[Rainfall] Sailor, Rich Man, Poor Man, Thief
a thread by The Gathering Storm started on 2188-10-10 06:05:33 last post on 2188-11-04 01:44:06
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Great. Just great. A massive fucking warehouse full of war, and the shippers were too busy figuring out how to write him out of the equation to care about what it meant. The damned stash could have meant the complete annihilation of both Earth and Khar’shan and they would still argue about who deserved more of the share.
Spiza bit back his first response (a scathing “fuck no, you’re still on my payroll”) almost until his tongue bled – that would just bring the pistols to his face faster. Instead, he swallowed back the bile in this throat and gave them both conspiratorial looks, switching the comm feed to speak with them alone. “I’m, ah…sure we could come to some sort of agreement…especially if you kept me in the loop. I mean, Shrell knows you’re both getting ten times my own pay already, being outside help and all that.” He glanced at Mekan, who was thankfully not on the comm – he didn’t need him complicating things. “Good share more than him, too. I’m sure the STG wouldn’t mind a few things going missing, especially if they can figure out where this is all coming from in the first place. Neh?” |
 The_Sarcastic_Salarian |
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Nikolai mulled it over. As fantastically appealing as the idea of simply walking out of the building with the lion's share of the catch was it was, first and foremost, just that. A fantasy. At best he would irk his current clients and alienate potential teammates, at worst he would bring the STG itself down on his head.
Not that he thought the big bad wolf itself would make time for little old him over something so trivial but, well, better safe than sorry. Particularly when dealing with the egos of well established institutions. Negotiations had opened at the implication of "most of it". It had since been talked down to "part" of it. He could settle for that. With minor variation. "As you say Mr. Spiza. As you say. Hrm." The deliberations were mostly show, he knew what he was going to ask halfway through the salarian's attempt at damage control. "I keep what I've shipped out so far and settle the good Sun's share from my own portion. Is that acceptable to you Mr. Spiza. Captain Adar? Behind him Canius shifted. Oh not by much. Just enough to lay his shotgun back across one bulging bicep as a matter of fact. |
 Mr_Sandman |
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"You could buy a lot of terraforming equipment with that Palladium. And decent environmental shelters. And probably an arcology patch," said Gilgamesh quietly as he rode the Doomfabber around the warehouse, "...The wetware looks kind of nice too."
Click To Read Out Of Character Comment by
Gilgamesh
3 exp, I have broken Omega's one law to bring resources to Ur.
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Gilgamesh |
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The salarian crossed his arms, his pistol totally, coincidentally, aiming back at the turian. "I dunno, man, even half that sounds like a pretty good haul. Especially when our friend over there's the only one searching for the manifest."
He shifted the gun a bit, wavering between Aleksanders, the turian, and Mekan. "Just sayin'." |
The_Sarcastic_Salarian |
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The batarian took one more look around, silently cursed himself for letting the turian get good positioning on him, and then shrugged nonchalantly. "Works for me. It's all bonus, either way, and there's probably more where this came from. You don't build an arsenal and keep it all in the same place. This is... A transfer point, maybe? That's how we used to use Omega in the Chains - rent a warehouse, fill it with merch, and send it wherever we needed it to go from here."
Left unsaid was that the 'merch' in that case consisted mostly of slaves and drugs.
Click To Read Out Of Character Comment by
Collar
+10 xp for claiming a scene resource or reward for the Crimson Chains!
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 Collar |
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"That's the impression I got. And considering the sheer scale for a single warehouse..."
He shook his head. |
The_Sarcastic_Salarian |
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"Please Mr. Spiza it doesn't need to be quite so complex really. Ask and ye shall receive and all that. Speaking of which: Gilgamesh, if you have a moment?"
