2185 CE, 1925 hours

Omega, Terminus Systems


Eric Krestel, 25, a local from Earth's North American Sector sat on the wet gravel flat his ass, gobsmacked. The briefcase was wet in his hands. His traumatized mind was trying to rationalize what in god's name just happened. One moment there were Blue Suns, fucking around with him and the next they all lie on the ground in pieces. He sat there in the dark alley decorated with bodies squinting and panting.

Squinting to find his saviours who lurks in the shadows and panting at all the adrenaline pumped into his system, if he were any older, his heart would just stop beating.

There was the sound of metal stomping on alien alloy and servos whirring plus hydraulics hissing as a handful of humanoids emerged. Friend or foe he would find out soon enough.

Christ, Look at the size of them! awed Eric mentally, they stood about a foot taller than him, towering menacingly. The heavy armored men/alien spread out forming a new perimeter, leaving one of them to walk towards Eric with each step was a loud emphasized Thump!

"W..what are you," was all Eric could manage.

The visor of some sort was strikingly similar to the early 21st century human space explorer's, lifted by glove with a pneumatic hissss! and a click! revealing a human male, at least he think it was.

It/he extended his hand to Eric, the gargantuan rifle in his other hand. Not wanting to piss a 7'5 tall human in badass Combat armor, Eric grabbed the massive glove and felt himself being lifted up. Once he was proper, the same Heavy Combat armored guy spoke.

"You okay?"with a tang south American accent. It sounded more like "Yokay?"

The timid man could only nod. One of them walked up to one of the dead bodies and inspected a random assault rifle, the troubling thing was that the way that being handled the weapons was as if encountering the Avenger Assault rifle for the very first time.

'These guys are definitely not from around here.' Thought Eric mentally.

"Who are you?"

The leader inquired. Eric, fidgeted with his hands as his eyes fell on the oversized rifle in the dreadnought's other hand.

"I see you're looking at my gun, I ain't gonna shoot you. Just want answers, we're not around here, hell, we just got here as a matter of fact."

Eric decided to be a little bolder, hell they saved his life and they seem...nice? so...it wouldn't hurt to ask abit, right?"

"I asked you very the same question moments ago. So..um..you first,"

There was silence as a stare-down began between the Corporate Executive and the mercenary. Neither party noticed inhabitants running for shelter as storm clouds rolled in. Without warning globules of rain fell, sticking onto Eric's clothing, shoes, everywhere. The guys in power armor stood still, visors shut to keep the rain out.

The one who addressed him earlier on spoke up. His voice gravelly due to the suit's audio speakers.

"Ya' know, ain't much people I know got the balls to talk back ta' a War Pig. Only kind that does are either morons or crazy, either way they end up fragged. So which one are you?"

His rifle was pointed slightly in his direction and Eric knew he was royally fucked.

Again.

The being before him lowered the massive gun before continuing, much to Eric's relief.

"Heheh, kid just fuckin' with ya'. Franklin Toretto, War Pigs Sergeant First Class. wha' about you?"

"Eric, Eric Krestel, I...I work for SyTech Corporation."

"Right, Mister Krestel, mind telling me what's with the flashy mercs?"

"Hired mercs probably from a rivalling company, they're after what's inside the case."

Someone from the back piped in.

"So amigo, what's in the bag?"

Eric swallowed after realising he'd been gathering saliva in his throat for a while.

"Uhh...classified."

The head honcho spoke up once more.

"Neva' mind that, start from the beginning."

Oh boy, thought Eric, where to begin?

"...And then those guys from the Blue Suns caught up with me, the security enforcers my company hired were all dead and they had me, well that was before you showed up. Thanks, again Franklin uh, sir, for saving my life."

"Kid, think nothin' of it, just...just doing our civic duty."

A couple of Pigs snickered at that over the Comms.

Falks' mind was still a bit numb at the thought of aliens, as in aliens with a big 'A,' having an attitude and personality so similar to a human, so...humanlike and working alongside humans as Mercenaries.

These guys are way alot more tolerable than the Zerg. Or the Protoss. Though this Eric mentioned them cat-aliens, the Turians, still held grudges against humanity for the First Contact war, and the humans, them.

Falks was gonna have to do a bit more researching on that, and judging by the fact nobody knows what a CMC-Power Suit is, they must've been transported to somewhere FAR, FAR, FAR away in the galaxy where humans and a conglomeration of Xenos live together in peace all the while oblivious to the Zerg ,Protoss and the Terrans duking it out in the K-Sector.

Savchenko, the squad leader of Alpha, came up to Falks, his C-14 strapped to his back magnetically and in his hands were a handful of Avengers and Mattock Assault rifles neatly folded.

