Science Fiction Mass Effect - Ashen

ooc: Sorry for the wait. I was at my grannie. It´s also our GMs granny, so I know he isn´t mad about it

Aleena
Unknown Colony

Nobody was there. That much was obvious. But the reasons were the mystery. Was nobody here anymore or weren´t they here yet? Were they just hiding? A lot of data on her screen told her there were parts of this colony her scan didn´t show. They blocked out scanners. And technology to do that was crazy expensive. Aleena allowed the gunship to hoover around the small colony. To big for an emergency station. Was that the Drells poor try to show humor? Aleena ignored her and stared down. It was on a mountain. It was empty. It was fully operational. It was powered down. It was sending an emergency signal. That were the facts she had.
Whoever had build this, he had done so for quite some time with nobody realizing it. Probably . . . most likely this station had been here BEFORe they came to Ashen. So, why no reveal itself? For a moment something inside her wanted to consider a trap, but she reminded herself not to ignore hte obvious answer. Someone had some sort of operation down there going and it surely did not look a bit like a mine. Whatever he had done there, it had gone wrong.

"Everybody get ready. We´re going down." She said and sighed. "Time to take a closer look at this station."

And the gunship began to lower itself.

Tag: Others in gunship, Draco

 

Talmot; The Menry

"I'm not saying that I agree with you on everything. I certainly won't stop defending myself! But I thank you for listening, and I appreciate your advice."

The Batarian dipped his head slightly in recognition. He watched as the quarian turned away to stare out the window, and he wondered what it was she saw when looking out over the vast, wind scoured surface of Moloch.

The planet?s outer landscape was pitted and bleak, a vast gray expanse of nothingness that ran in every direction from Ashen. As far as Talmot knew, there had been no reports of organic life forms outside of the colony itself, and he doubted that anything could survive in the maelstroms that kicked up periodically.

Once the miners finished extraction of the element zero underground the colony would be shut down. No reason to keep such a costly operation functioning if it wasn?t bringing in a profit for the Administration. Of course that would take years, generations even.

But he could see why she hesitated to call such a place home. Talmot supposed he was lucky, being inclined to move from place to place. Once his contract with United Mining was up, he?d be free to leave this rock behind him.

He?d thought about it some nights, fighting sleep and the dreams it inevitably brought with it. He still had a certification for piloting Class-3 trawlers. Maybe he?d try to get a job hauling freight again. Not the most exciting career, but then again, he was probably getting too old for anything exciting. Something to do, seeing as he wasn?t about to up and retire. He just couldn?t see himself spending his days wasting away in the corner of some smelly bar on a backward planet in the middle of nowhere space.

"I wish the Professor hadn't said anything. Now I'm all edgy."

Talmot shrugged and put on a brave face. "I guess you wouldn?t be much of a quasar player then, if that floating bag scares you." He gave a ghastly smile, "You want edgy ask me about playing a game sometime, Omega rules."

He glanced around for a brief moment, searching for Harris and seeing her and her comrade making pretty faces at the bounty hunter farther down the bar. Satisfied, he grabbed a new cigarette out of the front pocket of his shirt. The distinctive click of his lighter always helped to settle the Batarian?s nerves.

"Doc said that his girlfriend was riding out with security. She studies rocks, or something, I think," he recalled, blowing out more blue smoke. "My guess is she found something interesting out there, and they sent the others along to keep her out of trouble. It wouldn?t look good on the quarterly report if she bit it because she refused to head back to Ashen without some chunk of dirt."

Tag: Livi

 

Kai'Thala nar Oran

"Doc said that his girlfriend was riding out with security. She studies rocks, or something, I think," Kai discreetly waved away the smoke from Talmot's cigarette, her air scrubbers whirring as they processed the sudden spike in toxins in the atmosphere. "My guess is she found something interesting out there, and they sent the others along to keep her out of trouble. It wouldn?t look good on the quarterly report if she bit it because she refused to head back to Ashen without some chunk of dirt."

Or maybe it's something to do with those schematics Mac showed me.

Kai was glad for the visor hiding her face- though she'd keep the human's secret as best she could, the young quarian was dying to tell somebody. This had always been her problem. Kai loved to talk and gossip, and the idea that there could be a secret, second colony out among the wastes of Moloch was just too juicy a tidbit to keep to herself. Especially if there were other quarians there.

Keelah, but Kai missed the Fleet. She even missed her cousin Deen, annoying as he was.

"Probably." she managed, keeping the bulk of her thoughts to herself. For now. "Maybe she found a new Eezo vein. That would certainly justify all this excitement."

Kai doubted it, though. Trying to lighten the mood, she indicated down the bar to the bounty hunter and his two new friends.

"Besides, I suppose there is a bright side to this. We're knee deep in guns and machismo here, and whatever's happening has at least given the security forces something to do."

