Mass Effect Mercenaries

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"So it's just a VI in a geth shell, huh." Raymond set Rodger down gently. "Shoulda figured when it started talking. Geth just beep." Raymond eyed over the mech. "Pretty ramshackle, ain't he? Interesting choice for a mech, though. Why'd you pick a geth?"

Coming back to the kitchen, Raymond found Harlow had been doing his own thing. "Well, looks like the chef has been usurped. No skin off my back, looks like we have food for after the mission as well." he said as he put the mostly unfinished mashed potatoes in the fridge. "So, this was exciting wasn't it?" He said sarcastically as he sat down for dinner. "We got a newbie, we got a shuttle, and we got a harmless VI stuck inside an alien terminator body. Here's hoping our mission doesn't have any more unexpected surprises."
 
Hannah stood slowly from her huddled position against the cargo bay wall, and only nodded when Xavier requested that Roger wasn't to be armed in any way. She winced at the words "Miss Mallory" as they exited Xavier's mouth, he was the first living being to call her that, and hearing it bothered her in a way she didn't understand. "Shock", she stated simply, cutting him off slightly. "You can call me Shock, it's my Extranet alias", she then added confidently while looking at him straight in the eyes for once. The chance to visit the engine room asap was tempting, but recent events have left her a little dazed, and frankly, tired.

Finally freed from Xavier's daunting scrutiny, she scurried over to Roger, who laid eye-flat on the steel floor. "Are you alright, Miss Mallory?", questioned roger, voice muffled. "You tell me...", Hannah responded, looking down at his dilapidated form. She remained rather cool, but was more than a little relieved to see him intact. "Can you get up? I need to take you to your new... prison.", she asked, thinking about all of the different small, enclosed rooms Roger has ever had the liberty of being restrained in.

Hannah made her way towards the elevator in silence, holding Roger's arm like a mother would to a misbehaved child (despite Roger being 6' tall). Being alone with Roger, she felt a deep sense of familiarity or homeliness with him, as if he was a living person. Impossible as it was, she liked to pretend that Roger always felt the same way about her... like a rebellion against her beloved logic.

Once she was relatively certain he would be able to stand on his own, Hannah sent Roger the coordinates to her dorm, and parted with him at the elevator. "I'll see you soon, Roger", She stated softly, somewhat worriedly. Having calculated that there was no logical need to respond, Roger remained as unphased as the cold steel walls around them. Her voice fell unto silence, just as her human emotion glanced off of the unfeeling machine, and ricocheted back at her... burning holes in her chest. It wasn't often loneliness effected her, likewise, it wasn't often she exposed herself to sheer silence. It was then she remembered that the captain wanted everyone at the mess hall, and so she made her way there, alone. She immediately equipped her headphones, attempting to drown out the pervasive silence that had grown far heavier around her...
(sorry if depressing - will make more uplifting post next)
 
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Redsun_Criminal said:
Hannah stood slowly from her huddled position against the cargo bay wall, and only nodded when Xavier requested that Roger wasn't to be armed in any way. She winced at the words "Miss Mallory" as they exited Xavier's mouth, he was the first living being to call her that, and hearing it bothered her in a way she didn't understand. "Shock", she stated simply, cutting him off slightly. "You can call me Shock, it's my Extranet alias", she then added confidently while looking at him straight in the eyes for once. The chance to visit the engine room asap was tempting, but recent events have left her a little dazed, and frankly, tired.

Finally freed from Xavier's daunting scrutiny, she scurried over to Roger, who laid eye-flat on the steel floor. "Are you alright, Miss Mallory?", questioned roger, voice muffled. "You tell me...", Hannah responded, looking down at his dilapidated form. She remained rather cool, but was more than a little relieved to see him intact. "Can you get up? I need to take you to your new... prison.", she asked, thinking about all of the different small, enclosed rooms Roger has ever had the liberty of being restrained in.

Hannah made her way towards the elevator in silence, holding Roger's arm like a mother would to a misbehaved child (despite Roger being 6' tall). Being alone with Roger, she felt a deep sense of familiarity or homeliness with him, as if he was a living person. Impossible as it was, she liked to pretend that Roger always felt the same way about her... like a rebellion against her beloved logic.

