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"We're getting a read on the planet as we speak." Takora answered as she shuffled holographic interfaces in front of her. "Looks like AA guns are in place, but we should be able to get a ground vehicle down there with you in it. I'll tell the team in the shuttle bay to prep it while we make our jump."

Broktar, Cehan, and Churkan all made it to the CIC.

"Alright then. Let's get down there and kick them in the ass. If they aren't complete and total morons," Broktar said, glancing towards Churkan suggestively, "they might be willing to surrender. Unlikely but not impossible. ...So let's get down there." The old Krogan began to jog towards the shuttle bay. Damnit, I hate running. He maintained the pace despite aches and pains.

Calor saw the Krogan had already started to make his way to the shuttle bay to get ready. He turned and looked briefly at the captain. "Plainly: I better go with him." said the Elcor before following Churkan albeit at a slower pace.

"You may kick them in the ass but i'll be destroying every single pirate if they have raped anyone or murdered anyone." Churkan told the elder Krogan. "And i take it that after we've secured the landing zone, our main objective is to take out the AA guns and hold position until your troops have landed." Churkan said to the captain via intercom before walking towards the shuttle bay. "We should discuss our strengths en route to ensure we work effiectively and not end up being a [&@%!] squad." He suggested to the group.

"What's to discuss?" Drau Broktar asked incredulously, as if their talents were no great surprise. "You hit things with your head. I *use* my head--talk first, maybe biotics later. The Salarian is some sort of engineer. Good with computers, can't be too bad with guns. And the Elcor...is an Elcor. Slow and strong."

"Unless the Salarian or Elcor object," Broktar began to suggest, "and I don't see why they would, we need to try talking to them first. FIRST. You're supposed to be C-Sec, so use your damn head; there are civilians. If we just shoot everything that moves, they're all going to die. We find out where they all are, we talk to the Blood Pack if they've got hostages. We can try to talk them out of this stupidity, or at least distract them so we can line up some shots. First priority needs to be getting the squishies out of there. Then I really don't care if you bring the whole place down. But if you go in there like you think you are, you're going to get yourself killed, and you're going to get them killed. No cushy burial grounds for you, either, whatever the hell 'Clan Churkan' is supposed to be. You'll be dusty, forgotten bones, nothing more."

He looked at the Salarian. "You any good at stealth tactics? Laying low, getting in, getting out? If you are, maybe you can get into the facility from above or behind. Might be able to sneak the civilians out before any battle takes place. If we don't go charging in there, might not even be a battle. That or you can focus on taking down the AA guns, which I'm sure you can manage. Unless they have a platoon sitting on them. We'll have to check that out when we're on the ground."

"Believe it or not, i don't just rely on charging in and shooting everything in sight. I am a Vanguard and i am best suited for short range combat. I don't intend to harm any civillians and despite my appearances, i am more then aware of how to deal with hostage situation." Churkan told his fellow Krogan. "Hostage situations are not my thing but i do know that nine times out of ten, they are the only thing they have. I expect them to demand credits, a ship and make a lot of demands that will give me a damn headache. However, i'll leave the talking to the others and will only start a fight if they give us no choice. If we can get them to safety, then we should wipe out the pirates to send a message to the other scum in this sector and i am not of a clan. I am simply the krogan that gets [&@%!] down and the one that couldn't give a single [&@%!] about being in a clan. All i am good for is fighting and keeping the peace, it just so happens that i enjoy what i do." He said to the elder Krogan.

"Professional Advisement: I could try talking to them. I can be rather persuasive and I've been told that my voice is deep and soothing." said Calor trying to keep up with the others. "Humorously: Also if I don't preface my sentence by saying that I'm being deceptive they'll never see an ambush coming."

"Then why the hell call yourself 'Churkan'?" The Drau clansman asked. "Fine. Whatever. A Pyjak off its chain is at least as likely to eat other Pyjaks as it is to chew on power cables. Just don't do anything especially stupid."

He looked at the Elcor. "Yeah, I guess I can see that. And I think you'll get the chance to use that voice to effect--some other time. But these are *Blood Pack*. You might--MIGHT--intimidate them. But they won't have the patience to wait and listen for an Elcor to explain why they should leave. Blood Pack's mostly Vorcha and Krogan. Vorcha are at least as quick as Salarians, but far quicker to violence. They won't wait for you. And Krogan don't like to listen to anyone." Broktar had a glint in his eye. "But they might just listen to another Krogan. One who has a millennium's worth of bleeding the same blood, fighting the same blood, and leading others like them. --I'd say, leave the primary negotiating to me. But if any of the little chittery [&@%!] start hissing and cocking their weapons overmuch, feel free to threaten to crush them like rodents. Or do whatever. But I think this is our best chance. Provided they don't just start shooting on sight."

"Because it's my name." Churkan stated to the elder Krogan. "About the shooting on sight part." He said to Broktar after listening to the Krogan's words to the Elcor. "It's best if I stay away from the blood pack until after negotations as i had a slight disagreement with them a few decades back. Now, i'm not saying that i was petty back then and i'm not saying that it was an overreaction on my part but i kinda blew up one of their ships and crashed another one into one of their outposts before slaughtering the survivors for stealing one of my contracts. I may have hunted them for a few decades out and we may both have a kill each other on sight policy. Oh and I may have tried to kidnap their leader at some point but that's not worth bringing up." He informed the Krogan and the Elcor.

Drau Broktar wore a tired look on his face as he mentally tuned out. "And yet you bring it up anyway. Yeah. Find a position and just sit there until you hear shooting or something, if you would. Do whatever."

