[center][h2][i]Introductions: V[/i][/h2][/center] [hr] Featuring: [@Lauder], [@Monochromatic Rainbow] [hr] “Four hundred and sixty three.” Came a tired grunt from the floor of the small, cramped, windowless room. “Four hundred and sixty four.” It continued. “Four hundred and sixty five. Four hundred and sixty six.” Locked within her room - no, her cell, Mckenna Anderson could do little but browse the contents of a personal computer she had been permitted to keep, and exercise. The room’s interior was spartan, the bed not even furnished with linens or a cushion. The clean, sterile lighting reminded her unpleasantly of the lab on Turgix. The smell was different, the stench of blood, bone, and death did not hang in the air, and for that she was grateful. The walls were not that horrid, crisp whiteness. But all the same, it brought her back to that time - and so to escape it, she had begun exercising. Sweat beaded around her eyes and mouth, dripping onto the floor as she counted up to five hundred. Pushups, squats, lunges - these were all almost pointless with synthetic limbs, leaving her more time to focus on the core body exercises. It did not mind if what muscles remained screamed at her to stop, as long as it deadened the other screams brought on by this room. The door to the cell shifted open as she had completed more of her exercise, the form of a short Quarian girl who was on her Omni-Tool. The orange glow of the tool reflected off her visor and suit before she finally looked up to look at the mostly synthetic human though not saying anything. The hands that were previously typing on the material had stopped moving and it was clear that the Quarian was staring at Mckenna in silence. Her hands remained unmoving as the orange hue of the Omni-Tool suddenly shut off, continuing to stare at the human for the few silent moments. “Erm-,” the voice of the Quarian came through, finally albeit somewhat nervously, “I am Sosa’Numos nar Suram.” “Four hundred and ninety thr-” Mckenna stopped midsyllable, looking up from her position on the floor with a curious expression on her face. “Yes.” She murmured, after a moment’s pause, raising an eyebrow at Sosa’Numos. “Sosa’Numos nar Suram. Ship’s captain. Officer of C-Sec. I have read your file - what I was permitted access to, anyway.” She stood up from the floor, “My apologies for the state of the room and myself. I…” She trailed off, “I don’t know if it was intentional to forget delivering bedsheets or anything else to me, but all the same.” She pulled a discarded article of clothing from the bed, slipping the prison uniform’s top back on. “My apologies, as well, for being dressed like this. I wasn’t expecting anyone to come and visit me.” “To cut straight to the nub of the matter. I do not know exactly what has been provided to you or the rest of the crew. But I will assure you I am committed to the mission, and I pose no threat to anyone on board unless that person in turn means me ill.” She paused, then added, “Please do take a seat, if you are not planning to leave right away. Though I do understand, if you are.” “I- erm,” Sosa’Numos began, watching as Mckenna put on the one article of clothing before forcing herself back to her senses, making sure that she could keep her false side going for the time being. She took a breath as she stepped into the room and folded her arms behind her back as she straightened her posture as much as she could to maintain an air of professionalism that would be expected of a captain, and of C-Sec. The quarian kept her distance from Mckenna, standing perfectly still on her side of the room as she inspected the quarters briefly. “I came by because I was meeting the crew that would be under me, so I have time to talk,” she stated happily, hopping a single time on her toes as she spoke to Mckenna. It would seem that her general air of innocence and her normal bubbly nature took control of the room for the time being. Mckenna’s eyebrows raised in mild surprise. The Captain was far more… energetic, than she had expected. While the possibility of her attitude being genuine of course existed, she doubted one would reach such a position through being completely open and free of guile. “Yes, of course.” She replied, looking Sosa’Numos over with an analytical gaze. “Of course, I am not a true member of the crew as it stands. More like, property, a tool being leased out to be tested. Attractive captain aside, I have no illusions that anyone on this ship will see me as some comrade to get to know. You want to get a better feeling for what I am capable of, yes? Or did you simply come to watch me exercise?” Even through the helmet, it was clear that the captain had flinched at the statement as she nervously bobbed in place. She took a deep breath in and opted to ignore the last suggestion as to why she was here, not wanting to focus on such thoughts for the time being. Sosa’Numos forced herself to stare down the other woman and, for a brief moment, let her false attitude drop as she mentally cleansed herself. “I do not believe you to be [i]just[/i] a tool. After all, the last time my people used something sentient like a tool we lost our homeworld,” Sosa’Numos stated, her form unmoving. “I came because I wanted to get to know my crew. After all, it is good to know the people I’ll be working with,” the captain said, keeping her happy tone going. “I did not claim you yourself believed me to be a tool, or some inanimate object to be used of without concern for its wishes - but that is what I am to C-Sec and the Spectre program. A tool to be made use of or disposed. I would be dead had I not agreed to this assignment, the threat of death still hangs over me should