<span style="color: DarkOrchid">You don't know me.</span>Is all Ashana replied to Darius' comment.<br/><br/>Among the whirrs of engines and machinery, another more familiar sound was becoming clearer as they continued. It was gunfire, and a lot of it. Ashana glanced at their Human escort, but the woman showed no signs of hesitation, so neither did Ashana. They crossed through a gate and paused for a large vehicle towing a bed of heavy plate metal to pass before moving across a wide lane toward the large, angular grey building. It had a pair of large hangar doors, one of which was opened wide enough for a vehicle to pass through. Sitting in a booth outside was a man in a hat that read 'Security' on it. He looked their Human escort in the eye, then looked at the three mercenaries. He pressed a button on his collar and said something, then nodded for the group to continue.<br/><br/>The moment they passed within the hangar doors into the facility, the sound of gunfire intensified a dozen fold. Ashana looked up at a ceiling that had to be a hundred feet above them, and the far wall seemed at least three times the distance. The entire building was open, not a single wall in sight. There were numerous raised levels and firing ranges. In the distance, blue sparks were flying from industrial machinery. There were dozens of people in the building, nearly all human. They were standing at benches looking at schematics, or fiddling with guns that  looked like they were missing their housing. Many were standing at the firing ranges, sending round after round down rage.<br/><br/>The human woman continued walking into the facility. Ashana hurried to catch up when she discovered that she was staring at the contents of the building. She considered asking the woman what this all was, but the question never made it past her lips as they passed between two raised platforms and Ashana looked right and saw what looked like a giant humanoid machine with a man strapped into its chest. The machine was all pipes and pistons and wires, like a mech might have looked without its armor.  Standing nearby was a group of human, looking at a schematic spread out on a table. The man strapped into the machine was moving its right arm, which looked like it had a cannon on it. He shook his head and shouted something to the men at the table about the movement being unresponsive.<br/><br/>Ashana wasn't given much time to examine the scene further as their guide led them out of sight of the machine and its pilot. To their left was a human with a longer rifle in his hands, firing down a range. The weapon had a scope mounted on it and Ashana saw N7 in white and red on its partially removed casing.<br/><br/>Their guide slowed and stopped before a raised platform with a ladder from it to the floor. Standing on the platform's grate were two human men. One had a shaved head and was firing an assault rifle down a range. The other stood off to the side, looking between the weapon and the target. He had jet black hair that was cut semi-short, and looked well groomed. The man was handsome with somewhat angular features. His light brown eyes were watching the weapon firing intensely.<br/><br/>The weapon stopped firing and the black haired human cursed.<span style="color: Blue">Fuck. Its still cycling too slow.</span>He approached the man with the gun and triggered the weapon's thermal clip to discharge. The glowing red metal hit the grate they were standing on with a hot hiss.<span style="color: Blue">I don't think its the barrel either. Look, rip out the whole exchange assembly and try putting in one of the Z-67 models. If it doesn't hit at least 50 rounds, then get Balkin over here and have him look at their rails.</span><br/><br/><span style="color: DarkRed">Alright, but if its the assembly then we're going to have to design and fab a whole new one.</span>The man with the gun protested. The black haired man looked up and saw the group waiting at the platforms base. He stepped away from the man wit the gun and started for the ladder.<br/><br/><span style="color: Blue">I don't care Rich, I promised them a more efficient Phaeston, and we're going to give it to them!</span>With that the black haired human grabbed the edges of the ladder and slid down it, landing on the ground with a thud. He turned and paused, looking at the three mercenaries before him. He smiled and clapped his dirty hands together, he glanced at the woman.<br/><br/><span style="color: Green">Mr. Antoli, these are the mercenaries.</span><br/><br/><span style="color: Blue">Right, right!</span>He said and smiled, stepping toward them<span style="color: Blue">Thank you Samantha.</span>He gave her a nod and she returned it and left.<br/><br/>Ashana stared at the human. He wore a work uniform, its sleeves rolled up to his biceps. It had dirty smudges and streaks on it. The man couldn't have been more than 30.<i> This</i>was Vega Antoli? Ashana was shocked. He didn't look like a rich human. He looked like a worker.<br/><br/><span style="color: Blue">I apologize for not meeting you on the platform but business rarely gives me room to breathe.</span>He smiled at them, glancing at his hands before rubbing them on his sides.<span style="color: Blue">And I am unable to shake your hand too.</span>He chuckled, then paused, regarding them.<span style="color: Blue">Well, I'm Vega Antoli.</span><br/><br/><span style="color: DarkOrchid">Ashana.</span>The Asari said with a nod, looking at the man.<br/><br/><span style="color: Blue">A pleasure, Ashana.</span>He said with a grin. He greeted Darius and Firas likely. Vega's eyes lingered briefly on what he could see of the stock of Dariu's Mattock on his back.<span style="color: Blue">Well, let's get to it then. We can talk in my office where its not as loud.