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A few days after their docking on Illium's main city, the Sole Calibrators were busy in the cockpit/meeting room where they debated plans for their concert. They knew it wasn't a large gig, a fundraiser but it was still a paid gig, one of quite a sum arrangement according to Arutulelan. James sat in his room painting up his armour, whilst Leiah was in her own room talking to her parents. The raptor had been feeling a little uncertain about his new armour, thinking it needed a little more variety and after a few recommendations from his new friends around him, he decided to paint it up a little. Most of the armour was in both red and silver, giving it a rather muscular appearance with the silver like bone, a rather macabre piece if one looked at it that way. But he liked it, the red was dangerous while the silver looked pious. He did however put a few extra touches to it for himself. Unfortunately he wasn't very artistic and ended up only choosing the colour purple. Obvious that he already knew but he had nothing else, scratching his purple birthmarks almost instinctively as he put the finishing touches to it. The neck-guard, ammo packs and gauntlets were now a thick shade of purple, exactly the colour of his stripes. It made him feel more unique, knowing it was rather impossible for him to blend in a crowd so why not make the most of it? With that sorted, he stepped out of his room and went towards the cockpit, deciding not to bother Leiah's special family time. As he walked closer towards the front of the ship, he could hear the band's conversation growing around the topic of music, the four of them as always in their regular clothes while on the ship. "We haven't done 'Ode To The Ishimura' in a while," added Norem. "That could work." "Not for a fundraiser dude," said Lirem, "come on, that one's kinda somber." "Just saying that synth part at the beginning is a nice intro." "Right right." "How about 'Goodnight Miss Dark'?" asked Areh. "That one's pretty punchy, not got any real mood to it other than yanno, let's kick it!" "Theeeere ya go that's the spirit. Anyone else?" "'War Was Beginning'?" "Nahhh too fast," added Norem. "I don't like starting songs when they're too fast, wanna get them in the mood slowly." "Alright fair enough...uuuuummmmmm-" "Whut about 'Glad I Am'?" said Jax. "It's a good song, pretty mellow, real rockin'." "That's actually a really good choice, I like that." "Yeah same here," said Lirem. "Alright...yeah I think we're good between 'Miss Dark' or 'Glad I Am' depending on how we're good for vocals that day. What else?" "We're not gonna have many songs," said Norem, "I checked with the fundraising arrangers and they said they only needed like, three songs for intervals." "Well hey, perfect! We can go with Glad I Am, then Miss Dark, go high then come in low with that sweet guitar riff. Huh, huh?"

They all murmured in agreement at the idea, before Lirem asked: "Anyone got an idea for a finisher?" "Well," said Jax, "I mean...we haven't done it in a while but..." "But what?" "Well..." The krogan rubbed his neck nervously before adding: "It's a real popular song, I mean this guy's a fan she'll love it, I-" "It's not Rachniphobia is it?" said Lirem bluntly. "...yes." "We're not doing that song." "Aw come on Lirem this guy's a FAN, we can't disappoint 'er!" "I don't care, she gets good enough as it is having us, we can pick other stuff out of our music list, I'm sure she won't mind." "But whut if she asks fer it?" "Copyright issues, say the music owner wants redistribution rights or some shit." "Aw that's bullshit," said Areh, "come on Lir, it's been like two years now!" "I don't care." "But Lirem-" "No, pick something else." "Lirem, all you have to do is-" "NO! WE ARE NOT PICKING THAT FUCKING SONG!" A stunned silence fell over the entire room, the crew all sinking back into their seats slightly as Lirem stood up in his rage focused towards Areh. Jax softly tried to move but Lirem's stare pierced into him. "...I...am not playing...that fucking song ever again. You hear me? I don't care whether this guy buys our albums, or pays our fare, or fucking sucks my dick during the concert, she is not EVER going to get me to play that one fucking song. I told you guys once, I told you again, every single time, we are NOT playing Rachniphobia until I say so. Now...you guys pick another song, I'm just fucking done for the day, okay?" The three band members nodded as their leader left the group, walking to his room with a headache coming on to leave them looking stunned at each other, the krogan asking: "So...any other suggestions?" "Um," said Areh, "I...I-i dunno...maybe...yanno there is this idea I've been kicking around in my head with for a while but I have to finish it." "You need a drummer fer that?" "Actually...yeah." "Alright, how 'bout we try it out in yer room?" "That'd be great. Um, sorry Norem, but just-" "No it's fine," said Norem peacefully, "you guys go make something, I'll just sit here and...try to think of a way to calm my brother out of it, alright?" "Alright. ...sorry." "Not your fault Areh, it's fine."

