Chapter 3 – A Cure for What Ails You

April 10, 2185

Captain's Quarters, Normandy SR-2

Docked on Omega

It's been a long day.

There are people who say they sleep like the dead. Coming from anyone else, it's just a saying. Coming from me, it's an experience. An experience that makes me realise what a miracle it is to wake up for the first time in a lifetime, even if it is the second.

But just because I've been dead for two years doesn't mean I've forgotten what it's like to be captain, or about the other things on my own agenda. I got up and donned my casual outfit, even though there were several more stylish outfits in the was no way I was going to wear a Cerberus logo on my clothes, even if it was branded all over my ship. I took a good look at my face in the mirror as I dressed. My face had a spiderweb of scars from the last round of cybernetic surgery, but all of the scars from my previous life were gone. I rubbed my chin, where I'd previously had a scar I'd gotten on Mindoir, hiding from the slave-taking batarian raiders who killed my parents. I also rubbed my now-intact right eyebrow, which had previously been bisected by a piece of shrapnel from an explosion on Akuze as I fought my way to escape the thresher maws.

Once I was dressed, I would have used my terminal to access the VI on the old Normandy. But EDI wasn't a VI, so I suspected there was going to be a new routine needed. I cautiously called out her name, and a blue hologram manifested next to the door. The voice the AI produced had a feminine inflection, so it was hard not to think of EDI as a she. I asked her if she could bring up the following on my terminal: the watch report, specs on the new Normandy, a crew manifest, and the dossiers the Illusive Man had mentioned. EDI's hologram didn't shift, but less than a second later the files were displayed on the private terminal on my desk, and she asked me if there was anything else she could do for me. I told her no, and her hologram vanished, leaving me alone once again.

I gave the watch report a cursory glance, but there was nothing of interest, not that I had expected anything. I spent a longer time looking over the specs EDI had provided on the Normandy. As I had suspected before, Cerberus had definitely used the original blueprints as a guide only. The new Normandy was nearly double the mass of the original, and the engine array was more fixed than the mobile vent arms of the original. The main weapons were still the same, between the main hull and engine mounts, but there was a section on the crew deck that could accommodate much larger, almost cruiser-class weapons. The stealth systems technology had been copied and scaled to the size of the new ship, and could handle about the same time in stealth mode as the old Normandy. I knew it wouldn't stand up to the Collectors though, who had managed to find the original even in stealth mode. The drive core was still disproportionately large for a vessel of this size, but that was never a bad thing in my books.

After I was satisfied with the ship specs, I took a look at the crew manifest. It was a smaller list than I had expected, probably because it didn't have the small garrison the Alliance had on warships. There was a list of crew specialists, engineers, gunners, support crew, and I was impressed at some of their shortlisted credentials, many of them being ex-Alliance or security. But there was one name on the list that stood out from all the others: Dr Chakwas. I was surprised to see her name on the list, but I'll admit it was good to see there. Finally, aside from Joker, there was someone I could trust, someone on my side. I made a mental note to go and get a check-up from her before I went groundside on Omega.

After the crew, I looked at the dossiers the Illusive Man had sent to me, specialists that apparently would be extremely helpful on my mission, the best of the best in the galaxy. So far there were only five and I raised my eyebrow, but then I remembered that I took down Saren and Sovereign with a team of five, and I reserved judgement. The top of the list was Mordin Solus, a salarian professor and former STG operative. I'd worked with the STG on Virmire, and was impressed with them, so I approved of his choice. The next was Zaeed Massani, a human mercenary so infamous even I had heard of him. He'd been the bane of criminals in the Terminus for over twenty years, and had participated in some of the most brutal and bloody operations spoken about in seedy bars and cantinas. The last on the list from Omega was someone known only as Archangel. The dossier was surprisingly empty compared to the previous two, not even a species, just a list of raids against organised mercenary groups on Omega, all of them well planned and executed and with an impressive body count.

The next dossier was labelled 'Subject Zero.' Inside was just a first name, Jack, no picture, and details on where to meet the prison ship Purgatory where she was currently in custody. Apparently all arrangement had been made for a smooth transfer of her custody from them to me. I read what little there was in the bio, and was both impressed and a little apprehensive. Jack apparently was one of the most powerful human biotics ever recorded, but was also a psychopath. I wasn't entirely sure I wanted her on my ship, or in fact in the same system. The last dossier was for a krogan warlord named Okeer. He was some sort of scientist and a very old krogan, old enough to have fought during the Rebellions. He apparently had suspected dealings with the Collectors, so may have intelligence on them we could use. I remembered what it was like to have Wrex on the team and smiled. A krogan on my side was never a bad thing to have.

I closed all the open files and went downstairs to talk with the first person on my list for today: Kelly Chambers, the yeoman. I exited the elevator to find her at her post, just to the side of the galaxy map platform. I went and tapped her on the arm and she smartly turned around, giving me a wide smile. She introduced herself, and asked me if I had any questions for her. I asked her about her duties on the ship, and she cheerily replied that she was here to monitor the ship and the crew, and would inform me of anything that required my attention. I questioned her about monitoring the crew, and she replied that unofficially, she was also a qualified psychologist, and was there to keep an eye on the mental wellbeing of the crew. I was impressed, and asked her if there was anything that needed my attention. She told me that Joker wanted to see me on the flight deck, so I thanked her and then left.

