#RedrockAgency – March 18, 2026

Renala has already gotten herself a tall mug of coffee and is poking through the terminal. She has looked the text readouts up and down, and has wired it up to another device as she tries to get data off of it. Renala is wearing an open white fleece jacket over a blue top and gray pants; she's not geared up for combat.

Crux is sitting cross-legged on the floor of Renala's office. They're wearing the yellow jacket they looted from Rae's body, open over a worn sweater, along with a pair of battered, sturdy cargo pants and clunky boots. They've hooked Wenera's omni-tool up to a cheap laptop, which currently sits... well, in their lap, unwilling to risk connecting their most precious possession, their omni-tool, to the unfamiliar device directly, or even

Vasquez exits from the hangar to the corridor with a sigh. "The batarian is useless," she mutters to Phil and whoever else is around.

Philip is standing around in the corridor after having returned his borrowed rifle to the armory, keeping only the sidearm.

Celyna has been made to turn over her looted armor and rifle to Redrock's storage much to her chagrin, although the SMG and the credit chit were concealed enough to escape notice beneath her coat. Nice. She's currently in the rec room, sprawled on the couch with boots planted on the coffee table, drinking from a fruit smoothie while watching a biotiball game.

Philip has been sent ot retrieve the truck that the batarian mentioned, and has just called in to confirm the captive's story.

Jasper has remained in the hangar after the others disembarked, handling some odds and ends to keep himself occupied as he awaits word about their next move.

Jason hovered over Crux and Renala for a few minutes after their return, but eventually needed to step away and busy himself. Likely to the relief of the aforementioned parties. He's currently outside walking Justice, waiting for word on any updates.

Leah has just exited into the hallway after stowing the rest of the recovered odds and ends in the armory. Vasquez' presence causes her to pause, arms folding across her chest. "He claimed he was just hired help." she muses, offering a shrug, "I didn't get the impression he was lying." Having come straight here with the others, she's still only partially geared up, helmet and undersuit left back at the Respite.

Victoria since returning to Redrock, she has remained in the shuttle. There was nothing she could do at the moment, despite just being ready to move when needed.

Uvena hovered over Renala for quite some time, too, but cleared out with the others and went to gear up in the locker room.

Renala chuckles as she keeps poking at the terminal, trying to search through the files stored on it. "You're welcome to try, but let's pick the low-hanging fruits first," she says with a glance over her shoulder.

Zaylus spent the journey inspecting the interior of the vehicle, or as much as he could reach from his seat without impeding Phil's driving. Even the trash gets a cursory inspection before being tossed behind the seats. He doesn't know what he's looking for, and would answer so if prompted, but he seems disappointed all the same to find nothing. As they pull in to stop, he impatiently

Crux makes an agreeing face and continues scanning over the display. "Got an empty draft here for a message to an 'Ehanis Tioran'. Time matches the attack," they inform.

Philip turns onto the Redrock parking lot and comes to a stop. He's been pretty focused on driving. He's used to heavy vehicles, but doesn't often drive inside settlements of Freedom Falls' size. He's been casting a couple of nervous glances at the various warning lights, hoping the vehicle will take them back without trouble. He hasn't seemed quite sure how to engage his turian passenger in conversation, but has attempted a bit

Vasquez lets out a sigh. "Doesn't seem like it," she agrees. "Let's hope our techs have had better luck," she adds as she leads the way towards Renala's office, reaching out to open the door.

Jason is just outside the front door when the truck rolls into the parking lot. He's still geared up- sans helmet- with Justice's leash in his hand. He's quick to start over to the truck as it comes to a stop, Justice hurrying alongside him. "Find anything...?" he calls out as the pair begin to exit the vehicle.

Leah draws in a heavy breath, offering a small nod in agreement as she follows behind Vasquez. Waiting is always the worst part of situations like this. Standing around, unsure of when you're actually going to be able to do something about the problem. And it's only made worse by the personal nature of the whole ordeal. Given her daily proximity to Va'ynna, it's hard not to worry. "I still don't understand why anyone would

Victoria kept herself in the shuttle. She knew that it was best to leave the techs alone, to allow them to do their work and without an armored angry merc in the room with them.

Renala turns towards Crux and looks at the display on the laptop. "That's weird," Renala says. "Tioran used to work for us, but she left Freedom Falls more than a month ago." She narrows her eyes at the timestamp. "And Vasquez was already in contact with her at that time too."

Uvena exits the locker room, armored up with her helmet in her hand. She walks towards the stairs, but she is not in a hurry.

Zaylus grips the top of the door and pulls himself out with a huff. "If you say so." He relents. "It's just not what I expected." His attention is quickly drawn to Jason calling out, and he shakes his head as the human approaches. "Nothing." He reports, giving the underside of the truck a light kick. "Just rust."

Philip nods in agreement with Zaylus as he too climbs out of the truck, adjusting his armor vest afterwards. "Anythin' new back here?"

Vasquez grunts. "Yeah... it doesn't make any sense to me either," she agrees with a shake of her head. Catching only part of Renala's reply to Crux, her eyebrows furrow. "Who did?"

