stardust
Adventurer
Name: Arina Caenis
Race: Asari
Occupation: diplomat
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Post by stardust on May 16, 2015 11:48:39 GMT
Arina had only heard the last bits of the conversation and couldn't see who Artyom had been talking to. It pleased her to some degree to see him busy within his network like this just to do something about her. While she was till grinning it occurred to her that the Doctor might as well be a cleanup agent who would make her corpse disappear without a trace earthside. she had no omnitool or any ID gear on her. That made her a bit nervous for a moment but then, why should he go to such lengths with such a plan? But before her minmd could wander any further, he has shoved her into the elevator. "Oh!" No further elevator conversation happened although she was slightly amused to hear the familiar Citadel elevator tune even here. It immediately calmed her nerves. She knew, that by intensive psychological studies, it was a tune designed to sooth the nerves of any sapient species in the Galaxy. "Did you actually know that this music... oh... alright." They had arrived and Artyom had hurried her forward to the shuttle bay.
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Artyom
Adventurer
Name: Artyom Solokov
Race: Human
Occupation: Business Owner
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Post by Artyom on May 17, 2015 9:07:36 GMT
Artyom wasn't much for small talk, and while it made the elevator trip peaceful it was still a little awkward. He shifted on the balls of his feet, arms crossed as he stared almost intensely at the display showing what floor they were on. The music had something of an effect on the human, but it was hard to tell from the outside given the flat expression that seemed permanently chiseled on.
The elevator display chimed as they hit their destination. Artyom cut Arina off as she spoke up, putting his hand on her shoulder and herding her forward. The dark maintenance hall was a stark contrast to the well lit and well decorated environment of the hotel above. It was still crisp and clean, but it wasn't a place many people saw first hand. There was a bit more activity however as they reached the shuttle bay.
The bay stretched around three hundred meters in any given direction from the center. Several shuttles of various makes were parked along the walls, and with the approariate support equipment near by, all attended to by mechanics. This was the heart of the Black Krokodil's smuggling and trafficking operation. Actually it was the hotel and casino's primary loading area for all the supplies the business venture consumed. Everything and anything often passed through the privately owned hanger bay.
"There," Artyom said, pointing to an older looking shuttle craft. It was around the same size as the Kodiak but shaped more like an arrow head, rather than a rounded wedge. Small nacelles were located on the nose, and two larger ones at the back, providing the shuttle's propulsion.
Sharp chirping drew Artyom's attention down to his omnitool. A small light was beeping on his wrist, the color a dark red. Without missing a beat the Russian pulled his hand up to his ear, pressing his finger tip against his ear. "Yeah," he said out loud, clearly answering a call. "Okay, okay, we're boarding the shuttle... you sure he's safe there, little close to the actions for the Doctor don't you think, yeah, his call, gotcha, I'll send you our ETA here shortly." His hand dropping from his ear and his silence were the only indication that he'd terminated the call.
The human picked up the pace as they closed the last ten meters or so, getting a head of Arina to open the door to the craft on the shuttle's port side. Artyom gestured for the Asari to enter first, then followed right behind her. He didn't instruct Arina on where to sit, which there was plenty of seats, each with a view port for the passenger. Instead he took a left and headed into the cock pit. "Strap in, gonna take me a few minutes to go through the pre-flight check list," he said as he sat down, his fingers working at the console before him.
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stardust
Adventurer
Name: Arina Caenis
Race: Asari
Occupation: diplomat
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Post by stardust on May 17, 2015 14:58:53 GMT
It was obvious to Arina that Artyom wan't interested in random chatting. She looked around, nobody seemed to care about hr presence. With Artyom on site it must be alright. The place didn't look very particular, just a bay area for an operation with the size of the club and hotel. Of course, it being Artyom's head quarters, this must be where illegal trafficking was happening, right under the nose of C-Sec, scandalous!
But she couldn't care about this now, the human herded her into the shuttle an she took a passenger seat right behind the cockpit.She closed the safety harness and waited.In a strange way she now was kind of curious about that Good Doctor.
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Artyom
Adventurer
Name: Artyom Solokov
Race: Human
Occupation: Business Owner
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Post by Artyom on May 18, 2015 7:06:57 GMT
The flight check took a minute and a half. All the while Artyom was going over the start up sequence he was in communication with Citadel flight control. Without any fuss the shuttle was clear for lift off, and a small beep on the console alerted the Russian that the craft's VI had been updated with the flight vector. The gentle arc would put them in low orbit, just above the Sovereign Airspace barrier established by the Alliance a little over forty years ago. From there they'd ride the Earth's natural rotation to their destination: Helios Station.
