Chapter 4: Declaration

Nathan sat on a bench outside his hotel waiting to be picked up by Aria's second-in-command, which Nathan had come to find out was a Turian by the name of Garvak. As he waited there, he tried to menatally prepare himself for what he was probably going to do. Sure he had hunted animals before for sport, but this was a entirely different thing. But he had to do it, if he had any chance of getting back to his universe he would have to suck it up.

A skycar parked in front of him on the street, and a Turian who Nathan identified as Garvak got out. He wore a dark green armor which Nathan recognized was evident of all members of Aria's gang. Garvak waved him over, and they both got in the car. As Nathan sat down he noticed there were two others in the car, one Salarian and one Krogan, both of which were also decked out in similiar green armor, and in the middle of a heated arguement.

Nathan knew that there was bad blood between the two species and could only figure that it was over the genophage. But the thing that Nathan couldn't get over was the massive size of the Krogan. Sure you could suppose they were large beings when you looked at them through a tv screen but when its face to face it was a whole other deal. Nathan's staring was so evident, that the Krogan noticed.

"What are you looking at human" The Krogan spat

The question caught him off guard "Uhhh, nothing"

The Krogan brushed it off and turned to Garvak "This is the human Aria recruited, he looks weak"

What Nathan initially took as an insult, eventually dawned on him as a fact. Even though Krogan saw every species weak to some standard, Nathan was muscular, but lean as well.

'Damn, I really need to work out' he thought

"Dont worry Kravik, what this one losses in strength, he makes it up in marksmanship" Garvak replied

"I hope so, we may be neutral with the Blood Pack right now, but I don't trust them" Kravik replied

Garvak nodded and turned towards Nathan " Oh I'm sorry where's my manners, I haven't properly introduced myself, I'm Garvak Tharkian, that's Kravik, and the Salarian is Salus Jol"

Nathan gave a nod and turned back to Garvak " Your going to be providing overwatch on a deal between us and the Blood Pack. I don't expect that you'll have to intervene, but this will be a good judge of your character for me to see"

Nathan had a gut feeling that this wasn't going to end well. He knew a big majority of the Blood Pack was Vorcha, and along with being butt ugly, Vorcha were agressive as hell. If he was to be providing overwatch for this deal, he would have to have a good elevated position.

He turned to Garvak and asked "Where is this meeting held?"

Garvak turned to him and said "An alleyway behind a group of abandoned projects on level 20. Plenty of good spots you could use"

Nathan had forgotton that Omega was divided throughout different levels. But his main concern was his strategy, and for this he compared to his experience hunting. He figured that the projects were multi-leveled structures, that would give him the elevation he needed. Problem was the projects were abandoned, easy for them to see a sniper sitting there in the open on a window ledge. It was also mid-day so he worried about the glare that his scope would make as well.

'All these variables and I haven't seen the damn place yet' he thought as the skycar stopped

"Alright right West, you got 10 minutes until this meeting starts. Find a good position overlooking the alleyway" Garvak told him as he stepped out of the car "Keep in touch through your omni-tool and tell me when your in position, oh and stay stealthy, we don't exactly want the Blood Pack to know we have a sniper on them"

With that the car sped off and Nathan examined his surroundings. It was pretty much like the description Garvak had given him. A block of abandoned projects with a alleyway in the middle. From the looks of it his best bet was the project that was bordering the end of the alleyway. The sidewalk was somewhat crowded as he walked towards the building, but he did notice a group of about 5 Blood Pack walking toward the meeting location. Nathan, though somewhat nervous knew that he wasn't wearing anything that would suggest to them that he was affliated with a gang. In fact all he had for protection was a small shield generator that Garvak had given him.

'Really need to invest in some armor' he though as he walked into the abandoned building. Before going any further he grabbed some dirt off the ground and rubbed it against his scope. With the problem of lens glare gone he made his way to the second floor where he decided to set up. He chose this because most animals or in this case beings would look either on the ground or higher up for an attacker. This spot provided a slight elavation advantage as well as not being to obvious.