I walked up the deck to where Joker was waiting. Once I was there, he turned around, a huge smile on his face. He seemed over the moon about being back on the Normandy, bigger and better than ever, with leather seats. EDI's hologram came up and told him that seamless improvements had been made during the construction of the SR-2. Joker's face immediately dropped, and he mentioned something about the bad news, and made a comment comparing EDI to 'ship cancer.' I told him this ship was just a copy, that nothing here was even a part of the original. He replied that there was the two of us, and I had to agree. He said that having the new Normandy was great because the last two years of being grounded sucked for him. Apparently for him, as long as he could fly, the AI could spy all it wanted because it couldn't get any worse than that. I hoped it wouldn't, because I died last time. He just chuckled and called me a downer, before swivelling around to face his controls. I just rolled my eyes and made my way to the elevator, pressing the button for the crew deck below.

I opened the door to find a familiar layout to the old Normandy. To the sides there were observation decks, and behind me were the mess and sleeper pods. Where the captain's quarters had been on the SR-1, there was still an office, this time for the XO, Miranda. I didn't feel like talking to her after yesterday's comments, so instead I went and talked to Mess Sergeant Gardner. He struck me instantly as a hardworking, yet under-appreciated man. I heard comments from Hawthorne despairing of his cooking, but he just took it and said it was hard to make decent meals using military provisions. He told me that aside from cooking, he also was the ship's maintainer, from fixing minor electrical faults to cleaning. I raised a small concern about him cleaning toilets and cooking meals and he just replied stoically that this was a Cerberus vessel, and that you had to pull your weight; he just caught everything that fell through the cracks. He chuckled at his own bad joke, and just I rolled my eyes. I asked him if there was anything he needed, and he said yes. The provisions he had weren't good enough to make decent meals, which was something this crew should have, given the mission they were on. I asked him for a list of things and he was reluctant, saying I had better things to do. I told him that the crew was just as important as I was, so he handed me a list, saying most if this stuff was common on the Citadel. I thanked him, and told him if we ever headed out that way, I'd look into it. He gave me a salute, and then went back to work.

I walked away and then went towards the medbay. I opened the door and there she was, back to the door. I walked in and the door closed behind me, which got her attention. She turned around and looked at me, a small smile coming to her face. She seemed very happy to see me alive, but her voice was a little sadder than it seemed when I used to know her. I told her about my surprise to see her here, on a Cerberus vessel. She responded that she was just as surprised, but here we both were. I asked her how this medbay compared to the one on the SR-1. She said it was similar in terms of equipment and medical supplies, but there was something missing: her 'private reserves.' She said she had even had an unopened bottle of Serrice Ice brandy, so I said I'd keep an eye out for a replacement. I just couldn't hold back my curiosity any longer, so I asked her what she was doing here, how she had gotten here.

She told me that after the Normandy's destruction, she had been reassigned to Mars Naval Medical Centre. I was impressed, Mars was a highly sought-after posting. But she said it didn't compare to life in space, the feel of a ship beneath your feet. Life planetside was too static, too boring apparently. I asked her what she thought about working for Cerberus and she firmly replied that she wasn't working for Cerberus; she was working for me. She told me that whatever else, she trusted me to do the right thing. That meant a lot to me, knowing she was there for me and not because she believed in Cerberus. I asked her about her honest opinion on the odds for this mission. She replied simply that she'd lived through the reclaiming of Shanxi, the Skyllian Blitz, the Battle of the Citadel and the destruction of the Normandy. I was impressed, I didn't know she'd been part of the First Contact War. She had a full life, and she just wanted to make sure the crew had the same opportunity.

I asked her for one last thing before I left: I asked her to take a good look at me, at my new body. She agreed, told me to step over to one of the beds and then pressed a button, turning all the windows opaque. She put on some gloves and took out a penlight, and then moved in front of me. She started with the standard iris tests, and then moved on to look at my mouth, ears, and nose. She looked at my faintly glowing scars, frowning a bit, before telling me to undress. I'd been naked in front of her before, but this time felt different somehow. I took off my clothes and stood up in front of her. She drew a little blood and put it in the processor, before coming back to me. She laid me down on the bed and looked at me, at the same network of scars covering my entire body. Then she turned on the medical scanner to give me a complete workup. She told me I could get dressed again and turned around while I did. When I was fully clothed she turned off the opacity on the windows and told me to sit down. She then turned and looked at me, an odd look on her face. I asked her how I was. She gave me a small smile and simply said I was in good shape for a corpse. She then told me that my body was the peak of physical condition, and that I was slightly faster, stronger and more resilient physically than any human had a right to be. She also told me that I was as stubborn as a mule in her opinion, because most people would have taken the news of their reamination rather badly. I asked her if there was any sort of control implant or suicide device implanted. She told me that there was none that she could find, but with all the synthetic parts I now had installed, it would be impossible to be sure. I thanked her anyway, even though I wasn't completely put at ease by her news. Before I left, she said something else. She told me that the scars on my face, and everywhere else, hadn't had time to fully heal before I was woken up. She said that if I kept a positive attitude, that they would heal by themselves, though if I stayed angry or stressed for prolonged periods healing would take longer, and potentially make it worse. She told me that if I was concerned, there was an upgrade I could purchase to the medical bay, but she would leave that decision up to me. I gave her a smile and a nod, and then left, one more stop to make on my schedule.

