Second Life
Chapter Three – Omega
As the shuttle sped to orbit to take the Matriarch and her squad of commandos to the Battlestation, Aethyta cast a final glance at the deep orange planet, and then she turned her attention to the asari tightly packed in the small craft. Everyone seemed a little nervous. Aethyta tried to break the ice. "So what are your girls' favorite drinks?"
A few commandos almost had smiles on their faces, but their squad leader's answer wiped them away. "We don't."
You don't drink or you don't know? Aethyta stopped herself before asking the question. Instead, she asked, "Where are you all from?"
"Thessia." The leader answered for everybody again, no cities or towns were offered, as if speaking gave her indigestion.
Of all the asari commandos, she had to get a stickler! Aethyta stared at Onyx remembering she was handpicked from the asari Sixth Fleet whose reputation is being serious, sober and humorless. That didn't begin to describe Onyx. Aethyta looked away again at the porthole, watching the fast approaching Battlestation in Tuchanka's orbit. She could almost see the frigate ship, the Blue Sabre, docked on the station waiting to take them to Omega. The Matriarch sighed. She could have been on Omega and found Liara by now if this had gone the way she wanted. She had Eclipse girls on Omega who owed her favors, but she knew using mercenaries on an asari official mission would have irritated both Malayne and Jamaya, and she needed to be on good terms with the Grand Matriarch and her right hand woman in these troubled times.
One of the commandos asked her stickler leader: "Onyx, why are we training on Tuchanka when our next mission is on Omega?"
The commando leader answered simply, "To prepare for war." Her face looked irritated as if she had missed the morning meal. She wasn't irritated by the question from her squad, but by this mission. I didn't come all the way here to train with Lt. Kurin to babysit some dead Matriarch's daughter! Onyx had known Lieutenant Kurin for a long time. They had served together and she'd take any job Kurin offered her. Somehow the assignment of building a force on Tuchanka for the possible Reaper invasion smelled destiny, and after centuries of services in the asari military, she knew she was destined to fight in the toughest battles the galaxy would ever see. Her face gave another uneasy expression at the thought of babysitting a Matriarch's daughter, no doubt a spoiled brat. What a waste of her squad's talent!
"And how do we know the machines will attack desert planets?" Her squad mate wasn't buying the answer. "And even if that's the case, why Tuchanka? It's a wasteland anyway. What's the point to attack it?"
The last couple of days working with the asari commandos had made Aethyta realize what the Grand Matriarch truly wanted from her. The asari weren't ready for the upcoming war, not by a long shot. These young ones had spent their entire lives in peace and they were actually the tough ones. She would need to teach them that a planet like Tuchanka was a proving ground, a place where they had to fight to survive or they would fall in the harshness of war. She would need to make them understand that they shouldn't look at Tuchanka as just another mission, but as a chisel that could sharpen their skills, their minds and their wills. And that was a job for an asari Matriarch who had actually been through wars first hand, unlike Malayne or Jamaya who had been safely tucked away during wartimes.
"Matriarch, do we know who Cerberus is?" asked Faryla, who'd been invited by Aethyta to sit next to her, as if to make up for their leader's terseness.
Aethyta had reviewed the intel, but the intel on this human organization was scattered, unorganized and unanalyzed. There was no big picture to reveal the size of the organization or who was in charge. Perhaps the asari hadn't bought everything that was available from information brokers, or perhaps that was how the organization ran, scattered and disconnected from each other, secrecy practiced to the max. In her millennia's existence in this perilous galaxy, Aethyta learned if an organization tried to hide in the shadows it had something to hide.
"Not much more than what I already gave you on your datapads." The Matriarch shook her head. "It used to be just dealing with Aria when you went to Omega. Those were simpler times."
"Aria, huh!" The asari squad leader snorted, then she quickly turned away, regretting the emotional outburst.
Aethyta was amused by the reaction from the deadpan asari, but then again she thought, why should she? They didn't know Aria the way she did. Yes, she had a history with Aria but she sure didn't intend to discuss that with a stranger, or even with a friend for that matter. The only other person who knew about her and Aria was Benezia and the secret died with her. As dark and ruthless as Aria's reputation had grown, Aethyta knew she was harmless. She was harmless to the asari government or the Council. Aria was a pirate at heart and her one and only ambition had always been Omega. As long as she had what she wanted, Aria had free rein to play royalty on her old mining rock. Even Matriarch Benezia had said once, "Thank the goddess for Omega so we don't have the dross to deal with on Thessia!" So what if Aria spilled some mercenaries' blood who fucked with her? Aethyta didn't give a damn about the vorchas.
