If one thought about it often enough, space and the concept of freedom were quite alike.
Both believed to be endless and positive, but in the end both were possibly just as restrictive and dangerous as the things people sought to escape from.
FTL travel had made it possible for millions and millions of people to see the galaxy with their own eyes. To see the icy peaks of Noveria and feel the bite of its wind, or to see the low valleys of Rakhana and marvel at the crumbling ruins of its once proud cities. To glance out the window and see a star going supernova, to see constellations that were familiar and alien all at once. To see thousands of planets among hundreds of star clusters, to meet millions of people, to experience countless new cultures. All of this and more, and all you had to do was head to the relay. Simple as that.
For many, it was a wistful fairy tail. Stuck in the slums of their homeworlds or in some dead-end job on a colony or maybe just needing a change of pace, they all turned their eyes to the skies and thought about the same thing.
Freedom.
What you wanted to be free from wasn't really important. Freedom from your past, your future, your people, maybe even yourself. All you needed, it seemed, was a ship.
But then a ship needs a crew to fly it.
And a crew needs just one thing.
Pay.
On board the Aegis, Athena glanced over the face of a killer.
More specifically, she was staring at the picture of a killer listed for reward with the usual dead or alive notice for a hefty sum of credits, posted this time by the Blue Suns. It was the fifth time in just under a month she'd seen this turian listed as up for grabs, and she was starting to consider whether or not the water supply of the galaxy had been tainted with hallucinogens. Or maybe there was some sort of brain-eating virus she hadn't heard about. Something had to explain this lunacy.
Dark grey eyes narrowed at the datapad as she marched into the cargo bay of the Aegis, where her crew awaited her.
"No hoax. It's really him," she called to them.
The announcement prompted a collective groan.
"Let me see that," said Atropo, her pilot, snatching it with one hand as the other played with the gold clips along his facial frills. The metal decorations clinked against each other, sounding about as hollow as the crew. She wanted to snap at him to knock it off, but she knew that the sound was just the result of his fidgety habits, and those were just result of being hungry.
And God help them, they were all hungry. In their line of work, money was never that stable and that meant neither was the amount of groceries. The crew had skipped dinner more than once; it was just part of the job for them. But it had been nearly a week since even the credit chits found between the cushions had dried up, and nearly a month since their last profitable turn-in.
They were becoming desperate.
"Do they really think we're this stupid? Saren Arterius?" groaned the young drell in annoyance, waving the pad like incriminating evidence in a courtroom. "They want us to chase after a Spectre? No, the Spectre? And why is he even listed? I thought Spectres were like the paragons of virtue."
"I've heard rumors of bad things."
Athena turned to look at the muscle of her crew and her XO; the turian by the name of Junius. Tall even for his race, he had to bend down low to read from over Atropo's shoulder, his deep voice humming in thought.
"An old friend I message now and again told me she had heard things on the Citadel. That he's on the run after doing something, though she didn't seem to know what." He tilted his head to the side and scratched his chin with a wondering look to his face, adding, "But she said it had something to do with some other new Spectre."
Athena rolled her eyes. "He probably got caught smuggling protein bars or something."
Atropo moaned and clutched his arms around his stomach. "Don't mention protein bars, captain, please."
"Noted." Athena snatched the datapad from him and read through the rest of the possible marks again. Besides the definitely deadly Spectre, there were a few other potentials around the Terminus systems. But almost every subject was in batarian space, the one place everyone on the Aegis agreed was off limits, or they were already reported as dead or captured. That left this Saren guy and even she wasn't so desperate as to make an attempt at a man who hadn't exactly made his reputation out of being cuddly.
No posts, no jobs. No jobs, no money. No money-
"We are going to be a taxi for a while, aren't we," sighed Tyenki from her seat on the floor, predicting her human captain's mind before Athena even had the thought... a common if annoying salarian habit.
Athena gave her a nod, causing Atropo to whine anew and Junius to sigh. Tyenki merely shook her head and continued cleaning her tools one by one and organizing them back into their case with surgeon-like precision. This wouldn't have been weird if they weren't already spotlessly clean.
"You remember, what happened last time? Because I do," she reminded her captain.
