Hauntings From The Past, Eden Prime

[Tempest]

They both stood up once the gunfire had died, the message relaying around their suit radios

"Meta-Squad come in. I caught the batarian you injuried. I might need Larz or Roknak's help with carrying this big boy to the entrance, though. We'll all meet up there."

She removed her helmet with the help of Zylar and went to reply to the message, but she needn't have bothered as Gunner jumped in first
"No problem, I've got this." she nodded
"Alright, meet you all at the entrance."

Selena was sitting against the wall of the warehouse entrance as Caleb stood nearby, using his palms to wipe the blood spatter from his face and then wiping the residue on his trousers. The cold night air calmed her breathing as Zylar knelt opposite her and examined her wrist gently
"It looks pretty bad."
"Yeah, I landed fully on it, wouldn't surprise me if I've broken it..." he nodded
"It's very swollen, can you move it at all?" she shook her head and he rummaged in his small compartment on his belt, pulling out a small pad which he placed on the back of her hand "Okay, I know Medi-Gel won't fix fractures but this will at least numb the pain." she smiled
"Thanks, Zy." she noticed he was affectionately cradling her hand, but then he seemed to realise and quickly let go again, his scales flushing red as they both laughed in embarassment "I guess we really need a doctor on the crew, right?" she added to shift the mood, he shrugged and stood up
"I think we will eventually, until then, we have basic First Aid training to keep us patched up."

~~~~

Gunner ambled over to where Asyla was waiting and glanced over the batarian, noticing his quiet breathing and the reddish mark on his face from where he'd been smacked with the pistol
"Nice takedown." he grunted to her, before picking up their captive and slinging him easily over his shoulder as if he was a sack of potatoes.

[Asyla]

Asyla nodded in gratitude as the krogan 'Roknak' commented on her work and carried their captive away. On their way back, the asari passed her supply container, and threw the helmet and shoulder pad in. Then, rubbing her paining shoulder, she followed the krogan back to the entrance.

The rest of meta-squad was already there, and Asyla immediately noticed that 'Lorna' was wounded.
"Good work there, people. Richardson, I hope you were not bitten by a Jika'ta."
She pointed at 'Lorna''s arm.
"Last victim that got bitten had a high fever for months."

Without waiting for a reply, she quickly continued.
"Now, if we can convince this guy", Asyla nodded at the unconscious batarian, "to tell us who's he working for, how many they are, or when they're meeting up again we can probably wrap this up."
Or so she thought.

[Tempest]

Selena overheard the asari's comments over the Jika'ta and mentally made notes to store in the small data banks she formed in her Omni-Tool, when her wrist was better anway
"So, those things are venomous..."

With the help of her turian companion, Selena pulled herself up and looked to the batarian draped over the large krogan's shoulder

"Now, if we can convince this guy to tell us who's he working for, how many they are, or when they're meeting up again we can probably wrap this up."

Caleb cracked his knuckles, his face and hair still stained a faint pink from the blood spatter
"I reckon I can get some answers out of him for you." Selena could have sworn she'd seen his eyes flash faintly, the malicious glint of a Cerberus operative...The other two just looked at him in bewilderment: this seemingly quiet and shy squadmate had now taken on a different tone, surprising the two aliens. Selena held out her "good" hand, motioning to him to stop
"Hold on, this is Fioro's mission, so the final descision rests with her." Gunner grunted and pulled the slightly slipping batarian back up over his shoulder, his head rolling to the side
"Someone just say the word then. I don't want to be ferrying this guy around like a damn backpack..." Zylar tilted his head thoughtfully
"We'll have to wait for him to regain conciousness before we can do anything."

(Bleh, short post )

[Asyla]

Asyla, who had crossed her arms by now, observed with curiousity as the second human seemed rather eager to interrogate their hostage.
When she was asked to take the final decision, she approached the batarian, and opened one of his four eyes. Being experienced with unconscious warriors, Fioro estimated he'd be out for at least an hour, if they didn't wake him up somehow.

Gaining some distance again, she scanned Meta-Squad, looking from one team mate to another. This probably looked strange, but in reality she was just coming up with a plan.

"Alright, I am sorry, Mister Roknak, but you are going to have to carry him some more. Get him back to your ship. He will be intimidated by his new surroundings, and I want Bryce to interrogate him. Take him somewhere dark, like a storage room and tie him up good. In my experience, batarians seem to be more on edge around humans, and Bryce here seemed like an intimidating fellow to me. Use any means necessary, be it violence or promises.
Do not kill him. You may remove limbs and other non-vital appendages, like eyes; as long as you have necessary equipment to stop him from bleeding out. You get the idea."

The asari said it as if she was counting up a grocery list. The asari already expected a specific question so she answered it right away.

"And we cannot interrogate him here. I assured my employer, the gentleman from earlier, that once we deceased all enemies I would contact him so he could get a crew to clean this mess up. After all, colonists are going to want to get some supplies tomorrow morning. And this whole operation is still supposed to be a secret. For now."

Uncrossing her arms, she eyed Selena aka Richardson.
"Any questions? Otherwise I will be getting the rest of my equipment and meet you at the 'Valkyrie' in approximately 30 minutes."

[Tempest]

Selena nodded along as Asyla explained the next step

"Any questions? Otherwise I will be getting the rest of my equipment and meet you at the 'Valkyrie' in approximately 30 minutes."

"Sounds fine." Caleb replied, Gunner sighed and scratched his cheek
"Sure, it'll give me a chance to work out some of my frustrations..."
"I think we can all settle on that." Zylar added, Selena faced the asari
"Got it, we'll keep the ship's doors open for you when you catch up." she motioned with her good hand "Let's go and see what this batarian knows, guys..."

