[Mass Effect: New Genesis] Part 3: Interrogation and revelations

Aivar stood away from the door and walked towards the Krogan, not arming 'himself'. 'He' didn't need to, since he could fry the thing to nothing in a matter of a second. Unstable implants come in handy sometimes. "I believe we are in need of a few answers Skar, and I suggest you answer them unless you want one of your hearts ripped out."

The Krogan shrugged and went face to face with his death. "If you had the guts to do that, I wouldn't be standing here right now. What answers are you looking for?"

"Oh believe me I do." Aivar growled flaring with hands crackling with electricity, eyes dancing with hellfires. "So my question, and then others will ask. Who were the mercs on the dock?" 'He' wasn't really expecting a decent answer, but if the Krogan didn't answer correct, 'he'll' break the Krogan's arm. 'He' very much counted on the fact Aashe would not be pleased if 'he' got blood all over the carpet.

Kreiger became extremely calm as Astila's hand touched his shoulder,and some of it showed visibly. He wasn't sure if it was the asari's delicate touch, or the fact that he was able to feel it against his own skin instead of through nerve stimulants. She nodded at Aivar. "Thank You.", She said, her silver eyes fell upon 'him', in response to Aivar's earlier move of replacing Astila's field with 'his' own. Astila drew her pistol, aiming it at the Krogan. "Let's wake him up."

Aivar sighed and lowered the field. the krogan stood without fear, and why should he? he nearly succeeded in killing us all before, why not now? Aivar was the first to speak.
"I believe we are in need of a few answers Skar, and I suggest you answer them unless you want one of your hearts ripped out." 'he' seemed to be as cold towards the krogan as kreiger had been. 'he' really seemed to hold a grudge.
"If you had the guts to do that, I wouldn't be standing here right now. What answers are you looking for?" the krogan seemed to boom back. his courage seemed too seep into his words.
"Oh believe me I do." Aivar growled flaring with hands crackling with electricity, eyes dancing with hellfires. "So my question, and then others will ask. Who were the mercs on the dock?"
Kreiger was taken back by this question. it was clear to him that the mercs didn't even work for OR with Skar. he's a bounty hunter, hiring mercs would cut into his profits and make a job basically useless.

kreiger chimed in before anyone could answer"i think we should ask why he wanted us dead first and question the help later, wouldn't you agree?"

Astila noticed Kreiger getting calmer. That was a relief for her because the room was already so thick with tension and stress, you could cut it with a knife. Astila watched as the Krogan stood. Her silver eyes shifting to look up at him. She felt as if he was double her height, but she wasn't about to be intimidated or back down. She stayed quiet, watching everyone's expressions and their every move. She kept her pistol aimed at the Krogan, making sure he made no hasty moves.

Her head snapped over to Kreiger, still watching the Krogan from her peripheral vision, as he spoke. "i think we should ask why he wanted us dead first and question the help later, wouldn't you agree?", Kreiger said. "Yes, I agree.", Astila replied.

"Fine." said Aivar looking down and put the bridge of 'his' nose inbetween 'his' thumb and pointer finger, then looked up again, letting go. "So why try to kill us? Though I'm going to assume that's a stupid question. Your a fuckin' bounty hunter." A better question would have been where he got tipped off about the Eris and its crew. Skar tended to work alone, but having a whole merc band along with a professional hacker complete with snipers, and maybe Skar on the side, sounded like he was hired.

Skar moves his head slowly and deliberately to make eye contact with Aivar, Kreiger, and Astila. He stares at them defiantly as they threw out their questions. Maybe it is a futile gesture, but he is still a Krogan. And he will not cower.

Rather, he sneers. "Redundancy. That's what he called it. Always put redundancies in plans. What the hell does that term even mean? He kept using that damn term. He wanted me to take the ship. Disable it. But if it gave me a chance to Kill you (directed towards Aivar), I would listen to whatever the pyjak wanted."

"As for them," he continued, dismissively gesturing to everyone else in the room. "What the hell do you care, Demon? They just got in the way."

