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The terminal opened up with a video call, as James sat by Leiah waiting to see the other side of the galaxy. In this case literally, for according to their current position Leiah's home was in the Far Rim of the galaxy, a cluster literally called such for the sake of mystery. Leiah's room had not been given much personality due to what little she had, but it still had a few of her mementos lying around. Mainly in the form of small tools and mechanical objects that James wouldn't quite be able to understand. Eventually the videos synced, and a female quarian on the terminal screen appeared in a luscious blood-red, smiling beneath her mask with the backdrop of a rather blocky-looking grey hull behind her. The raptor found it a rather nice contrast to her sky-blue daughter. "Hi honey!" "Hi mom!" said Leiah with a wave. "Finally get to show you my friend, this is James!" "Nice to meet you," said the raptor, "Leiah never stops talking about you." "Hmhmhm that's good," said Mrs. Dahlael, "I know you must have heard this already but let me thank you deeply for what you did for my daughter. The galaxy is such a dangerous place out there for a young child." "Good thing I'm not a child right mom?" said Leiah cockily. "Besides, I had to teach James here a thing or two about how to handle himself in combat, right James?" "Oh yeah totally," said FG, "I mean there's a lotta techniques I had to learn and she really helped me out there." "How are you mom?" "I'm good thank you," said Mrs. Dahlael, "it's been all go here I'm afraid what with the recent trial." "OH keelah I forgot about that, did they ever find out who did it?" "Not yet I'm afraid, they are still looking but it is most unusual I must say, it's the talk of the hallways." "Wait what happened?" asked FG. "There was a case involving geth parts being developed on one of the ships here. Which is illegal and punishable by exile." "Wow really? Why's that?" "We have prohibited ourselves from working on or building geth ever again, especially after the last time we did such a thing." "Oh...ohhhhh right I see. So what exactly happened?" "Hmhm, forgive me but I am a little tired of hearing the case myself, perhaps Leiah can tell you at another time." "Oh right, um, sorry Mrs. Dahlael." "That's quite alright. May I ask how the two of you met?" "Well I...saw Leiah on the citadel dancing in front of a shop window an-" "James don't tell her that!" squawked Leiah. "Wh-what, I thought she knew!" "I-u-um..." "You could do a bit of work on your slow dances, though I gotta say you can sweep the floor down a nightclub." "K-keelah..." "Hohohoho," chuckled the mother, "you just can't resist a little dancing can you Leiah?" "It was just...a thing!" "I can tell...hmhm, please go on James, may I call you James?" "Sure ma'am," he said politely, "I don't mind. So I saw her dancing and then she...walked away and two guys followed her. So I went down because that didn't look good and uh...well, few fists went flying and they got chased off." "Again, I must thank you deeply. If by some chance you ever come to the Migrant Fleet you must let me repay you." "Heh, Iiiiii'm not looking for a reward thanks, I mean I'm just glad I made a friend to help me through this galaxy."

He smiled at Leiah who he could tell was smiling back, softly suppressing a yawn politely as Leiah asked: "How's dad doing?" "He's fine, still busy. Ventilation systems again, such troublesome things." "Don't...tell me, the floor twist diffuser." "Haha, yeeeeees it is." "I told him that it wasn't working, silly! He needs a new one." "Ohhhh no no no, you know what he's like. Unless it's broken COMPLETELY through, it is still worthy of something so until that thing snaps in half, we're going to feel a little stuffy. Not that I mind, it feels nice sometimes...makes it feel like there's more than one person in the room." "Awwww...I'm sorry, I wish I could come back sooner." "It's alright dear, I know. You have to find that special thing." "And I will! I'm going to bring back something really good!" "Well don't push yourself. I still love you because you're my daughter, not because you brought back something shiny." "Heeheheehe!" "If you gave me something shiny," said FG, "I'd love anyone forever." "HAH, really?!" "Yeaaaaah um, kind of a joke some old friends of mine like to say or something." "Hmhmhm, I see," said Mrs. Dahlael. "Shame your father's busy again Leiah, he's always missing you." "I know," said Leiah, "but he could always send an email to me! He's always so forgetful about other things he can do." "That's because he misses the sound of your voice most, goodness knows I hear that enough from him." "What's Mr. Dahlael like?" asked James curiously. "Oh my husband is delightful, a bit sweet and occasionally absent-minded like the times when he gets a new idea and wanders off...but he means well, very dear and passionate about things. It's why I fell in love with him and, dare I say, a lot of his 'level-headedness' passed on to our dear little dancer." "Awww..." Leiah blushed softly at such, giggling as her mother asked: "I'm sorry I didn't mean to take up the conversation about us, tell us more about you James. Do you have a family?" "Uhhhh hehe...not really. I'm an orphan." "Oh, I'm so sorry." "No no it's fine, please. Besides I was raised by someone who adopted me so..." "I hope they raised you well." "Nnnnnnot really. But I got out there on my own and learned my mistakes, or tried to. So I like to think that I managed to do pretty well on my own." "I see, you are...most unusual I must say, I have never heard of a...velo-see-raptor?" "Hehe, yeah I know we're...pretty recently up in this galaxy I guess." "Interesting. I hope life for you out there in the stars is going well then." "Well when I have friends like Leiah, yeah it always is." "Hmhm!"

