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With the quarian insurgents subdued after their leader had been taken hostage in turn, Lirem and Norem sent out a signal towards the Migrant Fleet by way of Areh'Narohl. Using the instructions from their boss, a small gathering of ships were soon hailed from the quarian home fleet, strange bulbous ships scrapped together of various origins. To James they were like floating junkyards, yet clearly capable of hovering down towards them and awaiting transfer of the former renegades. A hefty sum of credits was the groups' reward, the quarian superiors taking the criminal ship and all of its crew with immense apologies to the former human hostages. The Sole Calibrators were also rewarded an extra bonus for not killing a single quarian, the two brothers taking their skill in stride. In addition to this, the human cargo ship also expressed their immense gratitude with their own reward to give, with a little more given in the form of a request to escort them safely to Benning. The Sole Calibrators agreed as both ships headed towards the Euler System, somewhere in the Arcturus Stream. A week and a half later, they arrived at the planet Benning which was largely a human-based colony upon a lush garden world that was the perfect pit stop for repairs, food gathering and general trade. If one didn't mind a little acid rain now and again, it was the perfect place to settle down and have a thriving business. With the human cargo ship paying fully for their escort, the Sole Calibrators eagerly got to their own plans as Lirem awaited contact from their boss. Areh however had other plans on Benning, and headed down to the surface with Jax, James and Leiah who were curious for their own purposes. James heard mention that armour could be bought down at Benning's markets, and that there most certainly had to be at least one able to customise for him. Leiah was just intrigued to go shopping and see what sort of oddities would be sold down on the surface. To the newcomer's eye, the city on Benning was like a claustrophobic Chinatown. Apart from the aliens milling to and fro, as well as the white housing settlements piling on top of each other like giant overturned milk cartons, it didn't feel anywhere different from such a place that James thought of. He remembered the Chinatown back in London. Benning however was a lot nicer. The sky was a fluid orange with the threat of acid rain, and the houses at least had some sense of colour to them.

Market stalls littered the place casually, selling their strangest wares and affairs for all to see and peruse. He felt more at home here than back in the Citadel, taking shades of orange and yellow to the streets, and replacing the wider hallway-sized streets with tightly-packed corridors that forced people against stalls without warning. Whether you liked it or not, every stall was going to be seen by the newcomers upon this city. James and Leiah kept close, with Areh and Jax ahead of them trying to clear the way. The krogan's great bulk began parting the crowd, easily allowing them passage through while Areh sat firmly atop Jax's shoulders, the krogan clasping his friend's knees firmly to make sure he wouldn't fall off. "See anything?" asked the krogan. "Not yet," said Areh. "Would jumping help?" "No, please don't do any jumping." "Why, ya airsick?" "Just...keep walking." "What exactly do you need here?" asked James. "I need parts for the mako," said Areh, "now that we got some money and nothing else going on, this is the best time to do it." "What's a mako-nnngh..." "You alright?" "Y-yeah, it's fine, just a headache, so this mako thing?" "It's the tank we got down in the hangar, without that thing fixed we can't do any landing missions on planets out there. And trust me, there's gonna be a lot of those out here." "And who drives the tank?" "Uhhh I do." "Wait, you?" "Yeah! What, you think I can't drive?" "No just...I thought Lirem or his bro would because they're military." "Oh...well, Norem does drive sometimes, but the mako's my responsibility." "You sure keep everything running good," said Leiah kindly. "I haven't seen a single thing out of place on the ship, what's your specialty?" "Omni-tools mainly, but it's not a hard ship to look after, it is a civilian ship after all...oh, hey stop here Jax." The krogan stepped out into an open plaza and placed Areh down gently upon the metal walkways. James didn't get much of a chance to see that the cities were built up higher and higher above the ground more than anything, making him feel rather nervous at what a drop on this planet would feel like. The plaza was nicely spread out with several stone benches for aesthetic as well as a fountain with artificial water pumping safely through it, constantly being reoxygenated against the more toxic precipitation from above. "Is this acid rain deadly?" asked FG. "Not enough to burn," said Jax, "but enough to eat through your shields or barriers. We'll be fine, it just stings a little." "Uhhh huh...is it gonna rain anytime soon." "Nah, they'd warn ya if it was." "Alright," said Areh, "me and Jax are going to go find what we need, so you two can go look around if you want. We meet back here at 3pm according to your omni-clock. If for some reason you're any later than 3:04, I'm going back to the ship because I'm not waiting on you." "Got it," said FG. "All I need is some armour so I just gotta scope out a price." "Alright, see you later."

