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The lights went out the moment they gave the signal, plunging the entire room into darkness. The sounds of conversation stopped, the bassline revved like an engine as the stage slowly lit up. A synthetic whoosh rose with the bass as drums kicked in followed by an equally synthetic brass accompaniment, mimicking a trumpet-like noise. The main guitar joined at last as Lirem cried out the titular song lyrics, leaning towards the mic before him with an open-wide maw, his tongue dancing of its own will. The Sole Calibrators watched the crowd of asari before them, with the odd mix of turian, human and salarian amongst them as the song played into a pseudo-symphonic riff. Areh was the backing synth, Jax kept his rhythm and Norem toned his bass down into a slightly blues funk style. It was the first time that James and Leiah saw their instruments fully, as well as the fact that Norem could also sing, creating a wonderful dual harmony with his brother. For an extra chorus that would permeate the song, Areh was ready with a false choir backing to trick the audience's ears through his synthesiser. "Holy shit they're good," said FG from the dark backstage, "look at them rocking it!" "I know right?!" replied Leiah. "I never saw them in concert but I wish I had now!" "Well we got VIP passes now so we can do more than just watch the show, right?" "Right!" "I'm glad Areh got better after that paralysis thing though, just some muscle spasms and not like poison or something." "I still don't get what that geth thing was, nothing it did was even close to what a normal geth would do." "Huh...well, who cares, it's gone somehow so let's enjoy the show." The two simply watched the band rock out, the turian brothers gliding their fingers up and down their guitars in perfect sync. Lirem's purple six-stringed axe with three circular builds on its bulbous body, and Norem's darker two-toned bass of red and black with a body that resembled an upside down question mark with a filled in curve. Jax's drums were of a specially-hardened yet lightweight beryllium, whitish-grey originally but painted with a mix of coal-grey and bronze.

Areh's synthesiser was in the form of two cobalt-blue keyboards stacked irregularly above each other, his two hands constantly working both of them at the same time more like an engineer than a musician. The crowd was loving the performance, hands in the air from some of the younger members whilst the older ones simply nodded their heads to the music politely. At one point the vocals stopped to give emphasis on Areh, his hands screaming down the bottom keyboard whilst the top one got the odd touch or two of his lithe fingers, all while the band kept playing. "I can't believe a councilor likes this music," said FG, "I mean this sounds pretty modern!" "I heard she was quite young," said Leiah, "for an asari that is." "What's young for an asari?" "Under three-hundred?" "...do years just not matter to you guys anymore?" "Um...not except for birthdays I guess?" "Weird." The band soon finished up with a fade-out, after the second chorus was over before a rousing of applause welcomed their performance. The turians bowed together, polite as they could whilst Areh and Jax simply looked at each other with a thumbs up. As the band walked off into the darkness of backstage, the raptor greeted them with: "Not bad guys that was pretty damn good!" "Thanks dude," said Lirem, "and uh, appreciate the help for setting this up with us." "No problem!" added Leiah. "We're just happy you kept us on." "Few extra hands never hurt. Alright we'll be starting our next song in an hour buuuut I don't think we'll need you guys for anything else. Why don't you go out and mingle with the crowd?" "Can we?!" "Sure! Just...remember what I told you two alright?" "Gotcha!" With a gunfinger-click from FG and a wave from Leiah, the Sole Calibrators headed to another room elsewhere to relax and resort their musical choices, making sure their instruments were all up to snuff. The raptor however joined his female quarian friend in heading out onto the main floor, stepping into the grand light. A marvellous-looking ballroom on the second floor, with violet-coloured carpet and smooth pale walls of the softest yellow. He himself was in an immaculate black suit, laced with white cuffs and collar that went in a strange J-shape around the neck, facing towards his left. Grand staircases curved on either side of the main stage itself, framing it beneath like a gorgeous painting. A few chandeliers hung above of the most intriguing crystals, capturing the light of the house with such perfection that James almost lost himself within them, the shining splendour radiating over the lobby. Tables were set up all around with food and condiments, marking out which ones were dextro or not dextro-amino for the sake of all guests.

