The Human nervously tugged at the edges of his science uniform as he watched the crate being loaded onto the ship. Every few seconds he glanced around, expecting to see shapes emerge from the green-brown fog that was so dense on the planet.<br/>His respirator made his quick, trembling breath embarrassingly obvious to the crew working around him.<br/><br/><span style="color: Blue">Your sure no one saw you land?</span>He asked the Turian standing at the lip of the ship's loading bay ramp. The Turian looked through the breathing mask he wore at the Human.<br/><br/><span style="color: Olive">It doesn't matter even if we were. Keep your mouth shut and and there won't be any problems.</span><br/><br/>The Human watched the crate as the two workers handling it set it down among a number of other crates. He had a sudden surge of second thoughts, but the credits he was being payed to steal the device and hand it over to these smugglers was enormous - enough for him to get off this heap of rock and toxic mud and to somewhere more comfortable.<br/><br/><span style="color: Blue">What do I do when they find out its gone?</span>He asked.<br/><br/><span style="color: Olive">Act surprised.</span>The Turian said, annoyed. He raised his hand and spun his finger around in a circle above him, the signal to the crew to prepare for departure. The Turian stepped onto the loading ramp as it began lifting to seal the cargo bay of the ship.<br/><br/>The Human watched the ramp lift, and the crate, that lone crate and its precious contents, vanish from his sight. He retreated as the ship's engines whined to life and it lifted off, blasting the accursed green fog away for a moment of clarity into the night sky above.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><span style="font-size: 22px">Mass Effect:</span><br/><span style="font-size: 18px"> <span style="color: Red"> Shadow Games</span></span><br/><br/><br/><br/>The crowd was larger than Ashana expected at the gate. The warehouse on Omega that had been implicated in the job posting had attracted many would be mercenaries. Many of them were far too young, and far too stupid to know better than to play with guns. The fiasco that was the attempted killing of the Turian Archangel had left much of Omega wanting for skilled mercenaries. But who could blame them? Gavin's call for mercenaries had promised a tantalizing sum of credits. It seemed stupid to not try for the job.<br/><br/>Ashana pushed her way past a human who couldn't have been older than 17 as she tried to strain her way through the throngs of shouting people. As she shoved her way past, the boy reached out and grabed her ass. The sudden unwanted attention to her nether region had the Asari turning immediately to face the boy, angrily. The boy smirked at her arrogantly and made a mock kiss.<br/><br/>Ashana smiled at him then drove the palm of her hand into the boys face. With a satisfying crack, the boy fell backwards and grabbed his blood gushing nose.<span style="color: DarkOrchid">You have to pay if you want to touch</span>. Ashana said and turned her back on the human.<br/><br/>She continued pushing her way through the crowd, trying to get to the armed guards who were tasked with picking out the combat worthy applicants from the crowd. As she drew near a rather large Krogan bumped into her. Ashana grabbed the nearest object to keep herself on her feet. The object turned out to be a Quarian, of all things.<span style="color: DarkOrchid">Sorry</span>. She said to the helmet and continued on her way.<br/><br/>After several uncomfortable elbow jabs and accidental gropings, she found herself at the head of the crowd. The guards, a Human, Turian, and Batarian, were all dressed in heavy black armor and carrying impressive implements of death. Ashana turned her hips so that the pistol she carried was made more clear and waved to the guards. The human, a gruff man with short brown hair saw her waving then looked at her pistol. His eyes moved to her exposed cleavage for a moment before he nodded and gestured to her.<br/><br/>Ashana moved toward him then stopped.<span style="color: Red">Head in.</span>He instructed and gestured to an open door behind him. Ashana nodded and moved past the guards and through the doorway into the warehouse. The roar of the crowd outside was dulled significantly inside the warehouse. Instead, the sound of heavy machinery lifting and moving crates and containers took precedence.<br/><br/>Gavin had been expanding, and it showed. The warehouse wasn't too large, but it was larger than what the Turian had the last time she had met with him. When Eclipse fell and their monopoly on the smuggling of goods through Omega was lost, a mad dash had followed to fill the gap they left. Ren Kalga, a Volus who had been the Eclipse's primary competitor had claimed the most ground, but Gavin was gaining momentum. He had already hired Ashana twice to assassinate two of his competitors. But now he was flaunting credits to any mercenary the guards picked from the crowd. It was a change for the Turian.<br/><br/>Ashana made her way through the crates to a clearing where a group of mercenaries had already been gathering. Some of them had picked out crates nearby to sit on while they waited, other just stood by. Ashana recognized a few of them from her long career as a dancer for Aria, but most of them were unfamiliar. Some looked able, others didn't. Gavin apparently had given his guards only a loose criteria for what he wanted.<br/><br/>More mercenaries and would-be mercenaries were filtering in as she took up residence in a secluded corner to wait for something or someone to happen.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>