Chapter 1: Hard to Hear

Omega – 6 weeks before 'the Resurrection'

It was usually a loud place, to say the least. Bright lights, loud, repetitive music, the screams of some victim of one violent crime or another, and the more than occasional gunshot. Omega was an easy place to find information, which was the only reason why Alaeceri would ever come to a pit like this. The Asari shook her head a little as she passed by an alley and saw some drug addict who was obviously higher than he had any business being, rolling on the ground and clawing at the air as though he were being attacked. "Idiots..." Alaeceri muttered, rolling he eyes as she kept walking.

Omega was a dangerous place, of course. But that didn't matter to the Asari. She had her biotics, of course, and a well made pistol at her right hip as well. Decades of training as a commando was also pretty useful as well. All put together, Alaeceri was more dangerous than Omega, at least in her own mind. And that was all she needed to move with confidence through the galaxy's most renowned scum hive.

She came to the right building after just a few more moments, the green neon lights contrasting with her purple hued skin. Dark blue eyes dart around as she made sure that she hadn't been followed and wasn't being watched, and then Alaeceri brought up her omni-tool and sent the single word message her contact was waiting for. "Here."

A couple minutes later the door in front of her slid open, and Alaeceri was looking at a middle aged human male, his hair a little greyer than one might think, given he was still closer to fifty than to sixty years old. "You're late." The man said, peaking out through the threshold to glance left and right.

"Relax, Jerry. I check. I wasn't followed." Alaeceri said, raising a hand and holding back a sigh. The man was well informed, and willing to share. But sometimes Alaeceri wanted to hit him, hard.

Jerry grunted in response, stepping to the side of the doorway and nodding into his home, inviting the Asari in. "You know better than I do that caution on Omega keeps you alive."

"It keeps you alive, maybe. I keep myself alive, thank you very much." The Asari corrected smugly.

The human sighed and shut the door, engaging several locking systems. "Then you just haven't stepped out of the pond yet." Jerry said, walking into a room at the side and picking up a small, apparently empty vial.

"'Stepped out of the pond?'" Alaeceri asked, some slight confusion obvious in her tone.

"You know, your a big fish in a small pond?" Jerry clarified. When the Asari just stared at him, her pretty face twisted in a questioning look, he just sighed again, and shook his head. "Look, its not important." He concluded. Jerry offered the vial to Alaeceri, letting her take it.

"Um... thanks?" The Asari began, clearly unsure of what Jerry was doing. "Does this have something to do with that 'big discovery' that you needed to tell me about?" Alaeceri asked, looking at the vial, her eyes narrowed.

"Be careful with that, will you?" Jerry said, taking an hurried step away from Alaeceri as she moved to set the vial down. "That is my discovery, Alaeceri. Its called 'stargazer.'" He said, his right eye twitching a little bit before he took a deep breath.

"Okay... what is 'stargazer,' Jerry?" Alaeceri asked, giving him back the vial.

"Its this... uh... well, its an invisible, odourless, tasteless gas, which happens to be a highly lethal toxin." He said, setting the vial down on a desk carefully.

"It looks empty..." Alaeceri said. "How can you tell its in there?"

"Because I put it in there. Look, you're not asking very good questions here, Alaeceri. 'stargazer' was made by some insane freedom fighter to use as a trap against people who intruded in his little fortresses that he set up. It has two effects. First, and most obvious, its an extremely potent hallucinogenic substance. One vial of the stuff would put a Krogan on its ass for the better half of a week. And that's the user friendly effect..."

"Uh oh." Alaeceri said, a little worried now.

"Damn right 'uh oh.'" Jerry said, walking over to a computer screen and bringing up some data. "Unlike most modern hallucinogens, 'stargazer' doesn't leave your system quickly. The second effect is that with prolonged exposure is causes bone degeneration."

"How does it do that, exactly?" The Asari asked, curiosity overtaking now.

"I don't know! Does it matter? It... it gets into your bone marrow somehow. Moves from respiratory system to circulatory system, that's how it makes you high. Gets into your blood, and then your brain."

"Sounds like a blast." Alaeceri said, her tone dry.

"This isn't a joke. Imagine what happens if this gets in the hands of the Blue Suns or Eclipse!" Jerry said, obviously worried.

"Or Blood Pack?" The Asari added.

Jerry shrugged. "I doubt they'd be bothered by it. You know what Krogan are like." He responded. As Alaeceri was about to answer, Jerry held up his hand to stop her. "Look, who gets it isn't important. Its always going to be extremely dangerous in anyone's hands. I figured that it might be something you want to look into." He said.

"Oh really? And why is that?" Alaeceri asked.

"Because you're a goody-two-shoes who spends her time flying around the galaxy and sticking her nose in other peoples' business, where most one hundred fifty something Asari are usually running around exploring the stars, dancing in clubs, or breaking hearts, don't they?" Jerry said, grinning. He handed her the vial, and then brought up his omni-tool and pressed a few buttons.

A second or so later, Alaeceri's own omni-tool beeped, and she brought it up. "What's this?" She asked. She had gotten mail from Jerry.

"Its a list. People. Places. Anything I think you might need to get something done. People first, if you ask me. You're going want some back-up." Jerry answered.

"So what, you want me to go and recruit people? Why don't you come along?" Alaeceri asked.

