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

He shrugged at her refusal but wasn't bothered. The turian alcohol wasn't really something he could comfortably drink himself and he'd kept around in his room to share, though hadn't had the opportunity to do so thus far. In any case he watched as she walked past him and stood near the bed to look out the front windows. He wanted to turn and keep sight of her but felt he was still took weak to comfortably hold that twisted position of his torso for long and gave up on it, facing the opposite direction from her as she focused on business again and her added findings.

"Most krogan still don't like turians and salarians, though the hatred for salarians is stronger; turian's its more a... mild dislike." It felt prudent to share the elements that she might not be aware of if it would help her investigation. "We live a long time as well, assuming nobody takes us out in a fight. You call the Reaper War, and events that came before, ancient history but there are still some krogan who remember because they were alive to witness it. I'm too young personally, only two hundred and forty two, but Urdnot Wrex is pushing something like five hundred I think and Ganar Yulaz is around that age too, if not older; I'm not really sure in her case."

He had to pause to double check his memory to make sure he wasn't saying anything incorrect but grumbled after a few moments in satisfaction as that checked out as far as he believed. Compared to the lifespans of most other races even his age would seem incredible. Only the Asari had a similar lifespan to krogan but, technically, many believed that krogan had them beat. With how violent the krogan were none of them really lived that long in the grand scheme of things to find out when natural causes would take one. "Xilar might be old enough to remember as well, or a younger upstart that was raised by individuals that still cling to those memories and that hatred. Can't say I blame those who still hate the salarians for what they did to our people in the past, but it's easy to forget that the entire council at that time agreed to the plan."
 
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Sera turned to face him, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "That is true. I forget how long krogan can live at times. It must be different if you've actually lived through it, or are only one generation off from those who have. It's not like my race doesn't have their own history of holding grudges as well. And we didn't even have the excuse of any of us actually being around for the inciting incident."

"As for her hate of turians, Xilar seems to share the same feelings towards salarians. Nothing confirmed, just rumors, but apparently, it took about two cycles at her previous security job before it was unofficial policy to not have her interact with salarians at all after complaints were made from both sides. It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that she'd want to target salarians as well, but the logs I found only address turians. I'm not quite sure why, but that might be something that I find out more about at the next place."

"That said...I hope you don't intend to rush your recovery. It's more important for you to actually recover than to get out in the field again. I have a feeling the medic would be most displeased with you if you went out early and something went wrong, and I'm not sure I'd want her on my bad side." Sera looked at the back of the krogan as she spoke. She'd had a nagging feeling for a while that she was somehow responsible for his injury in some way, but it wasn't anything concrete enough for her to say anything about, more just a suspicion. If she was right, the most she could do was make sure that his injury didn't have lasting consequences beyond what they already were experiencing.
 
It was odd if Xilar despised turians more than salarians, at least odd for most krogan, but right now they had little but guesses as to why... or if that was even true. Things to consider surely but nothing to act upon and nothing to lose sleep pondering. Kar took another swig of his whiskey, humming at the burn of the strong alcohol even if it was light fare compared to his serious choices of drink such as Ryncol.

"I'll be back in action as soon as I can and you can't stop me, heh." He was headstrong and stubborn but had a fairly good grasp of his limits. He wouldn't step foot into a potential combat situation if he didn't think he could manage his weapons and powers but, much like Velira, that didn't mean he would wait until he was one hundred percent before getting back to putting boots on the ground. Such things bothered the doctor and clearly Sera as well but it certainly didn't seem like their concerns were going to do much to change that aspect of himself. "Besides, this is a nice scar with a good story to go with it."

He tilted his head to the right so that she could more clearly see the left side of his throat. The round had impacted off center which was his saving grace, only a small portion of his esophagus was opened up internally from the force of the shot rather than his entire throat being blown apart. Even still the scarring was no better than yesterday when she might have seen it in the medical bay and it wasn't likely to improve without cosmetic surgery; Something that no self-respecting krogan would ever do to fix a scar.