The experienced travelers or frequent dealers knew that you could rent locker rooms by the docks on Omega. And if you paid top credits you could even get into the wing that didn't have security cameras. As the squad changed into their combat gear and readied their field packs in the locker room, Aethyta walked out to the hallway and raised Aria on her omni holo.
"Aria, I'm on your turf and I've got a squad of commandos with me." Aethyta said matter-of-factly.
"Matriarch Aethyta! Don't even want to grace us with your presence in person, huh? And commandos? When did you become a lapdog for that stuffy Matriarch bullshit government? You used to have spunk." Aria was in her usual mood.
Aethyta huffed and raised her voice a notch, "I'm no one's lapdog. I'm sure you know why I'm here."
"Oh, yes. I do." Aria said coolly.
"And you'll let this go down without lending a hand?"
"There's no profit in it for me. Why should I?" Aria kept her face expressionless, but she knew she couldn't fool her old friend.
"You should be happy that I'm not there in person, Aria! Or you'd enjoy a nice bloody head butt like the last time we saw each other." Aethyta pointed a finger at Aria's small holo.
"Oh, fine. Here's the location where the deal will go down." Aria gave a nod to someone behind her. And Aethyta saw the data coming in on her omni-tool.
"Thanks, Aria. Put that on my tab, would you?"
Aria smirked, "Yeah, right. Your tab is so long it can wrap around Omega. But I guess saving my life is worth more than that." Before she hit the call end button, Aria gave the Matriarch a warning. "Thyta, be careful. Cerberus isn't the only one in this deal. There is also… the Shadow Broker." She ended the call as soon as she finished the sentence and silently thanked the goddess that Aethyta was indeed not in the room with her.
The location Aria gave Aethyta took them to the lower parts of Omega. The deal was going to go down in a long alley with abandoned crates from the old mining days. Onyx searched the maps with Faryla and settled on two adjacent rooms in the building along the alleyway that had a full view of the spot. With the infiltrator leading the team, the squad moved into the building. The housing project built for the hired hands working in the mines had long been deserted. The building is filled with detritus, old metal bedframes rusting away and cracked photo frames dangling on dirty walls.
As soon as the commandos filed into the rooms, Onyx whispered to Aethyta. "We're being followed."
Aethyta nodded, "I know. I saw their cloaking flickered not long after we left the docks." The Matriarch didn't sound worried. "Keep the door open and let them in."
The squad leader nodded and gave her squad a hand signal to get ready for intruders. A few moments later, Onyx gave Faryla a nod. The young commando tapped on her omni-tool, and the sound of cloaking controls whined and two figures appeared in the room, exposed. The commandos immediately pointed their guns at the intruders.
"Liselle, what are you doing here?" Aethyta recognized the asari immediately. She had half expected Aria would stick her fingers in this, but sending Liselle was unexpected.
The young asari mercenary said nothing, but she lowered her gun. Aethyta gave a nod to her commandos to lower their weapons. The only person still holding his weapon in the room was the batarian who came in with Liselle.
"Any deal that goes down on Omega, Aria gets a piece." Liselle said simply in her soft voice.
"We don't know if this is going down on Omega. I doubt that Cerberus has Aria's bank account number to wire their money." Aethyta spoke unhurriedly, only spared a very brief glance at the gun the batarian was pointing at her. Keep that up blinking boy! She looked straight at Liselle waiting for an answer.
"Aria isn't interested in credits. She wants information." Liselle said softly. She knew who this Matriarch was, her mother had told her, and she even remembered vaguely about Aethyta when she was only but a baby. She didn't want to hide Aria's intentions, not to someone who had such a history with her mother, and because there was no point hiding it. That was what Aria wanted and Aria was never shy about laying out what she wanted. Her daughter learned it from the best.
Aethyta looked at her own people and said simply, "Restrain her." Four commandos each put an energy field around Liselle's extremities and effectively pinned her to the wall, but not hurting her. Aethyta walked closer and lightly patted Liselle's face. "You sure have grown up. A shame your mother didn't follow my advice. She should have gotten you out of this dump. You're still pretty though."
