#Hospital – November 1, 2014

Mendez is still seated in the lobby. He has created a makeshift leg rest by moving one of the end tables in front of his chair to prop his legs up on it, gathering him dirty looks from many of the hospital staff. He's looking over a datapad with disinterest.

Renala enters the hospital, looking around. She spots Mendez and makes her way over to him. "Evening," she says. "What's up?" The asari's not really ready for combat, for there are no weapons on her person. Her jacket has some basic kinetic barriers. Although hard to see, she has her biotic amp plugged in.

Mendez looks up at Renala with a frustrated sigh. A slight smile tugs at his lips as he realizes who it is. "Hey, Princess." he says, sliding the end table aside with his boot before sitting up properly in his chair, "Not a whole lot." He leans forward and sets his datapad on the footrest-table. "Chief send you over here?"

Renala nods, and takes the seat nearest to him. "Yeah, she did," she says. "I haven't heard much else from them, though. Anything happen here?"

Mendez gives a short shrug. "One of Rellis' people stopped by... I was able to convince her to leave, but I'm guessing this whole thing is gonna get a lot uglier before it gets better."

Renala frowns. "Yeah, they're not the kind to mess around," she says, "if Redrock's place is any indication. It would take some guts to shoot this place up, though."

Mendez raises an eyebrow and gives a humorless chuckle. "They attacked a mercenary compound. A place that, for all they knew, could've been filled with trained soldiers, or had automated defenses." He makes eye contact at a doctor standing across the lobby and nods towards him, "You think they're gonna be afraid of that guy? Wouldn't take guts to attack us here. Just ruthlessness. Think

Renala | "I'm pretty sure the attack wasn't plan A," she says. "They made demands, which the chief declined. And they wouldn't take no for an answer." She glances around. "How long do you think the militia will sit on their ass if they attacked this place?"

Mendez glances towards the hall to the salarian's room, then back at the door. "Quick entry, guns blazing... Wouldn't take much to grab him and make an escape..." he sighs.

Renala nods. "Point taken," she says. "That leaves it up to us to keep them busy so they have to find out." She frowns. "I'm definitely not ready for that, though."

Mendez groans and nods. "I noticed. Might want to consider heading home and grabbing a weapon. Maybe suit up. After what happened at Redrock, I wouldn't take any chances."

Mendez shakes his head. "Not much news. Chief says we're not letting him go. They're demanding we let him go. The salarian isn't saying shit about anything. Think this is what they call a stalemate." he sighs, "But so far we're ahead in the game. We didn't suffer any losses during that attack. Hopefully that's enough to make them question whether or not they should send more after us. I'm

Renala hums thoughtfully. "They really fucked up our place, though," she says, "and it's not going to be cheap building it up, let alone making sure it's not going to happen again."

Mendez nods idly towards Jelvan's room.

Renala glances towards the salarian's room. "Yeah, that's true, but I'd like to be around for the rebuild to see to the network's security. Especially if they want to plug an AA gun into it."

Renala shakes her head. "I haven't had the time," she says. "I've been trying to crack the encryption on the data since I got home."

Mendez shifts a bit in his seat, attempting to get comfortable. "Any luck with that?" he asks.

Mendez furrows his brow. "Well I have a feeling things are only gonna get worse if you're not able to find what we need." he frowns, "Like I said. The salarian isn't saying shit. And the longer we hold on to him, the longer we're risking another attack. As much as I hate the idea of lowering ourselves to that level... It might be time to give the salarian a bit of an 'incentive' to talk..."

Renala frowns. "The worst-case estimate isn't looking good, even if I have it running around the clock," she says. "I'd hate to gamble our lives on it."

Mendez remains quiet for a few moments. "I'm not sure if the Chief is willing to go that far. Hopefully she realizes we're running out of alternatives..."

Renala considers it for a few seconds. "I hope the Chief let anyone else have a say in it," she says. "It was her that refused to give him to them when it was just me and her against a shuttle that could be filled with mercs for all we knew."

Mendez nods. "Yeah... Not that I blame her. We've got a job to do. But we're not gonna get what we need out of that smug fucker by sitting around and letting him relax. It's gonna take some convincing. If he's not jerking us around and really doesn't know anything, then that needs to be settled up with the client."

Renala glances towards the salarian's room. "The encryption key would be a good start," she says, "but we should probably not do it on our own initiative."

Renala nods. "Will do," she says. "I could ask her for an update, too, while I'm there to get my gear."

Mendez nods, "Yeah. I'd like to think that they'd let us know if the situation changed, but it never hurts to ask. And-..." he pauses and glances back towards the door as a person enters and proceeds towards the front desk, after a moment he returns his attention to Renala, "-...Try to hurry back. The asari that came for Jelvan must've reported back, so they have to know that security is a

Mendez near-smiles. "I'll be here. Be safe out there."

Renala nods. "You take care, too," she says with a small smile. "See you around." Without awaitng a response, she makes her way out of the hospital.

Mendez slouches in his seat a bit once Renala leaves, and uses his foot to drag the end table back into a position to prop up his legs.