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

Sera watched Kar knock out the guard without much surprise. He definitely was strong enough to do so with ease. It was more surprising to her that he managed to do so quietly enough to avoid drawing any further attention. She was definitely grateful for his unexpected stealthiness, of course. The fewer guards that they drew the attention of, the better. Sera knelt in front of the keypad, hacking it with her omni-tool. It was only a matter of seconds before the panel slid open, revealing a set of stairs leading down to the sublevel. Sera confidently made her way down the stairs on the other side, using the shadows as her cloaking once again drained, revealing her slender form as she did so.

In the basement, she kept to the shadows and looked around. This is not good... As she approached through the shadows, she made note of what she was seeing. The factory had certainly been producing, but not where anyone could see it. And nothing that should be produced at all from a company like Belia Industries. Instead, Sera could see several bomb components being designed, but she was not completely familiar with anything new about the parts.

The other thing out of place was the person in the basement. Standing tall even for a turian, the female was bent over one of the holograms, apparently tweaking the design of the component through a holographic display. Almost as if by instinct, she straightened, turning and looking directly at Sera, even with the shadows theoretically concealing the quarian completely. The turian, however, did not seem to be any sort of fighter, or even a higher-ranking person compared to any of the guards. Judging by her attire and some scarring on the turian's face, she was held captive by the company and forced into the designing, not doing so willingly. "Who is there?" the turian asked in a surprisingly youthful voice. "No point hiding, I can see more than you'd think," she commented. Sera still remained silent, both in case the turian was bluffing and giving Kar time to join her and see how he handled the turian.
 
Kar kept an eye out while Sera hacked the panel but the other workers were far enough away that he didn't feel concerned. There weren't many in the first place and he hadn't witnessed any others coming over to this section. Still, it was only a matter of time before they were discovered in some fashion so the krogan knew they were only buying themselves time; not actually able to get in and out while leaving no trace at all.

Where the quarian utilized cloaking, a natural affinity for quiet movement, and the darkness to sneak down the stairs and into the lower level Kar just walked casually. True that he had some familiarity in moving unseen and unheard but it wasn't much. His track record of investigating places always ended in some kind of fight since there was only so much he could do considering his frame. In fact, he barely fit down the stairs with how wide his armored shoulders were which forced him to somewhat shimmy at a sideways angle to make progress in following. All this combined into Kar arriving into the lower section a few moments after the woman's question was levied and, well, the krogan stepped out more or less into full view where she was looking.

Having heard the question, and of course looking down from behind his helmet to the turian below, Kar shrugged and accepted that this was the part of the mission where all hell was about to break loose. He didn't draw either of his weapons but kept walking forward at a casual pace. "Seems like a lot of bombs nearing completion for a factory that is officially shut down." He couldn't tell details from this distance either but he was likely better versed in matters of all things deadly than Sera was. "This doesn't have to get messy, I just want information to pass along."

He couldn't be completely certain that she was being forced to work against her will but the poor state of her attire did suggest that. Her scarring was something the krogan put aside from the equation, though he did find them sexy, since he had no clue what circumstance could have caused that injury; for all he knew it could be ancient history. Nevertheless he did try to take a gamble and trust his gut; maybe it would play out for the best. "They forcing you to work here?" He gestured to the collection of parts behind her as he approached but went wide left, wanting a better look at the devices but not wanting her to grow afraid of him and do something stupid. "I could get you out of here... assuming you can give me some tangible evidence about all this." All the while using the term 'I' and not 'we', hoping perhaps that the turian would believe him to be alone just in case that might, somehow, offer a tactical advantage of some sort.
 
The turian eyed Kar cautiously, but didn't seem to go on the defensive as much as might be expected. Instead, she merely followed Kar with her head as he circled to the left. As he did so, and got a closer look at the devices, it was clear that whatever Belia Industries was planning with the explosive components didn't bode well. In particular, the components had been altered from their original designs in some way.

The turian, on a closer look, had more than just scarring across her face, one of her eyes flashing with an electronic charge that indicated it was a prosthetic rather than her original eye. "I'm certainly not designing these components for my own pleasure," she responded to his question. "As for getting me out of here, I would be grateful. To both of you," she noted, gesturing to Sera. "This eye isn't just for show. The shadows don't hide much from me, never mind an entire person. I'd feel insulted at the attempt, but something tells me that you two have no intentions of any ill will towards me, and are here for my 'employers', as it were."

She quickly waved Sera over, the quarian walking towards her reluctantly. "I hope this proves my good faith," the turian commented, stepping back. "There's plenty of information in these schematics if you know what to look for. I will let you download them for whoever you have to take a closer look and discern that information. I'll be around to tell you what makes these components so special, hopefully, but I think a backup plan would not go amiss."

Sera quickly began to download the schematics, the turian glancing at the staircase. "I hope you have a plan to get out that was as quiet as your plan getting in. I'm not much of one for a fight. Never was, even at my peak, and...well, you can tell looking at me that I'm not at my peak. Not sure I could even concentrate enough to do more than knock over a few volus with my biotics in this state."