It was the fundamental nature of the universe that shit rolled downhill. The blue man was, nominally, his superior. He had the means, he had the motive, and he had a target onto which he could place this particular burden. Out of sight, out of mind, dastardly corpie happy, vicious batarian slaver happy, ex-insurgent happy (in a moment anyway), and they could move on with their merry little quest. But let us, for the sake of argument, make a full accounting. A portion of ore to Gilgamesh to purchase an obscenely capable combat engineer's reciprocity. The potential for negotiations with the Crimson Suns (with whom he already had a functional, if not affable, working relationship) at his discretion with a medley of favors, credits, and influence as the payoff. Bargaining chips with the lovely pirate lord whose interests in the Nimbus may or may not coincide with his own. And last, but most certainly not least, the establishment of a cozy little niche in the salarian's skull as an individual who could be...well if not trusted exactly, at the very least relied upon to perform the less than savory tasks that inevitably became necessary in such ventures. A troubleshooter's troubleshooter if you will. "In any case Mr. Spiza, I concur with the Captain though further speculation will likely depend on whether or not our tech savy acquaintance can recover anything of value from the logs before they, ah purge themselves it looks like." |
Mr_Sandman |
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"I could use that 'Combine weaponry. It would cut down on the amount of guns I need to get through runners." She said, scanning the enormous arsenal neatly packed away in crates.
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 Calypso |
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Kirok didn't even bother joining the conversation. Damn, these folk liked to jaw, didn't they? Besides, his attention was otherwise occupied by the bigfuck assault rifle sitting all by its lonesome in an armory shelf.
"Ooh," was all he said as he grabbed the massive weapon from the rack and looked at it with a critical eye. Genuine Avenger 8 rifle. Combine made. Combine tested. Kicked like a mule with an electric eel up its ass and left holes in people large enough for a Reaper to stick its dick through. Fresh out of the box, too. "Heh. Folk got taste," Kirok said as he turned to the rest of the group, the massive weapon slung over his shoulder. He didn't bother asking for permission. If anyone wanted to dispute his claim on the weapon, they were more than willing to take it from him. In the distance, Whitefang yelped happily. She'd wormed her way into the fridge and discovered the dead security merc's lunches. A baloney and ratoga submarine sandwich disappeared from the face of the universe; an arvajjio sandwich wrap spiced with horseradish was close behind. |
 Kirok |
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Meanwhile, Mekan was busy tampering with the computer in the office. Specifically, trying to keep the files from purging themselves.
It wasn't lost on him that everyone else was busy discussing who was gonna take what out of the hoard of loot they'd found, but he was more concerned with the fact that if this computer and its files went 'kaput', then their entire point for being here was rendered moot. After all, they'd need the manifest, and if there was anything else of importance, it could give the group more leads for their little STG-sponsored investigation. And everyone else was busy arguing over who got a bigger slice of cake. "Fucking data-purges." Fucking STG. He got to work immediately. The data-purge had already started, so he would need to work fast. He brought up his OT interface and waved it over the computer interface, establishing a link between the two devices quickly enough. Mekan began running his hacking programs, and watched the lines of code on both his OT and the computer terminal run together, his upper set of eyes on the terminal and the lower set on the 'tool, watching for any visible change. Not seeing any, he gritted his teeth behind his faceplate. I need more processing power. This is gonna take too long otherwise and anything important will be gone. He glanced at one corner of his OT interface - a small icon denoting local access ports. There was one more than expected in the local wireless network. He glanced down at his cybernetic legs. "If this doesn't work, I'll be kicking myself again." He networked his 'tool and his legs. The additional processing power and bandwidth would help with the hacking attempt; he engaged his sabotage programs for good measure, to keep the terminal's anti-viral programs from operating properly. It's Aria's shit, she'd use the best - quarian and salarian, they're always good at this. Think - what would they do? He glanced at the terminal code again. Then at his OT once more. He linked his hardsuit's own processors to his OT to speed up his upload even more, and hoped to whatever twisted gods ran this galaxy that he would pull it off. They needed that data.
Click To Read Out Of Character Comment by
Mekan of Omega
EDIT: I have all the information for the roll right this minute, this is just set-up.
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 Mekan of Omega |
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It was that moment that, led by her finely tuned varren senses and a submarine sandwich the size of New Jersey, that Whitefang saw a sparking wire leading to the computer terminal tucked away behind the fridge.
Looking around at the frantic action around her, she swallowed the sandwich and, making sure no one saw her... ... piddled on it. |
Kirok |
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Mekan's upload continued as planned, but he distinctly heard a light 'fzzt-POP' behind the terminal. He looked up in confusion, but then back down at his OT.
It was probably just a fuse that popped from the forced entry into the loading bay or something.
