Lucas O'Connell's Story

Lucas was down in the shuttle bay practicing his sword techniques when the alert came over the PA. He looked to his armor laying in a neat pile off to the side with a soft smile. “Time for fun” he said to himself, noticing that one of the maintence crew member was making his way to work on the thrusters on the ship. “Hey I’d be careful over there!” He called out with a smile waving to the man, “What are you talking about? I work on these for a liv-“ then the thruster backfired directly in the man’s face frying his eyebrows and the center of his hair. “I tried to warn you!” He said and then the Maintence crewmember screamed out in pure rage and it was on Luke began to sprint his way towards the elevator just barely making it to the door and getting it shut before the crewmember who’s face was red with pure rage.

The next thing that could be heard loudly by most of the crew on each level of the frigate was screams of threats and of anger towards the young N7 as he sprinted towards the CIC with renewed vigor as the male was clearly close behind. “It was an accident I didn’t touch the shuttle!” He screamed over his shoulder, though with a very large smile plastered on his face. It didn’t take him long before he reached the CIC and dove behind an asari, activating the cloak on his armor as he had somehow found the time to slide into it on the short elevator ride up. The maintence crew member stopped suddenly at the gathered party in the CIC saluted and disappeared with yet still a red face but more out of embarrassment then pure anger. Once the man had gone, and Luke got to watch some of the crew members look his direction with a shake of the head or a facepalm he could only smile (though hidden by the cloaking device) with his own success. He turned off the cloak and stood up straight with a very wide Cheshire smile on his face “So!” He said excitedly. “when are we leaving I feel that my pranks aren’t appreciated enough around here” He said as if he really felt obligated to find a place to prank others for amusement. Though after the initial adrenaline disappeared he noticed the gathering of his new team, though he felt there was one off, or it could just be the dwindling adrenaline. It didn’t matter to him. “Well uuh, Hi everyone um, who’s he?” He pointed off towards a Turian who seemed to be held against his will. “wait um..isn’t he that…” Luke began to actually think on the subject “Yeah you’re the crazy Turian cross-dressing murderer aren’t you?!” He asked and laughed some “Yeah, those were some odd murders dude, neat that you were into doing that though so yeah kudos for that”

Griska was next into the CIC, the Vorcha's bare claws sounding metallic clacks with every motion of his feet upon the ground. His crimson red eyes slightly dilated, a clear sign that he came from one of the darker regions of the ship. From an empty Storage department beneath the shuttle bay he had turned into his own private hideaway to be exact. Noticing the human with a wide grin he tilted his head lightly and gave a small hiss. The joke about the detained Turian hardly amusing in his case as his eyes soon traveled to that member. He observed the Turian up and down before moving his eyes to each terminal, obviously getting a good scope of the place. Next on his radar was another Turian, how typical, Humans and Turians, two of the Galaxy's most dominant military power. However, this Turian wasn't being detained by Asari Guardians. He could almost sniff out the military type from him. Finally, a rarity, A Quarian. Odd they were considered space rats just as the Vorcha were by many worlds throughout the galaxy. So it was different finding working on such a militant vessel. And finally the Asari. Griska's eyes widened as he observed her for a second. Asari always had a keen to his eye, not due to attraction, but because they drew him to his past. Of times spent zipping about the Galaxy, learning, exploring, being more than a hired killer.

Snapping too he made a hissing noise, and jerked his head about in the normal Vorcha fashion. "Griska reporting for duty, ma'am!" Uttered in his scratchy, growling voice sounding from his lungs. This was to be quite the trip, possibly a suicide mission. But he was looking forward to it, a chance to prove himself. ANd possibly a chance to prove his race as more that ship-hopping scavengers and savages who killed for whatever they could take.