"Me, too," grumbled Atropo disdainfully. His dark eyes narrowed until only the reds of his irises could be seen as his picture perfect memory passed through his mind. The clips along his facial cowl clinked together noisily when he shuddered. "We really should double check to make sure the people we transport aren't, oh I don't know, pyromaniacs."
"One damn time, and it was just your room!" Athena snapped, stabbing a finger in the his direction.
Her very qualified and mature pilot stuck his tongue out at her.
Her omnitool appeared on her wrist with a chirp. Turning it on, Athena replied, "Captain speaking."
"You're cleared for docking, Aegis. You are prepaid for 5 hours but after that you will face additional fines."
"And who do I bribe to get those fines reduced?"
"Per Omega law, bribes legally can't be accepted, but if you wish to learn more on that subject, you'll want to speak with me.."
"Good to know. Talk to you later." She shut off her omnitool and stood up to face her crew.
"Burning to death is a whole lot quicker than starving. Come on, people, let's go find us some tourists. We'll find more if we're split up. Atropo, Junius, you go together to the docks and see if anyone needs a cheap ride. I'll do the same. Tyenki, you go get the doctor and hit the markets, see if you two can't find some easy cargo to haul in the meanwhile. Call me if you run into trouble."
The crew grumbled a bit but got up as ordered, walking up the stairs and to their quarters to go get dressed proper. When they had to actually be somewhat charming to possible customers, it helped if they at least tried their best to look like trustworthy people you'd trust with your life when trapped in a tin can in space.
Once alone, Athena sighed and ran a hand through her hair. The dark mass was never very tame and today seemed to be no exception; lacking the patience to fight with it, she left it be in a messy bun.
Just i case she forgot, her stomach gave a loud rumble to remind her to get ready herself.
Never believe what you see on the extranet about freelancing being the high life, she thought, and not for the first time, as she headed for her own quarters. If she was lucky, they would find a few eager riders, or a decent amount of cargo to carry somewhere. Maybe she'd call up that old information broker on Illium and see what he had for her in the way of the black market. Smuggling was not the most exciting day job, but it didn't matter to her at this point. If it paid, she'd do it, so long as she got to turn her back on this lawless hellhole.
She'd wasted enough of her life here.
"Please!"
"Look, I said it already; I'll say it again. We only take payment in form of credits only."
"But I don't have any!"
"Credits. Only."
"Have mercy!"
Oy vey.
People of all species swarmed around cargo and schedules like flies on a picnic, greedily guarding their goods. The only ones not scurrying around were the guards, Aria's own private police force. While Omega had no real laws, its queen knew how commerce worked, and commerce only worked when there was a minimum of fistfights and shootouts over who got what cut.
With the combo of the merchant's squeaky voice and her aching stomach, Athena's headache was slowly budding into a full blown migraine. When she had first heard his offer of trading a box of cargo for personal transport, she'd been elated. Maybe he had some fine food ingredients, asari paid out the ass for the exotic stuff. Or maybe salarian silk, some of the softest in all the known galaxy. Hell she'd take krogan testes; they'd go to market like hotcakes.
What he was offering were shoes. Just... plain, run of the mill human shoes.
Dinner! she reminded herself, using the word like a prayer to keep her temper at bay. Hot dumplings with seared beef. Veggies that taste like veggies and not like styrofoam. Real beef, not the freeze-dried fake sort we usually get, real beef right off a real cow. And with that, we'll drink telno cider until we turn funny colors and ruin the carpet of the nearest bar.
To the potential customer, she offered a smile so fake it hurt her face to wear it. "But see, sir, I can't really use shoes to pay for the fuel to take you anywhere."
"I just gotta get to Eden Prime, lady," groaned the desperate little man, rubbing his hands together so nervously his palms were turning a nasty shade of red. "Please, the news all over is saying they got hit by some sort of attack, aliens or terrorists or something. My sister and her family are there. I'll do anything to go see if any of them are okay!" His eyes began to tear up and sweat beaded his forehead, the final touches on a perfect portrait of helplessness. "Please!"
The young captain carefully eyed the stranger as she considered her options. And it seemed there were only two of them. Leave him or take him.