"you honestly expect us to believe, expect me to believe, that you were here, attacking us purely by coincidence?"
kreiger was digging at the krogans memory now. krogans weren't the brightest of the race's, and perhaps without his suit he was unrecognizable, but the krogan had stabbed him with his own creation, his own gun just a week prior. no, the krogan knew too many on board for this to be coincidence, jeshua seemed frigidity and refused to even be in the same room as the beast, had he some connection too?
"I don't buy that you were simply asked to do this job. there are HUNDREDS of bounty hunters on the citadel alone, and the eclipse would have done the job with three times the men for half your fee."
He was speaking from first hand knowledge here, kreiger may not have the same pull he once had with eclipse, but he still had a few sources he called upon once in a while.
"i'm guessing you either drove off competition or begged like the weakling you are for this job."
he stood with his arms crossed, a smug grin on his face, he could see that his words had enraged the krogan, but Skar retained control.

Skar's body shakes as he laughs at Kreiger. The words stung rather deeply, and he responds in king.

"I don't care what a homeless pyjak thinks," he says while giving a dismissive gesture at the upset Quarian. "I use your race for target practice. That's all you people are good for."

(I cannot do justice to how Aivar, Astila, or Kreiger will respond to put Skar in his place, so I'll leave this part open. All I ask is that you don't tear off any limbs)

Skar lands hard on his hands and knees, spiting blood and teeth from his mouth. The floor dents every so slightly from the impact. For a few tense seconds, everyone watches the Krogan pant and groan in agony, before he continues.

"He......I was approached for this. He made me an offer too good to pass up."

Aivar had been deep in thought when the Krogan openly insulted the Quarian. Before any of them could react, Aivar was a blur and swung several biotic swings and kicks at Skar, all landing and flooring the Krogan. The metal object in one of 'his' hands hummed, electricity crackled in the other hand, visibly. 'He' had done this so that Kreiger or Astila had not killed the damned Krogan.

Pyjak. Some Turians and other species called Humans and Quarians that, though he had witnessed all spices being called pyjaks by Krogan. It was also a he, so it was not a Asari. Human perhaps? Then brings the question, who was the employer?

"Well I'm sorry I didn't die for you. You had your chance to kill me with that weak charge of yours, or the shotgun and knife to compensate for it." 'he' said dryly. 'He' then gave the Quarian not far from him a rather annoyed look. "Now Kreiger, if your done raging at Bubbles like a toddler, settle down. If you do have connections to him, then you may join me later slow cooking him in acid." The mention of an acid bath brought a feral predatory grin to 'his' face, proving that 'he' wasn't quite sane, though it had been already established.

'He' looked back to the Krogan. "May I ask who your employer is, and his interest in this vessel? We would really like to know who he is so we can send him chocolates and a card apologizing for destroying his hired mercs and apparently ruining future plans."

[I can think of about 5 guys that this employer is.]

Skar continues to cough up blood, slurring his speech.

"He.....(cough)...called himself Cornelius Hasse. Old for a human. A lot of scars covered his face. Probably in the...(cough)....Alliance. He wore the uniform. Didn't say a damned thing about what he wanted. He just said something about redundancy."

Kreiger was awe struck by the biotic display that just unfolded in front of him.
"hey genius, he insulted me, not you."
Aivar seemed to ignore kreiger's remark.
"Well I'm sorry I didn't die for you. You had your chance to kill me with that weak charge of yours, or the shotgun and knife to compensate for it." 'he' said dryly. 'He' then gave the Quarian not far from him a rather annoyed look. "Now Kreiger, if your done raging at Bubbles like a toddler, settle down. If you do have connections to him, then you may join me later slow cooking him in acid." his smirk was cold as ice, almost as if you could see 'his' sanity cracking in front of you.
He' looked back to the Krogan. "May I ask who your employer is, and his interest in this vessel? We would really like to know who he is so we can send him chocolates and a card apologizing for destroying his hired mercs and apparently ruining future plans."