Leiah wasn't able to particularly suit up as well as him, but she made a good effort with some particularly snazzy belts and a monochrome replacement to her usual cyan blue headwear. Quarians did not have the best opportunity for formal dress, but she kept her best as she tried to mingle with James saying: "This is some party." "I know...god this suit feels weird, and we had to leave our guns back on the ship too." "I know right? I mean it's understandable but I just don't feel safe, though it was really nice of Lirem to find us some suits for hire." "Yeah. Normally I'm not big on guns but...ehhh this galaxy is just never at ease yanno, I don't feel right now." "Same...heh, it's a living." "Speaking of galaxies, maybe I can find someone here that might know about interdimensional stuff. I mean, these guys must all be scientists or at least some of them right, to be at this party even?" "Wouldn't hurt to ask around." "Shall we?" "Yes." The two locked arms together politely as they walked forwards into the ballroom, the creme de la creme of Nos Astra seeming to mix together rather pleasantly. For the most part James managed to handle the crowd rather well, playing into his false upper-class persona in order to garner favour amongst the rich. He felt like he was back in Chicago all over again at the hotel he had frauded, smirking to himself. Leiah however was not having as much luck, seeing the roving eyes constantly upon her. Never had she felt more out of place than anywhere else in this galaxy. Eventually, after mingling through the epicentre of the crowd towards some food tables, they were sweeped away by a rather muscular tall turian in his dark blue military best which they had managed to befriend. He soon introduced them to the host herself, a shimmering amethyst-skinned asari with the most radiant of indigo gowns. The military turian, who had an amber paintmark across the top of his nose, began with: "Madame T'Kina, may I introduce to you Mr. James Campbell and Miss Leiah'Dahlael." "Oh, how do you do?" Both raptor and quarian bowed in return as James added: "It's an honour to meet you madame T'Kina, great party you have here." "Thank you! And what exactly do you do?" "I'm...the band's assistant, helping with all the miscellaneous things." "OH you're with the band oh that's wonderful! I am so happy they agreed to come, you must give them my thanks once more." "I will. Did you enjoy the performance?" "Why yes, it was marvellous, I have all their albums. They have such a passion, really fires up the youthful spirit of some places." "Hahaha, I'm sure they'd love to hear that." "I hope you and your servant are having a wonderful time too." "Servant?"

A brief look towards Leiah made her silently gasp beneath her mask. She let go of James' hand and felt a shiver from inside her as James said: "N-no no she's not my servant, she's my assistant! I mean, an assistant of the band as well just like me." "Oh my apologies! Forgive me for my false assumption Miss...Dahlael was it? I didn't mean anything by that please, I hope you enjoy yourself." Leiah simply nodded dumbly before she suddenly felt queasy, gasping sharply before saying: "U-um, it's alright, just...my apologies madame I...I just remembered something I have to do my...s-suit needs a...thing." "Of course...there is a bathroom to the left of the staircase if you need it." "Thankyou." She hurried off through the crowd holding her chest, the raptor looking rather worried before the turian added: "I hope she didn't eat the wrong food." "Nah it's not that," replied James, "she's...actually been feeling a little ill the past few days, I'm sure she'll be fine." "I hope so too," said T'Kina. "Tell me, what do you do in the band Mr. Campbell?" "Mainly lifting, signing, handling everything that isn't them directly, the usual." "I see...they must be a fascinating group to be with." "Oh they're a real group alright...lot of character for sure." "May I ask you something?" "Uh...sure." "Why did they not play their most famous song? I was...admittedly a little disappointed they had not played Rachniphobia, will they be playing it later perhaps?" "Oh...uhhhh sadly we're not able to play that song, see there's this legal battle going on with some rerelease of an album by the...movie company that have that song? And we kinda don't know where we are with the current situation so for now, we can't play it until it gets resolved." "I see...that's a shame, I do hope it gets sorted soon." "I'm sure it will be. Now can I ask you something madame?" "Of course, ask away." "...do any of your guests here know anything about interdimensional travel, or like the possibility of it?" "Why do you ask?" The turian towered a full head above FG, asking this question rather sternly with an ounce of suspicion. James met his gaze without a flinch, having seen far worse. "Because I'm studying, I'm also a sssstudent at...Goomba University." "I've never heard of such a place." "It's from my home planet, I am a recent species after all, velociraptor right?" "Ahhhh yes, of course you did mention that. Sorry if I seem a little imposing I...old habits die hard." "Not a problem sir." "Don't worry about him," said T'Kina, "he doesn't bite. He's just an old grizzled space marine." Said old space marine rolled his eyes and smirked slightly before the asari continued with: "I do not know much on transdimensional properties sadly, but I am sure I can ask around for you...if you do a small favour for me." "Sure, what can I do?" "...can you get me the band's autographs on this?" The councilor handed him a rolled-up movie poster. A paper one even which surprised him even more for not only the fact it was not digital, but the fact also that it was of a rather violent-looking B-movie entitled "Attack of the Killer Rachni". "...uhhh sure madame, I can try." "Thank you! I'm just so terribly busy with these guests that I'm worried I may not have time to ask them to do this. Can you help me?" "Certainly madame, consider it done."

