[i]On Board the Caelestis,
Omega

Captain’s Quarters[/i]

It had been a solid hour since the group had returned from their mission; it had only been a slight success. The captive woman, whose name had turned out to be Rebekkah, had left her place of torture missing three fingers, half an ear - but with her life. Their doctor, Satka, had done all that he could until the woman was escorted away by Lauren and the other gentleman - leaving a substantial transfer of credits to Naryxa for the promise of her silence. 

[i]Had it been worth it?[/i]

The Asari sighed as she tapped her fingers across her omni-tool to share the credits equally amongst the rescue team. She left none for herself, she didn’t deserve the reward for the danger that they’d come into. 

It had been Sabinus who had debriefed her on the firefight he and Iryk had been part of, and a knot formed in her stomach as she thought of all the ways that the whole situation could have gone wrong. She’d only just met her new squad and she’d led them into the Heart of Evil. She groaned, rolling her shoulder forwards as she felt a dull ache in there. She had found herself charging square into a door frame on the escape out, working so hard to balance Rebekkah, and keep Satka safe, she hadn’t been watching for herself. 

Hopefully the mercenaries would appreciate the clink of cold cash in their accounts for the trouble and that would be it. 

“Get me off this station,” she sighed before pulling her jacket back around her torso to step out onto the bridge once more. It was time to reveal why they were all here.

[hr]

Once more upon the bridge, the new faces gathered around. This time, the Pilot looked more alive than he had been earlier in the day. Coffee and sandwiches had restored the colour to his palid features. 

Not one to mince his words by any means, he took the opportunity to speak first, raising a brow at the Drell. “Ye look like shit son,” he scoffed - there was very little malice in the meaning, just a poor attempt to warm the crowd. A sharp look from Naryxa had him back down quickly enough. 

“It’s been a long afternoon. Thank you, for those of you who accompanied me -- you’ll have received a payment now,” she explained, her height imposing as she stood upon the steps of the bridge in a powerful stance fit only for a captain. 

“That was only part of the job, and if each of you are as loyal, smart, and sharp as you were today - I have hope for the weeks ahead, and for the success of the true mission.”

“We’re to travel to the Exodus Cluster, specifically to the Asgard System. A friend of a friend of a friend of mine shared a distress signal with me exactly one week ago.” She held up her omni-tool, and moved quickly through the configurations to find draw up the file. “Alright, this is it.”

[right][i]
In the silence, a series of beeps played out in a slow rhythm, one by one, and they played out for almost too long before a loud click interrupted.

Then another click.

And another, louder than the last. While the beeping was methodical, the clicks were random - and completely without any kind of pattern, there was a light static that happened to be sandwiched between each strange sound, and was then - from nowhere, and with no cause, a woman’s voice was heard, yet much of what she said was lost behind the clicks and muffled in the ringing static. 

“..’ve been here for days in the dark.”

The clicking continued, distorting and drowning out the speech.

“Supplies. It’s so cold. -- Lost”

A rumble of hearty bass took over the clicking.

“Three. Seven. Thirteen.”

Another sound joined the strange little orchestra of clicking and rumbling, a sharp scraping - like a large metal lid being turned over it’s rusty rim. The volume was loud, and Naryxa winced for a moment. The unpleasant chill seemed to catch her each time she’d listened to the recording. 

“The cache is safe. We need help.”

The woman stopped speaking again, but her breathing could be heard. Shallow and fast breaths as some kind of panic stepped in.

And then nothing. Dead air that dragged on, and on, and on. Until the beeping began again.[/i]
[/right]

Naryxa left it all to sink in for a moment, before flicking another button that would have the transmission sent to them individually, if they wanted to spend some time with the message in a quieter area. She assumed that Delilah would want to play with the file itself; she would likely have the skills to alter the sounds and uncover anything else. 

“We’re going to help these people next,” Naryxa stated with a small smile. “These kinds of transmissions are rare, we’re probably looking at a transport cruiser. But you heard her,” her cold gaze found the Vorcha; “there’s a cache on the ship that’s valuable enough to talk about it’s safekeeping.” 

As she began down the steps, she nodded. “It won’t be easy, and this is your opportunity before we leave to make your decision. This could be dangerous, so if you’re not up to it, there are no hard feelings. But we leave for Exodus in an hour, so make up your minds.”