"Don't worry, miss," Sera said, somewhat distracted by the schematics she was downloading. "You have a Spectre helping you out, and I'll make sure that the path is as quiet as possible for us to get out. You are using me as a back-up, but I don't think it will be necessary."
 
Considering the factory was purchased by a medical company his mind jumped to biological weapons. That and, perhaps, his people's history with the genophage coloring that perception. The detailed scans would be needed and the knowledge of the woman in question would go much further in detailing what the company might be up to but it certainly didn't seem good. Whatever the case truly was this turian was effectively a slave here and, as far as his understanding went, slave labor alone would be enough leverage to allow him the use of lethal force. Still, even if he was confident he could plow his way through all the security they had seen so far, his ability to protect other people to any capacity beyond blocking incoming rounds was one he felt was lacking so an open firefight wasn't the go-to plan.

"Hard to plan for an extraction when we didn't even know what was down here." He responded while Sera got to work grabbing the data. "You'll need an environmental suit to leave the building. Any ideas where they are keeping yours?" She had to have worn one when they brought her here so surely it was still around. If not, well, they'd hope that there were some other turian workers or guards that they could steal from. Getting out though... that would be trickier but he'd focus on the immediate before worrying about what would come next. What he would do for the moment was step over to the components and look them over, trying to find enough key parts that he might be able to work with in order to fashion something more mundane than whatever Belia Industries was planning for them.

"If we can get that for you then I think a little... workshop accident would be an effective enough distraction for us to slip away." Of course, if he rigged an explosion strong enough to breach the outer walls, thus allowing the oxygen out and the harsh cold in, it would likely ensure the death of most of the individuals inside the factory but that didn't much bother him. The key thought here was that it could be written off as an accident and maybe, just maybe, cover up their tracks to prevent anyone from actually realizing they had been here in the first place. Suspicion was one thing, proof was another.
 
"Probably in one of the crates upstairs. I wasn't exactly kept in the loop when it came to such matters. They never intended for me to leave this place while breathing, so my environment suit wasn't a priority for them."

Sera straightened from the benches, having downloaded the schematics and data. "I'll head upstairs, see if I can find the crate and bring down the environment suit while you rig up the bomb." Sera headed back upstairs, activating her cloaking as soon as she got to the top of the stairs. Quickly, she maneuvered between the crates, scanning each one as she passed by while avoiding the guards. Luckily for her, it only took three crates to find what she was looking for. Hacking the crate open quickly, Sera gathered up the turian's suit, waiting for the patrols to leave a large enough gap for her to slip between and head back down.

While she did so, and the turian stripped down shamelessly to put the environment suit on, it was a fairly simple matter for Kar to find the key parts to set up the explosive distraction to allow them to escape.

Normally, Sera would have words for arranging an accident, but that had been before she had seen the turian. She had a suspicion that not all of the turian's scarring was older than her time in the factory, and she also had seen plenty of other scars when the turian had undressed, some even fresher. Whoever was keeping her was probably upstairs, and Sera would have no problem knowing that they had perished in the resulting explosion, while she saw all the other guards as complicit in said captivity. The turian would have been an unfortunate casualty, but with her coming with them on the extraction, Sera could rest easy knowing that the odds were extremely high that everyone who didn't make it out of the warehouse had it coming. "We should leave as soon as possible," Sera commented after the turian dressed. "How long will we have before the explosion goes off?"
 
Although Kar was keeping himself fairly well occupied with the explosives he was still a touch suspicious and kept glancing around just to stay somewhat aware of his surroundings, not to mention the turian who had previously been working on these parts. When Sera returned with the suit he caught a few glimpses of the turian's naked body and also noted the scars, coming to similar conclusions about how fresh some of them looked. Working on explosives was not an accident-prone job and his time as a mercenary meant he could recognize well the signs of someone imposing their will on another. Those scars were beatings and punishments, or encouragement depending on one's perspective. He didn't hold the hate for such things that the quarian did by comparison however, accepting well that the galaxy was a harsh place and those in power would naturally tend to leverage it against those beneath them. Whether it was right or wrong didn't much matter, it just happened.

In any case the various parts were removed from the standard fare he was used to working with so he had to make a few educated guesses. He was confident the end result would function well enough to do the job, to make a breach to the outside and royally screw everyone inside without quick access to an environmental suit of their own, but how large of a breach it would make he had no clue. It could be the size of a Tomkah tire or it could remove the entire front half of the structure. "Since I don't know how large of a blast this will make, and I don't know if this building is protected against remote signals, I'm just going to set it to a delay. It will take me about fifteen seconds to get back up the stairs quietly and we want to try and move towards the east side of the building to use the door I came in at, I doubt they will be looking in that direction once this goes off, so I'm going to put this about half a minute."

Of course the delay wasn't going to be quite so precise and surely the turian understood this from her experience, nothing here was built with an actual timer in order to be used in this fashion so he was splicing cable lengths based on what he could remember of their electrical resistance in order to try and get the signal to have half a minute of travel time through the metal but hey, nothing like a little bit of excitement to get the blood flowing right? Once he could share a look between the two women to ensure that they were ready for the hurried yet quite rush towards the east door he'd finish the connection and move to follow. A lot was riding on this so he could only hope both the timing and the severity of the rigged explosives worked out in their favor. Well, that and he hoped they didn't get spotted while trying to leave obviously.
 