The krogan and the male quarian headed off into the marketplace, making a beeline towards one particular district without a second to lose. James smirked at the way Areh trotted off with a constant fast-walk, forcing Jax to keep up. "Man, that guy is wound up like fuck." "I know right," replied Leiah, "such high-maintenance, I wonder how they can stand him." "Whatever, let's go shopping." "Goodie! I never been to a human colony before so I wonder what they sell here." "Well if you need any help I'm pretty familiar with humans so don't worry." "Okay doke...it's amazing how diverse they are. I mean, I can tell they're all one species but, they've got so many different colours and traits! I think they're like one of the most genetically diverse species in the galaxy!" "Really? ...huh, are none of the other species that complex?" "Well I can't really tell much between turians, quarians well, suits aren't exactly skin you know." "Hah, point taken." Both raptor and female quarian walked off their own path, admiring the human-centric culture that Benning was populated with. Familiar trinkets of Earth-based lore, delightful delicacies ranging from gumbo to sushi to burgers. The sounds and smell of a dozen human cultures all flooded towards him with a strange warm nostalgia he had not felt in years. He was ravenous after a few minutes, enough to buy all sorts of foodstuffs while Leiah kept her eyes out for anything similar catering to dextro-amino designs. James ended up feasting on a mixed meal of burgers from America, red puddings from Scotland, and Spanish chorizo. Leiah managed to find some human food redesigned for her sensibilites in the form of daikon miso soup from Japan, Jewish matzah balls served in chicken soup, and owofibo soup from Nigeria which blended tomato with palm oil. All in all, it was turning out to be like a big trip to the city for the two of them to enjoy a hefty lunch, sitting down on a bench in another park area of the city with some soda cans. "Do you only eat meat?" asked Leiah. "I can eat vegetables," replied James, "but I don't get much out of them." "What's your favourite food then?" "Hmmmm...mushroom and pepperoni pizza." "Ooooh, pizza? What's that?" "It's a human food, it's like...this really flat bread that you smear tomato or cheese over, and you can add any topping you want. Fish, mushroom, pineapple, pepperoni, ham, it's great! What about your favourite food?" "Varren meat stewed with honey marinade...oooooh it makes me drool to think of it." "Mmmmm...honey and meat are really good, back home with my boyfriend, he made the most amazing steak slathered with jammin' jelly with some fried shrooms on the side, MMMPH god it's like, you ever had food that woke you up AND filled you?" "Hehee, must be good! But, didn't you say your boyfriend wasn't from the same world as you?" "...I did?" "...wait, did I assume that maybe, cuz I remember the picture you showed me of-" "Oh yeah yeah uh...did I say that?" "The picture looked so pleasant and sweet and then you told me about all the stuff that happened in your world...heh, maybe I thought too much about it." "Well you're right." "Wait, really?!" "Yeah...truth is he...he's from another world too, not the one I came from." "Awww...so...there's other worlds out there besides yours and mine?" "Oh god, there's dozens of them. I can't even explain it cuz if I do I feel like my head'll explode." "What's it like then?" asked Leiah. "I mean, what's it like going between worlds?" "...cold. Very cold. Everytime it happens I...I just summon this energy around me from inside my body, some sort of nano-thing that they put inside me back during the experiment. It's some kind of teleportation thing but...I just get these certain words or keyphrases and they just...spark something inside of me. And if I wanna go where they wanna go...then I just summon the energy more powerfully, let it rise up around me until it just completely swallows me up, tearing open a hole in reality and just sucking me through. Then I black out. And then I'm somewhere else." Even through her mask James could feel her eyes widen with disbelief, before she gently replied with: "It's...not that I don't believe you, but-" "No no no, it's cool, I know this stuff kind of sounds impossible, the guy down at C-Sec said the same. I'm not gonna try to convince you but, if you're gonna ask me this stuff, be prepared for a weird answer." "Right...you had a headache back there, do those happen often?" "Only when I hear certain keyphrases. For some reason 'mako' is one of them, so I'm trying not to think about it or else I'll get that weird feeling again. It's weird." "Hehehe, well I like weird. Normal is boring." "Sure is."

