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 Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 5:32 pm
Kiya wondered if this was it felt like to be thread trying to move through a series of needles. Lillith taking out the mines she could helped, but the route was still precise and treacherous. It was one of those times Kiya wished she had spent a couple decades while she was still in the military learning how to navigate. The extra experience would have been nice. Thankfully, they got out without any further damage. Though Mez was still miffed about the cargo bay. They would have to stop eventually to repair. But at the moment, Mez would have to make due.
Just as Kiya was out of the mine field and starting to speed up to catch up with Sidero's ship, the b*****d jumped. "Dammit." Hitting the controls, Kiya prepared the ship for another jump. Hoping, that the hull would be able to withstand it. A biotic shield would help. But where would he have gone? "Okay here's the ports he could have gone…" Kiya listed them off in short order. A few were unlikely. Alliance territory or close to the Citadel. But one or two…
Around her, several people were more or less insisting that Skylar leave. Up until that point, Kiya hadn't even noticed her there. "Wait!" The Asari turned to look over at the Captain, "She could help. If we make the wrong jump, we'll never catch that ship." The engines were starting to hum with preparation to jump. Kiya turned in her seat, looking over to Skylar. "What do you say darlin? Give us a hand, and I'll get you a drink later. My treat, whatever you want." Kiya smiled her sweet half smile that always made her bar patrons wild back in her dancing days. Kiya reached back, touching the top of Skylar's knee. She slid just millimeters up her thigh. "Just a little hint?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2015 9:56 pm
’Of all the stupid things to run right into… Why did it have to be space mines?!’
Mez had been thinking the very same thing for various intervals over the past few hours since the explosions had rocked the ship. Fortunately, the damage had been mostly to the cargo hold and other less important areas of the ship. Regardless of that fact, he was still quite angry about the whole thing. From what his scanners told him, it would take a lot of work to fix it. Which, in turn, would require a lot of time that they reportedly did not have to spare stopping in a port.
When he had finally reached the bridge a couple of hours after they hit the mines, Mez had had restrain himself from demanding his time to speak with the captain. This he had done quite a good job of. If Fluffy or Haru had been there, the fox and AI would have been rather impressed by that. Instead of bursting out in his anger, he let it simmer for a bit while shoving a crewman out of the way of a console so he could check the full status of the Argent Thames. And there the mechanic had been for a few hours, checking and rechecking some of the software he’d rerouted for some of the ship’s systems to bypass the damaged area.
He was just about finished with helping Kiya track the FTL trail of the ship they were chasing, when Skylar entered the bridge and asked about getting herself a chair on the bridge. Mez was almost successful at ignoring the cheeky prisoner when she mentioned that what he and Kiya had been doing was too time consuming. The reaction that that comment brought from Mez was a simple growl of disapproval as his fingers flew across the console keyboard and flickered across the data on the screen in front of him.
Fortunately for Skylar, Lumi responded, otherwise Mez would have said something in his and Kiya’s defense. Thankful for the Captain’s compliment and the intervention, Mez returned his attention to the scans of the FTL lines from Sidero’s ship and the list of the possible routes. It might easy for him to pick out the right route given his own experience tracking things from his earlier years on the run from the law, but Mez wasn’t planning on doing that unless the Captain specifically asked him to. His job was technically just to work on the Argent Thames after all. He also didn’t think it was worth it to trust Skylar, especially since it sounded like she had been the one to give them the directions which ended up with the Argent Thames in the middle of a freaking mine field. On the other hand, maybe that opinion was just him being all angry over the ship now needing repairs. Whatever it was, they were still some viable concerns. Mez would have voiced it aloud, but that was hardly what he was on this ship for either.
’Ah… To hell with formalities.’
”If you want the opinion of a civilian, Captian, I don’t think we can trust Miss Prisoner-of-the-Month over there as far as we can throw her. From what I hear, she was the one who gave us directions right into a literal mine field, right?” Mez stated simply. After a slight pause to get up from his chair, he continued as a he gave a light shrug with his hands shoved in his pockets, ”But then again, who am I to talk, right? I’m just the ship’s mechanic. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some work I gotta get to down by the cargo hold.”