The turian nodded in understanding at his words. "Not much time to get out, then. We'll need to move quickly to allow for any margin of error." With that, both she and Sera quickly made their way to, and then up, the stairs, Sera not bothering to cloak this time. With the turian nearby, there wasn't much point in doing so. If they spotted the turian through the escape, they would catch her regardless. Similarly, if the turian avoided detection without a cloak, Sera was sure to do so as well. Either way, cloaking would be a waste of energy, quite literally.

Once up the stairs, the two women made their way to the east door, reaching it just as the explosion went off. Naturally, the guards all rushed down the stairs to check on the lab, not bothering to even confer with each other about maintaining a presence upstairs. If they noticed Kar or the women as they did so, they didn't acknowledge the trio, too intent on making sure the lab wasn't fully destroyed. After all, such an incident would raise problems with their superiors, and that was not something any of the guards were keen to deal with. In addition, of course, to the breach in the protection the wall had provided from the atmosphere outside. The guards patrolling outside, assuming they hadn't been caught in the explosion, wouldn't have that problem, of course, but they themselves were too distracted by the explosion to notice the quarian and turian slipping out of the factory, quickly making their way to the trench for cover.

Once in the trench, and after getting a fair ways from the factory, Sera waited for Kar to signal for an extraction. Once that was done, she and the turian would join him back on the ship, in order to discuss what they had found in the now-defunct factory. Sera, in particular, felt that the turian would have quite a bit to say about her most recent project.
 
Kar wouldn't be far behind the two women as he finalized arming the device and moved as quickly as he dared while still trying to remain quiet. Ultimately his fuse was short, though not by enough to end up being a problem thankfully as it detonated maybe ten full second early while he was still maybe halfway between the concealed staircase and the east side door. The explosion was a bit underwhelming, much to his disappointment, but it did the job and ended up carving out a new hallway large enough for the krogan to walk through with ease; though of course he hadn't stuck around to see this directly.

In the undisciplined chaos caused by the explosion it was an easy thing to leave the building together and he didn't think anyone saw him, even the sniper on the top of the building was in a hurry to climb down for fear that their perch might suddenly become unstable and risk collapse, and after a nerve-wracking but quiet ten or fifteen minutes of walking back through the trench line they had first arrived through he signaled Calius for a pickup. As the ramp lifted up to seal with the trio still walking up it, and the Pa'vex lifted off to clear the planet, Kar finally deactivated his helmet and sighed with contentment at being free of its confines before contacting the pilot over short range coms. "Keep the IES active until we clear the cluster. We left a mess behind and don't want to give anyone evidence that we were here." A terse response was given while the young turian focused on his duties maneuvering the vessel. "Yes captain, turn and burn as the humans say."

That did leave the question of where to actually go from here but he had a bit to figure that out before they reached the relay and needed to plot of proper course. Turning to regard Sera and the yet unknown female he gave a small nod to the quarian as a sign of respect. It wasn't much, and she still had a lot to prove in his eyes, but she at least could handle herself better than he had expected when it came to staying safe. Kar still doubted she could shoot straight, or stay alive in a firefight, but that mission had gone far better than he had expected. To the turian though he needed to give some commands, albeit basic ones. "You, first stop is the medical bay. You are an important witness so I don't care how you feel, I'm not about to have you keel over before you can tell us everything you know. Come with me. We can talk afterward." Since she wasn't actively bleeding or anything he doubted the check up would take long, it was more a precaution, and having more information about the woman could only help.
 
Once back on the ship, Sera returned the Spectre's nod with one of her own. He had impressed her himself, with his ability to keep the casualties to a minimum. Even with the bombing, that had been a distraction that was needed, and one they didn't have time to try to figure out another way around. Sera might have been able to rig up a safer distraction, one that was less destructive, but she couldn't know for sure. It had done the job, that was all that mattered.

After they were securely on board and moving away from the planet, Sera sat down in one of the available chairs, immediately poring over the information and schematics that she had taken from the lab at the behest of the turian, to try to determine if she could make any progress with her own knowledge of mechanics and technology, to determine what alterations had been made to the bomb components that made them so special as to keep a turian prisoner working on them, rather than using more above-board methods.

For her part, the turian simply nodded in acceptance of Kar's orders. Following the krogan down to the medical bay, she obeyed the instructions of the doctor without question, stripping down to allow for a full examination. While she didn't have any current injuries, it was clear from the examination that the scars were more than just superficial, several of the turian's bones showing signs of being broken then healing, as well as her normally wiry frame not just slender, but almost emaciated. As she sat on the bed, she glanced up at Kar. "I know you said we'd talk afterwards, but now is as good of a time as any. Just ask me your questions, and I'll tell you what I can. But before we begin, my name is Velira Tragar." She closed her eyes briefly, her upper body swaying slightly. "I initially volunteered to work for Belia Industries, but when they found out about my past experience in the Hierarchy, they decided to put my skills to use to design, or rather tweak, bomb component designs. I didn't have a choice in the matter, as my body can clearly tell you, so I did the best I could. Or worst, depending on whose side you are on."
 
