Mass Effect: Terminus

Kiares

Information on security systems. If that meant hardware used by the Alliance, and if the frigate they intended to raid was on, or near Illium, she would start suspecting a setup. After all, paranoia couldn’t hurt.

“It will be taken into consideration. You telling me is appreciated. While you are here, is there anything you would like to say about the moment when you went against orders and choose to guard the door instead of going through it?”

Sashryn Velentor

The young woman winced at the captains words. This Asari actually intimidated her. Probably a side effect of trying not to deal with people directly for the last four years of her life. Probably. She swallowed back any fear and answered the muscular woman.

"Sorry. I'm not exactly used to receiving orders in combat situations. I wasn't purposefully disobeying orders, captain, as much as I simply fell back on to instinct in the heat of battle. I realize that the result is the same, but I am willing to learn."

She could only hope that the captain was the type of person to accept an apology. Then again, she looked to be the type of person who inflicts punitive measures in situations like this. Sashryn braced herself for whatever the answer may be.

Kiares

“It takes strength of character to admit a mistake. Yet even more strength is needed to adapt and accept change.” Kiares stated matter of factly. “Go and get rest, tomorrow there will be work. We will see if you have enough strength then. If you don’t, you’ll die.”

Without giving her a chance to respond, she turned away, went into her room and locked the door.

Sashryn Velentor

As soon as the Captain was out of sight, Sashryn released a breath that she hadn't realized she was holding. It was strange, really. She had lived through many dangerous situations over the last for years and few had caused her much fear. And yet, this woman intimidated her simply by being present. Perhaps that was normal in a captain. Then again, perhaps it wasn't. Deciding to consider the woman's effect on her, Sashryn made her way to the groups quarters. Once there, she selected her bed and laid down on it, after placing her few belongings beside it. Laying back, she began to drift off to sleep. Though she would often have nightmares, thankfully sleep was never something she struggled with attaining. Though tonight, she slept with one eye open.

Gerard Kalgard

It had been one hell of a day, and exhaustion was catching up with the engineer. He brought up the schematics of the station again, as the location of the living quarters had slipped his mind. After rummaging through the holographic image to find its location, he grumbled and headed off.

A good night's sleep wasn't something Gerard was familiar with. Most evenings passed without any dreams at all. But the absence of dreams was also the absence of nightmares. Sleep was neither enjoyable nor a fearful prospect. It was simply a human necessity to him. He laid down on what passed for a bed. It wasn't the most luxurious of accommodations, but it still beat the prison cells by a longshot. He passed out rather quickly, the exertion and mental stress taking its toll.

Kiares

After the crew had familiarised themselves with the parts of the station that were of immediate interest to them, one after the other they all found their way to the dormitories. Too tired to get into any arguments about who should get which bunk, everyone rested without incident.

On the next “day”, twenty two hours after their arrival, the entire crew was assembled in the mess hall. There, Kiares, with Elvis standing next to her, addressed them:
“Seeing how so far everyone avoided to get spaced, I’ll declare the second phase of our team building exercise to be passed. Which is good, because now have a job that, aside from blood and glory for everyone who needs that, will grant us all enough credits for meaningless luxuries and the ability to keep this station afloat. In the best case e might even be able to steal a better shuttle.”

Using a remote to activate a projector, she caused the picture of a spaceship to be thrown on the wall behind her, along with a star-map.
“With the relations between the Council and everyone fancying themselves the owner of the Terminus being as they are, several parties have started attempts to stabilise the situation, which of course displeases other parties. Someone belonging to the latter parties hired us to hinder that stabilisation by disabling this ship, the Alliance frigate SSV Trafalgar, and either destroy or steal its supplies.
Considering the firepower frigates such as this usually bring along, stealth will be a key element. Blueprints of course could also be helpful. And while this is a dictatorship, it is one where the dictator listens. Because of that, everyone is now free to make suggestions and/or ask questions.”

Fehln Davris

After making sure their weapons were in decent condition, Fehln had gone to the crew's quarters and had a decent rest. The only problem he had was when he woke up. He had managed to fix his sight problems through the use of a scope, but it was always when he woke up and his eyes had to adjust to actually seeing again that he had to be careful. He had to carefully clean his eye of anything that interfered with his sight and generally make sure it was alright.

No one here would notice that now though, his little morning routine made sure he was prepared for the day. Now it was just a matter of making sure his skills didn't get rusty, and this mission Kiares prepared for them was the best way to do that. "Do we have any idea what kind of security they have? If this is an alliance frigate, they won't be lax with their security."

