The hunchbacked turian stepped onto the docks of Cartagena station with a grimace as pain shot up his leg. Stepping out of the vehicle he arrived in and down onto the platform hurt. Having to stretch his leg out while holding on to the handrails to the side of the shuttle's open door was something his muscles sorely disagreed with. Aran cursed his body under his breath, something that had become a habit many years ago. He hated traveling. Siame Industries forcing him off Omega was the worst thing that had happened to him in more than two decades of information brokering, hacking and cyber-warfare. In the safety of his living quarters in Omega, hooked up to the Extranet and Omega's internal digital communication pathways, nothing could reach him or hurt him. Now he was out in the wild, vulnerable and untethered. 

He looked behind him to see the krogan he had fired to carry his equipment step out of the vehicle with a thud, a frown on his face -- something that Aran had quickly identified as disdain. The large, physically capable krogan obviously had no respect for Aran, the weak, half-broken, barefaced turian, but the creature was enough of a professional to make no snide remarks, which Aran was grateful for. The turian activated his Omni-tool and linked up with some of Cartagena station's networks, getting a feel for the place's wiring. It came as no surprise to him that the cyber infrastructure here was much less developed than on Omega. Aran felt curiously naked without the endless stream of data to pour over. There was a significantly more finite amount of digital traffic here. The krogan coughed. "Yes, sorry," Aran said and looked up the location of Cartagena Inn, his destination. That's where the meeting was supposed to be. 

"This way," Aran said and started forward, his upper body swaying side to side as he walked, his limp evident. People of all races milled around in the station's spaceport and some of them turned to look at Aran. He pulled his robes closer around his body and pulled his hood down further over his face, blue eyes eyeing everyone around him suspiciously from the shadow of his cowl. The krogan followed without comment but Aran could almost feel his scathing gaze drilling into his back. As they left the bustling spaceport behind and entered the maze of narrow streets of the poor districts Aran drew less stares and the people's attention instead shifted to the krogan carrying a big crate. Three vorchas, lurking in the shadows, watched intently and bickered among themselves. Aran gripped his SMG tightly, the weapon hidden under his robes. No doubt the creatures were wondering what the crate contained, and whether or not it was worth stealing -- or, more importantly, whether it was worth fighting a krogan over. Ironic, Aran thought. He had bought the electronic equipment the crate contained from vorchas in the first place, who hadn't realized the value of the stuff. Aran doubted this pack would know any different. The creatures made no move, however, and Aran and the krogan were allowed to pass unmolested. 

Before long, they arrived at the inn. Aran looked at it suspiciously. He scanned the place but found little digital traffic inside, save for a connection between what he guessed were two personal Omni-tools. He pilfered the connection and came up with a list of names, and was only a little surprised to find Sleuth, his alias, listed among them. [i]This must be the guest list of today's gathering.[/i] Skimming the list, he saw a few names he recognized from his time in Omega's information brokering business, but no red flags. They were all criminals, which was a good thing. 

Stepping inside the conference room, Aran looked at those who had arrived before him in turn, matching faces to the names on the list. The human female and drell male at the head of the table must be Tanya and Kosso, the two who had organized this meeting. Before saying anything, he turned to the krogan. "Put the crate down in that corner," he said, and fiddled with his Omni-tool for a second. "The credits have been transferred." The krogan nodded and did as ordered, before turning to Aran again. After waiting a few seconds for the krogan to leave, Aran motioned for the door. "You can go now." Seeming relieved, he did so and left Aran alone in this company of strangers. The turian turned to them again, trying to keep the anxiety he felt at taking this risk in check, and gingerly sat down on one of the chairs.