[ [@Mortarion] & [@Deartrickster] Collab ]

Khosin cursed as he heard the footsteps of the smugglers closer and closer by each passing second. "Ah crap, guess my little distraction didn't last for too long." He thought with a frown as he ran away from his pursuers. It wasn't long before the smugglers caught up with him, this was their base and knew it better than he did which allowed them to easily outmaneuver and flank the Batarian Sentinel. 

It didn't take too long for Khosin to find himself cornered inside the smuggler's base. The smugglers approached Khosin slowly, their guns trained on the Batarian's chest ready to leave him full of projectiles, with no other option available to himself Khosin turned on his omni tool and quickly activated his tech-armour. 

"Quick, shoot the fucker! Shoot him!!!" Shouted one of the approaching smugglers; the bullets began flying towards Khosin who detonated his tech armour just in that same moment. 

The explosion sent a few of the smugglers tumbling to the ground, while others remained on their feet and kept shooting at the form of the running Batarian. His shield held up for a few seconds but a few of the bullets hit their mark as his shield temporarily flickered as it's power source waned. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, need to get out of here and fast." Hissed Khosin as he barged into a room, hoping to find himself outside of the base only to find that he had barged into -unbeknownst to him- the room in the communication center that controlled the main comm's tower. 

What he would be surprised was to see Dex standing over an unconscious body of a guard. 

"[color=007236]Oh hey, Khosin. She's not dead. Just knocked her out. Little shit actually caught up with me.[/color]" Dex said searching through her pockets completely unaware of the trouble following Khosin. "[color=007236]She must've been in the bathrooms earlier or something.[/color]"

Examining her SMG, checking the thermals. The turian carried on with a shrug, "[color=007236]She comes sneaking in like she owns the place, heard her calling for help over the comms I just finished hijacking. Good timing huh? Anyway, didn't waste any time and knocked her out. We've got shit to do.[/color]"

Standing back up she let the SMG sit on one of her empty mag plates. Finally noticing how harried the batarian looked. "[color=007236]You did lose whoever was chasing you... right?[/color]"

Khosin blinked as he saw Dex standing in the room. "Dex?" He asked the Turian, his mouth hanging agape before he recollected himself, "Sorry, was expecting to find an exit, not end up in a room with a terminal." He said, blinking a little when she mentioned that someone was just unconscious and not dead. In his hurry he hadn't noticed the unconscious guard.

"Oh, I see, sorry, didn't notice the guard." Admitted the Batarian somewhat sheepishly, nodding as Dex continued to explain the situation. "Huh, I see, guessing that since you are here this is something of a communications room huh?" He commented, sitting on the ground and leaning against a nearby wall, "Good job on hacking their comms too, that's bound to be useful." He said as he checked his armour. A few of the bullets had managed to pierce it, and blood poured from the small wounds.

Letting out a sigh he began applying medi-gel to the wounds he had accrued as he ran. However Dex's question brought his mind back to the present moment. "Shit, no, they were right on my heels, it'll probably take them a few minutes at best to find me. Pretty sure I also left a small blood trail for them to follow, so it's best we think on a worst-case scenario." He said tiredly as he stood up, wincing slightly as his wounds flared up. "Alright, do you have any explosives with which we can block the door or anything with which we could distract them and, hopefully, escape with our lives?"

Dex tapped her arm thoughtfully, not entirely phased. Things were heating up and it would only be a matter of time before shit really hit the fan. "[color=007236]Who needs explosives when we have access to their entire communications network? We'll just tell them you headed toward the opposite side of the compound. You're going to do the talking while I hook you up to their omnitools.[/color]"

She padded back to the terminal unlocking it, the red glow of the screen brightening to orange once again. She searched the network tapping into the audio links of the guards nearby, entering the building. She quickly connected the guard's omnitools to Khosin's and gestured for him to come closer, "[color=007236]It's all green, start telling them where to go.[/color]"

The guard's audio was a mishmash of regular reports of them confirming rooms and areas to be clear. They were systematically searching and covering the main exits. 

She gave him a thumbs up.

Khosing listened in silence as Dex explained to him that they wouldn't need explosives to hinder the smugglers since they had access to their whole communications network, that they could just tell them that he had gone to the opposite side of the compound. "Yeah, you are right, sorry, a little rattled up from all the chase. Wasn't thinking clearly." Said Khosin, nodding in agreement to Dex's idea.

He looked as Dex made her way back to the terminal, looking as the Turian infiltrator unlocked the terminal after a few short seconds. He waited for Dex to finish tapping into the audio links of the guards, his omni-tool flashing up once, what he thought signified, she was done, something which was confirmed by her next words. 

The sound of the guard's various reports flared into his ear, cementing beyond all doubts that he was connected into their network. Nodding towards her general direction and mouthing a 'Thank you' he brought his omni-tool close to his lips, "Hey guys saw that Batarian, Dodnovran I think he was called, heading into the other side of the compound, opposite to the comms towers." He muttered into the comms network.

As an answer, he received multiple 'Affirmative', 'Roger that', and 'Copy.' Turning to look at Dex he let out a sigh of relief, "Well, hopefully that'll buy us a few minutes to escape somewhat unimpeded." He said as he double-checked his weapons, making sure that they'd be ready in case they had to fight again. "What about you, ready?" 

Dex nodded having heard the very same affirmations herself, "[color=007236]That'll do. Come on we can get out through here.[/color]" She said pointing to the ladder Drono used earlier to access the generator.

Locking the terminal again and arming her destructive sequence to bring down the network in all its data destruction glory. She began climbing the ladder up to the hatch. Unlocking it she pushed it open, the door nearly being ripped from her talon by the strength of the storm still raging on. Her face was splattered with rain she squinted back down. "[color=007236]We better hurry up! Our best chance at finishing this mission and getting out with our heads intact is getting back to the Yolac and Tonka. Drono hasn't checked in since he ran off to fuck with the smugglers. Kasy hasn't responded either and the observation team has been split up for whatever reason.[/color]" Dex shouted down the ladder over the roar of the storm.

Climbing up out onto the roof of the prefabricated building, she pulled off her shotgun checking the area. When she couldn't see a soul in sight she gave the all clear. The tower well above her and the generator chugging away, struggling to stay operational under the stress of the storm. 

Khosin nodded at Dex's words, "Alright, time to get the fuck out of this place. Think I've had enough of Virmire to last me for a lifetime." He said, cracking his knuckles and giving his weapons one last check just in case.

Hearing sounds coming from the computer, Khosin turned to look as Dex worked on the terminal letting out a chuckle when he noticed that she was fiddling with the terminal's interface once more. "Hey, since you are in there couldn't you set some type of VI or something to distract the smugglers?" Asked Khosin, only noticing that the terminal was locking once he was done speaking, "Ah, never mind, probably better this way," He said as he began climbing up the ladder after her, looking as they stopped at the hatch that led to the roof. He was about to ask Dex if she wanted him to help her with it but opted to remain silent when she opened the hatch easily enough by herself. 

"Agreed, ah fuck, I knew that something was going to go wrong with this mission." He said as he climbed outside, spitting a litany of curses in Batarian as the force of the storm hit him as he left the -relative- security of the smuggler's compound, "Bloody planet." He grumbled a little, pulling out his mattock and began to check the area. Nodding when she gave him the all-clear signal he relaxed a little, his eyes drawn toward the generator. "Hey, Dex, that generator seems like it needs only a small push to stop working. What do you say if we help with that, could make our lives easier as we try to escape." He said to her as he turned around to look at her, his mattock held firmly in both of his hands. 

She quickly swiped at her eyes trying to squint through the cold rain. "[color=007236]It should be easy enough to tamper with it. Drono had just fixed it so I could hijack the comms. Knocking it out would force, at least the comms center, to run on the unreliable main power. Let's give it a go.[/color]" Dex replied nearly shouting. "[color=007236]Even with the storm raging on I could hear your grumbling, Khosin. Suck it up! We can dry our heads when we're out of here.[/color]"

She bent low examining the quick fix Drono did, noticing where the problem originated. "[color=007236]If you can sever the main line on the underside it should disable it beyond repair.[/color]"

She stood back up shining her light on the generator. "[color=007236]Can you see what I mean?[/color]"

"Good, that should make sabotaging the generator that much easier," Said Khosin nearly shouting, just like Dex, grumbling a little when she told him to suck it up and keep going, muttering a few curse words in Batarian too low for the Turian to hear over the storm. "Apologies, never been one for tropical climates." He said drily, although the effect was lost since he was still forced to shout for Dex to hear him. 

Each of his four eyes blinked as she began to explain to him how they could make sure that the generator stopped working for good. He wasn't sure if it was the hail from the storm, the general shitty day, or the mounting tiredness inside of him but Dex's words didn't register in his mind "Dex, I love technical explanations just as much as the next guy....but I think I've got a simpler way of dealing with this." Said the Batarian.

Raising his feet in the direction where Dex was shining with her light, Khosin began to viciously kick the generator until a panel fell off and exposed the shoddy machinery that struggled to keep the generator working. Aiming with his omni-tool he directed an Incinerate towards the machinery and then -just to be sure- fired several shots with his Executioner until the barrel of the gun was glowing with a light orange colour. "There, I think that did the job." He said drily as black smoke began to come out of the generator, the machine struggling for a brief few seconds to work before falling silent permanently.

Dex stared at the destroyed heap of machinery humming her disagreement. She opened her mouth to say [i]what the fuck[/i] but sighed "[color=007236]You know what, fuck it let's go. All of you go for the overkill.[/color]"

Walking past the tower, shotgun still poised out in front of her. She peered over the edge of the building seeing some structural steps spiraling down the outside of the building. Maintenance stairs. She beckoned him to follow keeping an eye out for guards. Descending the stairs, slick with cascading water. She hid along the wall eyes peeled for movement. Gesturing for Khosin to follow.

She checked her omnitool, searching for Tonka's signal. "[color=007236]Come on... Where are you?[/color]" The orange light illuminating her angular features. "[color=007236]Ah ha! There you are.[/color]"

She locked onto his signal's position then called him, "[color=007236]Tonka, Khosin and I are heading toward the Yolac as well. With any luck we'll beat you there and provide cover. Patching through the audio feed and whereabouts of the guards in the area. Good luck.[/color]"

Khosin let out a sigh at Dex's reaction, "Dex, we were sent here with the objective of dismantling a smuggler's ring, and this base is a part of that. So I don't see a reason not to make as much damage as possible." Said the Batarian with a slight frown "Why only damage a few pieces that might be replaced when you can make the whole thing useless?" He asked rhetorically but by the time he did Dex had already walked past the tower and didn't hear him most likely.

Letting out a soft sigh Khosin hurried up after Dex, his rifle firmly held in front of him as he scanned the area for any potential hostiles. Following her down the stairs Khosin didn't speak much, his forte wasn't in infiltration and as such he followed Dex silently and without complaint, trusting that the Turian Infiltrator knew what was best to do in their current predicament. 

When she gestured for him to follow Khosin promptly complied, a nod from his head being the only sign that he acknowledged the Turian's command, only stopping when Dex checked her omni-tool. Waiting patiently he was a bit startled when Dex began speaking out-loud "What are you looking for Dex?" Khosin asked, although he got his answer promptly enough when Dex sent a call to Tonka telling him that they were going to head towards the Yolac to, hopefully, provide cover for him. "Alright, guess our main priority right now is getting to the Yolac and extracting the rest of the team, correct?" He asked her, making brief eye contact with her as he waited for confirmation. 

"[color=007236]That's the plan. My main concern right now is getting out and hopefully the other half of our team gets off their asses and answers my hails. Fuck, we're in here engaging with the target directly and our fire support doesn't bother to respond.[/color]" Dex snorted, not being entirely truthful for why she was irritated. Dex was worried and no acknowledgment meant something must've gone very wrong very fast.

Moving forward refocusing on her current objective activating her tactical scan, hoping, even through the torrential rain it could pick up on something. Give them some edge over the piss poor visibility. She headed to the stalls of the marketplace opting for some form of cover.

Quietly as they could they moved from stall to stall, Dex had gotten herself in and out of hot water before this was no different. She was confident they could make it to the Yolac undetected. 

Meanwhile... enhanced night enhanced night vision goggles were scanning the area.

"Yeah, I understand you, it's always worrying when the fire support team doesn't answers. Hopefully it's interference from the storm." Said Khosin, trying to remain optimistic in light of the communications blackout with the other team.  He could understand Dex's worries, the true motive behind them that is, and he himself shared them but saw no point in being pessimistic in regards to the situation of the surveillance team. For all they knew they had to go into radio silence or the storm was messing with their suit radios.

Following Dex as quietly as he could Khosin couldn't help but get increasingly nervous as they moved through the obscured compound, old, unpleasant, memories of similar situations threatened to come up to the surface of his mind which served to put him further on edge than he already was. 

Keeping his composure as best he could, Khosin followed Dex as she moved from stall to stall. It was then that he noticed a red dot on the back of her shoulder, acting out of instinct he tackled the Turian away and the sound of a gun being shot was heard mere seconds afterwards promptly followed by what seemed to be curses in Salarian.

Dex let out a soft [i]oofff[/i] and splash when they hit the deck, "[color=007236]Fucking snipers! How the hell did they see through the rain?[/color]"

Tracking down the source of the gunshot based on both the direction from where the red dot came and the sound of the gun Khosin managed to locate a blurry figure on a nearby rooftop, either Salarian or Quarian from what he could see through the rain, that was moving away already. "Shit, seems that we've been found." He cursed as he let go of Dex, the staccato of a rifle being fired was soon heard alongside the sounds of the storm. 

"[color=007236]You don't fucking say.[/color]" Dex snapped wiping the mud from between her mandibles while they moved again to a new stall putting some cover between the sniper and themselves. "[color=007236]They're probably not alone. We need to split up-[/color]"

A biotic pull hit Dex on her back, pulling the turian from her crouch and stumbling back a couple feet where gunshots pittered around her while she scrambled back into cover. Her shields absorbing the worst of the biotic attack.

"[color=007236]Keep moving![/color]" Dex shouted, firing off potshots from her shotgun where the biotic tried to pull her out. Pushing them forward before they became surrounded. The trio of guards were working smart, well within hearing shot of the other and using the storm to their advantage putting the pair on the run.

Meanwhile, the asari biotic tsked audibly throwing a biotic shockwave at their last position, the power burst through the shabby stall.

Khosin growled in annoyance as Dex snapped at him, "And this is the thanks I get, well maybe next time you'd prefer to get fucking shot in your shoulder." He snapped, rather angry at the whole situation with Dex's reply only having worsened his mood. 

He was about to reply to her idea of them splitting up when Dex was hit by a biotic pull, Khosin popping from cover and shooting in the direction from which the biotic energy had come. The brief flicker of a biotic barrier was the only indication that he had, unsuccessfully, hit his target. 

Khosin nodded when Dex shouted at him to keep moving, firing one last round of bullets before beginning to run just as the biotic shockwave hit the stall in which he had been taking cover. Pointing with his omni-tool in the direction from which the shockwave had come, Khosin activated his drone near the origin of the biotic attack. Once that was done he hurried after Dex, hoping that his drone could buy them a few more seconds.  

"[color=007236]Scratch that! We're making a run for the Yolac![/color]" Dex said and saved a little guilt for not saying thanks to Khosin for later when there was time for it. She ran out of the current stall immediately taking the impact of a couple bullets, she activated her cloak disappearing in a shimmer. Throwing a bright orange incinerate behind her at the biotic on their tail, not really bothering to check if it impacted. Running at full speed down the row taking a tight left turn around a stall and making it for the vehicle bay across open grounds. The rain hammered down while she twitched at the sound of another sniper shot was fired grazing her mechanical arm impacting her shields significantly. She hissed at that, knowing she'd inevitably hear about that later from Serena.

"Sounds like a good plan to me!" Said Khosin as he ran behind Dex, looking as the Turian disappeared in a shimmer as she activated her cloak. This had the unintended effect of having the trio of guards shift their efforts towards Khosin "[i]Thanks Dex![/i]" He thought, somewhat annoyed, in his mind, activating his tech-armor to compensate for the increase in firepower that was directed at him. He blinked a little bit when he saw an incinerate being thrown at the biotic, understanding soon dawning upon him when he saw the shimmering silhouette of Dex. "Hey, next time try and tell em in advance when you do that." Said Khosin as he turned around and threw his own incinerate attack towards their pursuers before running after Dex at full speed, his eyes widening slightly when he saw her shield shimmering as she was hit. "Dex, are you okay? Did the shot hit anything vital?" He asked as he stopped running and shot blindly a few times in the direction from where he guessed the sniper had fired. 

Dex squinted through the rain, eyes firmly doors of the vehicle bay, slamming her full weight against the door it burst open. She grinned at the sight of the Yolac but the few guards focusing on someone incredibly mouthy, raising her hand she threw another incinerate at the other guard and made short order of them with a few shot gun blasts. Beckoning Khosin inside she shut the door behind her, sealing it. The bay doors were thankfully closed. It would only be minutes before the three on their back would arrive.

The break from the rain was welcomed.

There was no time to appreciate the relief, "[color=007236]In the Yolac, [i]now![/i] We're getting the fuck out of here.[/color]"