I went down to the engineering deck to meet the engineers. They both saluted when I approached them, which I marked mentally. Very few of the crew I had met on this ship so far had saluted, and the ones that had invariably were ex-Alliance, like Jacob. Frankly, Ken seemed stoked that I had come down to visit them. I just told him I was down here getting to know the crew. Ken told me he was responsible for the power control systems, and Gabby was in charge of propulsion. I asked them where they had received their training, and they said they had both served on the SSV Perguia, a cruiser that saw action at the Battle of the Citadel. I asked them how they went from there to Cerberus, and Ken said that after I died, the Council discounted the Reaper threat and the Alliance soon followed. Only Cerberus was interested in thwarting the Reapers, and so when Ken was asked to join then, they both joined. I could understand that, as they both worked well together, and knew the Normandy SR-2 well. I asked them if there was anything they needed. Ken began to complain using words that I had never before considered using in a complaint, before Gabby cut him off. It was obvious she was more experienced in talking to layman such as me, who didn't understand complex ship engineering. Ken then said that the FBA arrays could use a different part, and then started boring me with tech I didn't understand. Gabby stopped him again, saying that it wasn't a performance issue, but a maintenance one. If they had the array they wanted, they'd only have to calibrate once a week instead of everyday. Ken then said something about how it might be hard to find, since Nashan Stellar Dynamics had discontinued the T6 line. Gabby said we might find a good one second-hand in the Omega's salvage yards, so I said I'd keep an eye out. As I left, I could swear I heard Ken saying again how amazed he was I came down, and Gabby just smugly told him she told him so.

After that I went back up and asked Gardner for some breakfast. Hawthorne was just leaving and jokingly warned me if I had an anti-poison implant. I just shrugged the comment off and waited. Gardner cooked up something, nothing particularly special by the look of it, and served it to me. He was right, military provisions didn't make for a great meal. But after having been dead for longer than anyone has a right to be, any food tasted good. I ate it with a smile on my face, thanked Gardner, all to Hawthorne's surprise, and then went back to my cabin. I opened a comm. channel to Joker, telling him to bring us in to dock. He acknowledged, giving me a 20 minute ETA. I closed the channel and told EDI to tell Jacob and Miranda to be dressed and armed for ground missions by then. I walked up to my locker and stepped out of my clothes and into my underwear. I know it's standard in the Alliance to wear a set of clothes under armour, but I liked to wear less, it was more comfortable. So I suited up, and then stopped by the armoury to pick up my weapons, meeting Jacob on the way. He pulled out his pistol and shotgun, checking them and attaching them before heading towards the airlock, Miranda stepping through the same door coming in. I pulled out my shotgun as she pulled out her pistol and SMG, giving me a hard look, and then exiting, leaving me alone as I checked my grenade launcher and slung it onto my armour.

I stepped into the airlock with Miranda and Jacob and waited while EDI ran the protocols. Miranda noted that we should be rendezvousing with Zaeed near where we disembarking. I was about to comment on that when the doors opened and I got my first taste of Omega. I almost threw up right there, and the thought immediately after that was wondering why I didn't wear my sealed helmet. But after a few breaths my nose simply decided to give up and shut down, and I started breathing through my mouth. Jacob and Miranda seemed similarly disgusted by the taste of the air, but they both swallowed it down like I did. I stepped out and down quickly, Jacob and Miranda a step behind me. I have to say, seeing Omega wasn't much better than smelling it. It was rusty brown and black everywhere, exposed pipes leaking oily black fluids all over the place. This station was centuries old, and it looked every year of it. I couldn't wait to just get back to the ship and take a long shower, with plenty of soap.

I hadn't got more than a few steps before we were stopped by a salarian who looked like he was high. I was getting really irritated at him, but thankfully before he went too far, a muscly and armoured batarian shoved him out of the way. The salarian obviously knew better than to argue, so he left. The batarian just looked at me inscrutably and then simply said 'Welcome to Omega, Shepard.' I'll admit, I was a little offput that this alien I had never met, and didn't know I was coming, knew my name. I asked how he knew who I was and he replied that my ship and I had been tagged as soon as I had entered the Terminus. Apparently, a dead Spectre isn't subtle. He then practically ordered me to go and meet 'Aria' at a club called Afterlife. I told him just as firmly that I'd go when I was ready. His upper set of eyes never left mine, but his lower set looked at my armour, weapons and companions. He then said in a firm, but less threatening manner then before that nobody kept Aria waiting, before leaving. I gave Miranda and Jacob a quizzical look, but neither of them had anything to add. So we continued onward. EDI contacted me over the radio, saying that there was some kind of plague in the slums near Mordin's clinic, and that Aria may have more information. If the AI was saying Aria was an important person to talk to, I was swayed more by that argument than a thug batarian.

