I do not own Mass effect or Mass effect characters.

Okay so this is my first story. I promise it will get better

The heart that beats Omega

"In all the corners of Omega there is no more important a word than Gain. Gain is the breath of Omega, its true heart beat. Every 'friendly' conversation, every 'honest' trade is of greater Gain to that person than the other could realize. Greed is the only shining quality you'll find in a person here. Anything other than that and it would be wise to watch over your shoulder for the pistol shot that's soon to come to your back. They claim to have no ruler or rules but every establishment must, especially one where Gain and Greed override sense and compassion, a motive that can only be achieved through someone else's loss.

So a leader rises up. To unify these criminals and make sure that chaos can ensue through a false sense of security and order. I started as a dancer in Afterlife, listened and watched while I entertained the troubled minds of men who although knew letting there guard down, even in a club, could cost them their life, gave in to the loneliness that permeated the hearts of those who chose to reside here and shared their secrets with me. I learned who to threaten and who to kill, stepping on every obstacle until I was the only one left with the power to do anything substantial. I had creditors who felt more entitled to the position of course but I sent them chasing a ghost or several. Eventually I teamed with a Krogan who worked with me to establish a superior force that brought the roaches of Omega into order and crushed any who opposed and failed to fall in line. On Omega power doesn't come by diplomatic solutions or strategic bargaining but through crushing coalition and mercy that only extends as far as choosing which color you'd prefer your casket.

Even after the betrayal of the Krogan I teamed up with I stayed on top. Granted the fight was the most difficult fight I ever had in my life, I won in the end. Using the special 'talents' of my people we managed to turn the bulk of his group back against him. Many of my people had won the hearts of most of the thugs in Omega, one way or another, so when the signal was given the Krogan had a lot more laser lights pointed at his back than at his head. He's in the past, I don't carry baggage from so many years back. What's important is, now, I'm the ruler of Omega, Queen if your feeling dramatic. I am Omega and there's only one rule: Don't screw with Aria.

Aria T'Loak threw her leg across her thigh, a clear gesture of her impatience. "Don't waste my time human. Just tell me what you were doing with the weapons and where your group is taking them and I wont harm a hair on your shaggy head."

The shaggy dark haired man looked around nervously, not in the least bit comforted by the site of her two heavily armed infamous personal body guards Grizz the Turian and Anto the Bartarian. All kinds of rumors had been formed about them. Open, excited talk about them handling more than just the guarding part of her body to whispers about them secretly waiting to for the right moment before banding together to turn on Aria and seize her much coveted seat. Much of that talk was very unfounded but people found it to be good icebreakers for conversation.

What was fact was their reputation for ruthlessness. Aria sent them only on the jobs where she wanted to make sure she got the point across. She wasn't opposed to doing things like this herself but when she was too busy dealing with other matters that needed her attention more she sent them in her place. When Aria wanted to get a message across they made sure the message was throughly gotten. There methods were brutal and efficient usually causing maximum bloodshed with minimal to no casualty on their side.

Beads of sweat ran down the male humans forehead. "I don't believe you. Your not getting anything from me." He shifted uncomfortable his eyes going wide as he realized that what he just said didn't improve his odds of living any more. He chocked on his next words stumbling to get them out fast enough. "Killing me is a mistake Aria! There are some powerful people behind me and Im a very important asset to them."

Aria's face revealed nothing to the man, if he was hoping for some reaction that would show the ball was in his court and he had caught her in a bind she knew he was going to be sorely disappointed. She stood up, turning her back towards him and looking out over the club. It was obviously a bluff, a poor one at that, she knew if he was so important there would have been more back up with him them a measly crew of three hardly trained thugs. You never sent anyone one to do a job like this that you weren't willing to sacrifice, that was something she was certain about. She didn't doubt though that someone more powerful was behind him and likely had sent the order down the chain of command to a lowly expendable lackey like him.

And if he was expendable to them he was certainly worth nothing to her. A great leader never gave lackeys information that could be turned against them unless it was absolutely necessary. She turned around a slight smirk on her face. "It's a shame, I would have made good on my offer to let you live but if you'd rather play it that way.."

She twirled her finger above her left shoulder, a sign to Anto. The human barely had time to pick up on it, his eyes widening with horror. "Wait Aria, Queen ill-" Anto fired his clip point blank into the back of the mans head.

