[Erszbat, Ertl County] Scorched Earth (Closed)

As she finished putting on her suit, Sonya turned to Mekan and stretched out her hand.

"The disk, please?"

Mekan donned the suit silently without difficulty, and when Sonya asked for the disk, he handed it over. "I went to a lot of trouble to get this data. You'd better be able to deliver me what I need." His tone was less of a warning, and more...nervous. Even the natural batarian tendency to hide emotion or certain details during business couldn't hide the fact that Mekan didn't want so much effort to go to waste.

"I will."

Sonya pulled a small table to the center of the cabin and placed the OSD on it. She thumbed a panel on the wall. "We're ready to begin. Please seal off the cabin and depressurize." A voice squawked over the the speakers in an affirmative reply. The air hissed and began to drain out of the compartment. Switching to her inter-suit radio, the engineer continued. "Mekan, please set up the mass effect field around me and the table. Singri, please start setting up the scanner." The remaining technician bent down and opened a large crate marked "Delicate." Sonya opened a small toolkit and began removing precise-looking instruments.


"Based on the device information you sent us, I was able to determine the specific class of encryption it is using. Unfortunately, this particular StateSec algorithm uses a pseudo-random halitism function in its encryption. There are a number of exploits for it, but it is virtually impossible to get it correct on the first try." She began to apply the finely fabricated instruments to the OSD's outer shell. "To get around this little problem, I'm going to have to bypass the Scorched Earth protocol with quantum volumetric scanning. Are you familiar with the technique?"

"Would you believe me if I said 'only in movies?'" Mekan tapped a few buttons on his OT interface, and the mass effect field set itself up around Sonya and her partner. He had heard of the technique, and knew there was some scientific basis behind it, but he rarely dealt with quantum anything, even in his line of work, where quantum computers were considered top-quality hardware. He'd considered renting time on one such device in the Terminus Systems at one point, but never followed up on it. This quantum volumetric scanning thing was probably his best bet at getting at the data, though, and he was offering a copy of the information for it. He was confident they'd deliver.

"Ah, yes. They sometimes show up in spy thrillers as pocket-sized devices capable of seeing through walls, instantaneous spectral analysis, and instantaneous decryption, and pretty much anything else the plot requires of it." She nodded her head at the bulky machine being assembled. "Unfortunately, they're not quite as glamorous in real life. What the scanner can do is read the state of every single vbit in an OSD without accessing the disk's firmware. Once we have that, we can make as many copies of the contents as needed, and use the decryption methods on them." She paused as the casing split open, and gingerly placed the OSD's data unit on the table.

"Of course, the scanner only properly works if its subject is below ten Kelvins, and this particular disk has temperature sensors that will trigger Scorched Earth if they get too hot or cold. The first job is to disable these sensors." She tapped her omni-tool and a holographic schematic of the disk appeared half a meter above the table, with three small sections marked in red. "This part will be rather difficult. If you have any questions, I'd recommend you ask them now."

"Do you need me to do anything other than maintain the ME field?" Mekan was doing his absolute best to remain completely still, monitoring the OT's readouts. If he moved too much, the field would adjust itself in a manner that may end up being detrimental to the team's efforts.

"No." She took a deep breath and called up her omni-tool. "Activate resistance servos when within one centimeter of OSD." It beeped in acknowledgement. From the toolbox, she removed a pair of angled probes, took one in each hand, and inserted them into the disk's internals. The servos in her under-gloves activated, and Sonya's arms appeared to freeze into immobility.

"And here we go."

On the holographic display, a pair of green symbols representing the probes appeared. The engineer carefully moved the probes towards the first of the thermosensors, the resistance servos reducing the motion to such an extent that it was undetectable to the human eye. On the holodisplay, the probe symbols began slowly moving towards the red dot. It took twelve minutes for the symbols to converge upon their target. "Lock," she mumbled, and the display changed again. The schematic was gone, replaced by a pair of images apparently being recorded by the tips of the probes. After a moment, a small section of each image began to glow faintly red. "There we are. Eliminate designated target." A thin beam of ultraviolet light shot forth from both probes and severed the thermosensor's connections.

"First one is down."

All-in-all, the operation took fifty-three minutes. With a sigh, Sonya disengaged the servos and let her arms relax.

"Phase one is complete. Now on to the second part."

"Singri, is the scanner ready to receive the disk?" The technician gave a curt nod. "Good. Mekan, I'm going to move the OSD to the scanner. I need you to make sure you ME field covers me the entire time."

Gingerly, she picked up the disk's core and began taking measured steps towards the quantum volumetric scanner on other side of the shuttle. As she approached, Singri keyed a short command into a console on the scanner's side, and a holding compartment slid out from the device's center. Sonya lowered the OSD into the tray, until a small mass effect field caught and suspended it. The technician entered a few more commands into the scanner's computer, and the disk and its carrier were withdrawn into the machine's interior.

"Scanner tray is in place, internal vacuum seal commencing... complete."

"Doesn't take too long when you're already in a vacuum."

"No it doesn't. You can cut the Mass Effect field now, we no longer need it." She pulled up her omni-tool and keyed in a few commands. A few moments later, the air began returning to the cabin with an audible hiss.

"Cryogenic process beginning."

"Good, good. How long until it reaches 10 K?"

"About three hours, at safe speeds. I can make it get there faster, but it would increase the chance of complications."

"Take your time, then."

"The scanning itself will likely take much longer."

