Zombiedude101

Mass Effect: Borealis

@Dervish @Hellis @Sundered Echo @Bright_Ops @Heat @Mortarion @AeronFarron @Fallenreaper @Thundercrash @Rtron @DJAtomika @The Grey Warden

If anyone is interested in the collab with me I promise my nublet rping skills won't rub off ;~; I have this thursday feb 25 off if anybody is free then.

@Zombiedude101 If you're still interested in collabing, I would love to.

@DearTrickster

God dammit, it seems like tagging my name doesn't work like it's supposed to. But yeah, I'd be glad to do a collab with you. Are we gonna use piratepad or something? And as for Iosif's role in this, he sounds like the type to be in the support/retrieval team; a gunship or a shuttle would be handy to have on-hand.

Mass Effect: Borealis

Iosif kept quiet for the most part, yet the presence of the Batarian in the bridge soon caught his notice and was enough by itself to elicit a contemptuous glare whilst the interloper spoke with the pilot about the engine. "Excuse me, ran some scans on the main engine. It's solid but it would be best to not to put it under much stress. Thought I should let you know." No shit, Iosif thought, returning the batarian's subsequent glance towards him with a hard stare before they left the room.

"Fucking batarians," he muttered, reaching around to scratch at the barcode tattooed into the back of his neck. He wondered whether or not their guest had noticed that particular marking on him, but thought nothing of it; if anything, it was a clear warning that he'd dealt with the four-eyed bastards before and would do so again if necessary. Not exactly subtle, but effective enough.

Back to the matter at hand; he found that his partner on the bridge, Dex, seemed about as decent a pilot as he expected - most Turians were - and was glad to be reassured of that, especially on a vessel as ragged as the Borealis. Whilst she focussed on manoeuvring the vessel around Thail's orbit before pulling out of it, he made sure that everything else kept together and worked on tightening up the slack to a minimum to give Dex an easier time.

He jolted a little bit as he felt the ship escaping Thail's orbit, yet couldn't help but smile a little as they approached the relay.

“Approaching Mass Relay, engaging mass effect core. Preparing for relay jump.”

Damn, it felt good to be back into the swing of things.

Hitting the Omega Nebula, Iosif shared the turian pilot's sentiments when she left off a sigh; this vessel was hardly shipshape, as his great-great-grandfather would've probably said, yet it had done its job for now. All they had to do was keep an eye on the fuel gauge and and manoeuvre the Borealis through the dense asteroid field and they'd be good to go.

"There she is," he mused, taking in the front row view of the accursed station as it finally came into view. Somehow, he couldn't help but draw a twisted, ironic sense of nostalgia from the sight of that hellish glow; for all the shitty times that this place had brought, it also held that odd, fond memory of when his partnership had worked out, sans one backstabbing salarian bastard.

“This is Dexureta of the Borealis requesting permission to dock.” It was good to see she'd taken in his advice, judging by the comms hail with the Afterlife district's docking manager. "Permission granted, Borealis. Dock at Bay A4." It'd be about as close to neutral ground that they'd get.

"Attention all crew, we have docked successfully at the horrifically dingy Afterlife District. To your left you can see some prostitute giving a batarian a blowjob in the alley, while off to the right you can see some gang members, looks like Blood Pack, shaking down a local for protection money. Please step lightly while exiting, you might just trip over a dead body."

He couldn't help but quietly chuckle at Dex's in-flight commentary as they docked with the station, his gaze fixated on the console before him just in case anything popped up. Fortunately, nothing out of the ordinary showed up and he soon felt the Borealis come to a halt and the docking clamps attach themselves to the ship. As he got ready to climb out of his seat, he found that Dex was beating him to it. "’m going to slip into my armour, gents. Meet you three in the hangar."

"Yeah, see you." Iosif nodded, climbing out of the co-pilot's seat with a grunt. He recalled leaving his gear in the cargo bay, having deigned not to waste time grabbing a bunk earlier on and instead headed down to grab his gear nad find a space in a quiet corner of the quarters from where he could equip himself. It didn't take him long to slip all his gear on; his armour, the reliable M-8 Avenger, his M-6 Carnifex, which always packed a punch and the M-3 Predator that he kept concealed on his person; always good for close encounters that went bad.

