Aria kept her posture straight and determined as she stared out into the bunker, the next few hours weren't going to be easy. She methodically went through the ships that she knew they had lost, making rough calculations. They had lost far too many. The few men she had were lined up in the large space ahead, some having to hold themselves up due to minor injuries from the inbound journey. Eyes closing for a moment in thought, she shook her head, and inhaled deeply. Exhaling, any doubts fleeing her body with her breath, she opens her eyes. It was time to take back Omega.
Sensing the approach of the human, Aria begins to speak. "Shepard, those force fields we saw, the general has them set up everywhere; he is controlling access across the station." Receiving no immediate response from the human, she glances to her left and studies the face of the woman beside her. Shepard's brow is furrowed as she studies the scans of Omega, obviously looking for any route around the barriers. After a minute in silence Shepard turned to face the Asari, "Finding the source of those fields is our first priority, we won't be getting very far with them blocking off the station." Aria nods once in agreement, then gestures for a Salarian, Ahz, to come forward. "What are these dark areas?" The schematics had shown many darkened areas that obviously had no power. The Salarian explained that the General had closed these sections off to allow for more power for the force fields, this was something they may be able to use to their advantage in the near future. Dismissing Ahz with another wave of her hand, she turns away from Shepard and looks out through the window overlooking the bunker before adding to their previous conversation; "Shepard we have work to do. Our losses have been significant; we can't field an army large enough to face Cerberus." Shepard takes a step towards Aria sensing her frustration, "So we need to find us some allies then, story of my life". The Asari turns towards Shepard, seeing her head tilted slightly to the left, staring back at her with a curious expression upon her face; she moves to question the red head but is interrupted by another Salarian with important information. "We've confirmed there's a Merc gang still active, the Talons are resisting the occupation". Sighing Aria turns to grab her pistol, "Not my first choice but they're all we've got", with that she places her pistol at her hip and takes a moment to go over the scans of Omega a final time. "We'll make them join, one way or another". Aria stopped at Shepard's voice with a smile tugging at her lips only to say "Perfectly put." With all the information they would need securely transferred to her omnitool, Aria turned to have a final word with Shepard before they made their way out of the bunker, but they were interrupted once more by Bray.
"Sorry to interrupt-". He was doing his best not to meet the glare that Aria had cast his way. "I turned away for a second to offload…" He stopped mid-sentence after finally catching the look upon the Asari's face. "You lost her?" Feeling sorry for the Batarian, Shepard quickly stepped between the two, "We're locked down she's got to be here somewhere". Aria just shook her head, "This bunker has secret access points to other parts of the station, and unfortunately Nyreen knows all of them." Sighing for a third time; she leans forward on the console, "Damn it Bray." She continues in a dejected tone, "As if I wasn't already short on man power". She could feel Shepard make her way around the console, closer to her side. Turning to face her, she is surprised to see how close the other woman is; "We have to focus on getting the talons on board." Standing up straight in an attempt to brush away any semblance of weakness she continues, "Shepard I'll meet you at the armory exit when you're ready to go, but don't keep me waiting." With that she crosses her arms and stares deeply into the console avoiding further eye contact with the Commander.
Shepard stands still, looking at the Asari with her brow knitted with confusion. "Um, Aria?" With a soft sigh Aria answers the human, frustration evident in her voice, "Yes what is it? We need to get going, but what's on your mind?" Cautiously Shepard attempts to broach the subject of Nyreen, the obvious ties between the two caused unexpected feelings to rise up from within the Commander and she wished to be rid of some of her qualms before heading off onto the streets of Omega hunting for a mercenary group. "It seems like there's more to Nyreen than meets the eye" subtle Shepard. The Commander winced internally at how stupid she has sounded. Aria however, still not facing the human; raised her brow in amusement. This woman certainly did not like the Turian. "You mean her disappearing act? Honestly it doesn't concern me, if it were anyone else I would want blood, but Nyreen's a variable I can control." Aria was going to play along. She had a feeling that toying with Shepard's rash human emotions may amount to an interesting outbreak like her previous tantrum. She admired the fire that burnt within the red head. Humans were a short-lived species, so unlike the Asari, they didn't take the time to think before they spoke. "She believes in a code of ethics, she oozes virtue." Shepard scowled slightly, Nyreen seemed like a good person, and if it had been in any other circumstance they would probably have been friends. However there was a feeling burning within her that to her great dismay felt an awful lot like jealousy. She responded begrudgingly, "You two must have made an interesting pair." Aria smirked once more at the Commander's obvious discomfort at the subject. "Opposites attract right? Our connection was powerful but doomed. Nyreen demonstrated zero flexibility, she couldn't put up with the challenges of my life." Towards the end of her sentence, Aria had begun to sound almost sad. It was a hard life that she led, being the ruler of Omega was who she was and she wouldn't give that up for anybody, but it had cost her. There weren't many people that she could be close to without them leaving her or having them end up dead. Shaking off her momentary lapse she turned to look Shepard in the eye, "That's all you're getting out of me on the subject Shepard." She then twisted on her heel, and made her way to the door that would lead them out of the bunker. Shepard was frozen for a split second, the Asari had shared more with her than she ever had before, and she was torn between feeling honoured and melancholy. The brief hint of sadness she had heard in Aria's voice could only mean that she still had feelings for the Turian. Grabbing her shotgun Shepard cleared her head; it was time to focus on getting those Mercs on their side. Jogging forward she quickly caught up with Aria as she was leaving through the door.