They passed the time over the next hour talking about their lives, with James being made the centre of focus out of politeness from Leiah's mother. By now he was able to pick and choose little parts of his life, rearranging them into biopics more appropriate for his audience. In this case he avoided the more violent parts, focused more on training beneath a master swordsman which fascinated Mrs. Dahlael of such an archaic fashion of life, and reminisced on happier memories plucked from the past four years of his life. Leiah allowed the two to talk, happy to see both her friend and her mother get along so well, surprised to see James also become rather reserved and polite without any hint of offensive words. The conversation really cooked up once James mentioned his first and last cooking incident, explaining: "So I try to warm up the salad a little and SUDDENLY it caught fire, like out of the blue! And I'm like 'nooooo no no no no where's the towels!?' and I thought maybe you choke the fire out. But NOPE, it just got a bit higher and then Koopin comes in and is like 'JAMES WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?' and I'm like 'I CAN'T STOP IT, THE TOWELS ARE NOT WORKING HELP!'" "Pffffhahahahaha, awwww you poor thing, I can't believe you could even do that with a salad!" "I know, I mean my fault but augh...last time I ever cook anything again." "Awww don't give up so easily now James, everyone makes mistakes. I hope he forgave you." "Oh yeah, once I bought him new dishtowels...and then pizza for dinner that night." "Pizza?" "It's a human food," said Leiah, "like this really flat bread that you smear tomato or cheese over, and you can add any topping you want like fish or mushrooms and such." "Well that's interesting! But...human food? Are there humans on your planet too?" James struggled not to bulge his eyes out with panic at the slight hiccup, the quarian beside him doing the exact same thing as he added: "W-well our food is SIMILAR to the human pizza...but eeeeeveryone called it pizza when I was going around the galaxyyyyy soooo I just call it that." "Aaaaah...I see...hmhmhm, well, I must be off sadly, it was a wonderful pleasure to talk to you James." "Same here, glad to finally meet you Mrs. Dahlael." "Thank you, and honey? Small private word if that's alright." "OH, sure!" said Leiah. "James, do you mind if I just-" "Oh no problem," said James, "lemme just head off now I'll uh, see you in a bit Leiah. G'bye Mrs. Dahlael, take care alright?" "You too James. Keelah seh'lai." Smiling at the farewell, he headed out of Leiah's room and walked back to his own, smiling more after having had his troubles washed away by the comfort of a mother's company. Even in a call across an entire galaxy, seeing Leiah and her mother talk so freely between each other brought warmth to his heart. Enough so that he managed to stave off the fearful recollections of what had occurred previously, concerning the odd presence within Areh's room. He quickly stopped himself from trying to remember, as he pulled out the photo of Koopin's family and him, trying to bury himself into his past memories. Thinking back to the last family he knew, he smiled at the times he had with them, the incredible support he was given from both Klair and Shelldon and the way they treated him like an old friend. His thoughts began to meld into a more peaceful setting, sighing as hs reminisced with half-conscious murmurs. "...god your mum is beautiful Koopin...hhhhhmmm...no. Dammit no, at the very least I have to respect you somehow when I'm not with you. Agh..."

A few days later, they arrived at the planet of Intai'sei within the Phoenix System, hovering into the Argos Rho cluster as they slowly made their way towards the desert planet. From what James had gathered on his codex after finally figuring out how to access his omni-tool, it was a planet now colonised by humans with preferable atmospheric conditions. But harsh deserts and a high temperature made terraforming and agriculture an uphill battle, something that humanity was no stranger to on its own planet many years ago. Areh slowly began his descent, heading towards a smaller settlement known as Abersei where the distress signal had come from. Already they had seen the Blood Pack ship that glowed red like a ruby in the desert, waiting to reap its spoils from the poorly-protected city already halfway-ruined. Docking their own silver ship upon the dunes on the opposite side of Abersei, Lirem set up a meeting between the six of them going over their upcoming mission, using a map of the city that now replaced the usual star charts in front of them. "Okay here's how it's gonna work. We had a small flyover of the city from orbit and marked out the major area of conflict, which is the financial district's main road." "Just a bunch of bank robbers," said Krungut, "Blood Pack's gettin' desperate." "Right, now considering the scale of this assault we're gonna have to work in teams, and we're gonna have to work fast. I've transmitted a map of the city area we'll be going to on all your omni-tools, so read 'em and learn 'em. Our main objective is to reach the Jormangund Technologies office, which is now highlighted on your maps." "These the guys that sent the distress signal?" asked Leiah. "Yes, they're a human company that are famous for aggressive integration of non-human technology, mainly known for advanced optical computers and AI stuff." "Blueboxes to be exact," said Areh, "they're pretty amazing." "Not amazing enough to defend themselves," replied FG. "Actually they're the only ones fighting back," said Lirem, "their entire office is trying to hole up survivors inside while being pushed back by the Blood Pack. Norem, you and me'll drop in through the residential district and get a vantage point behind here, that way we can ambush 'em after killing this small garrison over here. Areh, you and James drive out in the Mako together and ride down the main street on our signal. Jax, you and Leiah huddle up behind and divert yourself down to the side road while we pave through." "Woah woah woah," said Jax, "why am I not with Areh?" "Areh has firepower on his side, Leiah doesn't. That way everyone has a fair amount of firepower." "Uhhh...okay." "Don't worry," said Leiah, "it'll be just like Medal of Duty, we can rock this." "Heheh, yeah. Hope you got enough grenades girl." "You just keep shootin' and bashin' big boy." "Now, any questions?" asked Lirem. "Are there any hostages?" asked FG. "None that we know of, our orders are shoot to kill and eradicate the menace. But if you see any civilians or someone hiding not from the Blood Pack, tell them you're here to help, codename Wolf Three-Nine-Five." "And if any ARE taken hostage?" "Then do your best to save them. If you require any help, Areh's put trackers on all your omni-tools and you can give a signal if you need help." "What signal's that?" "If you got a hostage situation, codename is Miss Dark." "After one of your own songs?" said Leiah. "That's kinda egotistical isn't it?" "Hey it works, plus no one can tell what it means. Alright, are we ready?" "Yeah!" said everyone. "Good, check your weapons and your armour and we'll head out in an hour sharpish. Let's go people!"