The shuttle rocked lightly as it began to lift off, hovering in place for a brief moment before gliding forward. Then edging the nose down, Artyom dove the shuttle through the opening in the hanger floor. The inertia dampeners kicked in, making the sudden change in velocity and direction less noticeable. Streaking through space and away from the station, the pair were greeted with the breath taking view of Earth above them. Artyom rotated the craft 90 degrees, putting Arina's window earth side.
"ETA twenty minutes," Artyom said out loud as he punched out a message on the console to his left, and sending it off to who ever he'd been talking to before.
It was quiet at first. The human wasn't always one for small talk. He was a straight forward man, and he enjoyed straight forward conversations. No beating around the bush. Sometimes though there wasn't any bush to beat around, and that left him in an awkward situation.
"You're adjusting pretty well for losing all that you have," Artyom said, breaking the silence, "rightfully angry before, but now... not so much it feels like."
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stardust
Adventurer
Name: Arina Caenis
Race: Asari
Occupation: diplomat
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Post by stardust on May 19, 2015 14:32:31 GMT
Arina observed the departure from the Citadel with little curiosity. A normal process and she had had more shuttle rides in her life than Aryom could fathom possibly. He shot a quick glace towards earth outside her window, trying to figure out the name of the continent or area they were over. In her four years, she had by now learned earth geography a bit. That led to a quick thought about the still young human space society. They were so diverse still, with quite many cultural aspects that had to be taken into account depending on origin of the human in question. She wondered about Artyom and what was special about him.
His remark made her turn her had towards him. “Did I?” She replied without much emotion. In her well over three hundred years she had experienced loss of various kind in multiple instances so maybe it had to do with that. “I don’t give up hope to get my life back, you know. There was a fire in my apartment. That’s a fucking mess and yes, it makes me angry that I have been coaxed into this position.” She didn’t blame him personally now. “But what good would it do if I’d rage in here with you? You seem to have a plan and you almost convinced me enough to be at least curious about it. I’ll worry about compensation afterwards.” She crossed her legs and relaxed in her seat. “Not necessarily with you. There are insurances for such … incidents. The material damage is not so much of a concern now than my personal situation. But in this situation… patience is an asari virtue, they say. You seem like a good option right now so I'll see what this leads to."
She didn’t indicate if she herself had plans for various scenarios. She probably had by now, she wasn’t a member of the diplomatic corps for no reason.
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Artyom
Adventurer
Name: Artyom Solokov
Race: Human
Occupation: Business Owner
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Post by Artyom on May 21, 2015 8:59:54 GMT
Artyom listened quietly as Arina spoke, occasionally casting a glance over his shoulder. Sometimes it was easy to forget that you didn't have to be a veteran or fought in some conflict to experience loss on a daily basis. That was specially true for an untold number of people after the Reaper War. Attachment was a hard thing to come by it seemed. Of course age seemed to be a factor into it as well as she remarked about Asari patience.
"Take things in stride, I like that, don't really think about Asari life spans that much, or how many life experience you go through compared to other, shorter lived races," Artyom remarked with a light chuckle before letting his tone get a bit more solemn, "the Doctor will get you out of this situation and into a better one, seen that man move mountains."
It wasn't long before the Helios Station came into view. While no where near as impressive as the Citadel, it was something of a point of pride of the Alliance. From out of the wreckage of the Arcturus Station the mighty Helios had risen to become the new center of power for the Systems Alliance. There were a few colonies that felt the move of shifting the center of government power even closer to Earth was something of a snub against human's extra-solar settlements, most of Humanity cheered the day the disc shaped station eclipsed the sun over London- marking the two year anniversary of that momentous battle.
The delta winged shuttle approached along a clear sector of space in an otherwise normally congested orbital path. Most of the larger Alliance ships were moored a few hundred kilometers away, refueling from other service platforms. Smaller ships though found their births along the outer edge of the Helios discus, as did their shuttle. Artyom cut the throttle once they were able to see the windows lining different areas of the station. Hitting the console, he que'ed up for permission to land. Once they were cleared to dock the shuttle's VI took it from there. Without a hand on the controls they landed in a small hanger, void of any other craft. Once the VI let the engines spool down Artyom stood up and popped the door open, gesturing with one hand across the chest, open palm up. "Ladies first."
