#Aroste – April 1, 2026

Leah gives a roll of her eyes as Celyna weaponizes her earnest question against her, though she's unable to hide the amused little smile that's slowly slipping out. Given the situation, a bit of levity isn't such a bad thing. Helps to keep those pre-mission jitters in check. "Wellll~ just because you've done something a lot doesn't mean you do it well." she fires back in a sing-songy tone now that the gauntlet has been thrown down,

Jason gives a few nods to Leah's assurances and opens his mouth to continue, but when she and Celyna continue their back-and-forth he simply blinks, waiting for the pair to finish saying their piece. "You two done flirting so I can continue, or...?" he asks, looking between the pair.

Zaylus stifles more amused chuckling, looking forward like he's pretending he wasn't laughing.

Victoria looks at Phil. "Biotics are cheaters kid, they can do a lot more bullshit that we can't." Turns her attention back to the group in general. "Just gotta work twice as hard."

Celyna lets out an approving snort, her grin growing. "Wow, big talk from travel-sized," she muses with an exaggerated look of skeptical assessment. "Looking forward to seeing if you can live up to all that..." she adds before Jason's interjection draws her attention and she lifts her hands in a 'go ahead' gesture, grin lingering as she leans back in her seat.

Philip blushes slightly at Jason's comment, although luckily Victoria's words draw his attention. "Oh, I don't mind not having to drop out of a shuttle mid-air..." he admits with a nervous chuckle.

Uvena sighs at the taunting, but she doesn't comment on it.

Renala chuckles, but she keeps her comment to herself as she looks over her omni-tool projection at Jason for him to continue.

Leah shoots Celyna an eyeroll as she goes for a low blow with the height jokes but Jason's comment causes her to blink, gaze turning from Jason to Celyna and then back, a hint of crimson entering her cheeks as her big green eyes widen. "I wasn't flirting! That-... I-...!" she declares, stammering over her words before scoffing and at least attempting to pretend to keep her composure, shooting Jason an unamused smile. "Hilarious, but

Jason remains completely silent as Leah rambles, brows furrowed as he watches her verbally flail. When she finally finishes, he clears his throat, eager to move right past whatever all... that was. "...Right. Anyway, sounds like we've got a plan. Do a quick flyover, drop you two off-..." he dips his head Leah and Celyna's way, "...and we'll set down nearby to approach from ground-level. Just-... keep an eye out for surveillance." he

Zaylus quits laughing, unabashedly staring at Leah through the duration of her prolonged foot in mouth rant. He slowly extends a hand forward and offers a thumbs up for her tactful recovery.

Victoria turns her attention to Leah and listens to the full ramble, she turns her attention back to Jason as he continues and nods along.

Celyna 's head turns in Leah's direction as she starts to ramble, initially furrowed eyebrows slowly rising higher and higher as she just keeps going. Her mouth scrunches up just a little as she swallows a laugh that threatens to slip out. When it's finally done she just offers Leah a nod, hand rising to scratch her own face in a token effort to poorly conceal the wicked grin that indicates she's been given a truly stellar gift. Her

Philip 's eyes go wide as Leah rambles. Pretty obviously embarrassed on her behalf, he looks off to the side out the window and pretends not to pay any attention.

Linda (Comms): This is Chief Vasquez. We've received unverified intel from an unknown source. We're working on trying to determine it's reliability, but in the meantime I'm forwarding it to you, strike team.

Uvena looks at Leah with an amused look that turns sympathetic as she continues to dig herself into the hole. It pushes away the difficult thoughts for just a moment.

Renala stifles laughter at Leah's rambling, and meets Uvena's gaze with a look that all but says 'maidens, am I right?'. "From who?" Renala asks about the intel, though not over comms.

Leah glares at Zaylus, catching him with a stray eyeroll as well. She brings a boot up onto the edge of her seat and brings her arms around her leg, chin resting against her knee as she listens to Vasquez, thankful for the sudden distraction.