The impact site itself was a circular scar with tissue cracking outward from the center like broken glass but a lighter segment of the scar traveled a few inches down his neck as the sniper round had sheared off a section of his skin in the process. Internally it had struck one of his four lungs and damaged his secondary heart, hence why his recovery was such a slow process. General muscle and tissue damage was one thing, easy for him to recover from without much issue, but organ damage was much more strenuous; not to mention the fluid loss. By all rights he shouldn't be drinking after losing so much blood but, well, who was going to stop him?

"I'm more worried about explaining this to the council. An open firefight won't make them happy when they repeatedly stressed discretion. Still, repurposed geth platforms and the plans for terror bombing on the citadel should be enough to prove it was worth it. Knowing them though, they might try to argue a conflict of interest for me continuing to go after another former Blood Pack member. Could try to hand the investigation to someone else." The council didn't even try to deal with the personal interests of their spectres but rather assigned them missions that didn't conflict with them. It was an easier path of management than drill and training and worked, assuming the council had enough spectres to cover everything and only they knew the exact numbers. Kar didn't care that Xilar was part of the pack, though he did care that she was doing more harm than good for their people.

As much as he didn't get along with Wrex in his youth, Kar had grown into respecting the man for the progress he had forced down the throats of the hard-headed krogan on Tuchanka when it came to surviving without the need for handouts from the other races. Science and agriculture were important if the krogan people ever truly wanted to be independant again. Trying to take their piece of flesh as vengeance from past wounds wasn't going to make things right; even if it might feel really good. Still, despite working for the council, Kar wasn't exactly happy with the state of things in the galaxy either. The other races still feared the krogan and wanted them limited and restricted, varrens on a leash to be used rather than accepted as free people. If things had gone just a little differently in his life then who was to say that he wouldn't be trying to do something like Xinar was instead?
 
"I wouldn't dream of trying to stop you." Sera chuckled slightly at the thought. "You'd just pick me up, move me aside, and continue on your merry way." As she joked about the concept, she frowned internally as she took a better look at the scarring of his throat. That round had been taken to save her life or Velira's, but it had come dangerously close to ending the Spectre's life in the process. That was not something that Sera ever wanted to have on her. Sure, it could have been a worse injury, but she'd seen what he looked like on the shuttle back to the ship. She'd barely been able to keep him alive long enough for the doctor to work on him.

Sera focused on his words as he explained the problems presenting their findings to the Council, as well as potential blowback from the information. "We didn't exactly have a choice in the matter. They started shooting first, we were defending ourselves. It's not like we could just walk in and casually grab information that they were trying actively to hide from us. I hope the Council understands at least that much. And the idea that your past could be used against you when you don't even know this Xilar is troubling." She chuckled again. "I hope we don't have to go rogue just to finish the investigation because the Council is more afraid of a conflict of interest than a bomb threat."

As she spoke, Sera looked around the room again. "Maybe not now, but I might take you up on that turian brandy at some point. Not until we have something to celebrate, though, beyond just being alive."
 
"Who ever said the council was always rational?" A sentiment echoed perhaps by Velira after her meeting with them. "Still, don't worry too much about that. We got the information, we all survived, and it's my job to convince them that we should still be working the case. Think I'll leave that call for tomorrow though. It'd be worse to keel over during the conversation than to put it off."

His decision made for the time being he nodded slightly before focusing on the sentence that Sera followed up with in regards to the alcohol. "Celebrating survival isn't a bad thing to toast. But, if that's not good enough for you, I'm sure the bottle will still be here when you find something you are happy about. It's been there since I became a spectre and got this ship. Good thing alcohol doesn't go bad." Kar's expression shifted a little at that thought. It might be the liquor influencing him but the memory of that time and how optimistic he was going into this, thinking it would be more than it had turned out to be. These last few missions had been more exciting than much of what he'd done prior in the service of the council. Of course he hadn't been idle the whole time, he'd been given assignments and had some enjoyable work, but as spread out as the good times were so-to-speak it was easy for him to feel a bit melancholic.

Here he was drinking alone after a good battle. It was actually kind of pathetic in his eyes. He missed the sense of belonging he had in the pack, the drinking buddies and the excitement. One could argue his work as a spectre held more purpose than his time as a mercenary but one could argue not... considering how little he'd been entrusted with over the years. He lifted the bottle and finished off the last of the contents as if it would wash away his thoughts before setting the now empty bottle down on the table next to the others. With a groan and some difficulty he carefully lifted himself from the seat to stand, leaning with one arm on the back of the chair as he began to turn around to face away from her.