He rolled up the poster carefully and walked off towards the stage trying to find the group. For the most part he was enjoying the party for how strangely non-judgemental they were towards him. If anything they found him fascinating, the raptor having to constantly keep up with his own sidestories on what origins he had. As he made his way towards the staircase, he found Leiah sitting underneath in the darkness. "...Leiah?" "Mmmh?" "Are you alright?" "Y-yeah I'm...I'm fine." "...you weren't actually sick were you?" "Am I that obvious?" "I know the difference between physical and emotional pain, trust me." He sat down beside her whilst carefully placing the poster next to him, waiting for Leiah to speak first. "I just wish they would have given me a dress." "You don't need a dress, really." "That's not the point James...she mistook me for a SERVANT!" "She apologised, come on she's not a bad person." "Oh listen to yourself! None of them are judging you even though you're something they've never seen before! But it's okay, you don't have to wear a creepy biohazard suit on you every day of your life while wearing a mask so EVERYONE won't trust you...you're not a quarian, a filthy sick little thing that doomed the galaxy because we were too stupid to think that making a whole AI race would help things, as if THEY know any better! They all would have done the exact same thing but no. No, they just look down on me instead, because it's easier." "Just because there's a few assholes here doesn't mean you don't belong here." "I KNOW I don't belong here, because they refused to give me a dress at the damn store!" "Why didn't they?!" "They said...the aesthetic wasn't fitting for me with my...features. And it was a bit more expensive than I had, they said. How would they even know, I could have bought one!" "So basically they told you that you were too poor and ugly?" "Mmmhmm..." "That's fucking bullshit, they can't tell you what not to wear." "I know...and I know these are hired and they're very nice clothes but...hhhhhnnnnnn..." "Well I think you look beautiful," said James. "Really?" "Yeah. You look different from the rest of these posers, you stand out, look you've been catching a few eyes around here." "Not the good kind," said Leiah. "They're not thinking 'who's that mysterious lady', they're thinking 'she better not go near the silver'." "Well I think some of them think of me that way too, let's be fair." "I should steal some just to spite them...then I'd sell it and go back to that store and buy my fucking dress, then I'll show them...I'd show them all." "And prove that they're right about you?" "...sorry...I just...I just don't get a chance like this so often to be at a place like this...and I...just once I...w-wanted to feel beautiful." Her voice started to turn shaky as she placed her head in her hands, struggling to hold back her tears but failing to do so. She began to weep quietly, shaking with tears as James sat by her side, holding her close with one arm around her shoulders.