Click To Read Out Of Character Comment by
Mekan of Omega
16:53 Mekan Mekan's gonna do a thing to keep the terminal from going 'kaput.'
16:53 Mekan Because we want that manifest 16:54 Mekan and I wanna read terrorist emails :: D 16:54 Mekan Shall I roll? 17:07 ESpiza ROLL IT 17:07 Mekan ALRIGHT. 17:08 Mekan First off, activating my Gear Limit for a PP. 17:08 Mekan Gonna shut down Omnitool Combat Apps. 17:10 Mekan Alrighty. 17:10 Abad I have several PP if you need more 17:10 Mekan You can give other people plot points? 17:10 Abad You can. 17:10 Mekan WELL THEN. 17:10 Mekan I'll take one if you're passing 'em out like candy. 17:11 Abad It's all yours! 17:11 Mekan 2 PP GET. 17:11 Mekan Alright. 17:11 Mekan Time for the roll. 17:11 Mekan 1d8 Son of teh Extranetz Distinction, 1d10 Tech Master, 1d8 Hacking Programs, 1d6 Solo Affiliation die. 17:11 Mekan Any scene distinctions or other effects in play, Spiza? 17:12 ESpiza Covered in Shit. 17:12 ESpiza Because none of you have yet to clean that stuff off. 17:13 Mekan I'm assuming that's for the Doom Pool. 17:13 Mekan Alright. 17:13 Mekan Here goes. 17:13 Mekan #roll 2[1d8] 17:13 RPGServ <Roll for Mekan [2[1d8]]: 3 1 > 17:13 RPGServ <Roll [2[1d8]]: 3 1 > 17:13 Mekan Aww. 17:13 Mekan #roll 1[1d10] 17:13 RPGServ <Roll for Mekan [1[1d10]]: 4 > 17:13 RPGServ <Roll [1[1d10]]: 4 > 17:13 Mekan #roll 1[1d6] 17:13 RPGServ <Roll for Mekan [1[1d6]]: 6 > 17:13 RPGServ <Roll [1[1d6]]: 6 > 17:13 Mekan I'm /very/ disappointed. 17:14 ESpiza ...well, uh 17:14 Abad add a d10, providing cover fire 17:14 Mekan Wait wait what 17:14 Mekan Did I start a fight 17:14 Abad is helping 17:14 Abad that's the name of an sfx that lets me give you a d10 17:14 Mekan Oh. 17:15 Mekan ...So it doesn't actually /have/ to be covering fire. 17:15 Mr_Sandman o0 17:15 Mr_Sandman uhhh 17:15 Abad right 17:15 Mekan #roll 1[1d10] 17:15 RPGServ <Roll for Mekan [1[1d10]]: 1 > 17:15 RPGServ <Roll [1[1d10]]: 1 > 17:15 Mekan WHAT 17:15 Abad ... 17:15 Mr_Sandman hahahah 17:15 ESpiza ... 17:15 Mr_Sandman oh my god 17:15 Mekan RNG HOW COULD YOU 17:15 Mekan I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME 17:15 ESpiza ...t-take two PP, Mekan. 17:16 ESpiza Doom Pool is now at 2d6+d8. 17:16 Abad Mekan, I have 4 PP remaining, plus your bunch, spend what you need to make this roll 17:16 Mekan OK. Deep breaths. 17:16 Abad add push dice, stunts etc 17:17 Mekan What's a push die? 17:17 Mr_Sandman flat d6 you add to your pool 17:17 Abad you can spend 1pp to roll an extra d6, if you describe what you're actually doing you can make it a d8 stunt 17:17 Mr_Sandman but uh you have to spend another PP to add it to your total 17:17 Abad he has eight pp to work with 17:17 Abad my four plus the two he already got plus the two he just got, plus whatever else he had 17:18 Abad you can also spend a pp to include a second power from a given powerset 17:18 Abad or a second specialty if it makes sense 17:18 Abad this is an important roll, use the resources at hand :| 17:19 Mekan Alright. 17:19 Mekan Let me...think this through for a minute. 17:19 Abad for 2 pp you could add 2d8 with hacking programs and sabotage 17:19 Abad cybernetics and sabotage rather 17:19 Mekan I USE THE PROCESSORS IN MY CYBERNETICS TO GIVE ME A BOOST IN BANDWIDTH. /ALL/ OF THE CYBERPUNk. 17:20 Abad ^^ 17:20 Mekan Show YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ME3cwWHdoo) 17:20 Abad another pp would get you another d8 for crime expert 17:20 Abad since this is breaking the rule of omega 17:21 Abad another pp for psych expert, guessing how they probably have their system set up 17:21 Abad so 4pp will get you 4 more d8's, you'll still have up to 4pp left to add good ones to your total 17:23 *** Coppertop joined #cdnrainfall 17:23 Coppertop Hell! 17:23 Mekan What up Copper. 