"Check it out boss, bet we could sell this shit for creds."

Falks broke into a wide toothy grin before nodding in approval. These weapons could come in handy, although they're way too small for the War Pigs' trigger fingers, they might be useful in funneling cash for whatever base of operations the War Pigs wish to establish in this new place.

"I like the sound of that, but first things first, we gotta get this lil fella back to whoever he works for, mighty unhealthy of him to go delivery boy if these damn yokels are gunning for him."

"Hey, i heard that, and resent that! Plus, you haven't told me where ya' guys from," protested Eric.

"But thanks for offering to help me, I think my superiors would be happy to discuss payment should i get this important document over to my employers," continued the business man as he grabbed a strange looking pistol from one of the dead mercenaries and stuffed it into his white suit.

The giant in front of him shrugged,

"Hell yeah, sure, there's more of my guys out in the back, 30 of us altogether and one...irregular. But i think they can wait on us a while longer, some of my guys are wounded though."

Eric slowly nodded, awe evident on his face when he heard there were more of these walking tanks, and some of them were wounded. Judging from their tech, he shuddered what kind of foe could actually put the hurt on thees guys.

Without further delay, Eric then activated his omni-tool, to send a message to the Board Of Directors their package would be delayed, he realised the War Pigs were now staring at him, no, his Omni-Tool as if never seen one before.

"What, Omni-Tool, you guys don't have one?" the armoured mercenaries all shook their heads.

"Kid, we just got our asses transported thousands of fucking lightyears from one end of the galaxy to another, up until now, we have never encountered guns that fire grains of sand at you or aliens who might damn well be our long lost cousins! How the hell do you think we're supposed to know what an Omni-Tool is!?"

The corporate man stumbled back, surprised from Franklin's sudden outburst.

"It's like an advanced PDA, does almost every kind of feature a techno geek would have wet dreams of, everyone in the galaxy has one. No...i get it you guys aren't even from this galaxy. Maybe, once I'm safe and the briefcase is no longer my concern, maybe I can get the bosses acquire and you and you boys an Omni-Tool, assuming it syncs with your armor and all."

Falks was intrigued by the technology here, they don't have access to mini cold fusion reactors, or even powered suits, but they really got some nifty gizmos, the Omni-Tool for example.

Already he could see a few members from Alpha eyeing the Omni-Tool in a predatory fashion. Just as he and his compatriots were about to leave, one of the dead Blue sun's trooper's Comm crackled and fizzed, it was in a Turian dialect, so to the War Pigs it sounded nothing more than garbled shit but Eric had an Omni-Tool and with it's translator technology, he understood every word said which that made his eyes widen in fear. Again.

"We have to leave! Now!...More Blue Suns on the way!"

That got Falks and Alpha Squad rushing through the narrow and long alley of Omega.

Subtlety and stealth long abandoned.

Just as they came into the streets, sporadic gunfire erupted, good thing the streets were emptied. The moment Blue Sun reinforcements showed up guns blazing, every soul, human, alien began fleeing for their lives. These men have killed for less so it wasn't a priority if civillians were killed in the skirmish.

"Positive ID your targets, we don't wanna hit any poor sum'bitch!" Sev growled as his targeting systems scanned the vicinity for the hidden shooters.

"Got a lock, Jeeesus H Christ they're everywhere!"

"Contact! Left side, second building, Entrance, engage!" roared Sevchenko, immediately 8mm spikes blanketed the combat zone.

A few stray Suns caught in the storm of spikes were spun round by the shattering impact were plastered into the ground. They were relatively unharmed if not suffering from heavy concussion. They would be out of the fight for now.

"Holy shit, these guys got shields!" screamed someone over the channel.

Falks saw a Blue Sun operative took one in the face, a bluish wall flickered in front of him for a few seconds before dissipating. And said operative was seen on the floor in shock rubbing his head where the round had hit.

'Personal shields? Damn, they really got the fancy shit.' Thought Franklin as his shots missed their marks, the agile streamlined figures that were the Blue Suns would pop out of cover, snap off some shots before hunkering down, thankfully, not even mass accelerated shots could penetrate thick neo-steel plating.

It served nothing more than pissing the War Pigs off.

Falks reloaded before whaling away at the Suns, his C-14 barking harshly adding to the orchestra of chak-chak-chak from other C-14s going off.

Blue Suns were in the buildings, the streets, behind cars, everywhere!

The War Pigs put up one helluva fight however, they wouldn't go down this easy, compared to the Zerg, Protoss and other merc groups, these shitheads were peanut shavings.

Even though with the advantage of kinetic barriers, the 8mm depleted uranium and other custom fabricated spikes proved to be fatal nontheless, tearing away shielding at frightening speed, ripping flesh and limbs off as targets died in a painful, bloody and gory death.