"Yes, recruit people. Come on, you have a ship, right? You're probably lonely flying around the galaxy anyway. Maybe you'll make some friends. And I'm not going with you because I'm afraid. I thought you knew that. Find someone who isn't scared of getting shot." Jerry finished talking, crossing his arms and smiling.

Alaeceri nodded for a moment and then left, making her way to the docking bay to get into the ship. Jerry was right, she would need some help. She opened up the message Jerry had given her. It was just people and places, but information regarding 'stargazer' too. Apparently, Jerry had "acquired" it from some group called the Nova Crusaders. She sighed and took a look at the list of names, each of which had information about the people. Most of them were outlaws, former mercenaries, questionable people. The right kind for the job, to be certain, at least where their skill sets were concerned. Hopefully they were the right kind morally too...

The next day, on a remote Alliance colony...

He didn't even know why he cared. Desmond didn't know these people, wasn't attached to them in anyway. But watching them getting cut down, their home invaded by whatever ass holes were here now. The planet was called Perfici Domus. It was Latin for "Perfect Home." So much for that idea. It was a battlefield now.

Desmond saw a chance to move when the mechs turned to head away from his direction, and stood up, sprinting to cover. He moved carefully once he was there, making his way slowly to the Port Communications Tower. If only he had more than a pistol, he might even be able to risk engaging the mechs, at least if he could fight one at a time. But the Comm Tower was close now, and checking all around, he ran for the door. It was locked. "Oh, you've gotta be fucking kidding." He said to no one in particular, sighing loudly. Bringing up his omni-tool, Desmond quickly hacked into the door's locks, and managed to override them.

The door opened and he backed in, making sure to re-lock the door behind him. Someone cleared their throat, and Desmond turned, finding himself at gunpoint, by almost a dozen armed men and women. He didn't live here, so chances were pretty good that he was on the verge of getting shot. But Desmond couldn't ever resist the urge to push his luck. "So, if all of you are down here, who is calling in back-up?"

A woman got up from behind some makeshift cover – a table turned on its side – and approached him, taking his pistol away. "You care to give us a reason not to kill you right now?" She asked, frowning at him, brown eyes staring angrily into Desmond's own light blue orbs.

"Uh, two." Desmond replied. "Firstly, because I re-locked the doors instead of leaving them open for the mechs and whoever they belong to." He said. That seemed to make just about everyone in the room with him, except the woman who was now holding his gun in her left hand, nod and lower their weapons. "And second, because I think I can bail us all out of this situation, but I need access to the Communications Network."

The woman raised an eyebrow to that. "The Comm Network? How's that going to help? We aren't getting help any time soon." She said, relaxing her posture a little bit.

"Maybe." Desmond conceded. "But if we can live long enough to rig it to scramble those Mechs' targeting systems, they'll kill each other for us."

That got a few people to widen their eyes. "You can do that?" A man asked, sounding like he was less that sure he believed Desmond.

"If history is anything to go by then yes, I can." Desmond said. He looked from the man back to the woman that stood in front of him.

It took a few seconds, but eventually she nodded at Desmond. "Follow me." She said, walking to an elevator and opening the door. She, along with two of the 'guards' walked in, and Desmond did in fact follow with them.

"You realize we're taking a huge risk trusting him, right?" A man asked. The woman who had taken Desmond's pistol seemed to be in charge.

"Of course. But I don't see any other options. Eventually those mechs and their handlers are going to find us in here and we'll be dead. We've got to try something." She said, sighing and letting her shoulders slump. She was obviously tired. And why shouldn't she be? The attack had been going on for about twelve hours now.

"Um, instead of calling me 'him,' my name's Desmond. Just, throwing that out there." Desmond said. The other three turned to look at him and frowned. After a moment Desmond shrugged. "Okay, I'll just shut up and saves your lives without conversation. Works for me." He said, letting his sarcasm become almost painfully obvious.

The doors slid open and all four walked out. They were in the top room of the Comm Tower, and Desmond was lead to the primary controls. "Jess, do you think this has anything to do with those other colonies that ended up ghost towns?" One of the men asked as Desmond looked over the controls before bringing up his omni-tool again.

"I really hope not." The woman, apparently 'Jess,' answered back.

As she finished her to-the-point reply, there was an explosion, and Desmond peaked out through the window over the controls. "Uh oh..." He said. The other three gathered to look. There were people on the ground now, the mechs following them around. Everyone of them was wearing camouflaged armor. They didn't look military though. There was no saluting, no squads, no formations. Just people with guns that clearly commanded the YMIR Mechs that were terrorizing the colony.

"Okay... on with it." Desmond said, more to himself than to anyone else. At least if his plan worked the mechs would also attack the people who were behind this invasion. It wasn't a batarian slaver thing, as humans, turians and even a couple krogan could be seen. "So I'm curious. Is there anything about your colony that might draw in crazy paramilitary bastards with more heavy mechs than they have any business owning?"Desmond asked. He actually kind of hoped the answer was yes, because then it might actually make some kind of sense.

"Not that I'm away of, no." Jess said.

Desmond sighed and looked at her. If she hadn't threatened to kill him, he might have found her attractive. Hell, he still might if they made it out alive. But first making it out alive had to become more than just a plan. "Alright, well, lets hope this works." Desmond said. He started putting a program into the Comm systems. If it didn't work, they were dead...