#Salvaging – August 12, 2013

Renala takes a few steps towards the tent and glances inside, her expression contorting in disgust at the sight of the corpse. "Goddess," she mutters as she backpedals a bit. Reluctantly, she moves over to look inside the tent nearest to it.

Tyranniac| The next tent over is empty.

Steve continues to rest his submachine gun against his leg as he taps his foot to the beat of the throbbing in his head. "So..." he begins, staring through the weathered survivor, "What happened up here?"

Fera'Sel shivers a second time and moves over to the next unexplored tent. She hesitates for a few seconds, then cautiously opens the flap and looks inside.

Tyranniac| The survivor starts coughing heavily, falling to his knees.

Tyranniac| THe tent Fera examines contains an empty sleeping bag and a handgun. The floor is covered in frozen blood.

Steve sighs and stands up. "Knock it off. Come on, back in your seat." he says, using his Tempest to gesture towards the seat.

Tyranniac| The man doubles over, planting his palms against the floor to steady himself. He doesn't respond.

Renala | "Nothing here," Renala announces somewhat loudly and makes her way over to the last unchecked tent. She pauses for a moment, and then hesitantly opens it enough to look inside.

Tyranniac| The last tent contains a backpack.

Steve takes a step towards the survivor and presses the barrel of his gun against the back of the man's head. "Did I not make myself clear? Get the fuck up." he says, raising his voice for the first time.

Tyranniac| The survivor falls to the floor on his stomach. The coughing stops after a while.

Renala | "There's a backpack in here," Renala says before she steps inside and picks up the backpack, and gets out of the tent. While she thought it awful to rummage through someone's stuff like that, she figured it could contain something that could help finding out more about this situation. She opens the backpack and looks over what's immediately visible in it's largest compartment.

Steve drops to one knee beside the survivor. Grabbing the man under his arm, he rolls him on to his back. "You've got to be fucking kidding me..." he mutters to himself.

Tyranniac| There is only some basic, mostly useless survival gear in the backpack's main compartment.

Tyranniac| The survivor swats the gun away as Steve turns him around, grabbing his arms and trying to wrestle the weapon from his grip with surprising strength.

Renala closes the bag again with a shake of her head. "Might as well bring it back with us," she says as she stands up and picks the pack up by its handle and starts making her way back to the truck.

Fera'Sel shakes her head at the sight and holds a hand to the forehead of her suit as she moves back to the truck.

Steve swings a leg over the survivor's torso in an attempt at mounting him. "What the fuck is wrong with you!? We're here to help!" he shouts as a slight shimmer begins to envelope him.

Steve leans, shifting his weight backwards. "Oh, do they now!?" he grunts without giving the maniac's ramblings much thought before attempting to slam the crown of his head into the man's jaw.

Tyranniac| The survivor is knocked out immediately, his body becoming limp.

Renala drops the bag at the sound of shouting from the truck and runs towards it, removing the 'borrowed' gun from the holster while running. While the sound was gone by the time she's there. "What happened?" she says, seeing Steve and the survivor on the floor.

Tyranniac| Young Human follows Renala.

Fera'Sel stays a good distance behind the asari as she nervously prepares her overload program.

Tyranniac| Old turian is still sitting in the snow...

Steve takes a deep breath and climbs off of the man as he hears the asari's voice. The shimmer slowly dissipates as he takes a few steps away from the survivor. "Fucker attacked me out of nowhere." he says, wiping at his forehead to check for blood. Turning back towards the survivor suddenly as a wave of anger overcomes him, he plants a quick kick into the side of the man. "We're here to help you!" he shouts at the unconscious man. "The fuck is wrong with him!?" he asks, gesturing frantically as he turns his gaze back to Renala.

Tyranniac| The survivor remains motionless.

Fera'Sel lowers her omni-tool arm as she glances into the truck. She sighs and climbs up cautiously. "He attacked you?"

Steve puts his hands on his sides and glances at the quarian. "That's what I said, didn't I?"

Renala shakes her head. "I have no idea," she responds with a sigh. After a brief moment, she adds, "There was a body in one of the tents, with a gunshot to the forehead."

Steve nods a couple of times, shooting a cold look back towards the man. "Sick fuck killed them all... Did you find anything valuable?"

Fera'Sel holds out the datapad. "This was in the same tent, most likely from the guy who... g-got shot."