For good measure, he also made sure he had the portable welder on his person; aside from being an all-around reliable tool, he'd seen first-hand on Aratoht that these things were lethal if you were willing to apply them to less-than-constructive purposes. Something else that always came in handy on Omega.

Just as he was halfway done gearing up, that same raspy, laboured voice that had sarcastically remarked about him in the bridge popped up over the comm-link and his own omni-tool.

"Alright children, gather round and listen up. My name is Mirage and I will be your tour guide today on the lovely garden-world known as Omega."

He'd noticed that the sarcasm hadn't changed. Humour wouldn't hurt, at least.

"Pay attention, because Mirage is good and Mirage is wise. Using my extensive deductive capabilities -- and by listening in on your conversations -- I've compiled a list of everything we need to do here."

That little snippet of information was handy; he made a mental note to make sure his omni-tool's security was up to spec and keep an eye on that one. Granted, he'd be working in the same space as the weakened turian, but he knew fully-well from experience that it was never wise to underestimate his type.

"First off; parts. We all know this ship is a rustbucket. If you can tell the wrong end from the right end of a wrench, please take responsibility."

That was true, at least. Depending on how things went, he considered that it might've been worth going along with the search party working on that front.

"We also need food. One of the other levo-based lifeforms on this vessel, please tag along."

Whilst dextro-amino food wasn't exactly his concern, he wasn't unfamiliar with the concept of doing a little shopping for it every once in a while. Rael had always been rather specific about what he ate whenever Iosif had been out to grab provisions, especially given how he had to ensure that said food was properly decontaminated to accomodate the boastful quarian's needs. Still, there was a single quarian onboard and a whole bunch of turians present to ensure that said matter was covered.

"We obviously also need fuel. Drono, you said something about weapon coolant? Whatever, it's on the list. Have fun."

Fuel was definitely something to consider. Weapon coolant and other assets necessary for keeping the ship running too. He made a memo to look into the matter himself if nobody else would.

"Also, in case any of you morons get shot, we need medical supplies."

Well, Iosif wasn't a doctor, but he knew how to patch himself up in a tight situation. Losing an arm had taught him that a little medi-gel could mean the difference between life and death. But as for the specialist supplies, that was outside his field of expertise.

“And last but not least, we need credits, which means we need work. Those of you with actual social skills, please apply. Check?”

There were plenty enough 'social' types on this ship to handle that front. Iosif wasn't exactly in the mood for haggling, either, so he opted to leave that to the others.

"Check. Now, since we're all adults, I'm going to assume you know how to work together; that goes for the humans too. Form groups and distribute the responsibilities. I was born and raised on Omega, so if you have any questions about where you need to go, whisper. Once you've formed the squads, let me know so I can assign you completely randomly generated call-signs. Mirage out."

Finished suiting up, Iosif did well to ensure that the barcode was covered up; whilst he wasn't planning on making an acquaintance with the likes of the four-eyed bastards who'd hauled him off to Aratoht, he figured it'd give him an easier time in the long run. Then, with that sorted, he headed down to the hangar to meet with the others only to find the krogan had paid a visit to the captain's quarters.

Arms folded, Iosif listened in quietly as the late Captain Luzami's recording was played out. Two wanted war criminals from the Skyllian Blitz, batarians if the names and circumstances were anything to go by. A feasible contract, by the sounds of it. Then, when it came down to introductions, he decided to be clear and concise.

"It's Sevchenko, Iosif Sevchenko. Like the rest, I've done my service with the Alliance as a pilot; gunships, shuttles, fighters; if it's lightweight and manoeuvrable I can get behind the cockpit without a problem. Bigger ships, I've got some experience with too; I'll be in the co-pilot's chair if I'm needed." He glanced towards the batarian for a moment. "Can handle myself in a firefight, too. And know how to be resourceful when resources are scarce. Ask the foreman on Aratoht if you want a reference." He opted not to mention much else for the time being, instead leaving them with that little remark. His gaze shifted over to Dex, whom he nodded towards. "I'll head with my pilot, Dex for the fuel. Make sure any other little things along the way get picked up whilst we're on it."

Mass Effect: Borealis

Looks like I've got a few days' worth of posts to catch up on.

