Patreon LogoYour support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)

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

Waking up refreshed and recharged, not to mention nude considering he always slept that way when he could, Kar read over the medial report while he brushed back any lingering grogginess from his rest. It was a relief to be certain but the note of her biotic powers made him feel a bit stupid in hindsight considering she herself had mentioned the capabilities and he should have put together the Hierarchy and the fact that meant she had to have been a Cabal on his own. After all, the turians didn't allow biotic capable individuals within normal military units; too much bad blood from the past or something. Just proved his point that he needed the sleep he supposed.

His stomach grumbled a bit with the desire for food but he pushed that aside for the moment, instead focusing on checking the spectre database to see if there had been any updates regarding Belia Industries. A few small tidbits had been noted but nothing major that stood out as of yet. To be fair it had only been a handful of hours and this was not surprising. He shifted his focus to Rayingri and pulled up the public data first. The planet was highly unstable due to a captured planetoid on a decaying orbit and had been that way for hundreds of years at this point. While it had been fairly hot back then it had only grown more heated and tumultuous with time as destruction grew ever closer.

All in all it didn't seem bad enough to require environmental protection thankfully but promised to make most people sweat buckets with temperatures around fifty degrees celsius or higher now. Earthquakes, tremors, and windstorms were potent and common and it backed up Sera's comment regarding the oddity of purchasing a facility on a planet doomed to die. While estimates were somewhat over the place on exactly when Rayingri would die, most of them suggested it was less than one hundred years with some going to far as to dip down into measurements of low decades. "A poor investment in most cases... makes it seem more likely that something is going on there, even if it's just mining for resources."

Shifting from public records of the planet to private information of Belia holdings he located a lab on the planet as expected, one that had changed hands plenty of times in the past with an ever-changing focus as well. Originally designed as a base for prospecting the planet it was sold off after no mining company felt the investment was worth the risk; the scans promised valuable resources but it was the amount of each that was called into question. A private research company bought it for remote experiments for a short time, the Salarian Special Tasks Group briefly picked it up as a training ground, and it bounced around further between individuals trying to prove that the mineral wealth was good enough to go after before Belia Industries snatched it up for a modest price; one that was on the high end considering the planet's expected lifespan but not exorbinant.

All in all Kar somewhat got lost in his research for longer than he realized in the hopes of getting as complete a picture as possible before he would realize he needed to get moving to grab food and check in on the others. Of course, with his delay it was possible that Sera might come seek him out first but unless she hacked the electronic lock on his door she'd be spared another viewing of him nude.
 
For her part, Sera had spent the time resting, and had felt no need to pursue Kar. She suspected that when he had information, he'd either let her know if it was important to know, or keep it to himself if she didn't need to know. In either case, asking him for updates would be pointless. Instead, she had made her way to the mess hall. One of the good things about so many turians being on the crew was that dextro food was quite easy to come across, allowing her no problem finding food to eat.

She was, however, surprised by someone else she saw in the mess hall when she arrived. Velira had gotten her own rest, and felt much more recovered, but after her time as an indentured servant and being tortured to get her to work, she needed to take the opportunity that was currently offered to her. While she didn't know that she was a provisional team member underneath Kar, the turian woman knew one thing above all else: she was quite hungry, and even military fare would be a large step up from what she had had when working on the bomb...when she was given anything at all.

After some quiet words with the mess hall chef, she had a larger than normal portion, and sat down next to Sera. "You don't have to worry about me, quarian. We're in the same boat. I'll have your back, you'll have mine, the krogan will have both of ours. If it comes down to that, I'm sure." Velira glanced up when Kar entered the mess hall, but didn't make any further acknowledgment of the krogan. He'd approach the pair if he wanted to talk to them, or single one of them out. If not, he wouldn't. It didn't matter either way to the turian. Just being safe on his ship was enough acknowledgement of her.
 
For his part Kar, dressed in his simple uniform again, would enter the mess to grab food after most of the others. He spied Velira and Sera sitting together but focused on his own meal first, honestly most of the food that wasn't dextro-amino based was purchased for him. Something that people might take for granted was the size of the krogan appetite. One didn't get to be so big and bulky without needing more to eat, it was just a simple fact. That said, his hump could store nutrients to get him through lean times but it wasn't something he'd choose to rely on if he could help it.

Coming over with what amounted to a tray laden with a practical banquet, large portions of meat mixed with vegetables, bread, and fruit to round out nutritional needs, Kar would choose to sit down opposite Sera and Velira, the metal bench groaning under his weight but admirably managing to support him all the same. Not often choosing to take his meals in the mess meant that Kar would draw some glances and whispers from the crew moving through the area but nothing too concerning compared to concerns regarding to the new females on board; if Velira assumed Sera was the captain's 'chick' then what was to be said about the new turian?

