#FreedomFalls – April 29, 2015

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Ilyna has set up her terminal on the dining table since it's the only decent place to put it. It is a few hours less than two Earth days since they returned from the job. She has placed a spare mattress in one of the bedrooms, and she uses the couch herself. Some food items are on the counter table, taken out of the freezer in the morning so that they thaw by dinner time.

Ilyna is currently sitting in front of her terminal, writing down some notes on the Redrock employees she know the current state of. She has the datapad Jason gave her before the Tanner job, which she uses as a reference for the employees she hasn't properly met.

Li is standing on her toes behind Ilyna, curiously trying to gain enough height to see what's on the datapad. She's been by far the most willing to speak to Ilyna out of all the children.

Ping is sitting in the couch, watching but not really paying much attention to what's on the screen. His gaze is distant. Ping has been a bit troublesome, getting angry whenever one of the other kids talk about the compound or their parents.

Evelina is in the closer of the two bedrooms, along with Johnny and Toren.

Jason hops out of the shuttle just outside of Ilyna's home. After exchanging a few words with Jasper, he closes the shuttle door and starts off towards the building, squinting as the sun sends a sharp pain coursing through his head. When he reaches the door, he taps at the interface to announce his arrival and takes a position against the wall. He's still wearing his clothes from the

previous day, jeans and a white t-shirt with the right sleeve fastened shut. The bags around his eyes indicate he probably hasn't had much sleep, if any.

Ilyna turns towards Li with a small smile. "It's just paperwork," she says, patting the girl's shoulder. The doorbell interrupts her before she can say anything further. "It must be Jason." She stands up without locking her terminal, and if the girl can read, it summarizes the current state of employees Ilyna know the agency have, even some marked as 'killed in action'. She starts

walking towards the door to open it.

Li tears her gaze from the pad and follows after Ilyna. She ends up hiding in the kitchen, peaking out around the corner towards the door.

Jason leans out in front of the doorway, putting a hand up as a makeshift visor to keep the sun away as he studies Ilyna for a moment. "Hey." he says, the alcohol still pretty clear on his breath from the previous night of binge-drinking, "Nice place. Bit of a trip, though."

Ilyna steps aside to let him in. "It's what I could get on short notice," she says. "How are you holding up, Jason?"

Jason gives a bit of a shrug as he steps through the door. "About as well as can be expected, I guess." he sighs, "How about you? Heard you got a house full of rugrats."

Li studies Jason from around the corner.

Ilyna smiles slightly, although it's not genuine. "I'm fine," she says. "I wanted to talk to you about the agency. What we're going to do in the meantime until we find a trail to follow." She closes the door.

Jason glances down the hall at Li as Ilyna speaks. A smirk crosses his lips and he raises his remaining hand to give the girl a small wave. "Until we find a trail to follow?" he asks, "We look for a trail to follow."

I know, but we don't know how long that's going to take, and how much we will need to fund every step of the way.

Ilyna starts walking through the corridor towards the living room, giving Li a reassuring smile.

Li hurries out of the way, keeping a distance from Jason. She moves to behind the kitchen table.

Jason continues to watch Li as he follows Ilyna, chuckling a bit as she scurries off. "We've probably got a few offers sitting in the Redrock inbox. The Tanner contract got us a little bit of exposure. He seemed to be ranting and raving about you all over the place. I just-..." he pauses and sighs as the smirk fades from his face, "...Just haven't felt up to checking it."

Ping looks over his shoulders at Jason and Ilyna when they enter the living room.

Ilyna chuckles. "I've watched the interviews," she says. "I don't enjoy the attention, but I'd be lying if I didn't think his spin on the story was a bit funny." She looks over at Li and Ping. "This is Jason, he's my friend and coworker," Ilyna says. "Don't be afraid, he's one of the very few I'll trust enough to be here with us." She sits down at the dining table before her terminal,

and gestures to the seat beside her.

Jason regains his smirk as he glances between Ping and Li, giving another wave as he continues behind Ilyna and takes the indicated seat.

Li takes a seat at the table as well. Her gaze is focused on Jason's arm. Or rather, his lack of arm.