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2015 10:06 pm
Skylar chuckled at the weapons officer's comment about shooting her again. "So you were the one with the rifle? Good shot my dear, though you probably should have hit me more than twice with the first burst." Lumi was fuming mad, which made Skylar's time on the bridge all the more fun. The mechanic seemed pissed at her as well, giving his own opinion on the matter of whether they should listen to her or not. "Well see, I did give the directions to the minefield, but your captain left before I could inform her of the mines. I even told her she would regret not listening to me. But the past is the past right?" She grinned at the captain and then hummed as the Asari she had done the deal with, the one who she had shot at, offered an olive branch. "See? All it requires is a bit of polite conversation and the offer of some Ryncol to bribe me into speaking." Skylar hummed and propped her feet up on the console she was next to, not caring if it was important or whether her boots would damage it. "Sadly this requires some cooperation from the Spectre as well. Or well, anyone with high level Alliance clearance. Sidero is headed for the research station Isis-9. It's a black site manned by the alliance. No record of it anywhere except for in a few top secret files that someone like the Ice Queen would have access to..." Glancing to Lumi for a moment Skylar gave a wide grin. "Just wait till you figure out what it's for. Bet you'll never guess." Skylar hummed a little and looked to Lumi, wondering if the captain would play along or if she would really need to tell her everything.
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Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2015 6:57 pm
Lilith giggled lightly at Skylar's response. Looks like everyone acknowledges my shooting skills. She looked over at the prisoner, her face stiff as always, and said "Well next time I'll remember to hit you harder." with a small wink at the end. What was that? the VI asked indignantly. That wink was not professional nor was it taught it to you. Lilith scoffed mentally, You know that the research team taught me to learn right? I mean I guess you wouldn't understand since you're just a VI. she responded. It was becoming more and more annoying having a passenger in her head. Her ears metaphorically picked up when she heard that they were headed somewhere top secret. Isis-9 huh? she casually wondered. Wonder how hard it'd be for me to get into those files? The VI buzzed something about hacking into classified alliance files as a severe offense and noted that it would be updating the alliance about her troubling behavior. "Let me guess.... I'm sensing something classified?" she queried.
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Over Yandere Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2015 8:12 am
Kiya just smiled softly at Mez during his opinion. She for one didn't quite agree, but he was entitled to his thoughts. And…well it was true that Skylar was the reason they ran straight into a minefield. Options were not with them to simply lock her up and not ask for her help. And apparently…bribing with Ryncol and a good time worked on even the hardened of criminals.
"Ryncol it is. Try not to let it knock you on your a** too hard." Kiya slipped her hand off Skylar's leg and turned back to the controls. "Jeeves, don't suppose you know where Isis-9 is?" Kiya wasn't familiar with the research station herself. But so long as at least the location wasn't classified, they could at least get going while Lumi had a mental war on whether she should cooperate or not.
Not particularly wanting to wait and lose their chance of catching Sidero, Kiya fiddled with the charts until Isis 9 was up, and a route was planned. "Everyone buckle down, we'll be jumping in under 2 minutes." Kiya pulled her harness back over her shoulders, "And Captain, I know you feeling less then positive towards the prisoner, but it would really really help to know if we are going to be approaching anything dangerous. Mez will likely murder me if I hurt his ship again."
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Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2015 6:22 pm
The audacity of this b***h made her grind her teeth slightly, the woman thought she could take control of her ship just with a few little stupid tricks, Lumi had to take a moment to clear her head. Skylar wasn't like most criminals she dealt with, she had already played Lumi right into her hands letting her roam the ship like this, what if she had other tricks in store. Mez was right to have concerns, and his thoughts echoed her own regarding the safety of the crew.
Skylar wasn't going to let up though, she was still playing games even with her riddles regarding Sidero's target, A black site for the alliance? all the way out here in the Eagle nebula? An interesting accusation, but she had to admit it wasn't impossible given human kind's long and distasteful history. ignoring the rest of the room she looked to her console and typed in the required data, Isis-9.
"Jeeves wont find it Kayce.. Isis-9 is in the Amun System... of the eagle Nebula...." She reads through the information on her com, taking a long pause before continuing "Orbits the gas giant Bast, we should find the station on the dark side, get us there before Sidero" she stands after closing the page, "lilith, you have the bridge, i need to look further into this project, Kiani... make sure she doesnt get into any further trouble" She chides the Ensign before leaving everyone on the bridge.