He looked out the window frame over the alleyway. The lessons his dad had taught him about hunting came back to him. He realized that before he set up he need some sort of perimeter alarm if shit hit the fan. Usually this didn't have to be to fancy, in the woods it could be as simple as twigs or old leaves. Something that would make a sound out of the usual. Nathan fufilled this with garbage he found laying around the level. He threw it down over all the entrances to the level, then made his way to his spot. His spot a partially boarded up window gave him full visibility of the alleyway, but was enough to make him at least partially hidden.

He laid his Avenger on the window seal and opened his omni-tool.

"Garvak, i'm in position"

A little static and then came his reply "Affirmative approaching alleyway now"

Nathan lifted his rifle and looked through its scope. Below him he could see the 3 approaching the middle of the alleyway. On the other end he saw a krogan decked in the Blood Pack's signiture red armor, followed by 2 vorcha dressed in the same way.

It was then that Nathan noticed something. He had seen 5 blood pack members enter the area and only 3 had appeared. He opened his comm

"Garvak, the Blood Pack brought 5 people into this area, there are 2 vorcha missing"

"Hmmm odd, check the buildings for the missing 2"

"On it"

Nathan scanned the area and found the 2 vorcha on either side of the alleyway on higher levels then he was. They both carried sniper rifles.

"Got those 2 vorcha they're snipers"

"Do they see you" Garvak replied

"Nope"

"Alright keep an eye on them"

Nathan heard Kravik through the comm " I don't like this, why would they have snipers on us if this is just a deal?"

Garvak replied "Why would we have a sniper on them?"

Kravik grunted as the meeting began.

From what Nathan could decipher from the meeting they were dealing in red sand. As they conversed below he saw movement up in the buildings. He looked to see 5 extra vorcha sneaking around in the lower levels of the buildings. Just as he was about to open his omni-tool, he heard a snap in the room behind him. He knew that someone was sneaking into the building and that if he opened his comm up it would give away his position.

He slowly got up and unstrapped his tomahawk from his belt, as he made his way to the door. He peeked around it to see a lone vorcha holding a assualt rifle. Then the realization hit him, this wasn't a deal, this was an ambush. Unless he took out this vorcha quickly, and informed Garvak they would all be dead.

As the vorcha approached, Nathan crouched down behind the door. The Vorcha had superior firepower, but he had the element of suprise. If he reacted fast enough he would catch the vorcha before he would fire his weapon. Nathan didn't like having to do this but Garvak, and the rest of the team depended on him, and if they died, he'd be dead soon after.

The vorcha entered the room. If their looks didn't kill you the stench would. Harnessing all the martial arts knowledge he had learned from his youth Nathan quickly disarmed the Vorcha, who gave a little noise of suprise before Nathan turned him around, bypassing his shield and plunging the tomahawk into his skull.

The impact splattered blood onto his face. The lifeless body fell to the ground, and Nathan noticed an exrusciating pain in his thigh. He looked to see a blade lodged into his leg. The vorcha had plundged it into him right before he died. Nathan felt the burn of it, but knew it wasn't major, he opened the comm as he limped to his rifle.

"Garvak its an ambush!" he yelled as he picked the rifle

...

"Garm what the hell is this"exclaimed Garvak to the Blood Pack Krogan

Garm lifted a pistol aiming at Garvak "This is a message"

But before he could fire, two shots wrung out, and a vorcha sniper who had been hiding in one of the buildings fell lifelessly into the alleyway. This gave Kravik the chance to slam into Garm. Garvak took cover, but as he looked up he saw Salus get sniped . He ran over to the now lifeless Salarian and looked up to shoot the sniper. As he looked up he saw the vorcha's head blow off. He dragged the body to cover, and started to fire on the Blood Pack. He took 2 down, but it seemed as if they kept on coming. He looked to see that Garm had retreated but had left Kravik injured. A few more sniper shots wrang out and a few vorcha fell to the ground.