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stardust
Adventurer
Name: Arina Caenis
Race: Asari
Occupation: diplomat
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Post by stardust on May 22, 2015 13:20:06 GMT
“You build quite a reputation for that chap.” Arina replied as she followed his approach to the station through her window. Of course she had been there before in her position as part of the Embassy staff. In fact she even remembered the opening ceremony. Not that she had much do there usually, it had mostly been social events.
Indeed, most other governments had reservations about the proximity of the Citadel to earth and now even the Alliance headquarters. The asari themselves had been a voice for the Citadel as a neutral ground ever since the foundation of the Council. The salarians had been among the most concerned – not to Arina’s surprise really but in the end, it had stayed like this as a matter-of-fact. Maybe technically it would have been possible to move the Citadel back to Serpent Nebula but when the respective relay had become eventually operational again, nobody wanted to imitate the motion and so it had stayed that way.
Arina thought, humanity so far had not pushed their envelope too much politically. Economically of course, they had the short route to supply the Citadel - which had led to a few clashes with the turians who had been objecting when earth based companies had begun to flood the market with dumping prized dextro foods as well. The Equal Trade subcommittee on behalf of the Council was in constant session and this was of course the most pressing matters in a time of a galactic economy on the rise from ashes again. Just as a diplomat liked it, something constantly being negotiated about. In reality, the citadel had always been largely self-sustaining. But import business had always been a prestige thing for every species to have their brands and products present at the heart of the galactic community
Arina briefly wondered if a man like Artyom had his fingers in the legal import business as well. He’d need it for laundry purposes, she guessed. When he asked her to step outside, she just smiled and said “Thank you.” But she was amused how he was applying his species gender roles to her. Humans were still young.
Arina Caenis stepped outside the shuttle and into the hangar area.
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Artyom
Adventurer
Name: Artyom Solokov
Race: Human
Occupation: Business Owner
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Post by Artyom on May 23, 2015 21:27:22 GMT
The station was far more classical in it's design approach. Instead of sprawling vistas or large, open areas the station was tightly packed with corridors and rooms. There were of course a few larger open spaces that served as parks or other retreats from the hurried and bustling political life. It also meant that while the station held only a fraction of the Citadel's massive population the walk areas were packed with people moving to and fro. As Arina and Artyom headed out of the hanger and towards one of the main thoroughfares that ran around the circumference of the station they were greeted with a sea of hair and busy human bodies, leaving Arina as the lone blue beacon among the alien crowd. Occasionally another alien would pop up among the residents, but for the most part they were an anomaly. Artyom stayed close to her though, guiding her along through the masses. She no doubt was used to the crowds, and she was safe on board the station, but he wanted to make sure they weren't separated. They didn't want to be late for Arina's appointment.
It took the pair close to twenty minutes to make their way though crowds and to one of the lifts that would take them up a couple floors. Sadly airtaxis weren't an option on the station, one of it's drawbacks compared to the citadel. The lift they entered was packed, keeping them towards the front as the doors closed. Artyom was still quiet as ever, hands clasped in front of his waist as they waited. A few times he shuffled to the side to let someone off at their floor, parting only a quiet "excuse me" before returning to his spot. Soon enough they reached their destination- the highest floor this particular lift went up to.
On the other side of the door was an oddly peaceful scene. The elevator opened up directly into what looked like the lobby of an office space, but there were no indications as to which company or who owned it. Aside from the few seats arranged along the sides of the lobby the only other "feature" of the space before them was a human leaning against the receptionist's desk. Dark hair, light skin, and tired looking eyes; the man was clearly of Asian descent. The look of boredom on his face quickly disappeared as he spotted Artyom, a smile perking up on his face as he stepped forward to greet the other human.
"Always finding yourself in trouble huh," the other human joked, cutting through the formalities.
"You're in the thick of it just as much as me buddy," Artyom retorted, a smile on his face and a uncharacteristically upbeat tone in his words. He didn't leave Arina out of their conversation for long, turning to gesture towards the Asari. "This is Arina Caenis," Artyom added, introducing the Asari to the human, "Arina, this is Hyun Ji Kim."
