“Pills?” Aparakis asks, confused, while his brother looks on in quiet desperation at the krogan-turian face-off. The Director then shrugs and turns towards the hologram again. “Wiras, be so kind as to bring up the district schematics.” The gray salarian complies in silence.

“Is this going to be a problem?” Mekelu asks in the meantime, looking at Vayex and then at Leryn. “Quarrel if you like, but if it makes you compromise the mission, we’ll consider it a breach of your contract.” He tries to make it sound as menacing as possible – which isn’t very, coming from him and directed at a krogan and a turian.

Aparakis coughs. “Your attention, please. There is a Blue Suns checkpoint at the entrance to the district. There is no real way to go around it unless you’re willing to brave the maintenance tunnels, which are themselves in a state of serious disrepair. I wouldn’t recommend this option to any of you except for Mr. Moss,” he glances at the vorcha, who remains silent, but nods in acknowledgement. “The rest of you would probably have to deal with the checkpoint. While it is quite defensible, there is of course no love lost between the Blue Suns and the Blood Pack. Perhaps this can be turned to your advantage, or maybe you could arrange some kind of distraction. What’s important is that it is unlikely that the two groups would coordinate their actions well.”

While he speaks, the hologram focuses on the entrance area of the slum, highlighting a large square room with plenty of cover, overlooked by a balcony. Presumably the main Blue Suns position would be up there. The nearest staircase that would take you to the higher level of which this balcony seems to be part is on the far side of the square room.

“After that, you have two options – not counting the maintenance tunnels. The high road and the low road. The upper level that stretches from that balcony onwards used to contain a squalid residential area, if you could call it that. It has been largely deserted over the decades, and is likewise in a rather bad shape. But if you’re willing to brave its various hazards, it might allow you to bypass most of the Blood Pack forces – or at any rate, to face them on your own terms as opposed to getting mobbed.” Aparakis pauses, blinks, then absent-mindedly consumes another pill. “The lower level includes a series of warehouses. It is rather more intact, and the Blood Pack is using one of those warehouses as a temporary base. You might be able to flank them by going from the upper level through one of the staircases. There may be some sniping opportunities from the staircases, but not from the upper level itself. I doubt it would be possible to sneak by the Blood Pack entirely, though – you would have to get down to the lower level at the end in order to get to the meeting place.” The salarian highlights the last staircase, at the far side of the Blood Pack-controlled warehouse.

“And lastly, there are the docks where the transaction itself is going to take place. I wouldn’t expect serious technical countermeasures anywhere else in the district – as you know, that isn’t the Blood Pack’s strongest suit, and the Blue Sun forces here aren’t the best-supported. There are balconies over the main dock area from which you could try and snipe, but getting in position may take some time. The details of how you want to approach this are up to you,” Aparakis concludes with a nod to Vayex.