Fera'Sel shrugs as a response, then begins digging through the contents to see what's on it.

Renala | "Fera said there was a gun in one of the other tents, and I found a backpack," Renala adds. "I don't think the pack has anything useful in it, but we might as well take it with us." She takes a step back and makes her way over to where she dropped it.

Steve nods at Renala and turns towards the young human. "He probably won't be out for long." he says, cocking his head towards the unconscious survivor, "See if you can find something to bind his hands with."

Tyranniac| The datapad has six audio entries.

Fera'Sel ponders the selections for a moment, then hovers her hand over the play button. "I'm starting the first log."

Renala returns with the backpack around the time Fera plays the first log entry, and places it inside the truck before she spots the turian sitting in the snow and walks over to him. "You should get in the truck," she says and extends a hand to help him up.

Tyranniac| The turian gets up, leaning on Renala for support to assist his walking. He nods for thanks.

Steve listens as the log is played. "Are there any more?" he asks once it finishes.

Fera'Sel frowns, but then nods as the first log comes to a close. She starts the next one.

Tyranniac| Young human looks around for a bit, failing to find anything.

Renala takes the turian's nearest arm over her shoulder and holds it there, then winds her other arm around his waist, and heads back towards the truck slowly.

Fera'Sel plays the third entry.

Steve swivels towards the young human as the log plays and, noticing that he's not doing anything and the survivor is still unbound, raises an eyebrow. "Well? When he gets up, he's not going to be too happy... I don't care what you need to do, but restrain him."

Tyranniac| Young human kneels down to restrain the survivor. After a moment he speaks. "Uh... I think he's dead."

Steve turns around completely to face the young human and the survivor and lets out a frustrated sigh. "What do you mean you 'think' he's dead!?" he asks, running a gauntleted hand through his hair, "Is he dead or not?"

Tyranniac| Old turian sits down in the truck once they arrive.

Fera'Sel stops playing the entries in order to look down at the human.

Renala nods slowly, also seeing no point in having a dead body lying around in the truck. "Yeah, let's get him out of here." While she hasn't complained, she seems to shiver a bit from the cold, and it's getting audible in her tone of speech. She crouches down by the survivor's feet and prepares biotic energy.

Tyranniac| Young Human reluctantly grabs the top half of the no-longer-survivor.

Renala begins carrying the body, employing a mass effect field to lower the mass of it.

Fera'Sel plays the fifth entry.

Steve takes a seat as he listens to the logs.

Renala waits for the log to finish before getting out of the truck with the body, and walks just a few meters off the 'road' before dropping the limp form without any notification beyond that.

Fera'Sel waits for Renala's return before pressing the play button on the final log entry.

Steve shakes his head. "He said something about some people leaving, right? Did anyone notice any signs of tracks out of the camp?"

Renala thinks for a moment and shakes her head. "Not as far as I can recall," she says as she finds her backpack in the truck and opens it. "I didn't really check, though." She picks out a thicker jacket which took most of the pack's space. It's a thick gray jacket, with some red trims, but is not much to describe beyond that.

Steve glances around at the others. "Anyone?"

Fera'Sel shakes her head.

Tyranniac| Young human shrugs.

Renala nods acknowledging, thinking for a moment. "I'd say we check those to the south then," she says, "since one of those logs mentioned that they sent hunters into the forest."

Fera'Sel shakes her head a second time. "That's a waste of time. What if we never end up finding them? How long are you planning to search?"

Renala takes off her jacket and folds it before putting it into the backpack and picks up the other. "They couldn't have gotten far," she says while putting the thicker jacket on. "Besides, they could have more info about this mess."

Tyranniac| Young human shivers in the cold.

Steve sighs. "We shouldn't have even come this far." he says, "Was a waste of fucking time... But now that we're out here, we might as well see where the tracks go." He nods towards the backdoor of the truck, "That asshole was credits out of our pocket. I'd prefer to make that back."

Tyranniac| Young human nods at Steve.

Steve looks around at the others. "If nobody has a better idea, let's get going."

Renala nods in agreement and stands up and goes to close the truck's back door. "Yeah, let's get going." She returns to her seat and sits down.

Steve makes his way over to the speaker and leans against the wall beside it. "We're done here..." he says, holding down the button, "We've got some tracks heading to the south. Let's follow them as far as we can."

Steve holds down the button once again. "One so far... But he didn't make it."