The cargo bay opened underneath the Centurion Eagle, as one tank began rolling out towards the small city of Abersei across the desert sea. Lirem, Norem, Jax and Leiah all sat up on top of the mako riding along, with James and Areh huddled nicely inside. None of them needed to wear their helmets apart from the quarians naturally, the air breathable upon this arid desolate planet that humans somehow still found a life on. The city while small was still rather impressive with tall spiralling structures of dusty office buildings and smooth-grained houses. To James it looked like a small gathering of rusted swords plunged into the ground, the dry cracked soil gristling underneath the thick tires of the mako known as Varan. Houses lined up on either side of them as either apartment blocks or fancy curved residential buildings for the more rich inhabitants. It certainly seemed like a well-contained city to be able to profit well enough to run all on its own, despite the current state of affairs now sending it to ruin. Shattered windows, crumbling mortar, roads filled with potholes and missile blasts the moment they entered the city. James was reminded of the news reports he saw back home, fighting in the streets and the descent of chaos and anarchy to rebel against a government. The memory made him uncomfortable even upon a world like this so very far from home. A desert planet with a lone human settlement barely able to fight back against an invading force of merceneries that had just enough firepower to take what they want. This wasn't a site of anarchy and battle against establishments. This was an assault. Bodies laid all around them on the streets, far more of them being human than any other as the hot wind blowed across the bloodied cracked road. Some of them were hiding in their homes thankful that the fighting had gone downwind. Others were not so fortunate, lifeless and huddled, kicked and discarded to the side of the road like yesterday's garbage. Both of the turians hopped off once they found a road through the residential district, keeping their guns primed as they kept an eye out for friend or foe. "We're heading to point A now," said Norem, "remember your places everyone." "No problem," said Jax. "You ready fer this Leiah?" "I am," she said sternly, "but I am surprised you'd take me along for all this." "Like I said, it's time fer revenge after whut the Blood Pack nearly did to you. Besides, we need all the help we can get, an' after whut happened back on that Eroba ship, I figure we can always use a good few grenades launched around the place." "Hehehee...right, I...I'll do my best. Just...keep me safe alright?" "I will. No one's ever died on my watch an' I ain't startin' here."

The city smelled of smoke and fire, the odd tang of blood here and there more detectable as they rolled further in. So far there had been no enemies, presumably because they were now converging on their destination. Heading into the financial district, which contained the tallest of buildings in the very core of the small city, James sat up inside a circular smaller section of the mako in front of a small control panel with external viewer. He had to ask: "How big is this city anyway?" "Only about seven-thousand," said Areh. "Then why the hell is it a city?" "I dunno, I never took geography. I live on a fucking ship my whole life, what do I know about settlements?" "Hahaha, good point. Wait how do you know how many people live here then?" "I read up on it? You know, because we were preparing for a mission?" "...right, stupid question sorry. Anything I have to do while in this thing?" "I need you to help me with the weapons system. I can do some of it myself but I can't drive and shoot good at the same time. Once it's clear on the ground, you can head out and take them on inside the building we're heading to." "Awesome." "You know how to use it right? I got my own buttons over here as well if I ever have to act as the gunner while driving but I can't be as accurate, so you gotta do this." "Alright, well, I'm assuming THIS button fires-" "DON'T TOUCH IT YET!" "I'm not I'm not! Now...this button...lets me swivel and turn it...this button?" "That's for omni-gel deployment if the turret gets hit." "Right right...yeah I got this no worries, man this is way easier than I thought it'd be." "I rigged it up myself to make it easy to handle, normally they're a lot more complicated but I thought why bother, I don't wanna have to press five buttons to shoot something." "Hahaha, yeah I agree, man you're a real genius." "Ahhhh...not really, I just understand wiring diagrams way better than most...not sure why, it just clicks in my head. Guys I'm sensing some enemies up ahead! You might wanna duck down into the side streets right about now." "Got it!" said Jax. "Come on Leiah, lemme see how you really fight in a battle."

