#plot: the kidnapping

[liara-t-soni]

Liara stepped from the Normandy's gangway and onto the grimy deck of the Omega docking port she'd reserved for them. She took a couple of steps out and turned back to the ship as she activated an open comm channel to the crew. "Operative Lawson has asked me to lead the investigation on Omega, if anybody has concerns about my appointment I'd ask they come to either myself or Miranda."

She brought up her omni-tool, seeing a new message from her operative in Afterlife. "Aria will be expecting me, I'd like to ask Wrex and Operative Lawson to join me for this meeting. As Garrus has considerable experience with work on Omega, he'll be heading up the second team examining both this docking bay, from which the ship carrying Shepard apparently departed, and pursuing investigation into the station proper if need be. I believe several individuals may be contacting us soon to join in the investigation, please notify me when they do.If anybody has any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me, T'Soni, out."

Liara moved toward the exit of the docking bay, running a quick sweep of the area for bugs as she waited for the rest of the crew to file out. 

[jacknoughtrp-blog]

The old Turian bartender sneered at jack when she plopped her feet up on the bar countertop. She rolled her eyes in response, and gave him an extra close look at the 'E' in 'DEAD' tattooed on her finger, but complied. Didn't want to draw attention to herself, not after the shit-storm she caused in Vorcha territory. Aria was bound to find out eventually but until she did, Jack busied herself with a few bottles of Krogan Whisky. As she downed her third drink, - still not buzzed, fucking biotic amps - she heard an intriguing conversation across the counter. "No seriously, I saw the docking papers. The Normandy is really here!" A beady eyed guy crooned. "No way." Said his Salarian friend, shaking his head. "I won't believe it until I see Commander Shepard herself on this station." "Hey, I don't make stuff up!" "Yes you do! Don't you remember Johan's party?" "That was different..." Jack tuned out after that, knowing she got all the information she was going to. The Normandy was here on omega - that was a surprise. Maybe Shep was looking for her? She doubted that. She didnt know why, but she didn't even think Shepard was with them. Some weird hunch, maybe. So Jack didn't go to the docking bay. She had no reason to step away from her drink. Maybe after she was good and wasted, but that could take hours. Oh well. She had no better way to spend the evening. Jack snorted and ordered some more whisky.

[reducedtonumbers]

Omega lay before EDI, vast and intricate like blood vessels in an organic body, like the wires running through the Normandy. The ship's presence was, of course, immediately noted and given a place to dock near the heart of the station. 

With the docking clamps taking a hold of the hull, EDI opened a comm channel to Miranda and felt... <i>odd</i> letting anyone but the Commander recieve intel first hand. 

"I have compiled a list of ship rental services with vessels at hand of the same model as the one we encountered, all within reasonable distance from where it was last docked. Transferring list to you now."

[scientistsalariansolus]

Mordin set to work immediately. Time was of the essence, as humans liked to say... had less concept of time than salarians, actually, in his experience, but an accurate sentiment all the same.

Steady progress was made on this and two other experiments in the 2.46 hours that passed, until a shift in the engines caught the scientist's attention. Moving. New coordinates. Must have found something on derelict ship.

Best to go straight to source.

"EDI?" he called.

[reducedtonumbers]

Listening quietly to seven different conversations on board the ship, ready to assist but not about to interrupt, EDI started working on getting the logs from every ship rental service on Omega - it wasn't too hard to find the specific one that was registered as the owner of the ship the squad had found, but it was likely that the people renting it had gotten to or from the station on another rental ship. That did not take a significant amount of capacity, however, and in the background EDI resumed a previous research into gender.

EDI, of course, did not have one although Cerberus had designed the voice the A.I. used to sound female according to human standards. Ships were also referred to as female by humans, and since EDI was a ship, was EDI also a she? It was the pronoun the ship crew and the squad used. It was the pronoun Jeff used. It was as good as any, but it had been chosen by others before the computer had the awareness to make own choices, and with choices came possibilities.

So very many possibilities. Gender was a complex thing. While compiling a separate list of ship rentals within reasonable distance of each other, especially considering the transport of two prisoners, EDI started several separate searches into gender identities and started reading a couple of lengthy threads in asari forums, as their experiences with being gendered by others were the closest the artificial intelligence could think of.

[liara-t-soni]

Liara straightened a little as she heard Legion mention her name. She didn't think she'd be able to get into the network without the right equipment, and she hadn't precisely packed with this in mind. She opened a communications channel "E.D.I., can you get past the firewall on the ship's internal network? I have a semantic scrubbing program that should be able to find the information we're looking for but I need omni-tool access to do it."

She glanced briefly at Wrex and Thane and stepped up to them. "Hopefully if E.D.I. can compromise the network, we'll be able to shut down any more mechs aboard as well." She smiled up at Wrex a little, knowing how the krogan enjoyed a good fight. "Then maybe we can get to the bottom of this..."