Seeing the asari commandos trapping his boss's daughter, the batarian straightened his pistol with a renewed determination. "Let her go!"
Aethyta turned around, "Or what? You're going to shoot? Then shoot."
The batarian didn't seem to understand the meaning of the Matriarch's words. He flicked a gaze at Liselle from the sight of his gun, hoping she'd give him some sort of signal. But before anybody had time to react, Aethyta pushed her head into the pistol the batarian was holding, "Hey, Four-Eyes, I haven't hit anybody or headbutted someone for over a week and that's a new record for me. It makes my knuckles itch and my head heavy. If you want to scratch my itch and lighten my head, then you give me your best shot."
Aethyta's threat sounded more like an invitation, and it confused the batarian even further. He first blinked his upper two eyes, but before he could blink the bottom two, Aethyta launched her strikes. Her first punch went for the batarian's gut, as he bent over from the pain, his head lowered to the perfect height for Aethyta. With a large smile on her face, Aethyta lunged her body forward and connected her forehead solidly with the batarian's face.
First came the sound of cracking when a thick skull crashed into small bones, then came a long and deep wailing from the batarian whose face was covered in blood that was dripping from his nose and mouth. He dropped his gun on the floor and held his face with both hands, crying in a nasal voice. "You broken my nose and my teeth!" He stopped and spitted out two sharp teeth.
Aethyta's big smile vanished. She grabbed the batarian's collar and enjoyed watching his face squirm. "I gave you a fair warning. It was a fair headbutt." She waited for the batarian to nod his head in an agreement, then her voice turned cold. "And tell your boss I'm in no mood to babysit her lapdogs. If she wants something, she should come to me directly. You got that?" The batarian couldn't nod his head fast enough.
The Matriarch let him go. She walked back to Liselle, and seeing a slight sense of fear in the asari's eyes, the Matriarch signaled the commandos to let her go. "Tell your mother I said hi." Aethyta gave the young asari's shoulder a squeeze, and pointed her head to the door. She wouldn't hurt Liselle, not with the history she had with Aria and certainly not when her own kid was trudging on Aria's turf doing whatever the hell she was doing. She couldn't afford to make Aria her enemy and she wouldn't even if she could.
"Movement!" Onyx warned. Everyone took their positions without further command.
Aethyta's eyes went wide at the sight of Liara. The sad and aimless Liara she saw on the Citadel had turned into a completely different person. Her movement determined and her expression unreadable, at least through the scope of the most advanced sniper rifle the asari commandos could acquire. "I need audio." The Matriarch ordered eagerly. Faryla punched a few buttons on her tool kit, a small disc shaped mic popped up from the kit and with a few more taps, the disc cloaked. Faryla waited for the Matriarch's signal, and then sent the small disc flying.
In the middle of a skyway, Liara stood straight shouldered in a medium armor with sharp bladed shoulder protectors and knee plates. Standing next to her, a drell with a long trench coat that looked oversized on him hiding unseen panoplies. His posture is equally impressive, but the drell seemed to listen to Liara's orders and watch her back. A group approached the pair without even giving the impression of an ambush. Blue Suns. They were greater in numbers and well armed and armored. A heat discussion ensued. "I want Shepard's stasis pod and you are going to give it to me if you want to keep your miserable lives." Liara threatened. Through the scope, Aethyta could see the drell reach inside of his jacket, but before he pulled a pistol out, a turian grabbed him as his gun shot out a bullet that went wide. Turning, she saw Liara in the firm grasp of two Blue Suns, and a krogan was standing in front of her making his own threats.
Aethyta whispered, "Get ready." With a wave of her hand, four snipers hit their marks at the same time, freeing both Liara and the drell. More sniper bullets rained on the Blue Suns to stop them from pursuing. When the echoes of gunfire stopped, Aethyta flapped her hand quickly to chase away the heat that came out of the high powered snipe rifles and looked straight at the youngest asari commando.
The young commando smiled, "The bug is on Liara's armor. We can track her now." Aethyta smiled back and patted the young asari's face roughly to express her satisfaction with her work.
"Now let's see where she goes next."
A/N: Next up: Commandos and Matriarchs
