Sundered Echo — Roleplayer Guild

Nos Parnello

Arleya T’kana was on cleanup duty today. One of the many affiliates that regularly sold information to Mr. Zhar had decided to cut him out of this particular sale. Neither Zhar or Arleya knew why, but it didn’t matter. A point had to be made. This time it was her turn to pay the man a visit, and so she now found herself walking up to an obscure little bar in the deserted streets of one of the few still reasonably pleasant areas of Nos Parnello. She had a heavy pistol in hand, but this wasn’t really a combat operation so she had only worn a fairly unassuming outfit that she didn’t mind getting blood on.

Pushing the door open, it took only a moment to take stock of the room. The bar was almost empty - only her target and his two bodyguards were present, all human as well as a lonesome salarian bartender. With one hand she raised her pistol, and with the other made a lifting motion - the somatic trigger for one of her Biotic abilities. With a surge of blue light and the sound of the laws of physics being broken, the three humans were lifted from the air to float helplessly. Smoothly tracking the rising forms with her pistol, she fired one quick shot into each of the bodyguards chests even as she kept advancing. The gun was loaded with expensive Proton rounds that rendered most lighter shielding irrelevant while still providing sufficient force to kill.

From the corner of her eye she noticed the bartender had retrieved a gun from under the bar and was beginning to aim it. Another smooth re-aiming of her own weapon, with only a glance to check the target, and two rounds had passed through his unarmoured chest and splattered green blood all over the wall behind. Her target, a human by the name of Wilson, was clawing at the air in a vain attempt to escape her biotic field and flee. She found the sight rather amusing and would’ve laughed at his misfortune if she wasn’t so eager to get back to Nos Astra. Instead she just raised the pistol and shot him in the knee before releasing the biotic field to let him fall heavily to the ground. He screamed in pain, but she ignored it. She wasn’t about to waste good medi-gel on this man. She holstered the gun and dragged the poor man up onto a seat and tying his hands behind him before taking one herself. One thing she and Zhar had in common was their preference for civility wherever possible.

She casually used her biotics to pull a bottle of Volus alcohol from the shelf behind the bar and into her hand. While Wilson was still groaning with pain, she poured a glass and sipped it. It was terrible. She grimaced as she swallowed it and quickly put the cup down. The sound of the glass on the table must’ve pulled Wilson to his senses, as he managed a pained “I haven’t done anything!” Typical Wilson. He may be good at acquiring information but he was always a bit of a coward. “Yes mister Wilson, this visit is all about what you haven’t done.” Arleya said condescendingly, leaning back in her chair. He put on a bewildered look. “What you haven’t done, is sell Mr. Zhar the information he asked for.” His face took on, somehow, an even greater degree of terror than before. “I was going to I swear!” He managed through gritted teeth. “Perhaps, but you’re missing the point. You were seen trying to sell the information to someone else first. The patron of the Lonely Spacer wasn’t it? Thought you might make a stop on the way and get a bit of extra cash? Not your smartest move Wilson.” He remained silent and shook his head. She didn’t bother speaking more. Instead she picked up the glass and poured the terrible alcohol onto the mans wounded knee. Another half scream, half groan of pain escaped him.

“I certainly hope this is a good piece of information Wilson. It’d really be a shame to have wasted my time.” She said to encourage a response. “Alright alright!” he finally gave in. “I’ll tell what I know!” Arleya just looked at him with an expectant expression. “The major groups after the artifact are Riptide, The Red Phoenix and The Legion… Jason Daxx has taken an interest too… There were a few smaller ones like Bretin’s raiders, but they didn’t make it. Please… Thats all I know…”

Arleya was rather disappointed that she had made the trip for such a paltry piece of intel. Also disappointed that Wilson had given it up so easy and then proceeded to beg. “Are we done?” He said pathetically. Arleya stood up from her chair and said “Yes, we’re done.” He seemed to relax then, believing himself out of danger. Evidently his idea of ‘being done’ was different to hers. His loss. She quickly raised her gun again and shot him four times in the chest before promptly turning on her heel and leaving the bar.

