Sera. Military training plus some instability, at the very least. What was more, it seemed Aptis had been keeping herself busy since her time in the hierarchy. Mostly hit jobs, with no real concern for collateral damage, but a bit of detective work on the side to uncover people who had tried to go into hiding. It seemed that the turian was not lacking in intellect or resources, given her success rate. That would make her a bit of a problem, by Sera's estimate, although she didn't doubt that Kar would be more than capable of handling her if the situation called for it.

What concerned Sera more was the news about the quarian who was referred to as Fehr'sala. Quarians tended to be very community driven, more out for others than themselves. Hearing about one working with the likes of Belia Industries troubled Sera more than she wanted to admit. She herself had dipped into some grey territory during her time as a hacker, but that was nothing compared to what Belia Industries seemed to be doing. Associating with that...Sera really wanted to understand what could drive this Fehr'sala to ignore her people and others and act so coldly.

As they reached the station, Sera continued trying to use her resources to get more information on Fehr'sala, even though she suspected with a name that vague, even the underworld would have little to no information. It was one thing tracking a turian with a known disfiguration and a good description. A sobriquet that was as generic as Fehr'sala was another story altogether. Still, she had nothing to lose by trying.

As she waited to hear back from her sources, Sera found herself in the mess at the same time as Kar. Shrugging slightly to herself internally, she took a seat near him. "Any luck on finding information on our friends?" she commented, trying to keep the mood somewhat light.
 
Kar nodded as Sera joined him in the mess. There weren't many tables to begin with in the somewhat cramped space aboard the vessel but she'd chosen to sit down with him, not that he minded sharing the communal space with his crew; temporary or otherwise as they might be. "Plenty on the turian last I checked. With how much information the turian government keeps on their people I might even know how deep her holes are for fuck's sake. Haven't gone through it all yet, figured I could use the help sifting through all of that." A crude comment and one that was more befitting of his past profession but something that slipped out while he was relaxed. It wasn't intended to be an indicator that he wanted to have sex with her or anything, just an exaggeration to help prove his point. Though that wasn't to say Kar was exactly picky with his partners if the only goal was gratification.

A few passing turian members of his crew shook their heads in overhearing, twitching their mandibles slightly as well, though he could tell it was a mixture of amusement and second-hand embarrassment; they were somewhat used to his ways by now surely. He paused after a bite of food in the realization that Sera herself might not appreciate that remark, he had gotten somewhat used to filtering himself around other people after all, so he shrugged in a slightly apologetic manner before explaining further. "Belia hasn't really been under investigation by any spectres that I'm aware of before now. The other nicknames have pinged a few potential rumors but nothing solid. If we get more information on the cleaner or the assassin I might be able to link them to something in the database but for now it's too scattered to be useful. Fehr'sala came up with a lot of mental institutions but a few interesting mentions in the database from logs. Never the focus on any notes written, just mentioned in passing. She's credited with consultation work for a handful of small companies in the Traverse and Terminus Systems. Assuming it's true, suggests she is either uninterested in steady work or is unable to stay employed for long. That's it though, no personal data or even confirmation that she is actually a female or actually a quarian. All assumption with only the foreman's word to say it is a woman."
 
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