17:23 Coppertop I keep forgetting this room's open. 17:24 Coppertop It's like I can only keep track of two chat windows at a time, and everything else is forgotten. 17:24 Abad so you could spend one more pp to add a stunt d8, which this probably qualifies for, giving you 5d8 with 3 remaining pp to form your pool as needed 17:24 Coppertop It's like I'm a digital goldfish! 17:25 Coppertop Blub blub. 17:26 ESpiza relax, dude, we're on the home stretch of this thread as it is 17:26 Coppertop can't understand you. 17:26 Coppertop is a goldfish. 17:27 Coppertop bumps against the glass and thinks of lady goldfish and food flakes. 17:27 Coppertop blub blub blub. 17:27 Coppertop ... I guess I'm technically a copperfish, then, I reckon. 17:27 *** Coppertop is now known as Copperfish 17:27 Copperfish Blub. 17:27 ESpiza :| 17:28 *Dopefish* thinks, 'swim swim hungry, swim swim hungry' 17:28 Copperfish Hey, take me seriously. I can grow up to a foot long in the right environment. 17:29 Abad Meeeeeeeeeeekan 17:29 Abad this is an important moment, Mekan! 17:29 Copperfish Mekan? 17:29 Mekan WRITING. 17:29 Mekan WILL ROLL SHORTLY. 17:29 Mekan :: D Hope I don't cock it up! 17:31 Abad it's an addition to your current roll, keep in mind 17:31 Mekan Indeed. 17:31 Abad also nobody even chuckled at the commander keen reference 17:31 Abad very disappointing 17:32 Copperfish Sorry, mate. Never played it. 17:32 Abad ... 17:35 *** Copperfish quit (Ping timeout) 17:35 Mekan Abad has gifted me 5 PPs, I have three of my own - I am spending five and then keeping three in reserve. Engaging Crime Expert, Psych Expert, Cybernetics, Sabotage and then adding a stunt 17:35 Mekan 5d8. 17:35 Abad attaboy 17:35 Mekan Here goes. 17:35 Mekan #roll 5[1d8] 17:35 RPGServ <Roll for Mekan [5[1d8]]: 1 2 5 2 1 > 17:35 RPGServ <Roll [5[1d8]]: 1 2 5 2 1 > 17:35 Mekan WHAT 17:35 Mekan WHAT 17:35 Abad ... 17:36 ESpiza I, uh 17:36 ESpiza wow 17:36 Mekan I-I 17:36 Mekan I 17:36 Mekan What 17:36 Abad you're looking at a 14 with a d10 effect, if you spend one more pp. 17:36 ESpiza In a way, this is oddly appropriate, given half the party is arguing who gets the loot 17:36 Mekan I have 5 PP right Spiza 17:36 Abad alternatively anybody else could toss you some PP and you could throw some push dice 17:36 Mekan From those two 1s 17:37 Abad this is the most brute-force possible way of doing things 17:37 Mekan Hah. 17:37 Mekan Brute-force. Hacking pun. 17:37 ESpiza also yes, mekan 17:37 Abad Indeed 17:38 *** Coppertop joined #cdnrainfall 17:38 Coppertop Feck. 17:38 Mekan Alright. Taking two for my total - the 5 from the 5d8, and the 6 I rolled earlier. Then spending a plot point to snag that 4 from the earlier roll 17:38 Mekan That's a total of 15 so far. 17:38 Coppertop Sorry, my laptop overheated. 17:38 Mekan You missed me making the single most spectacular fail of the game. :: P 17:38 ESpiza ...doom pool is now 3d88 17:39 ESpiza ...3d8 17:39 Coppertop ... 17:39 Coppertop Any chance I could send some pp Mekan's way? 17:39 Coppertop Via Whitefang Magic? 17:39 Coppertop 17:39 Mekan Dawwww. Whitefang wants to help Uncle Mekan? :: D 17:39 ESpiza ...yes 17:39 Coppertop Excellent. 17:40 Coppertop Whitefang is going to piddle on the wrong exposed wire at the exact right time to give Mekan a bonus. 17:40 Coppertop Lemme get the sheet up and I'll roll it. 17:40 Mekan I got 4 PP of my own in reserve right this minute. Spending three more to take a pair of 2s from that roll, and my 3 from the earlier roll. That's another 7 for my total. 17:40 Mekan 22, d10 effect die so far. 17:40 ESpiza :| 17:41 Coppertop Hold on a second. 