"Didn't expect you'd be up so quickly... though I guess the Cabal doesn't make weak soldiers." He said to the turian between bites, acting perhaps a little messy by comparison to most species when eating but truthfully more reserved than was common for krogan. The words weren't intended to put her on the defensive or anything though, he respected her toughness of course and continued without much delay. "Council wants to speak with you directly so you'll come up to my quarters after we finish eating and take care of that. They want you to testify and they want to judge for themselves if they think you are trustworthy." His blunt delivery should make it clear that he wasn't worried about anything though he was deliberately choosing not to tell the turian about his recruitment decision until after the meeting.
 
Velira sighed softly, both at the request and the reference to the Cabal. "So, you've found me out. Wonderful. I hope the Council is receptive to listening to a Cabal member. Or former Cabal member, at any rate. Especially one with a patchy record." She gestured to her cybernetic eye. "Line of duty. Got careless. It's ancient history for me, but being careless in the Hierarchy tends to follow you around, if you catch my drift."

Looking down, she focused on her food for a while, but when she was finished, merely sat back on the bench a bit, not getting up. "I will be honest with everything I say, of course. There's nothing for me to hide, and every reason to not hide anything. Again, assuming they don't dig into my past." It was clear that whatever had happened to her eye, despite her earlier dismissal of it as ancient history, was probably on her record, and whether by universal or turian standards, would reflect negatively on her in some way.

She ran a hand over her fringe as she waited for Kar to finish, ready to follow him to his quarters to debrief the Council directly and hopefully prove herself trustworthy. "I do appreciate you sticking your neck out for me a bit with the Council. I don't know if you knew I was in the Cabal when you set up this meeting, but either way, you barely know me. Means something that you at least know I can be trusted."
 
"Hah!" He chuckled between bites, moving to swallow before continuing. "You say that like I should care you used to be in the Cabal." He didn't, at least not for any negative reasons like she seemed to be insinuating. Obviously whatever event in her past still haunted her and that might change his outlook somewhat but he figured this was as good a time as any to bring up his 'ancient history' after he tore another chunk of meat free before swallowing after very little chewing.

"Clearly you don't know Clan Ganar or you wouldn't be so worried." He paused, expecting recognition somehow despite it being obvious that the two women had no reason to know anything about krogan society expect perhaps that Urdnot Wrex was still kicking it and leading from Tuchanka; and that was only because of how much of a popular figure he had made himself during the Reaper War and the efforts to bring the krogan back into galactic matters.

When he had to accept that they wouldn't know what he was referring to he said it plainly. "The clan that founded and still operates the Blood Pack. This spectre is a former mercenary who used to operate from the Skyllian Verge to the Terminus Systems." Feeling a little wistful his tone shifted as his eyes glazed a bit as he slipped into his memories. "Yulaz herself was grooming me as a replacement, though obviously that didn't work out." He shook it off and shrugged between the two of them before getting back to his meal for another few bites. "Still, you haven't given me any reason not to trust you so far. Maybe what you say in the meeting will change my mind, guess we'll see." Again he highly doubted that and his tone would likely reflect that, though his voice was always throaty and deep so perhaps the subtle inflections were harder to read for them.
 
"Blood Pack?" Velira was the one to respond first, but her tone of voice was more casual than might be expected from the reveal. "I came across them a few times after leaving the Cabal. Tough customers. Anyone groomed to be a replacement for their leader must be even tougher than that. Makes me rather glad you are on our side rather than Belia Industries. I hope the same can be said of the rest of the Blood Pack, of course. That's a problem for another day, however. Or potentially not a problem at all, we'll have to see."

Sera remained silent, her mind a bit of a whirlwind as she absorbed what Kar had just said. A former mercenary turned Spectre. It didn't bother her all that much what he had done in the past, given the fact that he had saved her before, then recruited her after seeing that she could actually handle herself, but it still surprised her nonetheless to know that his background was, if anything, sketchier than her own.

Velira stood up at last. "No time like the present to get to the meeting. Talk to the Council, make sure that anything and everything is on the table, and prove that I have nothing but intentions to help out against Belia Industries, whatever it takes. And prove that my indentured servitude was not what it was supposed to be, and that I didn't cooperate willingly. I hope they are willing to listen to what I have to say and not dismiss it out of hand completely, but my concerns on that front have been reduced somewhat. When you are finished, I am ready to follow you, Spectre."
 
He smiled at the compliment but had to temper it somewhat all the same. His pride couldn't get too carried away after all. "One of many potential replacements... but it still means something depending on who you ask." When he finished his meal, taking longer than Velira did, she was the first to rise. The turian was eager to get this over with and he understood it; nerves could be a hell of a thing. Nodding to Sera as he got up to leave, Kar would deal with his dishes and bring Velira up to his quarters as promised. Unlike Sera perhaps, the spacious living space he had been given was likely less of a surprise for the turian who would be used to the stratified standards their military operated in.

