[Citadel/Nimbus] A Party On The Rocks (closed)

The door didn't attempt to close!

That was a good sign, meaning they actually wanted to talk and it wasn't just a cheap trap. That calmed her down a little.
Freh'ya tried to the conversation. From where she was sitting it was easy to follow. The voice of the other asari was bit muffled but still loud enough.

So far she had not recognized any of the code words!

Arina followed the cam feed. So far so good. The other person kepts behind the corner so only a basic outline was the interpretation of the software, a symbolic representation that somebody was there

/source of voice. Asari (79%)

You can do this, Temria!

For a moment the asari was silent, she shifted in a way that could be called uneasy, looking over towards the large reception desk and back to Temria. Had there been a reaction to the mentioning of Nemruna’s?

“So you’re a doctor, huh? You can take your arms down.”

She then removed her helmet. The face underneath was grey-green with delicate light blue markings that extended on to the le’ku. She wasn’t older than 80 or 90.

For a moment she stood there awkwardly holding the helmet, as if unsure what to do with it then, she put it down onto the floor, not taking her eyes off Temria, a tense grip on her rifle. It looked a bit awkward.

“Okay. Show me your face and let’s see the file.” There was still doubt in her voice but less nervousness.

“Are you injured?” the yet unnamed asari asked nodding at the arm brace.

As instructed, Temria lowered her arms at last, securing her injured left across her abdomen again where it belonged. Relief didn't come, it wouldn't for a while at least, the pain would take hours to succeed fully to the dull ache she'd been growing much too used to.

Seeing the stranger unmasked caught the doctor by surprise, and though her mask remained, it could not cover her shock in the way she suddenly became eerily still... She'd somehow expected... more, perhaps, but the way the voice's timber had seemed off at least made sense. And even now she noticed the little give-aways she should have caught sooner, the shift in her stance, the way she held the gun- unsure, the lack of trigger discipline. No. Not a rogue or a renegade but a child who didn't know any better... This could have been a disaster.

Can still be a disaster.

"Hm? Yes... here." Temria complied with the instruction, reaching to her face and pulling at the banded cloth that had served as a makeshift reinforcement of the more contoured and sophisticated breathing mask. Mouth, then eyes exposed to air again properly, openly, it felt wonderful. But she wasted no time in lighting up her omni-tool over her left arm, and taking the time it took to boot to try to spy out potential hiding spots she'd missed. Surely it wasn't just this one...?

The question regarding her arm was not entirely unexpected, her answer, a flat 'yes' that did not volunteer more information had always been the one she'd planned to give.

"Here you are. License and associate contract, with notes on reserve service. Note citations on the bottom left, and compare the security code at the bottom against the tool-id underneath it on the outer frame."

The readout was there, important metrics layed out in a very busy array of orange light, more suited for a large monitor than anything, they would both have to make do.

"With that out of the way... perhaps you'll do me the same courtesy and tell me your own name... We're in a delicate situation and could both use some honest answers, wouldn't you agree?"

The young asari looked a bit surprised when Temria removed her face gear. Her mouth twitched, but she said nothing.
She then stepped closer to look at what the doctor showed her. She studies it intensely and maybe a bit too long for what was really to see, then she looked up at Temria again.

“This indeed looks legit, Madam. My name is Tinay. We…” she cast a look over to the reception counter, where the helmet now protruded a bit more obviously, “… are acolytes of Lady T’Veda. She is suffering very badly.”
The pain and concern was audible in her young voice there.

“Why did nobody tell us you are coming? There was a pirate alert yesterday, didn’t you contact the traffic control? And where are you even coming from… like this? You better explain that, Madam.”

It was obvious, that the maiden was using all the proper respectful terms but was terribly confused as to what to make of Temria. There was no hostility in her stance though, the rifle just dangling at her side.

Freh’ya exchanged a surprised look with Rahi and Arina. Had she just heard this right?
At least no hostiles! But was this as simple as a mixup? Who had shot at them, why was this place in alert mode?

Arina shrugged, equally surprised.
“Sounds promising though. Weird but promising.”
It there wasn’t the thing with the explosives under their feet…. She looked and listened further.

Acolytes? The girl was so slight of frame, Temria could almost believe it outright, but she knew enough to probe for answers a hasty impersonation might not be prepared for... "Has her diet changed, can you describe it for me?" It seemed resonable enough...

