[Rainfall] King Me

Maelstrom turned and looked at the person who just spoke up. "Hello. Nice to meet you," he said, going through the motions of being a pleasant and happy individual. "Many buildings in the Citadel are built into the frame. If we aren't going in the front door, I'd advise the keeper tunnels. Cerberus used them to great effect during their coup attempt, after all. Besides, the door has to be engaged from the outside," he says, stepping a bit towards it and bringing up an omnitool, setting it to scan for short range networks and transmitters. The signal system would have to stay primed or else the man would be locked out of his own house, after all.

When you put five people in a room and expected six answers, chances were usually good that one of those answers would just be another question. Why does it matter? Hell, maybe our salarian just needed a vacation. Point was, four thousand credits were a pretty big deal. That was about as big as the picture got for some closed salarian bar. And for a cantankerous engineer spending most of her hours plugging away at a glowing interface, paid only in self-satisfaction and a guaranteed meal... well, attractive was a good word for it.

Enough to replace the ailing omni-tool humming at her wrist and then some.

It was enough to try and forget about the possibly a terrorist thing. Out of sight, out of mind, and all that. And as long as she didn't care to peek into whatever she was getting, out of sight it would remain. And hey, that Spiza guy wasn't all that bad. Relative to most people she was vaguely acquainted with, at least.

Although the irony of being arrested as an accomplice to terrorism didn't fail to resonate with her.

Daia sighed plaintively as her taxi's door cracked open with a serpentine hiss. Twenty six credits - suddenly, she remembered why she didn't get out much anymore.

Climbing out, it was a short jaunt to Aphin's Place. And in a few minutes, found herself staring at its' neon letters. And five other people.

"Fuck."

Fuck.

"What we're doing is kind of suspicious. Formal seems-" While he attempted to be cordial, the conversation caught his ear.

"The keeper tunnels won't work. Spiza hated the keepers with a passion. They'd probably be blocked off entirely. And booby-trapped. Twice."

Sebastian turned to address his colleagues, looking a tad more calm as he clasped his hands together in a rather self-centered manner. "If I can make a suggestion." He snorted. "Perhaps we can use the ducts as a means to get in? That was how I got here. Who knows how many backdoors might lead straight inside via the ventilation system?"

He gave the others a few seconds for this idea to sink in.

Good idea. Best idea. GREATEST IDEA.

Gregory nodded three times in quick succession, still scanning with his omni-tool. "Ah. That would be illegal, but it may not concern him," he said thoughtfully, not turning to respond. "Thank you for telling me. Nice to meet you. Who are you?" He asked after thinking for a moment, stopping himself from appending 'turian' to the end of the question. There's no need to be rude, they hadn't done anything to you personally.

"You surprise me human, I would think you would be more stubborn," Lantar gave an experimental poke, as he replied to Gilgamesh, "it appears impenetrable, but clearly Spiza expected us to penetrate it." He was oblivious to his use of words.

He turned to the newcomer, another turian, "Welcome, you are late, name's Lantar Gamic, Commissar Lieutenant, Citizenship Tier Nine. What is your name, rank and citizenship tier?"

"You really should quit askin' that from every turian that happens to walk by. Comes across as a little...rude, to me...and thanks for the compliment. I think"

Mekan stepped back from the door and looked around for windows. "Nah...bad idea. Probably rigged with monofilament wire or something. 'Swhat I would do. Man, if Eddie saw this kind of set-up, he'd try to imitate it. Glad he's not here." 'Eddie the gun dealer' was one of Mekan's many shady associates. He didn't like thinking about what he'd do here.

The guy collected skulls. That's all anyone needed to know. Mekan was ballsy enough to do business with him, but he didn't like the guy.

"OK, so...let's see...we gotta be subtle about this. Back door's too obvious. Is there a rooftop, or does it sorta just...slant over, or connect to this ward level's ceiling like some buildings I've seen here?" Mekan stepped back a significant distance to get a better look up high.

Sebastian wobbled again. He swayed lightly as he quickly got himself back into a stable position, hands still tightly curled against oneanother.

"Yes." A response to nobody in particular. Just a means of trying to stay in focus.

He turned the new turian whose presence was now clear. He ignored her for now. To him, only his introduction was the one he needed to concentrate on, and he reassured himself that it went rather well.

"Yes."

Well, there goes plan 'go do stuff where the cops won't see it'. Gilgamesh unslung a backpack and set it down, gingerly pulling drones that might generously be described as 'patchwork' out of the main compartment. He slapped away Lantar's claw at the poke. "Don't do that," he said irritably, "And just because we can break through the front door, doesn't mean we should. C-Sec could come by, or someone could report us, or an employee could start a fight." He motioned with his omnitool, and the drones sprang to life, leaping into the air on tiny rotors. "Finding an alternate route in is generally a better idea than walking in the front door." He motioned with the omnitool and the drones scattered, looking for points of access or rooftops or a dock used to bring in alcohol or supplies.

Gregory had stepped a bit closer as he worked, tuning out the others nearby as he continued his scan. He set a hand against the bulkhead door and, an old habit from when he did AI and VI work, whispered to it. "C'mon, tell me what I need to do," he muttered quietly, oblivious to whether or not others could even hear him.

Lantar turned towards Mekan, "it's not rude to ask for a person's name, rank and tier. It expedites the process, it's far easier to do than all that crazy light nod to the left, light nod to the right malarkey that you lot do. With us you need basic language skills to know where you are, with your system you need an extra thick manual."

"Now someone please open this door."

"I guess I forgot to RSVP." Daia responded flatly. The job offer didn't even specify a time, how were you even supposed to be late? "Daia Caran, uh... tier seven. Specialist."

All these people. Most of them she barely even knew.

"...so, like, are all of you secretly hackers or something? I'm pretty sure that was, like, a requirement."

There was one person Daia knew better than most. He was at least smiling when he saw her walk in.

"I'm just here to help out Spiza.

Of course he was.

Apparently someone wanted them to get into the building, because Maelstrom's omnitool lit up like a Christmas Tree as it found the trigger for the door.

A quick note flashed on his tool.


...or Spiza just had terrible luck.

A soft click could be heard from inside.

Gregory smiled as the door clicked and started to open and he stepped back, turning around and blinking at the new turian arrival. "Hello. Nice to meet you. Who are you?" he asked her, the exact same tone and inflection he'd been using with everyone else. "My name is Doctor Maelstrom," he added as an afterthought, smiling.

"'Least that makes two of us." Mekan looked over to Harrad, his head tilted lightly to the left in a gesture of respect. Harrad and he had disagreements, but Mek was trying to avoid being a dick here. At the 'click', Mekan turned to look at Maelstrom. "Nice. What 'tool you running there? Logic Arrest? Bluewire?"

Sebastian stared right ahead as the door gave off a satisfying click.

"Yes."

A pause.

"We are GOING places!"

So far, so good. He just hoped the others were just as competent as this guy. He patted Gregory on the shoulder with a gracious nod.

"Good work, guy."

Gregory jerked away when Langston touched his shoulder, somewhat violently and more than a little reflexively. He stopped, clearly a bit embarrassed and glanced around, avoiding eye contact. "Sorry. Please don't touch me like that. I don't like it," he offered as an explanation.

Sebastian smiled flatly. "Sure." His hand slipped off Gregory's shoulder in a rather despondent, yet deliberate manner.

"So." He turned to face nobody in particular. "One of you said this guy would have booby trapped the place, right? Should we really be taking the front door?"

"Glad to meet you Daia, I am sure you will be a good addition to our team."

"The front door has probably less lethal booby traps than the backdoor, this is a bar after all, meaning this door must open during business hours."