"You can stay if you want but I gotta take a leak." The bathroom was a private section of course, so she wasn't at risk of another show or anything, but the time it would take him to head there, do his business, and come back would be a decent break in the conversation and he figured she'd want to leave anyway now that she'd finished sharing the details she'd uncovered from the data pulled off the servers.
 
Sera nodded slightly. "That is true. I don't always understand how the Council works. Then again, maybe it's partially bitterness because they are still slow to accept that quarians and krogans helped with the Reaper War, and deserve a little more say in what happens. And I happen to agree with you that it would not be good for you to pass out in front of the Council. At least not without hanging up on them first."

Sera seemed to consider his words about toasting survival. "I don't want to just survive, though. Surviving should be the bare minimum that we do. I want to do something beyond that. You were badly injured, nearly killed. I can understand needing a few drinks after that. I just don't need one for that reason, and don't feel like I've done much to deserve one after the results of the last mission. If I can find something that is concrete enough to convince the Council to actually do something proactive, that might be cause to celebrate."

Sera held herself to pretty high standards. She was a hacker, a very good one. She'd made a living testing and breaking security systems, skimming off the top, sometimes skirting the edge of the law entirely. You didn't last long in that line of work unless you were good at it, and she'd lasted quite some time before all this. But still, she had first nearly gotten herself killed and had to claw her way into proving herself as not a liability, and then she suspected she'd nearly gotten Kar killed trying to protect her from her own weaknesses in combat. Until she did something definitive, she was not going to be satisfied with her work, much less have a celebratory drink.

"I'll leave you to rest. I think I've said what needs to be said, and given you any information I can to update the Council. What they do with that information is out of your hands and mine at that point. All we can do is provide it." With that, Sera left the room, heading down to the armory. If she was going to be caught in another situation, she was going to try to get herself to where she could do more than run.
 
The rest of the cycle remained uneventful of which everyone was thankful for to be certain. Fears of being boarded while Kar was recovering were unlikely to occur while the vessel was masking emissions and there was no evidence to suggest that Belia had any clue that they were even in this system to begin with to try and do something more time consuming like a visual sweep. Still, there was a tension in the air with the understanding that they had kicked the hornet's nest as the human crew said and that Belia Industries was no doubt on alert to begin raising security or possibly even trying to push forward their plans on an accelerated time table. The company had hired an assassin to go after Sera; it wasn't a far stretch to consider that they might go down a similar path in trying to deal with a pesky spectre.

Resting up in a state of moderate inebriation did the krogan wonders by the time the next cycle rolled around. He could move a lot better now and didn't figure he'd be falling over any time soon. Not only that but his mental focus was mostly back, even if he was aware that he was still decently off from calling himself back at full capacity. He was able to take his first meal in the mess hall without issue and the crew that passed through were more friendly than usual; most making a point to tell him how they were pleased he was on the rebound. It was an odd circumstance considering how he had felt like an outsider on this ship for near the entire time he'd been in charge of it but a part of him welcomed it. To some extent the crew were under the impression that his actions were selfless on that last mission and human and turian alike respected him a bit more for it.

Once his belly was full he made a point to not put off the council meeting any longer and so he made his way back up to his quarters to indicate on his console that he was available and able to update them personally. Was hard to tell how long they would make him wait but a part of him figured it wouldn't take long. They were probably chomping at the bit to speak with him at this point, though whether that was a good thing or a bad thing was still up in the air and he was internally bracing himself for the worst.
 
The Council responded to his hail quite quickly, all things considered. This was definitely a sign that they were eager to discuss the results of his last mission...although it was still up in the air whether that was for the best or worst.

"We have received reports about an attack at a manufacturing plant on Rayingri," the turian councilor began, his tone of voice indicating annoyance at the situation, if not Kar himself. "We expressed that we wanted Belia Industries investigated, not attacked." The turian councilor paused, apparently holding back from saying something before he reconsidered his wording. "I hope you can explain why this incident occurred?"

