Posted: Sat Feb 05, 2011 1:54 pm Post subject: Omega: Main Entrance
"If it works, maybe you'll get rid of me after all. See you around." Waving goodbye, Xerxes left the squad leader's office and left the docking station. Having reached the main entrance, she stopped to take a strong look at the crowd in front of her.
The past few months had been a drag. Since her last contract failed, things had been painful to deal with. Changes in squadmates and leaders took away her only allies left in this city, and the new arrivals did not quite appreciate her history or talents in ambush missions or short-range fighting. The bad blood between the new captain and her Blue Suns inductor had also spilled over to her, leaving her jobless and alienated from the very group that she considered family. Additionally, the other mercenary bands caught wind of the drift in favor and have started to pick fights with her on her nights out. Politics. It never failed to leave a bad taste in her mouth.
This tip, however, could be her Hail Mary of the year. A single human woman shows up in a batarian ship needing repair? That is something that you just don't see. Ever. And most likely, the Blue Suns weren't the only ones who made this observation. The captain had mused that she may be looking for a crew to operate the ship, and subtly added that she should find out and get out of his way. For once, she agreed with him. The universe was telling her to practically get out of Omega, anyways.
"Well," she sighed, stretching her hands. "Let's see what she's up to." Making sure her weapons were in place and ready for use, Xerxes set out to search for the woman the datapad detailed.
From what she could tell, things were moving along with the ship quite nicely. The volus who was overseeing the repairs had assured here that there was only minor damages to be fixed, and that it shouldn't take long to fix the major damage, the hole in the hull.
"What did you say the new name of this vessel was, Earth-Clan?" the volus asked, gripping the data pad tightly in his chubby fingers. She'd managed to convince them to paint over the old name of the vessel with little trouble, and at least she wasn't paying out the ass for it.
"The Emortay." she answered, combing her fingers through her hair as she watched the team scurry about on the outside of her ship. She wasn't expecting Esme for another couple hours, and Markus until the next day. The last thing she wanted was to encourage another run-in with the Blood Pack by wandering aimlessly around the station. It was better to stay put.
The captain's tips weren't so accurate, Xerxes realized, as she reached the maintenance station. There wasn't just one batarian ships; there were about ten. Batarians weren't exactly keen on interacting with humans- hell, they were used for the slave market- so kindly asking each and every person was out of the question. But the volus? They could never refuse a nice tip.
"Excuse me!" She chased down a volus checking shipments in the corner. "Sorry to interupt, but I'm looking for a human that owns one of these ships. You know where I can find her?"
The volus looked up from his files. "I see a lot of people running in and out of here. It's a bit hard to remember," he trailed, eying her pockets.
Rolling her eyes, she passed him some credits. "Jog your memory?"
"Ah yes, I remember now. But I'm afraid that I can't just give her out to anyone. We don't deal with mercenaries here."
She raised her eyebrows and, annoyed, gave him more. "Will you believe me if I tell you she's my boss?"
The volus's attitude lifted. "Of course, of course. Let me take you to her now." The rotund alien pivoted and led Xerxes down the strip. "I wasn't lying when I said we were busy," he began. "Our 'tourist' season is starting to pick up, and we've had an unusual number of people drop in-"
Occasionally nodding and responding, Xerxes let the volus talk on as she observed the area. The area was busy with crews unloading, people bargaining over repair prices, and several groups getting ready to leave. Most of them still had armor on, so it was fairly difficult to tell who everyone was working for.
"Ah, here we are. M-Miss Reshnhon! Someone from Earth-clan would like to speak with you." With the introduction made, the volus sped off to return to his work.
Xerxes saw the woman in charge. Young, clean-looking, and wide-eyed. Definitely a green one. She smiled at the prospect of change. "I'm afraid we haven't met before. I had heard that you were, perhaps, looking for some crew for your ship and came to see if it was true for myself."
