Day 14: Inklings of Madness

Day 14

     After the fight on Omega we all went for some R&R. I picked up a new rifle and pistol: the M-99 Sabre and the M-358 Talon. I’ve been eyeing both of these for a while now, unfortunately they aren’t quite legal to own, but since we are being branded as fugitives anyway I thought what the hell. I also picked up a few ammo packs and some mods for my armour.

     After our furlough we returned to the ship and the Commander interrogated his doppelganger. We didn’t learn much more from him except that he was receiving his orders directly from the Council and that the whole council, all four of them, were in agreement with this ridiculous scheme. It sounds as if they are in agreement with the Asari that they need to replace the Shepard as the conscience of the Reapers. This galaxy really has gone mad if the leaders think that it is a good idea to poke a bear with a stick, albeit a very big stick, but this bear is huge in comparison. Madness. He also told us of his latest orders to escort a ship to a highly classified location in the middle of nowhere. After deposing of the bodies of both the doppelgangers on board we set off to the location of the ship to be escorted.

     We arrived at the location and found the ship. Damn that thing is huge! And loaded to the brim with eezo! That much eezo can only mean one thing: the Council truly is trying to rebuild the Crucible. Spirits protect us.  

Letters Home

From: {sourcenotfound}

To: sophie.c@caa.edu.pal

Dearest Sophie,

 How are you? How’s Ysabell? Is she keeping up with her piano practice? I know how much she likes to complain. I hope that you’re both OK, especially after this whole debacle with my crew’s doppelgangers. I know that this puts you both in a terrible situation. I can’t give you any details, one: they’re classified, and second: I can’t give you any information that would make you a target. I have to keep you both safe. Remember I love you both so much, no word in the galaxy can adequately describe the love that I have for you, and that I do everything I do for you.

 Know that I’m safe, and that I’m innocent. You know me; I would never do anything like this.

 I love you both.

-   T

Ps. – A contact of mine will contact you soon. If you ever need anything - to get away, a safe place to hide - he will help you. Love you.  

Form: {sourcenotfound}

To: Corinthus.A@embassies.gov.pal

Adrian:

     I need you to take care of Sophie and Ysabell for me. You know me; you know I’m innocent and wouldn’t do something like this. Please take care of them, give them a safe place if they need one. I’m afraid someone will come after them, and I need someone I trust to make sure they are safe.

    

All the best

Major Terryck Corinthus

Day 11: A Merry Chase

 Day 11

     It’s about time. We left Rannoch and are headed after our doppelgängers, which are reportedly on Eden Prime. After two days we finally reached the planet, only to find five Hyperion-classed Alliance cruisers in orbit around the planet, effectively stopping us from actively scanning the planet. After some debate we decided to ask the Quarian to hack the satellites orbiting to track them down. The geoscans revealed the location of the ship about 40km away from Constant, the capital city. We sneaked past the cruisers and landed a few kilometres away a shuttled it over. Who knew the LT could pilot a shuttle? He’s an interesting guy that one, he has a broad skill base, but seriously lacking in intelligence sometimes.

     Once we arrived at the ship, the Triton, we found it nestled in the trees, whoever put this team together found a damn good pilot, with tress trying to cover the hull. The Quarian hacked their systems, locking the crew in their quarters, and opened the door. Out doppelgängers weren’t there! The Quarian started going through the ship’s computers to try to find out where they were, and blocking any communications to and from the ship. As she did this, the rest of us came up with a plan to set a trap for the other squad when the Quarian informed us that the crew had bypassed the locks and were on their way up to the CIC. K-QO then informed us that we would be able to bring their ship to ours and switch the IFF in the ships to allow us slip more easily past any blockades and provide an excellent way to draw our them (our doppelgängers) to our turf.

     As the enemy crew exited the elevator we assumed the roles of our doppelgängers, and through a good measure of luck and a lot of skill, we were able to convince them that we were their CO’s and that we had found the location of the ‘Sachsen’ and were planning an ambush there. We took off and landed next to the Phoenix, and neutralized the enemy crew with the gas system on our ship and tied them up to the trees. K-QO then interrupted a signal trying to reach Alliance Command in Constant. Nienna took the call and with a little help from Commander O’Neil she was able to lead our doppelgängers to the location of the Triton where we will lay in wait, ready to take them out and prove our innocence.