Zhar Tower, several hours later…

Khel Zhar was standing before a large holo-projected screen on which all the current information about the Prothean Artifact and the factions hunting it was displayed. He was presently deciding who to provide support for in the opening moves of the grand game. The Alliance with Halios was a long term play, they were a far more passive force than some of the factions that had become involved. They’d come in use once the more militant groups had exhausted themselves against each other.right now though, Zhar planned to back one of those groups, just enough to give them the edge. He would feed them with intel that might make them more predictable, though with the groups involved, predictability would be an unfortunately rather rare commodity.

Riptide was a respectable organisation, with just the right mix of morals and effectiveness. Unfortunately, they were also his rivals. Not to mention two out of three of their governing trio were short lived and unpredictable, not versed in the subtleties of the game. They might be a viable ally if things got bad, and he’d try to avoid making them an enemy as Nadene, in his opinion was a skilled leader and had the potential to become a truly dangerous threat to him.

The Legion seemed fairly solid in modern times, and its leader was a respectable Asari. The only problem with them was that Tevura had a tendency to hold grudges and end them only with extremely drastic action. Zhar was leaning towards choosing to help them, though he would have to be careful to avoid irritating Tevura until he had some solid blackmail against her.

The Red Phoenix was never really an option for Zhar. They were too concerned with territory in his opinion, not to mention he just plain didn’t like either of the people that lead the group.

From there he went on to the other major concern.

“The council won’t be leaving this alone. They will send a Spectre, the only question is who…” Zhar gazed at the very short list of known Spectres for a moment or two. “It almost certainly won’t be Saren… Best Spectre he may be, but collateral damage is not on the agenda here I think. Tela might get involved, but she still doesn’t fit this task perfectly…” From behind him Arleya’s voice joined in the speculation. “Seyena T’rana, the newest Asari Spectre, might be a choice. She is quite in favour right now from what I hear.” Zhar touched her name in the list, bringing up what little intel they had managed to gather on her. “Possibly, but her fondness of law and rules might get in the way so far into the Terminus. No matter, I’m sure we will find out soon enough. In the mean time, I need you to set our agents in motion to find out as much as you can about Tevura. I shall be busy negotiating with her.”

Ingrid woke from her memory-sharing with Vanja abruptly upon hearing the sound of a sort of klaxxon, a siren. Someone, she could not quite tell who, spoke over the intercom. She still had a headache from the sudden intrusion of Vanja into her body. From the memories the Tok’ra had shared with her, she knew that would pass fairly soon, once her body adapted. The words “All crew must report to their quarters immediately! Repeat, All crew must report to their quarters! ” blared out over the intercom. Since she already was in her quarters, she did not worry, though she did wonder a bit on what it was all about. Was it the body of the scientist, Ylva? Or was it something else? She didn’t like knowing, but when the military started issuing orders like that, she knew better than to argue with them. She sensed that Vanja really wanted to know, but she firmly pushed that curiosity down.

With events having taken the unfortunate turn they did, Ariadne rapidly decided that waiting on the bridge for events to unfold without her was unacceptable. Despite technically being a traitor herself, she had no capacity to tolerate betrayal from within the ranks, a trait she shared with Idalia, though for different reasons. Right now, it was slightly less because of a holdover mentality from ruling as a Goa’uld, and more because as far as either of them were concerned, every Tau’ri on this ship had only the best intentions for each other and the wider galaxy. That any one of them could sabotage the ship with the intent to bring death to themselves and their fellow crew was abhorrent. Unlike when she commanded Jaffa or when she knew everyone in the village though, here, she had no idea who could possibly be the traitor. She would have to rely on another to find that out. “Captain.” She said quickly, a harsh tone in her voice. “I will begin an investigation to locate the Shol’va immediately.” With that, she stormed off the bridge, one of the bridge guards falling in behind her as she did.