We walked a little further when the three of us came across a scene that probably was commonplace in Omega: one guy in armour beating the crap out of another. In this case, a human man in unique yellow armour beating a batarian. He kneed the batarian in the stomach and he doubled over. He pleaded with the armoured man, but he was told to shut up. I was about to walk past when something caught my eye: a tattoo on the side of the armoured man's neck. It took me a second to recognise it as the same tattoo I saw in a picture recently, in a dossier. That's when I recognised the tattoo as belonging to someone we were meant to meet. I walked up to him and called out his name: Zaeed Massani.

He turned around and I got my first look at a face even more scarred and terrifying than mine. The right side of his face had a long scar from possible surgery, and his right eye was a distinctly different colour to his left, which I remembered from his dossier, was his natural colour. He looked at me and said he was, and that I must be Shepard. I was starting to wonder if everyone in the galaxy knew I was coming for them. I asked him if he'd been briefed, and he told me the Illusive Man had told him everything he needed to know. I pointed at the batarian still curled up on the deck and told him I was expecting one man, not two. Zaeed just said he was a deliquent who pissed off the wrong people, enough for someone to pay him his 'bring 'em in alive' rates, which were steep. He's apparently given Zaeed a good chase, but he made one stupid mistake in coming to Omega. He calmly said he was just going to turn him in for the bounty.

I asked him why he was doing this job, since he didn't seem the type to do a job for the good of it. He just replied that Cerberus was paying him, and paying him well. I wasn't about to look a gift mercenary in the mouth, so I told him to meet us on the Normandy once he'd turned in his bounty. He said thanks, and asked if the Illusive Man had told me about his deal. I replied that it must have slipped his mind. Like a lot of things, I thought to myself. I asked him for the details. He asked if I'd heard of Vido Santiago, and I shook my head. He continued that Vido runs the Blue Suns, and that he'd captured an Eldfell-Ashland Energy facility on Zorya and was using the workers for slave labour. I almost pictured this guy with four eyes the way Zaeed described him. Apparently EAE hadn't taken kindly when they had found out, so they had hired Zaeed just before Cerberus. I told him I'd get it done.

Our nice little chat seemed to have given our batarian friend some courage and delusions he could run away fast enough. Zaeed just took one step to the side, pulled out his pistol and shot from the hip, straight through the running idiot's thigh. Zaeed just sighed at the stupidity of the batarian, and I was right there with him. I guess that even species difference doesn't change the nature of stupidity. He just walked over and picked him up roughly, telling me that he was going to turn him in before he began to stink, and that he'd be locked and loaded whenever I wanted to get some killing done. I liked his attitude, but right now I had other things to do. He went off in the direction of the bounty office, and Miranda pointed out which way to Afterlife.

We walked out of the walkways and I suddenly didn't need Miranda to point the way anymore. Dominating the view was a gigantic screen showing a very suggestively dressed asari dancer moving against a flaming background, the word Afterlife pasted underneath. There was a line in front of the door, and the several armed bouncers. Apparently Afterlife was the destination on Omega. I walked right passed the line, drawing some verbal abuse from a human at the front of the line who was being stopped by an elcor bouncer. I walked up to the batarian doorman, who turned out to be the same man who tried to threaten me before. He just gave me a look and told me to talk to Aria again, before opening the door.

Beyond the door was a very interesting hallway, if you're into flames. It made me think about the path into hell. The three of us kept going until a batarian and two flunkies decided to test their luck. They got up and in my face, daring me to make trouble. I wasn't feeling in the mood for it, so I pulled out my gun and shoved it in his face. He suddenly got a lot less confident. He told me he wasn't looking for trouble, and I told him to get lost before I found him some. He took my advice, and he and stupid number one left in a hurry. Stupid number two tried a macho move, pulling his thumb across his neck and then pointing to me. I just gave him a good look at the wrong end of my gun and he high-tailed it. I really hated the way batarians thought humans were intimidated just because they had four eyes and pointy teeth. I just kept going, slinging my gun back into place.

My first impression of Afterlife was how similar it felt to Chora's Den on the Citadel, before it got shut down thanks to me. Bars and intoxication, drug use, and lots of asari dancers wearing outfits that revealed more than they hid, with lots of eyes watching them lecherously. There was what looked like a viewing platform at the back, with guards at either set of stairs, so it was a safe bet Aria was up there. I walked around the central platform by the bar, when my eye caught something. In the cabinet was a bottle of Serrice Ice brandy, its bright blue glow standing out against the orange light of the club. I walked up to the bartender and asked him how much for the bottle. He gave me a pricey figure, but I could afford it. I told him to have it sent to the Normandy, and gave him a generous tip to make sure it actually got there. Satisfied with one task complete, I walked up to one of the stairways.

The guard was a batarian, and openly held an assault rifle across his chest. He was obviously expecting me, because he just gave me a nod and then looked back out at the crowd. I took the signal and went up, finding a violet-coloured asari looking out over the club, with a lot of armed batarians and turians standing guard. Once I was far enough Aria said stop, and a lot of guns were put in my face. I pulled out my own and pointed it at the nearest thug, and by the sounds of it, so did Miranda and Jacob. She turned her head so she could see just a little of the situation behind her. Apparently, something amused her, because she gave a small nod and the guns were put away. One of the batarians then pulled up something on his omni-tool, some kind of scanner. I told him to put that away pretty quickly, or else he'd be using it from inside his colon. Aria seemed to find that amusing as well, but her tone of voice quickly became hard as she told me that if I wanted to talk to her, I got scanned. I held my tongue and let him scan me, and when he said that I was clean, I was allowed to come closer. I told her that she could have asked me first, and she said sharply that she didn't ask.