Kreiger realized that whilst this psycho was in the room, he would get no where with Skar. he threw his hands up as he shook his head and left the room. "i'm sure i have better things to do in engineering than play slightly less bad cop too you"
Skar continues to cough up blood, slurring his speech.
"He.....(cough)...called himself Cornelius Hasse. Old for a human. A lot of scars covered his face. Probably in the...(cough)....Alliance. He wore the uniform. Didn't say a damned thing about what he wanted. He just said something about redundancy."
kreiger froze in the hallway, there were at least 3 people on board with Alliance ties and the rest had "issues" with them to say the least. the only clean one on board was the justicar Astila.

"Wait...did you say, Alliance?" he turned in shock. as ruthless as the systems alliance navy could be, pulling stunts like this was beneath them. this had to be an 'off the books' job or even better, 'under the table'.kreiger resumed his train of thought.
"excuse me will you."
he left back down the hall once more, back towards his room, he had some 'digging' to do.

Othic watched in silence from the doorway, his shotgun resting casually over his shoulder. If the Krogan decided to attack, he'd have five armed people on him. He guessed a Merc like 'Bubbles' was smart enough to know the odds. Aivar and Kriger were leading the interrigation but they seemed to be ruled by their own emotions and the mocking from the Krogan was not helping their mood.

He heard 'Bubbles' mention using Quarians for target practise and was shocked by the fury of Aivar's response as he beat the prisoner with a vicious biotic attack. Othic had to give Yni some grudging respect, he might be crazy but he was damn powerful. Useful to have on your side, assuming he could keep his emotions in check.

Othic listend in closer as the Krogan finally began to talk. "He.....*Cough*...called himself Cornelius Hasse. Old for a human. A lot of scars covered his face. Probably in the...*Cough*....Alliance. He wore the uniform. Didn't say a damned thing about what he wanted. He just said something about redundancy."

Hausse......The name seemed dimly familiar to Othic but he dismissed the thought. He knew he wasn't the only ex-Alliance on board. Both Eri and Corwin had served and both had been officers. Either of them might possibly know the name, he looked to Eri to see if the name had caused some recognition but couldn't read her reaction.

What didn't make sense to him was the fact an Alliance Officer, in uniform, hired a Merc like Skarr for a job such as this. He knew the Alliance were involved in some shady things, hell he'd taken part in some of them but it was odd they would advertise something like this out in the open.

His interest was now piqued.

"javis, i would like the interrogation in the rec room to be recorded and forwarded to my personal terminal if that's possible? i have some other work that needs attending too in the mean time."

"would you like me to run a virus sweep while i'm at it sir?" javis was using sarcasm, an AI trait, not a VI. kreiger would have to ask Aashe about the TRUE state of the ships 'vi' at some point.

"just the files are fine thank you, and don't think i won't fry your circuits if you keep giving me lip. Also, if the ship can hook into a bouy, i would like any and all public knowledge of one, Cornelius Hasse."

"certainly, i'll alert you once your presence is required."
kreiger entered his room and waited patiently for javis to return with the files, all he needed was a rank and service history, that would tell him how much digging he would have to do and point him in the right direction. his mind was clouded however, thoughts of Astila's touch, both in the medbay and in the rec room where beginning to haunt him, in a good way. Kreiger remembered seeing some engravings on his gun as he packed to move, he took the time to examine them, hoping to distract himself. it simply read "Keelah Se'lai". his farther must have engraved this for him when he received the locust, how he missed it until now was beyond him.

"all public files regarding Mr Cornelius Hasse, have been extracted to your terminal when you are ready, kreiger" javis slipped out before he could thank him.
"alright you old Boschtet, lets see what dirty secrets your hiding"

With needed assistance from Aashe, Corwin reaches his four-post oak frame three tiered bed lined with blue drapes and covered in light gray silk bed sheets with thread counts so high, Krogan mathematicians haven't been able to calculate it yet. The bed alone is easily worth more than everything within his foot locker, armor included. While mouthing 'What the heck," Corwin's bright blue eyes goes wide with wonderment while absorbing what he is seeing.

There are easily over a dozen oversized, fully engraved and embellished, bookshelves lining almost every wall in this room. Corwin could not identify what some of the bookshelves are made of. Some of the bookshelves are treated wood, but from what planet? Others appear to be marble-ish? And the books! Hundreds upon hundreds of books. Corwin's eyes are so wide with excitement, the various texts are reflected in his eyes.