[TAG Baratheon]

 

Outside the Colony

The Mako appeared from nowhere. Or it would have been more correct, it appeared out of the dust storm that was now so thick, it was visible only in the final seconds, before stopping in front of the Miners making their way through the storm. the wind was so loud, howling so aggressive . . . the motor couldn´t even be heard when the vehicle stopped right in front of them. "Get in. Send me to pick you up and bring you back. Comm seems to be down." The heavy human accent in his voice was even underlined by the southern accent of his english. "Son of a Bastharian. That is a storm, huh?" Ellis Garth laughed out loud and the Mako opened it´s ramp right in front of the three miners. "Breathe. Can´t breathe . . . " The Asari in Lyle´s arms collapsed. Eyana now had only seconds to life.

[image=http://images.wikia.com/masseffect/images/1/1d/Vehicles_M35_Mako_Codex_Image.jpg]

And soemwhere in the storm, the red point finally vanished again. Like an eye that could not be seen anymore, when the viewer turned his back on something. "Something . . . inside . . ." Eyana began spasming in her suit. Lyle had to be fast. she was obviously dying.

Tag: Sarge, Xany


The Menry

Mara smiled at Taylor and then stepped one step closer to the Bounty Hunter. "I am Mara. I got something important with you in common, but I ugess you´ll never guess what it is." She smiled, obviously flirting. The Professor had finished his drink and stood there. Hard to say, if he thought, meditatated or probably even showed any sign of emotion. He glowed and seemed to wait. Different from hte two Asari Dancers who now wandered over to their tables. Bored and arrogant, only to turn into some erotic wildcat swinging themselves on the tables. If anybody ever saw an "overplayed" performance by a dancer, it were the people in the Menry, when these girls began to dance.

The music grew louder. The light became dim. The only question was, where were the Miners. The Alpha group was already an hour late. And they could not be any later than 70 minutes, because of their oxygen reserves.

And as if everybodies questions about the "crisis" had triggered the events, the Menry was suddenly shaking. A tremble. As if something huge hat hit the station. Or been ripped from it by a sudden drop of pressure or . . . an explosion. A second trembling ran through the bar and Mara stepped back from the bar itself. Looking at the Bounty Hunter.

Tag: Menry people

Many people don´t post right now. I waited a week, now I´ll mvoe forward without them. Tomorrow comes the expedition update for you Sirak.

 

Talmot; The Menry

The batarian grunted in surprise when the lights inside the bar dimmed even further. They were automated and ran on a precise timer. He reckoned by now that the last of the miners should have been coming in for a drink after their triple-shifts. Did I miss a staff meeting or something?

"Besides, I suppose there is a bright side to this. We're knee deep in guns and machismo here, and whatever's happening has at least given the security forces something to do." The quarian motioned subtly towards the three humans clustered together.

Talmot barked a harsh laugh, projecting his voice to be heard over the increasing music. "True enough. Anything besides sitting around maintaining weapons that never get used, or just playing with their?"

He was cut off by a sudden trembling that seemed to emanate from beneath the bar. His jaw clenched instinctively, and he mouthed a few choice words, spitting out half a cigarette where he?d bitten it clean through.

As a second tremor rocked the Menry, Talmot turned his attention to securing the substantial amount of drink that was clinking behind the counter. Nothing broken, he noted after a cursory inspection.

The shaking ended as abruptly as it had begun. He scanned the room, his eyes searching for anything wrong. No-one appeared to be hurt, but it was hard to tell in the hazy purple light.

"Anybody know what just happened?"

Tag: all in Menry

 

Kai'Thala nar Oran

"Keelah!"

Kai staggered as the Menry shook, grabbing the bar for support and spitting some words that her parents would be very surprised to hear she knew. Around her, the loud music jittered and the already-low lights flickered as the colony's systems came back online.

There was just a moment's pause before the room shook again, then stillness.

"Anybody know what just happened?"

"Talmot?" Kai lit her omni-tool and turned on the flashlight. The asari dancers could complain about her ruining the ambiance later. "That felt like an explosion! Or.. or a shockwave! Or something collapsing! Maybe they're blasting out a shaft? But so close to the colony! Did something crash into us?"

She tugged at her hood nervously. "I mean, something could have crashed, right? Or maybe it's whatever the security forces are bothered with! Augh, why does that bosh'tet in charge never tell us anything? Somebody could have gotten hurt!"

Kai paused. "Is anybody hurt?"

[TAG Baratheon, Menry people]

 

IC: Andrew Kesler
Location: the Menry

The girl said her name was Mara, and she leaned in closer to him, flirting.

Andrew was just about to respond with something slightly dirty when he felt the pain in his stomach get worse. He tried to hide it be continuing to smile at Mara, but it was difficult. What the hell was happening to him? This wasn't from his paranoia. It had to be something else. Had the doctor done something to him?

Kesler took a quick glance down the bar to look at the drunken doctor when he saw the glass the barkeep gave him earlier. Some kind of red liquid, and he drank it. Could there have been something in the drink? Quite possibly. After all, the barkeep was the same species as the guy that shot him in the chest. Maybe they were in cahoots with each other. It made perfect sense...or did it?

