09:45am (3h) -- The Redrock shuttle has just cleared Freedom Falls proper on the way to Aroste.
#Aroste – March 26, 2026
Uvena looks down at her helmet as she remains buckled into her seat, trying in vain to clear her head and not focus on the ways this can go wrong.
Jason used the time it took for everyone to assemble to load up the shuttle. Crates sit tucked beneath the seats containing all the basics. On the rear wall of the crew compartment, an M-100 is magnetized over one section of seats. An ML-77 is over the other set of seats, serving as their only real anti-material option. Hopefully it won't be needed, but it never hurts to have contingencies. He stands in the doorway to the cockpit, his
helmet left on one of the seats for now as he waits for everyone to get settled. "Alright..." he sighs, glancing about the crew compartment, "...here's where we're at."
Leah is crouched in front of her seat, one of the equipment crates pulled out just enough for her to collect a few thermal clips from it to add to the pouches on her belt. She was able to retrieve an undersuit from her locker but, lacking the time for a trip to the Respite, she's still helmetless. To fill in that gap as best as she could she's wearing a visor- a simple earpiece that projects a heads-up display across her field of
vision- and a dark blue cap, her ponytail pulled tightly through the back. As Jason begins to speak, she sets a few more thermal clips onto an open seat and slides the crate back under her seat, turning her focus his way.
Zaylus has his helmet back on, leaning forward as he looks over at the heavy weaponry he is not qualified to use. He straightens up as Jason begins, expression hidden but looking attentive and quiet.
Victoria has remained standing since the shuttle has taken flight, she was already fully geared up and didn't have much else to be ready. She hangs onto one of the roof handles near the kodiak's door, she turns her attention to Jason.
Celyna has opted for a seat near Zaylus. Unlike Leah, she was fortunate enough to have her helmet on hand at base in her newly acquired locker, and has it stowed under her seat now. She has her Carnifex attached to one hip and a Tempest to the other, still wearing the same yellow-black light armor she arrived on the scene of the attack in earlier in the morning. She's even still wearing the winter coat - is it for aesthetics or for
warmth? Perhaps both. Her attention goes to Jason when he addresses the hastily assembled team, looking curious to see what he has to say.
Philip doesn't own a hardsuit, so he's still stuck with his armored vest layered over rugged winter wear. He has, however, acquired extra ammo, as well flash and smoke grenades from the equipment brought aboard. His weapons, just like before, are loaned from Redrock - an Avenger rifle and a Predator pistol. He strapped into his seat next to where Leah is currently gearing up, looking a little on edge. Jason draws his attention when he
Renala is seated across from Uvena on the shuttle, not looking too happy about being back in the field on 5 minute's notice. She is still putting on the minor plating of her green medium armor and double-checking the electronics since it's been a while since she's maintained her combat gear. She has her M-12 Locust and Blood Pack Punisher magnetically attached above her seat. Her helmet is under her seat.
Jason remains in the cockpit doorway, giving everyone a moment to finish up whatever they're doing before continuing. "Details are shaky at best right now, but we've got reason to believe Piros is working with the Darennon clan. Some of you might remember that name." he pauses, a frustrated sound escaping him. "We bumped heads with Rellis Darennon and his brother Jelvan a while back." he continues, filling in the gaps for those out of
the loop, gaze briefly passing to Celyna, "Ultimately we-... uhh-... let's just say 'agreed to disagree'. But now it's looking like they can't leave well enough alone."
Leah's lips pull into a thin line at the mention of the Darennons and she quietly settles back into her seat as she listens.
Zaylus flexes his hands into fists, pulling up even straighter. The look of recognition is obscured but an irritated expletive manages to escape from his helmet.
Victoria remained silent as she listens to Jason, a face of annoyance appears on her face at the mention of Rellis. However, her face is hidden from the rest due to her helmet.
Uvena gives Victoria with a knowing look at the mention of Darennon, given that they were speculating about them earlier, but she doesn't speak up yet.
Renala raises an eyebrow at the mention of Darennon. "Let's not take anyone prisoner this time, then," she suggests without taking her eyes off the armor plates.
Jason gives a shake of his head to Celyna's question. "Unknown." he admits with a sigh. He doesn't respond to Renala's comment but he passes a look her way, his feelings on the matter not far from hers. "Our intel points to them taking the hostages to back to a building owned and operated by Jelvan Darennon in Aroste. Presumably the same door we kicked in a few months back but-..." he shrugs, "...like I said, details are shaky. As for
numbers? Last time they had roughly a squad on-site with a handful of security mechs so I'd say expect something similar, but that's just a guess."
