#Miner'sRespite – July 23, 2014

Renala is sitting at the bar, exchanging a few words with Va'ynna who gets her another half-pint of beer. She's in a dark green top with her typical leather jacket halfway zipped up over it, and non-descript gray pants.

Jason enters the Respite without his hardsuit, although a Phalanx is still holstered on his belt. He's dressed in a pair of jeans and a brown jacket and his facial hair has a week or so of unattended growth. Jason slowly makes his way up to the bar, not paying much attention to anyone, and takes a random seat a few stools down from Renala. After getting situated, he glances around and, upon spotting the pair of asari's, smiles to himself. "Renala. V." he greets, slowly standing back up and taking a new seat beside the two, "How you two doing?"

Renala looks over at Jason with a raised eyebrow, looking a bit surprised. "Jason?" she says. "The hell have you been?" She sighs. "I'm doing better. Went back to Thessia to see the little one... and seek help."

Va'ynna keeps quiet while the other asari speaks, frowning a bit. "I'm... fine," she says, though doesn't want to interrupt the other two. "Uh, rum and coke, right?"

Jason puts his hands up defensively as Renala speaks. "Where have I been? The agency, that's where. You remember that place, right? The one you work for? I wouldn't blame you for forgetting, on account of the fact that you haven't been there for weeks." he says pointedly, although the smirk that crosses his lips shows that he isn't particularly angry. He gives Va'ynna a nod before continuing to speak to Renala, "Not that I blame you..."

Renala stares at him while talking, before a chuckle escaped her. "With how many messages I've seen, I hardly believed there were anyone there," she says, not sounding too serious. "Besides, I have enough to keep busy."

Va'ynna finds the bottles along the wall and returns to the counter. She pours the ice-filled glass and places it before him, but keeps quiet as to not interrupt them.

Jason sighs and shakes his head, "All I'm saying is you could've told someone. I know that last one-..." he hesitates for a moment, "I know it was rough... But you can't just run off like that. We're spread too thin as it is."

Renala is silent for a few seconds before nodding. "Yeah, I should," she says. "I'm sorry." She picks up her glass and takes a sip. "Just say the word if you need me on a job," she says, "just... try to give more warning next time we're going to be out of comm range for six days, okay?"

Jason nods slowly. "I didn't know until the last moment." he says plainly with a shrug, "You know how this business is. Nothing is ever cut and dry. Sometimes shit just comes up, Renala. And all we can do is deal with it." He reaches for his drink and takes a sip before giving Va'ynna a pleased nod and setting it back down. "As for jobs..." he sighs, "I-... I might have something coming up soon, but you're not gonna like it..."

Renala raises a brow. "If it's another place that's dropped out of contact, then count me out right now," she says. "There must be jobs that aren't about nightmarish things like that."

Jason bites his lower lip and looks down for a moment. "I can't guarantee anything in terms of comms." he admits, "As a matter of fact, I can't confirm much of anything yet. Linda's still working on the details at the moment... But it's-..." he pauses and glances towards Va'ynna. He seems to contemplate something for a while, but decides to continue speaking anyways, although at a whisper, "It's a follow-up to the Londinium job..."

Renala is quiiet for a moment, staring at him in disbelief. "Fuck... are you serious?" she says in a lowered voice. "I thought you ought to be as far away as possible from that."

Va'ynna tilts her head, standing a bit back, although still within earshot. She glances around occasionally to see if anyone else need anything.

Jason shakes his head, "You have no idea, Renala... 126 people died to whatever those-... things are." he nearly spits with contempt. "And it's not the first time me and Linda ran into them. A while back we ran a security job for ExoGeni. Only a handful of us made it off that ship. Creatures just like those we encountered in that mining facility. How many people have died to these things that we don't even know about? Linda says that she found some leads. She thinks there's a group behind those things. Someone is doing this on purpose..." he looks towards the counter for a moment, repeating his words, "On purpose... Can you fucking believe that?"

Va'ynna fidgets nervously, but makes her way over to another part of the bar to serve a patron waving for her.

Jason reaches up and runs a hand through his hair, giving an audible sigh as he does. "Renala. There's no telling how many people they've already killed. Or how many they'll go on to kill if we don't do something. We're not gonna force you to go, but I've got enough ghosts in my life-... I can't just sit here and let this happen if there's something I can do to stop it." He swivels on his stool to better face the asari, "Look... I know what you're going through. I've struggled with it for a long time. Fear. Guilt. Anxiety. Nightmares. You go through something like that and you can't just 'put it behind you'. It stays with you. But we're getting the chance to make it right."

Renala places her glass on the counter, taking a deep nasal breath. "I have a kid at home," she mutters. "On Thessia. Her mother thought she could get me out of her life over a year ago, but no... didn't work. She fears the worst whenever I don't take her calls." She sighs and turns towards Jason. "I want nothing more than those monsters getting their overdue justice, Jason, but I don't see our little group standing a chance."

Damien slips into the bar, donned in his usual attire, helmet tucked under his arm. He raises a curious eyebrow to the pair, but moves towards a booth that is a respectable distance from them.

Jason stares silently at Renala for a moment, narrowing his eyes. "You don't see us standing a chance? Are you fucking kidding me? How can you say that? We don't even have all the details on what we're up against yet, and you're already counting us out?" he says, raising his voice a bit more than he intended to, "That's fear talking." he insists, "I've survived two encounters with those motherfuckers. If there's gonna be a third, it's gonna be on my terms, you understand me? Come with. Don't. It makes no difference to me." He rotates to face the counter once again, but quickly changes his mind and turns back to Renala, as if he has more to say, "And, shit, maybe we don't have what it takes to stop whatever's out there. Maybe going after them is a death wish. But what happens when these sick fucks decide to release those things on Thessia? Then what? Are you really willing to sit by and wait for that to happen!?"