~~~~

When everyone was on board the Valkyrie again, Selena noticed the dog was now awake and sniffing around their small stowaway curiously: to the creature, it was a new person with a new smell. She sighed and cast her hand down towards the cargo bay, without a glance at the krogan and human
"Drop the batarian in there, Gunner, and feel free to rough him up with Caleb. Just remember, don't kill him. We've got suitable supplies in the Med Bay to keep him going if you do wanna rip off an arm or ear." Gunner chuckled darkly
"My pleasure..." Caleb rubbed his neck
"Save some for me, krogan." she passed Caleb a small portable light before they entered the room and typed in the code on the door panel, locking it and letting the two men have some fun interrogating. Leaving her and Zylar to contemplate their next problem: what to do with the boy
"We can't let him stay here, Selena."
"I know that!" she rubbed her temples "We're in the middle of a mission though, I doubt Fioro would pay us the full amount if we suddenly dropped out to deal with this..."
"We should just drop him back at the Citadel when we're done here, let C-Sec sort him out." she nodded
"We're going to have to, but it's gonna have to wait until we're done here..." she sighed "It just depends on how fast Gunner and Caleb can get that batarian talking." She walked over to the sofa and sat next to the boy "Until then, all we can do is play the waiting game."

~~~

The batarian slowly came to and blinked all four of his eyes a couple of times from the faint light, he attempted to rub his head but found that his arms were bound and, after struggling momentarily, found that his legs were as well. He began to panic and frantically looked around the darkened room as his heart pounded against his chest
"W-where am I? What's going on?!" he whimpered as he saw the bulk of a krogan lumber into the dim light, Gunner cracked his fingers and rotated his head to relax his neck
"We just have a few questions for you..."
"What questions? About what?"
"Don't play us for idiots, you know what we mean. What were you doing at the warehouse?" Caleb cut in, but the batarian was quick to protest his innocence
"I didn't do nothing, human! Nothing!" Caleb shrugged
"Okay then..." he studied his fingernails "You can keep pretending that you don't know...but everytime you do give us a wrong answer, the krogan here will break a finger." Gunner grabbed one of the batarian's hands and felt the him shaking slightly, probably with nerves
"You've got five tries first." Gunner grunted as he poised over the index finger "...Go."

(*waits for Marek* )

[Marek]

Jonas slowly made his way around the old ship. He looked at stuff, poked at stuff, but once he found the dog, he ended up spending most of his time with him. He slowly tried to open the dog up to him. He began scrounging around for some food and for some little knick knacks he could take that wouldn't be missed. He ended up trying to move a chair out of boredom.

He explored the ship some more, taking note of anything cool looking or something he didn't know what it was. He played with the dog a bit, and named him Gray. Finally after what felt like a lifetime Meta Squad re entered the ship. He stood off to the side and watched as they hauled some Batarian on the ship. He immediately ran to the nearest Meta Squad member and huddled behind him, frightened by images of his old slavers. Once they had left he went back to play with Gray, as the older people discussed what to do with him. "My name is Jonas you know." He said in a ' I am a big boy' voice. He listened to them discuss taking him to the citadel, which he had decided he wanted to go anyways, so he kept his mouth shut and his smile wide. "Citadel, here I come." he thought to himself.