I asked her the first obvious question, since I'd been told to come straight to her. She replied with a dramatic gesture that she didn't rule Omega, but she was Omega. Everyone apparently needed something, and they all came to Aria to get it. But there was only one rule on Omega, and that was don't fuck with Aria. I told her I had a similar rule, and she shot back that on my ship that would matter, but on Omega, it was all about her. I took a seat when she offered and asked her why she seemed so indifferent towards me. She replied matter-of-factly that my death had been downplayed, but it was hardly secret. Apparently I could have been anyone, so she had to be sure.

After the formalities, if you want to call it that, I asked her about Mordin. She told me that he'd set up a clinic in one of the slums, but that it was under quarantine, there was some kind of plague there. Then she laughed, and told me that Mordin was interesting, as likely to heal you as shoot you, and trained in the salarian special forces. She said he was brilliant and dangerous, but apparently was annoyingly talkative. She then turned away, signalling that her generous time was apparently exhausted for me. I left, and she just wished me luck.

I left Afterlife without incidence this time, and followed the directions given to me by one of Aria's men to get to the quarantine zone. On the way I passed by a batarian that had obviously taken the old school approach to evangelism: stand on a box and shout at everyone. He had obviously taken the batarian grudge against humanity one step further, and was blaming all the galaxy's problems on us. I'd seen it once before, a guy called Balak hijacked an asteroid and tried to crash it into Terra Nova. Talk about taking a grudge too far, the Citadel Conventions bans asteroid drops on garden worlds. But I guess that only works if everyone plays by the same rules. One of the hardest choices I ever made in my career was to let that monster walk free, but at least I killed every batarian I could before I got to him. I resisted the urge to punch the preacher in the face and kept walking, following the instructions I'd been given until I came across a woman shouting at a turian.

The turian was holding an assault rifle, and he was pretty adamant that he was not letting this girl in. Fortunately for him, I didn't have to add his to the inevitable body count I was going to make today, as he was pretty cooperative once he saw my gun. Apparently, I'd need them, since the Blue Suns weren't happy in there, between the plague and the vorcha. Aria had ordered him and a few other guards futher along that no-one goes in or out until the plague or the mercenaries had killed everyone, and then they were supposed to clean up what's left. I told him to take a good hard look at me. I was on a mission, and anyone who tried to stop me was going to get shot, probably in a place that would be extremely painful before you died very slowly. He got the idea, and waved me through. The girl took outrage to this particular action, and asked why I was allowed past and she wasn't. The turian just gave her a sarcastic look and told her that I had a grenade launcher, she didn't.

I took the elevator the turian was blocking down to the Gozu district, and found a few more turians on guard there. The streets were mostly empty, but there was a dead turian wearing Blue Suns armour. He didn't have any bullet holes in him though, must have been the plague everyone was talking about. The turian guards stopped each other shooting me, but warned me that Blue Suns and the vorcha were having a massive turf war over what was left of the district and shooting everything not wearing their colours. I told them that I wasn't worried, and stroked my shotgun lovingly to emphasise the point.

I walked down a few streets, following a map EDI had managed to find. I turned one corner and found a couple of Blue Suns mercenaries talking to each other. It seemed like it would be fine, until one looked over his partner's shoulder and pointed right at me. I just pulled up my arms and charged into him, sending both of them flying. I used the time they were down to bring up my shotgun, blasting the first mercenary through the chest. The second guy managed to get a hold of his gun and sent a few shots into my personal biotic barrier, before I blasted him too. I just sighed and gripped my gun tighter. It looked like it was just going to be one of those days.

I smelled something unpleasant coming from up ahead, a smell I'd hoped never to experience again – burning flesh. But it wasn't human, at least not completely. A turn around the corner confirmed what my nose had told me, as I found a pile of burning corpses. Miranda pointed out that they had apparently tried to burn the bodies to control the spread, but it obviously wasn't working. Jacob just said he wanted to get away from the smell, it reminded him too much of Eden Prime. I hadn't been aware that Jacob had served on Eden Prime, but this wasn't the time for conversation. I sniffed the air again and found a new smell, fresh decomposition. I followed it to a door with burned circuits. I used my omni-tool to bypass the affected circuits, and I opened the door to find two dead turians. One was apparently a plague victim, and the other's claws were worn down and had obviously been bleeding. I turned around to find claw marks all over the door. Miranda noted that he had tried to claw his way out, and had been sealed in from the other side. Jacob just said that no-one wanted to die trapped like an animal, I just nodded and moved out.

We walked past the corpse fire following the map we had, and came across a dying batarian. He cursed me as the cause of the plague that was obviously killing him, and spat something about not having the decency to wait until he died before we robbed him. I tried to approach him to help, and he used what little strength he had left to push a pistol into my face. If the guy didn't want help, I wasn't about to try and force it on him. So I asked him where Mordin's clinic was, and he cursed that too, and hoped that the vorcha would burn it to the ground, and all the humans with it. Then he started coughing and spitting up blood. I tried to get some medi-gel for him, but I wasn't fast enough and he died right there. I won't say I felt sorry for him.