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Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2015 8:31 am
The moment Lumi released the information, Kiya adjusted her coordinates. "Damn I was way off. I was guessing it was somewhere over here…" Kiya gestured in the region of Strabo on her charts. "And Lumi…I think you could use a drink later too. I'll even throw in a dance for free." Kiya flashed a brilliant smile at the captain before turning back to the controls. "Let's do this."
The engines hummed. Kiya was more than happy that nothing at least sounded broken. Though as soon as they got Sidero they really did need to stop somewhere and make sure. Kiya felt the burst of acceleration in her stomach, and the ship jumped across space.
They fell out of warp once they were in range of Bast. The looming gas giant was alive with storms and swirling clouds. Kiya turned the ship, deciding the fastest way to travel around it would be with the help of Bast's orbit. Thrusters were on full power, slingshoting them towards the dark side of Bast as fast as possible. "We should be seeing the station soon. Everyone simultaneously prey to whatever god, deity or higher being you possibly believe in that Sidero isn't here yet."
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Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2015 1:33 pm
Sidero's ship approached the unassuming space station in the shadow of planet Bast, in the Amun system of the Eagle Nebula, where few would think to look for a top secret research station. Behind his mask, Sidero grinned and watched as the station got closer and closer. The stealth technology they had stolen off an Alliance frigate was working wonders. No one put windows on space stations for a reason, so they wouldn't see them coming if they didn't see them on their radar. By the time the station realized what was going on it was too late for their countermeasures to do anything. The ship had simply flown into the dock and set down, and before the station guards could react, they were slaughtered by the ragtag band of fighters that Sidero employed. The pirates moved through the station, capturing scientists and killing anyone who got in their way. Once they reached the command deck of the station, the officers surrendered, and soon the station was Sidero's.
They found the head scientists hiding in a broom closet by the command center, and with Sidero's "persuasion," they quickly led him to the devices he was after. It wasn't long after that the crew he had managing the weapons systems of the station reported a contact coming in; their pursuers. Giving a small chuckle, Sidero thought for a moment then sent the order to the weapons crew. "Fire a few warning shots. Then open a channel to their bridge." He hurried back up to the command deck as his crew got the devices installed on his ship. Sitting in the commander's chair, he tapped a few buttons as the channel opened to the Argent Thames. "Did you enjoy the present I left for you back at the Mass Relay?" He chuckled and inhaled, his breathing apparatus spouting more pressurized air. "I thought my old protege might have given you info on where we were, but as usual, she's just a little too late. We have the station under our control, we have hostages, and we have you locked on with all of our countermeasures. So unless you would like to be blown out of the void... Stay at extreme range." He stayed silent for a moment as his breather hissed and pumped more air out. "I thought you might be interested in what you are fighting for when the Alliance and the council sent you out as their personal hit squad... Doctor?"
There was the sound of shuffling and a bit of resistance from the one he was talking to before someone else spoke up. "M-My name is Doctor Cinali, I'm the head researcher on this project... and... oh god... We were experimenting with... reaper technology to... To create weapons! But they were for in case the reapers returned! We had no intention of using them on-" There was the sound of a rifle butt hitting the doctor, knocking them man out and cutting him off. "You all know as well as I do that one does not create a weapon without intent to use it... And in the hands of the Bloody Alliance, I'm sure they could find somewhere to use it, citing some sort of believable imminent threat. After all, the Alliance created the psychopathic biotic on your ship, and they created me, so I suppose it's only fair that we repay them in kind. Approach the station all and I will fire the station's countermeasures, and kill the hostages. By our count there's about sixty people left." With that the channel went dead. The connection was still there, so if necessary, they could send a response. Sidero assumed that very shortly he would hear either the human Spectre's voice or the maniacal cackle of his former partner in crime.
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Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2015 5:55 pm
There was a cold chill down Kiya's spine. Her stomach was plummeting in a familiar dance of dread, and her limbs were tingling. She had turned the ship at the first shots. Making them a larger target yes, but also narrowly avoiding another hit to their hull. They simply didn't have the shield left to counter shots like that. Sidero's voice was cold. The mechanical hiss of air making Kiya feel like he was there in the bridge with them, breathing down her neck. Immediately, she pulled the ship into an orbit around the Isis station.