"Traffic control are the ones who told us the Matriarch had sequestered herself at this retreat." Temria replied flatly, noting the other one behind the reception desk, "And had advised that they would make contact advising we were inbound. That was yesterday."

How much information was too much? It felt to her like something was owed, risk it now and it could come to her disadvantage, but sooner or later one of them would have to start trusting... "We were shot down while en-route and hit the ice hard. By the Goddess' favour, our pilot turned out to be a genuine Kallis at the helm, and let us walk away from it."

"Tinay, can you, or your associate tell me whether you have unfettered access to the communications landline out of this building?"

"Kallis," Rahi whispered. "Two, then. The thermal scan is good." She shot Arina a quick grin, while privately wondering whether she ought to be flattered by Temria's comparison. She had landed - alright, crashed - Sala in a fit state to be walked away from, but the two passengers had only done so without more injuries than they had thanks to the doctor's quick thinking and stasis. She silently told herself not to get all puffed up over Temria finding a natural spot to slip the Matriarch's name into the conversation.

Still no overt signal to them, one way or another. Was Temria giving them the defenders' numbers out of diligence, or did she have reason to think they would need it soon?

The huntress nodded.
"The doc is cautious." Freh'ya whispered back. "But listen, sounds like she is getting accepted."

Still, one false move and stuff could happen, so sitting still and approaching this calm was the best they could do, no need to hurry now.

I could not have done this better. Minus the fact that they are addressing her as a respectable matron.

"That question is actually good, since I was asking myself the same thing. Sunda control announced us, so why this hostility? I am not getting that 'alert' part. But let's listen..."

For a moment, Tinay opened her mouth but hesitated, then cast a glance to her companion, as if asking for help or approval. After a couple of seconds, the suited figure rose slowly, dropping the rifle to not directly aim at the doctor anymore, but still somewhat ready. Her figure was a bit smaller than Tinay if anything.

Tinay sighed and looked at the floor then to Temria
“I… don’t understand this, why did they not contact us then. I have no idea what to make of this, but as I said, Madam Trynessia only told us about a general pirate awareness alarm yesterday. We were even checking the perimeter….” Was she talking to herself or really at Temria?

“The Lady is not doing well, we came here half a year ago, she needs a lot of rest…. Madam Trynessia is tending to her, upstairs in the Lady’s quarters.” She looked to the gallery on the first floor. “The two of us can’t even see her currently…” she was almost sobbing, taking a second to catch herself. “Sorry… It’s too much stress, Madam Trynessia says. We wait patiently though as the Lady expects us to do until the medication arrives and her condition improves again…”

“As for your question, well, we have of course… but that is all handled by Madam Trynessia in her office, she is the assistant of Lady T’Veda and handles all her communication and is the head of the house. Nin and I….” she realized she had spilt the name involuntarily and Nin cocked her head but said nothing. “… keep everything else going.”

She tensed a bit, maybe she had said too much?

Temria listened intently to every detail, straining to here anything, even the faintest inflection, that might tip her off to something devious on the part of the young acolyte... there was only an earnestness, and a sort of exhaustion brought on by fear... fatigue played across their features as well as their stance...

"The pair of you have done well to protect them thus far." she said with a measured tone, "It's clear to me that I should be speaking with this... Madam Trynessia after we've established contact with ground control. There's still the matter of who fired upon us, and why no response ship was sent to look for us."

She nodded to Nin, then to Tinay, "With your permission, I would have my associates come in here and establish themselves. I expect they will want to debrief you." She hesitated, relaxing her posture a bit, "For the Matriarch's sake, please put your weapons down..."

Tinay snorted. “Goddess, this is complicated.” She was torn and nervous, not knowing what was expected of her now.

Nin rose from behind the counter, folded her rifle to the surprise of Tinay, removing the helmet and putting it on the desk.
“No, it’s not really. Welcome, Madam Aujuri. We have been under constant tension for a while, I am… sorry. It is a good thing nobody shot but talked eventually.”
A thing that had been neglected pretty much in her orders, she had come to think. She did not want to shoot other asari, that was not what she was here for. The whole pirate alert suddenly seemed highly suspicious to her now, there had never been as much as pirates in the system, let alone over the planet.