Once she was relatively certain he would be able to stand on his own, Hannah sent Roger the coordinates to her dorm, and parted with him at the elevator. "I'll see you soon, Roger", She stated softly, somewhat worriedly. Having calculated that there was no logical need to respond, Roger remained as unphased as the cold steel walls around them. Her voice fell unto silence, just as her human emotion glanced off of the unfeeling machine, and ricocheted back at her... burning holes in her chest. It wasn't often loneliness effected her, likewise, it wasn't often she exposed herself to sheer silence. It was then she remembered that the captain wanted everyone at the mess hall, and so she made her way there, alone. She immediately equipped her headphones, attempting to drown out the pervasive silence that had grown far heavier around her...
(sorry if depressing - will make more uplifting post next)
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Harlow saw the woman who had come aboard with the geth as she sat alone with headphones it to drown out the world and decided that just wouldn't do. He grabbed a plate if food and walked over to where she was sitting and put the plate in front of her and sat down across from her and gave her a gentle smile, she cared for the geth even if it was just a machine to him or the others to her it was like a close friend or relative and while he couldn't understand that with the whole being an orphan thing he did understand what it felt like to have someone or something you care for but have to hide it for fear of what others might think or do well he knew what it felt like to be the one who was hidden away from others but that was for another time. (Harlow does not allow depressed crew mates.)
 
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Cassius entered the mess hall and looked around. He saw that girl with headphones sitting with the man who had apparently just come from the kitchen. Then he saw the sniper who didn't seem to care for much of anything. He didn't really know anyone here, but the man sitting across from geth girl looked nice, so he went and sat down next to him. "Hey there." he said to him, trying to strike up a friendly conversation. "Seems like there's bound to be lots of surprises with this crew."
 
Jay was glad to see that food was all done, he moved over to grab himself one of the plates and picked up a knife and fork. He quickly started by cutting up the chicken into smaller pieces to let it cool down a bit before he ate them and he started on the rice. Picking up a fork full he blew on the rice to cool it down quickly before sticking it in his mouth. He was quite impressed with how nice it tasted, food like this was definitely going to make his stay on this ship a lot more bearable. Once he had eaten a bit of the rice he checked the chicken seeing it was a bit more cooled down and had a piece with some rice. He quickly ate the rest not leaving anything behind in the bowl and washed the plate by hand, drying it and left it back where it came from and when he leaving the mess hall he quickly said, "Best food I've had in a while," to Harlow.
 
Xavier watched over everyone as they made their ways to various tables, grabbing plates of food and sitting down. He hid a small smile behind his hand as he leaned against the wall thinking about their mission, it would be daunting unfortunately...but any worthwhile missions would be, coming from Aria. He grabbed his own plate of food and sat down with Cassius, Harlow and Hannah, one chair away from Hannah. He starts eating silently, everything was a little too silent and he nodded when Cassius opened up first. Swallowing his mouthful he nods towards Harlow and Hannah "Meet Harlow and...Shock as she wants to be called. I am Xavier captain of the ship, sorry about the mess in the cargo hold, I can't be too careful what with needing to keep everyone safe, plus our other new guest was quite a shock to the system... no pun intended Hannah." He says waving his hand dismissively. They needed to get to know each other and get the ball rolling, he checked his omnitool real quick and saw that there was still enough time to eat and chit chat and still get a couple hours of sleep on his part before the mission. He looks towards the others and takes another mouthful.
 
Hannah took a lethargic seat near the table's end, separating herself from the others with the wall of techno music that blared through her headphones. Social skills were another weakness of hers, and she certainly wasn't in any mood to make an effort. In fact, she figured she might as well ignore the others from here on out, just do her job and stay quiet like she always did, it was better than embarrassing herself again...

She would have given up, that is, if it wasn't for Harlow who sat next to her and slid a plate of food over. Real food. She'd been surviving on military rations and unsavoury Omega take-outs for as long as she could remember. Hannah looked up at him from her huddled position on the chair, like a starving but frightened animal would to a generous human. The smell of steamed rice accompanied by Harlow's gentle smile, something she certainly didn't expect, brewed an unfamiliar sense of warmth in her chest. She was very grateful but, not knowing what to say, she kept her peace.