We kept going, and after a little while we came across some humans holed up inside an apartment. They were relieved that we were human, as the Blue Suns had been indiscriminately killing humans for a while now. I asked them about the plague, and they said it had started two weeks ago. It became quickly apparent that whatever it was killed and spread fast, but didn't affect humans at all, which pointed to a designed bioweapon rather than anything natural. The woman said that the vorcha may have been immune, but they weren't smart enough to create something like this plague. Vorcha had moved in swiftly, but the Suns still had a lot of firepower on their side. I asked about Mordin's clinic, and the man was swift to say he wasn't keen to go there. He was also pretty cynical about Mordin, saying anyone with a cure and military-grade mechs wouldn't give refuge and medical care for free, not on Omega. He'd also killed vorcha and Blue Suns who tried to intimidate him, but he did it himself, not with his mechs. I told them it wasn't safe here, but they weren't going to risk their lives on a rumour of sanctuary. I told them that I was heading to the clinic, and that I'd do what I could to leave them a safe path. They seemed swayed enough, so said they'd wait about an hour, and then head to the clinic.

I kept going, blasting away any mercs or vorcha stupid enough to get in my way and shoot at me. At one point we came across some vorcha battling it out with Blue Suns turians. I was fine to just let them shoot each other and mop up the survivors still shooting. Let me tell you, I got tired of vorcha pretty quick, their damn biology meant that they regenerated any wounds to the point where headshots were the only way to really kill them.

We finally killed off the final vorcha in the area, only to have my suit sensors picking up heat and movement consistent with bodies. I opened the door, and found a couple of humans and a dead turian. They told me to back off, probably assuming I was a looter. They took one look at my guns and were quick to point out that the turian had died from the plague, and that they were simply 'taking an accounting of his worldly possessions.' I responded that it was pretty low to steal from the dead, and they cynically said that he wasn't going to need them anymore. I told them a little harder to stop, and he asked if I was going to shoot him. I said no, but the Blue Suns probably wouldn't like it if they found some dead turian's trinkets and a handful of credits in their hands. I asked them if that was worth dying over. They agreed that it probably wasn't, and then said they'd stop. I gave them a disbelieving eye, and they swore they were being honest this time. I left then, leaving them to their fate.

It was a really short walk to the clinic from there, and I found it staffed in the normal reception area by mechs and a man with an assault rifle. He waved me through, and I went in. Inside I found a range of batarians, salarians and turians with some human refugees. One of the receptionists told me Mordin was in the back with a patient when I asked. I walked back there and I'll admit, my first impression was not the one I had been expecting. From everything people had said about him, I had expected everything but what I found. Mordin was treating a turian when I walked in, and talking a mile and minute while doing it. It seemed that he had no inner monologue, that he just blurted out each thought as it came to him in order, and from the speed of his speech, he thought pretty fast.

He noticed us after a few seconds, and then quickly scanned me. He them began rambling, something about how I was armoured and armed, and what was down here that anyone could possibly want to send in someone like me for. I told him to calm down, told him I was on an important mission and I could really use his help. He said it was impossible; the plague had him too busy. He wondered who could possibly have sent me. I didn't know how much he knew, but Cerberus wasn't exactly number one on the galaxy's Christmas card list.

So I told him I was working with a privately funded human group. He quickly, and verbally, speculated that we were well armed, but not Alliance, since we were in the Terminus; Spectres aren't human, and that Terra Firma is too unstable, leaving only one option: I was working for Cerberus. To tell the truth, I could barely follow the speed of his logic, but the fact he came to a correct conclusion was pretty remarkable. I asked him how he knew about Cerberus and he merely shrugged it off as unimportant compared to the plague. Though he wondered what mission could possibly have Cerberus seeking salarian aid? I replied that the Collectors had been abducting human colonies, and I was trying to stop them. He responded with an action that could, on a human, have been a curious eyebrow raise. According to him, this plague had been designed: it's near-perfect cross-species mortality and the fact that it didn't affect humans both pointed to it, and the Collectors are one of the few who possess the technology to make such a bioweapon.

He continued that he had developed a cure already, but he needed a way to distribute it. He would do it himself, but he was too busy with patients here at the clinic. He warned me that there were a lot of vorcha out there, and that I'd need to kill them to get to the distribution centre. I just cracked my knuckles and told him that I'd deal with it. It was right about then that the air circulation system shut down. I figured we had about one hour, maybe two, before we all suffocated. Mordin looked like he probably knew down to the second. He quickly handed me a vial, which I placed in a secure pocket in my armour. He then handed me a pistol, a Devlon Industries one by the look of it. I nodded appreciatively, Devlon made good pistols, and when he told me that he had taken it off a dead merc, and I gave a little smile. I moved to go and he told me one more thing, that his assistant was missing. I said I'd keep an eye out, but I wasn't going to make it a priority. He looked a little odd, I wasn't sure what exactly he was trying to show, perhaps concern? Salarian faces weren't something I had a lot of experience in. He said that his assistant was naïve, and he'd told him not to go. He was smart, and had a bright future ahead of him, or so Mordin hoped.

