#RedrockAgency – March 19, 2026

Zaylus steps brisky down the hall toward the armory, outrunning Uvena and giving Victoria a polite berth. He ducks inside the armory and begins depositing his acquired gear with an unnecessary haste. He forces himself to slow, slotting the two flashbang grenades into their place before his hand finds the credit chit. A thoughtful hum escapes unconsciously but he leaves it in his pocket

Vasquez studies the picture of the salarian and shakes her head. "Don't think so," she replies with a sigh. "Best I've got on the field cams is at a distance and through both windshields." Her thoughts linger on Ehanis and Mian after she speaks, frown lingering. "Got anything else for me?" she asks, eager to get started tugging at this new connection.

Crux goes quiet as they tinker with their as-of-yet fruitless attempt at recovering any of the deleted data.

Philip nods and straightens up a bit. "Yessir!" he says, but Justice draws his attention before he can depart, smile returning as he lets the dog sniff his hand. "Hey there buddy. You're new, aren't ya?"

Justice continues to sniff for a few moments, tail wagging lazily behind him, before he begins to lick at Phil's hand, seemingly having made up his mind about the human.

Jason snickers, lopsided grin slipping out as he watches the dog's positive reaction to Phil. "This is Justice." he introduces, free hand idly dropping to rustle the dog's fur. "He's been here about-..." his brows furrow in consideration for a brief moment, "...two weeks now?"

Leah was never in eyesight of the pilot, so she merely shakes her head at Renala's question. "I take it this is our pilot...?" she asks, the photo at least spelling out that much for her.

Victoria gives a slight nod to Uvena when they briefly meet in the hallway. Vicky stops in the doorway of Renala's office, wanting to hear if they had anything new but not interfere with their work.

Renala taps on the terminal. "I can't find anything else on it, no," she says. "There's audio recordings, but they're from after the apartment was secured." She looks up towards the doorway. "It's probably better than through a window across the street, though," she says to Vasquez. Leah's question makes her shrug, "Presumably."

Uvena raises an eyebrow the the hurrying turian, but maintains her pace as she rounds the corner in the hangar and heads towards the door to the armory.

Zaylus lingers a few moments, apparently thoughtful. He backsteps to the sound of someone approaching, exiting the armory in time for Uvena to arrive. His hand raises slightly in acknowledgement as he steps aside so she may enter, and his brisk walk stalls into him standing idly in the hanger. He scans briefly, craning his head to look up at the catwalk.

Vasquez scratches her scar and shrugs lightly. "Might be. Take a look," she says in response to Renala, before turning to leave. "I'm gonna make some calls," she announces, leaving for the corridor unless stopped.

Crux is focused, continuing to work in silence.

Philip snickers quietly and offers Justice a light pet. "Handsome fella. My folks got a couple dogs out on the farm. Don't see many here in town, though."

Justice nuzzles up to Phil's hand, eager for attention as always.

Jason gives a few idle nods, focus on Justice. "Ran into him down at the spaceport. Some old cargo hauler was looking for a home for him and-..." he shrugs, seemingly deciding the details don't particularly matter, "...here we are." He studies the creature for a moment, smile fortifying despite the rather dire morning they've had so far. "Surprised by how quickly he's taken to everything around here, to be honest. He's just

Leah studies the picture but, with nothing useful to add, opts to remain silent. When it seems like Vasquez is ready to take her leave and they have no immediately actionable intel, she nods in turn. "I'm gonna go get ready. Feeling a bit underdressed for the weather." she jokes, casting a glance down at her haphazard kit. "Let me know when we have something, okay?"

Victoria makes her way back to the hangar, when it seems like they have little to act upon at the moment. She has nothing to do but wait, and waiting next to the shuttle at the ready is the best thing she can do.

Renala nods. "I will," she says, and brings up the script that Natalie ran again, poking through the code. "They're really obsessed about wiping their tracks," she comments. "I guess you have to be, with enemies like Sala Piros." She opens another program to search for the helmet camera recordings that saw the salarian pilot before pushing that to the background.

Uvena enters the armory, unsure about the turian's hurried behavior. "What's the rush?" she asks before entering the armory. "We're not in a hurry yet." She quickly spots her M-12 Locust SMG and goes to get it.

Zaylus looks back down, train of thought quickly abandoned. He sidesteps back to the door to reply, "No, I guess we're not." He concedes, leaning gently against the frame. "Just antsy. I really don't understand what's going on." His tone is level, the question implied.

Vasquez offers Leah a nod and goes to leave.

Crux startles slightly at the fresh message. "Uh, I've got something. Incoming message from 'Kolatia T'Shor'. 'Are you coming to the Miner's Respite today. I'm sorry for coming off as pushy yesterday'. Ring any bells?"