Seyusa nodded calmly to both Ryak and James as they arrived and spoke, Ryak correct in his question on whether they were being kept in the dark any longer or not, as he phrased it. "Correct, once everyone has arrived, the formal briefing will begin in earnest." She didn't even miss a single beat when the Turian uncloaked at the opposite end of the room, and mentally rolled her eyes. Boys and their toys, really. If it became an issue, she would issue a general order about such shenanigans, but if it kept the other races pacified and at least content, then it would be tolerated. Of course, one of the more interesting members arrived under the armed guard of two other Asari, and she turned to give the second Turian her attention, as well as the guards as the one addressed her. Of course the tidy little information source had already found methods of digging up what couldn't be readily removed, and she smirked as she addressed the guard. "Release him from his bindings, and see yourselves back to wherever your quarters were assigned. Your condolences are not necessary, Naxyn, you of all people should know how hard information can be to eliminate fully. I expect your past vendetta will not get in the way of the tasks I will present to you." She had done some looking before accepting the Council's offer to have the turian transferred, and knew what to expect of the male, and the reasons why he was where he was. With that, she ignored the shenanigans and foolishness of the human Lucas, one of the most detested members of this team, and did not even dignify a response or greeting to the man. If it wasn't for his skill set, she would have recommended booting him right back to the Alliance, rather than operating with the N7 Spec Ops teams. Lastly, the Vorcha, and she inclined her head to the being as he reported as well. The Quarian, Raen, quietly reported in the midst of the shenanigans, keeping a professional tone of voice despite the happenings around them. "Raen'Rilas vas Myni, reporting for duty."

Beyond a simple nod, Seyusa ignored the Quarian completely and initiated an upload to the entire groups omni tools, containing various files and maps, but the most important being a Salarian intelligence report that was the reason this mission was even occurring. "Read the information I have forwarded to each of your omni tools, and once you have done so I will elaborate."

Intelligence Report #18537

Subject: Hydra Initiative

Summary: Cerberus operations located on Eden Prime discovered a second weapon co-developed alongside the Crucible, which they promptly began calling the Hydra Initiative in the intercepted communications between the dig team and various waiting vessels in orbit, which no doubt transferred this information to The Illusive Man. What little actual specifications that were intercepted, it appears the discovery Cerberus made is, rather than a device designed to interface with the Citadel and potentially destroy the Reaper invaders, a independent construct, larger then what we could consider a super massive Dreadnaught class vessel. The size of this vessel, until a clear information can be obtained, will be tentatively referred to as a Hydra Class ship. Information available indicates that the craft is capable of providing its own necessities, from crew needed to what is required to run the ship. Combine the internal manufacturing and agricultural facilities with a similar scanner system employed on the Normandy SR-2, most notably, and amongst other vessels, and it is capable of creating anything required to function. It is a space borne city, and this is before the militarization takes place. While actual specifications are scarce, the amount of armor, armaments, and defensive forces that would be required on such a craft would be enough to give most Reaper's a serious fight. What is known, however, is that in the hands of Cerberus, it will prove a nigh unstoppable threat once completed.

Recommendation: -REDACTED-

Once the team had time to digest this, Seyusa began the briefing in earnest. "I won't waste anymore time, as this bit of information warranted the Council's deployment of myself and whatever resources I deemed necessary, which is this assembly of specialists. The planet we are approaching is Benning, already contested by Alliance and Cerberus forces, so our presence will not be of note by either side. The task at hand is to land on the outskirts of the Capitol city of Benning, Joughin, and proceed onto a Cerberus base of operations. Intelligence suggests this is the command hub that the intelligence hand off, or the location of such, is occurring. This means it will be well defended, and as such two teams will be striking to improve the odds of success. Raen, Naxyn, O'Connell, Lt. Ryak, you will be the infiltration team. Get in, gather the necessary information from the Cerberus hardware, and do so quickly. O'Connell, Lt. Ryak, you are providing protection for Raen and Naxyn so the two can focus on information gathering over combat, although both are more than capable of defending themselves. Griska, Monroe, and myself will be providing the distraction that you four will require. We will meet up with your team in the command center of the complex after we break through the defensive line. Depending on the information gathered, that will dictate the next course of action. Questions?"

Ryak:

Ryak watched the crew members, having his own opinions on each. James seemed to follow protocol and rules to the letter. The Turian Prisoner made him cautious, and added another firewall to his already Fort Knox Omni Tool. Lucas made him feel uneasy, and made him hope he never had to deal with him. The Spectre, even if it might now show, he had respect for her. He didn't know what to feel about the Quarian or the Vorcha, they were Wild Cards in this.

"Just a few. Well, the first one is slightly a comment, but also a question. Cerberus is known to establish listening posts. Many of them have still not been found, being very well hidden.....but, rumors have had a recent break, an actual possibility according to command, of locating some of them at least. They may be using something called a 'Ghost Station'. Its where they take over or build a small space station in the middle of a scrap yard, on land or more commonly in space, and occasionally underwater. If they have one of those there, what are we going to do about it? It will stay hidden and harass us most likely. And, if its one of the bigger ones, its possible it will drop an Atlas Mech right on top of your distraction team....if its in the space at least. And having our communications tapped into doesn't sound like something we want....."