Last edited by Xerxes on Sun Feb 06, 2011 3:50 am; edited 1 time in total
Ishale set her datapad to the side when the volus came back, the other human trailing behind. Although she had the rough-and-tumble look of all the other mercs on the station, Ishale didn't get the same protective twinge from her biotics that she did when interacting with hostile humans. Even though she looked about the same age, the woman was considerably taller than her five foot frame. It made her wonder if she was going to have to hire volus in order to get someone smaller than her on board.
"Well, it may or may not be true depending on your reason for asking," Ishale said, her voice teasing but her posture not quite relaxed.
"Honestly, I'm trying to get out of this place. Food's lousy, the club scene's a bit predictable, and quite frankly, I'm bored." She stopped herself before she began to list off her other grievances with the Blue Suns. That sort of thing was something no one should have to go through in the first place.
Xerxes became embarassed that the explanation was coming out so quickly. "Long story short- I've had my fun here and it's about time that I find work off-world."
She scratched her head nervously, not used to having to sell herself quick. "I'm an independent contract, so you don't have to worry about dealing with mercenary politics so much. And I'm pretty good at beating the crap out of people when it's needed. Oh, that may not be such a good thing to admit right away. Oh, what the hell," she laughed. She extended her hand. "My name's Xerxes, by the way. Have I scared you off yet?"
Ishale felt her worry lessening and her smile growing as the woman talked. There was an almost embarrassed, sheepish note behind her voice, and it made Ishale take a liking to her immediately.
"Not at all," she laughed, taking the offered hand. "My name is Ishale, Ishale Reshnhon. So you're a merc? What do you specialize in?"
"Yes ma'am, though I suppose you can say it's not in the traditional sense. My primary experience is front-lines combat, ambush missions, and the, uh, uglier sides of fighting." She pushed up her sleeves to her elbows, exposing patches of scar tissue and remnants of small wounds. "These are proof that I can survive scrappy fighting, I guess. The left side's worse only because of fighting preferences, " she laughed. "I also can last a lot longer then others because of endurance training, which is useful for when you hit those tight spots."
As she spoke, the ship caught her attention. Curious, Xerxes walked closer to the ship and analyzed the structure. " Giving the condition of your ship, I'm assuming that you didn't quite, uh, inherit it traditionally." She paused to trail her hand against the metal. The damage was more than usual wear-and-tear, which meant that someone would want their ship back. Interesting. How did this woman get her hands on this thing, she pondered.
"I can give you protection against others. Also, I've seen my fair share of negotiating with rougher individuals, so I can provide advice and manpower if needed. Used to travelling by ship, so you don't have to worry about me freaking or anything. I do have other skills," she admitted reluctantly. "But we'd have to go somewhere else if you'd like to learn more. Preferably with less ears. And," she added. "After a learn a little bit more about you, of course. I prefer to know it if I'm walking into a deathtrap."
Ishale listened to the woman speak, and a small knot of apprehension settled in her stomach. Mercs, especially freelance ones, tended not to have alliances with more than one gang, and since she was human, there were no possible Blood Pack ties in the traditional sense. However, depending on if she knew the bounty on her head and decided that was a better catch than working with her, if they were somewhere isolated, well...she might get her ass handed to her if the woman tried to physically attack her. But she seemed almost eager to please, and perhaps she could get away with only revealing a minimal amount about her past. She didn't care to elaborate on how she got the ship; it could happen to anyone who had a gun and the drive to do so.
"Yeah, hang on," she said to Xerxes, standing and going over to the volus she'd been speaking to previously. Their conversation was short, with him pointing something out on the datapad, and eventually pointing to a door on the other side of the hangar.
Motioning Xerxes to follow, Ishale crossed the large room, taking pains to keep her stride long so she didn't have to worry about the other female overtaking her. The room the volus had directed her to was a small store room, filled with crates containing various smaller ship parts, and was completely deserted. "This used to be a batarian pirate vessel; I'm not sure who they got it from, considering the pirates don't like to use trading ships; too bulky and not made for battle. They customized this one a bit, it's got some weaponry, but as you can see, not a whole lot of protection."