Vasquez stops and shakes her head, glancing to Renala to see if she knows, then instructing "Send me the contact." before walking off down the corridor in the direction of her office.

Philip smiles slightly, attention still on Justice. "Must be nice to stretch your legs and breathe fresh air if you're used to livin' on a ship, ain't it, boy?" he asks, still petting the dog.

Justin tilts his head upwards happily, tongue lulling out of the side of his mouth.

Jason falls silent, merely watching Justice bask in the attention for a few moments. As Leah and Vasquez round the corner his posture straightens, eager to see if anything useful has been discovered. The fact that she's heading straight to her office doesn't bode well. "I should probably get him settled so I can-..." he gestures Vasquez' way with a nod of his head.

Leah passes one final glance towards the others, offering a polite departing smile before taking her leave down the hall to go handle her gear.

Victoria proceeds to stand next to the shuttle. She enters the shuttle and goes to the seat she was in before, and starts inspecting her phaeston making sure it was in good condition, something to keep her somewhat busy while the techs did their work.

Renala looks thoughtful for a moment. "I did see another asari at Wenera's table yesterday," she says. "I was sure I'd seen her somewhere before too, but I couldn't place her."

Uvena accepts the turian's explanation, and sighs. "We've worried this might happen for some time," she explains as she collapses the SMG and starts stocking up on clips. "But we don't know why Sala is interested in Va'ynna."

Zaylus turns to watch Victoria climb into the shuttle, but her lack of urgency implies they're not moving out. He crosses his arms, fingers tapping the doorframe he's leaning against as he mulls Uvena's words. "It all seems too elaborate for ransom, or something like that." He ponders aloud, a little quieter.

Philip finally tears his attention away from Justice as Jason speaks, following his gesturing towards Vasquez and straightening up. "Right!" he exclaims, withdrawing his hand. "Nice to meet ya, Justice," he says before departing with a quick "Ma'am," to Vasquez.

Vasquez stops outside the offices, offering Phil a nod before turning her attention to Jason with a sigh, one hand resting on the panel for her door. "No breakthroughs, but we have some threads to pull. Can you get a hold of Ilyna?"

Crux takes a moment to send the contact Vasquez' way before returning to their work. "This shit's weird. Why do you think they got taken?" they ask to fill the silence once they're left alone with Renala again, not looking up from the screen while they talk.

Jason studies Phil, offering an appreciative dip of his head. But as the man turns to leave, his brows furrow in thought, something clearly on his mind. He seems to struggle with whether or not to voice it as Phil walks away, but Vasquez' interruption makes up his mind for him. A sigh slips out of him, but he does his best not to dwell on the bad news. "Threads are good." he muses aloud, "I'll take threads right now..." The

Leah soon disappears up the stairs. Destination: locker room.

Victoria continues her inspection of her weapon, she ejects the thermal clip making sure it was a fresh and the ejection of the clip works correctly.

Uvena nods. "Yes, it really does," she says, some anger seeping into her voice, "but we're going to make sure she doesn't get... whatever it is she wants from her." She takes one of the flashbangs from the batarian-haul and secures it to her armor.

Renala hums thoughtfully. "Va'ynna's caught up in something big, I think," she says. "We-.... Actually, that's not for me to talk about." She starts another analysis task on the script before turning around. "Learning a little too much about other people is probably my least favorite part of this job."

Zaylus nods in return, a little pleased those grenades might be put to good use soon. "Yeah, you got that right." He offers, taking a crack at optimism. It's about all the certainty he can muster, and his leg begins to shake restlessly. "It's probably too soon, but I'll go hover. See if they've gotten anywhere." He pushes off the wall, unhurried this time as he starts back toward the

Vasquez ' lips thin, expression troubled. "Wenera was trying to message Ehanis when she was taken."

Crux looks up from their work. "What, you know something?" they ask, curiosity clearly piqued.

Philip heads off towards the stairs.

Celyna is still watching biotiball in the rec room.

Jason blinks and it takes a moment for the confusion to set in. "That-..." he begins before nodding a couple of times. "...sounds like I should get ahold of Ilyna." he agrees with a sigh, not particularly pleased with this turn of events. "Do we know why, or-....?" he trails off with a few shakes of his head, well aware that Ilyna is probably going to freak out and want answers.

Leah just gives a quick peek inside the rec room when she hears the TV but makes no attempt at drawing Celyna's attention and continues towards the locker room. With no idea when a break might come through, her gear situation needs to take priority over idle chit-chat for now.

Victoria looks down the sight lines of her gun, happy with the sights she places the phaeston back on the seat and picks up her predator.