Once again he'd go through the process of making the connection and giving the council whatever time it needed to convene, though this terminal was designed for one person, not two, so he stepped away to give her the space. Obviously he could still see and hear the audio, and the council would be able to hear him if he spoke up, but the only visual they would get was the turian on trial as it were. "I'm here but you asked to speak with her so here she is." Was all the krogan said to the council when they had all joined, letting them know he was available but otherwise intent to stay on the sidelines for the most part and let them do their thing. Though a part of him figured that he might have reason to jump in and defend her should the council try to start picking her apart unfairly; he was used to them activing like hungry varren over a fresh corpse.

"You have been called upon to provide testimony for you time serving Belia Industries. The accusations and information provided to us by Ganar Kar are serious and it calls into question the depth of your role. Having had time to review the footage from the recent mission this council requires your cooperation and your honesty. State your name for the record and we may begin." The tone of the turian counciler was serious and sharp and, from the body languge presented through the holograms of the others, they all were focused and concerned about her involvement. At the very least this call had started on a professional note, though who could tell where it might end up.
 
Velira followed the krogan up to his quarters, looking around and taking in the space as he set up the call. It was a pretty nice place, but she didn't really make a note of it beyond that. She wasn't surprised at all that the bed was there as well. Clearly, this was a leader who was willing to work hard and get some rest immediately, rather than waste the time wandering the ship between the two activities. She could respect that.

Once the call began, her demeanor changed. It was easy to assume the worst of the Council, that they were ready to dismiss her as a nobody, but she had a suspicion that this was more than just a formality that had been decided against her. She shifted into her Hierarchy mentality, standing at ease, but with her hands clasped behind her back and back straightened. Looking steadily at the turian councilor, she began to speak, making sure her tone was even and unemotional.

"Serving Belia Industries is a very mild way to describe my experience. My name is Velira Tragar. Before my...employment, I was a member of the Turian Cabal as an engineer, but an injury in the line of duty led me to seek employment elsewhere. Belia Industries hired me to test out electronic components at first, but when they realized that I was better at doing so than my co-workers, I was forced into making bomb components and altering them to be less detectable by current security. If I refused, or the test results were disagreeable, I'd be beaten or worse. I have the scars to prove it, although I don't believe you will want me to show you all of them in this current environment."

"This is valuable information," the human councilor commented. "Was there any reason for you to believe that you would ever find yourself out of the employment of Belia Industries?"

Velira shook her head once. "Not at all, ma'am. I was under the opposite understanding, that once I finished designing what they wanted, I'd be a loose end to be eliminated. I was trying my best to delay without being caught actively sabotaging my tasks, although they caught on once, and that was the closest I came to dying at their hands. Suffice to say, I couldn't do much to stop them in my situation."

The salarian councilor clasped her hands in front of her robes. "Thank you for your candor. We will weigh in your testimony with that of Spectre Kar to determine our next action. To speak bluntly, however, I do not believe there is any reason to doubt your words are sincere, as is your desire to assist in the investigation."
 
Where the other councilors were convinced easily the turian one hummed softly, neither here nor there and clearly debating something before ultimately deciding to bring it to light. "There is one matter to bring up regarding Velira's time as a Cabal. A... controversy if you will that calls her loyalties into question and must be entered into consideration alongside her testimony." While the other councilors would have no reason to know anything of her history the turian most certainly would have close access to the Hierarchy's records.

While he was loathe to spell out the details himself in order to test her, to see if she was committed to being forthcoming in this meeting, it was obvious that the turian was prodding Velira to share exactly what happened to see her removed from service. If she didn't explain he surely would and such hesitation would reflect yet more poorly upon her than the truth. Such was even more evident as the other councilors cast a look to him quizzically before turning back to regard Velira, a heavy silence settling in as if they could collectively will the woman into spilling everything.
 
Velira sighed softly. She had been hoping that they hadn't looked her records up before the meeting, but that had been a vain hope. Of course the turian councilor would have access to her records, and would have taken the time to make sure she was completely reliable.

"...I was hoping that my past wouldn't be a factor in my current state of trustworthiness, but I did agree to be completely honest during this meeting. My injury, the one that caused me to be no longer a fit for the Cabal in my given capacity, had complicating factors. It was during a skirmish on Datriux. I had been stationed there as an explosives expert, to disarm bombs. One of them went off while I was disarming it, which is how I lost my eye."