</span>He said as an explosion sounded somewhere in the facility. We waved for them to follow.<br/><br/>Ashana looked at Firas for a moment, giving him a surprised look. This Vega wasn't at all the man she was expecting. She followed after Vega quickly, continuing to examine her surroundings. She noted a few more guards in security hats. It occurred to the Asari that she hadn't seen a single security mech.<br/><br/><span style="color: DarkOrchid">What is all this?</span>She asked over the noise.<br/><br/><span style="color: Blue">This is our R&amp;D department.</span>Vega replied, with a half turn.<br/><br/><span style="color: DarkOrchid">R&amp;D?</span><br/><br/><span style="color: Blue">Research and development. Everything we manufacture gets prototyped here first.</span>He explained as they passed what looked like several suits of armor being tested against gunfire. The armor didn't look like anything Ashana had seen on Omega. It looked more complex, built on layers of armor. Kinetic barrier flared as men in safety glasses and worker uniforms fired away at them.<br/><br/><br/>***<br/><br/><br/>Taseer grimaced at Kala's description of her last ship.<span style="color: Navy">Well, weapons are a big part of the Acheron. She's got twin linked long bore cannons with a separate mass effect core just to drive the rounds. She's also got room for 30 missiles and torpedoes.</span>The elevator opened and she led Kala to a console in the ship's underbelly where the nearby thermal units were heating the air to uncomfortable temperatures.<span style="color: Navy">Unfortunately, none of her components were developed in tandem. The whole ship was being built in secret, with groups all building components for it without knowing it. So all the pieces work great on their own, but together they tend to disagree on what needs power when.</span><br/><br/>Taseer flipped through information on the screen and pulled up a software integration schematic attached to each of the ship's major components. All the systems were ran into a hub with no interconnection between them otherwise.<span style="color: Navy">To solve the problem, you have this.</span>Taseer tapped the hub.<span style="color: Navy">Its a centralized computer whose only job is to translate the processes of each component so that they can communicate without incident. You've already taken a look at what happens when its turned off.</span><br/><br/>Sweat beads were beginning to show up on Taseer's forehead.<span style="color: Navy">This console is the one directly plugged into that central nexus.</span>Taseer ran a hand over her forehead.<span style="color: Navy">And, we're not docked so everything in the ship is still running so its hot as an azure cunt down here. We're going to need to selectively disable a few non-critical systems and reboot them with their interfaces for the nexus back on.</span>Taseer unzipped the front of her tight uniform to her waist, exposing  a sliver of her blue skin to the hot air. She wasn't wearing any underwear.<br/><br/><span style="color: Navy">Before we turn them back on, though, we have to run complete diagnostics on the hardware and fix whatever the hell isn't working right. <i>AND</i> when the ship was taken we were having a lot of things uninstalled, reinstalled, or switched out and I have no idea what was finished - so this could take a while.</span>Taseer sighed and shrugged her shoulders in the uncomfortable heat.<br/><br/><span style="color: Navy">Well, let's get to it then... </span>Taseer opened the control interface for the weapon mounts tucked under the wings.<span style="color: Navy">Mickey, I'm going to cut the port and starboard mounts. I don't think they were used so this should be a fairly straight forward reset.</span><br/><br/><span style="color: Cyan">Ok. Give me a second.</span>He said over the comms.<br/><br/><span style="color: Navy">Kala, there's a panel labeled Starboard... I think its 2145-A on the starboard side of the cargo bay. When I shut this off, you'll need to open that panel. Inside will be the starboard mount's local control console. Start up the diagnostics on it. On the port side of the bay will be Port 2145-B. When your done, open up that -</span><br/><br/><span style="color: Cyan">Alright, go for it.</span><br/><br/><span style="color: Navy">When your done, open up that one and run the same diagnostic.</span>Taseer nodded for Kala to get a move on then started the disconnection procedure on the console.<br/><br/>The cargo bay was mercifully cooler, and almost completely empty.<span style="color: Navy">Alright, Kala, are you ready?</span>Taseer asked over their omni-tools.<br/><br/><br/>***<br/><br/><br/>Two beeps sounded, then again. It was a heartbeat, Sorv's. The med bay was no more than a white blur around him, and his body was unresponsive. He felt a dull ache in his stomach. A green light began flashing somewhere above Sorv, then in a period of time that seemed indeterminate, a minute, an hour, he didn't know - another sound, a door opening, then a salarian face was looking down at him.<br/><br/><span style="color: YellowGreen">Well, you're not dead.</span>Said the stranger. A sharp point of light ran across his visor, painfully bright.<span style="color: YellowGreen">Pupil response normal. Unsurprisingly, your body cavity wound has not had an affect on your mental stability.</span><br/><br/><span style="color: YellowGreen">You do not know who I am.</span>The salarian told him.<span style="color: YellowGreen">I will not harm you. I am a doctor treating your wound. You are on board the Acheron. My name is Beruut. Do you know your name? Can you tell me your name?</span>He asked, peering into Sorv's helmet then striking keys on a console set in the side of the medical bed.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>