Nathan Isamov's Story

“You’ll never believe it Karin! That batarian over there is selling some sort of red sand and I thought, Karin loves dirt, rocks and sand! Do you want to go buy some? Would that make you feel better?”

Nathan smirked as he overheard Grace. "Probably not a good idea," He said, casually striding over to the both of them. "We need Karin sober." The Dr. slightly patted the Salarian on the back as he took a good look of the view. It wasn't his first time on Omega, but he wasn't necessarily beaming with delight for a return visit.

"Don't worry," He said aloud, "We stay together and follow Norik's plan, we'll be out of here in no time."

Norik's plan, Nathan rolled his eyes. Yes, lets go poke around an asteroid full of armed criminals and ask if any of them wants to come with us to an uninhabited planet. Sounds completely safe!

"Indeed." The clicking tone of Norik's voice came from behind and for a moment he thought the Drell could read his thoughts. "However, I can't leave this ship unattended. As you can imagine, their form of security here isn't the most trustworthy. Who wants to stay behind?"

Roz’s attention turned to the human she had only recently recruited. It was truly the first time she chose a team member on her own volition. At the time she thought she was doing something good, but something about the human rubbed her the wrong way. Then again, she could say that about her entire team. Each of them had a strange ‘quirk’ about them that made her unsure of their loyalty at times. Except perhaps Mayce, who had yet to disobey an order, no matter how jokingly sarcastic it was. At least they all came crawling back to her on a regular basis and the Krogan, at the very least, had been around for years now. While almost childish at times, Chimish had indeed been very reliable. Ranek had also been considerably reliable, although it was disputed between the two Turians over who was the better sniper. Roz, however, so graciously let him keep the title as dealing with people on Omega usually called for smaller, more concealable arms and she had grown quite out of practice with her rifle. It was a shame that her friend on the Citadel hadn’t given her anything new in quite some time. She did enjoy a good chance to practice.

“I’d much rather know I can eat tomorrow, new blood.” She remarked, stretching out her shoulders to keep them from getting stiff. Sitting in same stool for hours, surveying the crowd for potential jobs and information to trade was terrible for her lower back and shoulders. If they didn’t get work soon, she feared she would have to organize a surgical strike on one of the big three on Omega just for a few credits. What she wouldn’t have given for a good crisis. It was a shame she didn’t get in on any of the fighting during the attack of the Citadel. Then again, not having a ship made it difficult to get off the crumbling little asteroid. It would’ve been a good fight.

A second member of her little band of misfits entered Afterlife, the female Human of her group. She seemed entirely too pleased with herself to be up to anything good, but so long as her group did as they were told and didn’t try to stab her in the back, she gave them free reign. Persephone wasn’t exactly stable, and Roz was very much aware of that when she took the Human into her company. The appearance of Mayce, perhaps the strangest of her Human underlings, brought a sense of relief. At least there was sanity in this one. She scooped up the credit chits and counted them, redistributing them out among the Humans, making sure Mayce got more than the other two.

“Bravo, my little harlot. We get to eat tonight.” She stowed the shares for the non-present members of her group in her jacket pocket. “Hopefully this will only be temporary. I hate to think what this will do to your health.” She gave him a patronizing pat on the head. “And don’t keep hiding corpses for her. Persephone needs to learn that we’re not condoning murder without communal profit.”

==Docks==

Karin flinched at Grace’s touch, but seemed to relax considerably at the sound of her voice. He looked up at the human, nodding his head vigorously at her offer to keep close to him while on Omega. The initial panic seemed to subside enough for him to look around him at the locals. He’d never met a Batarian before. He heard they had four eyes, but he imagined something different. He squeaked as Grace hurried away to talk to one in a corner. He seemed jittery and Karin wondered if he was as afraid of Omega as he was. Maybe he didn’t like meeting new people. Karin liked meeting new people. There was always a rush of joy in ‘becoming friends’ with someone new. Grace came bounding back, excited about something.

“You’ll never believe it Karin! That batarian over there is selling some sort of red sand and I thought, Karin loves dirt, rocks and sand! Do you want to go buy some? Would that make you feel better?”

“G-Grace, Red Sand is a narcotic derived from Element Zero that boosts biotic ability and produces a sense of extreme euphoria for a brief time. It was first manufactured on the Sol System’s Mars, hence its name… It’s not… actually sand.” Karin explained, wrapping his arms around one of Grace’s elbows. He was content to use her as a form of security blanket for the time being, finding safety in the contact of his friend. A strange Salarian approached them, offering to show them around Omega to avoid the ‘unsavory types’ as he put it. The Salarian’s offer was cut short by a Human giving him a friendly hug, causing the Salarian to scatter like a Pyjack that had been shot at. The Human addressed Grace, giving her advice on handling the locals.

“He seemed nice.” Karin murmured, tilting his head as the Human left. He meant the Salarian that had so ‘kindly’ offered to help them out, but before he could elaborate two more members of their party set foot on Omega.

Nathan, a researcher—of what the Salarian didn’t actually know—gave him a comforting pat on the back as reassurance stated they shouldn’t worry and should keep together. Norik, the leader of their merry band of scientists and their resident Prothean expert emerged from the airlock. Karin admired his shipmates. They all seemed so confident and fearless in comparison to his debilitating phobias. He had made one step onto the planet, while Grace was able to trot around without a care in the world. He would be jealous if it wasn’t so impressive to him.

“However, I can't leave this ship unattended. As you can imagine, their form of security here isn't the most trustworthy. Who wants to stay behind?" The Drell offered and one of Karin’s hands released Grace’s arm to wave in the air.

“Pick me! Please pick me!” He offered, pleading up at the taller Drell. “I have to make sure all of the guest accommodations are suitable and the laundry’s all set up and the mirrors are all covered. We can’t have the people protecting us have their souls in danger. Or their rooms dirty. What if they don’t like dirty rooms and they shoot us because they’re not clean enough? What if they have guns? I don’t like guns. Do we have to have people with guns?” As he continued, the tempo of his voice increased significantly, as if he was trying to get as much as he could out in a single breath. He took a sharp inhale and exhaled slowly. “I’d like to stay on the ship is what I’m saying. I’ll lock the doors and everything.”