[Mehrin]

As soon as the first shot was fired, the Salarian Operative sprang into action. He quickly tapped the shutdown commands for the portable lab, drawn his modified pistol, and sprinted down towards the warehouse at full speed. He was approaching the entrance when the noise died down.

Weapon at the ready, he moved closer to the entrance, which was left slightly ajar, to eavesdrop on the muffled voices he could here coming from within. He heard a voice, a human, the male. In a tone of voice he defiantly recognised.

"I reckon I can get some answers out of him for you."

The tone was one he himself had used before. This human was a qualified interrogator, that was for sure. The dark hint of overwhelming confidence mixed with a smidgen of expectant excitement was the hint. He silently primed his weapon, just in case. And then the squad exited, heading back to their ship, from the sound of their banter. As they came out of the warehouse, Mehrin ducked for cover behind whatever was near, making himself small, concealing him from sight. They wouldn't see him, not here - they wouldn't even be looking for anyone else.

He decided to wait for the Asari to exit. She seemed to be in control here, and anyway, he still had the scanner on the Meta-Squad's ship, so if they left, he'd know. He crouched down and waited. He had his weapon primed - just in case the now dead assailants had friends.

[Tempest]

"My name is Jonas you know." she heard the boy state, matter-of-factly and smiled as she faced him
"Ah, you can talk then." she chuckled as the dog barked as it played with Jonas "And it looks like our furry friend has taken a shine to you." Zylar tapped his talons on his arm and walked over to enter the Medical Bay
"I'll go and get things sorted for your wrist, Selena." she nodded
"Yeah, thanks." she walked over to a small cooler beside the large table at the opposite corner of the room and pulled out a small can of drink, placing it on the table infront of him "There you go, Jonas, was it?" she picked her feet up and rested them on the table "Just make yourself comfortable for the moment, we'll drop you off when we're done here." she leant her head back with closed eyes, and opened one to look at him "You don't have to worry about that batarian either, I won't let anything happen to a kid." she added, remembering his scared reaction when they re-entered the ship with their captive.

~~~~

The batarian screamed out in agony as he felt the bones break between Gunner's large fingers, he fought back the tears of pain
"I swear I don't know anything! I'm just a lackey!" Caleb whistled
"Oh dear, another wrong answer..."

CRACK

Another scream, the batarian bit his lip and eventually spat out
"Alright, alright!! We were taking the supplies from the warehouse!" he walked over and looked the batarian in the lower eyes
"Try telling us something we don't already know." he nodded to the krogan "Gunner?" he chuckled darkly
"I'm beginning to like you, Mallory."

