#Passenger – April 27, 2016

Jason is seated in his bunk, dressed in his usual attire with his back up against the wall as he looks over some information on his omni-tool. As Victoria's voice rings out, he glances upward and a smirk crosses his face upon hearing that they now have access to the extranet once more.

Artullin is sat on the edge of his bed, dressed in his civilian attire. As they drop out and extranet access is granted, he wastes no time in calling up his family back on Palaven.

Jason gives a glance over to Artullin. "Been waiting for this." he says, swinging his legs over the side of the bed as he swipes through his omni-tool, "You got someone back home waiting on a phone call?" he asks.

Artullin looks to Jason as he waits for the call to connect. "Yes. My wife and daughter. I want to show them that I am alright," he says with the turian equivalent of a smile.

Artullin sighs, a pained expression crossing his features. "Shit," he mutters. He starts to type out a message.

Jason gives a nod, his lopsided grin growing as he brings his omni-tool up and begins to try and call Vasquez. "We've got an hour of extranet time." he says, "Take advantage of it."

Artullin nods as he finishes his message and hits send. "I will, believe me. By the way, are you still in need of new mercenaries for Redrock?" He asks, already guessing the answer.

Vasquez finally responds to the call after a couple of minutes of calling. "Jason?" she says, the tension in her voice obvious.

Jason gives a nod. "Yeah, you know how it is. In our work, people come and go all the time. We're always looking for more-..." he trails off as Vasquez' voice comes over his omni-tool, he glances back towards his interface, quickening his response to the turian, "...more employees. Uhh, we can talk more later." he finishes. "Heyyyyyyyyyy~" he sings as he turns his full attention to his

Vasquez doesn't respond right away. After a bit the silence is broken by "You're early."

Artullin nods and looks down to his omni-tool as a message pings. He opens it and smiles as he reads it. A soft chuckle escapes him.

Jason frowns and lets out a deep sigh. "Yeah. They miscalculated a few things. Turned out we needed to get off the planet sooner than expected, otherwise we might, you know, freeze to death." he says casually, "That was sped up a bit by the crazy horde of vorcha that attacked us and a fucked up AI with its geth posse-..." he speeds through, trying not to worry Vasquez, "...but hey! I

Vasquez ' reponse is quicker this time, the frustration and confusion in her voice clear as she cuts him off in the middle of pancake rambling. "Hold-... Jason, what? Vorcha? Geth? AI? What happened? Is everyone alright?"

Jason nods a few times. "Oh, yeah. No losses. Few scrapes and bruises, but we're all fine." he assures her, "Really. Ten broke an arm, but that was the worst of it." His smirk returns as he shrugs to himself, "Stop your worrying. I've got everything under control."

Vasquez can be heard letting out a long sigh. "...alright. And the mission? The researchers?"

Jason gives the omni-tool a thumbs up and holds it silently for a few moments before realizing she can't see him. He lowers his hand, giving a glance around to make sure nobody spotted him. "Mission went fine. The researchers are all safe. One suffered a slight leg injury, but it's nothing serious. I don't think it could've went much better than it did, given the circumstances. Seriously,

Artullin is sat typing away, tuning out Jason's conversation respectfully.

Athassa looks over from her unchanging position in the bunk, giving a smile and a light wave to Jason as her injury is mentioned, as if to confirm she's fine. She's still watching episodes of the old sci-fi show. In today's episode one of the members of the team appears to have had their minds taken over by a small snake.

Vasquez doesn't respond right away, and silence fills the call for several seconds before a quiet. "I'm fine." comes through.

Jason leans back slightly and rolls his eyes at how short she's being. "Uhhh... Okay." he says and goes silent for a few moments. "So... How was everything at home? Did you and Li get along well...?"

Jason sighs loudly, lowering his voice. "Are you sure everything is alright, Linda? You're being-... weird. I mean you're always weird-..." he says, a slight grin tugging at his lips as he gets the jab in, "...but-... I don't know...."

Vasquez lets out an annoyed grunt at his jab. "I'm fine, Jason. I-" She's cut off by the sound of another woman in the background. "That's him you're talking to? Cool, say hi from me!"

Jason leans his head back a bit. "Uhhh.... O-...kay?" he says, sounding quite confused, "Soooooo what's going on...?"

Vasquez lets out another frustrated noise. "That's... an old friend. From Elysium. She's visiting."

Jason nods a couple times to himself. "Great. How long is she staying?" he asks, finding it incredibly uncomfortable with how short Vasquez is being. "Am I gonna get to meet her?"

Jason 's smirk returns somewhat. "Hell yeah!" he chimes in, having absolutely no clue whatsoever who he's talking to, "Well, our-... uhhh casa is.... your... casa." he says with a nod to himself.

Vasquez can be heard janking the omni-tool back, eliciting a disappointed "Hey!" from the other woman. "She was... pretty insistent on visiting when I, uh, when I told her we were getting... married..." A hint of a tiny chuckle can be heard under her breath during the pause before the last word.

Jason cocks an eyebrow, chuckling faintly. "Well, shit, that's great! She's staying for the wedding, right?" he asks, raising his voice slightly in hopes of being heard by Vasquez' friend, "...Uhh.... You know, whenever that is...."