Jason seems about to continue when Vasquez chimes in over comms. "Copy." he reports back, bringing his forearm up to give the document a quick once over, brows furrowing as he scans over it. Renala's question garners an absent shake of his head. "Doesn't say who it's from but, if it's real then this might help us fill in a few of those gaps." he muses, lips pulling back into a smirk as he gives his interface a few quick swipes, relaying

Zaylus registers the glare and looks down, retracting the gesture. He seems neither amused nor bothered, turning his attention to the new intel. At the mention of a mech he makes a sound approximating an airy whistle, "Don't like to hear that." He murmurs.

Victoria opens her omni-tool when it beeps, she reads over the message. "The grenade and missile launchers should be able to handle the YMIR if things get loud."

Celyna takes a moment to look over the intel, but the conversation about the YMIR soon draws her attention, however. "Not sure how familiar you guys are with YMIRs, but the power cells on those things aren't exactly stable. Fucking hazard to friendly forces. Why you usually don't see them with infantry. Strip the shields and take the head off, and the power cells will overload. Explosion's big enough to take out a chunk of the building

Philip , busy reading the datapad, looks Celyna's way with slightly wide eyes at the mention of exploding mechs.

Renala looks at the message as she nods at Jason's look her way. "I bought that damaged Hahne-Kedar LOKI mech just to find out why my hack didn't stick last time," she says. "I did reproduce the problem and verify the solution on that one, but I haven't tested it on the bigger model."

Uvena frowns thoughtfully as she reads the report. "Stripping their shields is no small task, though," she says, "but that could be our way in if we're forced to go loud."

Leah studies the fresh intel, Celyna's suggestion causing her to finally hazard another look in the asari's direction, attention bouncing from her to Uvena. "Until we know exactly where the hostages are being kept, we'll need to be careful and make sure any damage done to the building is isolated to low-risk locations."

Jason offers a set of nods as Leah voices her concerns. Renala's addition causes him to flash a smile her way. "No time like the present, right?" he offers with a shrug, but before she can respond the ping on his omni-tool draws his attention. The request causes a confused look to cross his features but he's quick to compy, swapping channels with a few swipes at his interface. He shoots an apologetic glance about the cabin to those who

Zaylus looks up from the intel to quirk his head at Jason's departure. After a moment he turns to Celyna, "You tangled with a lot of those things before?" He asks curiously.

Victoria nods in agreement with Leah. "I doubt that they would keep Vay in the garage, they would most likely move her deeper into the building." She watches Jason walk closer to the cockpit. "So if we need the YMIR to blow, the garage might be the side we want to damage."

Celyna looks a little caught off-guard by Uvena's take-away from her addition - that certainly hadn't been her intent. She nods in agreement with Leah before looking to Zaylus. "Few times. Most of what I know is from chatting with techs that use them, though." Probably no surprise to those that are aware of Celyna's past with Eclipse - HK mechs make up a substantial portion of the organization's forces.

Philip is back to silent listening mode.

Linda (Private Comms): "I've got a lead on the source of the intel. It looks like it's been sent our way by survivors from Kalus Security."

Renala nods to Jason, raising a brow as he steps out of the room. "If my hack works, I'll be able to shut it off or overwrite its IFF table," she says, "but it's easier to do that unnoticed when it's in patrol mode."

Uvena looks back at the report, but does not say anything.

Leah quietly listens to the rest of the group continue the conversation, gaze briefly shooting towards the cockpit door as Jason disappears through it.

Jason shoots a glance Jasper's way as he passes behind him. "Fuck..." he mutters, drawing in a heavy breath as he tries to do the mental gymnastics to navigate through this new wrinkle. "Kalus' people definitely have plenty of reasons to hold a grudge against the Darennons. Plenty of reasons to hold one against us, too..." he concedes with a dip of his head. "Obviously they must know about our beef with the Rellis and Jelvan if they're

Zaylus nods at Celyna, "Good to know." He says, even if the thought of an uncontrolled explosion gives him some pause. He doesn't know what an IFF table is so he simply asks Renala's way, "Can you make it shoot them instead?"

Victoria goes silent for the moment, letting the others continue the conversation.

Linda (Private Comms): "Seems likely. We've got resources they don't. Seems like they've been gathering intel for a while. If they found out we're going after the Darennons, it'd make sense to throw intel our way, let someone they wouldn't mind getting taken out take a crack at it. Could also be they're hoping we take each other out though. Like you said... they've got reason to want that. So I'm not sure how reliable the intel is."