"Leiah...you don't need a dress to be beautiful, come on." "I don't care! I just...I know it's stupid but I don't care! All those other people I saw on vids, ever since I was a child all of them looked so pretty. Humans, asari and turians, princesses and queens and I thought maybe I could be up there! M-maybe, maybe I could be the first quarian princess or something and people would love me! People would think I was beautiful too! Not think that I was...that I was just...a suit rat." "Well fuck those people, they're not your friends and they never would be even if you went and did all that. They'd just smile all fake at you because they're all trying to be in the same crowd, not wanting to look stupid to each other with their own opinion. All this is is just some peer pressure bullshit. But you've got me, you've got friends who love and respect you for who YOU are. I don't care what you wear Leiah, I just want you to be you." "...th-thank you. You...you've always been really nice to me. You don't judge me like...other people do. Maybe because you're not from this galaxy." "Well...I had friends who helped me in the past so I can be that way. I wasn't always this nice a guy." "I think...I think I just need some time alone...just to think. I'll um...see you later?" "Alright. I'll uh, meet you back here with the rest of the group, alrighty?" "Okay...thank you James." He smiled and hugged her with one arm before heading off towards the band's room, asking them all individually to sign the poster for madame T'Kina. All of them obliged gratefully, except Lirem who looked rather stiffly at the movie poster before signing his name tersely. James thought it rather weird as his suspicions over that infamous song grew larger, but he said nothing as he made his way back towards the party host. Eventually he found the old military turian from before asking: "Hey, you know where madame T'Kina is?" "Should be out on the balcony talkin' with one of the guests, some turian buddhist lady." "Alright thanks...wait, buddhist?" "Yeah, from some temple in the city. Some human religion that turians really got into, I dunno, s'all bullshit to me." Looking rather confused he walked towards the balcony, an ensconced marble ledge that took six steps to walk from one end to the other, opening up from the window-shaped door to outwards. A view of the green gardens below, sweepingly grand with a large shallow fountain pool and various art sculptures, made it a rather odd contrast towards the city on Illium, spanning skyscrapers of shimmering mauve.

On the balcony were only two people somewhat out-of-view, the councilor herself and a turian female dressed like a buddhist monk. James did not even realise that other creatures would have an interest in human religions, but he watched curiously with fascination. The turian wore a black cloak and a large hat resembling an upturned wide bowl, covering her face almost completely but her voice belied her age as being somewhat old, as T'Kina began asking: "I never even knew that a temple existed on Nos Astra." "It is a centre of peace," said the turian, "in the midst of materialism. For those who become overwhelmed by the rift of currency, of profit and greed when taken to its extreme. Those who join us are usually those who have stepped up towards the very brink of this city's edge, weighed down with pockets full of change that would weigh them down into the deepest blackness...and stepped back." "How fascinating! I could not even think that the humans had developed such an amazing concept of peace and conduct." "A seed can travel far in the wind. So too can the teachings of Buddha." "And what are these teachings exactly?" "The Noble Eightfold Path, which for the sake of clarity I shall explain in three parts. Firstly, the wisdom. To see through one's lies even to thine own self, to clear one's path of misunderstanding with the right view and to rid thyself of knowing what's wrong with the right intention. Second, there is ethical conduct. To keep one's life free of evils that would lead one astray, such as to not lie with the right speech, to not murder or steal thereby making the right action, and the right livelihood in living your life without harming others." "And the third?" "The third...is concentration. The ability to keep one focused with a calm mind. The right effort to forever eliminate the darkness in one's self, the right mindfulness to keep one's mind focused on the path, and lastly...the right concentration itself to not be distracted by such trivial matters. That is admittedly the simplified version, but I am sure if you are interested you can always find out more." "These all sound very good lessons," said T'Kina, "I would love to visit sometime and...maybe learn more of these teachings at least out of curiosity. Did you require anything else from me, perhaps something to do with your temple?" "No...not at all. It was an honour to meet you councilor. But...I fear that this meeting I do not deserve." "Why's that?" "I have...I have not been faithful to my teachings of this path. May I...confide in you?" "Of course dear, please, do not be afraid to open up to me, speak your mind." "Thank you...but instead of speaking my sin...let me show you."