The quarian and the krogan left the meeting room as Norem sat back in his chair, sighing heavily while palming his face, looking up towards the ceiling as he tried to get some sense of clarity. Nothing came to him, trying to let his eyes zone out as he heard someone nearby. James was standing at the doorway, the turian not even turning his head to look at him while saying: "You heard all that hmm?" "Yeah," said James. "...what the fuck was that all about?" "...nothing." "Really? Your brother flips the fuck out over a song choice, and you call nothing?" "Not when it's happened before no. I think it's nothing." "What the hell's wrong with him then?" "Nothing's wrong with him." "But dude-" "James." Norem's serious tone stopped James in his tracks. "Drop it." "Why?" "Just drop it, okay? We have our secrets, you have yours, we don't ask you about your stuff, you don't ask us, got it?" "Well...I guess, but why would a song jus-" "I SAID. Drop it." Norem's eyes pierced with scrutiny, groaning as he covered them with one hand while slamming the other down on his armrest. "You're on this ship with us...and you don't have to pay, so that's as fair a bargain as you're getting. Alright?" "Alright...I'm sorry." "It's fine. Did you need something?" "Not really just...killing time I guess, I painted my armour up a bit." "Yeah? Can't wait to see it out in combat then." "You want a drink?" "Yeaaaaaah why not, something heavy would be nice." "Alrighty. One gutweight martini coming right up." Heading off to the bar the raptor went to make Norem a drink, letting the ship work around him as he lost himself in the lonely blue-lit bar. No one came to him, not even Norem who was rather more interested in checking the autopilot as well as the odd star chart for anything of interest. Scoping the Crescent Nebula while the crew were temporarily restrained, by order of their boss Arutulelan, he did come across something interesting. Something interesting enough that, when James came back to check on him for if he wanted another drink, he disappeared back to his own room. His curiosity growed further as he went checking on the various rooms around the ship, wandering the halls on his own feeling more lonely than he had ever felt. He felt naked too, wearing only his jeans when not in armour like always as he tried peeking in on any conversations from each room. Lirem was quiet, holed up in his room with the dull sounds of music draining out everything. Leiah's room gave him some interest, warmly hearing her speak to her parents over video communication.

"Should have seen the moves I was pulling out there mom, I was sliding all over the place like a loose gasket!" "Ha ha ha ha, that's good," said Mrs. Dahlael, "I'm glad that you're enjoying yourself but...are you doing okay on your pilgrimage?" "Oh I'm fine, don't worry! I'm sorry I haven't come back yet with something but I'm doing my best! Just gotta make it a real good thing after all!" "You're eating too I hope." "Yeeeees I aaaaam, seriously I'm good. It's quite a struggle, I admit without your food but...I'll manage." "Hmhmhm..." "How's dad by the way?" "He's not doing badly, lost a finger nearly the other day, silly." "What, what happened?!" "Just a malfunctioning vent, he's fine, nothing missing. He says he hopes you come home soon." "I know," said Leiah wistfully. "I...I really want to find something good, like...I know I'm not the smartest girl-" "Not everyone comes back with a shining star in their hands Leiah, no one expects you to." "I know I know but I don't want to come back like everyone else. I want...I want to bring back something that'll really make the walls SHINE with brightness, with colour, with...with...energy! Like, even if it's a generator or some sort of beautiful meteorite, long as it's something amazing in some way, I'll be happy." "Hm...or a husband maybe." "Mooooom!" "I'm just saying!" "I know...hehehee! How did you and dad meet?" "Well, it was like any other day when your father came to fix something I was having trouble with. We knew each other from the same class in our lessons and-" James decided to pull away after hearing enough, not wanting to hear Leiah's family history as he felt he had overstayed his eavesdropping a little. He almost felt like returning to the bar to chill out and relax, but the sound of a synthetic riff that came from Areh's door had him stop and listen. It was a strange little melody, tinkling away to itself before suddenly halting with a stumbling note, broken with sudden cursing. "F-fucking, dammit, stupid, DAMMIT, FUCK KEELAH!" Hearing the male quarian sigh heavily from the other side, the raptor leaned against the door as Jax's voice responded with: "Wrong key?" "Everything's wrong! I can't...I can't figure out this fucking pitch what's wrong with me?!" "Heh, where to start." "Not...in the mood." "Sorry...wanna take a break?" "Sure, whatever, can't even finish this fucking song I spent two weeks on and can't even think...fucking useless, nothing but a vas Nedas-" "Hey. ...yer not useless." "Sorry." "Don't ever say that Areh. I don't like when you use that word, especially about you, you're NOT useless." "Fine fine whatever, just-let's stop okay?" "Kay." "...I still owe you for that drink by the way." "Dude it's fine, it's on me." "B-but I didn't like it, that stall owner and you paid for it and I-just-guh...nnnnNNNNNNGH!" "Hey! Stop it! Stop doing that Areh, I don't like when you do that!" "Please...just...please can I pay it back? Mmmmnnnngh..." "Hhhhhh...fine. If it makes ya feel better then fine." "Thank you." "...seriously, twenty-five credits?" "Just, don't want it hanging over us or anything." "Areh it's fucking pyjak money, I've seen orphans richer than this." "Snrrk...th-that's terrible." "So are you." "Fffhhhehee..."