"How many shoes you got?" she asked after a long moment, throwing in a sigh for good measure.
"Nearly a dozen for us normal folk..."
He balked and looked around him, catching his words just a bit too late. But in the busy swarm of Omega traffic, no one had seemed to hear, and he visibly relaxed a hair.
"I've got a few turian pairs left. One set left for an elcor, if you know any," he added hopefully, the 'please' going unspoken but still hanging desperately in his tone. "You can have them all, it's all I've got left."
The captain groaned, grumbling at her own faults. Why was she so easy to butter up? Why? "Dock 56, the Aegis, look for a red drell with too much metal in his face."
The human let out a shocked gasp and flung his arms around her, hugging her so tightly her breath escaped her in a sharp grunt.
"Thank you, thank you! Oh, you won't regret this, ma'am." He picked up his box and started to head towards the docked spaceships, leaving her alone in the large marketplace, surrounded by the crowds. So with the shoe peddler, that made...
One passenger.
Fantastic.
Maybe it wasn't too late to consider other options. Athena shuddered at the idea they might have to take up some wet work. Criminals were one thing... they were nearly always crooks and murderers, you didn't have to feel bad about taking them down. But assassin work was dirty, not just because of the violence involved, but because of who usually ended up dead. Not everyone who had enemies deserved them. And jobs for mercs tended to lean towards the 'survival of the fittest' mentality, not just among the mercs themselves but those who tended to hire them. The employer wouldn't even blink when your head got blown off on some remote planet, never seeing a chit of those promised credits. Once they'd cleaned up the body, they'd just hire some other greenhorn who thought they were too smart and cool to die like you.
All this, she knew firsthand.
As Athena started to think about which of her personal items and clothes would still be of value at the nearest pawn shop, something hit her from behind with enough force to knock her to the ground. Her hands caught her, preventing a nasty encounter from the floor and her skull, as well as any other major damage other than sore palms and knees. But the audacity of the assault was enough to override her hunger and send her springing back to her feet with a spitting mad temper.
"Watch where you're going, moron!"
"N-no!"
Her attacker held up their hands in defense, and as such they were the first things Athena took notice of. Slim tan fingers with dark fingernails and scaled skin, the middle digit seemingly formed out of two fused fingers. Drell, her mind registered immediately. But they didn't seem like any drell she'd seen... not that she'd seen more than a handful, other than the annoying bastard who flew her ship. Atropo was all angles and loud colors, quite tall and thin under his fashionable clothes. This one was small and rounder in the face and body though still as flat-chested as any human boy; instead of the bright reds Athena associated with Atropo, the stranger was varied shades of tan and brown. And judging from the expression on their face, they were scared out of their mind.
"Can I help you?" asked Athena, rubbing her sore shoulder. With that force, the alien had either done it intentionally or was running too hard to notice. And if it was the latter, then they were badly trying to get away from something. That thought made her inner thoughts groan; she really didn't want to deal with someone else's shit this early into her day. "Better yet, can you be helped?"
The drell paused for breath, shaking all over. Their words came out in a trembling whisper, "Please. Please."
Their voice was softer too underneath all that grating that was a trait of their species... Athena would even dare say it sounded downright feminine. A lady? Drell were so rare outside of the hanar systems she'd honestly never met a woman.
You're going by human standards, she reminded herself as the stranger sat down as well, their arms wrapped around their body as they looked around like nervous pyjak. Who's to say lady drell don't have four legs and sound like a wood chipper?
For now, she assumed male. After all, there was a fifty-fifty chance she was right.
To the drell himself, she asked, "What's wrong?"
"I have to get away, to get off the station," said her new companion, "as soon as possible."
Oh.
Oh what was this?
Athena leaned in closer, doing her best to look friendly and open. After all she had just met her possible meal ticket. "Where to?"
The drell turned to face her. Most of his eyes were the same encompassing black as Atropo's... but the irises were a mix of warm browns, with little flicks of yellow decorating the edges. For a moment, Athena forgot about the ship and even the money, and found herself lost in the colors. While it was impossible for Omega to have sunrises and sunsets, sometimes it caught the edge of the a hanging tier of the asteroid or glared off a ship just right, and if you were lucky enough to have a view with a window, you could see all the colors she was seeing now in the unknown drell's eyes.
