[Citadel] Consistent Behavior

Kayana groaned, flopping over on her back and hooking her fingers around her omni-tool's charging cord and reeling in the beeping device.

A moment later, she rolled herself out of bed, grabbing her Krios Memorial t-shirt off the top of her dresser, shoving her pajama bottoms into her boots. She slipped her stun gun and her baton under her clothes, then put on her jacket to cover the bulges. She turned both ways, checking her reflection in the mirror-then quickly bowed in prayer.

She grabbed her emergency kit, swinging it over her shoulder, and headed out into the night.

In a brightly lit room of a hotel of Kithoi ward, a sharply dressed turian and a sharply dressed human female were staring down each other. Not a word had been said in fifteen minutes. A datapad laid between them.
Finally the turian's mandibles expressed a smile. The human's tense traits relaxed as well.

"Very well Ms Agnes", he said, "we will probably go with you for our manpower needs in the Abyss. Your boss can send us an offer first thing in the morning. Here is the encryption key.", he added by giving her a small datachip.

Agnes smiled and bowed in a turian fashion.
"This is the right choice, you'll find both our prices to be competitive and our employees to be highly capable."
"Employees?", he chuckled. "If you had employees you wouldn't be called Slav-"..
"Don't say it", she interrupted. "This is not a name we use here."

He nodded soberly. Agnes took off to her black skycar, stopping by to a secure relay point she had set up two months ago to upload the encryption key. Bintar could use it tomorrow. He would be happy, and she would feel a bit dirtier. She stored the skycar safely a few blocks away from LTD and finished on foot.

She used her omni-tool and a software that was provided to her to get back in Leaving The Ducts without the cameras recording. She got in the bathroom, unlocked her Michelle clothes. As she changed she felt in this strange area between Agnes and Michelle again, this moment where she didn't really have a name. Nevermind, she would sleep soon anyway, for a merciful few hours.

Her Michelle omni-tool started beeping. The emergency channel, the one she gave to a trusted member of each packs under LTD care.
She finished changing fast, took the booster pill she was saving for the next day, grabbed her mace and put on her hipster glasses.

Michelle ran out the front door to her blue skycar.

Kayana dozed as she hung from the rings on public transit, waking up when they announced her stop (semi-industrial, nearly abandoned at this hour) and stepping outside.

Drell give good directions and did a better job following. She found the alley the crew had retreated to, kicking a dumpster by the entrance to announce her arrival.

"It's Pesh!" She glanced up and behind her, spotting a small shadow on a ledge. She held up one hand, waving, but the shadow vanished without making a sound.

As Kayana arrived, she saw from the opposite side a batarian kid bringing Michelle holding a first aid kit, holding her by the hand.

"He's here miss Rondor! Please help him!"

He guided Michelle to a drell kid lying on the floor, his head resting on an hasty pile of rags. His eyes were mostly closed, he had blood and huge bruises everywhere.

"What happened to him Magrag? Did gangers do that?"

"No, no, he was hit by a skycar on this street there! Bastard just took back off after the shock!"

Michelle's eyes widened.

"Ho dear... You moved him? Kids, we covered that in first aid class and... Never mind. First thing first."

She started to pull out and prepare medigel from her pack.

"He'd have gotten hit by the next aircar."

Small details that might (or might not) have escaped Michelle's notice-the kid had new boots, when the rest of his hang didn't, and a new breather hung around his neck.

"Zealot's here." Shouted one of the guards. The aforementioned zealot stepped out of the shadows, dropping her bag beside the kid. "Vhan. ...I am not going to ask you how you're doing. I think I can guess, yeah?"

"...Miss Rondor?" She looked around. "Not a single guard. You're going to get shot, you know that?"

Michelle adopted her professoral tone while applying the medigel.
"No, Magrag, we talked about that. Your omnitool can create a glowing danger triangle that ward off incoming skycars so you don't have to move the wounded and... You know what, we'll have another course next week and... Ho hello Kayana!"

Michelle looked around when Kayana mentioned getting shot.