A silence of an awkward relief hung over the entire room within, making James almost feel like he should leave until Areh spoke up again. "Hey um...you still up for that Gamera movie someday?" "Sure," said Jax. "Yanno, nobody's got anything goin' on an' the boss never has another mission up this early after that last one so...wanna do it later tonight?" "S-sure, that's a great idea! Wow I didn't think you'd get so into it." "You kidding, that second movie was AWESOME! It had like bugs an' guts an' people gettin' stabbed in the FACE, it wuz like that Rachni movie!" "Hahaha, yeah it kinda was wasn't it?! Alright we can leave this song another time then...wanna start it now?" "Sure, lemme just go to the bathroom first." "Okay!" Hurrying off before the krogan left the room, James skirted round the hallway and watched Jax waddle off to the bathroom, hearing Areh sigh with an immense relief from his room. The raptor headed back to his own room and took his time to relax, opening up a comic he bought out of curiosity which was on a PDA, flicking through the pages virtually as he started to fall asleep. The lack of night and day was also not something he was used to, enabling him to start napping more often until he was needed. Soon he was woken up by a ringing noise once again, murmuring in his sleep from a far nicer dream than before. "Mmmmno profeszor lemme zolve this...mmmnnnringin' go 'way..." "James?" "Nnnaaaaaah...fuggin' triangle...how you zolve thiiis-" "JAMES!" "WHA?!" Nearly falling out of bed he heard Areh from the other side of the door as the ringing stopped a few moments later, before hearing: "We've got a mission, time to get up!" "Uhhh-ahm-alright! Be there in a minute!" Hopping into his jeans and heart-patterned boxers he made his way to the cockpit, seeing the gang all seated with the next mission on their terminal.

Unusual Activity on Epho A Nos Astra businessman trying to stake claims on the old mining deposits of the planet Epho has noted some unusual activities occurring there the past few weeks, including his assistants having gone missing the last few days. He does not possess the authority to investigate it himself but will happily reward us with a tax-free contribution to our funds if we investigate for him. Expose and disrupt these unknown activities if possible. If not, he demands at the very least you return with some of the mining deposits from beneath, as well as what has become of his assistants.

"Wait we're gonna become miners now?" asked James. "Not quite," said Lirem. "The boss told us that some kind of turian ship landed on Epho about two weeks ago, and normally he wouldn't take notice but then this request came up. Now this businessman has been trying to get rights to the old mines there, but doesn't want someone else taking his shit." "Right, gotcha. So how we gonna do this?" "This sounds a bit dangerous, probably some mercs that found some real goods and wanna keep it for themselves, like some kind of smuggler's hideout." "Wait are these pirates?!" "Who knows until we find out? Areh, let's head to Epho." "Yessir!" said Areh confidently. "Norem, you better get into scouting mode cuz you're going out first." "Down a mineshaft?" said Norem. "Wow you really do wanna get rid of me." "Naaaaah...I'd just throw all your candy into an escape pod and jettison you out into space." "Didn't you try to do that once?" "It was a joke I swear!" "Right, right." "Jax, you and James come with me, after that rachni mission I'd rather be at your side with my assault rifle." "Fine by me," said Jax.

Epho was the rockiest barren wasteland James had ever seen up to this point. Makhaira at least had a desert spanning across the horizon, but with this craggy canyon-filled place it felt like nothing could live here. The craters that pockmarked the landscape with bitter tears gave the resemblance of scarred flesh from outer space, a battered and beaten planet that, combined with its oppressively heavy atmosphere of being 41% carbon dioxide, made it unsuitable for most sentient life to live here. Yet something had lived here once, judging by the ancient relics. Between each of the large spanning craters were long rail systems that connected them to each other, giving the sense that this had once been some sort of colony, or settlement at least. The raptor was curious, gazing from beneath his breather helmet as both Jax and Lirem noted through their own helmets before the turian answered: "Back around three-hundred thousand years ago, a race known as the Arthenn lived here. Somehow they disappeared in some kind of mass extinction, and it's believed that these craters were once mining outposts or other settlements. Hence the rail lines." "What exactly are those rails anyway?" asked FG. "Magnetic levitation, helps to transport materials back and forth. Seriously you have a codex." "I know just...still kinda getting the hang of i-wait, did you say magnetic?!" "Yeah." "...huh...there's an idea." "Whut?" replied Jax. "Nothing, I...heh, wondered if they were still active." "Maybe, I dunno nuthin' about magnets." "We'll have time for sightseeing later," said Lirem, "right now Norem's already headed into the mining complex that just got opened to see what's up. He'll reply back to me once he has enough data so for now just keep looking." The three nodded as they investigated the area further, noting that the area ahead of them had been opened up into a mineshaft by recent means, as a turian ship was left standing on its own in the distance. The sleek stiletto-shaped carrier shined with a greenish-black hue, almost like a dark jade figurine of some sort as it laid at rest, waiting for its masters to return faithfully. Lirem brought out a white rectangular visor to scan the horizon with, seeing that the ship had a few of its crew standing guard, armed with rifles and perhaps more hiding in the ship. "Definitely look like mercenaries," said Lirem. "Big ship too being former military...but why are they bothering with mining here?" "Maybe fer the same reason that businessman wuz," said Krungut, "something's gotta be here that's worth mining for." "Maybe...wait a minute, what's that?" Bringing up his visor again, he noticed a large train-sized carriage being readily loaded up towards the mineshaft. With five cars of silver steel, it used the ancient magnetic rails to carry itself, much to his astonishment. "They're...they're actually using the rails?! But those things can't be complete, they'll find a gap eventually and the whole train'll go off!" "Maybe they fixed it?" said FG. "These guys seem pretty professional, maybe more than just mercs." "Yer right," said Jax. "These guys got way more stuff on their hands than some regular mercs do. An' they're definitely not Blue Suns, I don't recognise that armour." "You sure?" asked Lirem. "Gimme yer visor."