Steve reclaims his seat and buckles his harness.

Renala puts on the safety harness and leans back slightly.

Tyranniac| The truck starts to move once more.

Fera'Sel plugs in her seatbelt and waits silently, the datapad still on her lap.

Steve looks towards the quarian and nods at the datapad. "Do those entries we listened to have dates?"

Tyranniac| The most recent entry is listed today.

Fera'Sel glances down at the datapad and inspects the dates for a quick moment. "Hm... the most recent one is from today. I-It... looks like..."

Steve leans over and grabs it. He begins looking for the date of the log regarding Alexei's group leaving.

Tyranniac| It is dated three days ago.

Steve sets the datapad down beside him. "Looks like they've got a bit of a head start on us. They left their camp three days ago."

Tyranniac| Some time later...

Renala abruptly leans forward at hearing the announcement and pushes the button. "Another empty camp?"

Fera'Sel is thrown slightly off balance as her reverie is shaken once again. She looks up as the two talk over the speaker and immediately unbuckles her seatbelt. "Is it safe?"

Steve unbuckles his harness and moves to the back of the truck. After opening the door, he takes a few steps outside and takes in his surroundings.

Renala nods and unbuckles herself from the seat, before following after Steve out of the truck, and also looking over the area.

Tyranniac| There is not much to be seen behind the truck aside from the tracks of the truck coming here from the north. Oddly enough, the tracks they have been following led up the mountain rather than down. The forest is still within sight further down.

Renala shivers a bit at the change of temperature, despite her thicker jacket. She walks a few steps to the (truck's) left to get a better look of the surroundings.

Tyranniac| It's gotten colder since the last time they were outside. There's a faint, but chilling wind.

Tyranniac| In front of the truck, up the increasingly sloping mountain lies several bodies in the snow. The snow has been heavily disturbed on the area, covering the bodies partially and being melted and refrozen in some areas.

Steve follows Renala around the truck, letting out a heavy sigh as the bodies come into view. "Figures..." he mutters.

Renala sighs and takes a few steps closer to them. "Maybe they got something useful on them," she begins, "maybe another lead to chase."

Steve nods silently and follows the asari towards the bodies.

Renala approaches the nearest body and stops beside it, crouching down. She begins wiping the snow off it, shivering a bit as she's not wearing gloves.

Fera'Sel stays close behind the others as they move towards the bodies. She kneels down to inspect them as well, but looks visibly hesitant at going any further than just looking.

Steve takes a knee on the other side and puts his hand out. "Let me..." he says, wiping at the snow with his armored hand, "You look like you're freezing."

Tyranniac| There are four corpses in the snow, all in thick winter clothing riddled with bullet holes. The body Renala inspects has had most of it's head blown off by a high-caliber round. Two of the other corpses are nearby while the fourth one is several meters away, and, judging by the trail in the snow, crawled there before dying.

Renala retracts her hand, wiping it on her jacket mostly to get the near-freezing water off her hand. "Goddess," she says as she stands up, her expression contorting in disgust. She looks over the other nearby bodies.

Steve opens the jacket of the body he's hovering over and begins searching the pockets.

Tyranniac| | The pockets contain a thermal clip, some medigel and a picture of a small child sitting on the floor smiling.

Tyranniac| Old turian is sitting around in the truck due to his wound.

Renala glances around again. "Anyone else suspecting the guys who abandoned them did this?" she asks. "I can't think of anyone else who would be up here, let alone someone with anything against these guys."

Steve removes the thermal clip and medigel and places them in compartments on his armor. He stops for a moment once he spots the picture, slightly taken aback. He shoots a quick glance at the others and, once he's certain they're not watching him, he places the picture into the palm of the corpse and closes the hand tightly. "Maybe they turned on each other." he responds, standing from the body.

Renala glances at the body before taking a step towards another. "Whoever did this," Renala says. "I'm not too sure about pursuing their tracks."

Fera'Sel pokes at the jackets on one of the corpses, inspecting them more closely. "This... is carnage. Look at how many bullet holes there are."

Tyranniac| The body Renala moves closer to is laying on its back and has a strange-looking burnmark running across the chest, having scorched the clothing away and blackened the skin beneath.

Steve moves onto the next body and begins freeing it of loose snow before checking its' pockets.