"Hu no, no guards... I didn't have time to get Mr Snow or Mr Shaart... But we'll be fine, it's a shifty neighborhood, not a war zone.
Say could you come help me with this? You're a veteran right, you must have had field medic training."

"Yeah, class five multi-species and probably more experience with drell than you you." Kayana rifled through her bag, and reached over, pressing down quite hard with her thumb on the side of the kid's neck, then again on the other. "Hyoid bone isn't broken. Have to watch that with medi-gel, you don't want it to fuse when healing."

"...I'm not the one who's organization got attacked."

"I am gladly deferring to your expertise then. And don't be concerned about the LTE. Since the attacks, which cost them a LOT might I add, they've been quiet. They're butting head with the co-op or something... I'll contact the paramedics."

"Paramedics?" asked a small asari, "no no, don't send him to the hospital!"

Michelle smiled to her.

"I know you guys don't like hospitals, but it's very possible he has very grave wounds that we can't see. Wounds that could put his life in danger."

"My expertise is bring a guard, easily recognizable target woman, and do something with your hair so people can't ID you talking to particular kids." She pulled a flashlight out of her bag, handing it to the asari girl. "Hold here, so it's like,yeah. Over my shoulder."

"You're working too hard, put your breather on, you shmuck." She smiled at the kid, pulling the breather over his face. "You have like, the perfect colouring to hide bruising. Were you able to walk over here? "

She felt down over his ribs. The kid cringed and yelped, Kayana frowned, reaching into her bag for the aerosolized gel and a roll of tape. "Any special reason no hospital?"

Michelle held the light as instructed.
"We are a public organization, and we strive to be known. So yeah we operate publicly, as long as the kids agree to it. We have secure meeting places for those who are threatened by gangers.
What's with the breather?"

"We don't go to hospitals", answered the small asari, "they don't like us there, they want to separate us do lots of strange shots. Sometimes kids don't come back from hospitals!"

"Those kids have a difficult relationship with authority", clarified Michelle, "and in hospitals doctors are often less than trained to deal with their way of life. Sometimes C-Sec agents are also less than understanding. But We have to take him there Trali, I'll make sure they treat him fine."

Kayana narrowed her eyes a little. "It's fine if the girl holds it. And considering your history of attacks, I would seriously reconsider what you're doing."

Her inner eyelids were wide open in the dark, her actual eyes were a strange seashell pink. "Drell don't do well in the damp. Duct rats are in and out of gods-know-where, often lots of steam...I need like a sweatshirt or something." She frowned. "They thrash their lungs and they thrash their feet. I was able to get some money out of the temples for boots and breathers."

"And you should be wearing it 'cause you broke some ribs. Car hit you on the left, huh?" The boy nodded.

She looked up at Michelle. "Yeah, It's not a 'complicated relationship with authority' if those things actually happen. Krios Memorial can send a few tough guys to back us up."

"Yes, you've been repeatedly clear about that", Michelle answered with an edge in her voice, "but we do not give in to gangers' rule. Can the Memorial dispatch an ambulance and perform surgery if need be?"

"Well, you're not actually taking said advice, so I guess I need to keep talking!" Kayana snapped back. She helped the boy roll onto his side, propping him up a bit. "...It's not like I'm talking in hypotheticals."

"Sorry, any painkillers I have would slow down your breathing too much."

"One's a combat medic, and they're like three blocks from the hospital. And if they go, the'd be guards. I like having guards. He should go. Nobody's going to let anything happen to him."

"I value your opinion Kayana, but not all your advices seem doable. When you suggest an upgrade of our computer system, I'm all for it. When you want us to hire a small army of security guards to secure the entire Tayseri Ward, Mr Snow and I conclude that it's neither possible nor desirable."

"Well if one's a medic he'll know what to do. If you want to make the call, I can relay you."

Michelle smiled to the scared asari.

"We'll make sure everything goes fine don't worry. Your pack-mate will be safe, and we'll see about you visiting him with the doctor there."

Kayana rolled her eyes, opening the call and letting him walk her through the initial treatment-though it quickly became clear that they were preparing to transfer.

Eventually, she peeked back at the human, raising an eyebrow. "Do you believe them? About kids going missing at hospitals?"