[notastylishly]

Garrus had no excuse for staying behind. He'd rolled out of bed well before his roommates, hangover-less and rested, scraping whatever leftovers were around into his mouth and shuffling off to work. All morning he'd shared the same bad feeling the rest of the crew had; that unspoken understanding that something was amiss with their Commander. The meeting had turned that bad feeling into a reality, and, problematic as it was, it gave the squad a reason to act. Everyone and their mother knew that when Shepard's best and brightest were in action, there were results.

Besides, their little impromptu squad had every area covered, and they didn't need the entire Normandy filing on to one abandoned ship. That'd be overkill. Hell, sometimes just three of them in an entire base full of Blue Suns was overkill. Wrex by himself was overkill. Miranda had the situation covered for the time being, or so he hoped. Garrus only knew that he would be there in person when they found Shepard.

He started at the chime of his omnitool alerting him to an incoming message. Ashley's name blinking at the top startled him further. He chewed over a response, momentarily returning to the warm glow of his console. He'd been there on Horizon when she'd given Shepard an earful. He'd felt flushed with anger at the time, part in desperation to have a friend that wasn't with Cerberus on their side, but he'd come to understand her argument later once the adrenaline had settled. He didn't agree, but he understood.

He hadn't thought about it much after that. It was pretty hard to ignore a massive Collector army stealing all of humankind.

He gave an exaggerated sigh, forcing himself away from the console with a light push to punch in a late reply.

Hey, Ashley. I know things are a little tense right now, but it's good to hear from you. Wish it were under better circumstances, but you know how it is. Can't turn our back on Shepard for five minutes.

He paused, rubbing a finger over his chin.

Did Joker send you coordinates?

-G.

[jacknoughtrp-blog]

Aria's body guards didn't even try to stop Jack when they saw her coming. If they had, they would have been smeared against the walls. She was seething with anger, fists simmering with violent blue energy, as she approached the asari matriarch.

"I distinctly remember ordering you not to make a mess." Said Aria, sounding completely and utterly disinterested. 

"Listen Bitch-"

"Tsk tsk tsk." The Asari clicked her tongue against her teeth, obviously irritated now. "Is it really wise for you to be speaking to me like that, especially considering your situation and where you are standing, Jack?"

Jack wanted to rage and grab Aria by her snarky white collar, throw her over the edge of the balcony and into the mass of colliding bodies below. But instead she opened her fists and tried to steady her breathing. Aria was right. She couldn't try shit like that, not with an Asari matriarch, not on her turf. But that didn't mean she was giving up. "What the fuck does Shepard have to do with your fucking drug deal?"

Aria's smirk dissipated immediately. "Answer my question first. Why the hell is an entire shipment of red sand contaminating my station?" 

"If you wanted the damn drugs you should have been more fucking specific. You hired me to kill, so I did." She could feel her biotics flaring up again, her body threatening to lose control. She gritted her teeth. "Anything else, is going to cost you extra."

Aria sighed, and punched something in on her omnitool. Jack heard her own tool beep. "There's your fucking credits. Happy?"

"Almost. Tell me what you know about Shepard."

The asari let a silence dwindle as she gazed down at the club's patrons. "I don't know anything."

"Bullshit."

Aria scoffed. "Think about it. If she was on Omega, would you be doing my dirty work for me?"

The Asari had a point. Jack was an efficient killer, but Shepard was methodical, never messy, and she worked for favors, not credits. "I found a datapad on one of those batarians," She explained, feeling awkward as she did so, "It was all fucked up, but had something to do with Shepard."

Aria stood so they were eye level and met her gaze with narrowed eyes. "I got Intel about drug deals going on without my approval, and nothing more. But I promise," her lips curled into a smirk that seemed to counter act her words, "If I hear anything about your precious commander, you'll be the first to know." Jack seriously doubted that, but allowed herself to relax regardless. That seemed to be enough to ease Aria because she sat back down on the sofa, crossing her legs. "Now that we got this whole shit pile sorted out, why don't you go back to your new apartment I so generously acquired for you and get some rest? I might need you for more jobs. Keep your eyes peeled for more coordinates." With that, she turned back to the crowd, paying special attention to a specific asari dancer and Jack took that as her cue to leave. Trying to get anymore info out of Aria could and up detrimental. 

She wasn't about to go back to that plush apartment though, to be alone with her thoughts. So she plopped down at the bar and ordered a drink. She chugged down a few beers, but still, her mind was running wild. She couldn't shake one particular feeling, burning on the edge of her skull:

Some deep shit was going down and Shepard was right smack dab in the middle of it. 

She had to find out what was on the fucking datapad.