CRACK

The batarian yelled out another tidbit of information
"Oh God! We...We were going to be picked up at midnight..." Caleb smiled
"Keep going."
"That's all I know! Really!" the smile faded and he nodded to Gunner, who untied his leg restraints, making the batarian sigh with relief at being released...or so he thought, as Gunner outstretched the leg and brought his heavy combat boot down, snapping the bone in two as if he'd trodden on a twig. Caleb stepped around and untied their captive's arms as well, shoving him from the chair and down to the floor. Obviously, his first reaction was to run for the door, but Gunner grabbed him by the collar and threw him back, Caleb catching him in a biotic stasis and slamming him into the ground headfirst. He laid there for a moment, worrying them both that they'd killed him...but the batarian pushed himself up, being grabbed again and sat down forcefully into the chair again
"Are you sure that's all you know?" Caleb inquired, the batarian slumped against the chair, blood trailing down from his nose and trickling down his lips and chin
"We...we...had an APC..." he sputtered hoarsely, Gunner fished out something from a nearby crate as Caleb spoke
"Okay, you had transport. So, where was it going?"
"Back...to our...our camp..." Caleb smiled
"See how nice we treat you when you tell the truth?" he brushed off his shoulder "Now the next question is: where is the camp?" the batarian coughed and blood bubbled from the corner of his mouth
"I'm just...a...lackey..."
"Aw, don't give me that shit again." he sighed "Gunner, you want to take this?" there was a small clatter of a can and Gunner held up two fingers together as he approached the batarian
"Sure." and forcefully jammed the two fingers into one of the batarian's four eyes, making him scream in pain as green ooze escaped from the closed eyelid: poison
"You going to tell us the location now? Or shall I get him to blind the other three eyes?" there was a pause but the batarian remained silent, Caleb sighed "Okay then, we'll see just how far your loyalty takes you..." Gunner pierced another two eyes with the same poison-tipped fingers and the batarian fell from the chair, rolling in agony as he attempted to hold his eyes with a broken hand. Caleb kicked him in ribs. Hard. So hard he could've sworn he felt a few rib bones break with the force he applied and kicked him again in the stomach, winded, the batarian managed to sit up and coughed up a mixture of blood and vomit "I'll ask you again: where's the camp?"
"It's...it's on the planet..."
"Keep talking." he raised a boot, ready for another kicking and the batarian cried out as he shielded his face
"No! Please! It's about several miles from here, from the colony." Gunner stepped beside him and pressed a foot to the batarian's head, applying pressure and making it feel as it his head was going to be crushed
"I hope you're not lying again." Gunner grunted
"I'm not...I'm not...I'm not..." the batarian kept repeating quietly as he shook his head, Caleb shrugged
"Looks like we might have got as much as we can out of him." Gunner nodded
"He looks pretty broken. I doubt we can get anything else from him now." Caleb pressed his earpiece
"Selena, we've managed to get some key info from this guy but we don't think he'll say anymore. You want us to waste him?" Caleb couldn't help but smile: he'd taken on his Cerberus side again, his darker side, a side he'd locked away and forgotten about for a long time...but renewing it again for this interrogation, a part of him even missed the person he used to be...

~~~

"You want us to waste him?" she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as Caleb's voice took on a darker tone
"You'll have to wait, I'll need to speak with Fioro about it before you finish him. Just tell me the information."

(Whoo, I really enjoyed that interrogation )

[Asyla]

Asyla watched Meta-Squad walk off with the prisoner. Shortly after she walked back to the container, on the way she found a dead Jika'ta. And not just any Jika'ta, her shotgun was still jammed between its jaws. Appearantly the Jika'ta had attempted to claw it out, and accidently hit the trigger; shooting itself in the brain.

It took her some attempts to remove the weapon, and when she did it was dripping wet with saliva and venom. She'd have to wash it later. But for now, Fioro got her equipment out and stored it all in a small portable case.
It was all kind of strange. Why did the pirates take Jika'tas with them? They were rather hard to control, and only few ever used them in combat. While on her way out, she passed the Jika'ta from before and stopped. Out of instinct, she approached it and examined the head closely. There it was.
A strange, circle-like brand mark. Shrugging, Asyla stood back up and continued towards the exit.
As closer as she stepped, as odder she felt. There was something about this operation... And it didn't have to do with pirates.

Stepping out of the exit, Asyla brought her comlink up, establishing a connection to her employer.