Uvena nods to Zaylus, but remains in the armory for now, checking on her weapon.

Renala shrugs. "Nothing that the bosses don't know already," she says. "Or would help us now, I think." She sighs, and grabs her lukewarm almost-empty mug of coffee. "Just forget I said anything, okay?"

Zaylus slowly walks back into the corridor, hugging the wall to, as promised, hover outside Renala's office without standing awkwardly in the doorway. It almost looks like he's sneaking, hunching slightly as he leans his armored body gradually against the wall. Just listening.

Vasquez shakes her head. "No. I'm gonna try to get a hold of Mian T'Veki, the roommate, and reach out to Ehanis as well."

Crux offers a faint hum of acknowledgement, curiosity unsated as they return to their work. "If you say so..."

Philip heads up the stairs.

Jason is already reaching down to activate his omni-tool. "Right... right. Mian." he says, flipping through his contacts. "I'm sure she's gonna be so happy to hear from you again so have fun with that." he continues, managing the slightest of smirks as he peers up from the display projecting from his forearm. He gives a few pokes at the interface and backpedals a step, gaze flicking back to Vasquez, "Keep me updated, alright?"

Victoria continues the same inspection with the predator that she did with her phaeston.

Uvena emerges from the armory, and starts walking towards the shuttle.

Renala turns back towards her terminal, but she raises a brow as she sees someone out in the hall. She need only look at the surveillance feeds to see who it is, though. "Wolfe and Vasquez are following up on Wenera's contacts, Zaylus," she says, figuring he might want an update while also letting him know that he's been observed.

Zaylus stands upright, surprise ebbing quickly as he spares tight chuckle. He drifts into the doorway, his stealth mission already exposed. "I didn't want to distract you." He explains. "I'm sure everyone's eager for updates." He glances down the hall and then back to the techs, giving them both an appreciative (not embarrassed) nod. "But thanks." He turns to continue away from the

Vasquez nods and disappears into her office. She wastes no time in taking a seat and bringing up the contact information for three people - Ehanis, Mian, and Kolatia. She attempts to call Ehanis first, figuring it's worth a shot to try to get a hold of her directly before resorting to sending a message.

Philip disappears into the rec room.

Crux looks up in confusion as Renala addresses Zaylus, the turian's appearance clarifying the situation. They snort quietly and return their attention to the laptop.

Jason waits until he's back at his office to place a call to Ilyna. As soon as he steps inside he's greeted by a tail-wagging ambusher that he's quick to placate with pets as he settles into his seat and waits for Ilyna to, hopefully, answer his call.

Victoria happy with the predator places it next to her phaeston, she grabs her helmet and places it on her head. She brings up her omni-tool and starts to test some of the systems of her armor.

Ilyna answers the call, with video. She is standing in the hallway of her apartment, and is wearing her winter jacket. "Hey," she says, an anxious expression on her face. "We're on our way, but the taxi is late." She lowers her voice as she asks, "Did you get her?"

Renala nods to the turian before looking back at the camera footage that's been pulled up. "Our footage of the salarian isn't clear enough, either," she says.

Uvena enters the shuttle. "How are you holding up?" she asks Victoria.

Zaylus drifts down the corridor, wholly unsure how to utilize the downtime. Rather then pry at any other offices, he turns right and heads up the stairs, his steps dragging.

Vasquez frowns. "...hello? This is Chief Vasquez, with Redrock. Can you hear me?" she says, giving the call a moment in the hopes that the issues are temporary and the connection will stabilize.

Jason can't help but feel an odd sense of relief that Ilyna has already caught herself up on what's going on. Less bad news for him to break. "Guess you saw the bulletins..." he sighs, but the look on his probably answers her question before he's able to with a shake of his head. "Not yet. Piros managed to outrun us and once she hit the city limits-..." he tilts his head, biting back on the lingering annoyance, "...the militia

Victoria enters a few commands on her omni-tool, her current focus is making sure the helmet's visor display is working correctly. "If I'm being honest, Uvena. Badly. I got comfortable and stupid, I can't help but blame myself."

Ehanis addresses Vasquez. "I should hear you now," she says. "I was told not to reach out, but since we're- ...-ing now, that means you've heard from our contact, right?"

Uvena walks closer to Victoria, but she doesn't reach out lest she might get in the way of her weapons check. "Even Va'ynna was worried this would happen," she says. "Sala had every advantage. There's... probably something we could have done, though."

Ilyna nods about the bulletin, but she looks very concerned at the news. "Oh Goddess," she says, trying to keep her voice low even if it's a futile effort in keeping it from Li. "How can I help?"