She sighed, tugging on the sleeves of her jacket. "I was on a small transportation ship going to the colonies, and we were incapacitated and boarded. They were separating the men and women, probably to sell the women and kill the men, and there was a pregnant asari who was trying to persuade the batarians to let her lover live since she was almost due. When they couldn't shut her up, they shot her." Here she paused, stuffing down the rage she still felt. "I sort of saw red and ended up taking down the whole crew. Seemed only natural I take possession of the ship."
Xerxes followed the woman to the empty room and sat down on one of the crates. Judging by the strong stride, she may have had her potential employer spooked, so putting herself at a disadvantage should give Ishale a better vantage point. As she listened to the woman speak, her face burrowed into a frown. That sort of work the batarians engaged in was something that she never approved of, no matter the species. That raw disregard for sentient life, purposefully harvesting another species to make more money- all rubbish. It didn't matter that they targeted humans. Humans were just as guilty of putting themselves above the welfare and rights of other aliens. No one has that right, and she couldn't turn away from upholding that virtue. Her whole family legacy was shot down by upholding that basic right, and she wasn't about to let her grandmother down by leaving this opportunity.
At the end of her explanation, Xerxes reached out and placed a gentle hand on Ishale's arm. "I know that pain. Hell, I've been on both sides of that scenario, and it's never something I could get used to." Her voice trailed a little and ended hollow, memories of her own colony expulsion coming back to mind. Pushing it aside, she added, "They had it coming, anyways, so don't let it grip you for too long."
She decided to take a big risk of her own. Though unlikely, it was still possible that she could be turned over to Cerberus; they paid an awfully great amount of money to keep their operations going, and to get rid of an exceptional pain would be highly beneficial to them. But at this rate, she was worried that Ishale couldn't trust her enough to hire her. She was one-hundred percent certain that she should help this woman. Giving up some privacy was a good enough sacrifice.
She paused a moment to regather her thoughts. "Right, those skills. Well, they're not actually skills, per se. It's information. I have access to mercernary trade routes, Blue Suns records, drug routes, a good number of Cerberus runs, and a few other human-centered routes within the Terminus. These will definitely help you avoid trouble spots and give you a heads-up in market trends, among other things. Don't ask how. Just understand that this information isn't something they want others to know. I can continue to gain updated access for most of these, if you are interested, as long as I have extranet access aboard the ship. Those volus will sell anything for more credits, so I don't want them to know this." She exhaled. "I am trusting you with this knowledge. If this leaked, I would probably be a walking dead woman."
Ishale's expression softened, reaching up to take the woman's hand in her own as she started to speak. It looked like Xerxes had her own ghosts and demons haunting her, just like she did. If the merc trusted her enough to open up like this, the least she could do was tell her part of the story. When you live your whole life in seclusion, no matter how you may feel, it is still difficult to open up about your past.
"I wouldn't dream of betraying that trust," she said seriously. "Even if I was the kind of scum to sell you out, all I'd be doing is letting them kill two birds with one stone. I'm already a wanted woman. Any information you have that would help me stay out of the way of...well, pretty much anyone."
At that, she paused, a faraway look in her eyes. "I'm on the run from the Blood Pack. My father has a contract with them, not a large one, but that combined with the bounty he's offering to return me to him, alive, is enough to get their attention. You would think with the krogan race dwindling as it is, their presence wouldn't be quite so strong, but I can't seem to get away from them." She grimaced almost like she was in pain. "I don't want to jeopardize anyone on my ship, although I'm sure you're all capable of protecting yourselves."
Xerxes smiled widely. It's been a long time since she was able to trust anyone, especially in such a short time. The woman's hand was gentle and warm. With all the fighting and casual hook-ups, she had almost forgotten what friendly touch felt like. It was a nice change.