The two clinked their cans together and drank up, the quarian utilising some sort of straw-like induction port in her suit that allowed her to filter and receive whatever food or drink she had. After they finished, they asked for directions towards anyone who knew how to customise armour, the raptor soon finding a small shop of electronics nestled in a back street. Leiah walked in with him, their shadows silhouetted out from the doorway as they gazed beyond into the dark junk-filled storeroom. Pieces of armoured gauntlets hung from the ceiling like dismembered arms, leg greaves swayed in a distant breeze in the shape of every species from human to quarian. Body armaments were wrecked, severed and torn apart, more resembling a robotic torture room than anything else. Leiah slowly moved a hand towards her pistol, the raptor doing the same as a voice camed from the darkness, deep and resonating with its echo as a gigantic shadow hovered into view. " SURPRISED JOY. WELCOME MY FRIEND." The quarian smirked and moved her hand away from her pistol, encouraging James to do the same before replying: "Hello!? We're looking for someone who can customise armour?!" " CURIOUS INTRIGUE. MIGHT I ASK..." Eventually the darkness faded from the shadow to reveal a creature James had seen little of in the galaxy. An Elcor. Hulking thick hide like that of a rhinoceros, tiny eyes and thin vertical slats in semblance of a mouth. Its only coverings seemed to be leather gauntlets, leggings and a cloth upon its back in shades of brown and blue. "...apologetic puzzlement. Oh, my apologies. I mistook you for someone else." "Uhhh...heh, s'alright," said FG, "are you the armour specialist guy?" "With aroused suspicion...yes. I am." "Cool, 'cause uh...I need some specialised armour, because well, as you can see I'm...not exactly able to fit in most of them." "With curious delightment...I would be glad to make you some armour befitting to you. Please, allow me to take your measurements so that we may arrange a price." "Alrighty." "Do you also require armour, madame?" "Oh no," said Leiah, "I'm with him so take your time." "Polite resignation, very well. Please, follow me sir." The raptor headed into the back of the store, where the elcor hobbled his way through upon his oddly bent back legs that moved incredibly slowly. Thankfully the store was not huge as they made their way to a strange-looking scanner, resembling a hollowed-out isolation tank. "Please step on the scanner." "Whatsit do?" "It will take all of your measurements for me, that way I can make the most comfortable armour possible for you." "Uhh alright then." Hopping inside, he stood up straight with tail against his back in the tight confines of the scanner. The machine readily began to take all of his measurements, noting height, width, head shape, tail length and finger width, all of which the elcor began to record in his omni-tool, his giant thick hand pressing upon the smaller tool with surprising dexterity. Eventually the scanner stopped, as the elcor somehow transferred a perfect holographic shape of James himself onto a table, laying out the bodily proportions accurately.

"Woah," said James, "that's pretty freaky!" "With satisfactory pride, you have never seen this before?" "Hell no." "It is a program I modified in order to properly recreate bodily shapes. That way I can better estimate the armour needed while making it fit. Your tail will be the most difficult, but I have had experience in handling such cases." "Hah, really?" "With genuine curiosity, yes. You are a fascinating species I feel fortunate to encounter." "Uhhh...really? Also, why you talking like that?" "Hmm?" "You keep like, saying how you feel at the beginning of each sentence." "Factually observant...I am an elcor. It is the only way we can communicate with those outside of our species." "Really? You guys can't show emotions or something?" "No, we can. But our emotions rely on slight body movements, subvocalised infrasound, and emitting certain smells." "...smell? Really?" "Yes. You did not know of this before?" "No I...I know OF you guys but not what your whole deal was, that's...that's bizarre." "Wry amusement," said the "smiling" Elcor. "You are the second person to say that to me this month. How fascinating." "I am?" "Yes. There was another, of your species even, who came in asking the very same thing, who was also asking for armour specialisation." "...wait...what do you mean another of my species? As in, he looked like me?" "Delightful intrigue...yes. He was taller than you, six-foot-six if I recall correctly...he was black too, and he had the most charming eyes. Little blue rings around each of them." "...god dammit. I can't believe he's here." "Curious...do you know him?" "He's...sort of an acquaintance I know yeah." "If you see him again, please tell him that Thunat is very grateful for his assistance." "Uhhh...I'll pass it along when I see him...if I see him. What did he do exactly?" "...with guarded cautiousness, he helped me with a very personal problem, of which I am now very grateful to him for doing so. I cannot say more." "Alright, fair enough. Soooo uh, you got a good idea for the armour now?" "With practiced professionalism, yes. What sort of armour are you looking for?" "Huh?" "Do you require armour that relies on speed, or strength? Do you prefer to move constantly to avoid a dozen shots, or do you prefer to take hits like a tank at the cost of slow movement?" "Uhhhhhh...what do you think Leiah?" "I say go for speed," said the quarian, "it suits you after all, you're kind of pretty skinny as it is so heavy armour might not work for you." "Good point, okay I'll go for speed." "Very well...basic armour will suit you best, shield notwithstanding." "Oh cool you'll gimme a shield too?" "Yes. It is customary on most armours, unless you are biotic. With shrewd formality, let me count the price."

