Mass Effect: Terminus

Kiares

In hindsight, she should have asked how many of them had night vision in the first place. Much bonding was needed to make this team function like a well-oiled machine, should it remain a team.

Fortunately, the situation was salvageable. While the enemy had not taken as many casualties as she had hoped, the darkness had stopped the guards from hitting anything but the walls if return fire was attempted, they hadn’t been prepared for the exact moment of the light coming back on, that plus the inferno grenade had done nicely to shake them up.

And apparently, the Turian had a competitive streak, perhaps aimed specifically at humans. Like so many attributes, if channelled in the right direction, it could be helpful. As it was, she’d have to give a lecture about words that weren’t commands or taunts to the enemy having no place on a battlefield.

Speaking of the Turian, while human engineer provided some distractions like he was supposed to, the bird had started to charge, albeit at a slower pace than Kiares would have liked. Alas, for now it would do just fine.

With a biotic charge, she crossed over from one end of the room to the other in mere seconds. Her target were three guards close to the door her group intended to pass, who were just in the process of starting a counter charge, intend on denying the escapees any more ground.

Those intentions were put to a grinding halt when the muscled fury of an asari impacted with the one in the middle, tossing him through the air. His flight was cut short as he soon smashed against the doorframe, splattering the walls with his blood.

Her charge had barely ended as Kiares already took a swing at the female guard to her right. The force of the gloved fist hitting and breaking a human nose, coupled with the fact that the guard had still been in the process of moving forward when the attack hit, literally threw the woman of her feet and made her fall on her back, taking her breath away.

Disciplined enough to quickly recover from this unexpected attack, the batarian guard on her left pointed his rifle at her chest, his trigger finger pulling-
-and as swift as the talons of Klixen, Kiares blue hands had taken a hold of the rifle, pushing it upward so that the burst of fire only hurt the ceiling, then forcefully shoving the butt of the rifle into the guards face, doing irreparable damage to at least one of his four eyes.

Despite the pain, the Batarian still kept his finger on the trigger, but already the asari was falling down into a straddle, using her left leg to kick the batarians legs, while with the same movement bringing down her elbow on the female guards throat, causing her to soon drown in her own blood.

The Batarian was now in the process of falling on top of her, what with how she had mutilated his ankle. Letting herself fall on her back, she once again grabbed his rifle, and before both of them had hit the ground, levelled it so far that the poor sod ´, still pulling the trigger, shot his own brains all over the room.

Showing no signs of being bothered by all the blood, brain and bone fragments now sticking to her body, Kiares easily heaved the body off of her, taking the rifle and popping out the heat sink. For the moment, she stayed low. By now the door was right behind her, and an overturned table gave her cover, though only marginal. Still, now that she was at the other end of the room, the other guards would be forced to deal with her, less they’d stay in a position where they showed their backs to at least one side. Sure, her current position was a dangerous one, but it would take the pressure of her team. Besides, if the guys tasked with suppression fire did their jobs….

Sashryn Velentor

With a fresh clip in her rifle, Sashryn raised the scope to her eye once again and watched the battle unfold, taking a few shots here and there when the opportunity presented itself. It seems that she had fallen in with the right group in this jailbreak, as they all seemed quite capable. Out of all of them, however, the Asari probably impressed her the most. Being a biotic meant she was powerful, but the almost casual way she slaughtered the soldiers is what stood out. Most people couldn't handle close-quarters combat as well as ranged, due to the grisly reality of combat staring them in the face. This Asari, however, must be cold-blooded to the core.

With the Blue skinned female behind enemy lines, it seemed to fall to Sashryn to make sure she was covered. After moving forward some feet, as to decrease the chance of being left behind after the others made it through the door, the young woman took aim at one of the soldiers facing the Asari and shot him through the neck. And then another through the back of his skull. Sashryn hoped either the Asari or one of the others would do something about her position as the human continued firing at the soldiers.

Kiares

Going by their lack of casualties so far, things were going smoothly. By now the group had passed half the distance to the exit and killed most of the opposing guards.

On the downside, that also meant that they were now pretty much in the middle of the room (aside from the asari at the door). And as if to make up for the guard they killed, it was now that a mob of other prisoners began to spill into the room from a door to their right. Armed with stolen or makeshift weapons, those escapees were led by a vorcha, of all things, and while their priority target were the guards as well, it would only be  a matter of time before one of them targeted the group for one reason or the other.

Additionally, to their left, a large group of fresh guards could be heard approaching, and going by the footsteps to be heard, it was a group large enough to overwhelm both the prisoners and the mercenaries. They would arrive any moment, and it was fortunate that their entrance was rather narrow.