The turian handed it over to Jax who began to scan the various turians walking back and forth, ordering things to each other, escorting the mine carriage and relaying orders back to the ship. "Yeah...I know now. These guys are pros, definitely not mercs." "They DO seem rather military," said Lirem. "Course they're all turians so that's not a surprise really...far as we know." "Why are they all turians though? Doesn't that seem weird? Do we know any merc groups that are all turian?" "None that I can...think of, no. Norem, you copy?" "What's up?" said Norem over comms. "These guys are not mercs, we just checked 'em out and they seem like professionals, like ex-military even. Any ideas on any big turian groups out there?" "Not sure...Areh could look that up while we're back on the ship but I had a hard time getting down here." "Any sign of those assistants?" "None at all...wait...I'm seeing something." "What?" "...I found them. They're all dead." "What?!" "Gunshot wounds, executed, barely any struggle from what I can tell from here. They're putting the bodies off to the side just dumping them like nothing." "Where are you now?" "I'm behind some boxes at the mining area...seems like they found kind of Samarium compound." "What's that?" asked FG. "It's a magnetised naturally-occurring metal, we use it to design lasers, motors, nuclear reactor control rods, memory devices...thermoelectric power converters, you name it. Pretty important stuff but I didn't think any was on this planet." "What's so special about this then?" asked Lirem. "Not like it's rare or anything." "I dunno but...shit, hang on." Norem cut off communications for the time being while Lirem waited, wondering what this entire operation was all about and why this mysterious group was so eager to obtain a particularly abundant metal. Soon however things escalated slowly when the turians began to mobilise, one of them hearing something over comms and swiftly ordering them to hop onto the carriage and ride down into the mines, "I think Norem's in trouble," said FG. "I think so too," said Lirem, "Jax, call Areh and tell him to initiate Plan Eta, we gotta follow 'em." "How?! And what's this plan eta?" "Hopefully you'll find out, there's a spare cart we can ride on over there, it's small but better than nothing." With that piece of good news they headed over towards the minecart, a small modified platform with railguards that was now modified to use the ancient magnetic rails. But then came the bad news. "Uhhhh there's no room for us all," said Jax. "Aw come on!" said FG. "Isn't there another one?!" "No there isn't," said Lirem, "and I'm not wasting another minute while my bro's down there about to get ambushed so let's go!" "What about me?!" "You stay back then, guard our exit." "Fuck that, I'm coming with you!" "How?!" "...you said these were magnetic right?" "Yeah?" "...time to tell you that idea I had."