Leah nods along with his assumption. "Considering they hired outside help to grab Wenera I doubt they've got more than a security force." she agrees. "It wouldn't make sense to turn to mercs when you have your own muscle."
Victoria nods at Renala's word, agreeing with her and then turns her focus back to Jason. "The question I have is simple, are we going in quiet or loud? Depending on our approach, I have some suggestions. If you wanna hear them."
Celyna doesn't seem too pleased about the initial lack of specifics, but nods in acknowledgement of Leah's addition. She seems curious to hear the response to Victoria's question.
Philip swallows hard, but nods in agreement with Renala and Zaylus. "If... they're just gonna keep kidnappin' folk, then..."
Renala attaches the last plate of her armor and brings up her omni-tool. "Maybe they wanted mercs that didn't know about their operation," she says to Leah, "unless the batarian was lying to us."
Leah considers Renala's suggestion for a moment before offering a shake of her head. "Considering Piros' connection to the Darennons seems to have led us right to them anyway that wouldn't add up, right? Why hire a couple of mercs to grab Wenera but send someone directly tied to your operation to grab Va'ynna?" she muses aloud, merely trying to connect some dots to make sense of it all, "What if things had gone the other way? We manage
Jason goes to answer Victoria's question but Phil's comment draws his attention, his expression hardening as he looks his way and merely offers a nod. "Still working out the details on that." he says as his focus returns to Victoria. "I'm sure I don't have to remind you about how-... uhh-... creative we had to get during our last approach. Hopefully this time things will be a bit smoother. Linda is working from her end to try and make
sure we can enter the city limits without the tricks but, until we know how that shakes out, we're operating in the dark. Ideally I'd prefer we get as close as possible before we set off any alarm bells but until we know how we're getting into Aroste, we can't really set anything in stone. But-..." he shrugs, "...if you've got suggestions, I'm all ears."
Zaylus looks down, as if in thought. He's not familiar enough with this area to offer immediate ideas, so he looks up at Victoria in anticipation of her aforementioned suggestions.
Victoria gives Jason a nod, and not wanting to recreate their last approach again. "Well it depends on if you wanna use the Siren's Call early or leave it on standby in atmo nearby." She pauses for a moment. "The Siren's shields and engines are far superior than a shuttles, the old girl can take a punching. So we could use the cargo bay of the Siren as a hangar, and deploy the kodiak once we
Celyna 's curiosity seems piqued by the mention of the Siren's Call, but she remains silent, looking between Victoria and Jason.
Renala nods to Leah. "Yeah, you're probably right," she says. "I've only skimmed the transcripts while poking through the junk you brought back."
Uvena looks up at Victoria, raising an eyebrow, but she doesn't say anything as Jason is probably more informed about operating in Derrai than she is.
Jason listens to Vicky's suggestion before shaking his head. "We're not looking to go to war with all of Aroste, so the last thing we need is an engagement happening in their airspace. Sounds like a good way to get their guns turned on us. But I already let Linda know you had the crew prepping to deploy so I'm sure she's keeping in touch with them so they can get boots on the ground in case we need backup in a pinch."
Leah quietly listens. She looks as though she has something to say, but remains quiet for now lest anyone else has any input.
Zaylus | "Maybe not that loud." He offers Victoria sympathetically. Perhaps guns blazing had sounded fun to him too.
Victoria lets out a little grunt. "Just throwing it out there." She understood the reasoning behind Jason's words, but is still a little annoyed about the facts.
Celyna snorts quietly, seeming amused with the ex-pirate's ill-considered eagerness to go in guns blazing. "We expecting trouble from the local authorities?"
Philip seems relieved at the confirmation that they're not planning to go to war with the whole colony.
Renala nods in agreement to Jason. "We had enough trouble with them for not landing right last time," she says.
Jason snickers at Zaylus and Renala's additions. Celyna's question garners a shake of his head. "Expecting? No. But we can't rule it out. No telling what sort of ties the Darennons have. But it wasn't a problem last time, so I'm not expecting it to be one this time. Either way, the way we avoid finding out is by getting this over with quickly and cleanly. What we are expecting is potential assistance. The intel we're working off of
was provided by Ehanis, an ex-Redrock employee." he continues, his eyes flicking over to Celyna once more as he fills in the gaps for her sake. "Linda is still working on clearing up the details of what her involvement in all of this is-..." he continues, doing best not to let his unease over all of that show through, "...but we know that she was in contact with Wenera and is currently working with a team of her own to mount a
rescue. We're gonna do what we can to try and link up with them as we near our target so we can trade IFF info, but if we're not able to establish comms with them before touching down then that means we're gonna need to watch our fire until we can do so. Understand?"
