Chapter 1

We were in a tight spot, to say the least.

I was actually kind of offended that these people had the audacity to still be alive, we'd been hunting them for months, picking off their top officials until finally we thought we had them cornered, but obviously that wasn't the case.

I popped another heat sync from my sniper rifle and looked around at my team. There were 8 of us, and I was their leader. I AM their leader, I thought to myself, this is far from over.

"TAZ!" I yelled at our strategist over the gunshots and miscellaneous biotic and tech noises. "How are we doing on that escape plan!?"

The salarian smiled awkwardly at me- or maybe that's just his face.

"Can you buy me 3 minutes?"

I smiled as I put on my helmet.

"Damn right. Anulla?"

My best friend looked practically elated, and in a fraction of a second we'd both used biotic charge to get us into the fray. We'd done this so many times that when we followed up with nova a few seconds later it was perfectly in sync. There were no neo-Cerberus idiots within a 3 metre radius from each of us.

Well, no live ones anyway.

"Taz?"

"36 seconds!"

Anulla and I ran in opposite directions for the nearest cover as everyone on the above balcony rained fire on us. Suddenly we heard a massive noise and looked up- Taz's bomb had worked as planned and had blown a hole into the side of the apartment wall. Kal dropped a rope ladder from the balcony and ran through the hole first. Not because he was a great leader, but so he could overload all the cameras and tech devices ahead of the team. It's the only way to stay hidden on Omega. I saw them each head through the wall, with Shona, our krogan, bringing up the rear.

"See you soon, Archangel" she didn't even have to yell, but she did. Her booming voice practically shaking the room, "Try not to get your ass killed."

"Thanks for the concern, Shona!" came a reply from Anulla, jokingly annoyed that Shona hadn't mentioned her. I couldn't be positive from this distance away but I'm pretty sure Shona winked.

"I'll go first and cover you!" I yelled. It's not that I wanted to get out of the action before Anulla did, but honestly she had the worst aim of anyone in our team, and like Hell is Garrus Vakarian's daughter going to pass up an opportunity to go solo on high ground with a sniper rifle. I sprinted for the ladder.

Anulla was tough but I hate leaving anyone outnumbered and on their own, even if it's just for a minute. When I got to the top I could tell her barriers were down from just having used nova, and some asshole was about to stab her with his omni-blade. I shot him in the throat where the armor was weak and he went down instantly.

"Come on, Anulla!" I had to keep her focused, killing douchebags using her bare hands (and biotics) was probably her favourite pastime. "Uh right," she said, and made a run for the ladder.

The mercenaries were starting to regroup and I had to strategize with the shots I made. Would her barriers hold? Maybe I should have asked someone else to stay as backup. But no, she made it to the top and I helped her climb over the edge. I deactivated the magnets that held the ladder in place on the floor and pushed the button that made it roll up automatically.

"How long with Kal's interference work?" she asked. "Each camera or sensor they passed is disabled for 7 minutes, starting when he first hit them. I'd say we've gotta run."

We ran through the wall, then combined our biotics to pile rubble to fill the hole. To top it off I shot at it with incendiary rounds in a hasty attempt to weld it together.

"Come on!" Anulla was practically dragging me. "I wish the bad guys were ahead of us so we could just biotic charge to the end of the hallway," she said, and she wasn't wrong. I ran ahead of her, listening to Kal giving me directions on my com. Eventually we made it to a street and he sent us to the nearest bar with the most heat signatures.

Afterlife.

Getting in wasn't an issue, Kal had made sure we both had clearance under some fake names he hadn't even bothered to tell us. It was my own paranoia that had me hesitating. If Aria T'Loak saw me, and recognised me for who I really was, I was screwed. The first scenario had her just calling my parents, who would presumably commandeer some superfast Alliance ship and haul my sorry ass out of here, hopefully without killing anyone who tried to defend me. The second scenario had her using that info to blackmail me so I could avoid scenario 1. Only Kal'Zora knew who I really was, and he had similar qualms about going near Afterlife. It was a million times easier for him since he wore an enviro-suit and had a way smaller name, but it was nice to not be alone.

"I'm really sorry Ash, there's nowhere else for blocks that's this crowded. Tell Anulla to bring you to the lowest level, I'm pretty sure she comes here a lot. Are people wearing their helmets there?"

"No, Kal, it's a nightclub. We're the only ones."

There was a pause on the other end. Kal was probably consulting Jason, our stealth strategist. Then a gruff human voice came through the coms, and judging by Anulla's sudden return to reality after staring jealously at the people on the dance floor, he was on hers too.