Kesler wished he had his weapons with him right now. He'd confront the Batarian bartender.

Suddenly, along with the pain in his stomach, he felt his head spinning...but then he realized it was the actually room itself that was shaking. Kesler leaned against the bar to steady himself and reached out to grab the two women by the arm to help steady them as well.

The other patrons started in on talk of explosions and shockwaves. Now Kesler really wished he had his weapons.

"Is anybody hurt?" one of them asked.

"Don't think so," Kess responded, glancing over toward the Batarian bartender. "I think we're okay, for now."

He now regretted ever coming to this damn planet. It's given him nothing but trouble.

TAG: all in the Menry...

 

ooc: This is more or less Draco´s post with my response incorporated. So combined one, you could call it.

Aleena
Approaching the Unknown Facility

The Gunship hovered over the facility and in the back of the small ship the men started to prepare. Aleena tried to make out anything with the eyes that might have escaped her scanners. And indeed something had escaped them. Ships. Shuttles to be more precise. Three of them parked there. They weren´t showing up on her screen. No energy signature. Not even the metal was detected. "Cloaking devices" She hissed out. Incredibly expensive technology. Not even all Zero in the galaxy would justify such costs, without a good reason. But here . . . on Moloch? Aleena had never seen any indication of another base. They had been pretty much safe. So what were they hiding here? And why? "report to the Governor we enter the facility now." she sighed. "I expect to be out of contact until we can establish communications through their internal means." Aleena moved the ship towards the only open hangar. Beyana began typing. then typing again. Finally punching the keys of her console. "A problem?" Aleena asked. The Drell moved her head towards the Asari. "Yes." She said. "We lost contact." Then she turned to the console. "Maybe the storm."

Not an ion storm in full power could keep their equipment on Ashen from transmitting, surely not any ash storm. Aleena considered turning back, but she knew she would be fired, if it turned out to be a minor problem with comm. "Probably." she therefore replied.

By the Gods, she had a really bad feeling about it.

---

As they entered the white in white hangar Aleena saw more details. The shuttles would fly nowhere. Their internal systems had been ripped out. Pieces of them lay scattered everywhere. If that was a repair job, she began to appreciate the people on Ashen taking care of the machines. the same seemed to have happened to the walls of the hangar. As if someone had taken parts out of them, ripping loose everything in his way. Slowly her shuttle set down. the lights began blinking in that second, as if the impact of their little ship had disturbed the giant beast, this facility was. "Arrex, guard the ship." She assigned her most trustworthy to keep their escape way open. "All others to the control room and try to close hangar doors." She then turned to Beyane. "You stay with me." And as she put her space helmet over her head, she grabbed her Avenger rifle and checked the heat-status. Then she mad her way back to the aft-part. As she looked out, she pushed the button to lower the platform and leave. Looking at her men, she sighed. "No security commandos awaiting us, no welcome. Not even the dammed security cameras have moved to focus on us. Dunno, but I think this thing here is abandoned." she loaded her Avenger through and pointed it to the outside, as it became visible. it was cold in the hangar. And silent. Only a little humming from energy shields and their steps. It was too silent . . .

[b]Tag: Draco, others if they show up again[/b]

 

IC: Taylor Harris
The Menry


The newcomer turned his head and smiled, and was just about to introduce himself when suddenly Mara cut in.

Although I prefer a little . . . rougher men, you know? Haven?t seen you around? You?re the guy who got shot, are yey?"

Taylor?s expression was neutral as she fought back bemusement. She watched as Mara managed to get him in her crosshairs and started chatting to him in a friendly but slightly flirty manner. Didn't she say earlier that she wanted to get away from men and testosterone for the night? Mentally shaking her head Taylor took another sip of her beer. Glancing to the side she noticed that Talmot was conversing with Kai. Not wanting to barge into the conversation she let them be, instead taking a moment to listen to the music that was currently playing in the Menry. The current track was a particular favourite of hers, even though she had heard it hundreds of times while visiting the Menry. "Talmot could still really do with some new music though" she mused before her attention was drawn back to Mara and the man.

"Yes. I guess word travels fast. Yeah, I'm the guy that got shot. Name's Kesler. Andrew Kesler. I'm a bounty hunter."

Taylor blinked. A bounty hunter? Well that would explain him being armoured up to the eyeballs. But why would a bounty hunter come to Ashen? The miners of the facility didn't have prices on their heads as far as she knew. Not that it was any of her business to pry to deep into his personal affairs. But as with most newcomers it was hard not to be curious. So he was the cause of the commotion earlier. She heard there had been a ruckus but she had been concentrating on a stock-take at the time. And he had been shot? To be up and about so quickly after that was impressive, if also a little reckless. Kesler then looked at her

"And who might you lovely ladies be??

Taylor turned to face him fully, crossing her arms across her front and leaning against the bar "As I said before, my names Taylor" she said as she waved a hand in the general direction of her store "I run the store across the street. Well that?s when I've actually got customers to serve. Place has been deader then..."

