Omega; a place rarely referred to as a safe haven. Any conversations involving the sinful station often had to do with pirates, or a report of a murder. No one would willingly go there, unless they had business or if they were lost, and even then they would not stay for long. The ghastly aura it gives off often drives travelers in the opposite direction. The thin smog that fills the interior of the asteroid like a mother embracing her youngest is not a very welcoming sight, and the neon lights from Afterlife give it a faint eerie glow, leaving everyone on edge. The feeling is to be expected from the place, with the daily murder rates exceeding at least thirty.
One poor child has to go through the horror every day, 24 hours a day. His mother and father were from Earth, each hardly making a single credit, the former working as a maid and the latter as a cashier, before he was let go. To start anew, they left on a passenger ship, though their luck seemed to fade as the journey continued through the stars. The ship was left out of fuel just as the radar picked up a blip, before becoming stranded within the empty void.
"Did you see what appeared on the radar?" The co-pilot asked.
"Probably just an old satellite or something, nothin' to worry about," the pilot reassured. He sighed, then pressing the comms button.
"Hello? This is the-"
An abrupt shout from the back of the vessel caught the man off guard, causing him to release the button. He was less than pleased.
"Hey! Quit that shoutin', I'm trying to contact the Alliance!" He snapped.
"The Alliance can't help us out here you idiot, we're in Terminus space!" A passenger retorted. A boy instinctively clung on to his father's arm, the commotion causing him to tense up.
"It's okay, Griff," he whispered, trying to comfort his son. His mother rubbed his back, attempting to calm the distressed child. The young boy slowly started crying, burying his face into his father's shoulder.
"There's something out there," a woman in the back said over her shoulder. "It's headed our way! Maybe it's the Alliance!"
"What did I just say? The Alliance has no control out here!" The man from before harshly responded.
"You don't know that. They could've gotten our SOS," she replied.
"That isn't the Alliance," an older male chimed in. "The ship has the wrong markings. Someone needs to get us moving"
"They're getting closer…" Someone who seemed to be his wife cautiously said, backing away from the window.
After a few moments of eerie silence, a ship's engine could be heard outside of their own. It suddenly got quiet before a crash was heard further up. Figures with four eyes boarded the ship, pointing their guns at the passengers.
"You move and you're dead," one called out.
"God damn Batarian pirates, I'll rip your-"
He was cut off when a spray of crimson ejected from a new hole in his forehead, where a bullet had found a home. Panic began to spread through the passenger ship, making the boy hugging his father cry even harder.
"Hush, Griffin…" The latter whispered before looking up at the pirate in front of him. "I swear to God if you touch my boy, I'll kill you!" He shouted.
"And here I was, thinking that you humans had any brains," the Batarian said, pulling what looked like a Carnifex- most likely stolen- from its holster. He pressed it to his forehead, squeezing the trigger simultaneously. The man slumped into his seat, blood leaking down his face and onto Griffin. He let out a shriek, watching his father as his father was murdered and his mother seized from his grasp as he had tried hanging on to her. He was pulled back into the arms of one of the pirates, causing him to gasp and wriggle.
"Stop moving if you want to live," the captor said, then covering his eyes. He then boarded the other ship, closing it once everyone on the passenger ship was either dead or taken hostage. The Batarians then sped off, leaving the vacant vessel behind.
"What're we supposed to do with these people, kill 'em?" A pirate asked, glancing back at the hostages. "They don't look like they can do any good."
"That's because you killed all of the useful ones, idiot," the one who had murdered Griff's father sighed. "We'll drop them off at Omega. They'll probably get
killed in a day or two, so I wouldn't worry about them too much. We already stripped all of them for goods, and took their ship's valuable parts. I'd say we did good."
"I guess so. What're they doing in Terminus, anyway? Nothin' good's here, besides Omega. They're out of Alliance space, so I don't see any other reason for these damn humans to be poking about here."
"Your guess is as good as mine," the other replied, reloading his thermal clip. "Morons."
Griffin watched as they conversed, struggling against the omni-cuffs they had placed him it. He gave up after a few more minutes of squirming. He wanted to cry out, wanting for his mother and father to comfort him and tell him that everything was going to be okay, but he knew that it wasn't going to happen. He glanced to his right, where he saw the other abductees, including his mother, passed out or silently weeping. Sniffles echoed through the cramped cargo hold, full of human remnants alongside the living. The boy let out a whimper, causing one of the pirates to spin around with his pistol drawn.
"Which one of you was that?" He growled. He gave a cold glance at Griff, causing him to flinch. "Was it you?" The child shook his head, his bottom lip quivering with fear.
"Then who was it?"
"It was me!" A woman's muffled cried rang from beneath her cloth gag. "It was me, dammit! Leave the boy alone!"
The Batarian smiled, then disappearing as quickly as it came. He fired his weapon at the woman, striking her in the breast. Low gasps were heard all throughout the hold.
"Shut up before you'll all be killed," he grumbled, then returning to his duties. Griffin couldn't believe what he had just witnessed; a woman- a complete stranger to him- had spoken up to save his live. He wondered why the hell she had done that, and why him. He had just caused her to sacrifice herself so that he, a beyond scared six year old, could live. He didn't understand it. He shook his head, resuming his gaze forward, as there were no windows in the ship except for the pilot's seat. He noticed a large, strangely shaped outline in the distance. It had a neon red aura, but most of the sight was blocked by the other asteroids floating about.