It's early afternoon on the 20th when Renala recieves a buzz at her office door.
#RedrockAgency – September 18, 2019
Renala taps a button on her terminal to open the door, looking up at it. She is still wearing her white fleece jacket, but has zipped it down halfway, revealing the blue top below. The temperature in her room is a few degrees warmer than the hallway outside, after all. She's holding a half-empty cup of coffee in her hands.
The efforts Uvena went through to tidy up the office seems to have been successfully undone. The desk is cluttered with parts, tools, screws and more that's only been pushed aside to make space for the device she's currently working on: a cheap omni-tool that's been opened up and connected to loose parts taped to its surface as well as a separate single-board computer lying next to it. Her usual terminal is placed on the
floor below the two big screens as the device is hooked up to a smaller, cheap terminal which is only showing rapidly scrolling text on its screen.
The two big screens are showing the status of the cameras, terminals, and every other device that's on the main building instead of the summary it displayed last time.
Jason is dressed in his usual attire when he steps in. Long-sleeved white shirt. Black military pants. Boots. He blinks as he's hit square in the face by the distinct 'nerd' aura projected by the scene before him. He gives a furrow of his brow as he looks at all of the bits and bobs strewn across Renala's desk, slowly lifting his own coffee mug to his lips. "You look busy." he mutters as he catches himself studying a few
unrecognizable parts. Honestly? They're pretty much all unrecognizable. The fuck is that thing? He gives a shake of his head as he turns his attention to the asari at the desk and offers a lopsided smirk in greeting. "How was the vacation?" he asks, opting to go the small talk route rather than just coming right out with it.
Renala sips her own coffee before putting it carefully back on the table, coffee and electronics are best kept separate after all. Normally, she'd be annoyed at visitors not getting right to the point, but she's not done enough 'real work' today to erode her patience. "It was great, exactly what I needed after all the shit this job entails," she says. "Aeyna is already nagging me to come to Thessia again,
because the reason I was called back here for were pretty much wiped out." She chuckles and shakes her head. "What about yours?" she asks, "barring the rough return to the everyday, of course."
Jason allows his smirk to widen as Renala confirms she enjoyed her time off. Her statement regarding the Collectors prompts a hollow snort and causes him to glance off to the side. It's gonna take some time for that one to really settle in. Right now it still feels like cause for discussion- cause for celebration- anytime someone brings it up. And then there's the people who put an end to them... Thankfully the asari doesn't
seem interested in that can of worms at the moment. When she turns the question back at him he gives a much more sincere snicker and looks back her way. "It was-... I needed it." he admits with a sigh, though the smirk remains. "We both did. Was nice to have the chance to recharge the batteries after-... everything. You know?"
Renala nods. "Exactly," she agrees. "I was running on spare batteries, and you saw that first hand in the way I talked to the crew." She gives a humorless snort before letting out a sigh, glancing back to the terminal on the desk. "I don't need to secure our system against the Collectors anymore, and that's great," she says. "I mean, I'm still going to go through our entire coffee supply with the enemies we
Jason nods along as Renala speaks, his smirk slipping slightly at the mention of all of the other people whose Christmas card lists they've found themselves crossed off of. "...Yeah. Better safe than sorry." he agrees softly, but seems in no real mood to get into that whole discussion. Drawing in a breath, his posture stiffens a little. "Anyway, I didn't come here to chat your ear off about my vacation." he offers, almost
apologetically. "Nari Aehan." he continues as he rounds the desk, quickly shoving aside whatever might be perched at the corner of Renala's desk so he can take a half-seat at the edge, "Whaddya got for me?" He lifts his coffee mug back to his lips, taking a long sip as he awaits an answer.
Renala moves the items Jason pushed to the other side of the desk, away from her project. "I figured as much," she says with a chuckle. "I couldn't find public contact information for her, which leaves us with Project Asari Death Ray." She smirks before laying a finger on the device that has center stage on her desk. "That and its companion," she taps the single-board computer, "makes a perfect recreation of
the environment on Atana's omni-tool." She looks over at the terminal again, as if expecting everything to start failing now. "At least in every way that the software probes it. It'll run and place the call just fine, but I can't give you any guarantees that it'll work wired up to the extranet, or if Nari will give us the time of day."
Jason lets out a sigh at the lack of contact information. Her suggestion garners a grimace. He hadn't exactly come down here expecting to handle all of this right now. He examines the device, allowing most of the tech jargon to go in one ear and out the other. He gets the jist of it. Probably. "Alright, so-..." he begins before pausing for a moment, tongue pressing against the inside of his lower lip as he tries to organize his
thoughts. "...so this thing doesn't pose any risk to our network, right?" he asks, shooting a glance back Renala's way through furrowed brows. "As far as anyone on the other side of this thing is concerned it'll just be V's omni-tool...?"
Renala shakes her head. "It doesn't have Atana's personal data, and none of us sound like her," she says with a shrug. "The reconstruction was just to get the software to run, she'll know for sure something is up before picking up." Renala gives a brief chucke before looking back down at the device. "But I doubt it will pose any risk to our network," she says. "It'll have as much access as the omni-tool on any
Jason gives Renala an unamused look as she reminds him that he doesn't quite share Va'ynna's tone. "That's not what I-..." he begins before giving up and trailing off with a sigh. Setting his coffee cup down on the desk beside him, he folds his arms across his chest as he listens to Renala. Her final statement garners a sharp nod. At least that's one less thing to worry about. "Alright..." he says, standing up from the desk. "Then
let's fire this asari death ray up and see what she can do." he continues as he squares himself up behind Renala and slightly off to her side. He places one hand on the back of her seat as he leans forward, the other on the edge of the desk. After a moment's hesitation, he quickly glances her way once more. "Wait, wait, wait-... She won't be able to see us, right?" he asks, suddenly glancing down at himself and bringing one
cybernetic hand up to smooth the wrinkles out of his shirt. It's unlikely that even if the makeshift device Renala through together did allow them to transmit a video feed that it would be much more than a choppy mess, but still. He's got a business to pretend to help run! Gotta look the part!
Renala picks one of the parts out of the pile on her left, which is a board with an antenna on it. "No, she can't see us," she says. "All it can see is a black static image from a fake video device." She takes a cable out of the companion board, and plugs it into the antenna, which causes a flurry of activity to scroll down the terminal in front of the asari. "Okay, it's online." She taps in a command, and
stares at the textual output from the terminal. "I'm enabling the microphone now, so mind what you say. There's a VI listening to it, but it's not generating any output." She sernds off another command, and nods. "And it's calling."
The text scroll on the terminal is interrupted by a window popping up in the center. It looks very much like the standard interface on omni-tools for managing active calls. It's still connecting. It also displays some statistics that are usually not enabled — intentionally — by non-technical users.
Renala is nervously tapping the desk as their possibly only chance to contact her depends on this. "It's daytime in Armali," she says, the impatience clear in her voice, "and the other Atana said she never used to take time off."
Jason is absorbed in trying to determine if a little spec on one of his sleeves is a coffee stain when Renala informs him that there's no video feed, causing him to reluctantly stop minding his shirt. He brings his hand back to rest at the edge of Renala's desk as he leans in to study the terminal. His eyes scan from left to right a few times before simply glazing over as text bounds across it. If it was important, Renala would
mention it. Nerd shit is not his department. The asari's warning garners an idle nod in response. As the seconds pass by, he furrows his brow, Renala falling under his scrutiny as he looks her way. "Maybe your-... your-..." he gestures towards the mess of tech in front of him, "...doohickey isn't working." he suggests.