It did not take long for the elcor smith to come up with a total, taking into compensation the complexity of his new customer's body before replying: "Your armour will cost thirty-thousand credits." "Wh-wh-...thirty THOUSAND?!" "Unnerved hesitation...please keep your voice down sir." "I ju-...thirty thousand, are you serious?!" "Apologetic...yes. Your body is unique, and extra materials must be considered owing to both your unusual head shape and long tail. Considering you are looking for a basic armour type, this is the cheapest deal I can offer you." "God...I've only got like...eighteen-thousand maybe." "I am sorry sir." "No no it's...fine, sorry for shouting just-thirty thousand, really?! God that's...hmmmm...so if I get you the money, will you be able to make me a suit?" "With professional certainty...I can easily obtain the materials required for a suit befitting of you, once I have received payment. You can depend on me." "...that other guy, the one you said looked like me, did he get a suit too?" "Yes." "...did it cost him the same amount?" "Yes. Despite his greater build, the price of materials was the same. He was very pleased with his new look." "...well if he got one then I should too, alright I'll get you your money, how long will the suit take after I pay you?" "For the one who resembled you, it took me two days. It will not take as long for you now that I have a better understanding of your species' anatomy. Though the last one who resembled you was bigger, and demanded a much thicker armour." "Alright then, no problem. I'll try to get back to ya soon as I can." Leaving the shop with some disappointment, he looked over his omni-tool for how much he had, just shy of 20,000 credits as Leiah walked alongside him, asking: "I could lend you some money if you want?" "Nah nah I'll get some another way, you need it." "And you need armour." "I know." "Lemme give you a little at least." "I need like ten-thousand more, that's a lot to give so-" "MY CABBAGES!" A scream from the northern street alerted them to the sound of chaos ongoing, as the raptor headed off like a moth to the flame. Leiah followed after, curious but also wanting to make sure he would not get into more trouble. In the middle of a street, a fat middle-aged human was desperately trying to gather up his produce, cabbage heads rolling all over the metal street. A cocky-looking man in yellow armour sneered down at him, before pushing his foot down onto the grocer's hand and making him cry out. "AAAAH!" "Where's the money?" "P-please, lemme just-I'll pay you tomorrow I swear!" "You said that yesterday!" "I DIDN'T, YOU WEREN'T HERE YESTERDAY!" "You callin' me a liar?!" "NO!" The crowds backed off at the scene of danger, as the thug pulled out a pistol before the grocer's head, making him cower and sob with fear. "Where's...the money...you fat fuck?" "P-PLEASE, NO!" "YOU WANNA HOLE IN YOUR HEAD OR NOT, NOW GIVE IT!"

Suddenly a shot was heard, fired off across the street as the gun flew out of his hand by a sparking shot across it, causing the thug to yelp and clutch his wounded hand. James and Leiah stood coolly at one end of the street, the quarian's pistol smoking as the human said: "Who the fuck are you!?" "People who give a shit," said James. "Now back off." "FUCK YOU, stay outta this!" "You wanna hole in your head or not, now back off!" "You don't mess with the Sand Storm gang, never! SHOOT 'EM!" Suddenly, two more men in yellow came running down the street with pistols out and ready, firing towards them just before people started to flee in terror. Store owners ducked behind their stalls as James and Leiah did the same, the crowds hiding away into the undershade of the city streets. The grocer crawled panickedly back to his stall in turn, forgetting about the cabbages for now as the raptor snarled: "This shit escalated fast, does this happen often?!" "Only when you get involved and try to stop people!" said Leiah. "YOU SHOT HIM FIRST!" "Yeah but you were gonna!" "...whatever, I can never stay out of trouble so FUCK IT!" Sensing a lull in the gunfire, he popped out of cover and fired half a clip into the two thugs waiting to reload. These ones were toughened up with proper armour on them, which for the most part resisted gunfire rather well but to a point. Headshots were still grievous to inflict, but the distance between both ends of the street made things difficult for both of them. For the first time did James notice that Leiah had her own shield, briefly repelling shots that went after her but only a few. Occasionally a shimmer came over her body to signify it had recharged. "When did you get a shield?!" asked James with startlement. "I've always had it, what are you blind?!" "I just never noticed before!" "I was smart enough not to get shot at, unlike you!" "Ohhhh goood for youuuu!" "We need to get closer!" "Sure, ladies first!" "Hah, still a gentleman?!" "Only because you got a shield apparently!" She headed forwards first when the shots stopped firing, crouch-walking her way towards another stall and trying to console the frightened stall-owner who sat cowering beside her. James in turn followed up on the other side of the street to hide behind a crate. Neither of them peeked out of cover when the enemies were firing, making sure that they still suspected the raptor and quarian to be at the far end of the street.