The raptor saw the slightest green glint from the turian's arm, a sharp thickening tip that he immediately understood the nature of. Without warning, he dropped the movie poster to one side and charged towards the turian female, the power of wind aiding him as he plowed straight through the balcony railing, falling with the turian down below. People started to scream only after they reached the floor, landing in the large fountain of the mansion courtyard as the party congregation moved further back, giving them a wide berth out of fear for what would happen. Dripping from his hired suit, he found himself being pushed hard off the female who stood up snarling beneath her wide-rimmed hat, her claws thick with a green venomous bile. Her words cracked with old age before darkening with: "Don't interfere, hero." "Or what, you'll kill me?" said James bluntly. "No...that would be merciful." With a sweep of her black cloak, she lunged straight towards him with a furious speed, one he almost did not expect as he dodged desperately to one side and barely avoided her attack, the deep slash across the air soon laced with a brief poisonous mist. The party guests screamed and ran off, leaving them mostly alone in the manor's garden lights to do battle. James grabbed one of the potted plants and hurled it with a blast of wind, but she dodged to one side with incredible reflexes before pulling out her own weapon, a submachine pistol. He quickly brought up his tetra shield, his nanos coalescing with practiced speed before the shots went firing. Pinging off of the raptor's shield, the submachine pistol couldn't break through with its small burst of ammo as she rushed straight towards him, water spouts flicking beneath her heels as she striked once again. Her claws were coloured jade, drips of venom threatening to pierce the raptor's flesh with an impossible sharpness, one that could easily rip through his wettened suit. He took no chances for when he dodged back once again, only to swiftly duck and fall back at her sudden slash across the air above him. One that was powerful enough to decapitate the marble bust of an asari. Said marble bust was what he grabbed in order to throw at the assassin, trying to distract her long enough for a rushing charge as he ducked low and slammed his elbow straight into her gut. She was surprised but not winded, grunting as she tried to slam her hand down on top of his head before he grabbed her in a wrestling tackle to throw her hard in front of him. But the assassin simply recovered with a new tactic in mid-air, a biotic palm strike underneath that propelled her upwards slightly, the water splitting into a dry circle beneath her as she backflipped safely onto her feet.

She immediately leapt forwards with a violent kneestrike, slamming straight into FG's gut and knocking the wind out of his sails fast as he collapsed onto the water. Completely soaked through his suit as he struggled to get up, the assassin slammed down her foot before the raptor dodged out of the way, splashing a strike of water up at her face before suddenly shooting ice from his hands. The shivering freeze effect made her panic, backing off with a sweep of her black robe before her entire body began to shimmer a deep violet. Her eyes beneath glowered with intense light, striking indigo as she swung forwards with a tremendous roundhouse kick, catching FG on the side of his head and slamming him down once more, water splishing all around him as his head throbbed. Stumbling back onto his feet, he received another kick straight to the chest, a forwards thrust that sent him against a marble pillar where an asari bust once stood. The assassin pulled up one hand with fist forwards as if ready to fire something, the raptor quickly sending his shield back up as fast as he could whilst ducking to one side. A sickening green mist hurled itself through the air from her hand, striking into his tetra shield and the column with a piercing strength that made him shudder. Somehow, a lethal-looking green spike had managed to neatly impale itself through one of the holes in his shield, making him panic and break down his shield before striking another huge splash of water, keeping her back with a rising wind. The assassin was surprised enough that he was still moving without poison in his veins before he charged through the giant wave of water to clock her on the chin. Slamming her head upwards as she stumbled back from pain, he readily fired up his fist as it literally crawled with flames, right before he tore through her chin with a vicious uppercut. Powerful enough that it ripped off her hat to reveal her true face. Beige pale cheeks and forehead, with chalk-white nostrils along with her mouth and chin. He was slightly startled by an odd sense of deja vu as she rubbed her cracked jaw, snarling as she began running from the garden with robes still on her. In her haste she dropped her pistol, the raptor picking it up before giving chase after her, not even thinking of letting her escape. "GET BACK HERE BITCH I'LL BREAK YOUR FACE!" Chasing out of the estate, the assassin jumped into a shuttlecar kept waiting for her before it sped off, the raptor hopping into the back of a nearby shuttle taxi being manned by a dark-tanned human. "Woah woah buddy, what's the rush?!" "Follow that car, that woman in there's a criminal!" "Hey-ey-ey you don't go asking stuff like that outta nowhere pal, you oughta-" The raptor held out the submachine gun before the driver, not aiming at him but implying plenty enough. "I will pay you when we catch up to her, now fucking drive before I start putting holes in your fucking roof!"