CIC

Captain Takora cleared her throat. "If you gentlemen might calm down, please. Tempted to leave the C-Sec Krogan on the planet's surface, save us some trouble..." she mumbled. "Diplomacy's always first, of course, but there's no protocol saying you can't shoot someone if they look to be a problem. Good luck down there."

The ship made the jump at the Mass Relay and entered the target system. The hired group made their way to the cargo bay, where a few engineers were putting the finishing touches on the ground vehicle in question. Calor recognized it as an older Asari tank model, an A-44 Themis, which was generally compared to the Alliance's Mako vehicle. It had the general elegant design of an Asari vehicle, and it looked like it would be a tight, but not impossible, fit for the krogans and the elcor crew members.

Broktar rolled his eyes. "Cozy." He placed his shotgun inside the cockpit ahead of him, and then squeezed his way inside. "Salarian drives, because I don't want us to end up upside down in a crater, or bouncing around the planet. ...The hell are your names, anyway? Other than our illustrious friend 'Churkan' Hard. Hmph. Already forget if I said. I probably didn't. Drau Broktar. And yeah, I *am* somewhere over a thousand...thousand three hundred years old. Don't even remember exactly anymore. Don't care."

"On a guess, i would say this is built for fast tatical strikes and is designed to use speed instead of using overwhelming firepower." Churkan commented on the tank. He sat behind Broktar and placed his shotgun across his lap. "I'm 198 years old." He told the others. "And yes, i'm a clanless but it's better then being a worthless piece of pyjak crap searching for a purpose on our old piece of [&@%!] rock."

Cehan waited until the argument had died down until he answered Broktar's query, "I could maybe sneak in, but sneaking people out would be impossible, too many variables. I could probably disable the AA guns; it's what I'd be doing if this was an Eclipse operation."

As ordered, Cehan took his seat in the cockpit and ran an eye over the controls, already dreading the rapid descent awaiting them,"My name is Cehan. Cehan Haraji."

"Bluntly: Fine, you can take the lead in any negotiation." said Calor to the others. "With Jocularity: And I'm Calor although I'm sure you'll all call me 'The Elcor' regardless." He got into the vehicle and make sure he had all the equipment he needed.

"What if I provided a distraction? Would you be able to get the civies out?" Churkan asked Cehan whilst waiting for the departure. He always looked forward to the begining of fights but hated being stuck in a tight space. Too many things could go wrong and he would not go out in a blaze of glory, which would be a very [&@%!] way for him to end his life.

"That isn't an option. Stupid as some Krogan and Vorcha are, they're not going to send all of their guys out to investigate, and leave the hostages unguarded." Broktar reasoned. "Even if you kill all the cronies, the ones who still have the hostages will demand steeper terms, and probably just kill them anyway. Negotiation or infiltration is the only way to get them out. Cause a commotion, and they'll be under heavy guard. Even a frontal assault would at least give the hostages half a chance to survive or escape. Distraction won't work in the end."

"Not -any- negotiation, Calor." The Krogan replied. "But at least this one. You'll get plenty of chance to use that voice."

"Don't need all of their guys. Just need enough for me to kill to lure out the others but you do have a good point." Churkan said to Broktar. "I'll be aiming for a good defensible position. If you keep me in the loop of how it's going, i may be able to find a decent flanking position and take out a few of their men before they can open fire if Calor is unable to convince them to let the hostages go and the pack decides to kill both of you." He told the Elcor and fellow Krogan. "then again, if they are dumb enough to stand behind a pipe, shoot the [&@%!] and watch as they panic."

Cargo Hold

The Hestia flew overhead the surface of the planet and successfully dropped off the tank onto the surface of the planet. Cehan was able to gently glide it down onto a flat piece of land not far away from the guarded compound.

The planet's atmosphere was breathable, and thus required no helmets.

The guarded compound was being patrolled by two Krogan clad in red, Blood Pack armor. They had their assault rifles trained on the frigate as it flew away, then down to the dropped tank once the Hestia was out of range.

"Yeah, let's not just run them down. Someone might want to stay with the tank, though. Good for, uh...leverage." Broktar opened the hatch to exit the tank, and slowly and deliberately squeezed out. He held his shotgun at the ready, but it wasn't pointed at either guard. "Take us to your leader. We've got things to talk about." He began to walk towards the Blood Pack.

"I'll stay here and do guard duty." Churkan told everyone and would not get out of the tank due to a likelyhood of his shotgun accidentally got off in the pack's face after a heated argument.

Calor elected to follow Broktar. He had his VI assisted Assault Rifle at the ready just in case things took a violent turn.

Surface of Nonuel

The Blood Pack mercs trained their assault rifles on the incoming visitors, but hesitated to fire. "What're you doing here? Who sent you?" asked the Krogan on the left. He was older than Churkan, but far younger than Broktar, with a red head plate and a few dozen scars. The one on the right had his helmet on.

"Oh, put those down." Broktar chided. "We have a tank. You think if we were about to assault you, we were going to step out of it and walk into your rifle-fire? No. Take us to your boss. Best chance any of you have. You open fire on us now, you two are both dead. You let us in to talk, all of you can probably take at least me down, if you're any good." The old Krogan did put his biotic barrier up--he was confident, but not stupid--and continued walking towards the Blood Pack. "Don't think for a second we're giving up our damn guns, though. Would be a real short talk if we did."

Calor didn't say anything. He did however put on a mean and intimating look but with no Elcor around it was doubtful anybody noticed.