In an attempt to smooth the conversation over, the salarian councilor spoke up. "We did say that combat was meant to be a last resort. Your pilot's report does indicate that the outbreak of violence did not occur until some time after Sera'Zarda entered the facility, which indicates at least an attempt to prevent violence. However, we have troubling aspects of that same report we wish clarified. This report mentions geth at the facility. Is that accurate?" The salarian councilor's face was stoic, but her tone of voice showed skepticism. Not that she actively distrusted Kar, surprisingly given their species' animosity towards each other, but the idea of a company utilizing geth openly, against any Council law, seemed to be hard for the councilor to accept as reality.
 
Kar took the browbeating in stride considering he had expected something like this. It was in the council's nature to get fired up and speak without thinking in private; contrasted to how reserved they always made pains to be when speaking publicly. "The facility was not attacked. Sera was sent in to covertly grab data from the servers and get out. Velira and I were positioned to provide cover should she encounter any trouble... and she encountered trouble. Trouble that almost got me killed in the process for what was supposed to be a mineral research station." The distinction he made was very important to clarify that he hadn't gone into things seeking violence. The salarian councilor did say as much to his defense but it was the weakest of attempts to smooth things over; weak enough that he felt it prudent to say his piece before getting around to what they discovered at the facility in the battle. While holographic projection was not very clear in terms of image quality, and it displayed the individual in only shades of a single color, he doubted they'd be able to miss the wound he now carried from their side of things.

"Yeah, there were geth platforms there. We fought and took out three of them, though the information pulled from the servers suggested as many as ten platforms had been intercepted and repurposed. I don't know if they just used the hardware and installed simple combat VI into them to make them functional or if they somehow had the help of rogue geth intelligence from the Reaper War. The shipments were defunct parts meant for Rannoch. The parts weren't functional on their own if the shipping manifest was accurate, just scraps recovered from active battle that were being returned. Belia employees would have had to put them together at the least, they couldn't just have connected a few wires and flipped a switch." He wanted to dive into the information regarding Xilar and the potential terror bombing but he refrained. He knew they would get around to that in time and it was better to let them focus on what they perceived to be most important first. While geth weren't the same boogeymen of the galaxy that they used to be the relationship between the geth and every species save for the quarian themselves remained somewhat tenuous; nobody wanted to trust them so easily even despite all the testimonies and information regarding their shift to full sentience. Kar himself didn't much care either way honestly.
 
"The presence of geth platforms, even if they were only running on VI software, is troubling. And if your information is accurate about the conditions of the parts, Belia Industries went through some effort in order to make them functional. They would not do this for little reason. There is a concern there, but we will have to address it separately." The asari spoke calmly before letting the salarian councilor speak.

"We will take your word on what happened at the research station, naturally. What consequences fall out from that, we will do our best to mitigate. However, we would like a recounting of any information you might have managed to recover before Sera'Zarda encountered trouble. It would be...disappointing if this incident led to nothing more than your incapacitation. We authorized this investigation, but we need to see results from the investigation. Did you find anything tying Belia Industries to anything concrete, or is this still just a theoretical investigation?"

The human councilor had remained silent until this point, but she spoke up at that. "Anything you can tell us to give us some idea of what Belia Industries might be planning, or working on, that they didn't want anyone to know would be helpful, as well as the names of anyone they might have that can be linked to these acts, rather than just a faceless, nameless executive or security chief. We can't act without having anything to act on."
 
He paused a moment in mild confusion before realizing that the report Calius sent could only have included things that happened during the mission and not elements pulled from the actual data considering Sera had spent her down time working on that. With that in mind he lift his left hand, wearing the glove of his non-combat omni-tool, and paired it with the terminal to send over what Sera had given him already. Of course, his words would be quicker to digest so he did explain on his end of things as well.

"Belia has a former Blood Pack member on their payroll as security. I don't know her personally, before you ask, but her name is Ganar Xilar and she appears to have a thing against turians in particular." Pausing to ensure the data transfer was going smoothly he picked back up after just a moment. "We have uncovered evidence that they are smuggling bomb components onto the Citadel through corrupt C-Sec agents. No direct links to who, or what, they might be targeting but we have communication logs talking about spreading fear and terror as well as personal issues with Xilar and the turians of course. Combine that with the geth platforms we encountered and I think there is more than just a simple bombing plan in motion. You know as well as I do that most races still fear, or at least distrust, the geth. Using even repurposed platforms in some kind of attack, combined with bombings and who knows what else, would make for a potent combination to spark panic. Still no clue what Xilar, or Belia Industries, hopes to gain from all of this but this evidence should be enough to get you to act to some degree."