She didn't get to finish her ranting however, when suddenly out of no-where a large shockwave rocked the Menry. She stumbled as the tremor caught her off balance. ?Son of a-!" she yelled as Kesler grabbed her arm to keep her upright. Another shockwave hit the Menry, and Taylor's eyes narrowed in the hazy purple light. Her left hand went instinctively for the pistol concealed under her jacket, but the tremor suddenly ebbed away and she pulled her hand back. For a moment there was only quiet as the patrons of the Menry took in what had just happened.

"Anyone know what just happened?"

Talmot enquired as Kai turned on the flashlight of her Omni tool, the orange glow of the device glowing eerily in the darkened room. The quarian then started rattling off nervous suggestions about what had just happened. Taylor's face was stoic as she listened. Causing a mass panic wouldn't help things. but even she was starting to feel an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"I mean, something could have crashed, right? Or maybe it's whatever the security forces are bothered with! Augh, why does that bosh'tet in charge never tell us anything? Somebody could have gotten hurt...Is anybody hurt?"

"Don't think so, I think we're okay, for now."

Kesler responded. Taylor looked at the quarian, who was obviously on edge

"Or it could just be seismic activity, natural gas pockets or something. This rock has been mined for so long there?s bound to be some shifting going on down there. But then again I'm no expert" She said shrugging her shoulders slightly before glancing at Talmot.

"You ever experienced anything like this before?


TAG: Menry people.

 

Talmot; The Menry

"Talmot?"

He blinked at the orange glow of an omni-tool flaring to life from where the quarian was standing nearby. The added light proved sufficient to locate the others-they looked a little shaken up, but nothing serious.

Kai tried to offer multiple explanations for the strange occurrence. Talmot noted the frantic tone of her voice, watched her hands tug distractedly at her clothing. Kessler, for his part, was quick in assuring her that everyone was fine.

Then Harris mentioned something about a gas buildup. She turned to regard the batarian:

"You ever experienced anything like this before?"

Talmot shook his head. "Never. Not here anyway. Whatever the hell it was," he said with a worried expression on his face, "I don?t think it?s good no matter what caused it." He looked over to the Hanar, recalling the Professor?s funny feeling that he?d scoffed at earlier in the day. Maybe he should have put more stock in the being?s gut instinct, after all.

"We need somebody that knows what?s going on. Sitting around here talking isn?t going to give us answers, just make us even jumpier then we already are. Look, I can put the bar on hold for a few minutes, at least until we find somebody to talk to. It'd sure make me feel better."

Tag: all in the Menry

 

Kai'Thala nar Oran

Kai held her arm out steady, keeping the flashlight as stable as possible as first the bounty hunter, then Taylor, then Talmot spoke. Apparently everyone was fine, which was something of a relief, although nobody had any idea what had just happened. Kai could feel her heart racing. This was too much. She had just wanted a nice, quiet Pilgrimage with no disasters and no heroics, just gathering enough data to count as an acceptable gift (and, she had to admit, to shame her cousin, who'd had his Pilgrimage last year and only brought back an old clunker of a ship, hardly worth much at all) and then returning home to her parents.

She was interrupted by Talmot speaking again. The batarian had seemed to become the de facto leader of the group, something Kai was sure he wasn't thrilled about.

"We need somebody that knows what?s going on. Sitting around here talking isn?t going to give us answers, just make us even jumpier then we already are. Look, I can put the bar on hold for a few minutes, at least until we find somebody to talk to. It'd sure make me feel better."

"I agree." Kai didn't relish the thought of walking around the darkened colony, but she liked the idea of staying in the Menry with her own thoughts even less. "We need to find out what's happening. Besides," the quarian added with uncharacteristic dedication to her supervisor, "if the whole colony shook like that, Mac could be in trouble. I'd like to find him to check on him, if that's okay."

And then she could ask him a few more questions about this extra colony. Somehow, she was sure the two matters were connected.

[TAG Menry folks]

 

Merlot
Menry

He wasn´t drunk enough, when the trembling came. A few more drinks and he would not have cared. But now adrenaline rushed into his bloodstream and he felt irritatingly sober again. He stood up and waited for the alarm to hammer into his ears. It didn´t. Not immediately at least. So it was probably no internal problem. An impact? An explosion? Someone asked if everybody was okay. Ashamed he looked around to check. What kind of Doctor was he not to wonder that for himself? Everybody seemed fine. Shaken, talking, but fine. Someone mentioned seismic activity. "Too short, too intense. Seismic activity wouldn´t be such a concentrated trembling. And no alarm yet, so maybe no gas entered. I guess this was an explosion." He said and looked around. "Felt like one." He added more to himself and looked around. There weren´t that many people here on Ashen right now, with both mining-teams out there to harvest EZ before the storm hit. Maybe nobody had been hurt. He hoped so. "I should go to the MedBay. My colleague is always late and thee might be a need for first aid." Merlot still talked ore to himself. Then he turned the other way around and walked over to the communications-console. He typed in security and then remembered that they were don to one person, now. He was probably busy enough. So he typed in GOVERNOR and pushed connect. They talked about leaving. Wandering around. He shook his head. If something leaked in the opposite was the way to go. Seal the Menry and try to survive on the oxygen they had left.

