Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect this belongs to Bioware. Please enjoy.
Chapter 3: Omega.
Shepard lay on her bed with the Dossiers scattered round her. The only one she seemed to read was the one about Archangel, one question buzzed round in her head. Why was this one person fascinating her so much, there wasn't much information on him except for the fact he had made a name for himself by shooting down the local criminal gangs. The empty fish tank bubbled in the distance as its weird calming blue light bathed the room with a dim light. Shepard looked at her ceiling as the shadows clawed their way across. Why was attracted to his man? Sure he was dangerous and rough round the edges from the words on his profile, but he reminded her of someone. A yearning, a need in her heart started to beat from within as a lump formed in her throat. The butterflies returned to her stomach with vengeance making her feel sick and lonely.
"Why?" she whispered to herself, the room felt cold and empty. She should be dead, so why was she brought back? What this punishment? To be revived in the most degusting way and then to be ordered about by a man who she didn't know or even trust. Was this her punishment for dying? Her heart began beating faster as her breath became short and raspy. Flashes of everything she did until the point of the endless horizon just filled her mind. Tears began to pour from her eyes as she started to cry out, she gripped the bed sheets and threw the dossiers across the room. She screamed as the tears fell, tearing at the sheets and hitting the pillows. Pain sparked through her scars, horrible reminders of what Cerberus did to her, criss-crossing her body, over lapping ones she already had. Her body didn't feel natural; the only thing that was real was the pain.
Her head started to pound with pain behind her eyes as she could feel the blood pumping through her head. Tears drenched her cheeks as her cracked lips bled. Two years of her life was taken away and now she had to pick up the pieces. The thumping in her head numbed the sense of reality, she wanted to escape into her dream again, the one where she was being held in his strong arms while she traced the clan markings on his face. Why did she have to be punished?
"Shepard, I'm sensing a rise in heart rate and respiratory rate. Is everything alright?" EDI's blue orb shone from the far side of the room breaking Shepard out of her primal rage. She wiped her drowning cheeks and calmed her breathing.
"I'm fine EDI" she spoke flatly as she gathered her torn sheets and crossed her room to dispose the rags.
"How long until we reach Omega?" Shepard asked the blue orb.
"We should be docking in about two to three minutes Commander. I suggest putting your armour on" the blue orb vanished as Shepard looked over to her closet where her new and unfamiliar armour stood.
"Yeah…better not keep them waiting" Shepard cross her room again, its muted walls felt hollow and without feeling. Nothing was real anymore, only the pain of her scars ebbing into her skin kept her awake. As she started to strap on the complicated armour she realised that this was the first time she had truly cried, it didn't make her feel better but something had been lifted from her spirit. The only thing that remained to fix was her heart.
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Shepard stepped out of the elevator dressed in her full N7 armour painted her favourite colours of black and a deep blood red lining the trim, the clunky armour felt strange and heavy, she wondered how Ashley was used to such armour. As she fiddled with the glove while at the same time put her pistol on her hip, she was greeted by Miranda and Jacob who were ready to go. She saw that Jacob had gone for the option of light armour which she envied while Miranda went for a skin tight cat suit that showed off her curves and other womanly features. Why didn't she get something like that?
"Ready to go Commander" Jacob spoke up as they headed towards the hanger door. She had to admit she was amazed that the layout of the ship was exactly like the old Normandy, nothing seemed out of place except for everyone was in Cerberus uniforms and it was much lighter that the previous Normandy. As she neared the cockpit, Joker's chair swivelled round as he waved to her. She smiled and gave him a wave back.
"We'll be back as soon as we can Joker" Shepard announced while Miranda and Jacob strode out. Joker stuck his tongue out at them which made Shepard chuckle.
"Oh Commander, don't drink anything" Joker warned which made Shepard a little curious and cheeky.
"Speaking from personal experience there Joker?" Shepard commented as she swung herself off the wall.
"Harsh Commander" She heard Joker say as she walked out of the Hanger door.
Well the first thing that hit her was the smell, hot steam mixed with fuel cells with a hint of everyone's body sweat and stink. Shepard gave a little cough to try and get used to the smell but her eyes scanned the station, the broken walls and grubby windows didn't give her much hope that it would stay in orbit for long. As they walked down the corridor a salarien greeted them, Shepard could tell from the way he looked he was one of the small fry trying to make it big, and his grubby attire and crazed look in his eye told her that he had been under a lot of beatings.