Kar glanced at the doctor as if to confirm that an in-depth discussion would be acceptable at this point but she simply shrugged and nodded. "If talking was going to hurt her then she'd likely already be dead." Shaking off the remark from the kind but somewhat feisty female, he turned his attention back towards the turian just rescued who seemed very much comfortable despite the nudity required for the examination; though that aspect was explained fairly quickly as she continued. "Makes sense. Military service is mandated by the Hierarchy so finding a turian that doesn't know how to fight is harder than otherwise." Obviously there were exceptions to be found everywhere but it was a good rule of thumb in his experience. "But military service doesn't mean bomb-making skills. So what? Engineer?"

While he did expect an answer on how her background gave her the qualifications to be selected for this work he also didn't exactly need to be so coarse. From the sounds of things she was giving him plenty to work with already though he worried that Belia Industries might have some clauses in their employment contracts to make forced labor legally acceptable; though he doubted the council would accept that considering the abuse Velira had suffered. "You survived. That's more than many could say in your place. And, from the looks of things, you've just made an important contribution to what we need to formally investigate the company. You got a chance at getting some indirect revenge to look forward to." He hadn't introduced himself though and, although he didn't much care for decorum and small talk, it might help continue to keep her compliant to some degree. "So you know; I am Ganar Kar and I am a spectre."
 
"Engineer. With a special talent for tweaking bombs. Not just disarming the enemy's, but making ours stronger when necessary." She chuckled slightly at what he said about what she had gone through at Belia Industries. "Oh, I don't think just me will be enough for that. I'm sure they have something letting them use 'indentured servitude' contracts. And I'm sure those same contracts are not as kindly worded on Noveria as, say, Ilium. And even if they aren't, their lawyers can keep everything tied up in the bureaucracy long enough to destroy evidence, and their shadier contacts can arrange for me to have an accident or otherwise be 'unavailable to testify', as the case may be. I'm no fool. Why do you think I'm telling you all of this to begin with? At least this way, you'll personally have any evidence I can share. You and your quarian chick."

Hearing that he was a Spectre made her look up again, narrowing her eyes as she studied him more thoroughly than before. "Even better. Maybe people will actually care what you have to say. In that case, I'll tell you what modifications I was making on those components. It wasn't what you'd expect. Not trying to make them..." She winced slightly, rubbing at one of her freshest scars, one barely healed on her stomach. "Not trying to make them more powerful, or a bioweapon, nothing like that. What they had me trying to do with the bomb was make it less detectable by security. Find alloys that might slip through a checkpoint. Test alloys that they created elsewhere to see if they were feasible. If my results were not to their liking...well, you can guess how they reacted. And before you ask, no, they did not take my eye. That is ancient history, so don't bother thinking about trying to find anything to tie them to the prosthetic like a medical record."
 
So his gut instinct might be wrong if Velira had the full picture, though he couldn't write off the possibility that her work was only a fraction of what the company actually had planned in order to keep such individuals in the dark. "Contract or not the marks on your flesh are proof enough for the council to start applying pressure if nothing else. Indentured servitude might be legal but the restrictions placed upon such deals are extensive." Protection against physical abuse was quite up there when it came to such work agreements but he wouldn't press the matter right now. If nothing else he was certain she'd not have to go back to work for that company unless she chose to, though she was most likely in danger to some extent all the same until this whole business shook out if Belia Industries wanted to silence her.

He looked down momentarily as she rubbed at the wound on her stomach but he brought his eyes back up to her face quickly as he didn't want her to get the wrong idea. Truth be told turian women were kind of boring for his tastes, they lacked both nice asses as he preferred and didn't have breasts like the humans and quarians, but he didn't deny them entirely as potential flings. As some of the humans liked to say 'a hole's a hole' and it had gotten a lot harder to keep his libido in check since he started down the straight and narrow path. Well, more that he shied away from open criminal activities but still. "I wasn't going to ask about the eye. Though I had already figured they didn't give it to you. They locked you in a basement with only rags for clothing. Clearly they wouldn't spend the funds to give you a cybernetic eye that had even the most basic capability to see in darkness."

Shrugging off the topic though, since he didn't consider it important, Kar would shift the dialogue elsewhere. "For right now, while you are aboard my ship, you are under my protection. The quarian, is in a similar position. She is not my chick as you called her, she's someone that Belia Industries saw fit to hire an assassin to go after. I'm looking into the company at this point, building a case against them, and I'll need the schematics you gave as well as your own testimony to aid that. Aside from the mundane details that you can record later such as how long you were working for the company I want you to try and recall anything odd that you might have overheard or been told directly. Doesn't matter if you remember something that doesn't make sense, it might still be a clue we can use in the future. You can record anything you want to add from the terminal in the quarters I'll be giving you. In the meantime, rest up and recover while I figure out or next move. It might be some time before I can drop you off somewhere so get cozy."