Ping studies Jason for a moment before returning his attention to the screen. He says nothing to the man.

Ilyna hums thoughtfully. "You can forward the offers to me," she says. "I'll let you have final say in any of it, of course, and you'll be meeting the clients and applicants."

Jason gives a short nod. "Alright. I need to get this sorted before I'm any use to anyone..." he sighs as he reaches across his chest with his remaining hand and pats his damaged shoulder, "Planning on seeing Halisi and seeing what my options are. In the meantime, we need to see about getting in touch with an information broker..."

Li tilts her head. "Where's your arm?"

Jason glances over at Li with a crooked grin. "Friend of mine needed a hand, so I let him borrow it." he jokes, "I'll be getting it back soon, though."

Jason tilts to his left, elevating his right shoulder and rotates it a bit, causing the fastened-shut sleeve to wave around at the girl.

Some arguing can just barely be heard from the bedroom.

Li winces slightly. "Scary..."

Ilyna chuckles before glancing at the bedroom door, but doesn't get up. "I want any documentation that I'll need to get a grasp of how well the agency is doing and our current resources and expenses," she says.

Jason gives another nod. "Not a problem. I'll get it all over to you tonight. Once you've looked it all over, we can decide how to move forward. I don't want to, but I can take out a loan if we need it..."

That should be the last resort. We'll try turning it around first.

Ilyna frowns. "There's also my sister," she says. "I... promised to get her a job with the agency."

Jason sighs and reaches up to rub at his forehead. "Then we're just gonna have to make sure the next job we pick up pays well enough for us to put her on..." He closes his eyes for a moment and shakes his head, "Look, it's gonna be fine... We've still got some credits to work with. With the loss of Vaden-..." he pauses and lowers his gaze to the table, "Salaries will still be on-track

for now, even if we bring your sister on board..."

Li has lowered her gaze to the table as she listens in silence to the conversation.

Ping shows no sign of caring about what's going on by the table.

There sounds of arguing have died down in the bedroom.

Ilyna glances at her terminal. "I'll look at the offers," she says. "With so many injured, we may need more than just Ehanis if we're to take on contracts in the near future."

Depends on the contract. We'll try to stick to the stuff that won't require a large team. Security contracts, stuff like that. The less action we see, the better.

You should know how well that goes for us. The job with Tanner was supposed to be simple, too.

Ilyna nods. "But I get your point. I won't be able to be out in the field, though."

Jason glances over at Li. "We could always get you a babysitter." he offers with a chuckle, "What are we going to-..." he lowers his voice and leans closer to Ilyna before trying again, "What are we going to do with them, anyway?"

Li looks at Jason - he may have been overheard.

Ilyna sighs. "Seek help from Council Space authorities; Alliance and Hierarcy, at least," she mutters, "but I'm not going to ask for the agency's money for this. My family is going to help me."

Jason bites his lower lip and forces a smile when he realizes he's caught Li's attention. "Help?" he asks, "What do you mean by 'help'?" He looks over at Ilyna, hoping Li will just magically disappear or something and stop listening to the conversation if he doesn't look in her direction.

Li seems rather curious. "What's Alliance?"

Ilyna nods. "Financially. For rent, food and other necessities," she says before looking at Li. "They're the government for human-owned worlds in Council Space."

Jason glances back at Li and puts the smile back on, "They're friends. Take care of us humans." he says. He leans back in towards Ilyna and lowers his voice again, "You mean.... They're staying here? Are you sure that's the best idea? That's a lot of responsibility, Ilyna."

Li seems to struggle with understanding this - an effect of growing up in isolation from the rest of the galaxy no doubt. She goes quiet.

Ilyna nods. "Responsibility I am willing to take on," she says. "They're staying with me until I can find them a better option in Council Space."

I'm just saying-... Don't get me wrong, they have my sympathy. We need to do everything we can to help them. But I don't see the Alliance just handing out credits to a group of people living out in the Terminus, you know? Maybe it would be best to turn them over to the Alliance. Maybe they can set them up in an orphanage, or a group home?

Jason takes a deep breath, "I don't know... But with the lives we live, is here really the safest place for them?"

Li frowns. "What? We can't stay?"