"Heh…Welcome to Omega…Your new here aren't you, I can tell I know everyone" the Salarien stopped as another alien Shepard knew too well appeared behind him. The Batairian moved him along so that he could scurry something.
"Welcome to Omega…Shepard" he spoke with a tang of hate in his words. Shepard smiled as she swayed her hips as much as she could in the armour. Damn why didn't she have a cat suit for this mission?
"You know me?"
"We had you tagged the moment you entered this system, you're not a subtle as you think" he barked which started to annoy Shepard.
"Aria wants to know why a dead Spectre is here on Omega so get to Afterlife now" he barked again as Shepard cocked her eye brow and turned to Miranda.
"Wasn't I just there a few days ago?" she asked which received a smiled from Jacob but a stern look from Miranda; obviously she wasn't one for jokes.
"Afterlife. Now" the Batairian ordered as he marched off. Shepard followed slowly behind.
Afterlife wasn't hard to find since when she opened the door it was the first thing she saw. The big pink neon sign was also quiet a huge hint. Although inside the club was no better, she wished she had been upgraded with built in ear plugs when the volume of the music welcomed her into the club. Pink purple and yellow graced the walls while Asari girls danced the night away, the smell of booze hung so heavy in the air she thought she would get drunk just by breathing. She made her way round the club towards the VIP section of the club, she noticed Turien body guards at each point along with more body guards surrounding one lone Asari. As Shepard climbed to stairs she was met with the barrel of a gun pointing at her in her face, she looked at the holder of the weapon and saw that it was a Turien…well things just got more delicious.
"That's far enough" the Asari spoke while the others found themselves surrounded. Shepard looked at the Turien and watched his mandibles click against his mouth like he was trying to hide his mouth and stare Shepard down.
"Stand still" a Batairian ordered as he started to scan Shepard's body but she didn't move and kept her eyes connected with the Turien in front of her, he tried to stare her down but her blue eyes seemed to turn him to ice. That's right Turiens don't do well in the cold. He backed down as he knew he was out ranked and Shepard knew that his sense of honour would kick in eventually. She made a mental note to thank Garrus if she found him.
"Their clean" the guard spoke and move out of the way. Shepard torn her eyes away from the Turien and focused on the Asari in front of her. Aria was another woman who was up her own ass but she knew good information when she knew it, but Shepard had more respect for her than she did for Miranda, maybe because Aria didn't acted all high and might because she had to impress, she was all high and mighty in her own right. They talked about Mordin being the lower parts of the city trying to cure a plague that was spreading through the underbelly of Omega.
"I'm also looking for Archangel" Shepard spoke as she lent back into the couch. Aria smiled as she looked at Shepard as if she was trying to figure her out.
"You and half of Omega" she spoke calmly making Shepard's interest in the man rise.
"He thinks he's fighting on the side of good, there is no good side to Omega" Aria narrowed her eyes as if she was annoyed that Archangel taking out her rivals was a bad thing.
"Sounds like my kind of man" Shepard spoke as she got up she had already seen the recruiting area in one of private rooms below.
"Well aren't you interesting" Aria smiled. Shepard nodded and started her way down the stairs.
"You should find a young man to keep you warm at night, you look a little tense" Aria shouted as if she wanted to embarrass Shepard. But Shepard turned to her and smiled as her cold blue eyes hardened.
"I just need to find him" with that she walked off towards the recruiting station. Miranda was expressing how they should go and get Mordin first because the seeker swarm sample needed to be processed quickly, but Shepard turned to her and said that as far as they knew Mordin was safe in his clinic curing a plague and so had all the time in the world but Archangel's time was shortening with every argument. Miranda closed her mouth and followed orders like a good little girl scout; Shepard sighed and shook her head. As she approached the Merc she noticed that he was in some kind of uniform, a deep blue with an insignia she didn't recognise.
"Blue suns, Archangel must be in deep" Jacob whispered to Shepard. Shepard nodded and approached the station. They were hired almost on the spot…how desperate were they for freelancers? Along the way of a speech the found out that it was more than Blue Suns after Archangel and it seemed like every gang was pissed off with him. Eclipse and Blood Pack were other major gangs that control most of the Terminus system and they didn't do it quietly. Shepard sighed as she made her way to the transport terminal.
Along the way she tried to remember want each gang used, her memories were still messed up but what did pop out was that Blood pack were a muscle gang, mainly Krogan and Vorcha and liked to get in close in fights. Eclipse were tech experts so liked their mechs and long distance attacks. Blue Suns were new to her and so didn't know their combat abilities which now made this job a lot harder.