As they made their way steadily through several deserted corridors, Shepard noted that they were in a part of Omega that she had never seen before. They kept up their pace until they were faced with a very long ladder that allowed access up the side of a very tall building. Shepard gulped audibly. Stepping up towards the ladder sensing the human's hesitation Aria smirked at her. "What's the matter? The great Commander Shepard isn't scared of heights is she?" Shepard's cheeks grew a shade darker with what could only be embarrassment, but stubbornly shook her head whilst grimacing upward at the end of the ladder that seemed miles away. "No of course not." Then pausing, she adds "It's more the falling part that gets to me…" Aria was beginning to grow very fond of the red glow on Shepard's cheeks; she had a sudden urge to feel the warmth radiating from them with the back of her fingers and was shocked at the feeling. This affection was not something that Queen of Omega did, not for many a decade, and she wasn't about to let some human turn her soft. A very attractive, infuriatingly smug human that she just wanted to throw down and- Shaking the voice from her head she grabbed onto the ladder, and then called over her shoulder, "You just need some motivation to keep climbing, Shepard" and with that she made her way upward, leaving Shepard with a perfect view of her rear.
Shepard gulped once more, but this time the height she was about to climb was far from her mind, her focus entirely on the form in front of her. Damn she was good. Keeping her eyes trained on Aria, she started her ascent. As they climbed higher the Commander couldn't help but feel the beginnings of vertigo, so she asked Aria the first thing that came to mind, well not the first thing. "So Aria? This merc group, are we enlisting them because they are good or because we need the numbers?" Being ahead of the human she couldn't see her nervous expression, but she most certainly could hear it; however she couldn't bring herself to draw attention to it. Instead she merely replied straight forwardly; "They are cannon fodder Shepard; we are using them because they are the only gang in town. Just let me do the talking and-" Ahz's voice interrupts them through their comms, "Cerberus forces are scrambling, looks like an attack on the talons" as the Salarian's voice stops, several shuttles fly past behind them. Aria swings back, holding on with one arm as she looks out into the Omega sky. Shepard is struck suddenly by the Asari's beauty. From below she gazes up at the strong muscles she can see tensing in her stomach as she aches outward. The soft, purple skin showing through the buckles on her sides; glows faintly in the setting sun. Her body is powerful yet almost painfully sensual. A perfect predator but Shepard can't help being drawn towards her. Unaware of the appreciation coming from below, Aria starts to climb faster; "The Talon's leader must be nearby if the amount of Cerberus shuttles is anything to by, let's move."
Aria was already making her way towards the door when Shepard had reached the top of the ladder. She couldn't find it within herself to stand so close to the edge, and was thankful that the Asari was too preoccupied to witness her crawling over the edge and away from the steep drop. Quickly picking herself up once she was safely away from the ladder, she brushed off her remnants of fear now that her feet were firmly on the ground. As she joins Aria at the now unlocked door she adds, "Don't say a thing." A small twitch in the corner of the Asari's lips is the only indication she gave that she heard the Commander. Making their way through a new corridor they are warned by Ahz of nearing Cerberus troops in their vicinity. This was something Shepard could handle; she couldn't help but feel slightly mortified at her earlier display of weakness; especially in front of the Asari who was clearly fearful of nothing. Up another thankfully smaller ladder they find themselves in an airshaft, before opening the door Shepard spots a terminal that needs to be hacked for that woman back at Aria's bunker. One down, who knows how many left to go.
Exiting back out into the open Omega air, they had yet to come into contact with the Cerberus troops Ahz had warned them about. Aria stepped up beside Shepard as they looked out onto the skyline. "There" she pointed a purple finger towards a tower opposite their position, "that's the Talon's base and where all that gunfire is coming from" Shepard nodded and they set off in silence, Aria clearly eager to get back on track to taking back her station. Through the next set of doors they finally came into contact with the Cerberus troops, but they weren't a much for the pair of biotics. Shepard charged in biotically and let off a nova in the middle of the troops, quickly killing them all. Aria hadn't even had a chance to pull out her pistol, Shepard was strong, stronger than she had previously imagined. Aria had heard a great deal about the Commander over the years, but she preferred to make her own judgements. She couldn't help but admire such great biotic skill in a human as she followed the trail of dead Cerberus that Shepard had left behind.
They finally found themselves outside a door that held rough voices within. Shepard held up a hand to signal for the Asari to be still, which she just rolled her eyes at. The pair could hear what could ony be Cerberus troops talking amongst themselves. Then after a moment of silence there was a large thump and a small groan followed by a barking laugh. "Tell us where your leader is, and we wont kill both of you." The demand was only met with more silence. Shepard shook her and stormed forward through the door into the large room; Aria close at her heels. Cerberus operatives were holding two Talon members hostage in their attempt to find this 'Target Alpha'. The sight brought a disgusted snarl to the Commander's face, she didn't take kindly to people holding guns to those who were unarmed. "Drop the guns and step away. Now." Some of the officers took a step back, clearly recognising who they were facing and alarmed by the menace in her voice. But the Cerberus Engineer still had his gun to the merc's head. Her whole body glowed blue as she charged forward into the engineer, grabbing him by his neck and away from the unarmed man. "I warned you." And with that she shot him in the chest with her shotgun before turning to face the others. Just as she had turned around she heard someone drop by her side, whipping to her left towards the stranger; she came face to face with Nyreen.