I headed out then, Miranda and Jacob close behind. Like Mordin had warned us, there were a lot of vorcha between the environmental controls and us. Thankfully they weren't particularly tactic savvy or tough, otherwise we'd have been cutting it close for time. But these ones obviously knew the air controls were important, and had kept the best weapons close. We came across some pyros with nasty-looking flamethrowers, when Miranda had an idea. She used her omni-tool to send an electrical overload on the pyro. I won't say vorcha are pretty, but they looked a lot better when they exploded.

We were headed down a corridor about 10 minutes after leaving Mordin's when I heard voices nearby: human and batarian. I turned and followed the sounds to find a human and three batarians threatening him, saying something about spreading the plague. I surmised that this was Daniel, Mordin's assistant. I quietly moved closer, my gun at the ready, then broke into a run after I heard one saying something about shooting Daniel to make him talk. I got into the open and had my weapon up just as one of the batarians had a pistol in his face, one of his friends pointing a shotgun in my direction. I told them to let him go, that Daniel isn't to blame, and asked them what kind of sense it would make to come into vorcha territory to spread a plague? They agreed it wasn't, and put down their weapons. The batarian asked me if I was going to let them go, since I still had my gun raised. I honestly thought about shooting them, but I didn't feel like they deserved it, so I let them go. The batarian seemed bemused, muttering something about the discovery of human nobility.

I probably didn't have a lot of time to chat, but Daniel obviously needed a whack on the ear for being so stupid. He seemed every bit like Mordin's albeit brief description: smart, but not particularly clever. I thought about telling him a lot of ways in which what he did was stupid, but I let them go, he needed to learn at some point what the real world was like, and this was as good experience as any. He thanked me timidly, obviously not used to seeing someone ready for combat. I told him to go back and help Mordin, he needed it. He replied that he owed me everything, so he wasn't going to disobey me like he had Mordin.

Not long after that, we finally made it to the environmental controls. A vorcha who apparently was the leader of this genius-level stunt started shouting at us. Something about how we had the cure, and that wasn't going to happen. He said they planned to destroy the air fans, letting everyone in the district die so the Collectors would make them strong. The moron obviously didn't realise that he was breathing air as well, and his little plan would involve him dying like the rest of us. He shouted something else about the Collectors wanting to spread the plague, and that he would kill us. I'd had enough at this point, and I did something I once had Ashley tell me: put a hypervelocity slug through his skull.

EDI came in over the radio as we variously shot, pulled, pushed and exploded vorcha, telling us the sequence we would need to re-initialise the system with the cure. We would need to inject the cure into the control, and then restart both fan arrays separately. We fought our way to the controls, dodging bullets, flames and rockets along the way. I pulled the vial out of the pocket I stowed it in and threw it to Miranda, who used her biotics to pull it safely towards her. I shouted at her to inject it into the controls and set it to auto-replicate, before turning around and using the doorframe for cover, using my SMG to create some suppressing fire for her. After a few seconds I felt Miranda at my side, a subtle change in the local space-time as she sent a warp field at a vorcha hiding on one of the raised walkways.

We fought our way down to one of the arrays and turned it on. Wherever the fans were was close, because the wind strength as we walked outside was intense. I could just about literally lean into the wind. This did add a whole new layer to our tactics though, as all we needed to do was create a little lift using biotics and the wind would blow our enemies to their death. Once the second array was activated, the vorcha seemed to get it into their skulls they had lost, and retreated.

We had a long walk back to the clinic, which gave me a little time to think. There was something that the 'leader', if you want to call him that, had said that I had filed away. He had said the Collectors had wanted the plague. I added that to the fact that I knew that the Collectors were harvesting human colonies. Maybe this was just a test run for the plague. Omega was a major trading hub for the whole Terminus, everyone with a ship eventually came here. Add that to the fact the Omega didn't have anything even resembling a government, and no-one would investigate a plague further than seeing if it was over. Aria's concern didn't even come that far. If this was just a test, then that could potentially be bad news. So far the Collectors had targeted human-only colonies. But once that supply was exhausted, they would have to go for larger colonies, ones that had permanent non-human presences. Veetor had shown that whatever the Collectors used, it wasn't calibrated to target quarians, and potentially anything else non-human. In cases like that, sending this plague in first would definitely get rid of alien presence, or at least reduce it significantly so they could come in and take the humans again.

It was a worrying thought, but I was obviously thinking more deeply than I realised, as soon I was back in the clinic. Both Mordin and Daniel thanked me, Mordin rambling like before about how the viral levels in the air were dropping, patients were getting better, vorcha were retreating. Daniel gave me a look of embarrassed thanks, and asked me if I had planned to kill the batarians. I told him honestly I was tempted, but they didn't deserve it today. I privately thought that my body count was already high enough for today, but didn't voice it. Mordin just said he wouldn't have taken the chance and killed them before they had a chance to react. Daniel went white, and then red with anger, shouting at Mordin that he was a doctor, he was supposed to help people. Mordin just replied that he wasn't a doctor, he was a realist. Helping people doesn't just mean finding cures, it sometimes meant killing dangerous people. Daniel just left the room, a stern expression on his face.

