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.
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...
It has been nearly 20 years since the System Alliance founded its Embassy on the Citadel and since then humanity's race to spread itself over the galaxy has come to a crawl. Bogged down by bureaucratic litigation and Council oversight the Systems Alliance has had to slow its expansion. To make matters worse conflict with slavers and pirates during the Skyllian Blitz has set back colonies already established. Troubles with the Batarian Hegemony plague colonists in the Terminus Systems and the ever present threat of the Perseus Veil looms.
Still, despite all this humanity prospers. They are young to Citadel Space but they are making their presence ever known. In the less than thirty years since making first contact with the Turians in the First Contact War humanity has gained an Embassy on the Citadel, something some races have taken 1000 or more years to do. The colonies and worlds under System Alliance control are too numerous to list, and the wealth and resources that flow into human led corporations every day is in the billions.
Yet no matter the troubles or the prosperity of humanity, things can always change...Six Months before the events of Mass Effect 1...
The ride from Base Camp Beta-36 to Adrasteia is impossibly long. The Ant Eater is anything but fast. Designed for heavy duty mining work, not long open ground driving the vehicle simply is slow. Someone jokes it should be nicknamed a turtle about two hours into the drive. In fact the thing is so slow night eventually falls before you reach the city. So you are forced to come to a stop as everyone realizes just how tired they really are after the day they have had. Posting watches you sleep in shifts inside and just outside the mine car keeping an eye both on your Batarian and for signs of trouble from local bandits and cutthroats. Luckily you make it through the night without incident. The rest of the trip into town takes you until nearly noon the next day.
A few kilometers out you spy Adrasteia on the horizon. It is the largest spaceport on the planet, and a hub of scum and villany. You can see smoke rising from some building, and you have a feeling that at least two of the plumes are from building buildings, not from smokestacks or industry. Small land rovers zoom in and out of the outskirts of the place.
"Well, there it is."
Welcome back to chapter 1!
You can kinda think of this place as Mos Eisley without the desert. Its large, a full on city in size, but it lacks the law and a real government or long term outlook of a city seeing as the moon is going to crash into the planet in a few centuries. It is not part of Citadel Space and is an independent planet -- aka lawless den of violence. Enjoy.
Last edited by Vardaen on Mon Jun 10, 2013 8:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
"Looks just as lovely as expected," Kinney says as they drive towards the place. She doesn't take her foot of the gas when they first spot the city. The ride wasn't even fun the first half hour with what has happened. If they hadn't been departing the human could at least have found some enjoyment, driving the Ant Eater. But it is just too slow for that. And almost every of her coworkers has been killed.
"So, I think the first thing we should do is check out how much we'll have to pay for a trip off Aite. Then we can see if that stuff is worth enough to pay for it or not. We also need to find out that Volus called Dakni Kur Petrosky wanted to meet to get his ass of the planet. It might be worth just to check the Extranet as soon as we have a connection to it," security guard still employed by ExoGeni considers what to do with their small entourage of survivors and prisoners. "I don't know how much we're gonna get but I may give you a resignation," she says to Geno. "Because if it's enough I may not be coming back with you and track down that turian instead..." Kinney glances to Anar, Bata'Vek and Selena to listen what they have in mind. It could be smarter than what the human has planned.
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
"We can probably trust ExoGeni to help get us off this rock," Selena replies. "Probably." She glances over at the city before them, and then back to the human. "But it pays to be careful. I'd say your plan of scoping out our own exit strategy is a sound one. But we will need to report to ExoGeni about what happened so that they can hear what happened from us. I don't want to get blamed for the attack in absentia."
Bata'Vek has been quiet for most of the journey, doing basic maintenance on the Ant Eater to make sure they arrive safely, and keeping his Omni-tool scanning for any signals from the Comm Relay. "I worry why no one came looking at the base camp. That signal should have been boosted to reach most settlements, or even the Mass Relay for forwarding to ExoGeni. Yet not a peep. Troubling."
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."