Once they were halfway down the street, they waited for the thugs to pop up from behind cover before firing an entire clip on them, plugging both their heads and shoulders full of metal shards with James firing out two shots of nanofire at one of them just to make sure. The two went down in an instant, gurgling with punctured fractures inside their skulls as the tiny slivers of metal propelled from the handguns simply shredded through their heads. The one that James blasted fire onto began to corrode through its armour, melting away smoothly to reveal a lightly charred undersurface between flesh and body armour. But the fun was not yet over, as both James and Leiah headed over to grab spare ammo from the dead gangsters in the form of thick red cylinders, the heat clips that James still tried to comprehend while reloading carefully. "WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON HERE?!" A woman's voice came roaring up from beyond the street, the two peering round the corner to see an open backstreet area that served as a cafe front. Ventilation fans hummed softly around the cafe walls, nestled behind slatted covers as a woman with short brown hair and green eyes stood in yellow armour. The wounded thug from before pointed at them, saying: "That's them! They're the ones tryin' to screw with us!" "The fuck is your problem huh?!" answered the woman. "My boy here's trying to get some wages from a client of ours, and you shoot his damn hand off!" "Client?!" roared FG. "It was a fucking shakedown, that dude was extorting some guy and about to plug a bullet in his head!" "Hey, if you don't like the way we run things around here then why don't you leave?!" "Because I don't let bullies fucking walk away!" "Bully?! What are you, a fucking kid?!" "I'm the guy who's gonna kick your ass, bitch!" "Hahaha...really." The female human walked forwards a few steps, chuckling out of derision. "You think you can take me?" "I'll give you one last chance," said James. "Either cut this extortion shit out, or I kill you. What's it gonna be?" "...what, no third option?" "No." "Then I'll make one, how 'bout I kill you instead!" She pulled out her gun the same time as FG, but the raptor was faster by nature as he fired several shots at her head. But they never landed upon her skin, for instead they dissipated in front of her the moment she put her hand up and made a small gesture of her fingers, shimmering a purple aura around her very being. "Wh-what, she has shields too!?!" "Uh-uh," said Leiah. "Barriers." "What?!" "LOOK OUT!" Pushing him to one side, Leiah ducked hard behind a cinderblock barricade as the gang leader began firing down on them, casually reloading her gun after emptying half a clip. The raptor peeked out to try firing again, but the moment he did, she shot out something else entirely different. A thick blue shockwave that shimmered through the very air, before slamming hard into FG's chest like a charging bull. Falling hard against the street, he rolled and struggled to get up and hide before the woman started firing again, shouting: "THE FUCK WAS THAT?!" "SHE'S A BIOTIC!" warned Leiah down the street. "JUST STAY IN COVER!" "THE FUCK IS A BIOTIC!?" "YOU'LL FIND OUT, JUST STAY DOWN!"

She readied herself a grenade and waited for the perfect moment, hurling it towards the gang leader right when she was about to reload taking her eyes away from the street. The moment the grenade bounced twice, it exploded in front of her, forcing her to shriek and fall back as her barrier got taken down fast, a shimmering twitch of purple fading out of existence. James saw his chance, and eagerly rushed out of cover to fire hard towards the human with only a few shots landing on her armour. When he tried to use his nanofire however, she recovered enough to stop him with a barrier to repel them, forcing him to try and get back until she summoned another biotic power. Swinging out a hard blue stream upwards along the ground of pure dark energy, the gang leader grabbed FG within its embrace, and hurled him up towards the sky. He found himself suddenly weightless, floating helplessly above the ground as he struggled to move. A sitting duck for the woman, were it not for Leiah distracting her with another grenade and a full clip from her handgun. The grenade and gunfire she was able to avoid, but the biotic gang leader was forced to drop her prey in dodging back from the shots, leaving FG to fall hard upon the floor and stumble away with aching body. Soon two more gunmen came out to suppress with their fire, one of whom wielded a shotgun that readily blasted out a scattershot across their cover. Pinned down with no way to advance or retreat, Leiah cried out: "USE YOUR FIRE ON 'EM!" "WHAT?" "I HAVE A PLAN, JUST DO IT!" Not doubting her experience, the raptor fired out a wide spray of burning fire across the cafe area, blanketing the field view of the gang thugs as Leiah hurled out a grenade rolling through the flames. The burning heat set it off early, as an EMP blast shattered through the gang leader hard, while stunning the two gangsters briefly as she was hurled against a wall to slam her back into it. James saw his chance, seeing the biotic woman lie crumpled slightly as he stepped out of cover, before summoning his own power. With a roaring strength he felt wind gather round his limbs before shooting him hard through the flames, piling onto the woman and slamming her head back down onto the ground. She grabbed for her gun, but he kicked her hard across the face causing a large reddened slash that bled openly before her cheeks, screaming as she blasted FG backwards with biotic strength. A forceful throw that slammed him across the cafe front, he rolled himself back up using the momentum of the throw as he pulled out his gun and fired brashly in front of her.