The deepening strata of the mineshaft was at first intimidating. Especially when on a small minecart-sized platform that went hurtling through the tunnel at the speed of an automobile. Smooth rocky walls with the occasional jutting sharp edge, an endless column of brown and beige rushing past them, turning darker and darker with each few minutes of their route. Jax and Lirem kept their guns at the ready, aiming their way forwards whilst the turian said: "This is a really bad idea!" "Whysat?!" said James from behind. "This minecart of yours looks pretty okay!" "Not us, YOU!" "What?!" "Are you seriously trying to kill yourself faster, because there's plenty other ways to do it than this!" "Oh relax." James slid past them blithely with a look of devil-may-care, his armoured feet grinding hard onto the magnetic rails with the new addition of a clean pair of skates. The old orange and green pair that he had used before, somehow summoned from some unknown recess of his data-filled mind, was streaking along the rail beside them with hot blue sparks, never ceasing in its speed as he kept perfectly well-balanced. "I got my own ways of handling things too," added FG. "Where the fuck did you even get those?!" asked Jax. "I mean, you pulled that shit outta nowhere, if this wuz a game I'd call hax!" "Well thank goodness it's not a game is it? Don't worry! I've done this before!" "Then you better look sharp, cuz shit's getting real up ahead!" "Huh? SHIT!" The rail that he was on suddenly cut off ahead of him, noticing now that only some sets of rails were perhaps fully in use while the others had been discarded. He hopped off the rail he was on towards another nearby, higher up as it began to curve its way across the wall leaving him at a diagonal direction. Staring down at his two friends on the minecart, they looked up at him rather puzzled as James slowly found the rail curving upwards further, before he was soon finding himself completely upside down. And still grinding at an absurd pace along with the minecart. "Okay," said Jax, "how the FUCK are you doin' that?!" "I DUNNO!" said FG. "Magnets I guess, who knows how those things work!?" "Actually we do know," said Lirem. "I'm just amazed those things on your boots are keeping you on the rail long enough!" "Oh god the blood is rushing to my head, this is not good! Can I take the helmet off maybe?!" "NO DON'T DO THAT!" "Why not?!" "This planet's got like four to six times more carbon dioxide in its atmosphere, you breathe that and you choke yourself out!" "Oh...well then! Guess I'll just keep grinding like some kind of fucking BAT on a conveyor belt!" "You wanted to come with us, you could have waited outside!" "FUCK THAT! I'm not a fucking guard, I'm the FinalGamer!" "The what?!" "That's a STUPID name!" said Jax. "And I knew a guy called Stupid!" "Wait seriously?!" asked Lirem. "Well his name wuz Stuhp Eed but hey, name like that's impossible not to rip on! ...uhhh guys, the track's changin' ahead!" "Aw come on, why does it have to do this?!" "I dunno, I didn't build this crap!" "James, you better not die in here, cuz I'm not going back down here to recover your body!" "Thanks for the thought!" said FG as the track soon parted. "I'll meet up with ya later on, AND TRY NOT TO SHOOT ME OR SOMETHING!" "KAY!"

As the raptor's track began to veer away from the minecart, he found himself hurtling down a separate mineshaft formulated around the smaller set of magnetic rails that he was grinding. For the most part they seemed to waver back and forth on their own, with the occasional sense of vertigo James felt once they started going up along the walls, or even on the ceiling making him really panic when on his own. It was even worse when the rails started having holes in them, left unattended by whoever was currently owning the mine for themselves as he desperately hopped between rails. The skates formed by his nanos while useful made him worry, trying to limit his nano-use when the last thing he wanted was to lose focus down a mineshaft with a growing headache. James soon had to turn inventive with longer gaps, timing his jumps from rail to rail more precisely, leaping off from the side of the wall to another rail down below. "Fuck's sake who keeps making all of this?! ...oh god." A much larger gap laid ahead of him, and there was no other rail for him to hop onto that went past the long missing rail. As a result he had to turn desperate, not even thinking of another plan as he grinded to the very edge of the rail, and hopped forwards shouting: "WULD!" He didn't even know if it gave him enough boost, or if his armour weighed him down or not. But thankfully it didn't, his red-silver-purple body roaring down the mineshaft as the power of wind charged him on ahead, scraping neatly onto the next rail as he laughed awkwardly. He was so glad that it worked, and soon the rails rejoined once again with his two friends on the minecart, waving at him as Jax said: "HEY, YOU MADE IT!" "YEAH!" said FG. "LET'S NOT DO THIS AGAIN ALRIGHT?!" "SURE! ...WE GOT TROUBLE UP AHEAD, IT'S THE CARRIAGE!" "ALRIGHT BOYS!" said Lirem. "NO HOLDING BACK, OPEN FIRE!" Catching up towards the back of the mine carriages that went on ahead, James, Lirem and Jax readied their weapons as they saw the turian guards had just started to notice they were being followed. This posed a new problem to the raptor. While his friends had some limited cover with the minecart, James did not while solely on the rails. He had to shoot fast, aiming as tightly as he could as he fired off a few rounds at the first guard, all of whom had sleek helmets that still didn't stop more than three shots to the head.

His death alerted the others easy, the whole mine carriage lighting up in alert mode as several came out on each side with shotguns and rifles. Lirem kept an eye out for any snipers, squeezing a few rounds off at any particular suspect rifles. The mineshaft became full of gunfire, shots crying off the walls around them as Jax was forced to switch to a pistol for better accuracy. It looked like a toy in his huge hands, but he aimed it well as he managed to take down two shotgun wielders. The turian group however were relentless in firing upon the intruders, shattering waves of gunshots upon the hardened sole minecart as they forced Jax and Lirem to duck. It was barely the cover they needed but it did the job enough. James however was being shot at by a few others as he caught up alongside the train, trying to bring up his tetra shield as fast as possible in order to protect himself. He had to make a sizeable shield in order to cover enough of his body, managing to guard his torso and head with the legs having only the armour and its in-built kinectic barrier shielding to protect him. But even the light blue shimmer of a kinetic shield wasn't going to stand up to a full assault rifle clip, hammering down on him hard enough that the shielding around his legs broke, giving the raptor no time to think. All he could do was fire back desperately, catching the turian's head and knocking him down somewhat. He learned over time that shields could regenerate, if the body had not been attacked for some time. He couldn't even duck on the rail, his own tetra shield doing just enough to keep his vitals even more safe from the turians' gunfire. Jax and Lirem had managed to catch up with the train, shooting more expertly at the assaulting guard as they climbed on behind it, eagerly rushing into battle. The krogan was a force of nature unto himself, barrelling through the guards with his hulking strength before shotgunning them off the train. Any that managed to get a shot off realised he didn't really care about being shot that badly. Lirem kept behind walls, scoping out any shooters that tried to stop him before he would disable their shields with an overloading blast, rendering them vulnerable to a fireburst in the face. James did not take any chances trying to get on board so he instead kept firing from the side, the rail he was on being thankfully straight that he didn't have to worry about any future acrobatics. He was already starting to feel his headache grow from nano-use, cursing the fact that somehow their being updated did not actually do anything to help increase their output. Not the first time he felt he had been ripped off, but the first time he felt it from a doctor even if unintentional.