Damien glances at the rise in volume.

Renala closes her eyes for a moment. "Jason," she says, trying to remain calm. "I don't doubt you, or the rest of the bunch. It's about them. They can't keep doing that crap without being able to fend for themselves, and fucking well." She pauses, picking up her glass. "On the flip side, this may be isolated insidents, and we all throw our lives away for nothing."

Jason takes a deep breath and attempts to maintain his composure. "For nothing? So, all those people that died don't deserve closure? We don't deserve closure? I don't want to live in fear for the rest of my life." He sighs and reaches up to rub at his brow as his frustration has clearly gotten the better of him. "They're not isolated incidents. I've done my digging. There's a number of reports of similar situations... Most are just dismissed as bullshit, but there's too many similarities, Renala."

Renala takes a long sip of her drink. "They don't sound like something our team can overcome," she says, lowering her voice not to cause too much commotion. "They could number in the thousands for all we know, for Goddess' sake, and we'll just throw our lives away."

Jason returns to facing the counter and wraps a hand around his glass, but makes no effort to lift it. "We don't even know how they do it, Renala." he says, making a conscious effort to calm down and lower his voice, "The doctor said it worked like a virus... I highly doubt they're just keeping an army of those creatures around if they can cause an epidemic by other means." He pauses for a moment and stares silently into his glass before continuing, "It sounds like you've already made up your mind, Renala. And truthfully, I don't blame you... I'm not gonna hold it against you. But if you change your mind, I'm sure we could use all the help we can get..."

Jason snorts to himself and shakes his head, an almost amused smirk on his face. "Yeah... Sure. Run into 'em a few more times. Watch everyone around you die. People you know. People you're fighting beside. Then get back to me about how it's 'not our fight'." He lifts his glass and takes a short sip before setting it back down, "You don't need to give me a reason. Like I said, I'm not holding it against you. Do what you have to do, and I'll do what I have to do."

Damien taps away silently on his omni-tool, a flask of liquid perched on his belt. He takes a quick swig from it before continuing to tap away.

Renala places a hand on her forehead. "Jason," she sighs. "I'll attend a briefing when you've gathered enough information, but I'll make no promises." She sips the remainder of her glass and puts it back on the counter. "Just keep in mind those you command, we're not that many, and we're not commandos."

Jason sighs loudly, "I'm done discussing this, Renala. Nothing you can possibly say is going to change my mind." he snaps. He quickly attempts to regain his composure once again, "...Just-... Don't worry about it, okay? I'll figure it out. Besides, we've got a few other things coming down the pipe in the meantime. Linda is currently in negotiations with another client about a new job."

Renala nods and turns back to the counter, waving to Va'ynna to get another drink. After a few seconds, she turns back towards him. "Any idea what we'll be dealing with next?" she says. "I'm doing my best, but figuring out what makes tech do what I want it to do takes time."

Jason shakes his head. "No idea. I'll try to give you a heads up, but I can't guarantee anything. As soon as I know something, I'll let you know. Alright?"

Renala offers a small smile. "Thanks," she says. "I'm currently trying to get a defective Hahne-Kedar mech I got cheap to work. Hopefully I'll figure out how they work before one's firing at us."

Damien stifles a yawn as he closes down the omni-tool. He sips from the flask again, sitting silently for a few moments before sighing and powering up the tool again.

Jason slugs back the remainder of his drink and sets it back on the counter. "If you get it up and running, bring it by the Agency. Might be something worth having on standby." he says, "We'd reimburse you, of course."

Va'ynna makes her way over to Renala and Jason. "Anything I can get you?" she asks, directed at either of them.

Jason shakes his head, "No thanks, V. I should get back to the office soon. Just wanted to stop by and see how everything was going, mainly."

Renala looks over to the other asari. "Another one, please," she says before turning to Jason. "I'll consider it, but it may be more use to see if I can find a sure way to shut down any of those firing our way."

Jason shrugs as he slides a credit chit across the counter towards Va'ynna. "Well, play with it for a while. If you're able to get it in working order once you're done, we'll add it to the Redrock armory for a rainy day."

Va'ynna pours the glass from the beer tap and places it on the counter before the other asari.

Renala takes the glass with a nod of thanks. "Yeah, I can do that," she says to Jason. "I'm just trying to figure out how to break the software, not the hardware. That's if I get it fixed without needing any expensive parts."

Damien quietly closes down his omni-tool, grabs his helmet and heads up to his room.

Renala smiles slightly. "I'll keep that in mind," she says. "I don't know if everything that's in it is working as it should, but I'll know soon enough."

Jason nods as he climbs off his stool. "Keep me up-to-date." he says before placing a hand on the asari's shoulder and giving it a pat. "And... I'm sorry for getting so emotional. It's just a touchy subject for me. It's all I've been thinking about since we got back..." he sighs, "It'll be fine, though. We're gonna figure this out."

Renala places the glass back on the counter. "Don't worry about me," she says, patting his arm. "Just promise me that you take your time planning this, okay? So that we hit them where it hurts."

Jason nods, lingering quietly behind her for a moment. "Of course." he says finally, "I've gotta get back to the Agency before Linda figures out what I'm doing." he jokes, "Take care." He takes a step back and lifts his arm to give Va'ynna a wave.

Va'ynna can't help but grin at his joke. "I'll... see you again, Jason," she says. "Oh, Ilyna asked about you a few days ago."

Renala chuckles. "You too, Jason."

Jason winces at the mention of Ilyna. "Yeah... I've been putting off responding to her." he sighs, "I've just had a lot going on lately... But enough excuses, I'll get a message out to her as soon as I get back to the agency." he says before turning on his heels and making his way towards the exit.