Nervously starting the shuttle, the driver sped off as he drove into the high-rise traffic. The constant stream of vehicles between skyscrapers was bewildering to the raptor, lines of traffic following seemingly invisible paths without a care in the world whilst all in a perfect row. Out in the sky itself, James almost forgot about what an impossibly high drop they were from the ground below, with neon roads lighting up between the understreets. The sky turned darker inbetween the skyscrapers, the assassin's vehicle marked out in front of them. "Faster!" "I'm trying!" said the driver. "I only got enough speed in this thing!" "The sooner you catch up with her the better I'll pay!" "How much?!" "Double your fare!" "Alright you got it! Why you chasin' after this girl!?" "She tried to kill the councilor, I gotta stop her!" "Seriously?!" "...SHIT, TURN LEFT! TURN LEFT!" The vehicle ahead banked a hard left between buildings, forcing the taxi to do the same as they reached a point of the city where no traffic was, screaming past reflective windows on either side full of office workers. Perfect opportunity for one side of the assassin's shuttle to open up, before someone popped out to fire at the taxi with a piercing bullet. "JESUS!" "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS GUY'S DEAL!?" The driver panicked and tried to maintain his taxi, the high-speed chase doing enough to keep him from being shot by what appeared to be an assault rifle. James was too far away to do anything about it, as he only hoped the driver was good enough to dodge the bullets. One bullet cracked into the windshield, shattering a hole through the passenger seat as they struggled to keep driving. Soon they re-entered traffic, screaming between lines of them as the shuttles went high then low like an obstacle course. Then the assassin drived into oncoming traffic, making the driver panic. "HOLY SHIT NO!" "KEEP DRIVING!" "BU-" "I WILL TRIPLE YOUR FARE DAMMIT! HAVEN'T YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO DO THIS LIKE IN THE MOVIES?!" "...triple you say?" "Yes. Triple." "...fuck it." The human driver started to develop a careless streak at this prospect, as he raced through the oncoming traffic which began to swerve and scream past them in panic. The two shuttles racing the opposite direction of a dozen crafts was enough to cause high-wire collisions, the other vehicles struggling to avoid the irresponsible drivers. The taxi managed to swerve on the outer rim of traffic to avoid most of them, while the escaping shuttle simply did not care and drove right between vehicles to the point of almost scraping. Soon they left the traffic once again to reach towards the docking bay, the raptor all-too-clearly figuring out her real destination. "I'm not letting that bitch escape, soon as she lands I'm dropping out!" "Shit really?!" squawked the driver. "You better pay me now then!" "Fine, how much?!" "Two-thousand!" "TWO-THOUSAND!?" "HEY, YOU SAID TRIPLE, THIS RIDE WOULDA BEEN SIX-FIFTY!" "BULLSHIT YOU'RE ROUNDING IT UP!" "You want me to stop where she stops, you pay now!" "Fine...TRUCK!" The driver turned almost too late as a slow-moving freighter hovered before them like a whale, the taxi swinging underneath in a sudden dive towards the docks, catching sight of the vehicle once more. The raptor quickly transferred his payment to the taxi fare once he saw the shuttle make its landing at the docking bay. The taxi slowly hovered down towards the ground close enough for James to hop down. "Thanks for the ride!" "No prob, thanks for the fare!" "Hang somewhere nearby, I might need a ride back!" "You got it!"