Jax slammed into the front carriage where a well-armoured turian waited at the control panel with his own shotgun, his armour shielded with an orange glow that exploded as soon as the door opened. The krogan stumbled back from the electrifying charge, before the turian rammed into him and shotgunned him in the gut. The krogan armour however was thick, and while it crumpled against the point-blank shot it did nothing to dissuade him. The krogan grabbed his enemy, headbutting him hard enough to hurl him up against the controls. But the senior turian did not relent, roaring as he blasted a sudden shot of some strange warping field around Krungut, a thick shredding miniature mass effect field that cloyed around the krogan. The contained field ripped through his armour within seconds, his roars of fury at being rendered briefly helpless stopped only by Lirem who shot an overload spark into the cabin, breaking the turian commander down to his knees. Sweeping his way underneath Jax, Lirem wasted no time in slamming his rifle against the enemy's gut and screamed: "BULLET RIFF!" Clicking a button on his rifle, he shrieked as his rifle emptied an entire clip at once which ripped beautifully through the turian enemy's stomach, as hot blue blood sprayed across the walls and ceiling. Lirem simply kicked the well-dead turian to one side and swung his rifle like a guitar shouting: "THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT!" The krogan chuckled behind him wearily after the warping field now left him, heaving from a now-weakened state as he let his body regenerate, hiding wounds beneath his armour, asking: "So...now what?" "Now we just ride this out to the bottom!" said Lirem. "Strange this train is called the Kalihikala though! They definitely brought this thing here somehow!" "Wonder why." "Norem, come in!" "What?!" shouted Norem over comms. "We're almost there, hang on bro help is on the way!" "Okay but be careful, the guy down here that's commanding them is crazy!" "I can handle crazy!" "NO, WAI-" He cut off his brother as they rode the train down, the raptor still on the rails waving his arms at them. "HEY, WHAT ABOUT ME?!" "YOU WANNA GET ON THIS TRAIN YOU DO IT!" roared Lirem. "UM...I CAN'T, I DUNNO IF I CAN JUMP IT!" "WAIT WHY ARE WE SHOUTING WE HAVE COMMS IN OUR HELMETS!" "I DUNNO, YOU STARTED IT!" "NO I DIDN'T!" "YES YOU DID WHEN WE SPLIT UP!" "NO YOU DID JAMES!" said Jax. "IT WUZ TOTALLY YOU!" "WAS IT?!" "YEAH!" "...WELL WHATEVER WE'RE STILL SHOUTING, HOW LONG 'TIL WE HIT THE END OF THIS?!" "UM...NOW?"

Lirem pointed up ahead as the track began to stop hurtling downwards and bent upwards at a 45-degree angle, straightening out onto a horizontal plane before reaching the end of its track. The train slowly began halting by some automatic function right into the middle of a firefight, with shots coming in from the right mostly as a violent hailstorm upon them. The cavern was hugely sculpted out, wide and sumptuous in space that was filled up by crates, large mineral clusters and a force of turians from the right side of the cavern tearing down onto a sole container on the left. The three newcomers came readily out of cover, the raptor hopping off the rail to fire a few shots from his pistol before racing over to near Norem's position, ducking out behind a crate as James swiftly broke down his nano-formed skates. "HEY DUDE!" said Lirem. "GLAD WE'RE HERE HUH?!" "Maybe!" said Norem. "Why are you shouting?!" "UM...I dunno! Was a crazy ride down here I'll tell ya!" "Did you get my warning?!" "What?!" "THAT WARNING LOOK OUT!" Just when they thought they were safe behind cover, something huge began to rev up near them as they heard the sound of screeching wheels race towards their covering spot. Dispersing like rats they soon saw one crate go flying through the air and crumple hard against the rockwall, crushed inwards by some heavy force as they turned to see what it was. The gunfire stopped by some command as a huge Mako tank rolled up before them, painted with long green stripes along each side of it. "Well well," said the voice inside the mako. "Look what we have here! Some rats from the homeland and their two scaly pets!" "What?!" said Lirem. "Who the fuck are you?!" The top of the mako opened up "More like who are YOU? What's your deal with this mine huh, we found it first so dibs!" "That what you told those people you killed?" said Norem. "They don't count, they're not turian! Besides, I don't see anyone's name on this place yeeeet, don't you?" "What's your fucking deal huh?!" said FG. "What's so important about these fucking rocks?!" "Pfft I dunno, I'm just the driver not a geologist! But I don't do getaways...I'm the daredevil. It's sad to see two boys from the homeland not even see who we are, or understand our objective, don't you guys ever read the news?!" "What news?!" said Lirem. "You'll find out, once this operation succeeds...oh wait, you're not getting out of here alive aren't you? Well your families can enjoy the news instead. Load the samarium onto that train and get yourselves outta here! I'll keep these guys here permanently." "YES SIR!" said the platoon behind him. "Now lemme show you some REAL driving."