He then asked his second question. "Also, do I have to have any concerns about our prisoner here? Like, running off, trying to stab me in the back, the usual? I like to be prepared, and I hate surprises that I don't plan". Ryak talked with certainty and strength, but also some caution. He was not some "Rookie" to this. However, slightly layered in his voice was a bit of hatred when he said "Cerberus". Slight however, and barely noticeable. But there none the less.

He then added another question, making 3. "Finally, where is the extraction Zone, secondary Extraction Zone, and the Backup Extraction Zone? Or is that not determined yet?" Ryak didn't joke around when it came to extracting his team either. Even if he wasn't leading, he was very adamant in making sure no one died unnecessarily or got left behind....

Monroe:

Monroe understood his orders. He listened to the chatter, and then the Turians Questions. "Wait, just a thought, but couldn't you hack the defenses when you get into the command room? Turn the base against its owners? That would make our meetup a lot easier. Also, they might have an Atlas Mech or two inside the base as well, waiting. And the Phantoms. Those we will need to look out for....." He then turned to the Spectre, and noted "Ma'am, when we move in, we will most likely encounter heavy forces. Will we be bringing any heavy weapons in, or using any special strategies to avoid flanking maneuvers? The fact that they out number us means a flank could effectively kill us if we are not careful......"

James then also noted to the Turian Ghost "Three Extraction Zones? Wouldn't the second one be the Emergency one?" He was somewhat confused on why the Turian said 3 extraction zones. He had never heard anyone using 3 before.

Darius gave a toothy smile as his bindings were released, even with a hint of mild surprise at those words that came next. "I expect your past vendetta will not get in the way of the tasks I will present to you." "Oh, so you believe my little tale? That is surprising, and I shall do my best...... but no promises. Ah ah ah!" he uttered at the guard to his left. "I believe your forgetting something?" The Asari sneered as she unlatched the restrictor collar around his scaly neck. His omni tools flashed to life for a second, as if to take in a long overdue breath of air, before fading away once again. "Ah.... much better."

The apparent joker of the group shot a poorly thought out insult in his direction. It sounded like a badly written one-liner from Krodd the Battlemaster II: Re-armed. “Yeah you’re the crazy Turian cross-dressing murderer aren’t you?!” "Heh, no. Though I was in the cell across from him. Weird guy, though fun at parties from what I hear..." Then it hit him, a cold stare from the other side of the room. A stare he was use to. Vorcha. Oh. I didn't realize Spectres were accustomed to taking in pets. How..... quaint. Every ounce of his C-sec instincts screamed at him to watch this little pest. He knew Vorcha were not to be trusted. Finally came the mission details.

After skimming through the file and hearing Ms. Seyusa Avera's version, it apparently became question time. The other Turian on the team took first shot, and nailed every important query. Naturally, for a Turian. And of course, the intrepid human had to question sound logic. "Why three? Because basic counter spec-ops, which from what I understand this Cerberus is a master of, dictates that any infiltration team will always have two points of extraction. If our main evac is compromised, they'll track our movements and tactically estimate where our secondary evac is, cutting us off. Or they could just track our comms chatter. Having three gives us the option to use one as a decoy, and drop off their radar mid-route, promptly mad-dashing our asses to the third. We can be out and off the rock before they have time to re-mobilize. And really, can you ever have too many extraction points?"

He showed some teeth at being called "The Prisoner", and hoped the name didn't stick. "Where were I to go if I did run? I'd rather possibly die in combat like a true Turian than be hunted all my life. And the only reason I'd assassinate any of you is if you compromised the mission and I got the go-ahead from our CO, which would be Ms. Avera here. So don't piss her off, don't piss me off, and don't get shot or blown up, and you should be fine." Once the bit of irritation of being accused of possible treachery passed, he noticed something about the Lieutenant. Their was a tinge, a hint, a timy glimmer of hatred in his mannerism when he spoke of Cerberus. It wasn't something any normal mind could hear, in fact only a man who's had that word haunting him for half a decade would ever be able to pick up on it, but it was there. Naxyn grinned at this....