Hannah poked at the foreign-looking food in her plate, toying with it a little, and precisely separating the rice from the chicken and potatoes. When she was sure that no one was watching, she began digging in fervently, almost choking. It was likely the best food she's ever eaten. Almost finishing her plate, she began to slow down, and made careful shovels of rice while listening to Harlow, Cassius and Xavier, as they made idle conversation. Most of them made comments about the unlikely crew as a whole, and of course, Roger. She made a huff at Xavier's stupid pun when one of the mercs with a cybernetic implant (something she would love to run some tests on) asked her about Roger from further down the table. Seeing as she was quiet up until now she responded as best as she could. "It was...", she paused, unsure of herself, "a series of fateful and improbable circumstances", and stopped there, lest she rouse the attention of everyone else. She knew she sounded somewhat strange, but (having no human interaction growing up) casual lingo didn't come easily to her.
 
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Harlow leaned back just listening to the conversation happening around him his soft smile still on his face, when the captain said his name he responded. "Oh just put me on the spot will you." He said in a joking tone to Xavier. "Ya I'm Harlow I cook though I don't think i'm any good at it, i'm also a biotic N7 that likes to smash and cut things with my fist or sword well former N7. I don't like racism or xenophobia so if any of you have...strong negative feeling about the other races in our little galaxy keep it to yourself around me also I may act a little eccentric at times but that's to cope with the ever so fun PTSD that us soldiers get after to much time in combat zones also if any of you said anything to me before just now I was zoned out in my own little world so I didn't hear you sorry." He said with a small laugh, he stood and walked over to where he had left his sword behind the kitchen area he walked back out with it on his hip, it was custom and was modeled after a saber and meant to be heavier than the normal monomolecular blades that were issued as it was meant as a sustained combat weapon rather then a quick strike one though it was able to fill that role as well. "Last thing don't touch this blade I have it was a gift from a friend that is...no longer with us." He said as he sat down again.
 
"Wait, you mean you're a Slayer too?!" Asked Cassius in surprise. Never did he expect that he would meet another slayer so soon. He had only just joined the crew, and already he had made an unexpected discovery. Seems this crew really was going to be interesting
 
Cassius said:
"Wait, you mean you're a Slayer too?!" Asked Cassius in surprise. Never did he expect that he would meet another slayer so soon. He had only just joined the crew, and already he had made an unexpected discovery. Seems this crew really was going to be interesting
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"Oh no I just have this sword that amplifies my biotic powers that are used for me to get close and do lots of damage, wait that is a slayer so yes yes I am a slayer." Harlow said with a sarcastic but lighthearted tone. "Well that's me friends." He finished before sitting down in front of Hannah again and interlaced his fingers under his mouth before speaking. "So...how are you?" He asked.
 
Hannah never had to deal with such a casual and simplistic question before. Taking a moment to gather her thoughts, then checked her omni-tool while responding, "Well umm... my bpm is around 81, I have sustained zero functionally detrimental injuries, and my blood sugar levels seem to be stable...". She glanced up at his confused face and felt embarrassed. "That's... not what you meant, is it?"
 
"He meant how are you, how are you feeling," Clarified Cassius. He had never seen someone so emotionally detached before. It would definitely be difficult for him to adjust to her, and probably her to everyone else.
 
Cassius said:
"He meant how are you, how are you feeling," Clarified Cassius. He had never seen someone so emotionally detached before. It would definitely be difficult for him to adjust to her, and probably her to everyone else.
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(Were ((Redsun and myself)) Collab posting right now that was dealt with in said collab one of us will post when it's done.)
 
(behold the great wall of collab post o.o)

"No that wasn't what I meant but it is a start." Harlow spoke to her. "I meant how are you...emotionally, how you feel about the situation at hand and what we are about to do." he explained. "Oh... right". Hannah seemed to mumble to herself slightly, perhaps cursing her own social naivety under her breath.

"I guess I'm okay, all things considered. The likelihood of combat and the possibility of death or grievous injury once we land is a frightening prospect now that you mention it.", she didn't delve much into how she felt more than she spoke about the facts situation itself. She paused, looking into his eyes only briefly, "Sorry if I'm babbling. Emotions are just... something I never had a reason to talk about."

"No it's perfectly alright, I can see you are not used to these type of situations and that you would rather be tinkering with a machine of some sort so take your time I'm in no rush." He said as he leaned back into his chair. "So any other interests other than the geth downstairs, speaking of the geth I must say I am impressed not many are able to say they got to take a close look at one let alone to reprogram one it speaks of your skills if you are able to do something that even their creators the Quarians aren't able to do." He finished.