The krogan and the quarian female hopped off from the mako, running down towards a side street as Areh readied himself to make the first assault. Dead ahead were several mercs standing outside a large blue building now shattered through, ranging from one or two krogans to several batarians, humans and an odd banshee-like species that looked as if they'd been carved from rotting wood. Long thin V-shaped faces and wicked sharp teeth, with bandoliers around scrawny bodies and thin emaciated limbs. "The fuck are those weird thin guys?" asked FG. "You never seen Vorcha before?" said Areh. "No...are they dangerous?" "Not when I'm done with them, get ready! FIRE!" Once Areh got a signal on his omni-tool, James fired a cannon shot straight into the Blood Pack crowd, who all immediately turned after the krogans barely survived, crippled but roaring with fury. Six others however of various species were clearly dead and charring, as one of the vorcha readied what appeared to be some kind of flamethrower, his back covered with a pyrotechnic pack. Areh wasted no time in gunning him down, his machine gun ripping through the pack and blasting it to smithereens, vorcha and all. The Blood Pack fired violently down upon the Varan, which forced Areh to turn and steer in order to dodge some of their shots, the raptor learning to take aim with the surprisingly easy-to-control artillery of the mako tank. The only drawbacks were that the machine gun had a tendency of overheating when firing too long, and the cannon shot had to cool down for a good three seconds inbetween each shot. But considering the destruction he made with each shot that blasted straight through any barricades and murdered krogans in practically two shots, it was minor at best to complain. "HA HA HAAAAAA," cackled James, "HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW!?" "JAMES, ROCKET DUDE ON THE LEFT!" Areh's warning forced the raptor to turn the gunsight to see one batarian with a rocket launcher, forced to use the machine gun to rip through his armor and obliterate his insides into a bloody shower, shield and all. The rocket went careening up as he fired falling back, shrieking past the mako and hitting a building behind as some of the rubble came down, forcing Areh to drive off. He boosted the jet thrusters over a particular mound of rock, leaping high into the air as the raptor misfired and blasted open the already-ruined doors of the Jormangund Technologies building. "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE AIMING!" roared Areh. "WELL TELL ME WHEN YOU'RE GONNA BOOST!" replied FG. "JUST RUN 'EM OVER!" "FINE!"

The quarian revved up his tires and stormed straight into a horde, slamming through several batarians and crushing two underneath the wheels into a violent paste spurting out until they began to spin crazily. The tank was now in the midst of battle, trapped on some of the rubble now grinding underneath the tires and unable to fight off every single enemy still standing at the same time. But a few gunshots to the back of their heads made them think twice. From a side street came Jax and Leiah, firing away with a Carnage blast that burned two vorchas alive and an arc grenade that shattered through their defences. "WHO THE FUCK ARE THESE GUYS?!" roared one batarian. "NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" cried out Areh. "NOW SHUT IT!" The cannon blast was autocontrolled by the quarian himself who temporarily took the reins in a brief spurt of anger, firing far too close to the mako that made it shudder from the blast. "THE FUCK ARE YOU CRAZY?!" shouted FG. "I'M NOT CRAZY, JUST STUPID!" "WHAT?!" "N-NEVER MIND, HOLD ON I'M GONNA BOOST!" Firing up the jets, he shot the tires free from the rubble underneath and managed to drive away from the front of the building, knocking over one vorcha too stupid to dodge out the way. Jax shotgunned another in the back, a pyro that was readily firing up its flamethrower but who never got the chance. Leiah just kept firing at anything coloured red, her pistol going in all directions and at one point hitting the tank. "L-LEIAH WATCH IT!" said FG. "Oh that's nothing don't worry!" replied Areh. "It's not a pistol not a rocket...KEELAH!" He hadn't been paying attention to two rocket-wielding humans now standing before them, grinning as they fired off their first shots straight towards them. The double cracking boom sent ripples of pain and heat throughout the mako, the raptor and the quarian crying out from being hit and almost falling over. James took it worse when he fell out of his seat, whilst Areh just hit his head. The comms screamed at his ear with a krogan's voice. "AREH, YOU ALRIGHT?!" "Y-YEAH I'M FINE!" "HANG ON I'M COMING!" The call was followed by the sudden brutal slam of a krogan mass tearing through both humans in front of them. One was knocked down with broken arms as if he'd been hit by a car, the other getting cracked across the face with a shotgun like a baseball bat. Jax however gave no mercy, grabbing the bloody-headed second human while roaring: "_NOBODY HURTS MY LITTLE BUDDY! RAAAAAAARRRGH! _"

