Mass Effect Condemned: 8The Cage"Aria's expecting me!"The indignant, albeit impotent, protest fell upon deaf earsor elcor ears, which were practically the same thing. Ninety-nine percent of the ever-present rabble perpetually crowding the entrance to the famed Afterlife Club-the nerve center of Omega Station-would never be admitted, and they all knew it. Maya had watched the exact same scene played out at the front door so many times it wasn't even amusing anymore; some weakling human or other street trash with the same bland excuses trying to trick, bribe, or otherwise deceive the massive bouncer into letting him/her inside.Lowlifes never seemed to get
Retribution 2121. Hold Down the StormIt was deathly quiet in the docks. Elsewhere in the small, densely-populated city of Anchorhead the raucous din was interminable. Thousands of people pushing, shoving, arguing, fighting, trading, and bargaining created a constant backdrop of blank noise. But in the docks there was a still silence that made the fine hairs on the back of her neck prickle with unease. Bastila felt eyes surveilling her and Carth as they hurried for their docked ship, summoned by Mission's near-frantic call.There was a dark presence plain as a thundercloud stalking the place. Bastila suspected that even the regular workers had sensed the
Retribution 20 - Tattoo20. TattooIt was a slow day in the cantina.Wilted as if from the crushing heat of the day outside, the Bith band played even more lethargically than usual, a soporific tune almost by accident escaping from the confines of their dreary instrumentation, sapping both energy and motivation from those unfortunate enough to be in its range. Though he was no connoisseur of Bith music himself, Bandon was sure he'd heard far better in much worse cantinas than this corporate-run place.He could surreptitiously cause one of the band members to have an "accident", but his annoyance with the awful music was a small thing, and hardly worth going to th
Retribution 1919. WoundsThe dawn was diffused by an overcast of choking black smoke. Where light penetrated the artificial dusk it reflected off the shiny silver armor of the Sith soldiers who picked through the still-burning rubble, the remains of the Jedi Enclave.Much of the wreckage was reduced to little more than ash, but the enormous steel framing of the buildings still piled in tilted heaps like giant, blackened matchsticks. Still others sections were relatively untouched by the fires, but shattered by the crippling kinetic impact of the bomb blasts.A small number of survivors had been pulled from the debris, but the dead far outnumbered the li