17:41 Mekan MORE POWER TO THE PROCESSO 17:41 Mekan OK 17:41 Abad shutting down kohrhesit and submission net for 2pp, transferring them to mekan 17:41 Coppertop Don't count your eggs before I've had a chance to break 'em! 17:41 Coppertop is waiting for google drive to stop playing silly buggers. 17:41 Mekan THE MOST INTENSE HACKING ATTEMPT ON CDN TO DATE. 17:41 Coppertop Eh, it's not your hacking attempt any more. 17:41 Mekan Yep. 17:41 Coppertop It's Whitefang allowing you to hack while she saves the day. 17:42 Coppertop Anyways! 17:42 Abad he's still rolling! 17:42 Coppertop Making a... whatsit! 17:42 Coppertop Pissing on a wire as as whitefang! 17:42 Coppertop Solo, crime expert, not terribly bright, and enhanced varren senses to get a real good arc! 17:42 Coppertop #roll 1d8 17:42 RPGServ <Roll for Coppertop [1d8]: 5> 17:43 Coppertop #roll 1d8 17:43 RPGServ <Roll for Coppertop [1d8]: 8> 17:43 Mekan I'ma edit my current post with what I got, and then Copper can post. 17:43 Coppertop #roll 1d8 17:43 RPGServ <Roll for Coppertop [1d8]: 8> 17:43 Coppertop #roll 1d8 17:43 RPGServ <Roll for Coppertop [1d8]: 2> 17:43 Mekan Then I post all my stuff together (along with like half the chat log) 17:43 Coppertop 16 with a d8 effect die! You get a d8, Mekan! 17:43 Abad ...okay then, not shutting down or transferring any more shit 17:43 Mekan d8! 17:43 ESpiza aphin, stop kalrossing the supercomputer 17:43 Mekan You go post about Whitefang piddlin' on wires, Copper, I'll roll 17:43 Coppertop Woof woof motherfucker 17:44 Mekan #roll 1[1d8] 17:44 RPGServ <Roll for Mekan [1[1d8]]: 4 > 17:44 RPGServ <Roll [1[1d8]]: 4 > 17:44 Mekan 4! 17:44 Mekan I still have 3 PP in reserve from all the stuff 17:44 Mekan So, spending 1 to take that 4 and add it to the total. 17:44 Mekan 26 d10 effect die so far. 17:45 Coppertop Posted! 17:45 Coppertop Whitefang: Deus Ex Machina. |
Mekan of Omega |
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Blasted, bloodied, smashed, hacked, shot, punched, and even pissed upon, the system flashed brightly before showing --
 The message flexed and distorted.[/url] The electronic purge ground to a slow, merciless, halt. The tabs shuffled and reshuffled, their contents cracked by data corruption. Still. Silent. Abruptly the display minimized itself off the crystal viewing pane, stylized stacks of documents and charts arranged in a loose arc in its place. One by one they began downloading themselves onto the batarian’s omnitool. Everything, literally everything, they could possibly want. Contraband bought and sold. Weapons offloaded to Abyssal warlord’s, medication discretely purchased by charitable organizations in the Verge. Names. Places. Prices. Fronts. It was a literal ocean of data, stretching back for- THE SCREENS FLICKERED. -weeks and weeks. Omega was trading nexus for the region, the goods handled by the SDU, or the Project, or whoever they were, mere currents in the vast, deep, sea. Here, now, all laid out before him, it was easy to see how they had concealed so much for...well for who knew how long. A thousand diff-   -erent (Silly batarian, that was nothing! Look, it’s all right there. Orderly stacks and everything!) fronts. A thousand different names. Through legitimate organizations, criminal enterprises - a mask and a role for each. Everyone bought from someone different, everyone was just-  -a middleman, just-  -a consumer, just a seller, just-  -a name, just a face. A pause. The display collapsed into nothing. The information safely stored itself on the man’s omnitool. A moment of silence yawned in the booth. |
 The Gathering Storm |
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"Oh, shit."