"Look at us," the mercenary laughed. "We've barely met and we're already practically sobbing our life stories."
She stood up and flexed her arm. "If Blood Pack's all you're worrying about, then no sweat. Those idiots are too busy in-fighting to have any real organization. All the other groups hate them, too, so they're unlikely to start any intergroup fight. At the very least, I can keep them off ya while you're still here." She pointed to her back. "They won't bother anyone with this, so go ahead and flash me around if you want."
Then she remembered what Ishale had mentioned earlier. " Wait. 'We're capable of protecting ourselves'? Does that mean I'm hired?" She became excited. New scenary, new people, better work- maybe the universe had something good in store for her after all.
It was strange to think that she may have a female friend that she could trust. In her experiences, she was worried that she might just be too jaded to find anyone she liked, let alone trusted. The galaxy seemed to be filled with these horrible people so filled with hate and rage over things that just didn't matter. She didn't understand why people assumed because she was human, that meant she was close minded and rude and hateful. She wondered if Xerxes ever felt frustrated with these stereotypes.
"You're absolutely hired," Ishale said with a wide grin, the woman's excitement contagious. "Is there anything you need to get taken care of? I've already got two more members, so once the repairs finish, I'm ready to shove off and go somewhere we can pick up some cargo and maybe a couple more crew members."
If she had proof the gods were real, Xerxes would have offered her body to them. She had expected the process to be much more difficult than what had just happened. Maybe she's been around the rough crowd for a wee bit too long.
"My end's easy. Last boss threw his apartment at me, and anything worth keeping can be fit in a suitcase quick." She took a look around, and couldn't find anything with Ishale's name on it. "You sure you don't need anything else? Supplies or anything? I can help you get it sorted while you wait."
"I travel light," Ishale reassured with a slightly melancholy smile. "When you've been on the run for seven years, you don't really accumulate many possessions. My duffel is still on the ship. Just a few changes of clothing and such. I can pick more up once I start turning a profit, assuming I don't get shot first."
Xerxes nodded, understanding the need. "I can be ready within the next hour or two as long as no one stops me for anything. You mind if I ask who else is coming along?" Omega was a big place. The risk was small, but there was still a possibility that one of her "co-workers" would be someone she pissed off. Before boarding the ship was probably a better time to find out.
"As of right now, a former turian member of C-SEC named Marukus and a woman named Esme. I expect Esme to be here in a timely fashion, but Markus...well, he'll probably busy for a while," she said with a somewhat awkward laugh and a shrug.
Her eyebrows rose. She had never visited Citadel space, but her experience with other turians taught her that they could be pretty uptight when it came to hierarchy and rules. To find an ex C-Sec roaming around Omega was unexpected, and left her super curious. How long ago did he get booted? Did she run into before? Oh gods, what if he was one of the one-nighters?!
She shook herself out of those thoughts. Now wasn't the time to ask too many questions. No use getting all worked up over awkward things before it was warrranted. "Sounds like a good start to me." Reaching into her pocket, the mercenary pulled out a piece of scrap paper and something to scribble with. "Here's my address. Not that it will matter much once we leave, but at least you know where I'm packing up."
She stopped and paused, trying to think of anything else she may need to get out of the way. "Ah, before I forget. How shall we take care of the contract business?"
Ishale considered for a moment, genuinely unsure how to proceed. She wasn't a business manager, but if she was expected to professionally run a ship and it's crew, she would have to figure something out. "I'll write up contracts for you and everyone else once we're on board and I have my full terminal; I don't really want to do it on my datapad."
Fair enough. She had enough credits to her name to live comfortably unemployed for a while. As long as she was able to keep salvage and valuables that she came across, particular contract details never bothered her. In fact, as long as she remained employed and had a reasonable salary, life was great.
"Well then!" Xerxes extended a friendly hand towards her new employer. "I look forward to working with you, Boss."
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