She closed her eyes briefly to regain composure. "However, the circumstances that led to that incident made me unreliable, both in the eyes of my superiors and, in hindsight, my own. Some people handle the isolation of being a Cabal attaché to units better than others, and I was not one who handled it well. I had a tendency to drink privately, during downtime on missions. The day I made an error disarming that bomb, I was not entirely sober. Not drunk enough to be unable to function, but it is quite possible that my sober self would not have made the error that caused the bomb to detonate. With that in mind, my inebriation went from being frowned upon but tolerated to intolerable. I was given the choice between the unit or the alcohol, and I chose the latter. That was 10 years ago. I've been sober the last 3 years, and if I could make the choice again, knowing what I know now where my subsequent decisions would land me, I'd make the exact opposite choice."

The other councilors remained silent after Velira's confession, deferring to the turian councilor to make the final decision on his consideration of her trustworthiness. The issue seemed more cultural than personal, and it was the turian councilor who had access to Velira's records and would be most likely out of the four to determine if her record truly indicated whether she could be trusted to be more loyal to the Council now than she had been to the Hierarchy in the past.
 
With all eyes on the turian his face didn't betray his thoughts in the slightest. This was a serious matter in his eyes, the greatest taboo of the turian people was to allow outside interests to interfere with duty and the fact that she had actively chosen to retire from service rather than to accept the intervention to wean her off of alcohol was a proverbial slap in the face to the Hierarchy, to the turian state. Had she chosen to give up drinking she could have been rehabilitated and redeemed; It was her choice not to do so that bothered him.

"You choose selfish desire over service in the past. What is to say that you will not make the same decision again if put in a similar position?" In many ways the turians were far more open to unusual choices of recreation, holding next to nothing as illegal so long as the individual could still function. Alcohol, sex, hard drugs, all these things were unregulated with the onus upon each individual to know their limits and remain functional in society. Still, the councilor wasn't exactly trying to get Velira removed from this case entirely but rather hoping to shine a light on her history with the understanding that all things must be considered and weighed when making such important decisions.

Before he could continue his train of thought however Kar broke the silence with clear frustration in his booming voice. "Oh come off it. Who gives a pyjak's ass about her walking away from the Hierarchy in regards to this investigation? I used to be Blood Pack and you still put me in the spectres so clearly you can look past someone's history when it's convenient to you." The turian replied quickly and with a hint of frustration of his own, his composure slipping a touch on the sensitive subject. "Your history was brought into consideration among the council just as hers should be. Regardless of what decision the council arrives at, all information must be known and weighed." Though the other councilors would likely be able to realize he was allowing his personal feelings on the cultural matter to get in the way somewhat to making an objective decision here and now. He was against trusting her to continue working as part of the investigation though her testimony was not in question, that he accepted without issue.
 
"As I said, I was not the person back then that I am now." Velira spoke calmly despite the concern in her mind. She knew that at least the turian councilor would have a problem with what she had done. She had walked away from her duty over something personal. She had been expected to put her work as a member of the Cabal above any personal pleasures, and she had done just the opposite. Humans, salarians, asari, they may not know how big of a deal her inability to choose the Hierarchy over the bottle truly was for turian culture, but there was no going back now.

"I did choose the bottle over the Hierarchy. That much is undeniable. I would not do so again, given the opportunity. I'd accept any punishment for my error in judgment, and allow myself to get clean. Unfortunately, I do not have the opportunity to go back and get treatment. All I can do is move forward. I would not allow anything to get in the way of the mission or investigation, and I'd be an asset in every way possible."

The other councilors glanced at the turian councilor, the human speaking first. "Regardless of what she has done in the past, and her unfortunate choice that led to her leaving the Hierarchy, that was some time ago, and she seems contrite about her past actions. I believe she could be trusted, but we will need more time to discuss this among us. This is, after all, a decision to not be made lightly."

Velira bowed her head slightly, showing a level of calm she wasn't feeling. "I await your final decision, and hope that you come to one that is favorable." With that, the councilors disconnected the call, to discuss among themselves in private. When they came to a decision, they would alert Kar to tell him that decision, giving him the opportunity to break the news to Velira.

Until then, however, the turian simply had to wait it out, and with the call disconnected, she had no need to hide her true feelings, folding her hands into fists tight enough to stab the talons into her palms and draw blood. "That bastard..."
 
When the council broke off for further discussion he watched the composure slip from Velira, even slightly injuring herself in the process. Not much for consoling others he simply stated his mind, hoping at least to give her something else to focus on than her own guilt or whatever she was struggling with. "So yeah, sticks in asses." Referring to his previous comment on how rigid and unbending turians often could be. "I really don't get what's the big deal about this. It was ten years ago. I mean, I guess I could see some concern for addiction if that was the case but hell, I was a little buzzed when we rescued you."