She had decided precisely who to see about this mess by the time she had reached the elevator, and wasted no time punching in both the right deck and her override code for the lockdown. By the time she reached Ingrids quarters, both host and symbiote were exceedingly unhappy, doing their best to avoid directing their feelings at their current target until proof was obtained. Another override code and the door opened for her and she stepped in. “Tell me who would have the capacity to sabotage the ship like this!” She hardly bothered to conceal her feelings on the subject. The head scientist would hopefully understand.

Ingrid was rather shocked when the door to her quarters burst open and the person started shouting immediately in a Tok’ra voice. Vanja in particular seemed almost terrified. She had taken what Vanja had called a “naquadah inhibitor” not much earlier, but it might not have taken full effect yet. Though the woman was several centimeters shorter than her, it felt more like she was a giant from her bearing and the command in her voice. Ingrid thought for a few moments before answering. “Sabotage? What kind of sabotage? The answer to your question is reliant upon the exact nature of the sabotage, answer me that, and I can help you narrow the list of suspects.” She thought on the typical military officer attitude and presumed that this woman thought the same way, and assumed anyone was a suspect until proven not to be.

“That” Ariadne said as she covered the short distance between the door and the sitting form of Ingrid. “Is what you are going to tell me.” While it was somewhat shameful for her to admit being so in the dark, especially in the technological area, it was thankfully a feeling her host did not share, and so pushed aside with relative ease. She grasped the Tau’ri woman by the shoulder, going to pull her up to her feet. This was no time for laziness or slow reactions. The motion was stopped for just a moment as a familiar surge ran up her arm with the touch. Just for a moment, it felt as if she were touching another Tok’ra. She narrowed her eyes, but the feeling was gone almost as quickly as it had arrived, and Ariadne carried out the motion of pulling the other woman firmly to her feet. “We do not have time to waste. If this is a Lucian Alliance ploy, they may not stop with the existing sabotage.” She had calmed a little now that she was in motion, but still retained a sense of urgency in her voice.

Since Ingrid could not get the answer she had hoped for, she found herself needing to ask outright. “I cannot stop it until I have even a rough idea of what is wrong. Knowing what they have done can give an idea of what they might do next. Were any specific systems affected? Was it a combat system? Life support? Structural? Related to the Stargate? One of the Asgard systems? Some other system?” Inside her, Vanja shivered when the woman, the Tok’ra touched her. The feeling was quite unfamiliar to her, but she could feel Vanja’s understanding. And there was something odd, some odd sense while being close to the Tok’ra. She did not understand it.

“I know that our weapons ceased to function at a crucial moment in combat. I doubt this is the limit of the sabotage, and I need you to both ascertain if any more sabotage has been carried out and repair it. After you give me the list.” Ariadne spelled it out clearly for the Tau’ri. She was used to not having to give such specific orders - she had always commanded her Jaffa on a grand scale and expected her First Prime and other commanders to handle minutia. Excepting when she took to the field of course. And Idalia’s skill set was more about motivating people to act of their own accord than actual command. All of this meant her patience was already running thin, and she made that fact clear with her tone.

“Weapons sabotage. Hmm… I presume you mean the Asgard beam weapons, and not the missiles or railguns?” When the Tok’ra nodded to the question, Ingrid finally had something to build a theory from. “That level of sabotage is of a much higher level than most, which is both fortunate and unfortunate. Fortunate in that you can cut away most of your list, but unfortunate in that they can sabotage even more. That particular system cannot be accessed by just anyone, let alone be modified by just anyone.” Ingrid then pulled out a datapad from the drawer beside her bed. Quickly entering her access codes and biometrics she accessed the system logs, filtering it for just anyone or anything accessing the core of the asgard systems, the actual software behind the technology. Even if the guilty party covered his or her tracks, there would be some trace. All changes to the system code, even just a single entry, was recorded. “You’ll find your candidate here. If one of my assistants can be brought in, I can have him start a trace on the access entries that aren’t linked to a specific person. Unless our saboteur is a fool, or is considered expendable by his (or her) masters, he, or she, will have covered those tracks.” Ingrid smiled a little now. “One fortunate part about this. So long as no part of the Asgard system is physically damaged, it should be easy to repair. Even then, it might be quickly repaired. The Asgard core is fully capable of producing any spare parts we could need. All we have to do is identify the time the sabotage happened and revert that change.”