The taxi hovered out of the area but not heading too far, whilst the raptor headed into the docking bay. The shuttle was now abandoned in the wide steel-grey hangar area, as he raced with submachine gun in hand to try and find some trace of the assassin. Luckily he noted some lean wet footprints heading off one way, his own marked out behind him from their battle in the water fountain. He followed after them, turning a blind corner towards one cargo area as he saw it was empty. At least empty of any workers. Stepping between the large piled crates of both rectangular and cubular forms, the raptor kept his sights trained from the submachine pistol at any shadow that might approach him, the suit clinging wetly to his skin. He was tempted to tear off the top half of it, but he was already going to lose a large deposit on it from the damage alone so he thought it best to at least return it afterwards. It was during this brief interlude of the silent cargo bay, the sounds of shuttles flitting back and forth from overhead, that he almost dodged out of the way from a huge crate crashlanding upon him. Had he kept his wits better about him he would have dodged completely, his foot now throbbing from being smacked by metal at the very tip of his claws before he stood up once again. Soon a large shadow creaked heavily from above him, the sounds of grinding cranes alerting him to the sudden drop of a giant metallic husk of pure bone-white, crashing onto the ground where he once stood. At first it appeared to be just a solid lump of metal, until it slowly began to unfold before him, rising up onto two legs with arms spreading from its bulbous torso. A large hulking mass of a machine standing at eight feet tall, with two red circles on top of each other within the black oval-shaped head, between two strapping steel shoulders that ended in giant clamps. Its feet were monstrously thick, big enough to crush a shuttle in two steps at the bottom of its rigidly smooth thighs branching out from a black bipedal underbelly. A voice from above alerted him to two turians from the crane control room, chuckling down upon him. "So," said the female turian, "you actually managed to track me down. Thank you for retrieving my gun, boy." "Such a good kid," said a male turian, "protecting the councilor, oblivious to the whoooole galaxy around him thinking one good turn deserves another. But...heh, it ain't all that simple is it?" "I dunno how it works on Illium," said FG, "but the last assassin I had to deal with was also an asshole bitch. Guess that's why they both start with ASS." "HAH, that the best you can come up with?! I've seen volus deliver smackdowns better than you!" "I'd rather not waste my best on you, fuckheads." "Typical," said the female, "foul language doesn't make you sound any better than your average thug on the street." "You're right, that's why I'm talking down on your level." "Pfft...so I was hunted down by the hired comedian from the party, am I right?" "I dunno, it WAS pretty funny when I punched the fuck out your face and you ran away like a little bitch." "Says the punkass freak dripping in a wet suit," said the male, "I dunno about you, but you're gonna look pretty stupid when my robot friend here obliterates you into half a dozen pieces of cheap fabric!"

As much as James feared the machine that slowly began walking towards him, he also wondered something about the male turian's voice. The female obviously was the assassin but the male he had heard somewhere before. He tried to guess where as he focused on the giant mech, its clamps opening up with murderous intent as it leered down upon him. The mech slowly made its way towards him as the raptor began firing, a half-dozen shots pinging off of the shielded armour before it started firing back. The machine gun of its right arm was vicious, tearing straight through some of the crates behind FG as he dodged desperately back and forth, his speed the only thing keeping him safe. Luckily the mech did not seem to consider firing ahead of James or else he would be in real trouble. But he had another danger to contend with when he heard the crane from above start to move. A crate suddenly threw itself onto him, crashing down hard enough to send space dust flying as he dived out of the way, using it as makeshift cover to hide from the mech. Said mech however utilised its rocket launcher instead, the left arm opening its clamps more to fire a cannon-sized blast that crumpled the crate inwards, hard enough to nudge it slightly and knock FG over. He recovered quickly as he tried taking pot shots at it once more, wanting to disable its shimmering shield before he could tackle the armour itself. The turian in the crane control room however gladly mocked his efforts, calling: "Yanno what this is?! This is just a modified YMIR Mech, supposedly designed for loading and unloading cargo...but...heh, I gave him a few modifications just to make sure, and the people round here are none the wiser when all they think I'm doing is just unloading crates. Including the one I'll be dumping your corpse in!" "Well guess what?!" said James. "I dealt with plenty worse than some giant heap of shit!" "HAH, you insulting the robot now?! It's not even a geth, it can't even feel that sting!" "I wasn't talking about the robot, I was talking to you!" "OH, you wanna do this huh?!" "I don't like threats, I don't like bullies and I DON'T like you." "That makes two of us little lizard! I can drive anything, I can throw these things like they were stones across water because I'm the best-" "SHUT UP SQUARON!" roared the female turian. "Just kill him already and we can leave without hassle!"