Mass Effect: Borealis

Yo, I'll probably be a day or so later with my next post as it's my birthday, I'll be out a bit.

Mass Effect: Borealis

@DearTrickster @Zombiedude101@Hank

Serena will likely offer free upgrades and maintence on your arms and whatever mechanical thing you might need work on!

...she'll even do it quickly if you play chess with her.

@Rtron

I'd be wary about challenging Iosif at chess, heheh..

Mass Effect: Borealis

Hey @Zombiedude101...

We seem to have a bit of a color clash. You have Slate Blue while I have Medium Slate Blue. Kinda too close in shade...

@Sundered Echo

Sorry, didn't see this. I'll just switch to SteelBlue.

Mass Effect: Borealis

@Zombiedude101 Heyo, I was thinking if and when everybody arrives to Omega (assuming our dear GM's don't have anything up their sleeves) do you want to do a collab with me? I think Iosif and Dex have some pretty common ground. But if you have other plans maybe we can do it later on~

@DearTrickster

Sounds good with me.

Mass Effect: Borealis

"Yeah, we are. I'm the nav man. Name's Haze."

Iosif tossed a silent nod towards the navigator's general direction, making a mental note of the turian's name, 'Haze'. Then he caught wind of one of the others.

"That's right, human. You must be the token alien. I wonder if he'll suffice to meet our diversification quota,"

Iosif snorted at the respirator-bound turian's quip, amused by the notion. Up here, he was the alien. Well, not like that was a problem. Say what you would about turians; for all the rigid, orderly military structure that they were known for, he'd come to find that a lot of those who struck out into the freelance world had some serious smart-mouths - it seemed like this one was no exception. For the most part, he found it entertaining.

“Welcome to the bridge. You can give me your resume later, as of right now I’m going to need your help steadying this bulky beast. Thail’s gravity is going to be ridiculous.”

At that, his attention briefly shifted over to the pilot - who coincidentally shared the same taste in limbs - and nodded, before snapping back to the console before him. It'd been a while since he'd been behind the helm of a vessel of this size and so he was admittedly, a little rusty; nothing that a little co-ordination wouldn't have solved. Of course, it didn't help that the Borealis/Jalopy was far rustier than his slightly out-of-practice pilot skills and more difficult to manoeuvre, but a challenge like this would do him some good in the long run.

Professional as ever, he leaned forward and began plotting new information into the console, he did as he could to work with the pilot on manoeuvring around the gas giant - only barely paying attention to the ongoing discussion about Omega.

"As I told you, I have no desire to be shot. Now, unless there is anything else, I need to think."

From the sounds of it, none of them were particularly thrilled about heading back to that hive that epitomised the lawlessness of the Terminus Systems, though Iosif didn't exactly count himself among the skeptics. Sure, he'd had his bad days on this wretched hive of scum and villainy - losing one partner whilst the other betrayed the both of them among the shittiest of those bad days - yet he had no specific taboos about eing here. Worst case scenario, he ran into a few familiar four-eyed faces or a single, salarian face (though that wasn't exactly a bad thought), yet aside from that, as far as he was concerned this place was out to get him as much as anyone else, no more, no less. Still, he opted to raise his opinion on the matter, pitching in between manoeuvres.

"Could also see about docking near the Afterlife District, I guess. Technically it's neutral ground so long as the Queen's nest isn't kicked, might be worth seeing if there's any contracts to be picked up there, too."

Mass Effect: Borealis

And there's my post finally up.

Mass Effect: Borealis

Of all the things that Iosif had checked off on his 'expect the unexpected' register, this wasn't one of them. Well, it was half true - he'd harboured a few doubts about whether or not this Captain Luzai was actually going to follow through and upon seeing the rust-bucket that was the Borealis, he wondered whether this was part of some kind of elaborate scheme that salarians often liked to come up with - tricky bastards that they could be. No, what he hadn't expected was to find out he and the rest of this gathered crew had inherited the Captain's ship.

For a brief moment, he was almost tempted to see about selling or trading off his share of the ship whilst he could, cutting his losses there and then - yet something restrained him. Hell, he had to admit - one of the only reasons he was on Illium in the first place was out of a slim hope of finding that bastard Jedrah and putting one through the backstabbing salarian's skull. Yet he'd found no trace, nothing. Sitting on this world was a waste of time and potential credits earned - at least with a ship and a small crew, there was potential for profit.