The Mako revved up its engine as it charged towards them, forcing the four to dodge into corners as the tank skirted around the cavern rim, circling them like a shark while taking pot shots with its mounted machine gun. Spraying gunfire across the floor, the Sole Calibrators desperately sought for cover, hiding whilst taking shots at the tank whenever it neared them. Some parts of the cavern were sturdy enough that the mako could not breach through them, particularly natural bedrock that almost impossible to destroy. Even when the mako fired its cannon shot. James screamed with panic at the cannon blasting on the other side of his own cover, shaking as he tried to shoot off with his pistol. The pathetic little pinging shots made the mako driver laugh, as he roared up towards James' hiding spot and rammed hard enough to make him shudder. Lirem tried to distract him with some spreadfire across the room, spraying bullets all along the mako's side as it returned fire with its own hail of bullets, strong enough to pierce through crates. The rest of the turian platoon had already started to load up the minerals onto the train, heading out before Norem managed to shoot one of them off the back and kill its holder through the head, the contents of both head and container spilling out onto the floor. "I warned you about those tanks bro! I TOLD YOU!" "SHUT UP ALREADY JUST BLOW IT OR SOMETHING!" "JAX!" "I'M ON IT!" The krogan tore out of cover the moment the tank came close beside him, turning in its drift as it tried to focus on James, the raptor trying to hope that the bedrock he clinged against would not fall upon him. Jax slammed his shotgun next to the tires, roaring: "TIME FER SUM CARNAGE!" Blasting a hot fire from his weapon, the shotgun's tip exploded like fireworks against the mako's wheels, crackling with combustible energy that more resembled actual fire in some solid form than anything else. It did enough to rattle the driver inside who reversed back and tried to run over the krogan, heading back towards cover whilst James tried to take pot shots still along with both turian brothers. The driver was most displeased by their sudden increase in weaponry, with one of his tires looking rather lagged with fire burns. "Oh you wanna step it up do ya?! Let's see you fucks handle THIS!" Soon the mako charged towards one of the cave walls and ramped up alongside it, trying to gain leverage before the tires gripped onto the steeper rock and suddenly pulled it up. The turians panicked at the sight, a mobile tank now tearing along the wall on an almost completely-sideways angle like it was a rock-filled road without a care, screeching past them before its jet thrusters activated. The jets pushed it off the wall and soon the mako landed hard upon the crate that both Lirem and Norem had been hiding behind, crushing it down the middle by its sheer weight.

As the turians ran to hide, Jax recharged his shot of Carnage, the thick phosphorous contents of his shotgun ready to fire as he blasted once more into the side of the tank, weakening its hull somewhat. But not enough for the driver to care enough for its integrity as he revved up against the walls once more, ramming straight up until he was almost vertically touching the ceiling before boosting the jet thrusters. The tank somehow managed to backflip perfectly onto the ground, its solid weight crushing another crate by its rear slamming down hard. James was forced to run once the mako started to rev up through the walls and circle around him, firing hard on his hiding place from every single direction as he dodged to slide across the earth. But the tank was relentless, roaring towards him and trying to run him over despite his sudden dodging to the left with the power of wind, dust trailing behind him as the mako tore through without hitting. But the driver didn't care, he was simply laughing at their efforts, the raptor now turning exhausted with a headache growing once more. He also felt a strange vibration start to occur from near him. "HA HA HA, having fun yet?! You wanna give up now or you wanna see more of my sick nasty moves?!" "FUCK YOU!" said Jax. "My little buddy can steer that thing better than you could!" "Oh?! And who's your little buddy, your DICK!?" "Nope! That guy!" Pointing towards a wall where the growing tremor came, a crackling of rock strata soon peeled through before finally erupting on top of them in a thick cloud of smoke., the raptor stumbling towards Jax in a panic to avoid the rocks falling on him. Before the mako could even realise what was happening, a shot from a cannon blast slammed into his hull and cracked two of his tires, crushing them inwards. "OWWW FUCK! WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!?" "I'm his little BUDDY!"