I anger the handler too greatly. I can be disposed of in a single instant if I do not do exactly as desired. Is that not what a tool is?” Mckenna folded her arms. “I do not mean to be hostile to you, captain. But I have done things from which there is no return.” Mckenna sighed, taking a seat on her bed, removing the coat from her shoulders - once more exposing bare skin and cybernetics alike. “I hope you do not mind if I take this back off. I would prefer not to think of C-Sec’s holding cells more than I have to, while living in another.” Turning her attention back to Sosa, she met the nearly indistinguishable spots behind the visor where she knew the quarian’s eyes were. “Even if you do not view me as a tool - and I will reserve judgement on whether or not I believe such for now, I pray you do not mind - those higher in the ranks than us [i]do[/i]. Perhaps I deserve it? Who knows - I’ll answer your questions. You wish to know who you’ll be spending time on board this ship with, what she can do, what liabilities or risks she poses. Be honest, please. If you wish for me to believe you are honest in viewing me as still a person, after whatever you have read, then be honest now and admit you are here to understand what I can be used for, not because you want a friend or comrade.” A moment of silence passed as Sosa’Numos stared down the augmented human before she broke the silence with an apt choice of words, “Were you actually near five hundred crunches?” Mckenna’s expression cracked into a genuine smile as she laughed, genuinely laughed, for the first time in years. “Yes, captain, yes I was. I was working to beat my record of one thousand and sixty three. Little else to do in here but exercise, and it’s not like it’ll do much for these.” She said, gesturing to the synthetic nanofiber muscles of her arm. “Keelah, a thousand?” Sosa’Numos echoed in a tad bit of innocent shock before she tilted her head to the side. She took a step towards Mckenna, clearly looking at the false muscle and while her visor tended to block where she was looking, she was very evidently staring at the synthetic arms. The Quarian looked back up to Mckenna’s face before letting out a light sigh, saying, “I didn’t know they made synthetic muscle looks so… muscular.” Mckenna quirked an eyebrow, smiling. “They don’t, usually. I did.” A few taps at her omni-tool brought up a set of schematics, “My own designs, fabricated by me. Paid for by someone else, admittedly. Some cybernetics use hydraulics - crude things, they are. These emulate the function of the basic human muscular system but using different, much stronger materials, are able to exert a force potentially orders of magnitude greater than that of standard organic muscle tissue.” She frowned, “A friend of mine was attempting to modify the technique for use with quarian nervous systems, come to think of it. I don’t know if she ever found any success, though.” “So, sort of like the Geth’s synthetic muscle tissue, then? Just more natural looking, of course,” the captain inquired, thinking of Seraphim's frame and the Geth’s synthetic nature in general for a brief moment. Sosa’Numos walked up to Mckeena, looking at the synthetic muscle for a second before she knelt down. Her helmeted head looked to Mckenna’s before asking, “Do you mind if I touch your muscle?” The smile grew wider, and the laugh returned. “Which ones would those be?” She asked, winking playfully, “No, of course I don’t mind. Examine at your leisure. I have technical documents I can share if you wish to read them, as well.” Accordingly, Mckenna held out her left arm, palm facing upwards to the ceiling. “Be my guest.” The Quarian reached a hand out, her fingers gliding over the muscles as Sosa’Numos began to feel them in their entirety, eventually wrapping her hand around it as much as she could. She let this happen for a few silent moments, the muscles were hard and unnatural though very much different to the synthetic muscle to the Geth, who had muscle similar to that of organics. A single sharp breath was taken in as she brought her hand away from McKenna’s muscles despite clearly wanting to feel more of it. Sosa’Numos looked back over ath Mckenna before stating, “I’d love to see those technical documents. If there is one thing I love, it is information.” “Naturally, captain. I may not be the shadow broker, but I do have plenty of information to share - even if, granted, most of it is technical documents or strange pirate radio broadcasts from the Terminus Systems.” Mckenna tapped at her omni-tool for a second, before looking back to Sosa’Numos. “The files should be waiting for you on your return, captain.” She answered. “You think you have plenty of information?” Sosa’Numos asked, standing up from her position before letting out a bit of a smug chuckle, “You have yet to see my track record, Ms. Anderson.” The captain turned to leave the room, walking away from McKeena, though stopping at the door and booking back at the other. She let out a sigh before speaking once more, “If you need anything, Ms. Anderson, let me know. I don’t want you to see this as a cell.” After those few words, Sosa’Numos turned and left Mckenna to her own devices. After a moment, as she felt the room descend back into the dull hum of the ship and the return to the oppressive stillness of an empty room, Mckenna sat, pensive, reflecting on the conversation. The Quarian had been… interesting, that much was for sure. How much of her demeanor was real and how much as a facade was yet to be determined, but now at least she knew it would not be naught but career C-Sec officers. As she laid back in her bed, she grinned. “Maybe this assignment won’t be so bad.”