His gaze continues to an oak desk positioned in front of a window looking out into space. Finally, Corwin lowered his tired muscular frame onto the bed as carefully as he could. His gray tank top blended into the the bed sheets. He looks towards his hostess.

"The soup and tea sounds great right now," Corwin replies to Aashe with hushed awe.

Astila listened to the Krogan speak. His voice booming and commanding, a trait all Krogan share. "I use your race for target practice. That's all you people are good for.", The Krogan spat out. Astila stayed as calm as she possibly could. This was not her battle, she would not interfere unless a serious injustice was committed.

After the rage of biotics and punches, the Krogan began to cough up blood. Astila turned to look at Aivar as 'he' spoke. "Now Kreiger, if your done raging at Bubbles like a toddler, settle down. If you do have connections to him, then you may join me later slow cooking him in acid.", Astila cringed with the thought. But, she knew she could stop them if they actually tried. "Let's not go there quite yet ... Until your questions are answered.", Astila said, her voice distinctively calmer in tone than the others in the room.

"Cornelius Hasse", Skar spoke, clearly injured by all the biotics. Astila doubted it was enough to kill him. The name meant nothing to her. She had heard of him through some of her merc assignments, but never dug much into it. "Alliance.", Skar mentioned. Astila knew the Alliance and her crew mates didn't exactly get along but, this seemed rather ruthless. For a moment, Astila wondered if this meant she'd have to kill the Alliance operatives involved in this injustice. She took the oath, 'Fight injustice wherever needed.' Summed it up. "Wait...did you say, Alliance?", Astila looked over at Kreiger as he spoke, he obviously had some unfinished business with them. She looked over at Othic, his expression just as blank and clueless as hers. Though, she could tell he was now greatly interested in what the Krogan had to say.

"Excuse me will you.", Astila heard Kreiger say, she watched him as he turned away and darted down the hall. He was clearly raging. It even showed in how he was walking, or rather, stomping. The Justicar lowered her Carnifex and holstered it on her thigh, sliding a hand up to her hip afterwards. She knew she would have to check on him but, she didn't pursue immediately. She looked around at the remaining crew, most looked greatly enraged, all looked heavily armed.

After a few moments of making sure that she would not be needed, she excused herself. "Please feel free to ping my Omni-Tool if you need me.", She said, turning around and walking down the hallway at a slow but steady gate. Since she seemed to be the only one that could calm Kreiger down, she figured her 'talents' were more needed with him. She had to make sure he didn't take out his anger on poor little Jarvis or even 'fiddling' with the engine room. Astila reached Kreiger's room and leaned against the door frame, placing a hand on her hip and knocking with the other one. Knock, Knock, Knock.

Aashe smiled at that, she always enjoyed that reaction out of guests. She'd gotten rather good at matching guests to their rooms at this point. "Coming right up."

Aashe swept from the room to let him get comfortable, she hardly needed to look at the doors or bulkheads in the ship anymore to know where they are. She moved with a practiced efficiency to her favorite of the two kitchens (the smaller one) and started working. Hot water was on a kettle, and soup in a small pot within a minute of her arriving there, and she started to hunt through her greenhouse spices to see what she could put in the soup.

She called herself a smuggler, and in truth she did smuggle a great many goods - but her talents were often kept to the moving of important (often off the radar) dignitaries in the mercenary world. She'd even had Aria on her ship once for a short hop from Omega, when Aria didn't want anyone to know she was gone. Aria hadn't deigned much to speak to Aashe, which really was no skin off of Aashe's nose - she paid well, and Aashe got a chance to observe the woman who ran Omega, watching body language and phrasing for tips in case she ever needed to fake a similar identity.

All in all, Aashe was much happier with jobs that challenged her creativity more than caused bodily harm. Stealing expensive pieces challenged the mind, 'smash and grab' operations never worked in high security settings, so more care was needed. In the meantime, she made ends meet by selling herself as a white glove smuggler, and transport.

This is why she had learned to cook.