Now Tinay was also putting her rifle back in it’s holder, as Nin came around the desk. She was about the same age as Tinay.
“Bring in your comrades as well, ma’am. Is anybody else hurt, can we… help you?”

“I’ll call the Madam, she must see you immediately.” Nin added.

"Thank you, both of you." Temria nodded to the pair of them, an exhausted relief playing across her features as she nodded to the one that had been covering the hallway while she and Tinay had spoken, "Please hold off on contacting her, if only for the moment while we acclimatize."

She turned sharply to look down the hallway from whence she came, unable to see the others but considering the hardware bearing down on them it was just as well. "Freh'ya." she called out, her voice echoing a bit, "Though complications remain ubiquitous, I believe we've at last sorted out who is who. Please bring the others in out of the cold."

"Ubiquitous, did you hear?" Arina was stating the obvious. The drone had not been able to pick up everything the second asari had said due to the bad angle and the distance but the general tone and the last couple of words were in line with the general picture of a truce in there and that all of them really seemed to be on the same side!

A smile came to her face, as she put her hand on Rahi's shoulder, pressing it. Almost there eventually, thanks to the Goddess. She looked at Freh'ya for the signal to move inside. Maybe they would shut the door and crank the heating up!

"Uh... okay, but why should I hold on, she must know who you are so everyone can calm down and we can contact Sunda!" Nin replied a little surprised.

But there came the others...
"I will close the door again and turn on the air-conditioning in here, don't be alarmed!" First things first probably.

“Alright, I guess that is our key word, ladies.” Freh’ya announced, getting up from her seated position in the doorframe.

For a moment she looked at the rifle, but then folded it and put it into the holder on her back. She grabbed the rucksack Rahi had brought along thankfully and helped the others get up as well.

Putting her gun away did not make her the least bit less dangerous though, she could easily do that. In a close confined space like in there she could probably topple the whole group with one biotic melee burst. She was tense and her biotics ready any second.

“We are coming inside now, three people approaching, we have put our weapons away!” She announced, trying to sound relaxed. A last nod to Rahi and Arina and she was slowly walking down the corridor.


When she reached the doctor, she was startled at who their ‘opposition’ had been.
“Are you alright, Temria?” She asked, before introducing herself, nodding an unspoken 'very well done'.

“I am Freh’ya, Nevos Ring Guards. So… is this stand off officially over? Who is in charge here and what’s your situation?”

"Yes ma'am," Rahilan said when Freh'ya recognised Temria's keyword, smiling wider than she had since the crash. She took a moment to let out a sigh, thinking, then nodded to herself. Her rifle went back onto its hardpoint on her back, and she tapped a command into her omni-tool that recalled the various tac drones hovering about, back into storage in their hangar. Taking them out of the air struck her as a sign of good faith she could make; if worst came to worst, they could burst-launch quickly enough. She looked at the gun drone for a second, then left it where it was, with commands to remain in place, and if fired upon to retreat to cover and not return fire unless she signalled.

Content enough that no attack would come from behind to threaten Arina, she took position behind Freh'ya, with enough space between them that she wouldn't seem to be concealing herself (the commando was big enough, certainly) to those in the room. She waited until she had passed through the doorway, then - still in the cold, but out of the wind at least - she removed her helmet, and tucked it under one arm. With one hand occupied, the other empty and not on her pistol side, and moving with the bearing she had learned in the service, she hoped to Athame she looked exactly like a Republican soldier approaching in peace, and nothing like a pirate trying to conceal hostile intent.

Arina eventually stepped forward, putting an arm on Freh’ya’s shoulder. This was something for a diplomat.Her hood was down so her hurt and slightly swollen forehead could be seen. She tried to ignore the pain that was increasing in the warmer air.

“Athame’s greetings. My name is Arina Caenis, I am an emissary of the asari embassies on the Citadel. I am glad we have reached this face to face situation eventually.” She smiled, gave it a second before she added: “And it’s good you have turned the heat back on, it was horrible out there.” She chuckled lightly, to release more tension.

She made another step forward, offering her hands to Nin and Tinay.

“Now Lady T’Veda will get the best help available. Unfortunately our vessel was badly damaged yesterday. We have to find out what that was, calling Sunda seems like a priority, if everyone agrees to that.”