It was perhaps the frightened Doctor's voice that did more damage on Kiya's nerves. She was the only one currently on the bridge old enough to remember the reapers. She fought the reapers in the military, had been a dancer when they finally were brought down. Why…
Kiya turned in her seat and sent a very accusing look at Lumi. What were the alliance thinking?! Using reaper technology that nearly killed them all 28 years ago. The only thing worth doing with reaper technology was to destroy it. Eradicate every trace of it from the cosmos. There were other ways to fight…. by the goddess…why this.
When the transmission finally went dead, Kiya simply sat there in a stunned silence for several seconds. Until finally, she turned in her seat again, this time turning to Skylar, "What did he mean? How could the Alliance create you?" Kiya asked, then turned to Lumi once again, "And what, in Athame's name, is on that bloody station?!"
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Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2015 10:20 pm
Lilith snapped a quick salute, and acknowledged Lumi with a quick "aye aye ma'am." With formalities out of the way she unbuckled herself from her seat and moved to the captain's overlook. This is a nice view she thought, overlooking all her fellow officers. After getting her bearing she assumed command by giving her first order, "Ms. Kiya take us in quietly I want to try and maintain what little element of surprise that we can." The VI of course whined about Lumi's informality but she didn't care. The VI had become increasingly more annoying to her since leaving the alliance facility where Lilith was born. Something had to be done but she needed to do it in a way that it wouldn't tell on her. "I doubt we beat Sidero to the station so everyone be prepared for combat." she calmly stated. Once they came into view of the sensors the station fired off a few shots which Lilith assumed were warning shots but the none the less instructed Kiya to take evasive maneuvers.
"Did you enjoy the present I left for you back at the Mass Relay?" I thought my old protege might have given you info on where we were, but as usual, she's just a little too late. We have the station under our control, we have hostages, and we have you locked on with all of our countermeasures. So unless you would like to be blown out of the void... Stay at extreme range."
Lilith had half a mind to just rush the station but knew that the crew probably didn't have the reflexes to pull something like that off and Sidero would most likely execute the hostages. Especially considering that at some point Sidero would need to actually leave the station. She doubted his plan could be accomplished from the middle of nowhere so that was their best chance of getting at him. "Kiya, keep us at a distance."
"I thought you might be interested in what you are fighting for when the Alliance and the council sent you out as their personal hit squad... Doctor?"
"M-My name is Doctor Cinali, I'm the head researcher on this project... and... oh god... We were experimenting with... reaper technology to... To create weapons! But they were for in case the reapers returned! We had no intention of using them on-"
"You all know as well as I do that one does not create a weapon without intent to use it... And in the hands of the Bloody Alliance, I'm sure they could find somewhere to use it, citing some sort of believable imminent threat. After all, the Alliance created the psychopathic biotic on your ship, and they created me, so I suppose it's only fair that we repay them in kind. Approach the station all and I will fire the station's countermeasures, and kill the hostages. By our count there's about sixty people left."
Lilith listened to their target speak but she found him to be rather dramatic for her tastes. From what she knew in her training though if she kept him talking they might learn something or create an opening. An opening like backdooring their system through the comm channel and hacking the station systems. she thought to herself. That is unacceptable. Hacking into a classified Alliance facility is a treasonous offense. I will not permit it. the VI angrily buzzed at her. You are only a virtual intelligence and your logic is too rigid to understand the situation, but.... since you'll tell /mom/ on me I guess well do it your way. she replied in budding sarcasm. "This is Staff Lt. Alpha of the alliance, I understand that I am talking to the fugitive Sidero." she started. For those in his crew that had perceptive ears they might have noticed the synthetic quality in the background of her voice. "We are holding at our current distance for now but as you know we are here for you. I'd be really interested to know what that tech actually does though since you cut the doctor off before they could finish." she replied to him.
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Over Yandere Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 4:38 pm
Primus had taken the hours he now had free to do what he commonly did on the ship. He had first and foremost sat down to eat by himself at the cafeteria, after thoroughly checking and double checking the meal for poison. Then, he wandered through the halls, the barracks, and eventually the training center on the ship; commanding soldiers to shape up and be ready. It was one of the rare times his strict discipline on the Argent Thames was backed up by the fact that they were classified as being in combat. The enemy had engaged, which it often did not, on their vast hunt for runaways.
