Kali paid the vague chatter little mind as she waited, standing silent and thoughtful with the tech team. It had not taken long for her to gather her meagre possessions; the spartan attitude towards belongings on the Flotilla had still not left her, a remnant of the childhood that now felt so very far away. It was difficult not to lose focus during the nerve-wracking wait for the Siame ship to appear - despite having steadied herself and dedicated herself to Siame's downfall, her inexperience still nagged at the back of her mind, and she felt out-of-place in a group like this. She spared the rest of the hacking team a glance, trying to gain some measure of those who may hold her life in their hands, and whose she may hold in hers, in but a short while.

Jaerdi and Mark; the guards and protectors. Unfortunately, she trusted them not even so far as she could spit - and with her visor obscuring her face, that was not far at all. Mark seemed a mercenary through and through, in this for his own benefit and nobody else's, and judging by Kosso and Tanya's reactions to his arrival Kali had no doubts that he would betray them if it suited him. By now, however, she was [i]fairly[/i] used to dealing with morally ambiguous characters with a penchant for looking out for numero uno alone-o – living on Omega had taught her something, at least. Jaerdi was a somewhat different creature. The air and essence of ice hung behind wherever he went, professional and yet menacing and implacable in said menace. The callous disregard with which he had suggested "mishaps" for the locals on Cartagena, the very folk Kali was here to protect, chilled and angered her, and she had little doubt that he was involved in the bloody and brutal firefight raging all-too-conveniently on the other side of the station. Disgusted, she averted her eyes – though she did so silently, without comment.

Her fellow techies inspired at least a little more confidence. Although Kali's general fondness for turians and their civic-oriented mentality may or may not apply in the exceptional case of Aran Nykerius, she could rely at the very least on his professionalism. An information broker did not, [i]could[/i] not last long if their clients could not trust in them and their honesty – she thought it unlikely that Sleuth would turn on them and damage his trustworthy reputation. As for Loral... seeing a fellow quarian after spending so long among aliens, humans and turians and vorcha and volus, was thrilling and carried a sweet taste of nostalgia with it. She had barely clapped eyes on another of her race in a long while, and though a voice in the back of her mind questioned the presence of an elder, unlikely to be on his Pilgrimage, in an area of space in which the Flotilla would have little interest, her excitement drowned out her caution. The strong community bonds Kali's people form had been a keenly-felt absence in her life of late – and now, as uncertain as she was about the crew, she craved something concrete, something [i]familiar[/i], among so much that was strange and shaky. Kali had to fight not to stare at him, though she knew nobody would be likely to see her gaze behind the visor, afire with curiosity.

A splash of colour briefly drew her attention away, to the other group, and the sight was so bizarre that she had to hold back a faint chuckle. [i]A tie dye shirt, really?[/i] Daryna - the other odd duckling, along with Kali herself - seemed similarly misplaced, but also seemed to lack the self-awareness to pick up on that. She looked faintly ridiculous in her colourful attire, and Kali resolved to keep an eye on her. Some few of the crew were as sharks; more than simply being on the wrong side of the law, they seemed vicious and cunning, and Kali felt it would be all too easy for anyone as seemingly clueless as Daryna to get in far over their heads.

[i]Then again[/i], she thought, her mind turning inwards, [i]what am I right now, if not in over my head[/i]? Despite training and warnings prior to her departure from the Flotilla, she had never been prepared for something like this. Kali naturally tended towards introspection in quiet moments, and it was doing her no favours now, only filling her with doubts. In fact, it never seemed to do her much good - with a small and hidden smile, she reflected that she would not even be involved in this madness in the first place had she been any different. The doubts that trait brought up now plagued her, ever-present in the corners of her mind, whispering – and she could feel a slight tremor in her hands, the only remaining outward show of her nervousness. She could only hope it was subtle enough that even sharp eyes wouldn't cut through her and see the uncertainty at her core.

She was snapped out of her reverie by a voice addressing her – time to go. It was only for a moment that she froze, but freeze she did, before following the others out of the hangar and heading towards the terminal Sleuth had determined they needed to access.

___________________________________________

Her hands wouldn't stop shaking. She stared at them for a moment, willing them to steady, but her body defied her. She had but one task, delegated by Sleuth, challenging but not nearly beyond her ability. And yet her hands would not stop shaking. It was the knowledge that even now, either her new allies or Siame soldiers were screaming, shooting, bleeding and dying. She had been close to death before, but never involved with the cause. She had not expected it to affect her so.

It took a deep, long breath to calm herself. Putting the thought of the fighting aside, she thought back to long days spent on her research in her little apartment in Omega – constructing and deconstructing, coding and coding and coding, programming, attempting to understand more and more about artificial intelligence. She thought back to days spent on the Flotilla, learning the ins and outs of computer systems aboard the Stalingrad, hacking into them over and over, finding as many loopholes as she could, and with a glance at Loral she could almost believe she were back home. 

And suddenly, she saw what she needed to do, and her fingers were flying across her too-expensive omni-tool, and she felt certainty flood her again. This was what she did and loved and knew, after all. This was what she had come to the Terminus systems for – and furthermore, this sense of life and excitement was what she wanted to preserve by fighting Siame, wasn't it? Kali smiled to herself as her 'tool flickered green, speaking with confidence. “I'm done, Sleuth.”