While there were a few simple questions he could ask to aid the investigation overall he had nothing pressing that he needed to know for the moment. Besides her recorded information would be easy to access once she got around to that. "This is a classified vessel so you aren't allowed in the weapon batteries or engineering. Technically you aren't supposed to be on the command deck either while the ship is under way but I don't care just so long as you clear out should any combat start. I'll station someone outside the door to walk you to your room once the doctor is finished with you." As an afterthought, or more aptly as something he debated on saying before deciding just to go through with it, he turned away to leave and then paused to glance over his shoulder. "You may not have earned them in battle but those scars look good on you."
 
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"You do have a point about the contracts. They do seem rather unkind towards actual abuse of indentured servants, and some of these injuries are recent enough to prove that I got them while I was under contract, if I was in the first place. Still, it's just a minor thing, compared to what they might be doing with those bomb components." She laid back in the bed, relaxing slightly without seeming to have any concern with her nudity, much less an objection to Kar looking her over. If she even noticed, which was far from certain, she didn't say a word. "You do have a point about the eye. They probably wouldn't have bothered with an eyepatch. Use the socket as a warning to others to not be careless."

She glanced at Kar again as he spoke. "She pissed them off as well? Or more likely, found something she wasn't supposed to. Either way, I do appreciate being under protection from a Spectre. It's definitely more than I hoped for when I became prisoner to those people. As for what I can give you as testimony, beyond what I have already said, I don't know all that much. I was kept in the basement, and you can guess how often I had visitors. That said, if I think of anything else, I will record it. Although I do have one other thing..."

Her voice faltered briefly. "At least...I should. I know what the person who enslaved me looked like, but to be honest, I'm having some problems thinking of how to describe them. I think after some rest, I can give some more details, but all I can say for sure is that he was a krogan, who was simply called "Boss" when being addressed, so definitely above the normal grunts to some degree. Pretty big guy, too. I just can't remember much beyond that. I only saw him once, and let's just say it wasn't exactly a scenario where I was able to focus on what he looked like to any real degree."

The comment about her scars made her chuckle softly. "You're just saying that because you're hard up, and the quarian is too soft for you and want someone a little tougher. Or you take 'fuck the turians' a bit more literally than most krogan." She groaned at the end of her chuckle, rubbing her head. "I'll definitely look forward to resting after all of this. If your quarian crossed Belia Industries, she's made quite a dangerous enemy. I don't envy her in the least. Being in the same situation as me is not an enviable position, and I'm not sure if she's more foolish or brave for not running the other way as soon as she could. I hope I can help you take them down before they turn their attention on you."
 
The information regarding a krogan was useful, though not exactly surprising. His kind had been used as warriors and enforcers for as long as the other races knew they existed and even Kar himself perpetuated this lifestyle without much complaint for most of his years. Nevertheless it was something to keep in the back of his mind moving forward. At her laughter to his talk of her scars, and her candid response laced with amusement, he chuckled but continued to slowly walk away.

When he reached the door he turned, though out of eyesight at this point from the privacy screens, and raised his voice to carry back regardless of the doctor in the room. "I may not like the fact that most turians are so rigid that they must keep a stick up their ass to ensure they don't accidentally bend but I wouldn't be running a ship filled with a majority of them if I didn't hold some respect for them. As for Belia, well, takes a hell of a lot to take down a krogan battlemaster. Don't worry about me." Krogan biotics like him were rare but powerful; his kind effectively didn't produce individuals with weak biotics. Battlemaster might be more of an honorary title than an official designation but it carried weight within krogan society, even outside of Tuchanka. This 'Boss' wouldn't be a problem, not in the face of Kar's confidence anyway.

After assigning a crew member to wait outside the medical bay for Velira he headed off to find Sera, see if she had any insights to add about the schematics that the turian herself hadn't been able to share. It was unlikely perhaps but he wanted to gather all the information he could before he got in touch with the council; this was enough of a breakthrough to at least update them even if they still would probably want to drag their heels against a formal investigation. "Gleam anything from the specs? Our demolitions engineer admitted her focus was on concealment, trying to find new materials and designs to foil scans. Clearly someone wants to bomb some high-value targets." He asked the quarian once he found her.
 
"That backs up what I've found," Sera commented. "I've not come across some of these alloys before, which is not exactly something that I say very often. That tells me that they were likely developed by Belia Industries themselves. Them, or someone they contracted out, which comes down to the same thing. Either way, I'm guessing they were trying to find something that would conceal the bombs but still hold up to, you know, the actual explosive part. She was getting closer than I'd like to admit to a real breakthrough, but I'm not entirely sure that she did completely succeed. That explains the scarring, I suppose."

Sitting back in her seat, she looked at Kar squarely. "Of course, we still have a few questions even with these schematics. What were these high-value targets that they'd be wanting to bomb? I'm sure they weren't targeting anything the Council would want bombed, of course, but that doesn't narrow it down much. Nor does it give any evidence that the Council would listen to. They may want further investigation, but I doubt that they'd make much of a move without knowing fully what they are planning."