While Xilar might be interested in some kind of revenge for the krogan people he doubted that Belia would go through with all of this just to support that kind of short-sighted goal. No, he figured the company was using the female krogan's hatred as incentive while hiding their own interestes beneath the surface. That didn't mean they were lying to her necessarily, she might be aware of the companies long-term goals, but it felt to him like Xilar was just a tool in all of this and not a true mastermind.
 
The councilors read the compiled data for some time, as well as listening to Kar's own distillation of the information. "A former Blood Pack member? We'll have to look into her further. If they have someone like her working on their security, it does indicate something a bit dangerous. Especially if she has a vendetta against turians." The turian councilor spoke calmly, apparently not caring that his words could easily express a distaste towards Kar's own past as a Blood Pack member.

"As for the bombing plans, this is all no longer speculation...but it's inactionable. Without a clear target, the only option is to lock down everywhere on the Citadel with high turian population, and that's assuming that Xilar's distaste for turians directly plays into the bombing plot. Which seems like a safe assumption, but is an assumption nonetheless. If you discover more data on their plans, we may be able to stop them. In any case, it is likely that their plans have been disrupted, at the very least." This time, it was the asari councilor who spoke.

"If we find any more information on this Ganar Xilar, we will be sure to inform you. She seems to be the best link to any long term plans that Belia Industries is executing, even if she isn't the one in charge. We only offer suggestion, of course. If you are already pursuing another path, feel free to continue how you feel most effective."

"Preferably without causing further incident, of course. If at all possible, we'd like to avoid another Rayingri." The comment drew a sharp glance from the human councilor, but she remained silent, apparently planning to save her words for a more private setting.

"If there is nothing else, we will investigate customs for these corrupt C-Sec agents, but we cannot do much more based on the information we currently have." The human councilor spoke after a few seconds, taking a deep breath to calm herself before doing so. "Is there any more information to provide us?"
 
Pushing past the mild infighting within the council, Kar agreed with the overall assessment on their part. Locking down sections of the Citadel wasn't feasible and heck, might even play into whatever plans were in motion when it came to building paranoia and concern. All he could do was focus on the leads he currently had while the council themselves focused on their side of things. The information regarding Xilar would be helpful should they find any, though he had his own ways of digging dirt from the criminal underworld if need be. "I have a few small leads to follow up but nothing major to report for the moment. You have the data we pulled and deciphered. I'll let you know if I find anything more."

Kar would wait for the council to disconnect just in case they had any more parting jabs they felt vital to toss his direction or, far more rarely, useful words to offer in private before signing off. As eager as he was to get back into action he knew it would be a terrible idea to try and don his gear today, especially when he could feel that the tensions were rising and the dangers would only grow. No more lone infiltration work, that was for certain. Still, when the next cycle came he knew he'd be ready for action again so there wasn't too much time left to sit still and rest.
 
"Best of luck in your investigation." With that, the Council disconnected from the call. They would certainly be having a discussion amongst themselves in a more private setting, mostly in regards to the information about Xilar, and what the best course of action was to deal with any potential links between her and Kar. Even with his statement that he didn't know her personally, their connection made some of the Council more concerned than others.

When the next cycle came around, Sera came up to Kar's quarters again. She'd done a bit of training, at least as much as she could in the time frame, under the supervision of Velira. Not that she intended to reveal as much to Kar immediately. She wasn't exactly sure how much her training would help if things got dangerous again, and she didn't want to give Kar any illusions until she did know for sure what she was capable of.

Instead, she simply indicated her presence by using the door panel. She didn't want to interrupt him, and was more checking to see how much more he had recovered. Plus, this close to their mission, she was starting to consider taking him up on his drinking offer.
 
Wasting away the remainder of the day after that call, Kar didn't opt to spend any more time drinking for fear of running out of booze. While he didn't want to push himself too much he couldn't resist trying some simple exercises here and there to help him judge his progress of recovering. Ultimately he fell back on his previous belief that he'd be good to go in the next cycle so, when he awoke the next day, he was quick to get himself cleaned up before getting himself ready for a day of activity.