Obviously Kar didn't understand the cultural implications of her decision and likely wouldn't unless she decided to explain them to him, though even so that wasn't a guarantee that he'd agree with them. From his perspective she slipped up and paid the price. Choosing to leave the military was hardly something to hold against her after that. He figured the council would be a while in their discussion though since they hardly ever moved quickly for anything so she'd have some time to talk about it if she wanted to. For his part he started to wander away from the terminal and over to the seating area, intending to relax a bit while they waited, though it wouldn't be hard to spy a few bottles of various alcohol throughout the room as well to reinforce the fact that he didn't see drinking itself as an inherent problem.
 
Velira looked around the room, walking around and admiring the straightforward nature of the decorations, but ignoring the drinks beyond their presence. "It was ten years ago, but the Hierarchy really doesn't handle abandonment well. When I walked away, it was basically turning my back on every turian. I'd hoped it wouldn't be used against me, but it seems like that is not the case. I hope the other councilors can talk him into at least giving me some trust. He won't overlook my past on his own. He's just not capable of doing so."

She sat down in the seating area, leaning back in the chair. "Until then, not much to do other than wait for the councilors to decide whether or not to trust me. My information is solid, they know that. It will be a shame if I end up being treated like just a source of information to be drained and discarded." She glanced over at Kar. "Is there any chance that, if the Council determined I'm not trustworthy, you could override them, or at least have me continue assisting without them knowing about it? Or would you be forced to just drop me off at the nearest port?"
 
Kar shrugged at her brief explanation but really didn't get it fully. By his standards walking away was just her choice, regardless of whether she did it for the alcohol or because she felt grief over the accident. That said, he could understand the gap between them in terms of cultural belief since his people were big on honor and respect but he didn't consider himself an expert on the Hierarchy and would need a lot more time and exposure to understand why this was so important. Though, in truth, he kind of didn't care about the inner workings of the turian military in such a fashion.

At her question of overriding the council he didn't have great news for her. "Could try for a little while, though they could revoke my status if they wanted to or send someone else to come take you off my hands. If they really change their minds so completely over your past then they'll probably want you on the citadel in protective custody or some shit. I don't really get why this is a such a big deal to you turians but I doubt it will convince the other councilors to one-eighty after seeming so convinced earlier. I'd guess they'll put you on some kind of probation to appease the turian councilor, squeeze you to try and see if you'll slip up, but I can't say for sure one way or another. Everything would be a whole lot simpler if people just took more after krogan politics." Simpler and more violent, though he wouldn't consider that a downside. Assuming she had nothing more she really wanted to say, it would be a total of maybe ten minutes before his terminal beeped to indicate the council was ready for them again.
 
"I didn't think it would be that easy to ignore the Council. Still, I had to ask to be sure." At that, Velira sat back in her seat, waiting for the beep. It didn't take long for it to happen. Standing, Velira made her way to the terminal, allowing Kar to let the message through and set up the meeting. This time, it was the salarian councilor who spoke for the group.

"After some discussion, we have determined that her past history notwithstanding, there is no current evidence to indicate anything other than a willingness to cooperate to the fullest extent of her capabilities, and that same past record shows the potential of those abilities. However, in light of her record, we encourage Spectre Ganar Kar to monitor Velira Tragar closely, and he will be responsible for her actions." At those words, the human councilor couldn't help but glance over at the turian councilor, all but confirming that last condition had been to appease him rather than something the councilors as a whole felt necessary.

"...I accept both your decision and your conditions, councilors. I am grateful to have the opportunity to assist on this investigation, and will not give any reason to regret your trust in me, conditional or otherwise." With that, the councilors disconnected the call, Velira sighing softly in both relief and annoyance. "Sounds like the turian councilor still won't trust me, but at least he didn't manage to sway the others. Believe me, I have no intention of screwing up this investigation. Belia Industries deserves to go down, and I'd love to be there when it does."
 
Before Kar could answer the turian councilor reconnected to give some parting words in private. Of course he hadn't heard Velira's words to the krogan but that hardly mattered from his perspective no matter how many times she might claim to be committed. "Just so we are clear Velira. If your actions are found to impede this investigation, regardless of what the council decides, you will be considered an enemy of the state and exiled from turian space." He was more composed than he had been earlier and delivered this ultimatum smoothly and without emotion before disconnecting again and leaving them in silence. "What an ass."

Trying to shake off that last little snippet, Kar pushed on to getting things squared away and set. "Go to the armory on the lower deck, it's in the cargo bay, to get loaned some armor and weapons. I already had you added to the crew before all this. Course it doesn't have much, mostly Phaestons and Vindicators, but it's true that spectres have to buy their own gear so better save up if you want something special." As far as he was concerned there was nothing to worry about, not even that last jab from the turian councilor, and there was nothing to do but plow ahead at full speed. "Both you and the quarian will have full run of the ship as well. Case you wanted to do some calibrations or something. Obviously you'll be obligated not to leak details of the vessel or anything related to spectre operations, so on and so on." He waved his hand to signify that he really didn't care about all that crap, figuring it wouldn't matter in her case... or Sera's for that matter.
 