"That said, it's more than we had before. I hope that will be enough for them to at least continue looking the other way." She leaned back in her chair, shaking her head slightly. "Then again, I don't even know for sure what the best way to continue investigating would be. I'll need to try to break down these new alloys, see if I can find out at least what planet would have all the materials needed for the rarer alloys. Then determine any labs that Belia Industries would have on that planet. It will take some time to do that, however."

For her part, Velira was quite happy to make her way to new quarters once her examination was cleared, putting on the environment suit only for as long as it took to reach her new quarters to rest, then stripping down again to do so. Oddly, she felt more at ease in that state than her rags or environment suit. They reminded her too much of her time before the rescue. Not a time she cared at all to relive.
 
He was at something of a loss too as to where to go from here, however the council might have some suggestions when he contacted them. Sera's explanation of the process she wanted to go down made sense as well though, like she said, would be a very time consuming process. "I'll tell the armorer assist you with figuring that out. With a crew this small he should have plenty of time on his hands for some extra work. In the meantime I'll see what the council has to say." Considering the conversation finished between them for the time being he set off to relay that command to the armorer before heading up to his quarters, intent on using his private terminal to give the council his update.

On the lower deck with Velira, while she was more than welcome to relax nude as much as she pleased there would be a delivery shortly after she settled in with a few pairs of fresh clothing. Basic ship uniforms since that was all that was on hand at short notice but they should fit well enough for the time being. Convenient that the crew was mostly turian for them to have proper garments available at all.

--

As Kar entered his quarters he opted to leave his gear on for the moment and made a beeline towards his private terminal. While he could contact the council on the bridge this was the only true terminal on the ship with a QEC for instantaneous, secure connections back to the council. When he spoke to them from his bridge it was simply routed to this terminal for convience. Stepping onto the platform he made the call, attempting to see if they were available to respond right away.
 
It was far from immediate, but after a surprisingly short time, the salarian councilor responded to his hails, and after a few more minutes of scrambling and calling, all four councilors were on the call. "Did your excursion yield any results?" the turian councilor was the first to query. "I'm assuming you already investigated this factory, given the fact that you have contacted us. What have you found?" the human councilor followed up with. "Is it solid evidence, or is there a possibility that Belia Industries has a...not exactly benign, but legal reason behind anything that you have found?" was the final question, this time by the salarian councilor. The asari stood quiet, her arms clasped behind her back as she simply watched the proceedings unfold. As someone who had been against the investigation to begin with, she didn't have much interest in what Kar may have found, only at the meeting due to her presence being required.



In the meantime, Sera sent the schematics to the armor to allow him to examine the alloys at the same time she did. Working separately, she looked for the rarest combination of metals, then narrowed down their possible sources. When she did so, she made sure to cross-reference her findings with the armorer. The only leads she'd follow up on were the ones where the armorer concurred with her. It was a very reasonable method to investigate. After all, the Spectre wouldn't have brought in the armorer if he wasn't capable, and if they both agreed on something, it was probably the right thing.

It took a fair bit of time, and more than a bit of trial and error, but eventually, Sera found a potential lead. It wasn't, however, until some time after Kar's call to the Council had concluded, preventing her from giving him the next lead until after said call.
 
Kar looked over the holographic projections of the four council members with relative disinterest but couldn't help but note their differences of opinion, particularly the asari. While he wasn't aware of the true inner workings of their decision process outside of the conversations he was specifically part of, Kar got the opinion that she held the least approval of his appointment into the spectres. It was conjecture to be sure but it colored his consideration for her all the same. Shaking off that gnawing disapproval he focused on delivering his results, first by sending over the schematics for the council to look over before he uploaded his helmet capture from the mission; both the full video and the trimmed down snippets he wanted them to focus on.

"The factory was active, though only in a partial sense. The upper floor was shut down but a hidden, lower section was busy working on bomb components through the slave labor of a turian; Velira Tragar. And before any of you attempt to point out the likelihood that she was under contract as an indentured servant I will counter with the fact that her body is covered in scars, some extremely fresh; She was being tortured and abused as encouragement to produce results." Hopefully that would get their attention and cull the immediate pushback, though he was certain that at least one of them would still have something to argue about with his findings or his choice of words. "I have the turian aboard my ship now as a key witness that Belia Industries was using her engineering experience to try and design new ways of concealing explosives to pass through scans undetected. Surely you have to admit that something serious is happening behind the scenes with the company. Maybe not galaxy-shattering like the quarian wants to believe but this warrants an active investigation at the least rather than just simply turning a blind eye."
 
The councilors all listened to him silently, letting him finish his report without interruption. Once he had, the turian councilor was the first to respond. "These are serious accusations, but you do have some proof to pack them up. It's not enough to directly interfere with their operations, however."

"Rather," the salarian interjected. "The problem isn't whether or not we can interfere with their operations, but if we should. We could shut down the factory, although from your report that was likely already done with your escape. Instead, the question is one of what we would gain and lose by doing so. Designing new bomb components to be undetectable is certainly troubling, but without any proof of an underlying plot, we can't do anything too rash. If we guard the wrong sector, we may leave the intended target exposed even more than if we were simply unaware."