"Yeah, well... I read on the extranet that learning something from a very young age allows that knowledge to be strongly ingrained in the psyche. I also read that learning something in order to survive has the same effect...", she paused, thinking back to her childhood. Looking to avoid that subject, she stated, "Geth are really a lot more like VIs once you get past the learning curve". Hannah was actually beginning to get comfortable for once, and braved to look into his eyes more often as she spoke... until she spotted the sword strapped against his armor. She'd been paying too much attention to the food when he mentioned it earlier, and it made her nervous to say the least. "Is that a weapon?", she questioned, almost whispering.

Taken aback by the suddenness of the question he answered nonetheless. "Yes, it was given to me by a dear friend. He had two swords made for us one was called the joker and the other was called the thief, mine is the joker a saber style sword made with the specific purpose of making my biotic abilities better when used with the joker." He finished his explanation about the sword on his person. It was clear the sword meant a lot to him, and listening to his explanation helped ease her initial apprehension. She didn't quite understand the benefits of a sword over an omni-blade, but decided not to mention it, she didn't want to offend him after all. Instead, she only gawked at the glimmering sword itself. It was a thing to admire, that much she could admit.

"Why joker?", she asked idly, still mesmerized by the blade. "The joker, no one suspects the joker to do anything other than make someone laugh why would anyone suspect the joker to be the one who takes someone's life. I am the joker, I don't have any special features that would make me stand out if someone sees me they see a simple human and I try my best to make people's time better but underneath all that I am a special designed monster made to destroy the enemies of humanity both foreign and domestic but that's the past now I'm just a simple mercenary." He said explaining his sword's name and his past a little though he was an N7 slayer his story was bound to start with blood and end with blood. She took in his explanation thoughtfully. It was convenient that Harlow had an aptitude for dealing with people, whether with his words or with his blade, because Hannah wasn't proficient with either. People were her weakness, she wasn't good at communicating with others and certainly wasn't mentally prepared to kill someone. Seeing as Harlow lacked tech experience, however, she decided that they could benefit one another.

"Say... Joker... when we get down there. I mean like, down there, beset on all sides by the senseless chaos of battle", she began, thinking back to what little she remembered from that dreadful day aboard the SSV Nero. "I'll dismantle any machine that stands in your way if you protect me from anything with a beating heart...", she spoke solemnly, paused, then asked, "deal?".

"Deal... friend." he said quietly.
 
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Raymond sat down at the table, glad people were talking. At least we're building unit cohesion now. Nothing like a fake geth and an unexpected visitor to get people talking. He heard 'Shock' talking about her past and chuckled at her phrasing. "Heh, 'a series of fateful and improbable circumstances.' That's good, I'll have to use that sometime." He ate his food in silence, mildly hurt that Harlow usurped his culinary position, but figured that it was well worth it to break the ice. Besides, I think it's better than my cooking.

When Harlow mentioned the name of the swords, Raymond guffawed through a mouthful of food. Swallowing, he said "I get it," referring to the 20th​ century song. He noticed Shock staring at him every now and then, or rather at his clunky cybernetic eye. "What? Got something on my face?" He smiled to show he was just teasing her.
 
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@WitchChild @Kirisuna @Redsun_Criminal @Dakota K5 @Grothnor @Silverdawn @Cassius (sorry it took too long and isn't much, hoping excitement will get my block out of me)

Xavier got a ping on his omnitool, he looks down and curses aloud. "Got something to check up on, hopefully it's nothing." He says and get's up, walking to the elevator, his half eaten plate of food making it's way to the disposal area as he moves through the mess. He almost punches the control for the bridge and taps his foot as he takes the private call in there. He whispers fervently back and forth with the caller, as the elevator opens up to the bridge he shuts the call down with a polite thank you and takes his spot and issues a shipwide red alert. "Saddle up everyone, we're dropping out early, a batarian raiding party is attacking a nearby colony, suit up everyone we're taking the fight to them." Xavier leans back in his chair and smiles, good thing his info broker doesn't charge much, otherwise this would've put him in the hole, he nods to Ensign Darwin "Alright Ensign, let's drop out far enough away and see about getting in quietly...won't be easy I know but we've gotta try."

