Author(s) note: This is a collab story with two of my good friends known as Follwer38, and Kakashi1806 (deviantart). This by no means is meant to twist/damage the Mass Effect universe but to fill in the gaps of "What if?" Thank you for choosing to take time out of your day to read this story and please know that it is greatly appreciated by us three. If you would like to know more about the characters told in the story please visit Kakashi1806's deviant page journal. If you have trouble visualizing the characters please stop by at my Deviantart page: LiveandLoveArt. Thanks again from all of us.

CME, KAKASHI1806, FOLLOWER38

P to the S: Shepard is alive during this time period and there will be brief mentions of her throughout the story, this story is just following underneath the main events of Shepard's journey during Mass Effect 1 and 2 which means that until the events take place during Mass Effect 2's time period, Shepard is currently in Cerberus's custody being rebuilt.

-End of Author(s) Notes-

Lennata stepped off from the cab, avoiding a small puddle on the ground, as she observed her surroundings. It was gloomy and dark with only the street lights and signs illuminating the area. Smog clouded the air and trash littered the ground before her, which caused her nose to wrinkle in disgust.

"Omega," she scoffed. Omega was the perfect representation of the underworld for low life criminal and common petty thugs.

She walked calmly through the streets though, she wasn't afraid, after all she was a bounty hunter. Plus, as an Asari she was an expert in biotics. Her dark suit effectively blended into the darkness of the alleyways but as soon as she passed under a light post her armor was exposed beautifully despite it being Omega. Even though her slightly skin tight suit was flat black she was by no means left unprotected. Her left shoulder was padded with a shoulder piece which was centered with a blue orb that seemed to faintly glow an ocean blue, and vambrace. Her other arm though had a silver upper arm band and similar vambrace to match her other. A series of downward arrow pointed plates covered her abdomen down which met with a similar pattern to that of her arms to her legs. Her left leg was plated down to her combat boots shielded with a shin plate. The same was of her right but a silver leg band instead replaced the leg plating that should have been there. Her black suit helped to contrast that of her armor which was snow white with the exception that her upper coat was also white. Lennata reached up and fiddled with the ocean blue orb necklace that rested on her slightly exposed chest beneath her neck.

"Should have known better then to run here Scarab," she muttered lightly. Her task was to bring in a Batarian slaver who had been abducting children throughout the systems. She had a brief encounter with the Batarian known as Scarab and managed to wound him in the shoulder with a Mantis sniper round. The injury though caused him to panic and flee to Omega. An intentional action though as Lennata reasoned the reward is only as good as the hunt. She stopped meddling with her necklace and returned her hand to her side. A long line of humans, elcor, asari, turians, and salarians were lined up in her view. Her feet had brought her knowingly to a club called "After Life" which was owned by the notorious Aria T'loak. Aria was an infamous Asari leader of Omega and she was a force not to be toyed with, even Lennata knew that with the few times she had been to Omega before she became a fully fledged bounty hunter.

"Hmph. Drunks talk all the time. I'm sure someone will have some idea where to find that mutt Scabbard. If I'm lucky he'll be in there." She mused and stepped up to the door of the club, not even minding the line. On her way up though she noticed one of the Turians off to the right reach up and touch his ear piece watching her intently.

"Is there going to be a problem?" she asked flatly, but not rudely.

"Aria wants to see you inside Hunter, so make sure you talk to her first," he boasted trying to seem confident which was quickly extinguished as Lennata passed him a cold serious glance to the side at him. He shifted uncomfortably and then decided to return his attention forward again, swallowing.

The doors parted open and Lennata could feel the bass of the club music beat through her chest. Not that clubbing was her thing, but she couldn't deny the rebellious atmosphere and beat excited her. Orange, purple, and yellow lights flickered and danced around her in sync with the asari dancers positioned nearly just about everywhere her eyes traveled.

All eyes turn to the newcomer as she passes. Unbeknownst to her, one watches from the shadows. While others view her with lust, this one watches with suspicion. His scaled hands grip his drink as he watches her from the corner of his eye. The scars on his chest twinge as his heart quickens.

