Curious fingertips tapped rhythmically along the swell of Reese's bottom lip as she thought, considering her pilot's words. "Since the Geth War there has been little communication from them beyond the Perseus Veil," she mused, tilting her head as her dark eyes studied the marked map AIDEN had generated for her. "For the geth to leave a message of any kind is...<i>curious </i>at best, though I believe we'd be much smarter bumping up that designation to concerning.<br/><br/>"Suni, keep the Anzio in position until I give my signal," she instructed, her voice stern. "Pol, move down to engineering immediately. We know the geth are sending us a warning but we don't know why. Anything could be waiting for us on the other side and we need you down monitoring engines and FTL systems in case we need to make a quick getaway."<br/><br/>"Yes, ma'am," the hulking krogan commented, clapping his gloved hands together enthusiastically. "The Anzio will not submit to any inferior enemy. I will ensure we come out victorious." His footsteps clanked and echoed against the walls as he headed toward the elevator, wrist lifted so he could mutter into his omni-tool. "Beautiful Suni'Tallah, you and I will be together again soon, functioning as two pieces of one well-oiled machine to pilot this glorious vehicle to victory..."<br/><br/>"AIDEN, keep a close watch for anything unusual and help keep Suni and Pol safe, you understand me? In the case of an emergency you have full permission to act of your own volition. Your reaction time and processing ability is superior to that of any organic creature and we may need you to make a decision before we are even aware of it."<br/><br/><i>Very well, Commander Amari. I will do my best to not make Suni'Tallah jealous of my objectively superior skill.<br/>
</i><br/>The commander's mouth twitched appreciatively at AIDEN's quip, but there was little time to revel in jokes.<br/><br/>"Ground team," she continued, looking into the eyes of each of her remaining teammates, "I expect you all to be suited up ASAP. Calypso, Faustus, Cole: full combat armor. Full load out. Talyet, I know drell don't prefer armor, but--"<br/><br/>"Amari, you really want me to cover up this work of art?" he purred, tossing a quick nod to Calypso, eyes roaming across her cerulean flesh.<br/><br/>"Talyet," Reese repeated, lower, her voice balancing precariously along the edge of commanding and beseeching. "I am aware your skills are best utilized while donning light attire, and that is all well and good, but you and I both know your shields will only protect you for so long. I'm sure Faust would prefer not scoop pieces of you up from the ground because you neglected to give yourself a little extra protection.<i>We don't know what the hell is out there, Maos, </i>but I don't intend to lose anyone on this mission, you understand me?"<br/><br/>"Yes, Commander," Talyet conceded, bowing his head submissively. "Of course."<br/><br/>"Very good. You're excused." She licked her lips, daring a quick glance at Cole before racing to the armory to commence the process of suiting up. Beneath the CIC, the crew deck and engineering sat Deck 5. The shuttle bay contained the Anzio's armory, cargo hold, and two shuttles to go where the Anzio couldn't. Along the port-side wall sat a line of armor lockers, each one stamped with the name of its respective owner.<br/><br/><span style="font-size: 18px">Amari, R.</span>stared back at her as she leaned forward, engaging the locker's integrated ocular recognition systems. The bright red light scanned her retina, beeped thrice, clicked, and the door swung open, revealing her modified Alliance-issue suit. Tweaked and enhanced like she had been during her time with the Alliance, Reese's suit was top-of-the-line. Designed to allow her to run, aim, shoot, and kill all while simultaneously tapping into her surgical enhancements and monitoring their efficiency. But nothing was perfect. Enough firepower could render her bloody and torn. She only hoped it wouldn't come to that just yet.<br/><br/>After strapping, clicking, snapping and sliding each piece of her armor into place, slipping each gun into its appropriate holster, Reese took a long, deep sigh. She blinked slowly as she closed her locker, still tasting Cole on the tip of her tongue. "Vanes, Maos, Iuliun, U'Lani, count off," she ordered.<br/><br/>"Suni'Tallah, prepare to approach the Narcissus Relay in 3... 2... 1... "