She hadn't had time to get her barrier back up after Leiah's disabling arc grenade, but it gave James. enough time to shoot her in the head repeatedly. At least three of the seven or eight shots he fired hit their mark, her head snapping back from the volley of shards to make her gurgle and fall back against the wall, eyes rolling up inside her head as she fell dead. The two gangsters had been so occupied by the flames that they only just noticed their boss' death, their moment of distraction caused by the fire searing through their armour at a dangerous proximity. With both raptor and quarian now pointing guns on either side of them, as the fires ran burning near them, they surrendered in a state of utter confusion and dropped their weapons, begging them not to shoot. "ALRIGHT ALRIGHT WE GIVE UP, CHILL BRO!" "Y-YEAH, NO NEED TO KILL US TOO, WE GIVE!" "...sure about that?" said FG. "Y-YEAH, TOTALLY!" "...alright, kick your guns away over to me. Now." The thugs did as he asked, guns skidding across the floor as the raptor picked them up before putting into his satchel. "You're gonna change your fucking lives right here, right now, the moment you walk away from me I want you to do something better with your life. First off, that guy your friend was harassing, he's a grocer down the street selling cabbages. You're gonna give him half your money, each, or else." "H-half?! B-but, why?!" "BECAUSE I SAY SO! You wanna give him ALL of your money!?" "N-no!" "Then do as I fucking say. Once you've done that, you leave this gang and do something good to these people, like get a real job. If I hear any shit from this place, I will hunt you fuckers down." "O-okay, okay but...the fire, it-" James cut them off with gun pointing still as he walked slowly towards the burning flames that led back towards the street. With a blast of water from his hands sparked by nanos, the fires soon ceased offering them a smoking clear route, which they took immediately the moment he said: "Go." The men didn't even hesitate as they tore through the alleyway, the raptor holstering his pistol back into his satchel as Leiah walked out from behind cover. "Not bad," said she, "not bad at all. That charge you did right through the flames was rather awesome." "Heh, just a little trick I picked up." "Looked like a biotic charge even...but not quite as fast, not by a long shot." "Still fast enough for some people when they can't dodge." "Hehee, right." "Nnnngh..." James softly clasped his head with a twitch starting in his eye. "You alright?" asked Leiah. "Yeah just...think I overdid it a little, too much at once maybe." "Another headache?" "Yeah but this one's different, if I use my nanos too much my head starts to get weak...dammit, I thought when they upgraded they would get better at this." "Alright...well uh, what do we do with the bodies then? More than just one this time." "I dunno, do the police even do anything around here?" "I don't think there's even ANY police here, not that I know of. ...OH, hey, you said you were looking for money right?!" "Yeah?" "I got something to show ya! Put your omni-tool over hers." She pointed at the dead human sitting against the wall as James scanned her. Something popped up in his omnitool data the moment it turned on, flickering orange that wrapped around his whole wrist as numbers flashed up on the screen. 6000 credits, transferred into his holdings. "WOAH!" "Hehee, there ya go...wow that's a lotta credits on her, now you can almost buy that suit!" "Suit?" "Sorry, armour." "Yeah...huh, I didn't think you could steal money from dead people like this." "Not like they tell you on the omni-tool manual but uh, well, unprotected signal and all see, kinda goes down once you're dead and not able to resist anyone just taking it." "Hhhheh heh heh...I like this. I like this a lot...well uh, now that I've got one less gang to worry about, let's see what other stuff these guys are holding." "Ooookay but uh, try not to let people see you actively taking stuff from them. It's kind of bad when people see you take stuff from dead bodies. Trust me I know." "Hmhmhahaha, I see, alrighty then let's do this quick and see how we get on."