The human councilor responded next. "I, for one, am in favor of an active investigation. At this point, we have undetectable bomb parts, made by someone who was apparently forced to do so by rather crude methods, and in a way designed to not be noticed. All of that adds up to something that needs to be looked at closer."

"Looked at," the salarian emphasized. "We still have nothing to go on to prove any one plot, and without that, all we can say is that what Belia Industries is doing is unethical. Hardly a crime on Noveria. As for the abuse angle, that is one to consider, but we'd need time to get anything out of it, and the punishment would likely not affect any long-term plans if they have any."

The asari sighed grudgingly. "Once again, I am forced to admit that my councilors have the right idea. It is key, however, that your witness agree to a private testimony before we move actively against Belia Industries. If she is responsible for making the bomb components, or altering them, she is a dangerous witness, and we have to be sure that she truly will work against her employers in a...more direct method that may put her at further risk."

The human councilor almost rolled her eyes at the asari before catching herself. "While we question the witness, we will sanction an official investigation. Once again, try to make sure not to get into any gunfights while you dig deeper, but if it can't be helped, so be it. Will that be acceptable, Spectre?"
 
Kar let them bicker and debate until they were satisfied, ultimately them coming to the conclusion he had both expected from them and actually asked for; Permission for a formal investigation. Still he was continually reminded not to use open violence all the same which was frustrating. It was as if they didn't expect him to be able to do anything other than shoot. Of course, to be fair, he would prefer to go down such a route but he understood that obtaining evidence and learning more about the plot Belia was weaving was more important than enjoying a good shootout.

"Right now she is recovering from her injuries but I'll bring her up to talk with you in the next cycle. She seems eager to help against the company that tortured her but you can make that determination for yourselves. In the meantime the quarian and my armorer are trying to break down the alloys in the schematics I sent to you. See if they can find out some likely planets might have everything needed to produce them and pick up a trail. It is a weak lead though, with your approval now into a proper investigation, I can start pulling more information about the company. Maybe they will have some other, odd acquisitions in recent history to check out." The weapons factory stood out because it was contradictory to the company's usual market, and of course for the death that occurred there. There was a chance that other suspicious purchases might have happened under the radar which would only now look strange in retrospect. It was worth looking into at the least.

With the report given and the conversation complete for the time being Kar signed off from the call and sighed, giving a little shake of his head. True it was good to have some actual work to focus on but it was more skulking around and chasing at shadows. He'd get the information request logged into the spectre database so that other agents would know to pass any and all information about Belia Industries to him as part of the active investigation but that would take time to come in, not to mention wouldn't necessarily provide anything too useful. Meanwhile in the back of his mind he considered the chance that he might need to turn to darker sources of information should other avenues dry up. His time in the Terminus Systems taught him not to undervalue Aria T'Loak's connections in the criminal underworld of the galaxy and his time in C-Sec allowed him to stumble upon the network of the Shadow Broker, an expensive but effective source of near any data one could desire. Though he'd sold a few secrets himself to make some extra credits along the way as well.

Kar stripped down out of his gear and stowed it securely before taking a hot shower to get cleaned up. Since he planned on leaving his quarters this time he did put on some actual clothing, the pants and shirt of his crew uniform that he was supposed to be wearing when not on-mission. All in all he would do his rounds on the vessel and lay in a course from the relay to the nearby Sol system of the Local Cluster just so that they had a space to lay low while attempting to figure out their next move. By the time Sera and the Armorer was finished with their analysis the krogan was nearing the point of needing some sleep himself but he could manage to hear what they had found out before then, having Sera come up to the command deck to discuss. "Got the message from the armorer that you might have something."
 
"Before I begin, I will be the first to admit this isn't exactly a totally solid lead. It's something, but at the same time, I'm not sure how much the Council would follow up on this if it was the only proof we had, that sort of thing."

Sera opened up her omnitool, showing the breakdown of the alloy. "We started by working with the alloys that had the rarest metals. The ones that had the least likelihood of being found together, to narrow down the planets as best as we could. It took a few alloys, but we eventually got a hit. This alloy's metals are mostly found together only on one planet: Rayingri. If we can find any lab that Belia Industries has on that planet, we'll probably have a new place to investigate."

There was, in fact, a lab that the company had recently acquired on Rayingri, but there wasn't any clear evidence of the lab being obtained through any suspicious methods. Sera, however, had no way to know either of those details. All that she could do was pass along what information she had gathered from the alloys, and confirmed with the armorer to make sure that her findings were accurate. Beyond that, it was up to any further investigation on the part of Kar to find any further information.

"I hope the Council has at least sanctioned the investigation. It would be a lot easier if we had at least some official cover if we get caught. Just in case." She crossed her arms. "Assuming, of course, that you haven't found a place to drop me off already."
 
The krogan huffed at her posturing to ensure he understood that this information was a stretch and very well might amount to nothing. "It's worth looking into all the same." Listening to the details he made a mental note of the planet and would later dig up what information he could find on it to reference with any details on Belia Industries when they came in. "It is a proper investigation now, yes, though they still want me to keep a low profile."