Mordin just watched him, silently for once, a calculating expression on his face, or so I thought. He turned around and told me he was a good kid, a bit naïve, but life would teach him. He was leaving him the clinic, he would be able to deal with any after-effects patients would feel. I asked him if he would join us, now that the plague was cured. He gave me what must have been a conspiratorial smile as he said that working with Cerberus was unexpected, and that there would obviously be many surprises ahead. He said he still had a few things left to clear up, and that he'd meet us on the Normandy in a few hours. I nodded and left, heading on the long walk back to the elevator. I holstered my weapon, hoping I wouldn't need to use it again today, and really wanting a drink.

30 minutes later found me back in Afterlife, being served a drink by a batarian. He wasn't my first choice of bartender, but he was fast enough. I downed the disgustingly weak drink in a single go, and it wasn't long before the world went black. I don't know how long I was out, but I woke up looking at the wrong end of a vorcha, one of the more sobering sights in the galaxy I imagine. Jacob was nearby, and I asked him what happened. A human I hadn't met before told me I'd been poisoned by the batarian behind the bar, and as far as he knew, the only one to survive it. I knew there was a reason I generally disliked batarians, and this one was going to learn what happened when you pissed me off.

I walked back towards the bar when something caught my eye. I took a step back and looked at what had gotten my attention: a kiosk with a T6-FBA array listed. I walked up to it and punched up the specs: it had only been in one ship, hardly used, before the ship hit a small asteroid. I looked at the price and it was way too high compared to its actual value. I called out to the owner, since it looked like a small place, and was greeted by the sight of a young quarian obviously on Pilgrimage. I asked him about the price and he said that first day on Omega, his money was stolen. He'd been forced to sell his salvage at a higher price than Harrot the elcor, but it was costing him. I could see he was obviously struggling, and would be here for a long time at his current rate. Anywhere was better than Omega for someone with his talents. I offered to pay his way off Omega, but he said it was 1000 credits. I gave him the money, telling him that if he wanted to thank me, take the T6 array to the Normandy on his way out. I paid him for the parts as well, and watched him pack his meagre belongings and the array and leave, a smile obvious even under his faceplate.

Then I remembered that someone needed my boot up his ass. I walked back up to the bar, to the same batarian who'd served me before. He pretended not to know me, said all humans looked alike, and then gave me a drink, 'on the house.' I pointed to the drink and told him to drink it. He started stuttering desperately then, saying I should have been dead. I shouted at him that this time, his luck had run out, so he'd better start wishing his luck would come back real quick, because he was going to drink that poison. And to sweeten the deal, I told him if he didn't drink fast, I'd start blinding him one eye at a time. He swallowed heavily, closed all of his eyes, and then took a long, slow drink, draining the glass. Five seconds later he puked green all over the floor behind the bar before collapsing into it. The turian who'd been standing next to me for the whole exchange didn't seem shocked in any way, and casually said he deserved it, and the drinks here tasted like poison anyway.

I just walked back to the Normandy, two things on my mind: first, that I really needed several rounds of decontamination and a long scalding shower; and second that the Normandy really needed its own bar.

I got back to the Normandy just as Mordin was arriving. He hopped into the airlock with us, the UV decontamination sequence seeming to take a little longer than strictly usual, which I wasn't complaining about. We walked along the main corridor to the briefing room, Mordin noting with a mix of respect and fascination the design and controls of the Normandy. Miranda just went straight to her office the next deck down, but Jacob stuck around. Mordin said again that it was unexpected to be working for Cerberus, and wondered aloud if the Illusive Man wasn't so human-centric these days. Before Jacob could say anything, I asked Mordin how he knew about him. Mordin just scoffed, reminded me that the salarians were experts at espionage, and that while he was retired he still heard things. He only knew the name, not the man, and that his anti-alien reputation was listed as problematic. I told him that humans were still number one to him, but the threat was too big to handle on their own. I also told him the Collectors had been abducting human colonies, but there were no distress signals, and Jacob added that there were no signs of foul play, except that everyone was missing. Mordin began theorising quickly about nerve gases and drugged water before I stopped him again, telling him we had samples and readings from Freedom's progress we'd like him to analyse.

He agreed with a smile, saying he'd need a lab. EDI jumped in at this point, saying that there was a lab on the combat deck, and if he needed anything, to place a requisition order. Mordin's eyes jumped around, looking for the source of the voice. I wondered if I did that the first time I heard EDI. He then did his pretty much standard think-talking, starting with the pilot, and then picking up on the synthetic voice and simulated inflections. Then he asked he straight up if that was an AI. I told him it was, and he took on a shrewd look. He muttered something about AI and non-human crew as signs of how desperate Cerberus was. Jacob simply said that we needed to work together to stop the Collectors, and that seemed to jump Mordin out of his current thought cycle. He asked to be pointed to the lab, and Jacob lead the way out.

I asked EDI if there had been any deliveries while I was gone. She said there had been two, one early in the day, a bottle of Serrice Ice brandy that was sent to Dr Chakwas, and the second the T6 array, which was currently being installed by Ken and Gabby. While it was being installed, we wouldn't be able to leave dock. I said that was fine, but told her to make sure the watch was extra-vigilant tonight. Then I went back to my cabin, ordered dinner from the mess, which only reinforced my resolve to get Gardner some decent food to work with, and had a shower.

At least there's going to be something good about tomorrow: it's my birthday.