Tag: Draco, others

 

Menry, Level 5

They still debated what to do, when Dr. Merlot realized, that the comm-system was offline. It still had energy, but it looked as if someone had cut it of from the mainframe, so that no messages could be send or received. A second tremble went through the colony. This time it was less intense. Taylor stayed remarkable cool. Stepping aside and checking her own comm-unit she shook her head. "No signal." She sighed and grabbed into her bag where her brand new Kessler was waiting for her touch.
The Professor nervously shifted from one tentacle to the other. "This one thinks the Doctor is right." The dancers had immediately stopped dancing. "Where is security? What is happening? What are these stupid miners doing?" They talked both the same time asking the same questions slightly rephrased again and again. Then the alarm finally went off. A few shrieking peeps were heard that echoed through the Colony and before they could discuss what kind of alarm it was, it was gone again.


Only then Dr. Merlot looked up accidentally and saw something most unusual. Entering the MedBay were five people. Four of them in full armor and the fifth - a young human woman - was wearing a grey uniform. Something was strange about her eyes, but it was hard to make out over this distance. She opened her omnitool and gave another command, as she entered his MedBay. One could clearly see the word "detonate" blink in blue light on her arm. Then she looked around and entered MedBay. Three armored men followed her, a fifth took position outside. His assault rifle ready, his shields charged.

[image=http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/6121/b57faf6df04e3908448c16d.jpg] The Girl [image=http://gamerlimit.com/files/2010/02/Cerberus-Armor-1.jpg] Commando Unit

Tag: Menry

 

Lyle Parker
Outside Colony

Admittedly, Lyle had jumped in surprise at the sudden appearance of the Mako. Having stumbled back for a couple of steps, he nearly fell over entirely which would probably not have done Eyana any good. Fortunately he managed to stop himself from doing so and kept both of them on their feet.

"Its about time!" Lyle shouted at what had to be the driver of the vehicle. "Coming in with a survivor!"

That was when the asari suddenly fell limp in his arms. Cursing, Lyle awkwardly tried to carry her up the ramp which proved difficult considering their suits but he got them both up the ramp nonetheless. He didn't wait to see if the Mako had any medical facilities or waste time asking the driver as he just placed Eyana on the floor and immediately worked on removing her helmet.

"Close the ramp!" Lyle ordered as soon as the volus made it in. Already he was slapping at the seals of his own helmet in case he was going to have to give their patient mouth-to-mouth. She was moving again, even speaking about something "inside". Not completely understanding - something wrong with her suit maybe? -, Lyle just worried about getting some oxygen into her lungs while speaking soft, comforting words to her.

"Its okay. You're going to be okay. Just stay calm and breathe."

TAG: Draco, Xani

OOC: This post I made with my new Droid Incredible cellphone

 

OOC: I'm in the process of moving to a new place, so over the next couple weeks, my posts may be sparse. But I'll certainly be posting. And, regarding the IC stuff... Unless I read the posts wrong, I assume we can see the Medbay from the Menry?



IC: Andrew Kesler
The Menry

Kesler heard the Doc say something about heading back to the Medbay. "If you're going back there, I'm coming too. I'd feel safer with my weapons."

Then came a slightly less intense tremor. Kesler moved a hand to his stomach. The pain seemed to be getting worse.

He glanced up at the Doctor, who was still standing at the console and hadn't left for the Medbay yet. Kesler's eyes then caught movement outside. Figures running? The Doctor looked up at them. "What's going on out there?" Kesler asked no one in particular.

TAG: Menry people...

 

Dr. Merlot
Menry

Commando units. From his time in the military he knew them, when he saw them. Heavy weapons, heavy armor. And the girl was triggering explosives. For what? Communication, life-support, hangars, if they were her to kill them all. A leak in the hull and taking away all ways to escape and this was going to be a massive crypt for over 2000 miners, once they got back and ran out of oxygen.

"Can you seal the Menry?" Merlot asked to the barkeeper. And he looked around. Only the shop-owner carried a weapon. Well, only she was probably allowed to. Shacking his head, he realized that attack as suicide. Hiding had the best chances of survival for the next minutes. Then he looked back at the MedBay. What did they want there? Him? Why should commando unit want him or any medical supplies. It wass a state of the art medbay, sure. But on a colony full of Eezee, there were really more valuable things around.

And with sudden realization he turned his head. He knew what they wanted. "Really. SEAL THE BAR, there are men outside with heavy guns and they´ll come for us any second." He gasped. He wished he had drunken that much.

Tag: Baratheon, all others, Draco

 

OOC: Yeah, I think you?re right, Dubya

IC: Talmot; the Menry

An alarm went off in the back of Talmot?s mind much like the one that had shrieked throughout the Colony moments earlier. His anxiety proved well founded, as the Doctor came scrambling back from Medbay looking downright scared.