The chime from the door panel took him a few moments to respond to but, when he did open it, the krogan was in full battle gear as he regarded Sera, his blue armor shining with a fresh cleaning and coat of polish after the damage it had suffered last time out. "Ready to check out Eletania today?" He asked bluntly and without much pause. He knew she'd worry about him to some degree, even the doctor had made a point of visiting a few times to check up on him, but he was ready to get back into the field. Not at full capacity of course but close enough that he could manage. "The council's worried but still sitting on their hands. They haven't tried to prevent me from continuing to look into things though and we probably don't want to wait before proving we can continue to get shit done. Whether or not they like all the results."
 
"I'm as ready as I can be," Sera responded, looking Kar up and down in his battle gear. "I'd ask if you're ready, but you clearly seem to be at least up for getting in the field. Just try not to push your luck as much as you did last time."

Hearing about the council didn't surprise Sera all that much. "They want results, and then when we get them, get upset at methods and if it isn't exactly what results they wanted. Easy enough to do when you aren't the one in the mix, I suppose. I think Vel is already waiting by the shuttle. She seemed rather eager to get back into things." Sera didn't mention her own suspicion that it was due to how the last excursion had worked out, and Velira having the urge to redeem herself for what she saw as a poor showing.

"Hopefully, this time we'll get enough data one way or another to determine what exactly they are planning on the Citadel with the bombs. As well as find out how much higher than Xilar the plan goes. I highly doubt she's orchestrating all of this alone, with no help from her superiors."
 
"Xilar is probably just a puppet for whatever Belia is truly after. I doubt the company holds a vendetta against turians and just wants to bomb them for fun." He walked to the elevator with Sera and rode it down to the main deck. The krogan's movements were still a bit stiff but most people wouldn't realize. Sera only would be able to tell since she had some familiarity with the brute before his injury. In any case he wasn't making for the cargo hold just yet, he needed to get to the command deck not only to give Calius the order to bring them closer but also to get some scans and figure out a plan of action.

Once the Pa'vex was in orbit over Eletania it wouldn't take long to get the data needed for planning. The planet itself was one big hazard outside of a few, key places. With microscopic symbiotic life floating around in the air itself non-native creatures couldn't breathe in the atmosphere or go into anaphylactic shock. Above a certain altitude the symbiotes weren't present, meaning that a few research camps had been placed down over the centuries on high mountains and such, however there were a few rare places where natural wind conditions kept the little creatures away. Those had long been considered too dangerous to establish any sort of standing residence but were hotbeds for scientific testing. The actual research camp settled by Belia Industries was elevated on a mountain near to one of these low-altitude 'clear zones' as they had been commonly dubbed.

"Planet is beautiful from what images I've seen, though not a popular vacation destination. There are only a hundred or so people on the surface at any given time according to the reports so there is no chance of any heavy weapon emplacements or such, though proximity to the battarians ensures that small arms should be present. I don't really see a way for you to get to the base that isn't obvious, the only landing site is right on the edge of the encampment. You'll want environment suits to protect from the microbes, though you won't need them at the research base." Kar was somewhat torn on how to approach this without further upsetting the council but he didn't really see much choice other than to be bold. Calius was right, the shuttle would be noticed whether they went to the camp or to the clear zone below it. Stealth just wasn't really an option, though it wasn't likely that any scientists there would just open fire at their arrival. Besides, the clear zone didn't have any odd readings to suggest they even needed to look into it so heading down there right away seemed pointless. "Well I guess we go pay the eggheads a visit. See what they are up to."
 
"You're almost certainly right. It is quite possible that Xilar's plans happened to align with some greater plan of Belia, but she is certainly not leading the charge. She's on someone's payroll, but just how much of a connection and control they have over her is where my question comes in. In other words, do they actually give her direct orders, or simply keep an eye on her and let her work on her own, while taking advantage of whatever she does? Hopefully, we'll find some information that will let us know more."

Sera followed Kar to the command deck. With Velira already waiting by the shuttle, she wanted to make sure that she heard any information that Calius gave Kar to make sure that nothing was missed by Velira, as well as being able to rely on first-hand knowledge of the information, rather than just what was passed down to her. It would also give her more time to plan as they made their way planetside.