That is what I'm trying to do, Jason. I... just don't know if it'll be that easy.

Ilyna looks at Li with a small smile. "You're staying with me until I can make sure you're in better hands, in a place that's much better to grow up in."

Li nods faintly and lowers her gaze. "Okay..."

Jason 's eyes widen as Li speaks up. "It's not that you-... uhhh, can't stay here. You just don't want to! Right?" he asks, looking to Ilyna for support, "I mean... The Alliance can take you somewhere safe! Somewhere fun! Probably with a shit load of candy and stuff.... or something like that."

Li shrugs and remains quiet, looking down at the table.

Ilyna frowns, and looks at the notes written down on her terminal in an attempt to change the subject. She hums thoughtfully. "Someone I met on the job for Tanner mentioned T'Iavay and Briggs and recognized the name of the agency," she says. "Bryan Cross. Has the agency worked for him before?"

Jason furrows his brow and slowly shakes his head. "No. That's the guy out in Adrasteia. Definitely not a client of ours, why? Did he seem interested in hiring Redrock?"

No, I was just wondering if he's a past client we could reach out to again for work. I was meaning to ask what our relationship to his organization was when writing the report, too, and I was reminded of that when reading over the draft.

Uhh... No relationship. Never even met the guy. Probably just saw one of our ads or something...

Jason furrows his brow, "But... you said he mentioned Briggs and T'Iavay by name...?"

By first name. He said he has met them if I remembered it right when working on my report.

Jason gives a bit of a shrug. "Probably just ran into 'em at some point and got to talking. Nice to know they're mentioning the name, though. That's how we get work..."

Ilyna nods. "Probably," she says. "He was very helpful, though, and let us stay at one of his better hotel rooms for the night before we left Adrasteia. For free."

Jason smirks and shrugs once more. "Can't beat free, right?" he says, standing from the seat, "I should probably get going. I'll get that information to you tonight, though. Go over it, and I'll be back... tomorrow? Maybe the day after? And then we can discuss our next move, alright?"

Ilyna stands up, as well. "Thank you for coming by," she says. "And I'm not going anywhere." She chuckles.

Li looks up and mumbles "Bye Jason..."

Jason glances over at Li. "As for you... I've got a job for you. Think you're up for it?" he asks, tilting his head to the side as he approaches the girl.

Li seems confused, remaining in her seat. "Me?"

Jason digs into his pocket for a moment before producing a small card. He sets it on the table in front of her. It's the same Redrock Agency cards left around town for advertising, displaying the companies name, logo, and contact information. "I run a security company. We protect people. Ilyna?" he says, nodding towards the asari, "She's a very good friend of mine. Very important to

me, alright? Think you can protect her for me? Make sure she's safe?"

Li takes the card, looking at it with wide eyes. She nods. "I will!"

Jason gives a stern nod. "Alright. That card means you're one of us, okay? An official Redrock employee! ...What's your name?"

Ilyna raises her brow at first, but then smiles. She remains quiet, however.

Li speaks with a shy smile, gripping the card tightly. "I'm Li."

Ping glances at the kitchen with annoyance, but looks back to the screen soon.

Jason scrunches up his nose. "Li is a fine name. But for this sort of work, you need a code name, ya know? You do have a code name, right?"

Li frowns. "N-No..."

Hmmm.... We're gonna have to do something about that. I'll tell ya what. I'm gonna be back in a day or two. You take some time and come up with your codename, alright? And next time I'm here, you can tell me all about it over a bowl of ice cream.

Li nods enthusiastically as her smile returns.

Johnny peeks out from the bedroom doorframe, studying Jason for a brief moment before disappearing back into the room - he would likely have gone unnoticed.

Jason smirks and gives Li a pat on the top of the head. "Alright, now don't forget! Take good care of Ilyna!" he reminds the girl before turning around and starting towards the door.

Ilyna smiles. "Tell Va'ynna I said hi," she says. She walks over to the kitchen, and turns towards the rest of them.

Jason gives the asari a nod. "Will do." he says, "Good luck with all... this." he adds with a chuckle, "I'll see you later, Ilyna."

You too, Jason.

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#FreedomFalls
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