This logfile is imported from aitelogs2 and may contain errors or wrong timestamps.
#Omega – March 7, 2016
Tara furrows her eyebrows at the request to relax, looking unsure. She slowly moves back to the chair, taking a seat, looking around with a worried expression.
Leah sighs, leaning her elbow against the table and propping her head up with her hand. "I just wish I knew how to figure out just how much you understand." she says, staring across the table at her guest. "....Can you type?" she asks, nudging the omni-tool closer to the woman with her free hand.
Leah sighs. "If you could just-..." she shrugs her shoulders, "...let me know why you can't speak, maybe I could figure out how to help." She slumps against her hand, "...Maybe I do need to contact Halisi."
Tara winces slightly. She takes a deep breath, still staring at the table. "I... can, ma'am." Her voice is little more than a hoarse whisper, and there's a hesitant pause between the first two words.
Leah blinks a few times before sitting up straight in her seat. "You can talk!? You can talk!" she says, a big smile crossing her face, "Perfect!" She pauses, a crease forming in her brow, "....Why didn't you say so earlier?"
Leah scrunches up her nose. "Leah." she says, "You can call me Leah." She bites her lower lip for a few moments, troubled by the woman's apparent fear of her. "You know-..." she begins, letting out a deep sigh, "...You know you're free, right? I-... You can go at any time. Don't you have a home? People who miss you?"
Tara seems confused as her gaze briefly darts to Leah before returning to the table. She shakes her head repeatedly in response.
Leah nods slowly, lowering her gaze as well. "So how-... What happened?" she asks. "You don't need to talk about it if you don't want to, I just-..." she shrugs, "...I'm here to help. However I can."
Tara 's eyebrows remain furrowed, and she seems to be struggling with understanding the question. She starts to look worried as she fails to respond, shooting Leah another brief look.
Leah gains a sad look. "Have you always been with them...?" she asks, venturing a guess that she may have been captured at an age when she was too young to remember.
Tara shakes her head slightly. "I've... had multiple owners, ma'am." Her voice remains just as quiet and strained as before.
Leah sighs, giving an understanding nod. "Nobody owns you anymore. You do understand that, right? Those people are gone." She pauses, trying to find a way to better explain freedom to a person who has only known captivity. Her eyes light up as she points across the table at the woman. "You own you now." she says with a smile.
Tara looks at Leah's hand, and after a moment points at her own chest. She starts to look uncomfortable and shakes her head again, gaze returning to the table.
Leah nods a bunch of times. "Yes! You own you!" she repeats, deciding this to be a great expression. "And nobody is going to tell you what to do ever again!"
Tara 's face twitches slightly. She shakes her head again, remaining seated, hands in her lap and staring at the table.
Leah continues to study the woman silently for a few moments. "What's wrong? It's alright, you can talk to me."
Tara hesitates for a moment, and once again lowers her gaze as she speaks. "W-...what should I do...?"
Leah shrugs her shoulder, leaning a bit further across the table. "What do you want to do, Ta-..." she pauses, scrunching up her nose again, "...What's your name, anyway?"
Tara glances at Leah, looking as if she things the question is ridiculous. She reaches over with her left hand and pulls the t-shirt sleeve up slightly. "Number..." she says, looking in the direction of the barcode.
Leah tilts her head slightly and reaches out, wrapping her hand around the woman's wrist and manipulating her arm gently to get a better look at the barcode. "Well, that's horrible." she mutters, "What do you want to be called?" she asks, looking up from her arm. "This is a chance to start over. Make your life-... well, yours. It all starts with a name." She gives the woman a sympathetic
Leah sighs. "Well, how about you think on it, then? Let me know what you come up with." She releases her grip on the woman's wrist and stands from her seat. "It's a shame we're all the way out here... Back home, there's a thousand options. Could set you up with a job. Have Halisi take a look at you and make sure everything is alright. Out here, though?" she muses aloud, letting out a sigh.
"It's too dangerous out here. I don't have any idea who those people even were." She turns her attention back to the woman, "Do you? Surely you've heard something during your time with them, right? Who they are? Where they're from?"
Leah folds her arms across her chest and shifts back and forth from one foot to another. "Well. This sure throws a wrench in things..." she says, staring at the woman as she tries to run through her options in her head.
Leah paces back and forth in place for a bit. She came out here to get more information, and leads, on Cerberus. It's just not possible with this woman in tow. It's too dangerous to bring her all over the station, and she doesn't have the credits to properly take care of her. She looks towards the woman with a pout on her face. 'C'mon, Leah. You threw her life into shambles, regardless of
how horrible of a life it was. She's relying on you to help her out.' she thinks to herself. "Alright. We're going to figure this all out." she repeats once again as she steps over to the table. She leans over and pokes at the omni-tool's interface a few times, letting out a short, dejected sigh as she pokes at the good doctor's contact info. "You said to call..." she mutters to herself as the
omni-tool beeps while awaiting an answer from Halisi, "...Guessing you didn't expect to hear from me this soon, though..."