Celyna 's attention turns to Renala, curious about her hacking plan, but she remains silent.

Philip is back to reading through the intel they received.

Renala grins at the question, and nods. "We can do that by altering the IFF table, yes," she says, "but I'm thinking that if the you two don't draw its attention, and its the only exterior surveillance they've got, we could get into position while it keeps stomping around like nothing's going on."

Uvena frowns at Renala's plan, but she remains quiet. There are a lot of ifs to it.

Leah waits until Renala finishes before speaking up. "Once me and Celyna are in position the rest of you are going to need to move quick, so we may not have much of a choice. This is going to be one of those situations where 'quick' might be more valuable than 'perfect'."

Jason gives a few slow nods, a sigh slipping out. "Copy. The fact that it outright says that the intel is a bit dated makes me more inclined to believe it, but I guess it all comes down to who they want dead more. For now I guess we just-..." he shakes his head to himself, "...play it by ear and see how things shake out. In the meantime, see if Fergus can throw together a layout based on our previous visit. Maybe have him mark down the

Jasper focuses on not looking like he's eavesdropping on Jason's conversation. Just doing pilot things over here!

Zaylus bobs his head, clearly pleased that that's an option. "Big old mech doesn't sound so bad now, at least." He offers optimistically.

Victoria | "Turning it off might be the quicker option, than changing it's IFF." She adds to the conversation.

Linda (Private Comms): "Will do. ...no. Complete radio silence. Ilyna has tried too, but no luck. Let's hope you can get there before her."

Celyna chimes in with "Those things have a hell of a lot of firepower between the autocannons and the rocket launcher. If they catch you in the open, you're fucked."

Philip shifts nervously in his seat, glancing up briefly from his omni-tool.

Renala nods to Celyna. "Yes, so the ground team should hold position until I can confirm the hack works," she says. "It's a great risk, but... it's necessary if we want to hit them from every side."

Uvena doesn't get any less anxious listening to the tactical planning, even if she knows how necessary it is.

Leah shifts in her seat, leaning a bit heavier against her knee once she's finished studying the intel and her interface dissipates.

Jason allows another sigh to slip out. "...Copy. Try and get our IFF info to her at least. Last thing we need is more people shooting at us. Well-... last thing we need is Derrai traffic control shooting us out of the sky, but Ehanis fucking things up is a close second so do what you can to clear all that up. Keep me updated, alright?"

Zaylus appears a little sobered by the reminder of the mech's deadliness, nodding as his shoulders sag. He keeps his thoughts to himself for now, refocusing on the intel.

Victoria looks over towards Uvena, and she can tell they are sharing the same level of anxiety for this whole shuttle ride. She has nothing to can really do to help her, but remain focused and try not to let her emotions get the better of her.

Linda (Private Comms): "Of course. I'll be in touch."

Celyna nods in agreement with Renala, taking another look at the intel on her omni-tool.

Philip just keeps on readin'.

Renala pulls out a device from a pouch and plugs it into her omni-tool as checks the readouts, while keeping the intel document open next to the readout. The device is a fist-sized ball of parts held together by tight wires and electrical tape with both ends of a yellow unplugged cable sticking out of it.

Uvena meets Victoria's gaze, as much as that's possible with Victoria wearing a helmet, but doesn't say anything.

Jason has spent the trip going over their barebones plan. Execute a quick flyover above the Darennon compound. Leah and Celyna will perform a low-altitude airdrop onto the roof. After setting the shuttle down as close to the AO as possible, the others will make their way to the compound on foot. Renala will attempt to disable any security and override the doors, granting access to the hangar for Vicky, Uvena, and Zaylus. Jason, Phil, and

Leah has, likewise, fallen a bit more quiet as the trip carried on. That Alliance training is mirrored in the way she meticulously goes over her equipment.

Jasper calls back through the open cockpit door, raising his voice to be heard over the hail pelting the outside of the Kodiak. "Enterin' Derrai airspace! Looks like we're in the clear so far... Should be 'bout fifteen minutes out!"