On a whim, she tossed a small griddle pan on the stove as well, and began to make a grilled cheese sandwich, using a rare sharp Krogan cheese that tasted an awful lot like sharp white cheddar mixed with smoked Gouda. she'd never asked what animal produced the milk for this cheese, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know. It had never killed her, and it tasted good - asking too many questions of Krogans would just ruin her enjoyment of it, she was sure.

"Jarvis?" Aashe asked, while she watched the bread toast, and the cheese melt.

"Ma'am." He said efficiently.

"How are things going with the Krogan?"

"Your bulkheads are still in tact, Ma'am. Though I do detect that biotic powers were used. I have been asked to record and transmit the interrogation session to your guest, Mr. Krieger vas Qwib Qwib, would you also like a copy of the file?" Jarvis asked. Aashe picked up a nearby spoon and stirred the soup, throwing some fresh tarragon leaves in it, as she thought.

"No, it's probably better for my health if I don't know. Can you just send me a transcript to read over?"

"Very good, Ma'am." Jarvis said. "If I may..."

Aashe looked up, as though the ship had eyes and could see that she was looking at it. "Sure, what's up?"

"A hacking attempt was made on the ship, Ma'am. If you do not mind me hazarding a guess, I believe it was of Geth origin. It originated from the Argos Rho system."

"Oh, really." Aashe muttered. "Far too many coincidences for my taste. Jarvis, do me a favor - Krieger sent me a file recently, and Corwin said something about a Distress signal. I'd like to know how they're all linked."

She took a plate and bowl combination from the kitchen cabinet, it was a neat little thing that a friend had given her ages ago, it was designed for soup and sandwich combinations, with the bowl built in on one side, and little sandwich holder on the other. She began to plate the food with practiced grace, adding a sprig of Tarragon for garnish.

"Consider it done, Ma'am. There is another issue, if I may."

"Of course there is." Aashe said, pouring the hot water into a small tea service. She included a soft silk bag of the Green Snail Springs tea, to keep the leaves out of his drink, and included some honey, and fresh cream on the side. As an afterthought, she made up a glass of ice cold water as well.

"I believe that I have, perhaps, been discovered, Ma'am."

"It was bound to happen, the crew is talking to you more than my guests usually do. Don't worry, I'll take care of it. I promise not to let them turn you off." Aashe said gently. "Credits are easy to come by, you're one of a kind."

"Thank you, Ma'am." He said. "I shall endeavor to sound less.... intelligent."

Aashe laughed, pulling a tray out of hiding from between the fridge and one of the shelves, she placed the plate of food, the tea service, and the glass of water on top of the tray. "Jarvis, the day you sound 'less intelligent' will be the same day that I'm able to bring about intergalactic peace with my singing voice."

She shook her head, hoisting the tray up to shoulder height, and moving back toward Corwin's room. She pressed a small announcement button on the door to give Corwin a 'heads up' that she was entering again before opening the door. She didn't bother to wait for a reply, as she knew he'd be expecting her.

"Here we are." She said easily, pulling a nearby table over and setting the tray down. "I hope this will do, do let me know if you need anything else."

(Leaving Room for a Corwin answer if he wants to take one.)

She took a seat nearby for a moment, giving him enough space so he would feel comfortable beginning to eat if he should decide to do so. "Before I go, I do have a handful of questions for you. Firstly, do we need to stop anywhere for any medication? I don't mind making a detour. Secondly - Jarvis told myself, and Myn, a bit about your disease - to include the idea that you don't have the usual biological markers for it. I ended up calling a Doctor acquaintance of mine, who works on Illium, he knows nothing about you - and if you wish to keep it that way, I will hold your information in confidence... However, he has offered to run tests for us, as he seemed to indicate that lacking the biological markers was uncommon. If this is something you wish to pursue, I will be happy to get you in touch with him. We can trust the people on Illium to keep your secrets."

Interesting. Alliance. Why didn't this surprise him though? 'He' knew a great deal about 'his' parent's military, the life 'he' had lived before it was taken away. A 'under the table' op didn't sound too far-fetched. Meanwhile, a thoughtful expression had been spreading across 'his' face. 'He' wasn't surprised that Kreiger or Astila had left. Though now, 'he' was wondering what 'he' should ask next. "So..." 'he' began "You were ordered to disable the ship, and if it gave you the chance to kill me, you would take it. The person who had ordered this was this Cornelius Hasse, an Alliance brass. Did he mention anything of his plan?" 'He' would ask next who the hacker was, though maybe someone else would ask it first.