'Blessed spirits,' he sighed in the confines of his cranium, an echo of relief through his forced contentment. There was simply nothing significant to participate in until the situation changed. To his guess, they were now chasing at a fair distance from Sidero. The warp did have him ponder, but he did not allow himself be distracted till further orders arrived to clarify the situation.
So instead he punch the punching bags, venting his stress through vicious beatings against inanimate leathery-scaled objects.
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 7:56 pm
Skylar's smirk as she watched what happened, and listened to what Sidero had to say slowly widened into a manic grin, topped off by cackling laughter as he finished his speech. He was being incredibly cavalier with the lives of non-combatants; he really had gone over the deep end. They weren't exactly innocent, but the Sidero she had known would never shoot unarmed civilians just to make a point. Her laughter subsided once Lilith finished speaking, catching her breath after a laughing fit she hadn't felt since the last time she lost a bet on Illium. Hearing Kiya's questions nearly made her burst out laughing again, but instead she put her feet on the floor and stood, walking over to the navigator. "I can answer both of those questions. As for the first question... When I was just an innocent little girl, barely about three years old, I was kidnapped from my home, my parents were killed in front of me. I was put into a wonderful facility that looked after me. And by looked after me, I mean not only was I imprisoned, I was tortured, drugged, forced to kill other children for the amusement of others and tests. Pretty soon I got to enjoy the killing, mostly because of the drugs. Now I get the rush without even needing the drugs. Anyhow, I was there for... oh about thirteen years. Sidero saved me from that hell when I was sixteen. But guess who ran the facility? The Bloody Alliance, and it was apparently fully sanctioned, as they plastered that same ******** emblem all over the goddamned facility. So yes, I may be a psychotic b***h, I may enjoy killing and I may be a living weapon. But it was the Alliance who made me that way." Skylar pointed to the Alliance patch on the uniform of Kiani, who was standing next to her.
Straightening up she stepped up next to Kiya, pointing to the station now. "As for what is on that station... The way I heard it described.... was a weapon capable of cracking planets in two. A superweapon, in case the Reapers returned, using their own technology against them by obliterating a planet that they've taken over, denying them those precious resources. And writing off any innocents or survivors on the planet, so they don't have to waste resources rescuing them." Skylar stepped back and sat in the nearby chair again, before speaking to Kiya, "So you can imagine, if I want to kill Sidero after trying to kill me just the once... How I ******** feel about the Alliance." Her smile was an ear splitting grin, but could hardly be called happy, if anything it gave the impression that she was ready to murder everyone on the bridge with just a ballpoint pen and would enjoy doing so.
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 8:46 am
"Did you know about this? This…this…" Kiya gestured wildly in the general direction of Skylar. "When we were briefed to extract her, no one told me she was an Alliance experiment. That just might have been useful information during that mission. And don't even get me started on…by the goddess…" Kiya looked back towards the screen where the Sidero controlled station was just floating there. Lovely, Kiya's two favorite things. Questionable military work, and reapers.
Asari in general had a long history with the Alliance. During the reaper war, the Asari had refused to help the Alliance in favour of defending their home world of Thessia. And even so, when Thessia was at the doorstep of oblivion, the alliance came to their aid. It was only because of them, that Thessia remained. Kiya had taken the job on the Argent Themes simply as a informal thank you to the Alliance. But even so…one did hear things over a span of 252 years. Not just from a century Asari military either. Patrons of places likes where Kiya used to dance, they liked to talk then they were happy. A few drinks, a pretty face…and many could get very chatty. It was not the stories themselves that Kiya remembered, but the patterns. Whispers here and there…that made Skylar's story more than plausible.
As for Sidero himself….Kiya felt a cold finger run down her spine that had nothing to do with the cool air being pumped through the ship's interior atmosphere. Reaper technology. There was much and more from that war she wished to forget. Kiya had no doubt that reaper technology could be used to make such a weapon.
"Jeeves can keep the ship in orbit on his own. This is not the s**t I signed up for. And if you want to keep your navigator compliant, she needs a drink." Kiya marched across the bridge, and slammed her fist on the switch to open the door into the hall. "I'll be back in a minute." And the door slid closed behind her. Kiya shook out her hands as if that would ease out the trembling.
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