Back on the ship, the turian brothers were settling in to a game of poker in the living room. Their cards stayed propped up in their claws as they tried to catch the other out. Poker chips rised up before them like a miniature skyscraper city, the light glinting above their heads with a fluorescent flick that did nothing to distract them. The softest ticking noise could be heard from a distance, gently clocking back and forth. Tick tock tick tock. Minutes passed like stones rolling down a sandhill, almost afraid to disturb the silence for whatever else was left of it. "I told you to put that metronome away," said Lirem. "I like it," said Norem. "It soothes me, not just for keeping rhythm." "It's also useful in trying to piss me off." "If you don't like it, put it away yourself." "Uh-uh, not letting you look at my cards." "Then take 'em with you." "What if I drop 'em?" "That's your fault." "Not gonna risk it...ach, fine, full house." Lirem dropped his cards out on the table, three eights and two sixes. Norem dropped his cards of 4, 2, 7, 5 and 6, all of which were clubs. "...flush." "YES! In your FACE! Now to stop that damn ticking." He got up from his seat and put away the metronome, which had been left ticking away to itself back and forth on a tabletop counter in the kitchen nearby. Norem sat back to enjoy the peace to himself, before quickly heading off to his room in order to avoid his brother's gloating. But before he got a chance to leave, he heard the entrance to the ship open. At first the turian almost dodged out of sight to prepare his rifle at the sight of lean red armour before him, but he knew from a second look that it wasn't Blood Pack armour. Not the right shade of red, more metallic than blood shade. It was in fact the raptor, all tooled up. A sturdy basic armour with weighted shoulderpads, various armoured pockets around the waist for carrying ammo and supplies, a helmet being carried underarm with an elongated snout and a surprisingly large set of boots with a swollen frontal toe cap. The tail was also well guarded in its own sleeve, through a series of linking connectors that all neatly lined up with each other, constantly clicking into place silently in order to remain as fluid and guarded as possible, without any little holes inbetween each bit. Almost like an external spine of some sort.

"Eeeeeevening all," said FG smugly, "look who's back with a shiny new red suit of armour. Whaddaya think?!" "Huh," said Norem, "...not bad. Not bad at all, that's uh...basic type right, engineer class?" "Yep! Guy said it fitted me best and yanno what, I agree! God it feels so good to move around in, I feel like I'm wearing a sweater and jeans made of metal for christ's sake, this is awesome!" "He even got the tail fitted in and everything, I'm impressed. Where's your friend?" "Here!" Leiah called out from further behind, catching up briefly before walking in slightly short of breath. "Sorry, just...had to stop and get something, needed to buy some more ammo." "Oh yeah I forgot," said FG. "That little fight we had two days ago was something." "Sure was, your first biotic, I'm so proud of you." "Hahaha...oh uh, sorry for keeping you waiting on the armour making." "It's cool," said Norem. "Couple of days on shore leave never hurt anyone. Hey Lirem!" "WHAT!?" "Come 'ere, look at dino boy's new digs!" The other turian came through and smirked at the shiny new armour, replying: "Heh-heeeey not baaaaad, basic engineer model right?" "Yep," said FG. "All about speed over strength." "Yeah I get that, not bad at all. Glad you won't get killed so easy now." "Soooo does that mean I get to join you in your little adventures now?" "Well firstly, they're not adventures, they're actual missions where we help out people and get money for it. I mean, it's cool of you to wanna help out a little, but you gotta take it seriously." "Oh yeah totally, no problem. Do people know you do this thing, like your fans?" "Nope, our boss handles all the PR, far as the galaxy knows we're two completely different groups." "Right...maybe I should not show up at anymore of your shows then or else people are gonna get suspicious." "Yeaaaaaaaah probably. Besides, can you even play an instrument?" "Nope." "Then yeah, best not to be at our shows if we get any."