"Step 1 was a success. We have a captive, all others have been eliminated. You can send your crew. I will inform you once I get an update."
Asyla spoke into the microphone, heard the reply and continued on her way. Reorientating herself, she headed back towards the docks.
Just as the asari started walking, she felt like she was being watched...

[Mehrin]

As soon as the Asari was far enough away, the Salarian moved from his uncomfortable hiding spot. He kept low, moved quietly, but quickly, away from the Asari. He went to retrieve his portable lab. Judging from the Asari's trajectory, she was heading back towards the Docks. Even if he lost sight of her for a short while, he'd be able to catch up with her there.

Fortunately, when he reached his abandoned laboratory, it was still there and all in one piece. It was too far to the outskirts of the colony for anyone to meddle with. He deactivated the security shutdown, and activated the mobility mode, the hovercart engaging. He began to push it casually towards the docks.
He whistled tunelessly as he went.

[Asyla]

The feeling subsided, and Asyla continued on her way. She made her way towards the Docks, slowly. The asari was too tired to sprint all the way, and her shoulder still pained. The sky was darkening already, and Asyla began to shiver.
Accelerating her speed, she eventually reached the Valkyrie.
The ramp was open, and the asari quickly stepped inside.

Now she was probably in for some surprises. After all, she was stepping into Meta-Squad's 'base' now. There could be anything in there.

With her palm, the mercenary hit the metal door twice, calling out at the same time.
"It's Fioro. Let me in."

She pulled her hand back and instead put it on her shoulder. Her now cool hand eased the pain some more, clearing her head. Maybe they should consider moving the ship, but it was impossible to land it somewhere without a dock. At least not with this type of ship.
Well, she would find it out soon enough, depending on the information the squad had retrieved from the batarian.

[Tempest]

Zylar sat next to Selena and gently wrapped her hand in bandages with a makeshift splint, cushioning the wrist with Medi-Gel pads as Caleb chattered away in her earpiece, recalling the information from the batarian prisoner
"...And that's all we've managed to get from him." he finished
"He's mentally broken now, he's of no more use to us." Gunner chimed in, Selena went to reply but was cut short when she heard two loud bangs and a faint voice

"It's Fioro. Let me in."

Zylar wiped his forehead with the back of his hand
"I can get that." she shook her head
"Nice of you to offer, but I need you here to finish treating my injury." and pressed her earpiece
"Gunner, go and let Fioro inside. Caleb, stay with our guest in the very slim off-chance he decides to try anything."
"Aye Captain." came a single reply as the large door to the cargo bay slid open and Gunner ambled out, patting his three-fingered hands dry with a small cloth and headed towards the main entrance.

Caleb leant against a large crate and gazed over to his armour lying in the corner, then in a quiet moment of reflection, scratched his shoulder and remembered an old tattoo: one he'd covered up and considered removing on more than one occassion. A large image of a demonic horse-drawn chariot, driven by a skeletal rider which stretched over the back of his shoulders, accompanied by the name "Charon" to commemorate his initiaion into the high Cerberus ranks. He snapped back and nudged the batarian who was lying on the floor with his foot
"I hope for your sake you're not hiding anything else."

Gunner tapped in the code on the keypad and the door slid open, he scrunched the cloth into a ball and stepped aside to let Asyla inside
"Welcome to the Valkyrie, Fioro." he grunted

[Asyla]

The door slided open after a short period of time. Understandable, given the circumstances.
Asyla smiled at the krogan and briefly patted his shoulder as she strolled past him into the ship. With the curiousity inherited by her asari parent, she observed the ship's interior, surprised at how new it looked compared to the outside.

The asari then followed the krogan into the med-bay. After arriving, the asari didn't even look around further, she fixated Richardson and tossed a chip card onto a table.

"First off, here's the first half of your payment. If you still want to pull out, now's your chance."
Asyla didn't expect anyone to take her up on her offer, so she continued and crossed her arms.

"Before you tell me about the results of your chit-chat, you need to..."
Just then she spotted a human boy next to Richardson.
She paused immediately and stared at him as if he was a ghost. Uncrossing her arms again, Fioro looked back at Meta-Squad's leader.

"What...is a child doing here?"

[Marek]

Jonas sat and sorta mused by himself, not really understanding what was going on with the adults. All he knew is there was a batarian on board. He listened carefully, trying to piece things together. All he knew is that the batarian was bad, and these people were a squad, possibly working with others. Finally Jonas decided to pipe up and be slightly assertive. "Whats going on?" He asked quietly to anyone listening.