After quite some time calling, a holo-screen appears with Halisi's face on it. She looks to be in the hospital, judging by the white wall behind her and the sharp lighting. "Leah? Are you alright?"
Leah brings a finger up to her lips. "Shhhhhhhhhhhh!" she hushes, "It's-... uhh..." she scrunches up her nose for a moment as she considers her response, "Aubry. It's Aubry." she says with a quick nod and a wide eyed look. "Aubry. Umm.... Anyway, sorry to call you so soon. I've sort of hit a wall. Already." She sighs and lowers her gaze to just below the camera, "I'm already in a bit of
Leah chews her lower lip for a few moments before shrugging. "I... don't really know. I've got some info to follow up on. You know, about that thing. But it's not something I can do on my own." She sighs and looks off-screen, towards the woman beside her, "But then I ran into some people. Slavers." she continues as her gaze returns to Halisi, "Don't worry... I handled them. But now I-....
Well, take a look for yourself." she says with a sigh as she reaches out and angles the omni-tool to get a look at Astrid.
Leah leans back into the camera. "She's a-.... She was a-..." she struggles to explain the woman's situation tastefully. She lowers her voice to a whisper, as if Astrid may not be able to hear her if she does so, despite being right beside her, "A slave." She winces. "I saved her. She doesn't have a name, so I'm calling her Tara for now..." She glances back at the woman sympathetically,
"But I don't know what to do, Halisi. I'm already broke. I've paid for an entire month in this apartment. And now-.... this."
Leah frowns in turn and shakes her head a bunch of times. "Wha-... No! I'd never ask for-...." She goes quiet and stares at Halisi's image for a few moments. Finally, she leans forward, her head just about collapsing into her hands. "I don't know what I need, Halisi. I just need help. I'm out here and I'm all alone and it's not my home and my dad doesn't know where I am. I'm scared, and
lonely, and now I need to help this woman but I can barely even help myself. It's been less than 24 hours and I was already almost sold into slavery." she rambles, her speech picking up speed with each passing moment, "The apartment smells like someone left food behind the fridge and just never bothered to get it out. I gave all of my credits to a salarian in a disgusting bar for some coordinates
that I'm not even sure are real, and I don't even know how to find out if they're real since it's not like I can just go there alone, and even if I could go there alone, I wouldn't be able to afford to charter a ride there. And Omega's salads? They fucking suck." She returns her gaze to the screen after going quiet and stares into it silently.
Halisi seems caught off-guard by Leah's sudden breakdown. She listens in silence, looking increasingly saddened at her apparent despair. "L-... Aubry... I'm so sorry... Omega is an awful place. Is finding them really worth all this? You've only been gone a couple of days and you're living in squalor!"
Leah shakes her head back and forth, bringing a hand up to her forehead. "What other options do I have, Halisi? I can't just come home. You think they're just going to leave me alone? What else can I do?"
Halisi lowers her head with a sigh, shaking her head. "I-.. I don't know Leah... but I'm worried you're just doing their job for them. You know Redrock has your back, maybe we can figure something out... I... I don't know..." She gestures with her hands, letting out another sigh.
Leah sucks in some air. "I don't know what to do, Halisi. I have no idea what to do... I couldn't even afford to come home right now if I wanted to." She lets out an exhausted sigh and glances over at the woman beside her, "I guess me and Tara will just have to figure something out."
Halisi remains silent for a moment before looking back at the camera. "Come home, Leah." She says gently. "I can help with the trip. You're going to get yourself killed chasing ghosts... let Redrock help."
Leah runs a hand through her hair, wiping her bangs from her eyes. "I appreciate it, Halisi... Honestly. But I've dumped so much into this. I can't just come back with a set of coordinates. I need more. I-... I want to be able to bring my dad home. If I come home now, I'm just giving up any any chance of him having a safe future on Aite." She pauses for a moment, staring into the camera,
Halisi lets out another sigh. "I-.. I don't know." She repeats. "I really just think-..." Her gaze shifts to somewhere out of view, and someone can be heard talking, but their words aren't coming through. She nods in response, standing up as her attention turns back to Leah. "I-, I'm sorry, I have to go... just... be careful! We can figure this out! I'll call you back as soon as I have time!" The call ends.
Leah lowers her forehead against the table as she crouches down, holding onto the edge of the table with her fingertips. She lets out a deep sigh, "Looks like we're on our own for now, Tara..."