The next day, after James became more accustomed to his armour and eagerly showed it off with pride to the rest of the crew, a new message came from their boss Arutulelan. They all gathered in the briefing room next to the cockpit, James and Leiah included as the screen visualised before them, revealing the hanar once again with his deep ethereal voice. "This one has heard great news concerning the hostage takers from Antaeus. The Migrant Fleet have praised the sentencing of their fugitives, and they shall be punished accordingly. They were very pleased that not a single one of their people had been killed in the takeover, so this one must commend you for such action." "No problem sir," said Lirem with confidence. "Just good ol' Turian training." "Indeed. This one has received a new mission, but it requires some new equipment. Mr. Narohl, have you repaired the mako yet?" "Sure did!" said Areh. "I just got the parts a couple of days ago, just need to make some last modifications and it'll all be perfect." "Excellent. Your next mission shall be sent to your terminal." "Oh um, sir?" asked Lirem. "We have a request to make, if that's okay." "Yes?" "Well, see these two here? They wanna help us out on our missions like additional backup, just so they can pay their way through." "...did we not agree that passengers were temporary?" "Well yeah but, these two are really useful! I mean, an extra mechanic is always useful, and this raptor dude here, he killed a krogan WITHOUT wearing armour." "This one is aware of the escalating bar fight that occurred in the Citadel Wards. Ryncol is most effective and easy to use as a flammable projectile." "Thank you," said FG. "...wow you really know everything huh?" "That was not a compliment. You are impulsive, untested and furthermore, inexperienced. This one does not take chances with such unknown opportunists." "But I wanna help out! I don't wanna be a waste, I want to pay you guys back for getting me out of there!" "Your own irresponsibility has already been paid, there will not be any further discussion." "Why not?!" "Because you are simply using this group in order to find a safe passage home, through to another dimensional array somewhere in this universe, and you insist on being a stowaway so you do not have to pay your fare through the galaxy like some worthless vagrant...is that correct?" "...I...I-i...h-how do you even-" "This one pays attention. It was not difficult to assert from both your eagerness and also from your C-Sec report. Is that not true, Mr. Campbell?" "...yes. A-alright, yes, it is. I'm...I'm trying to find my way home and I thought...since you guys were all zip-zapping across the galaxy I thought maybe...maybe I could head on into little ports now and again or cities and find someone who was...able to help me or, build me something or know something at least that could get me back home. Alright?"

The group all stared at him in silence, somewhat incredulous by his words even after knowing he was not from this world. It was only for a few minutes before Jax shrugged, saying: "So?" "Huh?" "So what, I don't care why he's here. He can fight, he bought armour and everything, that shows he's serious about it. I mean how much wuz it?" "...about thirty-thousand credits?" "Yeah see, you don't throw that kinda money around unless yer serious about it right?" "You support him Mr. Krungut?" said Arutulelan. "Yeah I wanna support 'im! Guy may be rough but he didn't get his ass killed yet, and how long has he been around since the Citadel?!" "A month." "Well hey, guy survives a couple of fights fer a month without armour, I think he's good." "And he's got good tech!" said Leiah. "Down at Benning we were dealing with some gang, he took on a biotic and burned right through them! Though he wouldn't have done it without me of course." "Hm...do the rest of you support this?" "I think he's got potential," said Norem. "He's not a rookie, I can see in his eyes he ain't." "Same here," said Lirem. "Honestly I dunno what to think, I got no idea what he could do, but it wouldn't hurt to like give him some sidemission or something real easy that won't distract us?" "I don't care," shrugged Areh casually, "I'm just more concerned about my mako, if he can help then I don't mind." "Very well," said Arutulelan. "If you wish to take a new member on board as part of your little mercenary group, then this one shall allow a...small test run of Mr. Campbell's abilities. In fact, the next mission will do nicely as a...uncharted challenge. You are now responsible for him, and like the rest of you he must take orders from me. Let us hope that he does not fail you." "I won't," said FG. "You have my word mister." The hanar ceased communication as the terminal received their next mission.

Missing Lunar Scientists A small group of scientists that were investigating lunar patterns have ceased contact from their research station. The station is located on one of the moons of the Hoplos System, in the Hades Nexus region. Investigate the base and regain contact with the scientists. If any hostiles are to be found in the area, eliminate at all costs unless circumstances demand otherwise.

"Scientists huh?" said FG. "Sounds like another hostage mission." "I'm not sure," said Lirem, "this kind of project is way too small for hostage-taking, no bargaining gain from these dudes unless they found something super-important, which Tulan would know about." "Tulan?" "Uhhh Arutulelan?" "OH right right, yeah that name's way easier to pronounce." "Anyways, this doesn't sound like a hostage thing, just some communication that got lost or some missing team, sounds easy right?" "I guess?" "Well, why don't we make this your first mission huh? Areh, you ready for a li'l moonside strolling?" "I was born ready," said the quarian. The ship soon headed off from Benning's orbit and off towards the Hades Nexus, a thick purple sea within space that shimmered like broken amethyst fragments, coalescing within one sanctum. Even though he still had his mission to find someone to help him, James felt like a little kid all over again in that brief instant, with excitement burning through his veins at a small dream of his that would finally be realised. A space adventurer.