<div class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeQuote" data-author="Sirnoobsalot">
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<div class="attribution type">Sirnoobsalot said:
				
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<blockquote class="quoteContainer"><div class="quote">Ashana had been busy looking around, remaining quiet as she followed Milenya. While she was reading the journals, Ashana looked around the researchers office, running her fingers over the spines of the leather bound books on the shelf. She frowned and pulled one from the group, looking at it curiously. She opened it, and flipped through several pages. She raised an eyebrow as she read the first line to herself, 'Call me Ishmael.' She closed it, and stuck it back with the others. She peered across the spines, reading the names of books. It was a unique experience for her, seeing real actual books. The only thing she had ever had that had pages were a few issues of Fornax. She remembered hearing about the immense value the old Human ones had in their culture. These certainly looked genuine enough to fit into that category. <br/>
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She casually walked over to look at the console Milenya was reading from, glancing over the information. From the entry, Milenya was correct in her assertion that the site was heavily funded, and the caveat that had apparently been attached to the credits explained why no one had ever heard of it. Then the video played and Ashana's attention was focused immediately on the object that was remove from the apparatus. <span style="color: DarkOrchid">Son of a bitch... there it is...</span> She whispered to herself, staring at the image on the screen. That was it, it had to be. That was what the assassin had taken from the Bekket.<br/>
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<span style="color: DarkOrchid">I have no idea,</span> she responded to Milenya's exasperation at the research staff's willingness to keep the site quiet, <span style="color: DarkOrchid">but if someone gave me a million credits to look at something and not talk about it, I'd look at it and not talk about it.</span><br/>
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Ashana stayed leaned over the desk, a great deal more interested in the contents of the journal now that she knew it had important information. <span style="color: DarkOrange">Uhh, yeah... </span> Sorv responded to Milenya, then a moment later said, <span style="color: DarkOrange">Acheron this is ground, do you copy?</span><br/>
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<span style="color: blue">Roger that ground,</span> Cantenelli's voice responded. <span style="color: blue">We lost your signal for a while there, everything alright? </span><br/>
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<span style="color: DarkOrange">Affirmative, had to patch into the site's comm transmitters. There's no one here though. The place is empty.</span> Sorv continued. <br/>
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<span style="color: blue">Have you found anything?</span> Cantenelli asked. Sorv remained quiet for Milenya to fill give her observations. </div><div class="quoteExpand quoteCut">Click to expand...</div></blockquote>
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</div><span style="color: #6495ED">"Yes, we've discovered a minimum of two hundred and six archeological crew missing, and then there's the staff from the freighter. There's no sign of them. They were bankrolled by a mysterious organization of some kind, with tons of credits and a deep desire for privacy and anonymity. <br/>
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The site itself... It's older than the Protheans, by hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of years. What's left so far are some material samples that I would dearly love to take some of back to the Acheron."</span><br/><br/>As she keeps reading, she started a feed from her omnitool back to the Acheron, backing up her data.<br/><br/><span style="color: #6495ED">"They also found a working power cell, but it's inside an apparatus, one they haven't yet dissassembled. I would like to mention there is a good chance we will only get one good shot at getting anything out of this place. Something about this place feels wrong."</span><br/><br/>As she kept perusing the journal, Milenya got up and moved, looking for one of the ubiquitous carry-sacks. She found one, and started jamming datapads and then books into it. She shook her head as if to clear it of something.<span style="color: #6495ED">"Ashana, do you trust your instincts? Mine are telling me we need to get out of here very soon."</span>She slings the carrysack across her back, and then read the last two entries.<br/><br/><span style="color: #6495ED">"They became machine cultists. There's almost three hundred of them..."</span><br/><br/><div class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeQuote">
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<blockquote class="quoteContainer"><div class="quote">The flurry of gunfire echoing through the site had Ashana's complete attention. She had no idea what was going on, but if  Firas and Sorv were shouting to get a door closed and emptying thermal clips than the question was moot. <br/>
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<span style="color: DarkOrchid">Come on!</span> She yelled at Milenya, ready to head toward the door, but she stopped as something heavy hit the roof of the office, and the scratching of that thing then scrambling across it giving her a moment to stop and wonder again what the hell was going on.<br/>
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Something charged past the window, humanoid in shape, casting a shadow through the office as it passed. Another of the husks followed, but saw the two Asari in the office and turned, running at them instead. It seemed almost surprised when it hit the window, trying to leap toward Milenya. It stumbled and slammed its grey-flesh machine arm against the transparent material, the force of the hit sending cracks across it.<br/>
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Ashana looked at the husk completely bewildered, having never in her life seen something like it. It looked like some twisted machine wearing a human's skin. Her thoughts were cut short as a husk ran through the doorway, leaping onto the first thing it saw, her. Ashana went down, the helmet she had been carrying being thrown from her hand as she hit the ground. The husk grabbed at her, pulling her across the floor toward the door. Panic, however, was a trait the Asari had trained out of herself. It didn't matter what the thing was, it was her enemy. <br/>
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She rolled and twisted under its grasp, putting herself on her back. Sneering in anger, he drove her knee into its chest listing it just far enough back that she could lift her arm, and open her palm, the undulating blue glow covering her hand as she drove it forward, hitting the husk and sending it up into the ceiling with a loud bang before it came back down hitting the ground. <br/>
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Ashana was already moving, to recover her helmet and put it on as the husk stood back up. At the window, two more husks emerged, pounding the window nearly to its breaking point. It wouldn't be long before the window was broken and the three husks would be on them.<br/>
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</div>Milenya froze for an instant. That.. THING... looked human-ish. Human-shaped. Or what a human might look like if some machine had decided to put one together with its own sense of aesthetics. It was completely wrong.<br/><br/>But she only froze for an instant. In the next, her hand had swept her pistol off its thigh mounting, her barrier went up, and she said,<span style="color: #6495ED">"Meet up, fighting retreat to the airlock? We need to channel their numbers!"</span>She leveled the pistol at the one getting up, and shot it; not in the head, as might be expected, but just below the ribcage, where a series of cables met in concentric rings of lights. It went down again, this time possibly for good.<br/><br/>She jammed the journal into her bag and sealed it with a fast, violent jerk, then said,<span style="color: #6495ED">"I can barrier them off, who do we go towards first, Darion or Firas?"</span><br/><br/>She's not panicking. She's *not* panicking. But she's not going to be taking charge any time soon.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>