Hearing that they would not have a stealth approach at all made Sera a bit nervous. It was one thing for the last mission to have gotten violent on the way out. She really didn't want to have it happen on the way in. Hearing what Kar said about paying them a visit, however, made Sera reconsider her concerns a bit. Not that things weren't still risky, given the sort of company they were looking into, but they still did have one advantage on their side. "Being a Spectre has its perks," she commented. "Or at least, being with one. It's not like they'll have much standing to deny your request. I'll try to set up my omnitool to passively gather data as we visit. With this being a research center, it's possible they'd have some armed guards, but they'd probably want to limit the number to look more legitimate. We don't know what's inside, of course, and both the other places had secrets to hide behind the walls, but I feel like there's less danger here."
 
"If we show up peacefully and they attack us outright, well, that's grounds for the council to take direct action now isn't it? Doesn't solve our problem with the bombings and the geth platforms but it would be one good thing to be able to report." Of course he was used to be shot at and rather durable in most cases compared to Sera or even Velira. The thought made him frown a touch though, he knew the turian had loaned out some combat armor and had shielding to protect herself reasonably well but he didn't think Sera had any sort of armored protection in her suit and he wasn't sure if she had shielding or not. Turning to her he tilted his head slightly and looked her over, trying to spy anything obvious like an external attachment but of course quarian garb would usually tuck something like that away internally.

"Do you have energy shields in that suit?" He huffed, giving voice to why he was looking her over. "I don't want you walking in without at least that much protection. Sure the armorer can help you rig up something if needed." Course that would take a bit of work and maybe a few hours but it was a delay he was willing to take. Shields alone wouldn't protect beyond a handful of shots but it was far better than nothing. Even a split second was enough to grab cover or such if the worst happened, though he hoped not to have open battle this time around.
 
"After the last mission, I made sure to have energy shields installed in my suit, don't worry." Sera remained calm as she spoke. "I don't want my lack of combat experience, at least in comparison to either you or Velira, to slow us down. I also prefer to not be shot. As you noted, them attacking us first would definitely cause an incident with the Council, and that's not something that they would want to have happen. I feel much more comfortable with this mission than the last couple."

Her confidence was not feigned. The way she looked at it, the last mission had definitely gone a bit rough, to say the least, even if they had ultimately been successful at gathering the data. That meant that they were due to have a mission go smoothly. Plus, her logic seemed solid. Even a company as big as Belia, who had proven to be quite good at hiding their skeletons in closets, would hesitate before attacking a Spectre unprovoked. This was a simple visit, nothing more. That's how Sera needed to approach things, lest Belia put up resistance to bait them into "self-defense" being an excuse.
 
Kar was a bit surprised at her initiative but he appreciated it. It was nice to not feel like he had to worry about her so much in the field, though he couldn't shake the likelihood that her decision was one based on his injuries and he wasn't sure how to feel about that. In any case he tried to shake that off as best he could and lead them both down to the cargo bay so they could meet up with Velira and head planetside. "Keep eyes and ears open, and we are going armed, but this is a recon mission. We are stopping by the research camp to check things out, make sure everything is above board. Unless we find anything suspicious that we can act on, we'll be refraining from hacking systems or such. There's no way for us to get in there covertly so we have to play this smart and careful. See if the weight of a spectre makes them nervous enough to slip up. If they are smart this trip will amount to nothing. We will see."

Kar explained this mostly for the turian's benefit but it was useful for Sera to hear all the same just to make sure they were on the same page as him. As part of his crew he was responsible for them so any actions they took, or didn't take, were on his head as much as their own. An excursion like this would be far more up his alley than the women might think; as far as the krogan was concerned this was just another day at C-Sec where he put his nose in other people's business to see if they'd slip up and get sloppy. Despite not being as aggressive or straightforward as a fight, he much enjoyed making others squirm and lording his position over others when he could. Dominance was the krogan way after all and he'd not lost that interest with time away from his people.
 