It was beautiful.
"As soon as possible," said the alien, his voice bringing Athena out of her distraction. "D-do you know of any ships leaving soon?"
"Huh? Oh! Um, er, yes I actually do." Athena replied with all the practiced suaveness of an experienced salesman, "I'm Athena, captain of the Aegis, and we're looking to leave by the end of the day." She held out her hand in greeting.
The stranger didn't take it, only glancing to the open palm before looking back up to the human's face and asking quietly, "Can I convince you to leave earlier?" Even with the natural grating of drell voices, it was hard to miss the waver in his tone, or to ignore how he kept looking around as if expecting an attack.
What was this person so afraid of?
"Are you willing to pay?" asked Athena, arching an eyebrow.
Reaching into his pocket, the drell took out a credit chit and handed it to Athena. "You can have this, all of it, if you can get me off the station in an hour."
In the surrounding crowds to their right, some shouts could be heard, and the stranger nearly jumped out of his scaly skin. "O-only if we leave now!"
"I don't think we can..." Athena's voice drifted off as she ran the chit through her omnitool's scanner and glanced at the amount of money on it.
The amount made her heart skip a beat or three.
It was enough to buy fuel, food and possibly a nice little house on the Citadel. It was more money than every bounty she had turned in for that year combined. Holy shit. Holy shit. Money had a way of talking, and at that amount, the captain was willing to give it her ear. Or both of them. In a box with a bow.
"Well then!" she said to her new best friend, standing and taking him by the arm to lead the frightened little man to the docks. "Let's head on down then and we'll see if we can't get you the, uh, luxury suite-"
A gunshot rang out over the crowd. Almost as one, the mass of people ducked down, including the captain and the drell. Over the scared shouts, Athena heard a batarian voice yelling angrily, and she wondered whether it was the shooter or Aria's guards leaping into action.
The drell let out a sound, something caught between a squeak and a sob. "We have to go!"
For the first time, Athena eyed him suspiciously. She wasn't usually one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but...
"This way," she murmured, ducking her head down to maneuver through the throng of frightened people. Behind them, she could hear shouts among heated arguments, though no more gunshots... at least for now. But she knew the sort of tone those voices carried, and knew it well. It was the sort of angry tone that didn't belong to someone shooting for the sake of shooting; clearly they were searching for something, something that would have reason to flee from a gunshot. Or, Athena considered as she snuck around the people and luggage, someone.
"There!"
Glancing over her shoulder, Athena saw a muscled batarian, pointing a finger of the direction of her and the drell. Well, shit.
The drell shouted at the sight and began to sprint for the docking bays, leaving her in the dust.
"Hey wait!" called Athena and, against her best judgment, began to follow. The man was panicking, fear putting speed into his gait as he pushed through the increasingly agitated crowd. Athena was barely able to keep up, swerving through the winding path of people that her meal ticket was leaving behind him. And even further behind, the batarian was starting to catch up, possibly because of the way he was shooting blindly at their backs and screaming for them to stop.
Why can't anything ever be easy?
"You don't need it."
"Says you."
"It isn't really necessary."
Atropo glared at the old turian looming behind him. "You also say a lot of the stuff we want isn't necessary. Like, say, more than one outfit to wear. Or comfortable shoes. Or a brand new set of micro-welders."
The latter were the subject of the argument, as well as being the object of his growing desire. Just the thought of applying those shiny new tools to his seat in the cockpit was tempting to the point of being sinful; the squeaking of the chair when he swiveled around and laid back was like being forced to listen to varrens in heat. No, worse. At least the varrens shut up after a week or so. True, his habit of playing music through the console so loudly he could barely sometimes listen to himself think usually covered it up. But he swore he could still hear it, just a tiny bit, under the beat of his beloved tunes, utterly ruining the experience. And that alone was infuriating.
Junius shook his head at the drell and turned his attention back to the crowd, looking for potential clients. A perfect opportunity. Atropo reached out his left hand to the tools and the right to the credit chit in his pocket. He had just a handful left that nobody knew about, a small cache he'd been holding onto just in case things had gotten truly serious, but this was pretty important, surely-
"Atropo!"