In any case, if the group remained here for much longer, they would be trapped between two opposing forces. And while there opportunities for chest high cover all over the room, in the long run that would do little against fire from two sides.

Biting down a curse, Kiares used a Lash to quickly pull one of those chest high covers, a random crate, towards her, robbing one unfortunate guard of her cover and at the same time extending her own.

Risking to leave the safety of low ground, she stood up and reached behind her to pry open the heavy metal door leading to the landing pad. With the other, right hand, she held her stolen rifle and fired at the guards entrance. Since the guards were just arriving, her shooting it one handed and never having been that good with rifles, it caused no casualties whatsoever, aside from one shot by pure chance hitting a personal shield and bouncing of harmlessly. It did however halt the guards reinforcements from charging through the door, if only for a few seconds, which she needed dearly, that metal door was heavy.

Pulling the trigger until the heat sink was emptied, she yelled:
“MOVE!”

Fehln Davris

They just kept pushing despite the resistance of the guards, Kiares showing just how brutal and ruthless she was the whole way. Spirits help me if I've broken the wrong kind of person out. Once his shields had recharged, he resumed firing at the remaining guards in the room, taking a few steps with every shot of his pistol. The guards were starting to dwindle, but as if on cue to make up for that, not only were reinforcements starting to pour in, but so were a group of a prisoners that were apparently being led by a vorcha.

The strangeness of the savage alien actually having a role of leadership aside, that meant they were going to have to move things along and quickly. Kiares was trying to get the door open, and if he didn't do his job, they'd all be in a cell or dead on the floor soon. He ran to the door, firing off what was left of his thermal clip before slapping a new one in as he reached the door, turning to open fire on the guards. To slow them down for a few seconds, he hit some of the prisoners with a cryo blast before swapping his pistol for his sub machine gun, carefully aiming his shots as best he could given the chaotic shootout going on right now.

He was going to need some help though, he may have been keeping the guards busy for the moment, but eventually they were going to get the chance to funnel through, and the prisoners would realize that he and the rest of the teams weren't here to help them, and start shooting at him as well.

In such a short span of time, the operation had ceased to be simple, leaving them between a rock and a hard place. Or, as Harus preferred literal statements over metaphorical ones, a small army of guards and a swarm of prisoners led by a Vorcha. Harus had met a good number of Vorcha in his lifetime, most of them members of the Blood Pack. What with the rivalry between his former place of employment and that rather unsavoury bunch, the vast majority of the Vorcha he'd encountered had attempted to violently disembowel him in a variety of ways. While they certainly weren't the brightest denizens of the galaxy, the Batarian couldn't deny their ferocity. Harus liked to think of them as a bigger, angrier breed of Varren that occasionally made use of guns.

Unfortunately, an opportunity to send this one to greet his fellows in the beyond would have to wait, as escaping the prison remained top priority. The ideal course of action just so happened to be a tactical retreat, otherwise known as running away. After all, despite the previously demonstrated prowess of his comrades, Harus doubted they were capable of slaughtering what seemed to be hundreds of foes, not without casualties, anyway.

Putting the aforementioned plan of "running away" into action, Harus began sprinting towards the door, but not without taking the time to fire off a few shots in the general direction of the guards with his pistol. The clip had burned out by the time he'd reached the door, prompting him to replace it before continuing. It was hardly the most lethal tool in his arsenal, but his shotgun and other implements were all short-ranged weapons, and charging into a mass of armed guards seemed like a less than wise decision right about now.

Gerard Kalgard

War. War again. No matter the scale, no matter the participants, war was war. One could call this a skirmish with no greater cause, but the reality was this was just another theatre, another battlefield in the never-ending conflict between the oppressor and the oppressed. It was an antagonistic concept older than time itself,  and yet it was so familiar to anyone who felt its withering grasp. There was always a third party in the middle, one that either suffered or benefitted from the conflict. Sometimes both were true. Gerard had been here before, one caught in the center of two warring factions.

--
"Gerard?"

No reply came, save for another salvo of gunfire that came from the nearest Geth trooper. Fire extended as far as the eye could see. At Karth's feet lay the body of a C-Sec Officer, one of the first responders to rush into the fray, vainly attempting to hold back the greatest crisis the Citadel had ever faced. Alongside the body was the officer's weapon, though Karth couldn't make out the model or use besides it being an assault rifle. A thought flashed in his mind. Slowly, as if in a transe, the boy reached for the gun, oblivious to the explosions caused by the Juggernaut a few dozen meters away. He felt the metal alloy in his hand and slung the weapon awkwardly around his shoulder.