Tyranniac| The body Steve investigates has an omni-tool, a metal flask, a datapad with a bullet-hole through it and a Predator handgun. It's clear the bodies have not been looted.

Steve checks through each item one by one for any clues as to what might have happened

Tyranniac| The omni-tool has only some basic programs, mostly related to surveying, nothing interesting. The flask contains alcohol, the datapad is non-functional and the handgun appears to have broken due to exposure.

Renala approaches the body laying on its back, crouching down to inspect it further, suppressing the feeling of disgust. She looks at the scorch mark. "This body has... burn marks."

Tyranniac| The scorched area stretches in a line from the left shoulder to the right hip, having gone through the skin and seemingly annihilated the organs within in the places it touched. It seems unlike normal burn-wounds.

Renala glances over the burn mark, realizing the extent of their depth. "By the fucking Goddess," she mutters to herself and stands up. "This body's got severe burns," she announces to the others.

Steve stands up from the body he had been searching and joins Renala. "What could've done this?" he asks as he traces the wound with his eyes.

Tyranniac| Young human tries to maintain the illusion that he's an experienced merc.

Renala shakes her head. "I was just about to ask the same."

Fera'Sel drops the part of the jacket she had been holding and walks over to the others.

Steve stares at it for a moment longer before shaking his head and moving to check the final body.

Renala follows after him, keeping a bit behind; she seem a bit thoughtful.

Tyranniac| The final body is lying face down in the snow, with his right arm stretched out ahead of him. His wounds are less severe than the others.

Steve takes a knee beside the body and turns him over.

Renala watches the body being turned, but remains standing.

Tyranniac| The corpse is that of a young man. His snow-covered face is frozen and lifeless. As the body is turned over an omni-tool falls out of his hand.

Steve grabs the omni-tool and tosses it to Renala. "Might be worth checking out..." he says as he begins to rustle through the man's jacket pockets.

Renala catches the omni-tool and puts it in her jacket's pocket. "Yeah, I'll take a look at it once we're back in the truck."

Tyranniac| His pockets contain some kind of spare part, likely for the survey equipment, two thermal clips, an antique compass and a lighter.

Steve picks his pockets clean and looks over each of the items. He pockets the thermal clips and, unsure of what the spare part is, decides to hold onto it in case it's worth anything to Hnipinn. "Any idea what this might be?" he asks, handing the part to Fera.

Fera'Sel stares at the burn mark for several moments, then shivers unconsciously right before Steve asks. She takes the part from him and looks at it intently.

Tyranniac| The part would likely not look familiar.

Fera'Sel shakes her head. "No, I don't know what this is. It's most likely a replacement part for some equipment they have, but I can't be sure."

Steve sighs and nods. "Alright. Might as well take it with us. Might net us a few extra credits. Looks like we're about done here. Let's go check out that omni-tool." he says before trudging through the snow back towards the truck.

Tyranniac| Young Human follows Steve.

Fera'Sel glances down at the part, then over to Renala as she turns towards the truck and follows Steve. She keeps the part clutched in her hand and doesn't look down at any of the corpses anymore.

Renala follows Steve back to the truck. "That might be easier said than done," she says, "depending on whether the 'tool has security systems."

Steve climbs into the back of the truck and takes a seat. "Still, it's worth a shot, right?"

Renala climbs into the truck after him and finds her seat. "Yeah," she nods as she sits down. She picks the omni-tool out of her pocket and links it with her interface-emitter, and then tries to enable it.

Fera'Sel sits down in her seat and fastens her seatbelt, then looks at the part intently.

Tyranniac| The omni-tool flickers to life, immediately starting to play a recording. The poor sound quality indicates damage from the snow. Any humans would likely be able to recognize the accent as russian. "T-... hh... ngh... they took it... those... m-... monsters... took the device. Killed-... hgt... everyone. Whoever's listening... get-... long pause of pained breathing. ...get it. Can't-... can't let them... keep it."

Renala | "Well that was easy," she mutters to herself before the recording plays. She listens to it. She seems thoughtful, maybe a bit worried, but keeps quiet.

Tyranniac| The omni-tool display dies and sparks fly as a faint shock strikes Renala's arm. The omni-tool is broken.

Renala groans faintly at the pain and shakes the hand it hit frantically for a second before disconnecting the device and dropping it (almost throwing it) on the floor.

Renala nods. "Yeah," she says. "One of the sparks hit my arm."