Both crewmen jumped at a shout from the familiar voice, looking over in the direction of their captain as she came barrelling through the crowd. Ahead of her was a drell, running blindly with a look of pure terror. At the sight of Atropo, the approaching stranger shouted, "Don't let them take me! I won't go!"
"Wha-" Atropo stuttered as his fellow drell ducked behind him, using him as a shield, while Athena came to a halt in front of him. "Hey! Athena? What in the name of the damned gods is going on here-"
"Stop right there!"
One of the ongoing mysteries in Atropo's life was why everyone who chased the captain around shouted at the top of their voices like actors on a bad asari soap opera. It seemed almost obsessive. This time it was a group of batarians, each of them wearing a nasty scowl on their wrinkled ugly faces, and each of them bearing arms. Atropo glanced to his boss; the human woman was still catching a little bit of breath, glancing from the drell behind him to the batarians with a frown to match theirs. Clearly she was every bit as confused as he was and doubly annoyed.
It was Junius who finally broke the silence. Stepping forward, the tall turian asked calmly, hands spread palm-upwards in a universal gesture of peace, "Can we help you?"
The batarians glanced to him and, after a moment, lowered their weapons. Atropo had to give him that, you could always count on the elder turian to step in as the mediator... Maybe it was just an old person thing. Or maybe it was the fact that Junius was roughly six and a half feet and two hundred pounds of muscle and carapace.
"You have our property," growled the leader of the group. At least, Atropo assumed he was the leader. He was the ugliest of the bunch, so he had that going for him. The four-eyed alien pointed just to the side of Atropo, where the other drell was peeking around his hip. "He belongs to us."
"Are you telling me he's a slave?" asked Athena. "Look, I-"
"She."
The human and batarians alike swung their heads to stare at Atropo.
"What?"
"She." He jerked a thumb to the subject of the conversation, who was still cowering behind him. "Your slave is a female."
The batarian's frustrated expression disappeared for a moment as it was lost in surprise. "Really?" But he recovered quickly, shaking his head and raising his weapon again. "Whatever! He- she's my property. I'll bet she gave you some money, right? Well, it's mine." He pointed to a flush bruise on his cheek, snarling, "She punched me and made a run for it. If you fly her out of here, I'll have you and your friends taken down for theft of property before your sorry asses reach the relay. And that's if I don't shoot down your damn ship first."
Athena's focus shifted back to the slaver. Atropo recognized the expression on her face; she was weighing the options, good and bad. She had a good head on her shoulders, he knew, she'd pick the right one. This was ridiculous, what could they do? There wasn't much they could do for a total stranger like this. The captain would realize-
"I'll take her off your hands for you."
Or she'd pick the completely ridiculous option instead.
The slaver blinked at her with all four eyes. He looked nearly as caught off guard as Atropo. "What?"
"Your slave roughed me up a bit over there. Look at hi- her." The captain waved a hand to the woman, shaking her head as though ashamed at the mere sight of her. "She's little, not very beefy at all, and it looks like she's already a runner. What worth is she in a rough place like this, hm? Do you really want her around?"
"What does it matter to you?"
"I'm just saying, look at it this way. I'm returning your money to you now, and it's all there if you want to check." She pulled the chit out of her pocket and handed it back to the owner. "Not to mention the fact that I'm willing to take a troublesome lizard off of your hands. You've heard they've got perfect memory, right?"
The batarian narrowed his eyes suspiciously. But he was clearly considering her words, finally putting the pistol away in a holster. "Yes..."
"Think about it. She's already seen your credit numbers, your face, and more. Do you really want a slave who can't forget anything? One who can memorize all those things you say about your boss when you think no one will remember, or who will remember your pin number you use for the collar controls? All the best escape routes? All the little secrets that they overhear and may spill to someone else? It doesn't really seem all that great for business security, if you ask me."
Athena's smirk was a cocky one, hands on her hips and eyebrows arched in a typical human pose of defiance, one that she sported often. She was confident that she'd win this, it seemed.
Or, Atropo considered, she wants them to think that she's sure about this.