Vasquez lets out an affirmative grunt. Her friend speaks loudly from nearby. "That's the plan!"

Jason gives another chuckle, suddenly realizing why Vasquez is being so short about everything. "She seems fun. We should all go out and get a bite when I get back." he offers, his eyes suddenly going wide, "We can get pancakes!"

Vasquez doesn't respond right away, but eventually her response comes in. "Yeah, maybe..."

Jason shakes his head to himself. "You know, you're reeeeally being a downer right now. I've waited a week to hear the sound of your voice, and you're killing my buzz." he teases, "Maybe I'll just turn this ship around and head back to the snowball for a few more days, is that what you want!?"

Vasquez ' response is once again preceeded by several seconds of silence. "Jason, come o-... I'm sorry. I just... wish you were here, alright?"

Jason lets out a long, drawn out, "Awwwwwwwwwwww." purposely trying to embarrass her as his smile widens. "Well, I should be back soon so try not to miss me too much." He lays back on his bunk, resting the omni-tool on his chest before bringing his hands behind his head. "Hopefully I can take a little time off once I'm back. This one took a lot out of me. Sleeping conditions were pretty

Vasquez lets out a flustered groan at his teasing. As he continues to speak she sighs. "I have a couple of things lined up, but we can probably handle those without you. Don't really know how soon anyway..."

Jason lets out a sigh of his own. "It's fine." he says, "No rest for the wicked, right? This job is pulling in quite a haul, though, isn't it? Should put us ahead of the bills for a while?"

Jason closes his eyes as he relaxes in his bed. "Well that's good." he says, going silent for a few moments. "Sooo.... Dates." he says, smile spreading further across his face, eyes still closed, "Been thinking and maybe we should just get hitched when I get back. You know, you meet me at the spaceport, we can swing by the Respite and get it done there. Do a little dancing on the

Vasquez actually lets out a quiet chuckle at the suggestion. "Maybe that would be best. I can't claim any experience planning weddings..."

Jason gives a snort, nodding softly to himself. "Mmhmm. That makes two of us. We've got a lot of people that can help us out with it, though. We'll figure it out."

Jason 's eyes snap open as he hears the vehicle. "Where are you...?" he asks, a crease forming on his forehead as he studies the omni-tool interface as if he may be able to see her if he stares hard enough.

Vasquez sounds a little confused as she responds. "Huh? Oh. We just got to Freedom Falls. Walking to the base. Cynthia wanted to see the town." she says, not realizing she hasn't given Cynthia's name.

Jason 's eyes slowly close once more. "Cynthia." he repeats. "So how do you and Cynthia know each other?" he asks, well aware that she probably doesn't want to talk about this-... or anything openly on a call because she's a grump, but all he cares about at this point is listening to her voice. "Long-time friends? Close?"

Vasquez ' takes a long time to respond, to the point where it almost seems like the call has disconnected. "...squadmates." she says finally, her tone reluctant.

Jason is about to check to make sure the call hasn't dropped when Vasquez chimes back in. "Right. Well, shit. Color me excited! You never introduce me to anyone. This is gonna be fun." he says, smile audible through the call, "Oh! That reminds me. We were working with someone that knew you. Harmonia Kozma? Name ring a bell?"

Vasquez grunts. "Yeah. We worked together on a few jobs for ExoGeni. Got along well enough."

Jason 's eyes open once again as he gives the omni-tool a dirty look. "Tell me you're joking. She was the worst! She gave us nothing but trouble when we were planetside. It was-....." he sighs, deciding not to finish that sentence, "....It was something." he mutters instead.

Vasquez seems slightly amused as she responds. "Can't say I'm too surprised. But it worked out, right?" Some chatter from a turian pedestrian is briefly overheard.

Vasquez lets out a small sigh. "You can tell me all about it when you come home..."

Jason sighs, but nods. "Right, right, right... In other words, 'shut up, Jason.' huh?" he jokes. "Sorry... Didn't mean to interrupt your time with your friend or anything. I just-... you know... Missed you. But yeah, we'll have plenty of time to talk when I get home..."

Vasquez lets out another sigh and goes quiet for a brief moment. "...I missed you too. I'm glad you're okay."

Jason chuckles. "Alright, you're obviously in suuuuch a talkative mood, but seriously... You're gonna have to say your goodbyes and tear yourself away from your omni-tool. I've got some shit to do before we return, and you can't just keep ignoring your friend no matter how much you miss me." he teases.

Jason gives a nod. "Looking forward to it." he says, smile still present.

Vasquez responds after another short break, her voice quiet but soft. "...me too. Stay safe." From nearby Cynthia can be heard yelling: "Bye Jace!"

Jason leans up, reaching for his omni-tool. "Aren't I always?" he asks before Cynthia's voice chimes in. "Looking forward to meeting you!" he shouts, chuckling to himself. "Bye Linda." he adds before ending the call.

Ilyna is in the passenger quarters, packing the last few things from her locker into a travel bag. She's wearing her usual kind of dark gray casual dress. Once the announcement sounds, she smiles. (Ilyna_T`Rea)