The screen glowed with the barrage of firewalls and encrypted channels one would come to expect from military database's. getting through all of them was as easy as uploading a 'shunt' key, finding the name in time before the system caught on would be harder. Kreiger scrolled through name after name and even found commander shepard on his scrolling frenzy. He paused for a moment to make a copy of the file.

"couldn't hurt to take a peak at your past seeing as your dead now huh?"

he continued to pan down the screen, he could tell the system was catching on because names were disappearing from the display.

"FOUND YOU." kreigers voice was full of excitement as he quickly accessed and copied the files.

knock,knock,knock. kreiger spun round and used his omnitool to open the door from where he sat, he was a little surprised and relieved that Astila was standing in the doorway and not one of the alliance monkeys.

"oh, hi. i was just, um..." kreiger became nervous and he wasn't sure if it was the justicars presence as he was technically breaking the law, or if it was her looks that intimidated him. "I'm seeing what i can find out about our 'friend' Hasse, i have his file now and i'm going to cross reference it with public knowledge and see what stands out."

he opened the Alliance file, it was surprisingly...empty.

Cornelius Hasse
- Served in the Alliance military underneath the command of Captain Letra Petrovsky on the Dreadnought Eisenhower, 2nd Fleet.
- Reached the rank of Commander after 20 years of service.
- Special commendations for flawless extraction (no casualties upon pickup) of the ground team involved at the skylian blitz, tactical appraise for his maneuvering skills which saved up too 78 crewman's lives in the first contact war.(records sealed by order of councilor Udina)
- Special commendations for defending the Asari embassy during the Geth assault on the Citadel (last known battle before retirement)
- Retired with full military honors
- After retiring, he was employed by the Alliance to work at the Alliance embassy on Thessia as a lesion (records of activities sealed by order of Matriarch Lidanya).
- Known supporter of the Terra Firma party.
- Had wife (deceased). Cause (sealed by order of Matriarch Lidanya)
- (Records of children sealed by order ot Matriarch Lidanya).

this doesn't make any sense. his military records showed less than his public one's. fabricated lies? or was this far more sinister?

kreiger slammed his fist onto the table hard enough to dent the soft wood "DAMN IT!" he would simply hack the sealed records given the time, but there was nothing to hack, the records weren't just sealed, they were removed.

"Calm down, Kreiger.", Astila walked in, sitting down beside him. "I'm not going to kill you for snooping.", She said, crossing her legs in front of her and leaning back on her hands. "Is there anything I can do to help?", She asked, glancing over at him. Kreiger stayed silent for a few moments, Astila didn't blame him. She knew he was in deep thought. "DAMN IT!", Astila flinched as Kreiger yelled out, him denting the wood on the floor. She thought for a few moments of a way to try and calm him down. Astila sighed then scooted over behind him and placed her delicate hands on is shoulders. "Kreiger ...", She said, beginning to rub his shoulders. "Calm down.", She said softly, her fingertips massaging his shoulders softly.

kreiger reached a hand up to his shoulder and placed it on Astila's hand. He needed this info. two people with initials C.H. i 2 days. this can't be coincidence. he stood and went to his pack at the base of his king sized bed and took out a datapad, he had stored the message from C.H., the one that got him exiled, onto it. he read it over and over, listing the issues with the floatila, all its strengths, weaknesses, boarding plans, and even predicting faults. the note ends with "We can help. signed C.H." the rest of the datapad included his recolection of the attack, times, arrivals, rough troop numbers and efficiency and even his trial.

kreiger paced back, silently handing the data pad to Astila, as she began to read he spoke.
"i just spent the last week thinking that this was Corwin. i was ready to find out how he knew, why he did this. and now i could be wrong and the only way i can find out is through Hasse's file which seems to pin him as a ghost rather than a commander. why am i being taunted with this?" he paced and sat back on the edge of his bed.