Leah nods in silence, trying not to linger on what Ehanis' involvement in all of this might be. Those are questions both for later, and for someone else. For now, her focus is on the mission.
Zaylus nods in reply, more enthusiastic about the additional help than wary of the unknown connection.
Renala looks surprised at Ehanis being a part of this, but she doesn't have anything to add that isn't already in Redrock's reports. "Does T'Rea know about this?" she asks.
Jason offers Renala a nod and a quick, "She does." but opts to leave it at that. Once he's sure there's no questions from the others, he proceeds. "The details might be muddy right now, but our objectives are pretty clear. Get in and get V and Wenera out of there safely." Full stop. That's the mission broken down to its bare essentials. "Everything else comes secondary to that. As for secondary objectives?" he gives a small roll of his
Leah continues to listen, but adds nothing for now, simply nodding as Jason reaches each point to signal that she understands.
Zaylus | "Unless we're going in real quiet that secondary objective might come up first." He offers, his tone implying a question.
Celyna 's lips scrunch to one side. "Already threatened the hostages to get you to back off. Gonna happen again if they get the chance to realize what's going on," she comments.
Renala nods to Jason. "I remember they had a server room very close to the roof hatch," she says. "That's where they kept Marissa, so it could be a good place to strike first if we can get on the roof unseen."
Uvena frowns and looks down at her helmet at the mention of threatening the hostages, but she doesn't say anything.
Jason gives a small, conceding tilt of his head, shoulders briefly lifting, to the pair of initial comments but he focuses on the latter. "So we don't give them the chance." he says flatly. Renala's addition causes him to glance her way, dipping his head in agreement.
Leah shifts in her seat, forearms coming to rest on her thighs as Renala brings up the very same thing that was on her mind. "I have experience with low-altitude drops." she says. "They might get spooked if a Kodiak comes in low to land on their roof, blowing any advantage it might have given us, but I'm guessing plenty of shuttles pass overhead everyday. If we can get clearance to enter the city all you would have to do is fly over
the building, keep our distance, and I can handle the rest. I'll lay low and, if we synchronize our entries from a few locations at once, we might increase our odds of catching them off guard and reaching the hostages before they can really formulate a plan or mount a defense." she suggests, looking around to see how the others feel about it.
Victoria just listens to the others, she didn't really have anything she could add to the conversation opting for continued silence.
Celyna cracks a wide, eager grin at Leah's suggestion. "Sounds like a good time. Wouldn't mind getting in on that action..."
Renala frowns thoughtfully. "We don't know what kind of surveillance they have," she says, "or if they've upgraded since our last visit, and I don't have it in my to drop from height."
Jason listens as Leah speaks, her suggestion causing the edge of his mouth to pull up into an amused smirk. Celyna's addition causes him to nod to himself a few times, seeming more confident with each nod as if the plan is coming together. Renala's comment does seem to give him pause, brows furrowing in thought, but ultimately he dismisses it with a shrug of his shoulders. "That's true no matter how we approach. If they've got
surveillance, they're gonna see us before we see them. At least in this scenario we've got people right on their ass if it plays out like that. Leah and Celyna can airdrop onto the roof, we'll land nearby and hit the ground running." His gaze turns back to Leah, smirk returning. "Alright. I'm into it. Crazy-..." he clarifies, blue eyes turning from Leah to Celyna, "...but I'm into it."
Leah shoots Celyna a playful wink when she volunteers to be her plus-one. Jason's comment draws a snort out of her and she rolls her eyes. "Hardly. I've done dozens of drops. As long as Aroste authorities aren't trying to shoot us out of the sky it should be perfectly safe." she assures. Gaze flicking back to Celyna as she settles back into her seat, "Do you have experience?"
Zaylus chuckles at Leah's question to Celyna, this morning's biotic drop easy for him to remember. But he won't speak for her, and is looking to the asari for her answer.
Celyna 's grin lingers as she looks Leah's way, before shifting into something subtler as she nods. "Few decades more than you, sweetheart," she replies, a bit of teasing challenge in her tone.