To anyone who saw, it was obvious that the kid didn't know how to carry a gun, much less maneuver it fluently or aim properly. In the chaos, none of that mattered. The Geth did not have any objections to shooting civilians, provided there was no better immediate target. With a weapon, you had a chance of at least destroying one of them and praying you didn't have to face another. It was with this mindset that Karth began moving, crawling along the floor with the gun on his back to avoid attention.

Gerard had locked himself in the server room of a local store. Aside from a VI interface outside that was rigged to blow if the doors opened, there was little he could use to protect himself. Sure, he had an omnitool for a quick Overload-and-escape tactic, but that would only work once and would require running,  likely into more of them. He began frantically running to every corner of the room, hoping someone had left something he could use. For sure, this was the wrong week to take leave. He would kill for his shotgun right now.

A loud crash penetrated the room, followed by cascading ashes in a plume of dust. Gerard coughed uncontrollably as the Juggernaut stepped forward, sweeping the area for any sign of life. The scarlet visor eventually passed over the lone human form, who met the unfeeling glare with a gaze of hatred. As the towering Geth loomed over him and readied his rocket launcher for the kill, Gerard pressed an interface icon on his omnitool and leapt to the side. The sabotage jammed the gun, giving the human a chance to run out into the devastation via the newly made hole in the wall. A fair way through his exodus, and at a safe distance from the server room, he turned around and used his omnitool to Overload the server room. The resulting inferno consumed the structure.

Now outside, Gerard could see the full effect of what was happening. It was somewhat surreal, like something out of a dream -- no, not a dream, a nightmare. The artificial sky glowed a dark orange, mixed with fire and dust. Mutilated corpses littered the streets. Asari, Hanar, Human, Turian, Krogan, Quarian, Volus, Elcor -- it didn't matter. All were slaughtered as equals. The mighty superstructures that were the centers of economic development were blazing ruins.  It all happened so fast. Where did they even come from? How did Geth reach the Citadel in such numbers? And where was the Alliance, or the great fleets of the council races? Gerard found himself staring into space, standing absent mindedly in the carnage, waiting for a savior.

"Gerard!"

"Karth?"

Gerard turned to see his brother, crawling along the floor.

"Stay there. I'm coming to get you. Don't move!" he instructed.

"Okay."

Gerard began moving toward his brother. He kept his head down,  but didn't resort to crawling. There wasn't enough time.

Certainly there was not. Before Karth could be reached, another platoon of Geth swarmed the streets. Pieces of burning rubble began flying off the buildings onto the ground and the hapless creatures thereof. Gerard soon found himself pinned down by Geth rifles and falling debris.

"There are Geth everywhere. I gotta move!" cried Karth.

"No! Whatever you do, stay there!"

But Karth had already made up his mind. He sprang up, taking the rifle in his hand. The boy fired a few shots at the Geth as he ran back to cover his retreat. As the shots flew by without finding their marks, however, it became clear that all this action accomplished was drawing the Geth's attention. A couple well aimed retaliation shots were fired by Geth rifles, and the human's weapon went silent.

"Karth?"

No answer.

"Karth!?" he called louder.

Again, no reply.

"KARTH!"
--
"MOVE!" the Asari's orders rang in Gerard's ears. Now began the mad dash through the hail of gunfire, praying that they didn't die along the way.

I gotta move. I gotta move. Over and over he repeated this phrase to himself, trying to make it sound right, trying to justify it. As he ran, he glanced at prisoners rushing toward the guards and firing in poorly aimed bursts, even as they went down in hordes at the behest of precise shots. For a moment, he thought of crawling to avoid the shooting, but there was no time. If the shuttle was approached cautiously, there would be no shuttle when they got there.

Just keep moving. Just keep moving. Someone has me covered.

Who? Who has ever protected you? Since when have you been able to protect anyone? You should know by now; what goes around comes around. Fate is unsympathetic. Deal with it.

Ken could respect good work, and this group and show they could do just that. The human woman had a good eye and a steady hand, the other human who was not a biotic new some neat tech tricks and the others could kick some ass when they needed to. Kheela this was turning out better than he had hoped. Ken was moving to the door, going from cover to cover as he let the others fire back and forth, fire fights were not his favorite place to be. They had cleared at most of the immediate guards in the area and were making a dash for the exit with a pile of other prisoners bearing down from one hall and the remaining guards charging up from a second. He noticed one guard, a Turian with a shotgun, break away from the group to try and stop The Asari and Batarian from reaching the door. As he took a few shots but was to far to do any real damage, he was closeing fast though. Ken noticed a few shots bounce off the guards shield and goarned as he drew his sword. Quick as you could blink Ken was gone, leaving behind a bit of mass effect eneregy.