Aria sat back down in her seat glancing over the mans body. He was right not to trust her. In omega things like trust just exposed an easier angle on you for there gun and saved the person a stray thermal clip of two. It was strength and weakness on Omega. It could mean life today and death tomorrow. While going around not trusting anyone will keep you alive momentarily, in the long run, its bound to get you killed if alliances aren't made. That never meant that people trusted the alliances they were in but the enemy of your enemy is of more mutual gain alive and by your side than dead right? Aria played both sides of trust and gain perfectly and its what kept her alive and on top.

"You two, clean this up and dispose of the body. I wouldn't want my next company to step in anything...unpleasant." She pointed to two of the Asari dancers that surrounded the sides of her.

They stopped dancing and bowed. "Yes my Queen." They said in unison. The first one lifted the body up with her biotic's while the other walked off and came back with a vile in one hand and a black tarp in the other. Popping open the vile, the Asari poured it over the blood splattered area's and immediately the blood seemed to dissolve from off the ground and disappear in a wisp of smoke that rose from the once stained spot.

Bartarian made acid called 'Vapormist' that Anto had introduced to Aria. She found it incredibly handy for cleaning up unwanted 'spills' of all sorts. Vapormist is highly illegal in council space for certain health reasons but more particularly because of how it was made. By mixing Vorcha blood with a high concentrated form of acid you could create an even higher level of acid that targeted not synthetic things but organic tissues and cells.

The council was highly opposed to using Vorcha blood as a weapon and was afraid that the Vorcha might learn of this and began manufacturing high grade bio weapons from there own people. So it was without a doubt one of the many things the Bartarian's took with them when they receded from the Citadel. No one on Omega is dumb enough to tell the Vorcha of the potency of their blood either, so it remains a well kept secret not only around Omega but among the whole terminus system itself. The creatures were troublesome enough as is. Always scheming and vowing revenge. Aria didn't really think it was different from any other person on Omega but they were widely disliked none the less.

The Asari finished pouring the Vapormist over the areas and began to wrap the black tarp over the body covering it throughly from head to toe so that no one could identify it. Sure everyone knew what it was but it caused less problems when no one could identify who it was. It kept the vendetta count against her down to a controllable level.

As they carried the body out Aria stood up and leaned against the side of the wall facing the club. Her mind slowly shifted through the implications of what had just transpired. "Grizz have our sources told us anything yet."

"No Boss. Last communication with them was about an hour ago. Which is odd considering I told them to give me an update every 15 minutes." Grizz said. His arms folding over his chest.

"I tired getting into contact with them a few minutes ago but the comm channel is switched off. I assumed they were in a dark zone."

Aria's face became troubled. She always kept her cool around outsiders not giving them a hint of what she was feeling or thinking unless things were really bad or her habit of short tempered outburst flared up. But Anto and Grizz, two she had known for years, could always guess what was on her mind so she had given up on trying to hide it from them. A small part of her liked that, though she'd never admit it out loud.

Anto fidgeted with the pistol in his hand, trying to wipe some of the blood off it. "Lets give them a little bit more time before we start worrying boss. They might have run into a little resistance is all."

Aria bit her bottom lip and placed a single hand on her hip. "That's exactly the problem. There trained to report to me no matter what kinda crap they run into." She brought her hand up to her chin and cupped it. "No, something happened to them. Lets assume the worst."

"Okay. Ill send a good crew down there to investigate and retrieve the weapons they stole from us." Grizz started walking towards the exit.

Aria threw her hand up at him and shook her head. "No! If my infiltration team couldn't get pass them then I doubt your little muscle crew is going to have any better luck Grizz." She looked out over the club a small biotic glimmer washed over her body. Her skin glowing fiercely "Boys, its time we went and thanked them personally for the trouble there causing."

Grizz smiled at Anto knowing that meant they were going to 'thank' them with every single clip they had in their guns. Fun was certainly about to ensue. He started to head off towards there armory. "Id better go search for a card that express my appreciation."

Anto shook his head at the Turian, one of the funniest things one could ever witness on a Turian was a genuine smile. Their mouth formed into an awkward grin that bared all their sharp teeth.

"Ill help. I know how terrible you are with those sorts of things." Anto said following him out the door.