This was the last the human hard before a violent headbutt came crashing down on him, the krogan's rock-shaped head crushing the inside of his skull as it caved in with fury, eyes popping in blood-white rivulets. The other human who was now crying from broken limbs, suffered no less of a punishment as he was picked up and hurled towards a jagged mound of rubble, the snap of his spine audible as his body completely wrapped around the rock. Even James winced at the sight, murmuring: "Remind me never to piss off your friend." "I wish he wasn't so emotional," said Areh, "but that's their problem not mine." "Right...anyone else." "Nope...guys, this area's clear, we just have to get inside an-KEELAH FUCK!" Crawling around the street corner came a large red glimmer and the sudden fire from a cannon, blasting straight into Areh's mako as he felt rattled hard. His body was bruised from the impact but no worse for wear as the mako's shields remained sturdy. The Blood Pack soon revealed they had a tank of their own, blood-red like everything they own with a nasty white skull painted dripping on the side of it. It was of a Mako design however, different slightly in customisation but still the same model nevertheless. "They got one too?!" said Leiah. "What do we do?!" "Everyone get inside!" shouted Areh. "I'll handle this bosh'tet!" "What?!" cried Jax. "But you-" "GET INSIDE, I'M THE ONE WITH A TANK!" "...okay, but first!" He fired another Carnage shot straight into the side hull, crippling the enemy mako slightly just to soften it up before winking. "Make 'em feel it pal!" The krogan rushed straight into the building with Leiah tagging along behind him. James however wasn't sure what to do asking: "Need a hand with the shooting?" "If you wouldn't mind," asked Areh politely. "You mean help someone blow the shit out of a tank? Yeah, I think I can help with that." The raptor smiled cockily as he sat up at the gun panel, the quarian driving round in his somewhat-wounded Varan as it rolled hard across the rubble, circling round the other mako now before them. In turn it started to circle with them, like sharks around their prey before firing upon the other. Areh made James wait until the blood mako fired, lifting up with his jet thrusters to avoid the blast and ordering him to fire downwards. It was a tricky shot, but James managed to hit around the back top of it to crumple it inwards, the cannon being the only thing strong enough to crack through eventually. "Not bad dodging!" said James. "Not bad shooting!" said Areh. "Don't get cocky, this guy's gonna have his own tricks as well!"

Indeed the opposing mako soon tried ramming speed, charging towards the Varan with a surprising boost forwards. But Areh had seen the signs of a charging machine before, readily performing the Anguirus Roll to one side to dodge out the way before jet thrusting hard for some extra leverage. Landing perfectly behind his enemy, the raptor fired right into the back of the tank, cracking harder through its shielded hull. The Blood Pack tank flipped itself around with a jet thruster spin, twirling in the air briefly like a hurling brick before landing with a cloud of dust. The moment it tried to fire once again, the Varan rolled out the way as Areh cackled with a surge of battle lust, crying out to James to fire immediately. He wasted no time in doing so, another shot straight to the front of the tank in retaliation as the blood-coloured mako began revving up the engines to charge once more. Areh however didn't have enough time to repower his thrusters, forced to take the hit head on as he charged in turn straight towards it. "WHAT ARE YOU DOI-AUUUGH!" James braced for impact the moment he realised, his head thrust against the panel as he slammed forwards. The crunching grind of two machines against each other was enough to set their teeth on edge, as Areh revved his engines against the Blood Pack's mako. Likewise they in turn fired up their tires against the Varan, before Areh had an idea. "James, move the cannon under theirs!" "What?!" "I got an idea! Don't fire, just put it under theirs!" Slowly moving the cannon barrel until it was snugly nestled under the blood mako's, he waited for Areh to make his move as the quarian suddenly cried out: "MOTHRA LEO BOOST ROLL!" The raptor grabbed something out of instinct as Areh made a daring move to suddenly thrust his jets upwards before firing all of his power onto the left thruster only, hooking his mako cannon against the enemy's before rolling violently just off the ground. The sudden momentum was enough to grind hard against the blood mako, creaking steel against steel as they found themselves being uplifted. Areh's mako sideflipped itself free, the cannon slicing across the other mako like a sword against a steel hull. While it did nothing to the hull itself, the momentum of being pushed upwards and to the side flipped the enemy onto its own side, groaning as they fell like a wounded rhinoceros. Before they even had a chance to recover, the quarian fired up his engine and slammed his Varan straight into the top of the mako, perfectly on its side before being crushed inwards by the charging force.

The enemy mako rolled hard at least twice, taking more damage before James fired perfectly at it in mid-roll, crippling it even more as the added momentum of the blast sent it crashing into a wall. Areh's eyes lit up beneath his mask, taking control of the cannon for himself before saying: "SAY GOODNIGHT, BOSH'TETS!" With one final blast, the mako's cannon sent its shot firing into the crumbling wall above the mako, sending a quarter of an entire building down on their heads. An entire quake of dust and steel with mortar came cracking through the blood mako's hull, the last sight of which was being caved inwards by the avalanche upon them. Once the dust settled a few minutes later, and the last rocks rolled from the large crack in the building above, they saw only a large mound of rubble with a crushed tire and a broken cannon. Areh simply smiled with success. "Game...over." "...dude that was cold," said FG. "So? They were mercenaries, they deserved it." "Oh I never said they didn't...heheheh." He put his fist up towards Areh before he did the same, bumping their fists before saying: "Alright time to take this assault inside." "Wait you're coming too?" asked James. "Well yeah, you might need help with some tech." "What about the mako?" "He'll be fine, nothing can touch Varan the Unbelieveable!" "...alright then, let's head out!" "Jax we're coming in, the situation outside is A-OK!" "Awesome!" said the krogan through the comm. "Yer not hurt are ya?!" "Pfft nah...maybe a bump or two but I had worse." "Alright, get in here, we got a few doors you might try openin'." "Got it. Any sign of Norem and Lirem?" "Not yet." "Alright we're coming in."

