<span style="color: #000000">A Spectre... and a Chosen of Journeys. Should we be worried? We're not exactly a friend to the Loom.</span><br/><span style="font-style: italic">No... Yes? Maybe. I don't know. He's a Journey, Isn't the worst he can do move a city on me?</span><br/><span style="color: #000000">Technically, yes. The Chosen of Mercury usually just handle travel and trade. But imagine weaponizing Detroit as a tactical nuke.</span><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Oh. Hell.</span><br/><span style="color: #000000">Exactly. Now make friends.</span><br/><br/>"My complements, Spectre. The M35 is a pain in the Anima to pilot, always rolling whenever you try to jump. It's like trying to teach a Krogan to sing opera. DIBS ON THE GAUSS!"<br/>Bau blinked slowly, while John face-palmed.<br/><br/>"Moving on, Lieutenant."<br/><br/>"Yessir. May I ask where my room is?"<br/><br/>Bau chuckled at that, ambling slowly into the elevator. "You're Esone, right? From what I've heard, they set up a massive hamster wheel just beneath the Vortex Engine. It hooks up to the ship's reserve batteries, and can be used to power the thrusters in an emergency. Commander Shepard thought that you could put your insomnia to good use."<br/><br/>Esone's jaw dropped. "You... you're kidding, right? There is no way I can run fast enough to power a ship."<br/><br/>Bau just shrugged, an amused grin playing across his face.<br/><span style="color: #000000">I don't think he's kidding.</span><br/><br/><br/><br/>The next stop was the armory. Unlike the previous models, the<span style="font-style: italic">Midway</span>designated a whole separate level to weapons and gear. Putting them on the CIC was just as illogical as putting them on the hangar deck, so this model utilized the deck between the two. The elevator opened onto rack after rack of weapons; Lancers, Avengers, Phaestrons, Raiders, even a Black Widow and a Collector Assault Rifle. The Admiral had even been able to requisition a few artifact weapons, including an antique Moonsilver Wrackstaff and an experimental Orichalcum shotgun. Most modern artifacts were melee weapons patterned after Prothean designs, since the Five Magical Materials were exceedingly difficult to shape. The Protheans had an odd obsession with melee weapons. Esone personally assumed it was the reason they had fallen to the Reapers.<br/><br/>Half a dozen racks of armor lined the walls, mostly Terminus Assault and Kestrel pattern. Esone drooled a little at the sight of the Starmetal Blood Dragon Armor in the far corner. The original was aboard the Normandy, but a few copies had been made since the Collector Base had been destroyed. Shepard had made the prototype suit very popular, her own Green Jade set being dubbed Most Puissant Armor of the Wood Dragon. It was a mouthful, but sounded badass in Asari. The Lieutenant sprinted over to the glass case, leaning close to stare almost childishly at the armor. Before he could even begin to fog the glass, a hand clamped down on the back of his head.<br/><br/>"Don't. Touch. My Gear. Nobody touches anything in here without my permission." Esone tried to turn his head to regard his captor, to no avail. All he could tell was that the hand was petit but callused, and that the voice was dangerously soft.<br/><br/>"Ah, I see you've met the Proprietor, Lieutenant." Bau drawled. The Salarian's footsteps padded over until it he stood behind the Lieutenant. "I wouldn't recommend disobeying her; in her armory, her word is god. According to Shepard, she's the best procurement officer in the Council fleet."<br/><br/>"Commander, I can't move. Please tell me it isn't a Krogan holding my head, I don't want to die yet."<br/><br/>"What makes you think I'm going to hurt you?" The Proprietor sounded genuinely surprised.<br/><br/>"Your crushing my skull."<br/><br/>"You're an Exalt!" Incredulity tinged her voice, as Bau stifled a laugh.<br/><br/>---Indeed. Taking into account the structural density and resilience of Exalt bodies, it seems unlikely that Esone-Lieutenant would suffer any significant harm from a mortal's grip.---<br/><br/>"And yet my skull is still being crushed."