When it looked as though the War Pigs were winning, more hostile reinforcements quickly replenished the ranks of the fallen and soon the War Pigs were pushed back deeper into the alley, with a cowering Eric Walter at the back.

"Protect Mr Krestel! Donelly, Sheen, gimme' suppressing fire on those 2 Tangos by the verandah!"

Rasped Sav, as he used his Combat Shield as cover, and firing with his second hand.

"I'm a little busy dude...Shit!" retorted Donelly as he took some hits to the chest plate, and was flung backwards with a cry of anger.

"On it," replied Sheen.

Whatever these guys used as ammo, packed a mean punch, every hit, felt as though something really big and heavy crashed against you but at least it couldn't punch through CMC power armor which Sav was really thankful for.

The War Pigs were pinned in the stinking filthy alley, gunfire and fast moving metals zipped and whizzed all around them. Falks overturned the nearby dumpster, or at least he think it was, and used it as makeshift cover, up until now he still didn't know what the fuck happened, how or why.

Gunfire was erupting all around him, Blue Suns, of course he couldn't be bothered by their names so he dubbed them blue bastards, were pinning him down.

"Sev! Break off 2 guys and flank their side, we're getting our asses handed in a fucking pina colata!"

Hans and Dreddovich left their entrenched positions and jogged deeper into the alley, from there they snaked their way until they were on the left flank of the Blue Suns. The Suns were all too preoccupied in shooting the shit out of their strange adversaries, they never saw 2 armored figures tossing grenades into their midst till it was too late.

WHUMP!

The explosives detonated and a fresh batch of screams pierced the cacophony of gunfire. Blue Suns were thrown in dissarray, some of their units shifting and breaking cover to protect their exposed flanks against Dreddovich and Hans.

"Chyort, here they come!" cursed the Russian merc as he banged a clip on his helmet before slapping it home.

"Tear em' apart Pigs!"

Chak-chak-chak-chak-chak!

Sev's sensor marked a guy armed with a really big and nasty looking sniper. And the sniper was looking right at him! Sav raised his rifle to cut him down, just as the sniper raised his, and before both the hostile or Sev could fire, the sniper was riddled by hundreds of spikes. Chunks of armor and meat fell out of the sky. Sev looked to his left and saw Donnelly giving him the thumbs up.

Sev replied a middle finger at the merc for stealing his kill.

As good as a squad of War Pigs are, it really never hurts to call in reinforcements of your own when outnumbered. Yeah, the Pigs were outnumbered 3 to 1, but they sure as hell weren't outgunned.

"Hey, assholes, now would be a good time to show up!"

Grunted Falks to General Comm as enemy fire peppered his shoulder plates.

"Beta and Charlie squads are on their way sir, ETA 30 seconds. Delta stayed behind to watch the wounded. We ran into some new friends, sir, they're with us for the ride temporarily."

It was Eddie Finnick, and by the sound of the gunfire in the background he's just around a corner, so to speak.

"Funny, Ed, we too, along with lotsa' faggots wanting to kill us but any help would be appreciated. Guess what, we got a job, War Pigs are back!"

Another War Pig butt in their conversation, "Already, sir? hot-damn, we-"

The connection was cut as an explosion flattened the ground and kicked up debris and dirt. Falks had to get flat on the ground as hostiles had deployed RPG crewmen at the tops of nearby buildings, his HUD displayed everyone still breathing and targeting systems were already locking onto the new adversaries.

Someone yelled over the comms.

"Shit, they're boxing us inwith heavy weapons!"

Franklin grunted as he stood up.

"Alpha squad take out those RPGs, they're our top priority!"

2185 CE, 19:40 hours

Omega, Terminus Systems


Another 5 minutes of blood, firepower and outright dirty name calling plus a good round of fragging later, Alpha was joined by more combat-ready War Pigs along with a large group of armed aliens and humans in different colored suits.

The RPG crewmen had taken some casualties but they were still in business, launching High Explosive rockets once in a while to even things up. And with the sudden increase in War Pigs numbers, the morale for the Suns dropped dramatically. To add salt to the fucking wound, Aria's men were on their side.

Immediately the Blue Suns channel was flooded with requests to pull back, forget these damn power armored guys, it was not a smart move to go against Aria.


'Freelancers,' thought Falks as he watched one of the cat-aliens or Turian, as they call themselves, toss a grenade which proved to be the fragmentation variant, flush out a couple of shooters behind a damaged vehicle.

Finally, after more effort was put into the ass-kicking, the Blue Suns began retreating. Finally figuring out that one man and a briefcase is not a cause worth dying for, maybe if the reward was higher, they'd have stayed a bit longer.