"Pleasure to meet you Ms Caenis, my apologies for your misfortune, I must admit I had a hand in selecting you as an informant," Hyun said to Arina, extending his hand to her, "anyway the Good Doctor is waiting in the office." Hyun walked over to the double doors and stood to the side as he gestured with one hand for Arina to follow him. The two doors slid into the wall with the same gesture.
"I'm going to be down a couple floors at one of the lounges, I'll be waiting there for you," Artyom explained before Arina walked away, and he himself disappeared back into the lift.
The room on the other side was just as sparse as the lobby. The only occupants were a simplistically stylish metal desk with two cups and a kettle decorating it, a chair on Arina's side and an older looking gentleman opposite that, who was turned around looking out the massive picture window into space.
"Mr. Locke, Ms Caenis," Hyun said simply and quickly, exchanging their names before departing himself.
The air was silent. Only the gentle whir of the ventilation punctuated the silence as they stood there quietly. "Sit, sit," the figure said in a gentle, almost grandfatherly like voice, still staring out into the void.
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stardust
Adventurer
Name: Arina Caenis
Race: Asari
Occupation: diplomat
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Post by stardust on May 24, 2015 18:19:22 GMT
I must establish a relation to the developing situation. Forget this is a drug dealing backmailing scumbag. Think of him as... a politician. Another negotiator. No, he's not a negotiator type, he's more like... those secretary types who have way too much cooking all the time. The small scale royalty who live off the aura of power of their ambassadors. Or was he an ambassador? How did Artyom compare to a Dalatrass? No, he was more the Krogan warlord type, the ones from a smaller tribe. Not qute, humans were much more difficult to read. But their motives were often similar, just not their paths. This here is just like a diplomatic mission. we know the basic outline but not which cards the others hold exactly. we know some of the cads the specifically do not hold however. Piecing the puzzle together was her job usually.
Such and the like were her thoughts when they walked through the corridors and rode elevators inside the station. Arina was mildly surprised how Artyom was connected inside this heart of the Alliance command structure. It should have been frightening and it might have shattered the world of any regular goon Artyom lead around like this into the heart of the center of power. But on Arina it had another effect, it was as if he was leading her home onto her own turf again. she had felt alien in his office and his penthouse but this was strangely familiar territory, the aura of a world she was used to. The fact that she was alone among humans didn't bother her, she had spend excessive time on some non-asari worlds, namely Sur'Kesh. This place was too big to not hold some secrets and solutions. And of solution was for her today.
She lifted her chin a bit when they left the elvator for the big office. Everyone seemed to know Artyom well, as if he had official business here. "Mr. Hyun Ji Kim." She greeted the man rather stiff. This man had played a role in her 'recruitment'? How dared her? Her eyes were cold as she nodded but did not say anything else. She had to find out who all these people were. Later.
She was surprised however, when Artyom left them. "Oh, you're not staying with us?" Don't let him see your insecurity. "I'll see you again later I suppose." There was no hint as to what the official use of this office was or who she was about to meet. She would have to find out by following the asian.
She had to smile when she saw the office and her host. Confidence was radiating from every surface. She approached the table and let her hand run across the backrest of the seat. Real leather seats.
The sat down and decided to say something. "Mr. Locke." Can't say it's a pleasure I'm afraid. "I assume you know about the problem at my hands."