The voice from an unknown local communication source broke through to the driver, as the light firing of a machine gun came shining from the smoke to rip neatly through the mako's hull. Soon the dust cleared, as another mako tank was soon revealed. Jax immediately grabbed FG, whilst the turian brothers followed desperately after grabbing the spilled container of samarium that Norem shot. The mako driver was not pleased at the interruption, revving up his engine hard towards Areh calling: "You wanna showdown you little punk!?" "Pfft no," said Areh dismissing, "I'm just here for my friends, you can fuck right off bosh'tet!" Another cannon blast before Areh revved back up through the side tunnel, his mako turning hard in a tight spot using skilful thruster techniques as he drove up through the rocky tunnel. The enemy mako followed soon after, trying to fire back at the escapees despite the constant bump and grind of the rocks underneath throwing off his aim. His shots went into the ceiling, rupturing the structure occasionally to bring stalactites down onto their heads. But Areh's mako wasn't as damaged as the turian chasing them, or at least what they assumed was a turian. The speed of the two multi-terrain tanks had them rushing through the hard rock with a bumpy ride, as the four passengers were in an incredibly tight spot in the cramped quarters of the mako. It wasn't built for carrying more than three people, let alone five as Jax roared: "FASTER, FASTER!" "ARGH SPITTLE ON MY VISOR!" said Norem. "THIS was your plan!?" cried FG. "You had the tank come DOWN here and blast a hole in the wall?!" "Believe me," said Lirem, "this happens a LOT more than you think! How far until the surface Areh?!" "Another few minutes!" said the quarian, "the ship's ready for us to fly the moment we run in, I've got Leiah manning the controls to make it easy for us!" "Uhhhh you better get outta here fast, that mako's catching up-OW!" The sudden ramming of the tank behind them made them all fall forwards, lying in a heap on top of each other as Areh punched it into high gear, screaming tires underneath as he burst through to the outside. Landing hard upon the flatrock, he screeched a drifting turn to the left and raced off towards his ship, which lied in the opposite direction of the turian carrier. A minute later, the turian mako came roaring out of the mineshaft, turning just as hard as Areh did before it started firing on them. But the quarian was not to be outdone as he warned his friends: "HANG ON GUYS, I'M GONNA ROLL AN' DODGE!" "AW NONONONO-" "_ANGUIRUS ROLL! _"

James' protests went in vain as the mako suddenly flipped over to one side, the powerfully-modded hydraulics shooting up the left tires to make it roll heftily to the right just before a cannon blast hit underneath. Areh kept his eyes on the rear-view to see where the enemy was aiming, rolling back to the left in the other direction as he avoided yet another cannon shot. His friends were crying out behind him in the constant rolling together, but he shut them out as he caught sight of the Centurion Eagle with its cargo bay open. His pursuer called him over local comms screaming: "YOU AIN'T GETTING OFF THIS ROCK ALIVE NO MATTER HOW MANY TRICKS YOU GOT!" "It's a PLANET you dumb shit! Where'd you learn how to drive?!" "WHAT!?" "You can't even hit me, how do you even know how to drive?!" "I don't see you hitting ME punk!" "Oh, sorry!" The quarian set his controls to aim the cannon wildly behind him, managing to score a near-hit on the right side of the pursuing tank that made its driver freak out. "GAAAH!" "That good enough for ya!?" "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!? YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY WITH THIS, YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!" "No, and I don't care who you are! You just got beat by someone who can't even do long division, so SUCK IT bosh'tet!" "Don't boast Areh!" roared Jax. "You kinda suck at it!" "SHUT UP JAX!" With that the mako sped off towards the ship as he blasted another shot, slowing down the tank behind him with another shot to its weakened wheels and causing it to lose speed. By the time their enemy could catch up with them, they were launched up into their cargo bay and closing the doors behind them, running off to their usual places before punching a few simple pre-determined buttons in just moments away from flight. The Centurion Eagle wasted no time in flying off, the pre-flight checks all ticked off by Areh before the team had even landed on Epho. The mako driver was left on his lonesome, forced to return with stinging defeat in both him and his wheel-torn Mako, revving up the engine to race back to his own ship. Once he finally reached it, his subordinates called out to him. "Sir? Did you get 'em?" "No...they're gone. ...FUCK!" "It's okay sir, we got most of the samarium so the mission was succe-" "I DON'T CARE, that little FUCK managed to beat ME in my own Mako! I'm not letting this slide you hear me?!" "Yes sir but...we should report back to our leader first." "Fine, whatever, call him." "And you have your next mission at least sir, with that...female." "...heh...yeah...alright, notify her that I'll be ready for the next operation...but Gallen?" "Yes?" "...I need you to look up some names for me. Because if I ever see that mako again...I'm gonna destroy that fucking bitch."