The batarians looked questioningly at each other, the two lackeys shrugging at the leader. "And what do you get out of it, human?"
Athena didn't reply at first, merely glancing at the cowering female before focusing back on the batarians, a rather shady smile spreading on her face that sent prickles down Atropo's skin. "I'll find a use for her."
The slaver sneered. "Freak. Fine, whatever. She's already more trouble than I give a fuck about. Take her, take her and go!" He waved them off with a hand and turned, leaving the small group alone in silence before Athena finally broke it with a heavy sigh.
"Holy shit, I can't believe they fell for that crap," she groaned.
"You totally just pulled that out of your ass, didn't you?" laughed Atropo. He had to give it to humans, when they wanted to con you into something, they could be so good at lying they'd make you think they had a ship to sell you on the other side of the Omega 4 relay. Creative, for a bunch of hairy softies, and Athena was exceptionally good at it.
"Oh, most definitely... But the bad news is, that means I just lost our meal ticket."
"On the positive side, we didn't get shot in the face," Junius pointed out.
Athena sighed. Under her breath, Atropo heard her mumble something about steak. The captain quickly pulled herself together and glanced toward the slave.
"What's your name?" she asked, her tone all business.
The woman blinked and slowly came out from her hiding spot behind Atropo. "Vesta. Vesta Soren." She seemed to be still in shock. Atropo didn't blame her; he still wasn't entirely sure what he'd just seen.
I should be used to this by now, really, he scolded himself with a snort.
"Cool," said Athena with a nod. "You're free to go."
A few moments passed and no one moved or spoke.
"I said you're free to go," Athena repeated, a tint of confusion in her voice, pointing out to the crowds that were still bustling around them as if nothing had happened. Slavery shakedowns? Nothing new to the proud rotters of Omega. "You know, free? You know what free is, right?"
"Yes! I just... I don't know where to go... from here," replied Vesta. She had started to rub her hands nervously. "I-I don't live in this place. I was just brought here by-"
Her body seized up, widened eyes staring out into open air. Atropo recognized the signs immediately, as any drell would, of someone falling into memory.
"Hands and limbs exchanging credits, voices muttering and chiming in discussion. Buying. Selling. Selling me." Her voice hitched with emotion. "You can't do this! Please. Please, please, don't leave me. Have mercy. I beg him not to go. He ignores me, leaving me behind..."
The flashback ending, Vesta's body slackened and she wrapped her arms around her thin body, as if trying to secure herself in the real world.
Junius stepped forward and wrapped an arm around her, letting her lean against him for support. "It's all right. You don't have to explain." He waited until she nodded silently before looking back towards his captain. "Athena-"
The human held up a hand to stop him before he began. "Junius, don't lecture me... we can't. I wanted to help her out, not adopt her. It's not fair to her, or us! The whole reason we're here right now is because we need money. How are we going to keep another mouth to feed on board?"
"And we have passengers," offered Junius. "Sula called just before this; she has several passengers lined up, as do Atropo and I."
"I said-"
The pair was interrupted by Vesta's small voice.
"I can cook. Clean. Keep records." She straightened herself - not that it helped much, she wasn't even as tall as Athena, an average sized human - and was clearly trying to sound more confident. "I don't have to eat very much. I-I promise... I can pull my own weight. And if you will just take me to the nearest colony, I can... I can make my way from there. But I don't want to stay here. This station is..." She paused and, after some thought, sighed. "I can't even think up a word to describe how miserable this place has made me since I stepped on it."
Atropo glanced to his captain. Athena was staring at Vesta, her eyes cold and still.
"I can think of a few myself, trust me," she muttered. Sighing, she turned toward the Aegis. "Come on then. Sula is going to flip when she hears this, so we might as well tell her sooner than later."
Offering Vesta a kind smile, Junius followed after the human, the drell girl still holding onto his arm with a look on her face as if she was caught in a dream. Lagging behind them, Atropo just shook his head at the entire situation.
Come to Omega to find credits and food, and get a slave instead. One more person to feed in a cramped old ship full of hungry people with nowhere to go and nothing to do.
Yeah, that sounded like their usual luck. Atropo shook his head, gave the micro-welders one last longing look, and followed his captain back home.