"SEAL THE BAR, there are men outside with heavy guns and they´ll come for us any second."

Talmot swung himself over the counter, his legs sending drinks tumbling away. Moving quickly over to the console on the far wall, he punched in a six digit code.

The metal doors slammed together, a red hololight in the middle blinking to show that the locking mechanism had been activated. He wondered if the gunmen had noticed, but decided there wasn?t anything he could do if they had.

He motioned to the sealed entrance. "Stay clear of that. Don?t want anyone getting hurt if they try a breach." The batarian ran his eyes through the Menry, scratched the top of his hairless head. Reaching back over the bar, he felt around for a moment and brought up a medium-sized oblong object. A little manipulation and it expanded into the Scimitar he was so familiar with.

Thank you Elkoss Combine.

Pulling out the thermal clip, Talmot checked the heat sink status, jammed it back into place. He flicked a switch, grunting with satisfaction as the safety light went from red to blue. Resting the weapon against a shoulder, he leaned back against the bar.

"One way in here: that door. Dressing room behind us; seals from the inside, anybody feeling nervous go take cover in there. If something happens it won?t do any good for you to freeze up in the cross-fire."

He swung his gaze back to the Drell. "Doc, how much did you see of our guests?"

Tag: Fin, all in the Menry

 

Kai'Thala nar Oran

Kai only got a glimpse of the medbay before Talmot activated the shutters, sealing the bar off, but it had been enough. She'd seen the commandos too, and the quarian could hear the panic in Merlot's voice. What in the galaxy was going on here?

However, at least the fear had worn off somewhat. Strange explosions were one thing, but real flesh and blood enemies were a problem that could be dealt with. Reaching to her hip, she drew her pistol. It wasn't anything fancy- just a Kessler- but it'd do the job. Kai might have gotten her engineering skills from her father, but her mother was a Fleet marine, and had taken great care in teaching her daughter how to shoot. If it came to a fight, Kai could look after herself.

"Ancestors, Doctor, what have you got in the medbay that requires a team of commandos to get?" she asked, moving to take cover behind the booths

[TAG Fin, Menryites]

 

Dr. Merlot
Menry

The Doctor stepped back, so the commandos could not see them. One entrance, one exit. They were trapped in what he considered a good position to defend themselves. Given the circumstances they were greatly underpowered. A memory of his time in the military crawled up and he seriously tried to force it down. But his racial weakness of perfect memory overcame him.

Aboard the cruiser the Drell Commandos were assmbled. Vortigan spoke to them in a calm and dedicated voice. His words left no doubt, this mission was their most serious so far. "We will take out communication. Internal comm goes through a data-node here. External comm is depending on that antenna here. Two charges Class Two. He said and held up two of his green reptilian fingers. "then we move in. Without coordination, they should be pretty easy to overpower one by one." He had listened, swallowing the bitter irony of being a medic on a team that set out to take life. Even though protection of life was their greater goal, he would not treat any wounded that day. He would confirm the death of enemies . . .


He shook his head and coughed, swallowing the memory of his time with the soldiers. A terrible deja vu. That day had killed thrity of those batarian terrorists. he turned to the quarian and answered her question. His voice cool, as it was usually when his race spoke. Free of passion. But someone who had spend time with him, would hear an obvious anxiety.

"No object or data on that medbay justifies a team of soldiers to come here. I don´t think they look for something. they look for someone. Someone who was ought to be there." And his gaze oved to the bounty hunter, who obviously was beginning to feel pain again. He slowly stepped towards him, not knowing if he should beat the truth out of the man or try to help him. he was a doctor. He decided to do the latter. "Where does it hurt?" He asked and looked around. The others would ask the other, more pressing questions, he assumed. Why the hell where these commando units looking for him?

Tag: Menryites, Draco



ooc: just to clearify: I had no extra input from draco, so the idea they look for Dubya´s character is my own reasoning. If I am wrong, my char will look a bit stupid, but I thought it was a logical answer.

 

IC: Taylor Harris
The Menry


Taylor mumbled curses as she stood to the side, trying a couple more times to get her communicator working, but having no success. This whole situation was starting to frustrate her. The administrator would usually answer his comm without fail, if anything happened to the colony that would threaten his money and resources he would be on it like fleas to a varren, so why couldn't they contact him now? The colony's alarms shrieked again, stinging her ear drums before they suddenly went quiet once more. The asari dancers were starting to panic too, their repeated frantic questioning doing nothing to help. Despite everything, from the outside Taylor looked calm and composed. The last couple of years had taught Taylor the importance of keeping a cool and level head, but inwardly her stomach did a 180 when Dr Merlot started yelling

"Really. SEAL THE BAR, there are men outside with heavy guns and they?ll come for us any second."