Zaylus has moved little throughout the journey. He had checked his own gun only after noticing someone else doing so, lacking the same militaristic discipline. The hail crashing down has caused him some disquiet and his leg bounces restlessly as he tries focusing on the layout blueprint. Now and again he subtly looks up at Vicky and Uvena.

Victoria continued her silences during the rest of the shuttle ride, she studies the layout of the building. Thinking about the best route for her group to take, but that would depend on which entrance the other three take.

Celyna has taken a short nap during the trip, but is now wide awake. After double-checking her gear - a process which doesn't have Jason or Leah's military precision, but the familiarity of decades of experience regardless - she takes out a package of gum, working a strip free and popping it into her mouth. A closer look at the packaging would reveal it to be proudly announcing that the gum is laced with a popular stimulant meant to

Philip fidgets restlessly in his seat at the announcement, checking his borrowed rifle again as they near their destination.

Linda (Private Comms): "I just received word from Ehanis. She's still tight-lipped, but claims they're waiting for you. Passing you the message and IFF tags. See if you can set up shared comms with them."

Renala killed the time tinkering with her device. If asked, she'd explain that it's a proxy drone so she can perform short-range hacks from medium range, but like a lot of her things it's not seen field testing. She finds a yellow cable-segment sticking out from the side and joins it, causing the device to hover just above her hand as a blue shimmer surrounds it.

Uvena has been trying to relax for the last few hours, to no avail, and she's been idly watching Renala work instead. She is sitting up straight now that they're this close to the AO, anxiously tapping her foot.

Leah bounces her foot against the shuttle floor but Jasper's announcement causes her to rise from her seat to start her final preparations. Pouches are checked. Pistols holstered. Visor tested. The trio of throwing knives that were neatly arranged on the seat beside her amongst her gear lift from their resting spot, hovering weightlessly towards her and snapping magnetically to her chestplate as she gives her Mattock one final check.

Jason is pulled from his thoughts as Vasquez' voice crackles through his comms. There's a small sense of relief that comes with that news. That's one less thing that can go wrong. "Copy. We're about fifteen minutes out." he says, repeating Jasper's update. He gives his omni-tool a few pokes and checks out this new nugget of info before scanning over the others briefly. "Ehanis got back to us. Here's her team's tags." he announces before

Zaylus leans forward as Celyna starts distributing gum, making a questioning sound. He takes his helmet off in anticipation of accepting, realizing a second later exactly what's being offered. "Oh, n-no. I'll pass, thanks." He says quickly with a tight shake of his head and a suppressed grimace. He fidgets with the helmet to reseat it while Jason begins to speak.

Victoria silently watches the group do their last minute preparations. She looks over to Uvena and watches her for a time. "We will get her back, Uvena."

Celyna shrugs to herself at being surrounded by squares, starting to chew. She gets to her feet, leaving her coat behind on her seat - loose fabric isn't exactly ideal for what they're about to do. She grabs a ceiling handhold to steady herself as she performs a pat-down to remind herself where each thermal clip and grenade is situated, and then she grabs her helmet. "I'm good," she confirms to Jason, tapping her helmet and then

Philip checks hos omni-tool to confirm the data received, not that he actually has a HUD to display the tags. At least his gun will know. He looks over towards the heavy weapons. "So, uh... who's handlin' those?" he asks with a nod in their direction.

Renala pockets her device, and unbuckles to get her weapons down from above her seat. She checks the information on her omni-tool, and nods. "Good, that gives us time to get set up before they link up with us," she says. "Especially in this weather."

Uvena nods to Victoria. "That we will," she says. "Just remember our priorities." She then puts on her helmet and closes the visor.

Leah doesn't look particularly bothered by the weather conditions. "Should be fine." she says simply, more focused on prepping her gear. She breaks down her Mattock, the rifle collapsing in her hands before being stowed onto her back, and steps up beside Celyna, reaching for a handhold of her own.