Crux looks up. "Uh... 'Ehanis Tioran', I guess?" they say, looking to Renala since the name doesn't mean anything to them.

Jason's disappointment flashes across his face but he's quick to tuck it away, offering a nod in response. "Well... at least we know he wasn't bullshitting us." he says, idly reaching down to rustle the fur atop Justice's head. He stays back a few paces, not wanting to unleash the slobber-monster onto two unfamiliar victims. Phil's question garners a reluctant shake of his head and he starts to lead the way back. "Nothing yet."

Leah falls silent as the pair enter Renala's office, merely folding her arms across her chest and standing beside the door. The mention of Ehanis gets a confused look from her, but she waits for someone to elaborate what they're talking about.

Victoria opens her omni-tool and starts messaging Austin to see how far along the quickened maintaince is coming. Wanting to see the status of getting the Siren ready.

Renala gestures to the laptop on the floor. "There was an empty draft message to her on Wenera's omni-tool," she clarifies before turning back to the terminal, to check on the files pulled from the terminal.

Uvena walks past the rec room, and starts walking down the stairs.

Zaylus shuts the truck door with a hint of irritation. "It was a longshot anyway." He concludes, mostly to himself. He carries the medkit inside, ostensibly planning to store its contents in addition to the gear he looted off the batarian. He follows a few steps back, giving the dog a few lingering glances.

Philip frowns, but a glance towards Justice as they head for the building brings out a small smile.

Vasquez doesn't exactly look pleased by this information, frown deepening. "Anything else?" she asks while pondering the new piece of the puzzle.

Crux starts skimming through some of the apparent everyday messages, looking for anything of note while Renala talks to Vasquez.

Leah blinks, Renala's clarification doing little to fill in the gaps for her. "Why would Wenera be in contact with Ehanis?" she muses aloud. "That seems a little too close to home to just be a coincidence, right...?" she continues, glancing between Renala and Vasquez.

Justice seems excited by the new people, tail wagging as he sniffs at the air before being led inside. Despite being a new addition to the Wolfe-Vasquez household, he seems to be well trained. Likely a holdover from his previous owner.

Jason continues down the hall, nodding to Zaylus' addition. "Yeah..." he agrees. "But it'd be nice to catch a break once in a while, wouldn't it?" he adds, shooting a smirk back towards the turian, his usual lightheartedness undercut by concern that he's not quite able to conceal. He comes to a stop just outside his office, the voices funneling from Renala's office around the corner briefly drawing his attention.

Victoria reads the message that Austin sent back. Now knowing that once Redrock gets the infomation needed, the Siren will be ready to take flight at the same time or shortly after they get out there.

Renala nods. "It does, but I can't say I kept up on who Tioran hung out with." She then turns her attention to the terminal. "As for this thing, the script that Natalie ran tried to hack into anything in range," she says, looking back at her own terminal's screen as she checks another readout, "then a VI exfiltrated data to an Extranet address in Derrai." She raises a brow, preempting a question with a hastily

Uvena walks up towards Renala's office, but stays outside for now.

Zaylus hums, missing the attempt at levity. "It feels like we going to have to. Or else, I just don't know..." He trails, perhaps realizing the pessimism isn't going to be helpful. He continues past Jason's office, ducking his head as he mutters an "Excuse me" and turns down the hall toward the hanger.

Crux glances up at the sound of Leah's voice, but their focus soon returns to the omni-tool. The results of their poking around makes them furrow their eyebrows. "Guess that's why all of Wenera's messages have been scrubbed from this thing," they chime in as Renala speaks. "Depending on how sloppy the cleanup was I might be able to recover something with time to fuck around, but it'll take time, and there's no guarantees."

Vasquez looks to Crux. "Try it," she instructs before returning her attention to Renala. "The asari from the militia. The one that was on site. She's Tioran's former roommate..."

Philip stops in the hallway when Jason does. "Uh... what should I do now, sir?"

Jason merely dips his head as Zaylus continues by, frown tugging at the corner of his mouth. When Phil lingers he draws in a breath, one hand reaching up to rub at the back of his neck. "Just-... stay nearby and keep your omni-tool with you. If they find something we need to be ready to hit the ground running, alright?"

Justice studies Phil as he stops nearby, curiously sniffing at his hand.

Leah passes a small smile to Crux when they look her way, but it quickly slips away. Renala's explanation goes in one ear and out the other and she opts to simply remain silent as the others speak.

Victoria stands up from her seat in the shuttle and exits the kodiak. She begins to make her way towards the door to the hallway, wanting to know if the techs have anything new.

Renala raises an eyebrow, and searches for her in Redrock's database, bringing up a picture from when she was interrogated. "Oh, her," she says, "I think I've seen her at the Respite with Tioran, but it's been a while." She pushes the picture aside to return to the video clip again showing the salarian's face that's been obscured by darkness, and she rewinds it a bit to show the Redrock shuttle also in frame. "What

Uvena doesn't linger for long before she heads over towards the armory to collect her weapons without saying anything. She does try to meet Victoria's eyes before passing her on the way out of the hallway.