As everyone recollected themselves, a pale faced Eric came shambling out, hyperventilating, briefcase in hand, pistol in the other.

"Oh please, don't mind me, while I sit here and have a heart attack."

One of the armed freelancers, human gave an order and all the mercs took aim at the War Pigs, who in turn returned the favour. Eric Krestel was still sitting on the pavement, taking deep breaths thinking that he had just tangoed with death and survived. All the while oblivious to the situation unfolding.

"Drop your weapons, we're under Aria's jurisdiction, put down the fucking guns."

Falks could tell from the audio scrambler in his HUD the guy who said it was scared out of his mind. Who wouldn't? You might as well fight naked when taking on a power armored monstrosity when all you have a skin-suit and flimsy kinetic barriers.

"Who the hell's Aria?"

Said Billy, as he puffed out smoke from his cigarette. Good question, just who is Aria?

"The merc spoke once more, his tone more confident and bordered on arrogance.

"You see this place? This is Omega, and on Omega, Aria's word is law. Omega is Aria, and Aria is Omega, don't you forget that."

Falks didn't know who this Aria is but by having a really large network of informants and armed mercs means she's one of them crime lords or powerful people you really don't want to fuck around with, kind of reminds him of Dead Man's Rock, full of cutthroats and shady crime lords.

"So we doing this easy, or must we bring you to her in pieces?"

Most of the War Pigs were fidgety, they'd just landed on a place so alien to them, met wierd freaky aliens, got in a firefight now they have to meet some self-proclaimed king. And there still was the issue of wounded. As if sensing that, the same human merc spoke out.

"Don't worry, we brought transports out back for your injured boys, they might be able to sustain their weight.."

With a nod, Falks let the merc do his thing as Delta squad came by carrying battered CMC power armored men.

One of Delta squad's member looked at the carnage done before cursing, "Dammit, and we didn't even get to whoop some ass along the way, igniting laughter from both War Pigs and Aria's associates.

The ride there was silent, Pigs spent their time filling up their magazines with spikes or whispering over the comms their opinions about this whole situation.

As the Pigs got out of the anti-grav transports, much to the relief of the drivers, as they feared their weight would cause setbacks along the way. Eric tagged along, for protection under his unofficial security force. The wounded stayed behind with Aria's boys.

The War Pigs could only stare in wonder before the building before them, people and races from all walks of life were impatiently waiting outside to get in, the bouncer was a Krogan, and he felt the urge to go against his duty as bouncer and fight one of those armored forms as they came up to him, these guys would make a good sparing buddy. They had both size and intimidation, something a Krogan would see as potential fos. But upon seeing they were escorted by Aria's boys behind, he gave a nod at them, and let them pass, causing a wave of protests from the people in queue.

"Did you see that thing? My god it's huge!" whispered someone from Bravo.

"Yeah well, not as big as a Marauder..." someone snidely replied.

True, a Marauder stood proud at almost 9 feet tall. A marine at 7. And that hulk of a monster they saw working as a bouncer slightly taller than a marine.

Inside was...well big, with techno music blasting the very foundations of the poor building, men and women dancing drinking laughing and sometimes crying, the atmosphere was vibrant in a way, Falks saw aliens resembling female humans in scanty outfits, doing...pole dancing?

They were rather attractive, if not for the tentacles for hairs, they might have passed as albino humans due to their baby blue skin. The War Pigs conversed mostly on the aliens on the dance floor, and it was decided by the group that Falks would have the honor of fucking one of them of which he says they're not ready for the raw sex appeal he would unleash.

Finally, they went up some stairs, a lot, actually and came up to a nice spot where one had an entire view of the entrances, dance floors, everything. There was one of those blue skinned aliens again, this time, she wasn't a dancer, she had their backs facing them, only the guards were, as they processed the War Pigs.

Even though the War Pigs outnumbered the guards almost 3 to one, they knew they would not get far considering this Aria had a vast array of mercs and firepower at her disposal. A new alien stepped out to greet them, this one was armed with a Heavy Pistol, and had quadruple eyes, almost causing a number of Pigs to point out and harass him, 4 eyes.

"xths, dsdsdsdsd hdjedbjhwsb, sdfsdfsvsjjdhjfhw..." it said.

Eric piped in from behind, "He says to holster your weapons, Aria wants to talk to Mister Franklin only."

Nodding to the other pigs, they reluctantly strapped their C-14s to their magnetic holsters at the back of their suits as Falks stepped up to the blue alien. Not to be rude to this Aria, he popped open his visor, his HUD disappearing from view, only suit integrity status and air filtration running.

"Welcome," spoke the alien in perfect English, with a North American accent as she turned around.

"To Omega, stranger, and I, am Omega."