"It's only been less than 24 hours," Kinney shrugs and does not appear to be concerned about no reply so far. "And if they believe what they have received and no idiot is sitting at the helm then they'll be careful, put together a decent scout party with extra security. But I'm no corporate genius. They signal may even have been jammed in the upper atmosphere or near the closest relay. I expect that we can get a live connection to ExoGeni or anyone else we want to call from Adrasteia spaceport."
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
"I agree about finding a way off of this rock. That said I wonder if it might be worth it for us to see if this volus would rather we leave and pay our freight rather than ruin his day. One way or another you need to talk to Exogeni and get the Batarian and your colleagues handed over to 'safety'." Anar grins a little. "Also I think Kinney's right, Exogeni is going to take a little time to respond even if they have assets nearby they can retask. You'll need to re-establish contact and get some timing from them."
Lorayne Thornhallow, Talan Botley, Raik Anar, Brother Lucian, Nazim al Ayser, David Luo, Radache of Pontyrel
"Oh, don't worry about our batarian friend. He'll enjoy my company before I turn him over to ExoGeni. And if he's willing to talk he may still be breathing then," Kinney replies with a wicked grin, making no effort to hide her eagerness to hurt the merc as badly as possible. "It's totally his choice how bad his shape is going to be. The last one I 'conversed' with ended up with a knife in his leg and ultimately a round between his four eyes. However, that's your fault and your desire to live. If you hadn't drawn some attention towards you and ran in our grateful arms he might have lived. No, wait, he wouldn't have lived at all."
"But yes, we take care of logistics and finances and then I want to rent a room and have a bit of private time with him. You're welcome to join me if you don't mind a bit of blood on her hands," the human adds and deliberately understates the amount of the batarian's lifeblood that may be spilled today. "Good thing we're out of Citadel space and we don't have to worry about laws and only our own conscience."
"Anyway, here's the thing about getting off Aite," Kinney says. "We don't want to wait until ExoGeni sends us a couple of tickets or a pickup. I think it's best to find our own flight but there are two possibilites: We can either look for a transport that can take us somewhere or we'll try to purchase our own ship. We're probably going to stick with something cheap because even if we sell of all the stuff we have, it's going to be expensive because of fuel and other supplies. But it gives us flexibility we may not have with a transport when we're going after the turian. However, it would cut our budget for personal gear and equipment down quite a lot. Of course I'd want a nice rifle that allows me not to get too close to biotics and techs but that's costly and that's not the only thing we need to get when we're going after the turian. If we're ill-equipped we can just forget it so we have to be careful. Do we choose flexibility or security? Maybe we can get a bit of both but in case we have to prioritize it's better to know now than later." She looks at the asari, krogan and quarian to find out what they want to do.
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
Selena shakes her head slowly back and forth. "Even of we got a good price for everything we picked up - and in a place like this, that seems unlikely - we'd never come close to affording a ship." Then her face brightens up. "But, there is another possibility. Petrovsky was clearly planning on shipping the relic off-planet, and doing so without ExoGeni knowing about it. He must have arranged for a ship to spirit the relic away. If we could find out where that ship is, we might be able to use it to get away. Petrovsky certainly isn't going to need it anymore."
Anar breaks in "We don't need to buy a ship. The Volus had one for my team to use to bring the relic off world. I'm sure after we chat with him," the Krogan cracks his knuckles, "he'll be happy to give it to us." He smiles an even bigger smile than normal.
"Now let's find us a place to stay while we are in this hellhole."
Lorayne Thornhallow, Talan Botley, Raik Anar, Brother Lucian, Nazim al Ayser, David Luo, Radache of Pontyrel
The Ant Eater rolls into the edges of town. Driving the thing through the streets might be a good idea it might not, at a certain point it will need to be parked as many of the areas are off ground level or simply are not accessable via a truck like the mine vehicle. The Batarian and ExoGeni on board are mostly silent, shocked by Kinney's outbursts and statements, both for themselves and the prisoner. Everyone seems to agree, a place to hold up, some merchant time, and then a trip to the Volus is in order.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