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Artyom
Adventurer
Name: Artyom Solokov
Race: Human
Occupation: Business Owner
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Post by Artyom on May 24, 2015 21:56:50 GMT
"Beautiful, love the view," the enigmatic Mr. Locke mumbled just loud enough to be heard before he turned around. His accent was just mild enough to be hard to detect, but it pinned him square as an Anglo-Saxon. The Good Doctor was easily described as simply looking tired. His eyes were soft, hidden behind wrinkled eye lids that hung low. While he was several centuries Arina's junior age had left it's telltale mark on him. Wrinkles creased the sides of his cheeks, his brows, and the corners of his lips- which were obstructed by the trimmed grey beard and mustache that framed his mouth. His hair was a mess of grey, but hints of it's previous color kept his thin wispy hair from being fully silver. Still his expression was cheerful, like he was visiting his favorite granddaughter, despite the way he carried himself. His steps were a bit slow at first as he left the window and moved back to the desk. His business suit hid his frame well, but it was easy to see that same "tiredness" that hung over his face manifest itself in his posture. His hands grabbed the back of his chair and pulled it out as Arina began their "talk". It was hard to read the old human's reaction to her straight forward approach. If she meant to hurry him along and cut right to the chase it seemed to have little effect. He simply looked up as he finally got comfortable and smile at the woman. "Tea," he asked, gesturing to the kettle as he himself moved to pour a cup. His withered hand held the metal container aloft, shaking lightly as the brown liquid poured out of the spout and into his cup. A small container had been hiding behind the kettle it seemed, which Mr. Locke procured a couple of packets from. The plastic pouches opened up easily enough and dispensed their contents into the previously poured tea, adding a murky cloud and turning it a light brown. Holding his index finger and thumb out produced a minifactured stirring stick with the "Doctor" stirred his drink. "You'll have to forgive me," he said finally getting to the subject on hand. He paused to take a sip from his cup before setting it down and looking back at Arina. "Events have been transpiring at such a tremendous rate that I've not been brought up to speed on all of the details, aside from the fact you've seem to be caught in the cross hairs of a very politically sensitive situation due to your... recruitment into Mr. Solokov's employ, so why don't you fill me in on the details."
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stardust
Adventurer
Name: Arina Caenis
Race: Asari
Occupation: diplomat
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Post by stardust on May 25, 2015 17:59:24 GMT
Of course a person like Locke would have his own pacing. It didn't matter what Arina said for introduction, she knew that. She needed him inclined to help her - with whatever means he might have - so she wanted to play it easy.
The tea ceremony was interesting. For a moment she had expected he would serve her one. But course not. She nodded and smiled, leaning forward but still couldn't quite reach the pot she helped herself with a brief biotic pull, then pouring herself a cup conventionally. While she took in the smell of the tea, she looked over his shoulder. the view was indeed something. What position would Locke hold to have such an office.
Tea was a funny thing, Arina thought. Herbs or dried fruit served with hot water was known to almost every sapient species, it was a universal sign of civilization. It tasted quite well but Arina couldn't pin the taste. She was no real expert in human tea, so she began to speak in a calm tone.
"See, this is where the misunderstanding happened. I am not his employee. I was blackmailed by some of his associates. Initially I had no idea who they were working for. To prevent fallout for various people I had to play along for a few initial and rather harmless requests they had. But when I had traced Solokov down - which wasn't very hard to my surprise - I talked to him and... the relationship was terminated. Or so it seemed. That was a few weeks ago. Earlier today I had a visit at my apartment, two turians got in unauthorized and detonated a grenade. I barely escaped. It was a strange coincidence that Mr Solokov happened to be near my apartment and was able to get me out over the balconette. Well, and here I am now, he insisted I should come and see you." She took another sip and eyed him over the rim of the cup which she was holding in both hands, enjoying the warmth. "This has to stop, Mr. Locke. I want my life back."
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Artyom
Adventurer
Name: Artyom Solokov
Race: Human
Occupation: Business Owner
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Post by Artyom on May 27, 2015 8:57:16 GMT
The elder human sat there silently as Arina explained her predicament, nodding as he listened. He was very cordial and seemingly paid attention to every detail as if they were all important. The only time his attention seemed pulled away from the Asari was when he took a sip of his tea, but quickly settled back to listening.
"Well Ms. Caenis, let's look over your dossier real quick," Mr. Locke remarked as a singular holographic display manifested itself in the air in front of him. With one shaking hand he grabbed the holodisplay as if it were a datapad, and with his other he fished his glasses out of his jacket pocket, placing them on the bridge of his nose and peering down at the information before him.
"Hmm, I must say you don't look a day over a hundred Ms. Caenis, sadly age hasn't treated me so well," the human joked with a light chuckle, still pouring over the details. "I can see why Mr. Ji Kim picked you, you have quiet the history under your belt for a diplomat, it's a shame the carrot wasn't offered before the stick, I suppose Mr. Solokov will have to have a chat with those in his employ."
Mr. Locke lowered the holodisplay as he looked up from the orange apparition and towards Arina. "Ms. Caenis, you are a wonderful diplomat, and your career is beyond promising, it's sad you've been caught up in this political whirlwind, but I can't give you your life back, not exactly," he added, his voice carrying an almost apologetic tone as if he were explaining that one of Arina's relatives had just passed away.