"Aye, Aye Captain." Was the reply from the ever cheerful pilot of the ship, doing exactly as she was told they dropped out of FTL near the edge of the cluster and start heading towards the planet. Alex leans forward in her chair, "Crews have the Mako and the Kodiak ready sir." She says looking back and nodding to Xavier, he nods back to her and hits a few keys on his captain's chair. "I want the best gunners on the aft and starboard turrets, that's where we'll hit em hard. Once we neutralize the ship, ground teams led by myself and...whichever one of you is best leading a second fireteam, we'll divy up once we're on the ground, one will take the Mako the other will take the Kodiak Cassius flew in on. We'll be hitting them in less than an hour so get ready and get moving people." He hadn't had to give assualt orders in a long time, even though military life had seen it fit to cast him out, he was slowly being pulled back into that very lifestyle again. Xavier got up pacing as they made their way closer to the planet, hoping that the batarians were too busy collecting slaves to notice the clunker coming their way.
 
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Harlow nodded to the order as he stood and made his way to his room, he found his armor and slowly put it on. He cut a rather imposing figure he had the armor coated in a material called Vantablack, a shade of black made using carbon nanotubes that absorbs 99.965% of light in the visible spectrum this had cost him a lot of money but in the end it was worth it because when something is walking towards you and he was so dark that the shape of him and his armor was distorted to the eye it made people panic though one problem was that the light absorbed was dissipated as hear off his armor so if anyone had a thermal scanner he would glow like a nova. The joker sat at his side along with his pistol on his left hip while his shotgun was on his back, he walked down to the vehicle bay since he was never good with ship to ship weapons. He leaned against the mako his armor already doings it's job and distorting his shape and waited for the others to show up.
 
Oh his way back to his room Jay heard the orders to get ready, hmm finally time to prove my sharp shooting skills. He moved quickly to his room finding his armour putting it on quickly grabbing attaching his pistol to his side and his sniper on his back. Running back to the elevator he spotted it moving up, he pressed the button to call it so he could head back down. Looking around he wasn't sure what to do he pressed the coms to talk to Xavier, "Sir I'm a good shot, but not so good with anything automatic, so is there any door I can lean out of or something like that?" Jay said, "Will we be landing, if so I could hold up by the hangar and shoot anything that tries to get in will be shot. Of course I won't kill civilians only the attackers?"
 
Hannah internally panicked when the announcement sounded, and felt even more powerless when Harlow (the only merc she fully trusted) abruptly left the mess hall. Awed by his lack of fear or hesitation, she followed him closely until reaching the dorms. Once in her own room, she grabbed her pistol and slid open the closet door. "Inside", she commanded Roger. "I could be put to optimal use if I took full control of the ship's defensive capabilities. Being confined to a closet would thereby put the mission at a disadv-", Hannah locked the closet door. Roger had a point (he was a ship before he became geth after all), but Xavier was far from being able to trust him to operate the turrets.

Leaning against a wall outside her room, she stretched her arms and fastened her white helmet. Harlow exited his own room sporting armor as black as the void. Hannah nodded to him, stood aside, then tailed him down the corridor. She strode with confidence, and sealed her tinted visor. This is it, she thought to herself, making her way to the mako. However composed and fearless she appeared, her audible laboured breathing exposed the uneasiness swelling within her chest.
 
Kronos just went into the Armory and decided to go ahead and just get ready for the upcoming battle. He was ready to go as far as he was concerned. Wasn't much of a talker. He was just there to get the job done, collect his credits and continue working off of Omega. He was getting a little tired of that shithole to be honest, but where else was he gonna go? He did wanna stick around for a bit. There may be more jobs for him in the future if he stuck around too. He was all ready to go after loading up on his weapons and making sure that he was fully loaded. He was probably going to be using his bare hands half the time, seeing that he preferred hand to hand combat and usually had no trouble taking down undisciplined fighters with his unorthodox methods.

Glancing at his Sniper Rifle, he tightened up on his stealth gear and recon mask, he headed towards the Mako. Now was not the time to show any fear or hesitation. Instead of saying anything, he just kept his mouth shut and awaited for the mission to commence. Wherever they were setting up, his plan was to find a good vantage point and provide covering fire with his Sniper Rifle.
 
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