He debated for a moment on how best to reply to her comment of being dropped off somewhere but ultimately shrugged, he didn't much care to engage in the petty argument and would just state his piece instead. "I'm reaching out to my contacts and I'll look to see about any holdings on Rayingri as well. Right now the ship is heading to the Local Cluster, give us a breather to rest away from Noveria. If I find something on Rayingri then we will head there. With this investigation ramping up I'm leveraging my authority as a spectre to have you and the turian join my crew temporarily. Until this business with Belia is finished you are under my command."

Considering that Sera wanted to continue investigating the company he doubted this would be an issue. Though she might take offense to the nature of his decision to effectively press-gang her into service. Now that the investigation was sanctioned he could effectively do this to them both, with some restrictions of course, and he accepted that the quarian was able to keep herself relatively safe enough to not be a burden for future missions. Of course, this shift meant that she technically had to follow his orders but surely their lone wolf dynamic couldn't continue being a good idea if things heated up from the company bearing down upon them. That and he didn't much intend to boss her around much, just when he felt it really mattered. "Can you handle that?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. It was brusque but intended to solidify that he was trusting her more than he had previously. Whether or not she interpreted all this in that manner remained to be seen though.
 
"I can handle it," she responded calmly, taking the question in the manner it had been intended. "As for the Local Cluster, I agree that laying low might be a good idea, especially since we have the official cover to investigate and don't need to rush in." Sera paused slightly, something seeming to just occur to her.

"If I'm right, and there is a laboratory or factory or something on Rayingri that Belia Industries purchased recently, that is a rather odd choice of purchase. The planet's not exactly stable right now, and could tear itself apart in years or decades. Why would you make a purchase on that sort of planet?" She shrugged it off almost as soon as she asked the question, shaking her head. "Not that it matters. We need to find some information first. Without that, this is just an assumption. One backed up by some evidence, but an assumption nonetheless."

Sera sat back in her chair, looking up at the krogan Spectre. "I am grateful for you allowing me to stick around to see this through. I promise that I won't be a burden on you. The assassin was a fluke, and not one that I'm proud of. I plan to continue proving that to you. I don't have your contacts, admittedly, but I do have my own ways of getting information once we get into a lead. It's surprising how often these corporations leave internal communications lightly encrypted, but still on private servers, assuming no one will get in close enough to get it. Hopefully, that will be the case with Belia Industries. We'll have to be careful, of course. And we have no idea what our turian friend is capable of, but she's turian. We know that she can at least handle herself in a scrap. You don't make it through the Hierarchy without being able to fight."
 
"The council isn't sure about trusting her just yet and I understand their concern. I don't personally think she's trouble after what she went through but they weren't there in person. Next cycle she'll need to testify to them and they will make a decision then. I'm still recruiting her so long as the council has no objection." Again he doubted they would have any problems with the decision after speaking with her but he couldn't say for certain. He noted her appreciation of course in being allowed to stay on but had little to say in response to it. She'd prove herself or she wouldn't. Wasn't much point in worrying about it now either way. For now specifically he figured she was more useful than not and, well, maybe a part of him kept thinking about the view of her exposed ass a bit too much.

In any case they had a rough plan and some time to rest up. Rising from his chair, Kar would turn to head back to his quarters while finishing up his words with Sera. "I'm going to get some sleep. You should too if you can. I'll check for details on Belia and Rayingri when I get up, get the call between Velira and the council sorted, and go from there." Unless she had anything more she wanted to say he'd retire and do his best to rest up for the next cycle. Things were a little nebulous aboard a spaceship in regards to time but tracking shifts was important all the same; staying alert while on-duty even moreso. As a small sidenote before he tucked in however, Kar would put in a request for the scans that his doctor took of Velira; specifically of her cybernetic eye. He wanted to try and figure out just how much that eye really could see. While he didn't doubt the abuse she suffered he did worry about the chance that someone else might be piggybacking the feed. Would be a disaster if Belia was aware of everything Velira saw somehow.
 
Sera headed down to her quarters at his urging. She was aware that his advice was very wise to follow, and she intended to do just that. In the room that she had been given, she laid down, closing her eyes to rest as best as she could.

When Kar awoke from his own rest, the doctor's report on Velira was waiting for him. The turian's cybernetic eye was fairly high quality, indicating that the turian had at least some more connections than could be expected for someone who had been an indentured servant, or possibly that she was an indentured servant because she had put so many funds into the cybernetic eye. The design of the eye allowed her to see through darkness and any non-solid obstructions, but there didn't seem to be any feedback systems to allow any recording or playback beyond Velira's own system. There was no possibility that Belia Industries would have access to the feed from her eye.

In addition to the eye, the scans indicated another potential surprise. While she didn't look like much in her current state, her internal scans indicated that she was biotic-capable, and while she currently lacked the focus and energy to utilize them properly, it seemed that a properly rested and maintained Velira would have quite a bit of potential power in her biotics, making it highly likely that she had been part of the Turian Cabal at some point.
 
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