The black-armored human stood, menacingly claw-tipped hands behind his back, idly clacking together from time to time. He remained silent throughout Captain Kiares' short briefing, and also during Fehln's question. And though he did not interrupt, he added his question afterwards alongside the Turian's, his well-spoken but somewhat throaty and dark-toned voice echoing softly from his mask.

"After they all die, will we be keeping the supplies and the vessel, or delivering them to the client?"

Kiares

Unfortunately our employer doesn’t have the amount of power that gives someone access to Alliance military documents. We cannot say for sure how many personnel are on the ship, but should plan for more than the usual amount of man- and firepower, considering where they are going.” Kiares answered Fehln’s question.

Next, she told Kayne in an admonishing tone:
“The supplies hold no interest for our employer. For now, the idea is to grab as much as you can carry as long as it doesn’t affect your chances of survival, and make sure the rest goes down with the ship.
And stop that infernal claw-clicking. Psychological warfare is a nice thing, but not in the presence of teammates.”

His arms now resting at his sides, it became a possible inference to the observant that his previous finger ticking had been more a result of habit (during contemplation or thought) rather than a purposeful behavior. Now engaging in communication and fully aware, he had since stopped.

"Understood, captain." He replied shortly. The quiet human then only had one remaining inquiry. "Is there any prioritization of types of supply you require at this time?" Ever utilitarian, he would intend to take supplies that his new superiors would require most urgently.

Sashryn Velentor

Sashryn had woken with the others and had been checking her weapons again when Kesaris made the call to the mess hall. She joined with the others there and listened as their next mission was explained.

It seemed like a simple enough plan. No one she was used to Doug, but her skills were certainly usable. She did notice one thing though. The captain said that their goal was to either destroy the ship or loot it, but seemed to assume that it was a necessity to destroy quickly and loot what they could. She had an idea that might allow for the loot to be a bit more substantial.

"Captain, if I may, we could utilize the skill of our engineer in this mission in order to obtain more loot without having to deal with the whole company of soldiers onboard. If we can convince them that the ship is going down for one reason or another, they will abandon ship and leave us to either escape or go down with the ship. Once all of the escape pods have been launched, we could cease doing whatever it is that Gerard does to confuse them, and deal with whoever is left. This way we would have the whole ship and its spoils to ourselves. Unless, of course, we cannot allow survivors, or if Gerard is incapable of sufficiently confusing them.

There is also one more thing. Is our client reliable? How do we know he hasn't tipped the soldiers off that we are coming and set up a trap? That's how I ended up in that prison, after all."

Gerard Kalgard

Stealth? Was the Asari serious? "Stealth" is what you do when avoiding enemy sensors to bypass a blockade, setting up an ambush, or scavenging from an unclaimed depot. Stealth is not docking with a frigate that has only two possible points of entry that are monitored at all times, excluding the possibility of blowing a hole in the ship (which would not be discreet in any case).

Against Alliance ships, one does not simply slip on board undetected and expect to get to a vantage point while the crew sits at a poker table. Under the best circumstances, perhaps sensors could be jammed long enough to get close. Even then, their docking systems will send out an alert the moment they got close. If protocol hadn't changed during the time Gerard had been imprisoned, the marines would immediately set up a kill zone in the docking bay, utilizing an elevated level. Getting through that would bring the attackers to a narrow hallway, the end of which would be guarded by some high-grade equipment. These things were made to withstand anything from Geth to Batarians to Krogan. A distinctive advantage in numbers or firepower would be needed to get anywhere, short of doing something incredibly clever, and right now they had neither.

Still, it wasn't completely hopeless (nearly, but not quite). If they could jam the frigate's sensors, and if the Quarian could access the unsecured systems from outside the ship in a timely fashion, then perhaps the engineer could enact a plan of distraction he had cooked up.

Sashryn's idea was applicable as well, assuming they lived long enough to make it inside. Gerard supposed he could make it work. Come to think of it, the plan was both bold and clever. Heck, if it worked, they could get out with the whole damn frigate. Tracking systems could be easily disabled from within. From that point, the captain and the Salarian could do whatever the hell they wanted with the thing. Whether that was utilizing it on a bigger mission down the line or scrapping it for parts, the engineer didn't care. All that mattered was that they made it out with as much loot as possible.

Despite everything running through his head, Gerard was not going to speak until either everyone else was done or he was asked to. This would mostly be nonsense and speculation until the last few moments. No need to prolong it by adding more useless information to the pot before its time.