Velira shrugged off the turian councilor's parting words, clearly annoyed but resigned to his reaction. "I agree, but that's turian higher ups for you. Once you do something wrong, you'll never hear the end of it, no matter what else you do or how much time passes. I can't bother to worry about what he thinks. Just need to move on and get my job done."

Hearing the debrief about where the armory was to get set up, she nodded slightly. "Glad you had more faith than I in the Council. I wasn't entirely certain that they'd be able to override the turian's concerns, and I knew that if my past came out, there was not going to be anything that would satisfy him. As for doing any calibrations, I don't plan to do anything to mess with the ship, even if I have good intentions. Don't want to give the turian councilor any ideas, now, do we?" She chuckled slightly, showing that while there was some bitterness to her comment, it was mostly just a joke. With that, she made her way to the exit of the room, pausing at the door.

"Rayingri is a pretty dangerous planet. Any company desperate enough for a stake on that sort of planet could go a long ways towards doing serious harm out of their desperation. Just something worth considering. You're tough, but it's easy for the tough to underestimate the weak, desperate, and foolish among them. A stray bullet can harm just as much as a well-aimed round, and be a whole lot harder to see coming. Just personal experience, there." She left the room, heading down to the armory and getting herself fitted for a light suit of armor.

In another area of the ship, Sera was resting, contemplating where she stood on the investigation. It seemed she was doing her job of proving her worth, but now that someone truly combat-capable was here...well, that just made it more important for Sera to show her worth in other areas. She badly wanted to see this investigation through, and the only way she could do that was prove helpful. She'd done so earlier, she just needed to continue.
 
He listened to what she had to say in passing but didn't have much to offer in reply. His life had been an interesting one so far and he was still pretty young as far as krogans came. He'd experienced aggressive, open conflict in the Blood Pack, subterfuge and espionage in his breaking with the group, and bureaucracy and peacekeeping with C-Sec. Ultimately Kar didn't think himself underestimating the dangers that Belia might pose moving forward but confidence and pride were baked-in to his people all the same. Still, his armor was strong, his hide was tough, and his regeneration was impressive; it would be a glorious battle that could take him down and for everything else he now had two females to assist him in this endeavor.

He took the elevator down with Velira but broke off to head to the command deck and give their new heading to Calius who was quick to quip about it being a rather unpleasant place these days despite the krogan already knowing all the details on the planet. "How long will it take to get there?" He asked, intent to cut to the chase rather than discuss the climate. Calius punched a few calculations into the navigation and hummed for a few moments before giving his reply. "There is a lot of space to cover to reach the Armstrong Nebula. Four relay jumps, plus recovery time, plus the actual transit speed. I normally suggest one cycle per relay jump as a solid average and this seems appropriate here." It was a bit longer than he hoped, it might give the company time to pull out of the base or prepare for their arrival after the events at the factory, but there wasn't much to be done about it. He huffed in mild annoyance but it wasn't directed to the turian. "Let me know if that changes."

Kar would spend a bit more time in the captain's chair logging their destination and expected arrival time into the ship's database to be readily accessible to all the crew from their personal terminals. It was a minor thing and it was easy to forget but the turians that made up the majority of his crew rode his ass each time they weren't kept in the loop so he had gotten better about it. This would also allow Sera and Velira to stay informed without him needing to go hunt them down directly so it was an efficient process he had to admit. Just begged the question of how they would pass the coming days. Probably drinking and jerking off to porn in his room, not that that was truly satisfying or alluring.
 
When they received the details of the travel time expected before they would reach Rayingri, both women reacted a bit differently. Sera, for her part, was frustrated. She'd known it would take some time to reach Rayingri, but that didn't stop her from realizing that she was about to spend several days with absolutely nothing to really occupy her time, other than tinkering with programs on her omnitool or continuing to analyze the alloys from the bomb component schematics to find more possible leads. Either way, things did not seem all that promising for the quarian in terms of holding her interest for long. She didn't quite feel comfortable with the rest of the crew, and wasn't sure that would ever really change. After all, this was their ship, and they had been here first. She felt odd, like she were intruding on their ship, and that feeling made it difficult for her to see much further than herself against them.

Sighing, she began working on narrowing down more alloys. She had one of them narrowed down to one of three planets. It was possible, with more data, that she'd be able to narrow down the data further to one planet to look at. For that reason, she sent the information she had gathered to Kar, to cross-check with any of his contacts for signs of unusual activinty. The first planet was Therum, the second Eletania, and the third Odasst. With those planets as possible leads, perhaps the krogan's contacts would find information to suggest anything unusual or suspicious being noted or reported on those three planets.