“Then let us not waste time.” She said, stepping aside and motioning to the door. “I will escort you to the Asgard core.” When Ingrid had left the room she followed closely behind. She momentarily gave control over to Idalia while they walked and focused on clearing her mind and sensing the presence of Naquadah. The fact that some ship components used it sometimes confused matters, but she would be able to distinguish the sense of a symbiote in such close proximity. if she was able to sense that feeling again, the extremely high security room with the Asgard core would prove an excellent location to confront Ingrid… Or whoever was controlling her. Otherwise, she would proceed with the plan to identify the traitor and repair the ship.

As they moved through the ship, Ingrid could feel how different the air felt. It was not due to Vanja, though that too changed the feel, but rather due to the tension all around. The fact that someone had not only sabotaged the ship, but also sabotaged such a complex system was not something anyone should take lightly. Not having been introduced, she did not know who this Tok’ra was. Vanja in turn did not know either, something that bothered her quite a lot. Nor did she know whether she had been detected. The ability to sense Naquadah wasn’t all that well-researched or understood. Even the concept of Naquadah dampeners was a bit hard to understand. From what she understood, it hid the signature, yet it did not truly mess with the biochemistry. Naquadah-keyed technology still worked.

The ship’s corridors were virtually empty. In a few places, like near elevators and key intersections, there were groups of unusually well-armed soldiers. In the weeks she’d been on the ship, it had been rare to see armed men standing around at all. She wasn’t sure she liked the change, but on another hand, it did make her feel somewhat safer. After all, someone had killed Vanja’s former host, Ylva, far too easily. When they finally got to the Asgard Core room, she saw that there were several soldiers standing watch outside it. The Tok’ra used her access card to override the room lockdown and the two of them stepped inside, leaving their escort outside as the door closed and sealed shut again.

Once inside the Asgard core room, Ariadne took back control of her body and waited a moment while the other woman began to manipulate the controls of the core. She had not been able to clearly sense the signature of another symbiote yet, but being in this woman's presence was undeniably different to the usual sense of the ships Naquadah. She slowly and silently unclipped the strap holding her Zat secure in its arm holster and reached forward with that arm. Biologically speaking, the Naquadah in a host was most concentrated next to its source - the symbiote. That meant a touch of the neck would always give the strongest feeling of sensing the metal in another human. She stepped close to look over Ingrids shoulder so that it might be construed as an accident if it turned out to be nothing, and brushed her fingers against the back of ingrids neck.

The surging sense of Naquadah was easily strong enough at that moment for her to tell with surety. She leapt back and drew her Zat in one motion, aiming the weapon squarely at the person who she had thought was Ingrid. If the scientist hadn’t noticed any of the previous, she would certainly recognise the distinctive sound of Zat extending into its active state. “One wrong move and you will next wake up in the extraction center.[/]” She spoke with a cold edge in her voice. This had to be a Goa’uld. No Tok’ra operatives were being used against the Tau’ri at this time, and with her onboard the Langford they would not need a covert operative even if they wanted one. “[i]Tell me who you are.”

To say that both Ingrid and Vanja were shocked would be putting it mildly. She slowly turned around, revealing that she held no weapon of her own, that she was no threat. Vanja took control, and as shocked as Ingrid was, she was actually pleased with it. “Hol mel! I have no weapon. I offer you no threat. You name yourself first, then I will identify myself.” Vanja assumed a posture of self-suredness, almost as if she had some secret card. Which technically, she did. Her Tok’ra ID, to be exact.