Than more of the squad exited from where the Batarian was being held, looking a bit more mean than when they entered. "What is this?" He asked again slightly fearful of what this crew was about. Than a knock on the door and another person entered. This was even worse than the Batarian, this adult looked straight at him and even recognized him as a kid.

"What...is a child doing here?"

Jonas began to really become scared now, nearly shaking himself into a biotic fit, everything around him lifted a few inches in the air for a second before dropping down again. The biotic action stopped when he lifted his hands to his eyes and huddled next to the closest warm body.

[Mehrin]

The portable lab was set up a few hundred metres from the Valkyrie, its discreet recording devices directed at the Mercenary vessel. The portable lab, on its little hover trolley, was alone. The Scientist Kharmel was not manning his atmospherical data recording devices, or the geological survey monitoring systems. In fact, the Salarian was no where to be seen.

This was because he was back at the warehouse. He left his laboratory in surveillance mode, then doubled back to the scene. He had his weapon at the ready when he entered the warehouse, expecting several bodies at the best, and he didn't want to consider the worst. But when he entered the building, weapon primed, sense alert, there was nothing, no one. It was just an empty warehouse. A clean warehouse. A completly pristine warehouse. So clean as to suggest it was dirty not that long previously.

Someone's covering their tracks. It couldn't have been the Asari or the Meta Squad. They were not in there long enough after the gunfire subsided. Someone else is involved in this. An employer maybe.

He was considering this even as he was heading back to Helraw Kharmel's office back at the colony. He needed to send a status report. When he arrived, he activated the secure extra-net link to his commander, and saluted as the other Salarian's bright orange figure appeared before him.

"At ease, Lieutenant. What do you have to report?"
"The targets went to a Warehouse on the outskirts of the colony, were in for some time, before exiting and heading back to the colony. They then separated, and begun to question colonists. The Asari, Fioro, even questioned me, sir. She asked about problems the colony may have been suffering, but I could not answer, obviously."
"Problems hmm? What kind of problems?"
"Not certain, sir. But they went back to the warehouse, and I followed. Another group entered, Batarians and Krogans mostly. Then there was what sounded like a fire fight, but it was over quickly. I pursued the targets back to the docks, they are all currently onboard the FSV Valkyrie."
"Keep them under surveillance. I assume you investigated this warehouse?"
"Yessir. Empty Sir. Its been cleaned out. Completely."
"Hmm. Something else is going on here, Mehrin."
"My thoughts exactly sir. Sir?"
The image of Captain Navarri visibly sighed. He knew what was coming.
"I'm sorry Mehrin. I really am. You know if there was anything I could do, I would. But the fact of the matter is, your in dangerous territory as it is. If the Systems Alliance find out we have a Salarian Spy on one of its most high profile colonies, then it will cause severe problems for the Union. Regardless of the fact that we are helping them. Tensions are high enough as it is. Request denied."
"Yessir. I understand Sir. But with all due respect sir, as you say, this is an Alliance planet, Alliance jurisdiction. There are certain places, certain informations, that I cannot access. With the Alliance on side, I would have access to these resources."

Navarri paused at this point. Over the years, he had made it practice to analyse his agent's way of thinking. He could usually guess where Mehrin was heading most of the time. This was the case now, but he had to take a few more moments to think about it.
"You think that whoever cleaned up that warehouse is the employer of these mercenaries. And you think that this employer is on the colony.
"Yessir. Whoever it is would have to have some authority here. The warehouse might be out of the way, but for an operation as swift and as thorough as the one done here, it would be noticed. I believe we will have more answers if we can ascertain the purpose of this warehouse. The few containers I tried were either locked securely, or empty. And I don't have the time nor teh resources to make a complete search, sir." It was clear from the tone of the last sir that Mehrin believed his Commanding Officer was making a mistake in not employing the aid of the Alliance in this endeavour.
"Very well. You took scans I assume? Good. Send whatever information you can, and we will undertake to find its purpose. It may take longer than simply asking the Alliance, but it is alot more secure. Proceed with observations. Do not engage. Navarri out."
"Sir."

Mehrin deactivated the communications link, and then exited the office, heading back to his portable laboratory. Kharmel had alot of work to do.