Garvak knew that this fight would be un-winnable with the massive number of Blood Pack members coming in. He turned to Kravik who was holding off a few of the Vorcha, one hand clenched to his wound and the other wielding a shotgun. He signaled the Krogan to fall back, and then radioed in West.

"West, cover us were falling back"

The human replied "Got it, hurry up though they just dropped of more Blood Pack"

Garvak acknowledged the statement as he and Kravik ran back through the alleyway. Miraculousy nothing hit them, all he heard was the two shots of the sniper rifle going off in sucession. They made it back to their conceled car. Garvak radioed in to West.

...

"West were at the car, hurry up and get here"

Nathan lifted out of his trance like state, and picked up his rifle. The wound was still burning through his thigh, as he limped through the building. As he went down the staircase, he heard the Vorcha overrunning his position. He hobbled through the first floor when he saw a vorcha in the doorway. Without thinking Nathan fired two sucessive shots from the hip. One ripped through his shields, followed by the other which hit the vorcha in the torso, incapacitating him.

Nathan lmped through the door and down the alleyway, and soon realized there were a number of Blood Pack shooting at him. He rounded a corner to see the car. As he limped to it, Garvak supported his leg. They made it to the car just as the vorcha rounded the corner, and flew off.

As they flew through the city Nathan thought. He by some miraculous chance was able to pull off that. He killed at least 6 of the vorcha, all with kill shots. It was weird, as he was doing it he felt like if he were in a trance, almost in like a superhuman state of sorts.

Kravik broke him out of his thought "Garvak I thought you said this was a routine deal!"

"Kravik, how the hell was I suppose to know the Blood Pack would turn on us!" Garvak replied

"All I know is that if it weren't for the human, you would be dead" Kravik said looking at Nathan

"I know" replied Garvak replied turning to Nathan "I was doubtful about Aria picking up someone just like that, but after today I know she picked well"

Garvaks attention turned to the blade still lodged into Nathan's thigh "Yeah we should probably get you some armor"

Nathan looked down "Oh yeah, I forgot about that"

Kravik looked at the wound and smirked "Thats gonna make a good scar"

After everyone got patched up, they headed to Afterlife to meet Aria. They walked up the stairs to see the Asari ganglord sitting in her usual spot.

"The deal was staged, it was an ambush" exclaimed Garvak

Aria looked at him and calmly replied "I was wondering when Garm would grow the quad to challenge me" she looked at the group "Where is Jol at?"

Garvak replied "Dead, hit by a sniper"

Aria thought it over then looked at Nathan "How did West do?"

"He informed us of the ambush and covered our retreat" Garvak replied

Aria looked up at Nathan "How many of them did you kill West?"

Nathan answered truthfully "6 with the rifle and 1 with the tomahawk ma'am"

Aria gave a little smirk "I rarely give compliments West so savor this one. You have a gift, a gift to kill, and with that gift you're going to be at the forefront of this conflict."

Aria turned towards Garvak "Give him Jol's old room at the hotel, get him some armor, and a rifle better than the crap he has right now"

Garvak nodded and walked off. Aria turned back to Nathan "West stay in touch, with whats happened you're going to have alot more to do"

Nathan nodded and he walked off. As he exited Afterlife his omni-tool binged. He opened it to see it was a message.

, it would seem that you have not only survived but thrived. Because of this i'll grace you by giving you your meeting as few days early. Meet me in the lobby of your hotel in an hour. We have much to discuss

Nathan looked at the message with interest as he closed his omni-tool and walked away.

Undisclosed location on Omega

He finished writting the message and closed his omni-tool. He looked up to see his agent standing there at attention.

He nodded to him "Go you don't want to keep waiting"

"Yes sir" replied the agent

The agent exited the room, and he smiled. showed promise, the neural implants they had given him had improved his brain function making him smarter, and the physical implants would kick in soon, discreetly making it easier for him to build up muscle easier. He had spent a lot of money on bringing him here from another universe, but then again money was no object to him, in his buisness he makes a whole lot anyway. West was going to be the model pawn, pivotal in the years to come.

He laughed