In the year 2148, explorers on Mars discovered the remains of an ancient spacefaring civilization. In the decades that followed, these mysterious artifacts revealed startling new technologies, enabling travel to the furthest stars. The basis for this incredible technology was a force that controlled the very fabric of space and time.
They called it the greatest discovery in human history.
The civilizations of the galaxy call it... MASS EFFECT.
"It does not look like it was sloppy but in my eyes it was," Kinney replies, beginning to think and speak at the same time. "The sabotage of the antenna was smart and the bombing run caught the camp totally off-guard. But then they only guarded the front of the mine. There was no other supervision on the main entrance except for those two batarians. If you want to be safe then you put at least one, probably more guards on top. Of course they thought there would not be any resistance after levelling the other buildings but that's what I mean. It appears to me that they just assumed there was nobody else. With the right gear we could have taken out those two guards from a long range. But it gets worse. Inside we saw that they were methodical. However, the ones we encountered in the lab and mess area were the worst. You do not let your guys scavenge like vultures. They'll miss something that way and are more or less off-guard. I mean yeah, they set up an ambush later but none of them seemed to have radioed it in that they were attacked. Because if they did, and we missed it then, there would have been no way we could have gone so deep inside. The place were we set the charges would have been a good point to stop any assailants or they should have just collapsed that part entirely since they had en exit strategy that didn't even rely on the main entrance anymore. And look at Anar," the human says, gesturing towards the krogan. And silently Kinney admits that without him they may not have even got out at all. "Yeah, he's as tough as it gets but he still got away, relatively unscathed. And then the whole exit. We saw one, ONE shuttle getting away. I doubt that they came with just one which means the lost the whole damn merc group on this trip. So either the others are grounded, which is unlikely because we didn't see one. Or they already left. They left and either expected to squeeze two dozen into ONE shuttle with the relic or that all of them would die. It's not like they had to fear much, or any resistance at all so they were not only sloppy but also unprofessional."
Kinney looks to Selena and glances at the quarian. "Overconfident? Obviously. And I'd call it sloppy as well. Which is good because that means we can still walk around, alive and breathing and find out who that turian was. And it's not like we're a crack team of SA Marines," she shrugs.
"But with the stuff and money we find we may be able to gear up a little more because even the turian saw that we took out most of his crew and if he is smart, which I assume he is, he will look for better lackeys. I need to find something with a punch because next time I don't want to end up standing in the middle of half a dozen guards. No, next time we take them out from range," Kinney continues. "That and a something to boost your biotics if you don't mind."
Success on knowledge roll lets me talk a lot.
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
Anar grunts and says "We were lucky, they were cocky...doesn't matter we're alive and ready for the hunt. Let's send the message to Exogeni and head for the spaceport. The Volus and I are due for a chat." He smiles again showing all of his teeth and then turns back to scanning for threats.
Bata'vek needs a message to send out. MWD are you cool with pulling it together or do you want/need input IC from the group to give you wording etc.
Lorayne Thornhallow, Talan Botley, Raik Anar, Brother Lucian, Nazim al Ayser, David Luo, Radache of Pontyrel
"Well, it does and will matter at some point. When they don't meet their guys again later they'll know that we killed 'em all," Kinney shrugs. "I'd send the message not only to ExoGeni but to the Systems Alliance as well. And maybe to the Alliance News Network because they may put attention to it and then they'll all have to act."
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
Bata'Vek contemplates the blinking screen, then shrugs and begins typing away. Distress Call. Repeat, distress call from Base Camp Beta-36 of Aite. Identification: Bata'Vek nar Shonn, Quarian, Mining Engineer. Specifics: Near-Total destruction of Base Camp Beta-36 by Mercenaries (primarily Batarian, Turian Leader). Target was the theft of a presumed Prothean Artifact. Requesting immediate evacuation of surviving Base Camp personnel.
He wants to keep the message short and sweet. He add in anything the others recommend, and then finds the local comms relays. He codes the messages to send with Urgent Status to ExoGeni, the Systems Alliance, and any other Aite settlement networks he can reach.
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."
Kinney doesn't hesitate for long as soon as the message is sent. The woman is eager to get to a settlement acquire some gear and a transport off the rock and get on the turian's trail.
"Alright," she says. "Let's get going. It's going to be a fun ride. If you count sitting in a cramped APC through rocky terrain fun. But I do," the human adds and begins to head back after a final glance over the comm tower and the surrounding area.
Nearest town.
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
"Agreed. Let me just keep our chances good." He pulls up the admin functions of the comm relay, keying in his own frequency. "I'll set it up so if anyone interacts with the relay in the next week, it'll send them our comm ID and best-guess at location. I'll also slip in a hidden program that will forward me a note whenever the comm relay is used, so we know if anyone came looking for us." He takes a half an hour to make the appropriate alterations, then is ready to go.
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."
"It might not be best to have the comm relay give them our location," Selena replies. "After all, we don't know who's going to get the message. Mightn't it be better to give them a radio frequency we'll be monitoring so that they can contact us?"