For her part, Velira was much more composed about the report on the travel time. It would allow her to get to know the crew more, and given her experience in the Cabal being shipped between fronts and missions, plenty of turians were just begging for the opportunity to "unwind". She couldn't drink, wouldn't allow herself that luxury, but she had other ways of entertaining herself if the right man...or woman...was willing to give her a hand with entertaining herself. She'd also use the time to get herself back in her pre-capture shape, her biotic focus already improving. In any case, she'd be preparing for the mission as best as she could, with her other inclinations taking a back-seat to what she considered her payback to the corporation that had abused her.
 
Last edited:
Velira met a bit of resistance in getting close to the crew considering she was biotic, the turians were culturally suspicious of biotic users and that was a hard thing to shake for many of them, however Kar's crew was more open than most thanks in part to their exposure to different people in their travels. So, while she'd not find that everyone was eager to get to know her, she'd not struggle to make some friends and have some wonderful flings to help ease stress.

Meanwhile Sera was keeping in contact with the krogan mostly through messages, locking herself into work on the alloys and pestering the armorer some more as well. It was hardly the worst way to pass the time and Kar would oblige her findings by looking through his contacts for more information. Once he had about all that he expected to find for the time being he sent the results back to her personal terminal, not that they were secret or anything. "Therum is Systems Alliance-owned, no way Belia could have any say or access to the planet. All the resources mined go straight to Earth and the rest of the planet is effectively locked down so the government can continue uncovering and researching Prothean artifacts. Odasst could be a potential lead but there is nothing conclusive. Resources are mined and traded all over with some scandals involving pirates. Honestly, from my time in the Pack, we bought some metal from them off the books so I doubt there would be any trouble with Belia Industries securing some shipments with or without a digital trail. Would be hard to look into right now but maybe if we had a better clue what to look for. Eletania is the most promising. People have been trying to colonize that place for centuries and it looks like there are a few temporary settlements at high altitudes to function as research bases. Many medical companies have worked on trying to develop filters for the symbiotes or just develop other ways to clear space around colonies and Belia Industries is publicly involved with that research. Having justification like that would make it easier for them to skim metals when nobody was looking."

Other than what time he spent doing this digging for Sera, Kar hardly left his quarters other than to stretch his legs a bit or to come down to the mess hall and get food. He didn't much care for eating in his room when he'd have dishes laying around waiting to get taken care of and his crew liked the fact that he spent that time around them, even if there wasn't a lot of small talk shared. The time in his room was, well, messy. Velira was partly right when she had acussed the krogan of being hard up. The krogan was still in the prime of his life and still laden with testosterone to keep his muscles strong, his agression high, and his quad heavy. Growing up in the Pack meant that a good whore was never far away in most cases, shifting to the Citadel made such things a bit less obviously advertised but still easy to find, and becoming a spectre basically blue-balled him with all the time spent on his ship.

Kar could manage his urges enough to stay fit for duty but down times like these offered no easy distraction from his desires, effectively letting his mind drown in dirty thoughts. His crew were fairly comfortable having relations with each other, though that was more on the turian side of things than the human, but it took a special kind of individual to put their faith and trust to the belief that a krogan wasn't going to effectively overwhelm or ruin them; none of which appeared to be among his crew despite having spent the time asking around. When the ship finally did arrive to the Armstrong Nebula the krogan would have rubbed his manhood raw were it not for the simple fact that his regeneration repaired any damage he might have done to it just as quickly.

Calius would move the ship close enough to take some scans of Rayingri, though had seen fit to engage the IES out of precaution to keep the ship effectively stealthed, and would send the notification through the ship computers that they had arrived and were moving into yellow status; A state of operation telling the crew that they needed to be more aware and alert to jump to their stations should anything happen. With the time needed to don his armor, Kar would likely be the last one on the command deck but his arrival would see him fully prepared just as before. "The magnetic fields of the planets are distorted from the gravitational shearing. I can only get limited details. Any trip down would be nearly blind and communication would be patchy and sporadic; likely to fade in and out. Locating the base is easy but we can't get much more than rough topography of the region."
 
The rest of the time on the ship, Sera passed her time in ways not all that dissimilar to Kar's. She didn't have nearly as active a sex drive as the krogan, of course, but she did still have her own needs. She knew better than to try to have the crew satisfy them, instead doing her best on her own to do so when she wasn't working with the armorer in order to try to find out more information on the alloys. They had some possible leads now, but until they got more information from Rayingri, hopefully, there wasn't much more Sera could do. In the meantime, Sera was more than ready when the ship finally approached Rayingri, making her way to the command deck along with the now lightly armored Velira.