They knew his name. They knew his name, and if they knew that, then they knew he, of all people, had a metric shitton of data on all of their activities. "Oh, shit." He swallowed slightly, a loud 'gulp' practically echoing in his ears. "Guys?! GUYS?! GET YOUR ASSES IN HERE!" |
Mekan of Omega |
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Spiza dashed to the room, half-expecting yet another horrid AI construct.
"What? What's going on?" |
The_Sarcastic_Salarian |
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The batarian began babbling almost incoherently, the sheer enormity of what he'd just secured still sinking in. Finally, he got two clear words out as he began typing on his OT interface.
"Spiza. Look." He began the upload from his omnitool to the salarian's. "They know my name, Spiza, they know I did it. It's the fucking incident with Dietrich all over again, but it's so much worse. Look at this, look at this. Holy fucking shit. Holy fucking shit." The batarian's cybernetic legs finally began to twitch ever so slightly, and he collapsed back into the chair. It was the first time he'd felt weak in the knees since getting the cybernetics without his legs collapsing under him from a mechanical failure. The upload continued in silence as he sat there, head in his hands, trying to calm himself. "Holy fucking shit." |
Mekan of Omega |
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Collar moved carefully into the room, half convinced there was some new danger he wasn't yet aware of. Kicking himself yet again, this time for not clearing before divvying up the loot. Ugh. Some of the amateurs must be rubbing off on him.
Nonetheless, there was no clear and present danger in the room, so the batarian mercenary silently took up position near the door, casually leaning with his back to the wall, everybody in sight. |
Collar |
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Kirok shouldered his way in and looked at the screen.
"Eh, so some bithead onna end of a wire knows yer name. Relax, foureyes, ain't th' end of th' world." The krogan slapped the batarian hard enough to rattle teeth. "Ain't gonna be th' last time y'keep in this line'a work. Shoulda 'spected that goin' in. Spooky crazy people are gonna wanna kill ya; git used t'it. D'we get what the spyman wanted? We gettin' paid fer this?" |
Kirok |
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And Nikolai stood in the doorway itself, hands in his pockets, his Shade, his shadow looming behind him. Watching. Waiting. A scarlet flame flicked into existence at the end of his omnitool. He shook a cigarette from the pack stashed away in his breastpocket and lit it with clean hands; pulling the rebreather away from his mouth just enough to put it in place.
Inhale. He exhaled and the smoke danced and refracted through the shattered visage of the mask. He'd heard what the batarian said, a few words here and there amidst the babbling but enough to glean the greater picture. Enough to gain context on the order of magnitude by which the situation had devolved to in the last thirty sections. "Well then. So what are we going to do about this?" |
Mr_Sandman |
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“What the k—” Spiza corrected himself mid-slur. “What Kirok said. Relax, you’re going to be fine.”
As he steadied the batarian into a sitting position, a small device – no larger than a grain of rice – popped out of his omnitool. Grasping his shoulder, he quietly slipped it into Mekan’s armor, spilling it into the collar, where it would wedge itself into its many interlocking ceramic joints. “Now listen to me, Mekan,” he said, crouching over him and slowly lifting his arm off the ground. “First thing’s first – we take that ‘tool off of you, all right? Take it off, throw it in a Faraday cage, we take it to my office, nothing gets in or out. You remember the test, right? My office?...The Dead Room?” He traced the implants along the batarian’s arm, looking for the disengagement docks. ]“Well, that place is a lot more secure than it looked that night. Shrell, I’ve got shit in there Special Tasks doesn’t know about. Neh?” |
The_Sarcastic_Salarian |