When he reapeared his sword was protruding out of the guard chest, blood dripping off the tip of the blade before Ken ripped it out, letting the guard fall to the ground. Ken turned to face the general area of the two growing mobs. Activating the connection between his suit and the sword he raised the blade high. The blade buzzed with energey before he gave it a swing, sending out a shockwave of electric power. It Probably woulnd't kill anything, but it would hurt like hell and knock out someones shields.

Sheathing his blade again he took off at a sprint, leaping over the chest high walls as he made the dash for the door, he counted the seconds till his cloak had cooled down enough to activate again, as long as nothing hit him in the next four seconds he was fine. Ten seconds after that he should be clear of the room.

Sashryn Velentor

The last of the guards at the door fell, so Sashryn lowered her rifle and began moving. As she did, she noticed that some of her allies were looking down each hallway, with gunfire coming from the one on the left. Since no fire was coming from the right, she assumed they were more prisoners. Judging by the statements made by the one who had broken them out of this prison, these other prisoners wouldn't be invited to leave. Once they found that out, they would most likely become hostile. Fueled by this knowledge, Sashryn shifted her rifle to her left hand and drew the pistol with her right as she began running down the hall.

As the guards came into view, she fired off several rounds at the group, hoping some would find their way to a guard's neck. Upon reaching the door, the human took cover next to the Asari and began taking shots at the guards with the Raptor once more. Given the fact that she was probably one of the most capable in the group as far as ranged accuracy goes, she should probably be one of the last to leave, unless the blue skin told her to go, or the guards got close enough to make her rifle ineffective. Her staying behind was not born of some noble purpose, but simply by the knowledge that if more of her allies survived, she would have a better chance of surviving.

Kiares


When Ken did… whatever that action with the blade was, Kiares immediately dropped her rifle, trusting that the electrical wave or whatever would allow her a little time to show the enemy her back. Turning around, she now placed her second hand on the door, and was finally able to pull the damnably heavy thing all the way open with one forceful pull that made her muscles ache.

A quick glance behind her revealed that the human female had taken cover, and was apparently intent on guarding their retreat instead of going through the door and out of the line of fire.

Which would be fine, if only Kiares hadn’t already instructed Elvis and the human biotic with that task, and everyone else with going through the stupid door once it was open.

In light of that, she roughly grabbed Sashryn’s shoulder like an angry parent might do to a child hat refused to obey, dragged her with her when she ran through the door, and forcefully shoved her forward once she’d passed the threshold, snarling:
“If you feel the need to guard something, guard the front!”

She then turned around and waved the others to follow, urgently yelling: “Go, go, go!”

Everyone else soon followed through, leaving only Elvis and Kayne behind to cover them.

Well the crew, if you could call it anything other than a half crazed rabble, was making good time through the hail of gunfire and desperation. Impressed that none had died so far he winked to the quite biotic to his side and turned on the tech armor.

As he stroll out into the fire and blood, he mumbled under his breath, "The warden threw a party in the county jail."

With one hand, not even looking, he proceeded to throw a proximity mine down the charging prisoners end of the hall and pulled out his Tempest at the same time throwing a hail of gunfire to cover himself.

"The prison band was there and they began to wail. "

Stray slugs hit his shields only as he casually walked down the hall, smiling at the sound of the mines explosions and the subsequent shrill of pain.

He stopped just a couple of feet from cover and struck a rather odd pose, "The band was jumpin and the joint began to swing. You should've heard those knocked out jailbirds sing!"

With that he hurdled into cover besides the rest of the crew, quickly stricking another pose and almost screaming in awkward Salarian voice, the chorus to a dong obviously not meant for his kind,
"Lets rock, everybody, lets rock.
Everybody in the whole cell block!"

*Inhale*

"Was dancin to the jailhouse rock!"

He laughed into the faces of his crew mates and his "captain" half tempted to further incur her temper, not that he was afraid of her. He had the program to the shuttle. With that in mind he tapped a few command keys signalling to the shuttle to make it's final descent. "Shuttle incoming milady! ETA one minute. And it lifts off two minutes after that, with or without us"

SShryn Velentor

After taking a few shots at the guards, Sashryn had to bite back a shriek when she was grabbed and dragged off. Her first instinct was to fight back, but by the time she could tell who it was, she had already been pushed through the door. After the Asari finished growling at her, she nodded and scouted out the landing platform, her cheeks burning. She had forgotten to make sure and obey the Asari. She wasn't very good at following orders, not since her entire career was spent working alone almost exclusively.

After making sure no guards were on the platform, Sashryn turned around and took a kneeling position with her Raptor pointed at the door, ready to cover her allies after they made it through.