The situation inside the Jormangund building could be better. Jax kept on a brave face like always, his bloodlust riding out in the last few minutes after brutally murdering those two humans from before. But the force inside was far more vicious, almost immediately firing upon them the moment they walked in. Thankfully being a krogan meant he was almost unstoppable in the face of battle, his body built in such a way that, as Areh could attest from the battle outside, they could practically take two hits from a cannon shot alone. Even if one was enough to put them close to death. But that only made them even more dangerous. There were few times a krogan had everything to lose, and when they did, that made them the most dangerous creatures in the entire galaxy. Leiah knew this, which was she was much more safe having Krungut around as both a meat shield and a heavy force, with shotgun and phosphorous charges blasting out towards the enemy. It took a while to recharge, having to duck behind a fallen pillar in the midst of the broken front lobby whilst taking potshots at the Blood Pack hiding behind the reception counter. But he had plenty of time. He had all the time he could ever need watching heads peek out from the black mica counter with a white raised logo of the company between two elevators resplendently designed in black and gold. He wanted to savour this, a lobby shootout just like in the movies. He rubbed his hand over the length of the shotgun, freaking Leiah out slightly at his smile. "Please don't get aroused by this," she said half-jokingly. "Heh heh heh...don't worry. You're safe with me." "Then why do I not believe you?" "You remember that Lobby map on Medal of Duty?" "...yeah?" "Same tactics'll work here. Except yanno, no regenerating health." "Right, Critical mode, gotcha." "Throw a grenade at the left elevator, then I'll blast 'em when they run out to the right. Got it?" "Got it." "Alright...GO!" On his command, Leiah dodged out from the left and hurled her grenade one way, forcing the enemies out of cover to avoid the shocking blast. Right into the path of Jax's shotgun, his Carnage power sending a rippling blast straight into the small group of four enemies, obliterating one's entire top half and charring the rest of them to fall back against the wall. The krogan chuckled and wasted no time in pumping them full of metal, shrapnel firing from his shotgun in vicious slivers before burying into their flesh. The last survivor of the attack got a heft curbstomp to the head, crushing his wounded skull. Leiah slowly got out of cover, walking towards the krogan as he scraped his foot on the rocky floor cleaning the blood and brain off it. He turned towards her flashing a grin, saying: "There ya see, not that bad is it?" "S-sure," murmured Leiah, "sorry...I'm just...I've never been in real combat before. I mean I had a few scraps in the wards but...not like this." "Hey. I meant whut I said back there, no one's ever died on my watch an' I ain't starting now. Keelah'selai." The sound of her species' traditional blessing from the krogan's lips made her smile bashfully, somehow honoured to hear it being said back to her before replying: "K-keelah'selai." "Thassit...now, when those two guys come through, pretend like we been waitin' fer ages." "Huh?" "Come on it'll be funny, we'll look badass to 'em." "Hehee, okay."

They didn't have to wait long as it was only five minutes later that both James and Areh had entered the Jormangund building only to see both Jax and Leiah standing around, weary with four bodies behind them. "Where the fuck you been," said Jax, "we been waitin' ages!" "Really?" asked FG. "Yeah! Killed all these losers here while we were waitin', got nothin' else to do right Leiah?" "Hehe, yeah!" said Leiah. "You guys are such slowpokes! Slowey Joeys." "Oh I'm sorry," said FG, "we only had to deal with a fucking TANK outside while you were picking off some scrubs." "Hehee, you're just boys with toys." "And Jax isn't a boy?" "Hey," said Jax smirking, "I just gotta look pretty." "Then you're doing a bad job," said Areh jokingly. "Now come on, we got a building to raid!" "Aww yeah, let's do this pal." Higher up at the halfway point of the building structure, an old krogan commander of the Blood Pack stared down at the human employees he currently had hostage. A good 30 warm bodies in the middle of a ruined office floor to negotiate affairs with, he stood with a pure yellow face and dark eyes as his entire group stood waiting at his command, armed to the teeth. The CEO and higher executives were still on the upper floors, holding out quite well with their own barricade against a large stairwell that rose higher up as the krogan warned through the intercomm: "Mister, you really don' wanna make me wait any longer fer this negotiation to go on. The more I stay here, the more people start dying. All we want is some of that sweet-ass tech you got." "Not when I can still use it against you!" said the CEO, "I built this technology to fight injustice, not fuel it!" "Yanno whut's funny about weapons sir? They don't got a conscience...that's why they're good at fightin' wars. Not like people, they think too much. If you were a gun you'd have shot me without even thinking...but as a human..." He pointed a heavy-looking pistol towards a young Asian male, cowering like the rest of his coworkers. "You hesitate...and that...will cost you a li-...huh?" A pinging noise came from lower down the hall, past the broken cubicles and torn desks half-buried in dust and metal girders. The krogan nodded silently towards two batarians to scope it out, waiting for what it could be. Turning round the corner, the batarians in blood-red armour waited for the doors to open of the right elevator, seeing there was nothing inside. They kept their guns locked on just in case before looking to see something small and black inside. Then they heard the left door open. "Whut the-"