Jason merely nods to Celyna and Leah's assurances, well aware that they know their own limits better than he does. Phil's question pulls his attention towards him, then to the heavy weapons mounted over the seats. "Vicky already has some hands-on experience with the 77. Since her team will be entering through the hangar, makes sense to me for her to have it. If any of these assholes make a break for their shuttle-..." his gaze turns

Zaylus reseals his helmet, checking its secure several times. He doesn't seem particularly jealous about the heavy weapons, but does give the young human a pointed look through his helmet. "Careful with that." He mutters, Phil's nervous demeanor up until this point not exactly convincing him he can handle it.

Victoria gives Jason a nod, she moves forward to retrieve the 77. "Gotcha. They run, clip their wings." She secures the launcher to her back. "Do we know if they have anything other than the shuttle and YMIR that we have to worry about?"

Philip 's eyes go wide and he straightens up in his seat. "Uhhh... yessir! I'll- I can do that!" he replies with as a confident a nod as he can muster, a quieter "...I think," getting tacked on at the end.

Celyna checks her comms and HUD, and then rolls her shoulders, cracks her neck, and bounces her weight from one foot to the other as the gum starts to kick in.

Renala raises an eyebrow at the heavy weapon being given to Phil, but she doesn't protest Jason's decision. She attaches her weapons and sits back down before putting on the helmet.

Uvena brings up her omni-tool to quickly revise the intel and map, and to receive the IFF tags.

Leah begins to shake out any lingering jitters, bouncing on the balls of her feet and lifting her legs a few times to stretch out her thighs. She gives a roll of her shoulders before noticing Celyna doing much the same, causing her to tilt her focus towards the asari. "Ready?" she asks over the sound of ice pelting the outside of their ride as they sail ever closer to their destination.

Jason takes a moment to pass the M-100 off to Phil. His arms must be malfunctioning because his hands just don't seem to want to let it go. Eventually the glitch passes and he relinquishes control of it to Phil with a heavy heart. "Uhh-... no idea." he says, his gaze returning to Victoria. "Not even sure how reliable that intel is, so be ready for anything."

Jasper chimes in once more. "Runnin' outta time to decide on that landin' site." he announces as they begin to near their target. While they studied the general area via publically available maps during their trip, nothing was set in stone given the uncertainty regarding their entry into Derrai airspace as well as Ehanis' part in all of this. Ultimately it was agreed that they'd likely be aiming to set down somewhere from a

Zaylus remains seated, halfheartedly doing what stretches his armor will allow. He has no precombat ritual and very little gear to inspect so he just seems anxious to escape the vehicle. He leans forward to look into the cockpit, but the decision posed doesn't feel like his.

Victoria gives Jason another nod. "Gotcha, so keep it to small arms until something warrants the heavy weapon." She gives her weapons and armor one last inspection, after completing the quick check she keeps her Phaeston in hand.

Celyna 's head turns in Leah's direction. "Hell yeah," her voice comes, crackling over the helmet speakers. The armored faceplate of her helmet conceals her expression entirely, the angled design with two rounded, glowing yellow eye holes - a classic among Terminus mercenary groups - giving it a skull-like impression.

Philip gingerly accepts the M-100, looking the unfamiliar weapon over and feeling the weight of it before collapsing the thing and attaching it to the back of his armor vest.

Uvena remains seated, anxiously tapping her foot.

Renala brings up her omni-tool and double checks that she has the right tools loaded up. "Just be ready with those in case the mech doesn't cooperate," she says as she looks between Phil and Victoria.

Leah shoots an amused smile Celyna's way. She, unfortunately, doesn't have the luxury of a helmet today. Instead, she reaches up and taps her earpiece, causing a light blue semicircle to project across her field of vision like some high tech pair of sunglasses. It might not offer any protection, but at least she won't be without a HUD.

Jason merely nods to Victoria's assessment. "Ehanis is approaching from the north so set us down to the west!" he calls out to Jasper. Speaking of Ehanis, he brings his forearm up, omni-tool interface projecting over it as he readies a message for her. "We'll be touching down nearby in the next few minutes. Things are probably a whole hell of a lot more likely to go smoothly if you link comms with us." he dictates, sending the message

Jasper is unaware of the turian audience watching him work as he swipes, drags, and pokes at the interface like a conductor. "Copy!" he confirms.