Darius leaned back in his seat, taking a moment to exert his level of apathy. "And as far as these 'Ghost Stations' are concerned, I could monitor our comms channels and track any hack attempts. If they try, I'll ping their location and make these ghosts a little more visible. I could try to back hack them, but doing that through comms frequency alone is damn near impossible. Even for me, your looking at nearly a half-an-hour job. Double if you want me to be subtle about it.... Not what I'd consider if we're in the field. And these 'Atlas', they're mechs, correct? Any semblance to those used by Eclipse? If so, then I can mess with their targeting, bypass safety protocols, and maybe even hack the controls. Then we can have some fun...."

He looked over the info quickly, mostly just skimming it, as he continued to listen to the spectre about their individual missions, which he was looking forward to his. Providing covering fire for information gathers, what fun that would be; at least he'd be able to put his rifle to use. Then he had to listen about three different extraction points, someone asked why there should be three, oh then came the prisoner, he smiled at the man as he answered to his joke, making him laugh and nod. "I'm sure he was, probably gave Asari dancers a run for their money." He said then blinked looking to their spectre leader. "No offense meant ma'am" He said trying to keep from laughing as he looked away from her, though as Darius said he'd try assassinating them if they compromised the mission he only shook his head. "I doubt you'd even get close enough to me to try" He said in a serious tone. He wasn't one to brag but he had got here on his own merit and skills, and if anything his sword would see him through where his rifle could not.

Once Darius calmed down and mentioned something about the Ghost station, which he hadn't been paying attention when it was brought up in the first place he just shrugged some. "Hey whatever happens happens, and if something does come from orbit put a round in it and be done anything else?" He asked standing up feeling anxious to get out there; first real mission for him. He was excited, nervous, had a slight upset stomach but other then that he was ready, willing, and happy to put a bullet into someones head if asked, told too, or even if for no other reason the person looked at him cross-eyed. Lucas was one person you didn't want to look cross-eyed at, most of the time he'd take offense to it, the other half of the time he'd just have killed you. Though his thoughts were rambling as he looked off towards the elevator, waiting to be told to head to the shuttle-bay; anxiously placing all his weight on one foot or the other

Ryak:

Ryak wasnot one to usually change opinions quickly, but in this case, he made an exception. The prisoner, Darius, even with what he had said after, was definently more reliable then Lucas. He looked at Lucas, replying quickly "Have you ever fought Cerberus before, because you must have been hiding under a rock if you have. You can not take out an Atlas Mech like its nothing...." he brought up a hologram of an Atlas, and had some rather impressive visual aid as he continued "An Atlas has both heavy shields, and heavy armor. Some missiles can't even take one out immediately. So you most certainly can not take one out with one shot of your rifle, and your sword would shatter against it. An Atlas is armed with a large cannon, that doubles as a rocket launcher, as well as a power ground-shattering stomp and a arm that can grab you and either slam or throw you hard enough that it might break your neck....."

He lowered his voice, removing the present annoyed tone, and then noted to Darius, who's profile he had looked up while talking, "An atlas is also manned, meaning you can't hack it. Overload stuns it for about a second, energy drain half that, and Sabotage for about 1.25 seconds. Which, believe me, is very helpful, because every second counts with an Atlas Mech....and don't ask me why they call it a mech if it's manned. It's really technically a large vehicle/battle suit, but everyone calls it a mech...."

He then added "And Darius, I doubt he will need your help to get himself in trouble. He seems more then capable of getting himself killed...". Whether he thought he was great enough not to be stabbed in the back so easily, or simply he had more respect for him and less for Lucas, he did not take it as a threat to him. Although, he had upgraded his firewalls and monitored his Omni-tool more frequently. He isn't THAT quick to trust. He looked at the data, and then noted "So, anything else?".

James Monroe

James listened, but was quick, yet firm, when he defended myself. "Why not just use a regular decoy then? Or have the ship provide cover fire during extraction?". The second idea wasn't that bad. It would prevent them from alerting the rest of Cerberus of what they were doing.

James, while he did not really say everything, seemed to agree with the two Turians. Lucas seemed like he was unable to take anything serious, as well as looking like he wasn't even listening. He decided to then ask his own questions to the Spectre. "So, exactly what should we be expecting? Will they have heavy turrets or Shield Doors? Do we know if they have mines set up or not?".