"Split up. Take off your helmets. Anulla, stay here. Ash, go to the lowest floor and look for turians. If they're at the bar, order a drink. If they're on the dance floor, try to retain some fragment of dignity while you dance. Act like you've been to a nightclub before, and go now. Avoid eye contact with dancers and bouncers. Go!"

I scowled at the shot but moved right away, with one last nod at Anulla. Jason was right- about everything. Anulla was a natural party girl and an asari, she could blend in anywhere. I needed to get as far away from Aria T'Loak as possible, meaning the lowest floor. I also needed to find turians- even if that meant having to dance in public. It wasn't uncommon to see groups containing mixed species here, Hell just look at my team, but without my helmet I'd have a much better time blending in with my own kind.

Kind, species, whatever. The lines kind of got blurred living on Earth, probably the most diverse place in the galaxy aside from Omega right now. When the mass relays had gone down 25 years ago everyone was basically stuck where they were. The quarians regrouped and left for Rannoch the long way, but since no one knew how long it would take for the mass relays to be repaired, and no one had the resources for insanely long journeys like the quarians, they mostly stayed on Earth.

Or maybe I should be saying "we," I don't know. I'm not human, but I was born on Earth so I feel exempt of the "other" status given to the first generation of alien settlers. Who knows how many other generations there will be though, now that the relays are back. So many people made lives on Earth that I doubt they want to leave, and to be honest I don't think the humans could handle that amount of population loss.

Once the reapers were destroyed (by my own damn mother, no less) I guess they all assumed the reaper forces already on the ground would disintegrate or deactivate or something. No such luck. All the husks, banshees, brutes, harvesters, etc just began attacking randomly, which was better than them being organised, but it meant the fighting continued for a long time. Sightings of reaper forces are rare now, and are mostly dealt with by military forces that are specifically designed to seek them out. I have a few family friends in those groups, and my mother is damn proud. It's an important job- they only cause a few dozen deaths a year now (on Earth) but it was bad when they first started.

My own "real" parents (how can they be more real than the ones who've loved and cared for me for 20 years?) died when I was 3 years old. I think they were retired vets who'd settled down in one of the countries donated to the turians (somewhere near the equator, that's where the turian territories are), and had been killed by a banshee passing through the residential neighbourhood. Luckily I'd been inside with the doors locked and I guess a reaper squad came and killed it before it could come looking for me. I was adopted by Commander Shepard and Garrus Vakarian, two of the biggest names on Earth right now, and probably ever. It was a lot to live up to, and I found it hard to make my own way on Earth. The reparations of the mass relays 3 years ago had been my way out, and I hadn't wasted it.

I got to the lowest level of the nightclub. Fortunately, there were only a couple turians on the dancefloor. Unfortunately there were a few sketchy-looking guys at the bar, and I'd probably have to talk to them.

I heard Jason again, "We're checking out the exits and the area surrounding Afterlife. I'll tell you when you can get out of there. Until then, try to act like a normal person."

Man, Jason could be an asshole. Or maybe it was just his British accent, who knows. Since I grew up with humans I can actually tell when they have accents, unlike with asari or other species. I didn't recruit him for his manners though, and I proceeded to order a drink.

I got a generic low-alcohol beer that was directly imported from Palavan. One of the things I loved about Omega was the variety of food and drink that actually contained flavour. I took a sip while eyeing the guy next to me in my peripheral vision.

"Hey there," he said, "you a local? I'm on my way back to Palavan, you know a place where a guy can spend the night around here?"

Charming, I thought. "That depends. Would you rather get robbed, beaten, kidnapped, or murdered? Well getting robbed is a given but the Rolan Hotel roughs you up the least, in my experience."

His expression didn't change but I saw his mandibles move in my peripheral vision as I took another drink.

"I was kind of hoping for something… cozier." He lightly touched my arm. I was glad Anulla wasn't here for this, he'd have a broken mandible already. I was hoping to handle this verbally since the whole point of being here was to blend in with the crowds.

"Why we don't head back to my ship," I stared intently at my drink and not him, "I can't think of a single place on this station cozier than the airlock."

THAT got a more noticeable reaction, but I didn't pay attention to what he said next since there was a human yelling in my ear, "Leave. Now. This level's got an exit to the slums. Get there and Kal'll walk you to us."

I paid for my drink and left through the slums to the nearest shopping district. Eventually Anulla met up with me and we headed to home base together.

And that's when we walked right past Lieutenant Commander Steve Cortez.