"I should probably go in first, then," Sera said in response to the pilot's warnings about the lack of communication and interference caused by the planet's instability. "I can cloak, after all, which means I won't be seen if I scout ahead. Short range communication should still work, so I can let you know if I see anything worthy of concern. The trick will be getting into the factory, more than anything, I'd imagine."

Given the circumstances, Sera felt surprisingly calm about the upcoming investigation. She knew that she could find information once they got inside. With how unstable the planet was, it was highly unlikely that any data would be easily transmitted off planet, which meant that the information was almost certainly either still in the factory servers or on hard disks. The latter might be trickier to handly, but that's what Kar was for. Sera would be able to handle the servers, and Velira...well, Sera hadn't seen Velira in combat, but she was a Cabal member. They had to be tough, so she should be able to help Kar's side of the situation quite well.
 
"Cloaking only lasts so long." Kar replied to temper Sera's eagerness, though he wasn't exactly arguing the point entirely. "Since communications might be difficult to maintain with the Pa'vex, we will go down by shuttle. Sera can scout ahead while Velira and I find some high ground to look on the base from above, see what we are dealing with before making any direct action. You've got the terrain? Let's use that to figure out our best landing site with this all in mind." Such a thing wouldn't take much more than a cursory glance at the scans to determine where there might be such a bluff or rise to look down on the base from. While designed for research purposes rather than factory-like production it was hard to say what it had been repurposed into at this point. Still, the overall size of the base was limited so even if this place was manufacturing potential alloys to tie into Belia's bomb-making interest Kar figured the output scale would have to be small. More than enough for making key strikes but far from enough for major warfare.

For this plan to work he'd need a means of seeing from a long distance and while he could rely on some binoculars or a viewfinder it seemed as good a time as any to bring out one of his toys, something that the council really didn't like him having but couldn't really forbid him from owning and using all the same. Before heading down to the cargo bay with the others to board the shuttle Kar made a quick stop at his room. When he did join them at the shuttle they'd notice the weapon resting on the left side of his back. Sera would probably not recognize it but Velira likely would considering her military history. Batarian Arms were hard to get in more... civilized reaches of space but they were also generally looked down upon for how brutal the design philosophy was behind them.

gun_kishock.jpg
 
Velira glanced at the rifle, but didn't comment on it. It wasn't so much that she approved of the use of batarian arms as much as the fact that she couldn't really do anything about it. Batarians were a lot less of a problem than they had been prior to the Reaper War, from what she gathered, but her skirmishes with them still left her feeling a bit raw towards the species. The Harpoon, though, was a fine rifle, she couldn't deny that, nor could she blame the Spectre for using it.

On the shuttle, Sera studied the topography scans they had on hand. "Looks like there's a small mesa not too far from the base. Should be a nice place for that rifle of yours, if things are more heavily guarded than we expect. I would like to say the factory doesn't seem large enough for much resistance, but we learned from the last factory that there can be a lot more that we can't see...although going underground with this particular location would be foolish. Never mind, unless they've added expansions to the factory. Still possible, but not likely. They'd want a more compact location with how uneven the terrain is, and how much it shifts." Once the shuttle landed half a klick north of the mesa, in order to allow them a stealthier approach, Sera made her way towards the mesa she had identified in the topography, but with her heading taking her to the base of the mesa rather than the top, leaving that for Velira and Kar.
 
"Well I don't much expect to use it but it seems a shame to let it sit on the ship. Council still wants us to try and keep quiet in our work so unless they open fire on us first then it doesn't matter what guns I'm carrying." He would admit to being something of a fetishist when it came to firearms but not to a creepy extent or anything, it was just cultivated from his upbringing. Better to be armed than not. Better to have a bigger, better gun than the guy next to you so he doesn't get any ideas. That sort of thing. "Will just use the scope to take a look. If you get in trouble it will actually allow me to help you, though I'm not that great of a shot, heh." He focused more on volume of fire than accuracy but that wasn't to say he was as bad of a shooter as his words might suggest; he was just trying to scare Sera a little for fun.

The mesa was where they parted ways for the time being, though really it shouldn't be for long if everything went as smoothly as last time. It was a little imposing and he could see it would require a climb, getting up and down wouldn't be such a simple task as he had hoped for but he figured he was up to the task. The actual climb itself wasn't that tall, just a handful of meters near the top, but the slope up to the rock was very steep and if one lost their footing they would likely tumble all the way down to the bottom... assuming they didn't hit anything else on the way down which was a very likely possibility. Velira had recovered fairly well over the last few days but other species took longer to get back to full strength than his kind did. To that end he had to ask. "You think you're up to this? Would be a shit way to go, falling down a place like this."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom