[center][center][H3][B]U N D E R W O R L D[/B]
[/H3][b]K A T A B A S I S[/b] [hr][hr][sub]Interacting with:[@Silver Fox], [@Dervish], [@MechonRaptor], [@PrivateVentures], [@SgtEasy], [@Arcarius], [@Rithy], [@POOHEAD189], [@Mega birb], [@The Spectre], [@Leos Klien], [@MrDidact], [@Deos Morran], [@Rivaan], [@Mega Birb][/sub][hr][hr][/center]

[b][i]... In other news three men have been seriously injured at London’s Gatwick Spaceport after getting into an altercation with a Krogan. The Krogan, Urdnot Raze, currently in Systems Alliance custody and awaiting trial, said that he spotted the three men assaulting a Quarian female who had been trying to purchase transport back to her home planet of Rannoch, and had initially tried to calm the men down, but they had reacted with violence, prompting Raze to respond in kind. None of the three, one identified as John Murphy, the owner of a local mechanic’s business, have been able to comment in their own defence due to being in intensive care. Claims that the attack had been racially motivated are being investigated by the London Met.[/i][/b][/center]

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During Sicaria’s defence of her home life the Lieutenant Commander made a noise at the back of his throat, partway between a snort and a laugh, though said nothing else. His eyes fixed her once more though, retaking her measure. Maybe she might be less of a flake than he’d initially suspected.

Aegon stepped forward to field the groups questions, Anderson backing off to give him his space, and make it clear to the others that this was the Turian’s show for the moment.

Anderson still wasn’t sure what to make of his Turian counterpart. Officially Partinax was his mentor, supposed to be tutoring him on the finer details of Spectre-hood, though the impression Jake was getting was that his presence wasn’t entirely welcome. Aegon hadn’t said it outright, but he didn’t seem to enjoy being shackled with a comparative rookie, nor one who was still technically his equal. If that was the case, then Aegon was just gonna have to learn to live with it. They had their orders, so like it or not they were stuck with each other for the foreseeable.

Still, the other Spectre’s professionalism made working with him a relatively simple prospect. He’d found that as long as he was doing his job, and doing it right, Aegon left him to his own devices.

Anderson only piped up once during his partners Q&A, though even that one interruption might put him in the Turian’s bad graces. He didn’t seem the type to enjoy having his authority challenged, but Jake couldn’t in good conscience keep quiet here. Not when the group was talking about wilfully harming non-combatants. 

[color=steelblue]“Aegon’s joking of course. There will be absolutely no shooting of kneecaps. Do what you can to disarm and restrain them, but we will [b]not[/b] be causing any lasting harm to these people. They’re misguided, not malicious. There’s enough of us in both parties that once we’ve cleared a room of hostiles we can afford to leave a member behind to sit on them until the MP’s arrive.”[/color] Jake didn’t look at Partinax as he spoke, unwilling to make this look like any more of a challenge to his comrades authority than it had to be. 

The N7 operative had never had to deal with having a war crime on his conscience, and he refused to start now, but when Partinax supported a more ruthless course of action, and held just as much sway over this team as he did, it would ultimately become a case of the men and women gathered here following their own moral compasses, and taking whichever action suited them best, whether that was keeping whatever hostages they managed to capture docile by hurting them, or if they treated them peaceably and chose to watch over them until help arrived. 

He just prayed that they made the right choice. 

The awkward situation was somewhat diffused by Vella of all people. Anderson was silently grateful for her distraction, and pounced on it with both hands.

[color=Steelblue]“Again, intel is limited, though we can confirm that there is at least two rotating squads of Cerberus commandos, as well as over three dozen LOKI mechs. One of our recon droid operators who has been scouting the tunnel systems claims to have spotted a YMIR, but the footage he provided was sketchy, not to mention it would be almost more effort than it’s worth getting a machine that size down here to defend a base that they have no reason to suspect has been compromised. Still, keep your head on a swivel, because the fact of the matter is we can’t confirm just what they’ve packed for us until we’ve undone the ribbon.”[/color]

It didn’t look like there was any more questions forthcoming, so he was preparing to give the order to move out, when a voice raised in anger sounded from down the entrance tunnel. A female voice at that, identifying herself as being part of the Alliance. They’d only reached out to one other Systems Alliance operative, making this individual Salissa Fortia. Unlike when Vella had brandished her weapon, this soldier could be said to be following protocol, and at the very least hadn’t opened fire. Anderson was about to talk her down when the Geth platform stepped forward, looking like it was attempting to use its body as a shield, placing itself between the revenant rifle in Fortia’s hands and the rest of the group. But that couldn’t be the case, could it? Phalanx was just a machine, no way it would be risking its life for a group of people it had just met. He wasn’t sure what to think of that development, but at least he could deal with the other issue. He stepped forward, gently easing Phalanx back, revealing his N7 armour and Alliance insignia in the process.

[color=Steelblue]“At ease Phalanx, I’ll deal with this.”[/color] He murmured softly to the machine, before turning his attention to the marine in front of him. [color=Steelblue]“You can holster that weapon soldier, and listen up, because you’re late and we’re on the clock … ”[/color] He gave Fortia the rundown the Spectre’s offer, and just what they were asking of the team for their first mission. [color=steelblue]“So now you’re all caught up you’ve got a decision to make. You follow us down these tunnels and join our mission, or you turn around, go back up those steps, and forget you ever saw us. Don’t worry about working with us interfering with your Alliance duties, as I’ve already spoken to your superiors. If you follow us, you will still rank in the SA hierarchy, but you will officially answer to me.”

“Make your choice quick though, because we’re not waiting around any longer. If you decide to follow us then you’ll be with Aegon for this mission. You follow his orders like you’d follow mine.”[/color] He felt momentarily bad for the rush job he had to inflict on the woman, but consoled himself with the fact that it was really her own fault for being late. Hopefully that wouldn’t conspire against her. Anderson didn’t have any more time to worry about her though. Time was a’wasting. 

[COLOR=STEELBLUE]“Ok people, you’ve got your orders. Let’s get going.”[/color] He glanced at Aegon, and briefly considered wishing the Turian luck, though decided against it. He didn’t seem like the type who believed in luck, and would probably take insult at the implication that he’d need it. Instead Anderson settled for a nod, then set off, gesturing for the selection of the team assigned him to follow. 

He led them down darkened tracks, the footing precarious and the lighting terrible, for almost half an hour, before turning down a side passage that had once served as a maintenance tunnel. It quickly became apparent why neither of the two Krogan, or Ellis for that matter, were on Anderson’s squad. The tunnel was a tight squeeze for the 6’2” tall Spectre, so it would have been damn near impossible to get even a small Krogan down here. Their journey took them along rusted steel walkways where they were hedged in by rotting, long disused pipework, the constant [i]drip, drip, drip[/i] of falling water playing accompaniment to their soft footfalls. 

Aegon, showing a surprising grasp of human history and mythology, had dubbed this team [i]‘Task Force: Katabasis’[/i], and the further Anderson went, the more he realized how apt a name it actually was. 

After several more minutes of journeying he finally found what he was looking for, a crack in the wall just large enough for a full-grown man to crawl through. He pointed it out to his squad. 

[color=SteelBlue]“We stumbled upon this when we were scoping out the Cerberus installation.”[/color] He was whispering, aware of how far sound could travel in these tunnels. [color=SteelBlue]“We think it opened up due to orbital bombardments during the Battle for Earth, though can’t be sure. Might just be wear and tear. Whatever the explanation, Cerberus don’t know about it, and it’ll take us right to their back door. From their I’ve got a man on the inside who’s gonna let us in.” 

“From here on out things run the risk of getting messy. Weapons out people, but remember, you only fire when I order it, or if your fired upon first. I see anyone committing a [i]‘Vella’[/i] and it’ll be hell to pay.”[/color]

He led the way through the crack in the wall, at one point worried that he’d gotten himself stuck half-way through, but with some vigorous shuffling and struggling, finally managed to work his way clear. It was with a very real sigh of relief that he finally made it to the other end, and into another, and slightly newer and more maintained looking, section of tunnel. Give him incineration by Reaper fire any day over the slow death of starvation stuck inside a concrete wall. He helped the rest of his team through, before directing their attention to a section of wall about fifty feet away. At first glance it was made from the same worn concrete that the rest of the wall was constructed from, but on closer inspection a set of seams witch depicted the outline of a small door became apparent. 

[color=steelblue]“Our door.”[/COLOR] He whispered, leading the team forwards. Cerberus surveillance wasn’t an issue, as they’d had their own specialists set the installation cameras onto a loop. There was actually relatively little defence infrastructure here. The compound’s greatest strength had been its secrecy, and now that it had lost that it was vulnerable. Anderson glanced at the clock on his omni-tool. They were just on time. [color=steelblue]“Open Sesame …”[/color]

No sooner had the last syllable left his mouth that was the door in front of them sliding open. Standing outlined in the open portal was a tall and lithe Turian female. 

[color=Steelblue]“Ladies and gentlemen, this here is Alria “Angel” Vicrinus. She’s with us. Good work Angel.”[/color] Anderson had met Angel during his time running N7 Special Operations during the Reaper wars, and when he’d heard that he’d be running this Task Force she was one of the first people he had wanted at his side. Luckily Aegon had signed off on her. They’d sent her ahead earlier to disable as much of the installations security as possible, and it looked like she’d done her usual sterling work. No time for handing out medals yet though.

He led the team just inside the installation, which with its reliance on steel grated floors, high beam work lights, scattered grates, and eggshell painted walls, could have been the inside of any other Cerberus base in the galaxy. When those guys paid for architects, they got their monies worth. The Staff Lieutenant darted down several corridors, working from memory of the blueprints he had studied with Aegon, and relying on his quick reflexes and senses to warn him if any Cerberus personal were near bye. This section seemed to be empty though. Eventually he found what he was searching for. 

The corridor he had been working his way down opened onto a large, wide hall. He ducked behind a stack of crates to peer into the hall, taking in the wide open central space. The wall opposite him, some thirty feet distant, housed a whole system of databanks. Between the databanks and his position was a large raised dais, about three feet off the ground and home to six rows of heavy desks, computer terminals sitting atop them. There were what looked like Cerberus scientists working at those terminals, but thankfully they all had their backs to him and his team. Around the perimeter of the hall was a walkway of raised balcony’s, fifteen feet high with ladders leading up to them just next to the doorway he was spying the room from. Other than the door he was hidden by there was seven other entrances into the room, three on this level, four on the one above, one door in each corner. He spotted at least six LOKI Mechs dotted next to the databanks, set in their off position for now, but liable to change soon.

[color=Steelblue]“Ok people, we’ll hunker down here until Aegon’s team cause their diversion. Raye’s when it comes I want you to hack those data backs. Velinian, and Angel you move up and support him, keep those LOKI’s off his back. Rol, you and will hang back here, keep our avenue of escape open in case shit turns sour. Phalanx and Balak, see if you can’t set up a sniper position on that walkway above us. If everything goes to plan we wont actually run into any trouble, but I don’t want to take any chances.”[/color] He settled back to wait for Aegon’s attack to come, his heartbeat already quickening at the thought of the action to come. 

[color=Steelblue][i]I hope you’re watching Dad. I hope I make you proud.[/i][/color]