I never settle

[for less than the best.]

[urdnotwrexthings-deactivated201]

Wrex snorted irritably and headed back toward the airlock, not putting his shotgun away just yet. Maybe he’d get lucky and could fire a shot at that geth and claim it was an accident before anyone could stop him… He grinned, that thought keeping him amused until he was back aboard the Normandy and discovered unfortunately the geth had beaten him back. Ah well. Maybe next time. Accidents happened on Omega all the time, moreso when he was around.

Crowding through the people gathered near the cockpit with no real concern for his size, he asked Joker, “What the hell are we doing sitting around here?” 

[liara-t-soni]

Liara followed Wrex aboard the Normandy. The cockpit was growing increasingly crowded, especially with the old krogan there. Liara stood back a little, but forward co-ordinates to Joker’s omni-tool. “Joker, I have the berth that the ship left Omega from, as that might be a good place for us to start looking perhaps we should dock there first” She looked up at Wrex, not entirely sure how to read him, but if his mood was anything like her own, time was undoubtedly of the essence. “I suggest we make haste.” 

Not wishing to make herself too unpopular with the pilot or, indeed Miranda, Liara turned away and made her way aft, heading down to the crew deck. Whilst it was good to work with her old friends from the first Normandy, she couldn’t help but feel a little out of place aboard the SR-2, without Shepard she couldn’t help but feel… unwanted. She could only hope that they could find out where Shepard was on Omega, or at least where to start looking.

Her omni-tool chimed as she received a message from one of her operatives, Aria would be on Omega when they arrived, and would undoubtedly know something about the people running that ship; nothing happened on Omega without her knowing about it. She would go and speak to her directly when they arrived, and she suspected that Operative Lawson at the very least would wish to accompany her.

[mirlawson]

Miranda peeked into the cockpit but quickly deemed it too crowded for her liking. She set off instead towards her personal office, fiddling with her omnitool. In the past she would have begun composing a report for the Illusive Man, but since her break with Cerberus she'd had significantly less to do. She paused her steps to read an email and, as she finished, noticed Liara T'soni leaving the cockpit. She debated with herself for a moment, then hurried after the asari.

"Liara!" she called, settling into step with her. "I just wanted to talk mission details with you, is that alright? I think you should be the one to lead the Omega segment of the investigation, since you currently have superior knowledge as well as existing contacts. And, of course, it will probably make Wrex happier." She laughed a little nervously.

[reducedtonumbers]

Liara’s request was processed the moment she’d uttered the first sentence, programs rushing to latch onto wireless signals that could take EDI in closer, closer, closer. 

In the brief second it took, the AI mused over why Liara hadn’t asked Legion - the geth as a whole had extensive knowledge of how to get into even the most intimate corners of organic technology, and the 1183 programs inhabiting the mobile platform travelling on board the Normandy surely had similar abilities. Perhaps the asari simply desired not to further aggravate Wrex; turning to the ship computer rather than Legion was, in that case, certainly the most logical and efficient solution.

"I have deactivated the firewall", EDI said, vocal output as calm as ever. "Omni-tool access should be avaliable to you now, Doctor T’Soni."

[liara-t-soni]

Liara looked up for a moment, she knew E.D.I. had been specifically designed with cyberwarfare in mind, but still hadn’t expected the AI to break past the ship’s defences so quickly. She connected her omni-tool to the internal network and started running her program. One of her top techs had devised it during her time on Ilium, and it was quickly able to pull up a host of data, the registry information of the ship, the flight plan. Data streamed on the small display of her omni-tool. 

"I’m sending everyone the data I’ve been able to pull from the network, it looks like the ship departed from Omega, we should be able to follow it back there and see if we can trace any leads, I have some…" She thought for a moment, she didn’t particularly want to broadcast just how broad her reach was at the moment, though she knew almost everyone on the ship knew the truth anyway, still, it felt improper to rub it in people’s faces. "I have some connections there, they may be able to help us find where they took Shepard"

The asari broke off the communications and quickly typed out a message to her operatives on Omega with the details of the ship, she considered sending one to Aria T’Loak; she hoped she might still have some pull with her after the incidents last time she was aboard the station, but decided it would be better to approach her in person, or not at all. Liara caught herself thinking back to that last encounter, almost sighing, chasing after Shepard, again… she felt a tiny pang of fear and buried it, hoping that this time Shepard would be in a far better state when they finally caught up. 

[mirlawson]

"Good work, all of you," Miranda said into the comm, "now let's get off this ship. Squads rendezvous at boarding location." She nodded to Massani and Legion and headed back towards where they had boarded, trusting the other two would follow. On the one hand she was glad they had found the information so quickly. On the other she was supremely embarrassed. They had two AIs and a Shadow Broker at their disposal and her suggestion had been to do some legwork like they were in a damn detective show? It was her job to be on top of things, to be the one with the best ideas and the best options. But, she thought, Shepard had always been followed by the best of everyone. Perhaps it was only natural she meet her match in some respects. She sighed to herself, careful to keep it quiet. There was nothing she could do now. And at least they were making progress.

[mirlawson]

Miranda listened to the recording over the comm absently as she continued to clear the dark corners of the cargo hold. She didn't expect any more mechs in this area, but there was no room for mistakes right now. They needed everything to go smoothly. She needed everything to go smoothly. A successful mission right now was vital to the others' opinion of her, which was, in turn, vital to her success as their temporary leader. 

"Thane, once you get confirmation from the Normandy on that log entry Squad Two should go looking for the crew's personal quarters," she said, tucking her head toward her collar to speak into the comm microphone, as was her habit. "We have confirmation that Shepard was on this ship. Now we need to know everything about it, and to find that out it sounds like we'll need higher clearance. They were stupid enough to leave DNA evidence laying around; somebody's got to have been dumb enough to write down his passwords or leave his datapad logged in. Squad One and I are going to look for the main deck or a command center. We may find more information there. Squad Two confirm orders."

She knew she was pushing her luck, but she hoped that operating through Thane might help deflect some of Wrex's ire. Her respect for the veteran krogan did not outweigh her need for compliance right now. Liara she knew she could count on to put Shepard first; Wrex she could count on for little to nothing except resistance. Thane at least she had a working professional relationship with, one she could call on in times of need.

She glanced over at Legion and Massani. This mix of loyalties was hardly ideal. The SR-2 crew knew her well enough to follow her right now, however reluctantly, but the squadmates from the SSV were understandably wary. As soon as she had some time to do so she needed to plan a way to prove herself to them, as much as that idea left a sour taste in her mouth.