Gerard Kalgard

With the force of a bullet, it hit Gerard that nobody was covering him. This was no surprise, but that didn't change the fact that he was on his own. Another bullet found him. At this rate, the next shot would risk shield failure. After that...

He had to think quickly. Adrenaline pumped through his system, slowing the world around him. But there was no solution. There were far too many of them to think stopping to shoot a couple would do any good, and he couldn't keep running under fire forever. He needed more time. Time...

Gerard slung out his omnitool and redirected power from it to provide a temporary-yet-substantial Shield Boost. This kept him covered as two more shots were warded off. Now he could make it. The Asari's shouting inspired him to move even faster. More than anything right now, he wanted to reach the end of this gauntlet. He bolted toward the inviting doorway, barely able to stop himself after he was safely through.

The difficult part was over. The Salarian and the biotic had the entrance. All the rest of them had to do was wait for the ride. Gerard leaned against a wall to catch his breath. Lengthy periods in a holding cell did nothing good for one's physique. He hadn't relaxed though. Even now he gripped his shotgun tightly, ready to hoist it into firing position at any moment. Part of him still didn't trust his "allies." They were in no way obligated to keep their word, and the Quarian recently displayed his close-quarters combat affinity. If either he or the Asari decided to be done with the human engineer, there was little Gerard could do to protect himself if he didn't react quickly.

A lengthy silence ensued. While only a few seconds in duration, each brief moment felt as if an hour had gone by. Gerard glared at his companions, watching suspiciously for any sudden moves. Sweat fermented on his furrowed brow; his breathing was heavy. The unease would not be lifted until he was off this planet.

Kiares


Now that everyone was through the door, Kiares activated her biotic shield again, then quickly went back to the threshold And pulled the door shut again, dulling the sound of the on-going battle on the other side.

With the landing pad where the Shuttle would land already in sight and not wasting any time, she addressed Gerard:
“That door needs to be locked so whoever wins that fight will be delayed. You have thirty seconds.”

Not waiting for an answer, she turned to face the rest of the group:
“Turian, you cover him for the unlikely case someone tries to open that door again. Biotic, Batarian, join the sniper to make sure we aren’t ambushed from the front. Ken, see if you can find out if there’s anything nearby that could hinder us. We make a run for it as soon as the shuttle comes into view.”

After rattling those instructions down extremely fast, but controlled (after all, when presented with a short time span, panicked haste usually lead to disaster, as she knew form experience) she lastly turned to Elvis:
“What’s your intended destination?”

Silently stepping over to Sashryn's position, a low dull thrum emanated from the quiet human as the pointed fingertips of his gauntlets clacked, briefly flexing. The visor covering the upper part of his face giving a red glow, he opens his black-gloved palms and faces them upward. Giving a beckoning motion to either side, the biotic makes use of his abilities and hurls a large crate from either side to the location a few feet in front of the sniper. The two large metal boxes smashing together with a clank, he allows them to drop there, creating a moderate-sized bar of cover for the sniper and batarian before taking up a position behind it himself.

Gerard Kalgard

Break into a security door in thirty seconds? Well, at least she's not telling me to unlock one. These things are more designed to keep people out more than they are to keep people in.

"On it," he replied, already prying open a panel and linking his omnitool to the security system. Bypassing the authorization process was easier than he expected, given that this door was located in a high security prison. Then again, the doors given the best protection would have been the cells themselves, the lock up, and the Warden's chambers. Why should they pay more for high security shuttle-bay access doors?

"Not like any random prisoners are going to try and lock themselves in an empty shuttle bay, right?" he thought, slightly bemused by the concept.

"I'll have it locked up in 15," he announced after spending five seconds with the thing. The announcement was said in a very matter-of-factly manner. He wasn't trying to impress anyone, merely giving them a time frame.

Fehln Davris

He couldn't help but give his boss a questioning look at his choice of song and dance. Eccentric people weren't exactly something he dealt with on a regular basis, they didn't make the best partners in the few times he worked with others, though at least his boss had the skills to back up the odd dance number. Investigating just who he was going to be working beside was becoming more ideal with every passing minute with their group, but that would have to wait.

After Kiares was done giving out orders, he took up position close to the human engineer, his pistol trained on the doorway, rolling his eyes at his claim of half the time it would take him to seal the door. He could already hear someone pounding on the other side of the door, but it was hard to tell whether it was the guards or the prisoners. "Whatever you're going to do, make it fast" he warned the human, adjusting the sights on his scope eye in case the door suddenly opened.