By the time he’d made his way inside, hauling his own personal crate alongside him, it didn’t take long for them to hash a few things out; captain’s cabin was off-limits, they were going to give the ship a once-over to see if it was actually capable of flight and then figure out what the good Captain had in store for them before his untimely demise, then taking stock of what they actually had - fuel, supplies, the usual routine. As this was all done with, he made sure to get a good idea of who he'd be working with just one more time and gave them all a brief glance.

A few of his own - humans, that is. For the most part, he wasn't particularly interested, though the one wearing a tank top struck him as an engineering type - if only by the analytical way she was examining the ship - which was probably a good thing in the long run. Then came a few turians - one looked like they'd gone through the same cybernetics procedure as he had whilst another was, interesting enough, a sickly looking turian with a respiratory device and what looked like a supportive chair - a strange contradiction for a member species who's military strength and prowess was one of its main facets.

Other faces caught his eye; two asari (their biotics always came in handy) a lethargic drell, a krogan, the vorcha who looked like it had crudely tried to paint itself as a quarian (he made a mental note to keep both raw meat and salvaged tech away from them, in jest) and then an actual quarian - who strangely reminded him of Rael. Part of him missed that boastful quarian, even now.

When he finally saw the batarian, it made him grit his teeth for a brief moment with disgust and muscle-memory told him to reach for his sidearm. If there was any species that he held a particular prejudice towards, it was those four-eyed bastards and for all intents and purposes he had every right to. It wasn't the whole media portrayal of their kind by the Systems Alliance that had set him against their kind, or even when he was sent up against pirate crews whilst he served in the 21st Airborne. No, it was without a doubt the months he had spent in those shithole mines on Aratoht that had cemented his views of their kind. For all intents and purposes, this batarian was, if anything, a loose business associate, nothing more.

He shrugged at last and, free to do whatever for the time being, opted to drop off his things before he did anything else, Iosif headed to the cargo bay and sat out the take-off there, taking a couple of extra moments to make sure the lock on his singular crate was secure - last thing he needed would be the few belongings he had going missing because of something like an opportunistic batarian. On his way back through the hangar, he took a brief moment to give it another once-over, musing over the prospect of fitting a gunship in here like the one he once piloted, before he noticed the woman in the tank-top doing some work on a strapped-down buggy, listening to an elcor rendition of heavy-death-metal blasted out from her drone as she uncovered the remains of some long-dead alien vermin. It was funny, to say the least; soliciting a brief chuckle before he decided that a trip to the bridge would be far more productive than risking damage to his hearing.

Analysing his surroundings on the way, he couldn’t help but note that the apty-named Jalopy had certainly seen better days, even for a former Volus ship. Between the many patch jobs this ship had seen to accommodate a larger crew and the wear-and-tear it entailed, the name dubbed by the engineer-type fit so much that it actually made his cybernetic arm itch for the first time in a while, perhaps because it looked like staying onboard raised the prospect of losing yet another another.

Before he could dwell on that point any further, that particular train of thought was rudely interrupted by an explosion that rocked the ship, coming from the hangar if that shockwave was anything to go by and for a moment he wondered if the Jalopy had suffered a hull breach or something equally disastrous, before the intercom chatter that followed set his mind to rest. Well, kind of - the engineer’s sarcasm was appreciated, at any rate.

Just as he entered the bridge, the announcement of their course for Omega was blasted over the intercom. A novel prospect, he mused. He hadn’t actually stopped by the old haunt since his last partnership had gone to shit. Shrugging, he stepped inside and glanced around, quickly spotting the others occupying the place - all turians, conveniently enough. His gaze passed from one to another, one by one - two of them quickly got past him like before but he noted yet again the presence of the other two interesting cases; the unlucky hacker with the respirator and the anti-grav chair and the one with the cybernetic prosthesis, like him. Without much else to say, he threw each of them a nod and headed up to what he could only presume was the co-pilot’s chair, pulling up a seat and clearing his throat.

”I take it we’ll all be working together, up here?”