Ariadne narrowed her eyes for a moment, keeping a close eye on the imposters hands. Finding herself unprepared and facing a hara’kesh would be unfortunate - and likely final. Keeping her weapon aimed, she eventually deigned to identify herself. “I am Ariadne of Shayet. My host is Idalia of Shayet. I am the Tok’ra attache and first officer aboard this ship. My loyalty is not in question. Now identify yourself or face extraction.” Some beings made dire threats in the hope of persuading the opponent, but Ariadne was not only very much willing to carry it out, she relished the opportunity to rid her race of another dissenter.

‘A goa’uld traitor…’ Vanja thought with a touch of disgust. Not a true Tok’ra. She quickly thought out what little she knew of this ex-goa’uld from its name, which wasn’t much. A former minion of Ra, with several having held the same name over the eons. Not very powerful, but effective at staying alive. She would have liked to know more, but she did not. The one thing she did know was that this “Ariadne” had not joined the Tok’ra when she left on her mission. Ra’s lesser minions had been of little concern to her before the mission, and even less so during it. “Very well. You had the guts to identify yourself, so it is only fair I do the same.” She breathed deeply before continuing. What she was about to reveal, she had not spoken of to anyone in over a decade and a half. Revealing a secret held that long was no light gesture. “My name, is Vanja of the Tok’ra, Ex-high council member. My host is Ingrid Berg, a Tau’ri of noble heart. My mission was to learn of the Tau’ri. My last two hosts, may they rest in peace, were Ylva Falk, who was slain by a covert attack, and Mochán, slain by a Tau’ri criminal. If you want proof, see my identification.” Vanja then made a slow movement with her right hand, pulling on the chain around Ingrid’s neck, revealing her Tok’ra identification hanging from it.

Ariadne listened to the story told by ‘Vanja’ with no small degree of incredulity. Of course it wasn’t entirely unheard of for the High Council to do something like this, but that it would happen right here and right now? When she pulled the identification though, it seemed a little more plausible. Such a thing was not exactly easy to acquire. Still, there were some things that did not sit well with Ariadne. “To learn of the Tau’ri? You should have reported back to the high council long ago if that were the case.” She paused for a moment, but before Vanja had a chance to reply she continued. “Whether you tell the truth or not, it is still in your interest to keep this ship intact. Your host has the knowledge we need to do that.” She lowered her weapon slowly, reaching cautiously with her free hand to take the Tok’ra ID. “I will be checking this with the high council. If you are who you say you are, then you will not do anything rash, nor will you draw any attention to this fact. If not, rest assured, I will make sure you do not escape. Since it is unlikely for one of our kind to purposefully endanger their own life in any circumstance, I am inclined to believe there is another traitor aboard this ship. Your help in locating this person will help to prove your… story.”

“You will find everything is in order. My ID is old, nothing else. If I had been able to contact the Council, I would have. My mission was deep-cover. No contacting the council. Unfortunately, my host died and I was unable to report in a couple of times. As far as I have determined, the Council representatives presumed me dead. That was eight years ago. I have not been in touch with anyone other than Tau’ri since.” Vanja had no reason to lie to the other Tok’ra. Sure, she might not reveal everything, but she did not lie. “You will find the spy, and I will, with Ingrid’s help, solve any and all sabotage. The safety of this vessel is paramount.”

At that, Ariadne’s expression changed to an amused smile. “I am sure that, as Tok’ra, you can understand my disinclination to simply take your word as truth. We can at least agree on the safety of the ship.” With that, she holstered her Zat, though keeping an eye on Vanja for any sign of betrayal. She would be keeping a close eye on the other symbiote until she was certain of her identity, though in case she really was a Tok’ra deep cover agent she would not be reporting anything of this to the Tau’ri. No need to tell Vanja that yet though. “Let us return to work then.” She did not add any more threats, she did not need to. Whoever Vanja was, she seemed intelligent and skilled at infiltration, and would likely not be affected by such a thing.

Their discussion finished for now, Vanja let Ingrid have control again so that she could get started on the repairs. She in turn chose to start thinking on what the other Tok’ra had said, as well as possibilities for how sabotage could have been achieved. She kept a bit of attention directed at Ariadne, but mostly let Ingrid focus on her work.

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