Gerard Kalgard

"I said fifteen seconds, damn it!" he snapped at the Turian. He already knocked ten seconds off the Asari's allotted time (he spent five seconds fiddling before he gave the fifteen second timeframe). What more did they want?

Even so, he heard the pounding on the other side. Urgency did not contribute to the steady hands needed in this situation, so even the increasing possibility of being compromised did nothing to hasten his pace. Then a thought struck him.

What if they access the panel on the other side? Any interference will lock me out of the system!

Grunting, Gerard turned to his companions. "I'm going to open the door for a brief moment. Blast any idiots in the immediate proximity. Three seconds."

He would explain later. Right now though, they needed less talking, more shooting. True to his word, at the end of those three seconds, Gerard opened the door, ignoring any outbursts or questions from the others.

He had heard people moving and shouting and something about the door, but all he worried himself on was the task Kiares had given him. After a moment of gliding through the prison network he found that it sported one and only one Anti-air tower.

However due to either it's age, it's huge energy drain or the fact that the warden was a cheap bosh'tet, the tower was never online unless the Prison was at red alert, which it just so happens to be now. He took about three seconds to go over his options, hack the tower or hack the alert status? Wieghing the pro and cons in his head he quickly went to hacking the tower.

He disabled the tower for a minute, giving the shuttle more than enough time to slip in, with the tower down he uploaded a new fireing priority to it's FOF system, using his suit to send the signal. Any shuttle he was on would not get shot out of the sky, a little insurence in case they thought to leave him behind. He thought to himself with a smile. He was however drawn back to the world as he heard the sound of the door opening.

Turning he saw three prisoners with stolen rifles looking perplexed as to why the door had opened. Had the Prisoners won or had these three just ran to the door in hopes of escaping? Didn't mater, he drew his Carnifex and fired four rounds, he plugged two rounds into the first prisoner, the other rounds missing any targets. With out shields or armor the prisoner dropped like a ton of bricks. He was fast and deadly with his sword, not so much with guns. This still left two more to be dealt with.

Fehln Davris

Every good hunter had a number of plans for dealing with all kinds of prey, it was simply a matter of using the right one. Given the limits he was working with and the discovery of which side was coming through made deciding infinitely easier. Before he could begin firing, the lead prisoner was gunned down by one of the team, leaving Fehln to deal with the rest. He sent one back with two shots to the his vitals, and the third was dispatched with a shot to the head.

He continued to fire into the crowd, killing and wounding where he could or firing past them to try and hit the guards, but despite his efforts, a single prisoner got through in the brief opening they had been given: the Vorcha leader. He ignored the remaining shots from the pistol as if they were nothing, tackling the turian and sending them both tumbling. When they finally stopped, the Vorcha began mercilessly beating him, Fehln barely able to fend off the blows as he went for his knife.

Despite his training, Fehln was never one for close quarters combat, he tried to put as much distance between him and those that were, or allowed others to deal with them. Even when he hunted beasts he kept the distance, only engaging them on their terms when they were sufficiently wounded. Being like this only reminded him of the creature that had bested and nearly killed him, and he absolutely hated it. He stabbed into the Vorcha's chest with all his might, but it did not seem to care, continuing to beat the turian beneath it. "Get this Varren reject OFF OF ME!" he shouted to no one in particular, continuing to stab the Vorcha as he did so, but it refused to give up.

As Chaos was at the gates his reply to Kiares was a simple, "The Junker! Where else?" with that peeled off and rushed to the action. Normally he would not care for the deaths of his comrades, indeed in most if not all of his commands it was uncommon for someone not to die, but he hired the Turian and he had ideas for him. To entangled for the machine gun he closed in, pacing forward and activating his omni-tool. With a silent command it glowed brighter and became solid.

The Worcha was on top of the Turian, hammer down blows that if continued would eventually overwhelm the Turian, so much for their famed martial skills. With a disappointed look, he used one hand to grasp the neck of a now Startled looking vorcha and proceeded to punch his Omni-Disruptor a few times int oit's face. Known for their adaptability and high endurance, he struggled against his grip, but the struggling ceased after the third blow to the face. As he let the body drop, the face now a charred mess, he shook his head as he helped the Turian to his feet. "That's what they teach you in the Turian Military?" tch tch tch.

he Glared at the Human engineer, "Well hurry up and work!"

*Inhale*

"Shuttle eta a few seconds!" he shouted out as the bird came into view over the horizon.

Gerard Kalgard

Gerard never stopped working on the security mechanism, even as the others fired at group at the door. For a moment, he considered getting his shotgun out to shoot the Vorcha on the Turian, but that would delay him, decreasing their chance of survival. Besides, there were plenty of other unoccupied guns; and if the Turian couldn't hold his own for a few seconds while their slow reflexes came to attention, then that was his problem.