Velira nodded her understanding, speaking in plain terms to make sure the point was emphasized for Sera. "In other words, we don't do anything to make them nervous unless we have to. Keep our guns to ourselves, stay out of their systems, and play nice. That is, unless they give us reason to do otherwise. That seems simple enough." Despite her words, Velira seemed a bit ill at ease at the idea of a recon mission. It wasn't that she needed to get violent, far from it. It was more that she didn't trust Belia in the least. After her experiences dealing with them, she had a feeling that they were just waiting for an opportunity to get ahead, and she didn't want to get caught on the back foot if things went poorly.

Sera, on the other hand, was much more confident. She'd had a couple of bad brushes with the company, but this was a research station, and a krogan Spectre would make anyone hesitate to make the first move. Not unless they could do it suddenly, and Sera doubted they had the opportunity to do so, or would have a chance to improvise once the trio were on scene. "Seems understandable. My omni-tool will remain deactivated unless we are given a reason or excuse for me to hack into somewhere. Even if I could do it undetected, and I almost certainly could, it's not worth the risk when we might get what we want simply by them making a mistake."

As she spoke, Sera boarded the shuttle, ready to head to the research base and find out what information they would be able to gather simply by the krogan Spectre's presence and credentials. It would be nice to not have to fight or hack her way into information for once.
 
As expected the research camp contacted the shuttle on approach. It was standard procedure bullshit that Kar had to suffer through, telling him it was private space and that he needed to vacate the area. When he sent through his spectre credentials however the communications suddenly became very quiet. Only a few moments before he brought the shuttle to land did they offer a response. A very simple "You are cleared to land, spectre." He could feel the frustration in the voice grit the words out but he couldn't be sure if there was trepidation or fear there as well, not over simple voice communication.

Touching down on the small landing pad at the edge of the encampment, Kar climbed out from behind the controls and opened up the side door to exit. From the approach it looked harmless enough, a small camp made up of a handful of permanent and semi-permanent structures, about half were little more than tents to protect from the worst of the elements but little else. Now that he had boots on the ground, the small plateau pressed against the sheer cliff face on one side and a sharp drop off on the other, Kar could instantly tell that this place was kind of shoddy compared to the previous locations they'd dealt with of Belia Industries. Though, to be fair, the factory was a shit-hole minus the secret workshop that Velira had been stuffed in. Still, looks could be deceiving and it was entirely possible that Belia had some other... unofficial presence on the planet besides this research camp.

The trio wouldn't be able to get far before being greeted as two figures approached swiftly, walking with urgency but attempting to wear smiles all the same. Idly the krogan wondered if they were here to stall them but he had to play things safe and not press the people. So, with that lingering in his mind, he pulled to a stop only a handful of meters from the shuttle and gestured for the women following to do to same. "Let's see what they have to say."
 
Sera and Velira both stood next to Kar, remaining quiet. Velira did take the time to look around for any potential defensive locations, as well as escape routes. Mostly out of habit than actual concern. Whatever she found, or didn't find, was an option for them as well. The lack of defensive locations meant that they would also be in trouble if they tried to start something. Not that it seemed all that likely, given that she could only identify scientists in the group. Even the two approaching men didn't seem heavily armed, just pistols. The human was the one who spoke up first.

"We weren't expecting a Spectre, let alone a Spectre and a couple of other guests," he said in a light voice, making no move that could be seen as aggressive, even as his smile failed to reach his eyes. "What can we do for you three? As you can tell, our research camp isn't exactly the most glamorous, but if you want to look for something, I'll be happy to show you around what we have. Or if you want to ask something, I'll do my best to answer it."
 
Kar didn't smile back but he didn't scowl either, just remaining stone-faced at the attempted kindness from the man to speak up first. This was intentional on his part, though also somewhat natural considering he wasn't much for small talk. Still, if he could subtly increase their nervousness and concern within the researchers it might make one of them snap at some point and do something stupid out of fear or panic. "I can't tell you all the details of my visit, though there have been some... concerning rumors regarding other holdings under Belia Industries in neighboring systems. We are here to do an inspection, simple enough. Make sure everything is above board. That shouldn't be a problem, should it?" He felt pretty certain that the man would want to escort them around rather than allowing them free reign, even if he had no power to stop them if he tried to press the matter of going where he pleased. Still, Kar knew he didn't have much to go on here so playing mind games with the weaklings was the best strategy. His towering, bulky presence alone said much more than his words could in the face of others.
 
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