Armed men? Heavy guns? Where? Since When? She dashed over towards the doctor to see if she could see what was going on outside, but Talmot suddenly leapt over the bar and ran to a control console on the wall and inputted a code. Taylor flinched as the metal shutters slammed together, obscuring the view. She sighed, yes sealing the Menry seemed like a good idea, but the noise alone would have probably attracted the soldiers attention. Coming to rest near Talmot, a serious look crossed her face

"Well if they didn't know we were here they sure as hell do now!"

She hissed as she un-holstered the raikou pistol from its hiding place on her hip. She then proceeded to check its vital components with seasoned efficiency, anyone looking at her could tell she was used to handling this particular weapon. The only problem was she only had limited ammo. She was expecting a few friendly drinks in the Menry after all, not possible hostile action.

"Agh! What is going on with this colony!"

She said to no one in particular as she eyed the closed shutters. She then heard Kai question the doctor about the contents of his medical bay

"No object or data on that med-bay justifies a team of soldiers to come here. I don?t think they look for something. they look for someone. Someone who was ought to be there."

Taylor watched as the drell doctor approached Kesler, who looked to be in pain. She remembered him saying he had been shot, perhaps he had pushed himself too much by being up and about so quickly. A frown crossed her brow as she watched the pair and she walked over to them

"Listen doc, you have to give us as much detail about those intruders as you can, weapons, defences, anything you've got"


TAG: Fins, Barethon, menryites

 

IC: Andrew Kesler
The locked-down Menry

The Doctor made some query as to Kesler possibly being the reason for the commandos' sudden appearance. Merlot then walked over to him and asked where it hurt.

"I'm good," Kesler said, straightening slightly from his doubled-over-in-pain position. "Just some stomach cramps. I'll be fine." He glanced around the room. "And if you're implying I had something to do with these people, you're wrong. I have no idea who they are." He winced a bit. "I came here hunting a fleeing bounty. That's all."

He suddenly realized a few of the colony people had pulled weapons. And, sadly, he didn't have his. He felt helpless with out something with which to defend this bar. He turned to look at the sealed door, then back to the patrons. "And has anybody got an extra weapon?"

TAG: people locked in the Menry...

 

Talmot; The Menry

Harris moved to stand beside the batarian. She gave a frustrated sigh.

"Well if they didn't know we were here they sure as hell do now!" She drew a pistol. "Agh! What is going on with this colony!"

Talmot eyed her weapon, noting how comfortable she seemed holding it. He gave her a grim smile. "Y?know I?m not sure who I?m more scared of right now, Harris, you or them." It was a sorry excuse for a joke, a soldier?s humor. Trying to poke fun at what could quickly become a very bad situation.

He felt a twinge of sympathy for the Doctor as they all continued firing questions his way. But he knew about the Drell race and their amazing memories. Likely Merlot could recall everything about the intruders that he?d seen down to the dirt on their boots.

"No object or data on that medbay justifies a team of soldiers to come here. I don´t think they look for something. They look for someone."

The Doctor turned to regard Kesler. Talmot sucked in his breath, squinting at the bounty hunter suspiciously.

Someone they were confident would be found in the Medbay. Stupid hrakhor put his foot in the stink and came running here, didn?t he? And now we?re stuck cleaning up the mess!

The bounty hunter mentioned stomach troubles, and the batarian couldn?t entirely hide a smile of satisfaction. Kesler maintained his innocence, asking after an extra weapon.

"Great. Either you're lying to us, or so bad at your damn job that you didn't notice a gunship tailing you through empty space. Anyway I've got nothing else stored in here, human, seeing as this is a bar and not an armory. Feel free to chuck some bottles at them if you want though."

Tag: Dubya, other Menryites

 

Dr. Merlot
Menry

"Listen doc, you have to give us as much detail about those intruders as you can, weapons, defences, anything you've got" Taylor asked and Merlot turned towards her. This was a question that was not hard to answer. He concentrated on it and the memory of these men moving through the corridor returned immediately. "Five. Heavy armor with a helmet. All black and white. From their body shape, the way they move and the physical characteristics they can be only Humans, Asari or Batarians. From their height and build and the way they carried themselves I´d say all humans. Assault rifles and SMGs of an unknown fabrication, but they looked new and modern. Sidearms. Their leader was wearing no armor at all. A young owman. one might say a girl. A grey uniform and an omnitool with which she triggered the third explosion. The omnitool was not the usual model, but something else. Black hair. Not older than 25. Pretty, by human standards. Her eyes were strange. They looked like they might be some very exotic implant. I could not make out all the details. She was in command. that much was obvious. She was wearing no obvious weapon. But she seemed to be the most dangerous of them anyway." He lay his head to the side and then turned it back into position. "I think that was all I could see. They left a guard outside MedBay where it is now. All others moved in. Weapons ready." He lay his head to the side once more, then turned back to the patient. "Won´t be long before they realize noboy is there."

The Bounty Hunter seemed alright, indeed. The wounds were okay. Actually they still looked like they might be under the influence of local painkillers. And his stomch? Merlot wondered for a second, then he turned to Talmot. Possibly a poisoning. No time to test blood, though.