Sonya shrugged, as she began removing her vacuum clean suit. "Nothing we weren't expecting." She turned to the others. "This will probably take the rest of the day. If you'd prefer, we could move some place else to wait. The security team will remain here to protect the disk, the shuttle, and the scanner."

Mekan nodded and quietly shut off the mass effect field. "Sounds good to me. We'll reconvene at a later point, I suppose." He then turned to Palmer. "Thanks for coming, Lyra. The added insurance helped put me at ease for this. Not that I didn't trust our friends here, but it's a natural reaction to want some backup. Just in case. Listen, there's something I wanna show ya. At my apartment. It'll be a long drive there, and a long drive back, but between that and what I want to show you, we should still get back in time to get a copy of the data on the OSD without keeping them waiting too long." Mekan turned to leave the shuttle, opening the airlock and climbing out. He pushed a few buttons on his OT interface, and an aircar on the far side of the spaceport began heading at a steady, slow pace in his direction. He turned to face the shuttle and called over to Sonya. "If you want to come too, Sonya, you may! Plenty of room!"

Ordinarily, Mekan wouldn't trust the agents of an ex-Cerberus supporter to stay put when asked, especially with all of the trouble he'd gone through to get that OSD, but he had a good feeling about this deal. They'd follow through. And if they didn't, then things would get...interesting. Of course, he honestly doubted that [Redacted] Security would risk tarnishing their reputation by going back on a deal, even if it was with a batarian. Espionage firms got by almost solely on reputation, after all. If they were no good, then employers wouldn't touch them. It was a lot like being in Mekan's line of work.

He was taking a gamble, leaving them with the data, but he felt that it'd work out well enough. And he could track them down and get it back later, if absolutely necessary. Nobody could hide forever.

The batarian waited for Palmer to catch up, watching the aircar as it approached.

The sealed suit was off in a matter of seconds and she enjoyed fresh air once more as Mekan opened the shuttle door. A nod at the statement of wanting backup for that was something Palmer could most definitely understand and then... his apartment with a very long drive and something to show her. A quick blink of surprise and then she walked to where Mekan now stood. She could trust him. Even if he was a batarian.

Sonya nodded and started towards the car. "Campbell, make sure nobody fucks with the shuttle while we're gone."

"You want any backup?"

"I'll be fine. And if there is trouble, try not to make too much of a mess."

He cracked a lopsided grin. "No promise."

As soon as the car touched down, Mekan slid into the driver's seat, opening the passenger doors. "Kinda smells, but I hope it won't make you guys throw up." Sure enough, the aircar's interior reeked of several things, particularly booze and burnt plastic. In the back seat sat a built-in extranet terminal, and in the front passenger seat, the glovebox was wide open, revealing a Carnifex pistol and several heat sinks. Mekan's eyes visibly widened as he went to close it after sliding into the car's driver seat. "Forgive the smell. I don't have company in the car with me often these days." He didn't even speak of the Carnifex.

Sonya fixed a smile on her face while doing her best to prevent her stomach from adding the scent of vomit to the noxious mix of odors emanating from the car. Every time I try to convince myself that these people aren't as bad as the O7 propaganda made them out to be, something inevitably reinforces the stereotype. Bloody goros.

She climbed into the car's back seat. "I've smelt worse."

Though most of that was on Torfan.

There was a yawn as Palmer settled into the front seat. Whatever the smell was it clearly didn't bother her, Only a pistol? You're gonna want a lot more then that if anyone ever goes after you.

"Well, I've been able to avoid needing it." Mekan closed the aircar's doors and pushed a few buttons on the driver interface. The car took off and hovered away from the spaceport. "Settle in. It's gonna be a long trip." Mekan let the car's autopilot system take over, messing with his omnitool as he waited for the car to get where it was going. "You're free to use the terminal back there, Sonya."

Meanwhile, on his omnitool, the batarian pulled up a picture of an older batarian, looking to be in his forties. Mekan visibly frowned as he looked at the holo, before pulling up an extranet browser and typing something. "So, Sonya, you work for an espionage company? What's that like?" The batarian was mostly just trying to make conversation, but he couldn't help himself. He wanted to see what he could get out of her. Just in case.

"Counter-espionage. We help corporations protect themselves from physical and electronic intrusions. We make sure their IT and security staff are doing an adequate job, and provide training if they are not. Sometimes, ERCS hires us as subcontractors when they need to diffuse a delicate situation."

"We also provide a number of other miscellaneous services, such as this."

How is Noveria then? Those reapers or crazy cerberus people change that iceball much?

"Port Hanshan took some damage from the war, but the biggest changes happened when the Relays broke down. Balances of power shifted, corporations went bankrupt, some idiots tried to add a toxic fungus to the food supply. Nothing like what most of the rest of the galaxy went though, but fairly big by Noverian standards."

Palmer chuckled, Lovely place. How much longer Mekan?

"Not too long, Palmer." Mekan finally grunted in frustration and closed the omnitool interface. "I'll write it later. Good to hear Noveria pulled through alright." Almost as if to present a contrast to the sturdiness of Noveria, the aircar passed a damaged electronic billboard, the orange interface flickering as it proudly proclaimed a welcome to the town of Kav'narsh, Ertl County. 'Population: 130,000.' "I keep trying to get the city council to hire me so I can fix the damn thing. So far, no dice. They'd rather go to the Cabal instead of some random freelancer, but the Cabal hasn't gotten around to it yet. Assholes. I'm dirt-cheap and reliable, but nooooo."