They barely had the chance to reply before a large yellow-armoured mass burst out and pumped them full with the shotgun, crippling one pair of legs while winging the other. The grenade that had been in the right elevator soon went off causing a static blast that burst their remaining shields, making them completely vulnerable to the rampaging krogan as he ran them down. James and the two quarians popped out immediately guns blazing as others came round the corner, the raptor pulling out his own tetra shield to give them some cover. "THE FUCK'S GOIN' ON OVER THERE?!" roared the krogan commander. "ENEMIES!" snarled one vorcha. "KROGAN! QUARIAN! ...THINGY!" "WHUT KIND OF THING!?" "SCALY, THINGY-AGHK!" Caught in the throat by a shot from said thingy, the vorcha fell back and choked to death on the floor, his remaining allies more fearful of the krogan than anyone else. But Leiah hurled another grenade in the chaos, shattering their shields open wide to become peppered full of shots from both shotgun and pistols. Areh quickly ducked behind Jax and set up a thick orange covering upon himself, a hardlight mimicry of a suit of armour over his green suit. While did not make him invincible, was enough to deter some of the gunfire that would eventually be aimed at him. James was impressed by such a power but he kept his own shield up, firing one-handed which reduced his accuracy somewhat despite aiming for the torsos. Pushing forwards with Jax as the main driving force, he kept on firing as Leiah stood beside him, shooting more accurately than him before they turned the corner to see the main force of enemies. The krogan commander in thick red armour kept his pistol trained on the human kneeling beside him, his other hand holding an assault rifle as he stood before a large window. "DON'T MAKE ANOTHER MOVE!" he roared. "Unless you wanna see some human brains splattered all over the floor." "Woah woah hold up!" said Jax. "Alright, we're cool, we don't want anymore deaths, we're just tryin' to be heroes." "Yeah...heroes. Pfft, who the hell you think you are, Shepard?" "Heheh...I'm too big to fit that role. We're here fer one person though, someone that begged us to come help." "...who?" "Anyone here called a Ms. Dark? Ms. Dark, you there?!" "I dunno who the fuck yer talkin' about, but when I find out who brought you punks here, they're fuckin-GAAARH!" A sudden crack of pain ran agonisingly through his left hand, the pistol flying out of his grip from being shot in the elbow as he almost fell onto his knees. Before any of them could react, Areh jumped forwards and tapped his fingers readily into his omni-tool shouting: "NOISE STREAM GYAOS SHRIEK!" His eyes lit up as his fingers slammed down, sending out a violent shriek of data that paralysed every person in the room, sending out a violent frenzied error through their own omni-tools. It was like the most horrifying feedback that very briefly disabled their senses, which unfortunately included the hostages as well as the Blood Pack members. But it was all they needed for the Sole Calibrators to start firing en masse, gunning them down one by one as the krogan commander roared: "KRUBAN'S FEAST, ATTACK!"

With 15 enemies altogether minus 4 that they now killed, it was a hefty firefight, the raptor ducking down behind thick metal desks with his friends as they planned out their strategy immediately. Leiah was much more cautious with her grenades, not wanting to hurt any of the innocent hostages as she picked off any opponents on the outer fringe of the battlefield. Areh refocused his omni-tool tactics to send out a Sabotage probe, transmitting a more localised but longer-lasting transmission to both overload weapons and disable omni-tools temporarily on one person. The enemies that he targeted with this were soon easy prey for Jax and the others, pistols out and firing as the krogan swapped to his own heavy pistol and joined in. Much as he loved his shotgun, this was a much more delicate operation once hostages were involved, as he waited for the opportunity to pick off less-clustered opponents. They also received the help of a sudden shot now and again from the window outside, a sniper picking off the odd vorcha now and again with near-perfect headshots. "BOSS, SNIPER!" roared one victim. "I KNOW!" shouted the krogan. "JUST KILL 'EM AN' TAKE COVER, UNLESS YOU WANNA DIE HERE!" As the battle began to turn slightly towards the Sole Calibrators' advantage, they mixed together a hefty combination of incinerating shots from James and the off-chance of sabotage from Areh. A few hits came back towards them, James getting knocked in the shoulders but his armour repelled with shields for the most part which encouraged him to be cocky. Both quarians however tried to play safe and keep cover, while Jax was just too damn big to even give a fuck about what shot him. Even the odd scattershot the chest wasn't enough to hurt a krogan. But with only 8 enemies left amidst the cowering hostages, one of them got lucky enough to shoot Areh in the elbow, his sudden shriek of pain resonating as he fell to the floor. As Leiah rushed to his aid along with FG, their fourth member soon lost himself within a trance. A trance born of pure rage. The sound of his friend falling in pain made his eyes tighten like wires dipped in blood, and before anyone could even stop him, he had leapt out of cover with shotgun out and began charging through the squad. Broken bones and shattered ribs laid soon in his wake, his barest sense of rational thought desperately telling him to not hurt any without a gun as he slammed his shotgun against a batarian's throat. The blast in the next second sent spinal shards out into the wall, with a vorcha to his right receiving a brutal clubbing from his shotgun, beaten to death in only two strikes. Then he focused on the other krogan, a larger and much older beast than him. Both of them stared each other down in the briefest of moments before rushing towards each other.