He turned back to the Boutny Hunter. "I am certain they are not here to save you. You are in no danger. We checked the story and the man you killed was wanted, indeed. So they would not need to get you out. We would let you leave anytime." He lowered his head, looked at the stomach and then back up. "Actually," Merlot nodded, while looking the human directly into the eyes. "I would say they are after you."

He looked around. Two guns so far. Pistols. Once they overheated, they were all dead. The others could just begin a firefight and leave one of their guns cool. At some point they would all suffer from the natural limits of their guns and the one with a weapon left would be the one still standing.

"I should have quitted my job when I hit the 100.000 credit mark." He sighed. "Always said I would do so."

At least Bayane was save. Obviously the security had fallen for a ruse. The true attack happened here and in their absence.

Tag: Menryites, Draco

 

Kai'Thala nar Oran

Well, this was getting way over Kai's head. She listened as the rest of the patrons interrogated Merlot about the commandos he'd seen in the medbay- how many, what they looked like, what they could be there for. Of course, the amazing memory skills common to all drell had captured most of the detail, but not enough. That weird omni-tool, for example. For once, though, Kai held her tongue. There were other more pressing matters to discuss.

"What makes you so certain they're after the bounty hunter?" she asked, the skepticism clear in her voice. "He doesn't recall anything that would prompt this kind of attack."

The quarian sighed and looked around. "But while we stand here talking, those commandos are going to be busy outside. They've got to have heard the shutters closing."

She paused, and looked back to the bartender. "Talmot, do you have security cameras here? It would probably help if we could see what was going on out there."

[TAG Menryites]

 

ooc: Our GM SIR_DRACO asked me to post this update. He can PM right now, but he seems to be unable to post. Don´t aks me why. So. Update.

Menry

Mara had stepped back and listened to everybody. Her hand in her backpack, she did not reveal her gun yet. She heard the Quarian question the theory about the bounty hunter. The Barkeeper was obviously in no good mood. And with two or three guns, they could not under any circumstances get into a firefight with shielded, armored attackers. Or they needed a damend good plan. Right now it looked unlikely they would come up with any. The only person they could trust with military experience had been a medic. No sort of training to lead a raid on a superior enemy.

Security cams. Good thinking, but such privileges were probably for the Administrator and security officers. Talking of which . . . the amdinistrator was probably already working on a solution. Could he help? not exactly their greatest hope. Mara sighed and then smiled. She still was calm like a block of ice. It looked like it was almost over.

The Professor turned around his own axis, as if he checked the room entirely. Which was strange, as his jelly form seemed to possess no actual eyes. Once he was done he turned to the assembled. "This one thinks, that the doors won´t hold the intruders out for long. We need to prepare to face them or avoid them until the Security can take care of them." He said in the usual calm voice of his race. Unable to show the nervousness he probably felt.

From outside a voice could be heard. A shot. It echoed through Ashen.

Tag: Menry People


Outside Ashen

The ramp closed with a shrieking sound, as if it had to be forced to. As Lyle pushed Eyana´s helmet of her suit she spasmed a last time and then took a deep breath. She inhaled the oxygen inside the Mako, then kept it in her Asari lungs and finally spit it out. As she allowed it to leave, it was accompanied by a cough of colorless Asari-blood. Her eyes became empty and her face seemed to freeze. for a second one could have considered her to be dead. Then her breath returned. Flat and short, but it was there. Her eyes just staring at the ceiling. "Dammed. No talk to nobody. Ashen seems to be to busy to talk to us. Can´t reach them. Same goes for Team blue and red. Only green responded. They´re fine and on their way back. I´ll try open frequency." Ellis Garth shouted through the Mako to the back part, where Lyle and the two Aliens were situated. "Dammit, nothing. someone should respond, right? That are a hundred Miners each team! are they all sitting on their ears? Son of a Batarian." It could be heard, how he kicked against his vehicle. "Mako to anyone, anyone out there? Could you please all end your mass vacation and tell me what is going on?" He asked.

In the back part a red light jumped alive. 13 minutes until they reached Ashen. One could complain about Ellis as much as one wanted, he was the damned fastest driver in the colony.

Tag: Sarge (Xany?)


Unknown Colony

Aleena and her crew left the shuttle, weapons ready. The pressing silence seemed to be almost hostile. And the Asari was gripped by a feeling of something awaiting her. Something hungry and impatient. Her men did their job and followed her order. Within seconds the controls of the hangar were under their control. A few seconds later the hangar doors sealed and the main computer was accessed. A powerful firewall was blocking it. Nothing else could be expected in a place like this.

Aleena, followed by a very silent Bayane, looked around. No sign of a fight was visible, except the sabotaged shuttles. Those were actually sabotaged in a very violent way. Someone seemed to have ripped them open and teared apart the engines. Things seemed to have been ripped apart. "Aleena? Movement. Right there behind that door." Bayane pointed to the nearby door and tried to read her omnitool, while raising her assault rifle. It didn´t wor