"The party interested in your demise has targeted you because of who you work for, sorry who you were coerced into supplying information for, and because of who they work for, your death was merely meant to be one pawn knocking off another, and as much as I hate to equate a person's life to game pieces, that's ultimately what Mr. Solokov, Mr. Ji Kim, and yourself are," he explained, "the simplest solution is to take you out of the game of politics, an early retirement of sorts, you service your notice of intent to leave to the Citadel Embassies, and I cut you a hefty severance package that will more than make up for your lost pension."
Mr. Locke shifted in his seat, no longer leaning forward but recline in the office chair. Old fingers fiddled with his glasses as he pulled them off and stuck them in his jacket. The soft smile that had been on his face before slowly reappeared. "But you seem to be the kind of person who enjoys the thrill of politics and the game of diplomacy," he continued, "your second option is to work directly for me, and with my other agents, be my eyes and ears in places were other's can't be, and perhaps satiate your curiosity as to what these secret cabals are working towards."
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stardust
Adventurer
Name: Arina Caenis
Race: Asari
Occupation: diplomat
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Post by stardust on May 28, 2015 16:37:31 GMT
Arina had been eying him over the tea cup, unmoved. The tea had cooled down, she could feel it in her fingers. Also, the steam that was rising from the cup had vanished. This was all a mistake. What had she expected? But she had moved up the ladder it seemed. Not quite to the top, since she was pretty sure that despite his act, Locke was not the king pin in this game. Welcome to the world of intergalactic diplomacy. In reality, Aina was sure now, she had just been caught in a sideshow of the same game she had always been a part of, the intergalactic field of diplomacy. She had been caught in the net for a very old story about a most likely long forgotten Batarian. An affair that had happenend when humanity was not even a player in this game. It was of course no concern to them, it was a tool, a means to an end but they used it the wrong way. And on the wrong asari.
So this was Locke’s offer? For real? This was another game, he wanted to see what she would do. Sure, I take your dirty money and walk. How could I not have thought about that, stupid me. If I wanted that, I would not even sit here in this situation.
She tried to guess how old Locke might be. In terms of his species, he might be an old Matriarch. Not very old but quite old. He had probably a salarian lifespan left. She did raise an eyebrow and her left corner of her mouth at his compliment about her possible career. But she had no intention to jump an offer for some money and retreat just like this. She was no human after all.
“Mr. Locke, the actions taken by these mysterious people can have quite a fallout, you are aware of that? It is one thing to have backroom deals and the usual spy games going. If it is played by the rules. But having attempts at the lives of diplomats of other galactic entities is a breach of protocol. One that could lead to armed huntresses patrolling the Presidium and the apartment buildings we live in. I have absolutely no idea who is operating this whole affair. But this place here, the last time I checked at least, was the official seat of the Systems Alliance. I suppose you have a noticeable position in it.” She made a pause. “Am I talking to the SA here? Who exactly are you, this office has no name plate or I missed it, I’m sorry.”
“I think you’re aware what could happen on the Presidium when this story makes the rounds. Humans fuck up in such a way that turians start lobing grenades into asari diplomats’ apartments.
I can absolutely assure you, that the possible leak of whatever material you have on me will be a xenma shit in comparison to the things this could set in motion. If the right people starting to feel frightened and uncomfortable because someone is altering the protocol of the diplomatic game, neither my nor – please excuse – your ass is save. Can we possibly avoid that the whole chess table is tripped? Currently someone is fiddling with a simple pawn. If we set the pawn back to its field, nothing will happen. But if this escalates to the queen being in check – or rather just feeling threatened to be in check by someone not playing by the rules, the board could trip. And you don’t want that to happen I am sure.” She sipped her tea.
“I can’t see the reason yet why you can’t stop all of this. Maybe we should meet with this mysterious other party.”
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Artyom
Adventurer
Name: Artyom Solokov
Race: Human
Occupation: Business Owner
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Post by Artyom on May 30, 2015 6:20:00 GMT
The elder Mr. Locke sat there as Arina spoke her mind about the whole situation at hand as well as his offer. Her brash and rather bold stance seemed to have no effect on the man who sat there, sipping at his tea and nodding his head as he listened, much like a grandfather might while listening to his grandchildren recount some story for him. His smile never faded despite her rather apocalyptic warnings were the status quo to be upset in some fashion.