The robot made its way slowly around the broken crate, tracking out its target as the raptor dodged towards another pile of crates. But the crane above tried to stop him with another hard swinging pickup of a container that almost caught his tail, forcing him to slide forwards into a stumbling roll. Luckily the mech was prevented from firing down on him with this new cover, but it would easily move around soon enough. James kept firing from behind cover, hoping the gun had enough ammo in it before it ran out, especially when having no heat clips on him while wearing a suit. He once tried to shoot down the rocket that it fired, but the propulsion was extraordinarily fast, too fast for him to comprehend as he dodged away from the side of the crate he was hiding. The blast slammed into the side, near enough to him to throw the raptor across the floor with a stinging back, completely burned fabric singing neatly against his scales. Crying out with some pain, he hobbled his way around and only just managed to avoid being crushed by another crate thanks to hiding underneath a small pile of them, the container rolling off like a broken boulder. The machine however was relentless, firing wherever he went, ripping through the steel with its powerful machine gun and the odd rocket launcher that was far more accurate than expected. James was starting to run out of suitable cover that would be able to withstand such damage, and even worse came another problem. The submachine gun was running low on ammo, and he just used up the last of it in order to break through the shield itself, a sudden spark of blue signifying its resistance falling through. Now all he had left was the armour. Ideas flickered through his head as he stared up at the crane, thinking on how to trick the controller of it as he waited for the mech to come closer to him as it stomping around the crate. He also noticed that both him and the machine were hidden somewhat from view, the raptor on the other side of the crate to make himself visible to the control office. He only hoped that his guess on the male voice was right. "I guess that's all you're good for," said James, "just working the crane huh, from nine to five?!" "It's a living!" said the turian back. "Pays a good job done to crush little pests like you!" "I guess they let you use the crane because you're too stupid to drive?!" "WHAT YOU SAY!?" "YOU HEARD ME! You in the special class or something, or do they give you a little toy car to play with out back?!" "NOBODY TALKS SHIT ABOUT MY DRIVING YOU LIZARD FUCK!" "Hey, don't worry, not all of us are good at parallel parking! You just can't park at all, unless it's your ass on my DICK!" "OH, YOU WANNA GO THERE?!" "I already did...hell, I bet you drive worse than a quarian." "_...THAT'S IT, NOW YOU'RE DEAD! _"

In a brief moment of rage, he hurled the crate down from the crane with surprising precision like always, right behind the other crate that James just managed to dodge out of. Unfortunately the thrown crate slammed down hard onto something else, cracking like a giant baseball bat onto the YMIR mech's head. The controller only realised his unfortunate mistake once he saw the sputtering sparks of electricity as the machine's entire head caved straight down into its torso, crippling its central processing unit. "WH-WHAT HAPPENED?!" cried out the male. "YOU BROKE THE MACHINE YOU IDIOT!" shouted the female. "YOU LET HIM RILE YOU UP!" "H-HE WAS DISSING ME, I COULDN'T-" "SHUT UP!" A tremendous slap across the face could be easily heard from over the intercomm, the raptor smirking as he dodged away from the mech going haywire. It was still dangerous, and in the midst of its wild gyrating death throes, he didn't want to get caught in its insane crossfire as it began firing in all directions, mostly with the machine gun. "A-AAAGH, YOU FUCKING BITCH!" "Don't, even, think about it...I can kill you very slowly Squaron, and I can make your soul bleed from existence...GET DOWN!" The spread of machine gun fire rattled all across the windows of the control office, forcing the two turians to duck and run as they made their escape. The raptor was unable to follow, being trapped down in the cargo bay itself with nothing but an out-of-control mech violently suffering a mechanical seizure. He ran to the farthest container he could hide behind and waited for it to stop moving. Soon it began to overload with a shuddering groan of autonomous failure, rising in pitch until it became a violent digital shriek, right before exploding. Parts flew all over the cargo bay within a radius of nine feet, easily not far enough for James to suffer any shrapnel damage as he cautiously stepped out from behind cover. Brushing himself off with an air of smugness, he twirled the empty submachine pistol and walked off back towards the docking entrance. The moment he did however, he found himself staring into the bright lights of about a half-dozen armoured police officers, all of them asari with pistols and assault rifles bearing down on him. "...James Campbell?" said one officer. "Uh...yeah?" "Please stand down and drop your weapon. We're here to help." "Heh...alright. Don't worry it's out of ammo anyway." He slowly went down on the floor and tossed the gun away casually, hands behind his head as the protocol he knew. "But if you're looking for that assassin, she got away sadly. She's not here anymore." "Is that right? Well..." The officer holstered her assault rifle and stepped forwards towards him, the armour glinting of a deeper blue than he had ever seen as she gave him a hand to stand up. "Then I hope you can help us find her faster, once we sort out this whole mess."