Lennata felt a sudden chill grip her as she began to notice the eyes turning to her. She knew she stuck out in the crowd but it wasn't the crowd's eyes that seem to bother her. She peered through the eyes and passed over a shadowy figure but only just momentarily. His grip tightens as her eyes pass over him.

Her face…..almost like "hers" but there's a coldness, a void behind those eyes

His mind flashes to that fateful night. A flashbang! Eclipse mercs with guns raised! She looks at him sadly, and mouths, I'm sorry." They open fire. White hot pain pierces his shoulder. He raises his gun and fires. Two mercs drop, too many, more rounds pierce his chest. His last image is her standing over him, gun in hand- He snaps back to reality and searches for the newcomer. He spies her passing Anto on her way up the stairs to Aria's box, and repositions himself so he can see both her and Aria clearly through the window pane. He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a small blue pill bottle. He deftly opens it and takes two red capsules, the pain in his chest subsides.

Lennata steps up to Aria, who is seated, and his blocked by two of her guards, Batarians, gripping their weapons tightly. With a trained eye she quickly assesses them and with a smirk knowingly figures she could easily take both of them out without having to use her biotics. The problem would come from the queen herself, she'd take her out before she could finish moving. She knows Aria knows this as well. The purple skinned goddess rose from her seat and the two guards parted immediatly from her view. Lennata stared up at Aria who was slightly elevated higher than herslef.

She folded her arms, creasing the cuffs of her white jacket and stood defiant towards Lennata and grinned, intrigued. "So what is a hunter doing in my part of the Galaxy?" she spoke with authority.

Lennata calmly took a breath and spoke with coolness, " I'm here looking for a lowlife by the name of Draxen." She knew better to avoid answering the question truthfully. On Omega, Aria had eyes and ears everywhere.

With Aria's back to the window, the figure could only make out Lennata's half of the conversation through the interpretation of lip reading. At the mention of the name, the figure stiffens. He was quite familiar with the batarian. The questions becomes though, what possible business could the newcomer have with him?

Aria chuckles and turns to look at the crowd beneath her, showing no fear of turning her back to an Asari bounty hunter. "As you can see there are a lot of lowlifes here," she turned back to Lennata, "I need a bit more information than that."

Lennata knew very well Aria had a general idea of who she was looking for, but she could do nothing but play her game. "A slaver, came here in the past week with an obvious shoulder injury."

Aria relaxed and sat back down onto her lounge, folding her hands over her lap. "Ah, you mean Scarab. Yes I'm familiar with his work. Can't say I'm fond of slavers, but he paid me a pretty hefty sum to be allowed to dock," and with that she tilted her head at one of her guards, who without hesitation drew up his omni-tool for Lennata to see. "You'll find him in the slums, deep in the heart of Blue Suns territory. He's looking for a doctor to patch him up. After that, you'll never find him. If you're quick you might get there before he does something stupid and have me take care of his ass."

Lennata's "eyebrows" which are really black facial markings rise up cautiously. "Why are you helping me Aria?" Aria's eyes her for a moment before speaking, "I don't need any more trouble from a runaway bounty and his hunter on top of the crap I already have to deal with. The sooner both of you are off Omega the easier my job will become," and waves her hand, creating a sense of ease to the situation.

Lennata tips her head respectfully to the Asari of Omega and as she turns to leave, Aria's voice stops her. "Oh, almost forgot, it seems like someone is very interested in what you're up to. He's been spying on us since you walked in. Lennata's gives her a quizzical look. "Drell at the second table from the bar. He hasn't been able to take his eyes off you." Lennata shifts her focus to where Aria mentioned and for a split second, her eyes meet with the drell's.

The same chill from earlier touched her gut once more and her eyes drew into a sharp stare. 'I knew it.'

Down on the floor, the Drell's mind goes into overdrive. 'She knew I was spying?' He then relaxes somewhat, 'Ah, of course…Aria. Only someone of her caliber would be able to realize what I was doing.'

Lennata once more accepts Aria's gesture and turns to leave down the stairs. When she makes it to the bottom she immediately realizes the Drell is gone. She rotates her shoulders and heaves a sigh, 'Now I have to really be on my toes.' She thinks as she exits After Life.