Finally, the Salarian disposed of the Vorcha, clearing the immediate area. Gerard closed the door and finished breaking through the security system, locking the doors while the Salarian was talking.

"Done," he replied, returning the glare. This gaze only held for a brief moment, however, as soon his eyes wandered to the shuttle coming in for a landing.

"It's about damn time," he thought. He let go of a sigh of relief, thankful that freedom was at last within his grasp.

Kiares

After Gerard had ensured that their back would be safe for the near future, Kiares gave the command to move out. For a change, everything went exactly as planned, the landing pad being completely deserted and ken having deactivated any potentially hazardous security systems, so they entered and took off with the escape Shuttle in no time.

First the salarin and the asari vanished into the cockpit, where they set the autopilot on course to their destination, and the former STG member gave the former street gladiator information about what she missed while imprisoned, as well as about the hired help, what little information there was anyway.

Once that was done, the two of them exited the cockpit to join the other six passengers. Who were currently making the uncomfortable discovery that the shuttle had been constructed with a passenger capacity of five people in mind. Having left he mask in the cockpit, Kiares clapped her hands once to get everyone’s attention. When she addressed them her voice, while no longer tempered with by the mask, as still not what one usually expected from an asair, being rather coarse and demanding.
“I’m not going to pretend that I know everyone’s reason for being here, your aims in life, beliefs and motivations. Aside from the confidence that nobody of those present is crazy enough to start a fight with the vacuum of space five inches away, I do know that the eight of us just escaped an extremely hostile battleground with no casualties and insignificant wounds at best. All things considered, that does speak highly of what we as individuals, and more so, as a team are capable of.

Furthermore, considering the state of the galaxy after the war and the circumstances of everyone here ending up in a prison to begin with, I assume that all of us lack a stable environment in this universal clusterfuck of people striving to get by. And while I can’t promise a perfect solution to everyone’s problem, I can provide what most people strive for in such insecure times. A safe port, safety in numbers, reasonable authority and an above average chance at not only a secure, but proportionally large source of income. If that sounds appealing, those already under contract by Elvis are welcome to have their contract extended, after being rewarded for previous work of course. Everyone else is welcome to get their own contract.

Anyone who doesn’t wish to sign contracts will be dropped off on the next speck of civilisation we pass.

Fortunately, until we arrive there, plenty of time to think about and discuss this offer will be available. And since we will spend so much time together in such a small space, and with such a diverse collection of individuals no less, I’ll make one thing quite clear:

There is only one kind of racism I accept in my presence, and that’s the kind of racism you use to motivate yourself for hostile encounters with people that DON’T belong to your current group of companions. Additionally, one of the things I dislike more than racism is people who proof racism right. Because of this, the Turian will NOT attempt to blow up everything he encounters, the Batarian will NOT sell us into slavery, the humans will NOT act superior because they happen to share some genes with the Shepard, the Quarian will NOT steal all our credits, the Salarian will NOT tap our comm lines and post them on the extranet, and the asari will NOT sleep with everything that moves while reciting pretentious poetry. Anyone who goes against that will have a meeting with the nearest airlock. Did I make myself clear?”

Gerard Kalgard

The shuttle was cramped, but Gerard wasn't about to complain. He let his mind drift from his material discomfort, thinking back to the aftermath of the attack on the Citadel. Sovereign was destroyed, the Geth were routed, and the Alliance became galactic saviors. For their efforts, humanity was granted a spot on the council, thus allowing them to have the same number of dreadnaughts as the Asari and Salarians.
--
"My condolences to you and your family, Sergeant Kalgard."

"Commander, I have a request."

"Speak freely soldier."

"When we mobilize the fleet, I request that I be put on the first ship heading into Geth territory."

"I can put your name forward, but I can't give you any guarantees. Top brass still needs to reorganize the fleet, you see. Aside from that, I'm not sure there will even be a full scale war."

Gerard held his tongue for a moment, then remembered that he was already given permission to speak freely.

"Sir, with all due respect, how can there not be a war? They struck at the Citadel for the love of God!"

"Current orders are to clean up the remaining Geth still in Citadel space. Aside from that, no gathering of the admirals has been convened to discuss deployment in Geth space."

"Leaving aside all of the violations of sovereignty the Geth have inflicted on us, including Eden Prime, attacking the seat of the council is an unmitigated act of war. As part of the council, the Alliance will have no choice but to respond."

"As far as the council is concerned, this attack was an attempt of usurpation on the part of a rogue Specter by the name of Saren. His death marked the end of the campaign and the threat. No further retaliation, aside from cleaning up the remainder of his forces, remains. After that, everything goes back to the way it was."