"No, you are not speaking to someone who represents the Systems Alliance," He answered first, sitting his tea down, "I'm a humble man and I've gone to great lengths that I don't draw attention to myself, unlike a few of my rather small pool of peers, what I represent Ms. Caenis is an effort to combat those who work against the Systems Alliance in the background of the intragalactic political, industrial, and military complexes along those same channels of deniability- this game is far more than just one board Ms. Caenis."
"And I am very aware of the stakes at hand, but this incident you were caught up in won't have the political ramifications you've outlined, the fact I've had to ask you about the details should speak to the effectiveness of both sides suppression of events," Gerald added, picking up the thin datapad and handing it to Arina. A singular news blurb was highlighted for her: "Fire in apartment complex contained, No one injured". "They've chocked it up to an electrical fire, and my sources indicate that C-Sec was never alerted to the fire."
"My point Ms. Caenis is that there are no rules for those who want to up turn the board altogether," he continued, pausing to take the datapad back from her so he could tend to the device himself. He leaned back in his seat as his fingers played at the display before him.
"Ideology is their motivation Ms. Caenis, not a human fuck up, and is the reason why the events set in motion can't be stopped by a simple political meet and greet" he explained, his normally calm or upbeat tone turning slightly sour as he cursed, "you've already met a few of them yourself."
It was hard to from the opposite side exactly what Mr. Locke was doing, but a few turian faces popped up on the datapad, the tabs overlapping each other as the windows were sorted. The grey-haired human leaned forward and extended the datapad once more to the Asari, showing her exactly what he'd compiled. Each tab was a dossier, all of which belonged to various Turian politicians and diplomats with in the embassy. In fact the first two dossiers were of Arina's first two targets that she'd been assigned to grab intel on. Nothing particularly sinister shined out about any of them, save for a few political donations that they all shared.
"There exists an idea held by some within the Hierarchy that humanity is a danger to the galaxy, much like the Rachni were, much like the Krogan were, and much like the Geth were during Saren's escapade, but unlike all three the cost, both militarily and politically of putting down the human race in open war was far too high," he paused, returning to his tea, "so their approach was a sort of containment, keep humanity occupied, keep them stumbling so they couldn't expand to fast, and in the wrong direction."
"Now imagine how this group must feel knowing that the Citadel is in orbit above Earth, and that guarding the Citadel now falls squarely on the shoulder of the Systems Alliance, and the fleets of the Hierarchy have to wait in the Arcturus system, guarding the relay into the Solar system, if that was to change however, think how easy it would be to contain humanity with a fleet over their homeworld at all times," he said as he leaned back, "that's why they want to flip the board Ms. Caenis."
"Now, are you willing to work with me here on this, or would you like for a shuttle back to the Citadel where no doubt the same goons who visited your apartment are waiting to finish the job."
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stardust
Adventurer
Name: Arina Caenis
Race: Asari
Occupation: diplomat
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Post by stardust on May 30, 2015 17:31:04 GMT
Arina knew the back and forth about the possibility of a relocation of the Citadel, the debates, the technical analysis. Of course it could be done, the huge Crucible had also been moved but that had been without any crew. On the Citadel lived millions. "I want to point out that it is not the Alliance guarding the Citadel. Whatever guard it may need, mind you. The Citadel fleet is under direct command of the Council." Technically of course, human ships made up the bulk now and had since the events of 2183 and Sovereign.
"But let's not digress into galactic politics, this is not to be decided here anyway. Indeed, it is about me and my situation. That is what the press writes now and maybe even what my office knows. But I doubt that. i am missing already, I have no omnitool on me which is a breach of regulations and must have raised an alarm at the embassies already. If someone from embassy security is taking a brief look at the apartment, the story will be as plain as daylight. That means, gears will start moving. You are right, this is more than a chess game with two parties. Are you sure you can trust anyone who has seen me n this station to not provide intel to ... let's say an asari asking certain questions?"
"Of course I want you to work with me." She did that on purpose. "Of course I don't want to return to the Citadel now. But the offer to take money and go underground is unacceptable I'm afraid. We need a solution that has me back on the board. I will forget about Mr. Solokov and Mr. Locke and this place. Maybe I'll remember the excellent tea but that's it. No money, no lose ends. Mr. Locke, how can we achieve that?"
Her exit plan was taking shape, but one crucial element was that he got off this station alive.
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