When they arrived they were told to look for Cathka one of the Blue Suns that was in command of the Freelancers. Gunfire sounded the other room, Shepard picked up the echo sound waves.
"He's a sniper, specialises in snipers and assault rifles, long distance combat ability" Shepard spoke aloud as if she was reading a data pad. Jacob stepped back in surprise while Miranda recorded something on her Omni-tool.
"How did you know that?" Jacob asked while Shepard shook her head and focused her eyes on her male companion.
"I listened to the bullets and how far they travel, going off what the guy said earlier, the bridge would provide some distance between each attack. He's got to work with long range weapons. Also listening to the bullets helps" Shepard walked off leaving both Miranda and Jacob stunned at just hearing echoes if bullets Shepard determined Archangel's attack method.
"I've scanned the surrounding area Shepard" EDI spoke through her ear piece making Shepard slow down and pretend she was surveying the area.
"It seems that there is no other way to get to Archangel" EDI confirmed Shepard thought on the matter.
"I guess we're going with the Mercs" Shepard spoke aloud so that Miranda and Jacob could hear.
"I have also detected several small mech and one heavy mech in the area…as well as a Gunship" EDI spoke as Shepard froze. A Gunship? They were going to use a gunship on this guy? How much did Archangel piss them off? Shepard nodded.
"Open to suggestions EDI" Shepard asked.
"I suggest trying to shut down both the heavy mech and Gunship" EDI gave her analysis through Shepard's visor. It was decided; before they met Cathka they would play a little game or recalibration of the heavy mech.
They made their way through the several room that were filled with mercs, none of the leaders wanted to talk to any of them since they were classed as Freelancers, but they did find the heavy mech near the Eclipse gang. Shepard set to work on bypassing the system and recalibrating it so that it would fire on the Eclipse gang members. Jacob and Miranda stood on watch but it wasn't needed Shepard was done in only a few seconds.
"Done" Shepard announced quietly as she exited the room.
"Good now that thing will become hostile when activated" Miranda actually sounded impressed or it could have been fake praise, Shepard couldn't tell but she could tell that Miranda was get excited about the situation. Shepard smiled to herself, maybe Miranda wasn't all bad.
They wondered into the next room looking for the Gunship. But before Shepard could fully step into the room, a Vorcha went flying across the room landing at her feet. Shepard knelt down and studied the wound.
"High impact round, heavy damage to the head, Vorcha can't regenerate…clever" Shepard was again creeping Jacob out with the way she just went into analysing bodies and bullets in such detail. Shepard stood up and looked in the general director of the bullets flight path; they were close to the bridge. Bodies of humans young and old, Vorcha, and other aliens littered the ground as the different colours of blood melded together to create a black ooze.
"You think they would collect their dead" Shepard spoke but received no answer. As they turned to head towards the largest room, hopefully the Gunship would have been in there, a shot was fired.
"Look out" one of the Freelancers called but Shepard just stood there as another Freelancer met his end. Shepard stood and looked out over the bridge from behind the makeshift barricade. As she looked at the highest point she saw a small figure looking down his scope, she felt it her eyes met his, her heart raced as she saw him cock his rifle. She saw him move about but she couldn't clearly see what he was doing, then again he looked down the scope and their eyes met again. Shepard's Chill ran through her back and down her arms, something didn't feel right.
"Shepard…come on" Miranda pulled her away from Archangel as they headed for a large ground of worried freelancers. Shepard tried to concentrate and look at the nearest man.
"Cathka?" she asked, the man pointed behind him towards the merc fixing…the gunship…great breaking this will be like a walk in the park.
"Sergeant Cathka" he spoke as he unshielded his vision to get a better look at Shepard. She felt all his eyes scan her body.
"What's your name?" he asked with a puzzled voice. Shepard froze she didn't except this, she scanned her mind for names.
"Uh…Commander…Zo…Vakarian" Shepard thinking that yeah she could pass that off.
"Huh, I thought Vakarian was a Turien name" Cathka pointed out making Shepard curse him mentally.
"Is getting married illegal now?" as folded her arms as Cathka backed off.
"Sorry…can't blame a guy" Shepard couldn't believe this she was getting flirted with, she was glad she said she was married. Although thinking of the name she picked made her blush, Zo Vakarian, she liked the sound of that…wait why was she thinking of something like that? Stupid woman.