"The way it was!? Tell that to the colonial survivors, who will live in perpetual fear of attack now that the Alliance shows it will not go after the aggressors. Tell that to the families of those killed by Geth raids, who will never get justice. Go ahead, commander. Tell me."
--
His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the Asari. Her speech was well dressed, but unnecessary, especially with regards to the last part. By the way she performed on the field, anyone with sense wouldn't risk coming within two feet from her. This was the kind of Asari who would quicker feed you your own innards than consider mating. Those she did have sex with were probably non-crew members who were quickly murdered afterwards.

Regardless, she was still tolerable company, and did give a fair offer of stability and security. None of that really mattered to Gerard though. He had no goal, no purpose. What was the point of anything? He had shirked off allegiance to both sanctioned, civilized military and criminal organizations alike. He had fought for his people and to avenge his family. But now there was nothing left, nobody left to fight for, save for one person: himself.

Everyone he had ever fought for abandoned him. Every cause he had picked up was a lost one. Here and now he had an opportunity: Wash away the past, count who he used to be as dead, and finally do what he wanted with his life. Here in the Terminus systems, away from the order of Citadel space, he could live in the state of nature. Was that what he wanted? I guess it is. He would have a chat with Elvis when they landed.

Fehln Davris

His boss had been the one to come to his aid, dispatching it in a way he honestly didn't expect from a salarian. Brutal was one way of describing it, but as he helped him to his feet, he then had to go and insult Fehln for not being able to hold his own. He wanted to tell him that it was because he was not someone who was meant to be up close and personal, but their escape vehicle arrived before he could respond. He boarded along with the others, having no wish to remain any longer than he had to, praying that none of the guards could identify to him to any future employers.

Apparently the salarian hadn't exactly planned on having this many people on the exit of the prison, as there were only five seats for him, the batarian, and the four prisoners that had come with them. He took a seat and began looking over his wounds, this was going to tell him weather he was going to need something more than omni-gel. The bullets to his chest weren't that bad, but he was going to need to get them out at some point before they became an actual problem, and the other two had hit him a few inches lower, those he was feeling more than the former.

He shifted in his seat as Kiares went on about how no one would be doing anything to prove the stereotypes about the various races gathered here. Brutal and crazy as she was, and as much as he wanted to make his point on where he stood in this whole mess, a shuttle wasn't the best place to do it, and a doing it while wounded and in the close quarters, his worst combat area, was even worse. "We're clear, for now" he answered, the second half said under his breath as he began trying to dig into one of the bullet holes to pry out the tiny slug.

"And does anyone have anything I can pry these things out with?" he did his best not to strain his voice as he spoke, finding the bullet and carefully taking it out as his armor tried to apply what little traces of medi-gel it could find stored. You never know how hard the times are hitting you until you're no better than a rookie.

Sashryn Velentor

Deciding she may as well stand, Sashryn leaned back against the door to the shuttle and listened to the Asari's speech. Racism should be much of a problem for her, the only difference she cared much about between races was where their vitals were located, and what the best way was to shut them down. The woman nodded her head once in response to the Asari's inquiry.

Now that that was dealt with, Sashryn focused on the prospect of signing a contract with the group. It was certainly an interesting prospect. Of course, she had worked alone for her entire career, and Sashryn didn't know how well she would do following orders and working with others. Nonetheless, it could be much safer to work with the group. It had been blind luck that had gotten her out of that prison, and if it happened again she would have no one to break her out. Add to that the fact that pay could be increased by the taking of more difficult jobs, and Sashryn had a prospect that was well worth considering.

But then, there were some cons to working with a group as well. First of all, the only other female in the group was an Asari who seemed to be as rough and vulgar, if not more so, than many of the men. Normally that wouldn't pose a problem, but it did mean that if any of the men got... desirous, then they would more likely go for the human woman, as she was less likely to kill them than the Asari. Add to that the fact that she didn't know if she could trust any of the others to help her in such a situation, except maybe Gerard, and she had a bit of a dilemma.

Working with others also meant she would be on a schedule, and in her line if work, spending weeks hunting one target was not uncommon. But, regardless of what decision she made regarding the contract, Sashryn decided to at least get to know one of the escapees, if only so she could have an ally should things go south. And considering the different people she could talk to, the one she first met seemed to be the best option. Walking over to Gerard and leaning on the wall next to him, she decided to ask about something they might both have in common.

"So, you're an engineer? The only tech I'm quite familiar with is security. Given my line of work, it's kind of important to know how to shut it down with the least amount of suspicious activity. What about you? Do you have much experience with security?"