The hostages screamed and ran out of the way, hearing the violent crack of two krogans clashing together, fool's gold versus blood red as they grabbed each other's arms in a furious confrontation. The bloody fury of Krungut Jax was the only thing able to stand against the experienced weight of the Blood Pack krogan. Without his rage incensed, he knew his younger strength would find difficulty in a clash with a krogan old enough to be his father. The brutish commander snarled in his face with: "You...nnnngh...got a lotta fight in ya kid...why waste it with these little pyjaks?" "You know NOTHING you humpless FUCK!" "Yeah?! You think yer strong enough to take ME down?! Me, the legendary Gorr Drau of the Blood Pack?!" "I never fuckin' heard of you, so why the fuck should I care?!" "Cuz yer a RUNT, a worthless li'l wombscrape that no one'll miss!" "I'M NOT GONNA DIE HERE, I'M STRONGER THAN YOU!" Pulling back as he sensed the twitching falter within Jax's arms, he suddenly charged as the younger krogan stumbled, knocking him down hard onto his side before readying his assault rifle to aim straight for Jax's head. "Whut makes you stronger than me, child-ARRRGH!" Suddenly his assault rifle sparked with a hot jolt through his very claws, making him spasm and fall back slightly as the gun started to jam, not responding as he turned and saw Areh. The quarian was clutching one arm, but still directing his omni-tool towards him before Jax leapt up and slammed into Drau, knocking him hard backwards as he rolled onto his side. The krogan commander pulled out his pistol, desperate to kill at least one of them in rage as he struggled to stand up. Krungut Jax simply replied: "I have friends...not lackeys." Readying himself to aim and fire, Drau barely got a shot before glass exploded from the window beside him. Black and orange hurled past him as he felt something kick him hard in the head, knocking him down once more as he roared to stare up before an armoured turian, his assault rifle aimed straight at the krogan's head before screaming: "GOOD NIGHT INTAI'SEI!" The rapidfire muzzleflash of the assault rifle was the last thing Gorr Drau ever saw as his head was completely pulverised, his face crushed inwards into a welted mess of fleshy paste from a bullet riff. Lirem did not smile for long, reloading fast before he turned and fired at a batarian that almost snuck behind Jax, potshotting with a rapid burst to easily cap him in the head. The last few Blood Pack members turned and ran towards the stairs, desperate to try the upper floors while Lirem took another down by its legs before it was able to get away as he ran after them.

He almost turned and headed up the stairs until he heard the telltale scream of a rocket coming down, ducking out of sight as a ginormous explosion careened throughout the stairhall, followed by several screams. Thick meaty giblets rained down on the stairway as Lirem peeked out softly, wondering what had happened. There were no more Blood Pack enemies to be seen, none of which had survived the assault as Lirem called his brother on comms: "Norem, the fuck happened?! Is everyone dead?" "Blood Pack are definitely," replied Norem from his sniper's nest, "I see what happened and...well there was a big explosion and now all of them are dead." "What about survivors?! The top floor okay?!" "Top floor's still standing...I can still see people inside so you might wanna call out to 'em." "Okay...HELLO UP THERE?! WE'RE HERE TO RESCUE YOU, WOLF THREE-NINE-FIVE!" "...YOU MADE IT?!" said a human voice. "UP HERE?!" "YEAH, BLOOD PACK SHOULD ALL BE GONE NOW! UM, ARE THERE ANYMORE BOOBY TRAPS UP THERE OR IS IT SAFE?!" "OH NO, THAT WASN'T BOOBY TRAPS! THAT WAS MY LEVIATHAN, IT'S A TORPEDO LAUNCHER!" "OHHHH....WAIT, TORPEDOES?!" "YEAH DON'T WORRY, IT'S ALL SAFE NOW! IS EVERYONE OKAY DOWN THERE?!" "UH...I THINK SO, I DON'T THINK ANYONE ELSE HERE DIED SO UH...MISSION COMPLETE I GUESS?!" "GUESS SO! WHY DON'T YOU BOYS COME ON UP HERE SO WE CAN CONGRATULATE YOU!? BRING EVERYONE ELSE!" "OKAY! ...how the fuck did a human get to shoot a torpedo in this damn place, GUYS IT'S COOL, WE CAN HEAD UPSTAIRS!" "OKAY!" said the rest of the group. "Um Lirem?" asked Norem. "Am I just gonna wait out on this building roof while you get a handshake?" "Ummmmmmm...yes, but don't worry. I'll shake your hand when we get back, alright?" "How about you shake my dick?" Laughing as he cut off the call, the turian headed upstairs to meet the leader of Jormangund Technologies, hoping to get a juicy reward for what was undeniably one of their best missions yet. Areh was wounded, but Jax and Leiah were at his side readily applying any medical attention that he needed. James walked on ahead, the rest of the hostages all walking behind them as a horde of thankful citizens, wondering what god had answered their prayers with such a strange group. Eventually the raptor asked: "Um...why did we not wear helmets for this mission?" Lirem simply turned towards him and replied: "Don't worry, humans can't tell the difference so who cares? Besides...I needed a good tan in this sun dontcha think?"