       

Day 10: 101 Ways to Cook Salarian

Day 10

    

     The Quarian knows how to take a person down I’ll give her that. Damn, I don’t think I ever want to be on the receiving end of a neural shock. She isn’t the brightest though when it comes to handling bodies. When by the time I reached her and the Asari they were both tugging on the unconscious Salarian trying to bring him back to the bar; Lúthien pulling on his horns, and the Quarian pulling on an obviously broken arm (you could see the arm stretching). So I quickly took over and heaved the Salarian onto my back and carried him back to the rest of the squad.

     As we returned to the ship, an official-looking skycar pulls up and drops the Commander off, with K8 following quickly behind. Once aboard, we parted to interrogate our prisoners: the Quarian, Krogan, and the LT to interrogate the doctor we apprehended last week, Lúthien and I to interrogate the Salarian with the broken arms. Lúthien and I decided to play the whole “good cop/bad cop” routine. I walk in with some painkillers and water, and explain to him the only way to get these was to answer my questions or he would have to meet the other not-so-nice interrogator, and at this point we could hear a rather distressed and desperate scream from the other interrogation room, which was rather handy. He quickly conceded in giving me all the information that he could. Lúthien then comes in, saunters over to him, places her hands lightly on his shoulders and repeats the questions, and lightly brushing the fractures in his arm to assure the veracity of his information. Once we concluded that we couldn’t get any more info out of him I pushed the pill and water closer to him and we left the room. As the door shut we heard a thud and a yelp of pain, I sent in a serviceman in to help the poor bastard out.

     In the hallway we met up with the rest of the crew as the Quarian raced by us crying. I guess the other interview didn’t go so well, looking at the Krogan I think I saw a piece of skin in between his teeth, no wonder the Quarian ran off, she wouldn’t be able to stomach a Krogan feeding, few people in this galaxy can! It turns out that the doctor has a secret data cache in his apartment that needs to be taken care of, as well as our doppelgangers. The Commander decided to inform President Tali’Zorah of our situation and to ask for help in either of our plights.

     Before leaving the planet, we had out ship upgraded and ID changed to the Phoenix, a fitting symbol if you ask me. Our stay on Rannoch has been anything but boring, it’ll be interesting to see what the future will bring.

 

Day 9: A Little Piece of Omega

Day 9

     We made it to the Quarian home world: Rannoch, a pretty impressive sight. It’s a marvel of organic and synthetic engineering, in quite an inspiring way. And given that the Geth and Quarians have been working together for only the past 40 years is an even greater testament to the Shepard’s influence.

     Seeking asylum on Rannoch has had its perks. Most of the team decided to improve themselves by having various cybernetics added to them. I decided to increase the muscle weave in my legs and an internal computer installed to increase my capabilities, and proficiency as a soldier. You need to be ready for anything, and now that we are all fugitives we need all the advantage we can get. An interesting by-product of these improvements is the doctors accidentally installed a direct interface along with the internal computer, so I can interface with my omni-tool without manually accessing it. That should come in handy with my new incendiary ammo I picked up in the bazaar. We spent the next three days recuperating.

     Upon our release we decided to celebrate and regroup by honouring the time-old tradition of hitting the bar. Lúthien, being the most street savvy, picked what she considered to be the best one. We probably should have known something was going to happen, I mean the daughter of the “Queen of Omega” is bound to pick the seediest, most-likely-to-get-killed-in bar in The Capitol. As we walked into the bar I noticed that the patrons began leaving and certain individuals setting up, or revealing rather, some pretty tactically advantageous positions, when suddenly the deafening sound of a sniper rifle shatters the silence and Lúthien barely manages to throw up a barrier in time to stop the bullet from hitting anything vital. I quickly kick a table over and pull Nienna down, and whip out my rifle and activate my incendiary ammo, how convenient having that mistake at the hospital turned out to be. The other Turian (Artemis I think that’s her name?), the prisoner we freed from the Salarians, was with me behind the table and seemed surprised that there was another Turian in the squad, which I guess I can forgive her as she was pretty reclusive on the ship, having just been freed and all, and didn’t know who I was! ME! Major Terryck Corinthus, Nova Cluster recipient and Saviour of Aephus! The Salarians must have done something to her mental capacity during her tenure as prisoner to have forgotten something that important! Anyway, our attackers were a group of Salarian mercs, how they got on Rannoch is beyond me, but they were quickly dealt with. I detained the one that I fired at, shoved him behind the bar, right as I turned I saw Aliya getting ready to sprint out the door! The damned Quarian was trying to get away! As her guard I started to run after her, I can’t disobey my orders and let her get away, not after I know what she’s capable of now.