"You going be giving us cover in that" Shepard asked trying to move the subject along.
"Me…no…Tarack doesn't pay me to fight, I just fix the Gunship. You freelancers get the pri…" suddenly the holo pinged with a message.
"Right, Bravo team go" Cathka sounded down the radio as more freelancers went towards their deaths.
"Well that means no waiting for me" Cathka went back to fixing the gun ship; Shepard looked at the sparking power tool he left on the crate. This could be her chance, either way she had to take it to improve her chances of getting out alive with Archangel. She picked up the tool and walked over to Cathka.
"You're working too hard" Shepard stuffed the tool into his back as he started to scream and foam at the mouth. Shepard took out the Navigation system of the gunship and told Miranda and Jacob to watch those freelancers.
"Archangel doesn't have much time" Miranda said as Shepard jumped over the barricade. She cracked her back and neck as she worked up her Biotics.
"Then lets give these people a surprise of our own" Shepard smiled as she sent out two singularities at once creating a vacuum in the middle of the bridge. Freelancers flew off the sides of the bridge as the other shouted for back up. Miranda took out that were going into the compound while Jacob shots at the others coming from behind. Shepard walked on ahead but suddenly her shields went down as a bullet fell to the ground, Shepard picked up the concussive round and smiled up at Archangel. Now it was personal, she stormed towards his hold out, perfect vantage point and doors were sealed off.
Some freelancers had made it inside and noticed that Shepard was closing in on them. They started shooting at her as some went through her shields but only causing minor bruising, Shepard fired her Warp that's started to rip them apart.
"Spirits this is so much fun" she thought to herself as she felt an almost blood rage flow through her body. But when she turned round she noticed Miranda and Jacob running up the stairs. They looked no worse for wear and looked like they would escape with a few bruises.
"Both of you stay here and guard the door, make sure that they don't get in" Shepard ordered as they both set up posts behind near by pillars. Shepard nodded and walked into the room and saw a fully armoured Turien crouched down behind the wall looking down the scope of his rifle. Shepard flinched at the sight of his armour; on the arm it held the crest of C-sec, the colours of blue and black made her heart skip beats. Her Chill sparked through out her entire body as her mouth quivered.
"Archangel?" Shepard asked, she watched him closely as he held up his hand to tell her to hold on. He looked down his scope as she saw a man cowering behind the nearest pillar. The man gingerly looked round the pillar only to be greeted by a bullet in the face. A hot chill ran up her spine as he watch him take out the man, why the hell was she becoming so attracted to a Turien she didn't even know?
Archangel stood up using his rifle as a support himself, Shepard watched his movements carefully, his hand reached for his helmet as he unclipped it. Shepard heart stopped as her eyes widened at the sight of Archangel's face. She could hardly breathe as a lump formed in her throat, butterflies raged in her stomach as her fingers twitched.
"Shepard…" Garrus stood in front of her, looking exhausted but he was there, it was him. Garrus was right there.
"G…Ga…Garrus" she whispered as she felt the lump grow in size. She tried to swallow it away but the more she looked at him she more it wanted to stay.
"I thought you were dead" Garrus spoke softly as he stared back at her. The feeling of when their eyes met through the scope became clear now. Shepard took a step towards him as her scars told her this was real and not a dream.
"GARRUS!" Shepard screamed as she ran towards him, she flung her arm round his neck as he opened his arm to catch her. Her body connected with such force that it sent Garrus flying to the floor, she wrapped her arms round his neck while she felt his armour rattle against hers'. She ran her finger along his neck and along his mandibles as they moved in a twitching motion, she heard him growling again, his armour digging into her as he pulled her closer to him.
"Shepard" Garrus's voice sounded as he tried to get up, but Shepard sat up on his lap and started pounding her fists against his chest.
"You shot me" she almost shouted but she couldn't help but smile as he tried to defend himself from her fists.
"Concussive rounds only Shepard" Garrus grabbed her wrists and smiled back at her.
"Yeah right" Shepard stood up helping him up in the process.
"If I wanted to do more than take out your shields, I would have done" he moved closer to her and ran his talons along her jaw and through her hair. She moved her face into his palm as he did remembering when he did it last.
"Besides you were taking your sweet time, I had to get you moving" Garrus teased as she hit his chest again with her fist. Shepard smiled up at him but then remembered…they still needed to fight their way out of three heavily armed gangs. This was going to be fun.
