Virtually on the border of the Attican Traverse and the Earth Alliance Systems' territory of the Milky Way Galaxy lies a quaint little solar system in the Kepler Verge called Newton. The system isn't anything special and is barely noticed in the eyes of the rest of the galactic community.
There is a mass relay at the edge of the system and a habitable planet, in the middle of the system called, Ontarom. When the planet was first discovered, the humans were amazed by how similar it is to Earth. Ontarom is mostly covered with water, its clouds are white and move in the same direction as the human home world. It has one single moon orbiting it. Even a couple of the continents bare similar resemblance to those of Earth. One continent has a near identical shape to Australia while another looks like the bottom half of Earth's North American continent. Aside from the planet's poles, most of the land is covered in forests and woods.
Many years ago, a single human colony was founded and established on the part of the continent that looks like the state of Florida. Due to its many reminders of Earth, the colonists appropriately named the colony Sol's Legacy. The name plays a double entendre which references the solar system Earth is in as well as a compliment to the human soul.
At the edge of the system, the mass relay lies motionless save for the two spinning rings in the center and the swirl of its blue energy. Suddenly, like magic, the Arrowhead appears in front of the giant ancient machine. Without hesitation, it flies toward planet Ontarom.
In the ship's cockpit, Marco sits at the pilot's seat and Tanya sits in the chair where Ish sat when she was on board. Both of them have changed their clothing. Tanya, no longer wearing the dirty shirt she was wearing since she was kidnapped, is now in a beige short sleeve shirt and black pants. Marco is out of his armor and wearing an expensive dark red shirt and dark blue jeans. Both of them are dressed for warm weather.
Their mood is relaxed. No one is trying to kill them or kidnap them or interrogate them. They have cleaned the dirt and dust off of their faces and bodies. Marco is clean shaved and Tanya's red hair is straight again. Marco looks out of the forward cockpit window and smiles.
"Home, sweet, home" he says to his wife. She puts one of her hands on the back of her neck and massages herself. "I can't wait to sleep on my own bed again".
The Arrowhead enters Ontarom's atmosphere and flies toward the settlement. The colony itself is large, It is populated by several thousand humans, all of which just want to live peaceful uneventful lives. The colony is surrounded by trees with an ocean to the east and a hill to the north. Throughout the settlement are market shops, foods and goods stores and residential housings. There is no building taller than three stories.
The Arrowhead extends its three landing struts and gently touches down on the colony's only landing pad which is located at the south end of the settlement. The landing pad itself is very long. Aside from the Arrowhead, there are ten other ships parked. A couple are personal crafts but the rest are used to go to other systems to conduct trade.
When the Arrowhead's entrance ramp lowers, the Jevings' walk down it holding hands. A warm breeze hits their skin and the waves their hair around. The smell and sound of the nearby ocean fills the ambience. The married couple walks down the landing strip and watch as people walk to and fro in their daily routines. About twenty meters from the Arrowhead is the flight control tower. The tower master walks out of it and toward Marco. The man is dark skinned, tall and fit. When they meet, they shake each other's hand.
"Welcome back, Marco, Tanya" the man says.
"Trust me when I say It's good to be back, Jonathan" Marco replies.
The tower master looks at the front tip of the Arrowhead and notices the scorch marks. "Damn" he jokes "Did you fly your ship through a sun's corona"? Jevings looks back at his ship and chuckles. "Yeah, she needs a paint job now more than ever".
"Well Jeffrey just cam back from his supply run this morning and brought back a lot of the engineering tools we needed. You should stop by his shop when you get the chance". Marco nods his head and says "Thanks, I'll do that. Take care, Jon".
"You too" the man replies then walks back to the control tower.
Marco and Tanya walk though the colony with a casual stroll. They take in the sights of children chasing their pet dogs in the park, a couple arguing but keeping it as privately as possible and passer bys doing business with shop keepers. When a few people wave at them from a distance, the married couple would smile and wave back. It isn't long before they walk down a street that leads to the northern hill.
At the top of the hill is Marco and Tanya's villa. The front of the villa overlooks the rest of the colony down below. Their villa is two stories tall and its outer walls are made of a clean metal. The roof of the top left side is slanted and meets with the flat roof of the rest of the building. The building's windows are tall but thin.
The living room is the first things they see when they enter the house. Like the rest of the house, it is well furnished. Black leather couches are arranged in a semi circle around the large entertainment center. To the left of the living room is the way to the guest rooms and to the right is where the staircase is. There is a wall on the far side of the living room and behind the wall is the large kitchen and dinning room. The east wall of the dinning room is made of glass that offers a beautiful view of the ocean and its solemn waves.
Anywhere else in the galaxy, Marco and Tanya do dirty business but, on Ontarom, they are ordinary people. Through lies and deceit they do the best they can to make sure no one in the colony knows what they do for a living and no one outside of the colony knows they live here. Sol's Legacy is their home.
Marco walks to the biggest couch in the living room and sits on it. He takes off his boots and leans back on the couch. After rubbing his feet on the carpet he lets out a moan of pleasure and serenity. With his mission finally over he closes his eyes and says "This feels good".
Tanya walks up to the couch and straddles her husband. Marco opens his eye and looks at her then puts his hands on her hips. "But this feels better". His wife then puts her hand on his cheek and looks him in the eye. "Marco, I wanted to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you" she puts the other hand on his other cheek "Thank you for coming to rescue me".
Marco takes his hands off of her hips and grabs her hands. "Of course I came for you" he says "I love you". After saying "I love you too" the two of them hold each other and kiss. With their troubles behind them, they finally feel relaxed.
Back in the Helyme System, a long brown rectangular shaped slave hauler approaches the planet. The Batarian slave master named Drim walks the corridors of the ship with two of his men.
Throughout the brown hallways, screams of help and protest can be heard as the slaves are being processed by the Batarian crew.
"We got a very good haul on this run" Drim tells his men "These Salarians will fetch us a good price". The man to his right is holding a data pad an dreads the information on the screen. "They didn't even put up much of a fight" he says "It's like they wanted to be slaves". All three Batarians laugh.
Suddenly, the ships intercom activates an a deep voice is heard. "Drim, report to the cockpit, immediately".
Drim shakes his head and says "Somebody should have taught the new guy how to fly the damn ship". He looks to the other two men and orders them about. "Go to the processing level. After I'm done in the cockpit I will join you". The two men about face and walk the other way.
Minutes later, Drim enters the cockpit. The space is only big enough so a few men can move around without feeling cramped. Two Batarians sit side by side in front of the cockpit operating the navigational computer. "What is it" Drim asks.
One of the pilots looks at Drim in confusion. "Sir, There's a problem" he says nervously "I've been trying to establish communications with the compound but they haven't responded yet". The leader shrugs the concern away and says "We were having some power issues when we left but I told them to have it fixed by the time we came back. Land the ship now" he orders "If those lazy asses are sleeping, they're not getting paid for this haul".
When the ship lands on the slave compound's landing pad, the cockpit is completely quiet as Drim and the pilots look out of the cockpit window. It is now day time and the light of the sun shows the horrific scene in full detail. A couple of fires sends black smoke up in the air. Bloodied bodies of both slaves and slavers are scattered around the entrance to the barracks building. Blood and spent thermal rounds litter the grounds. Except for the crackling of the fires, there is no activity. Everything is dead.
"What the hell happened?" Drim asks himself.
The doors to the slave hauler opens and Drim, along with more than a dozen of his men, walk out holding weapons. "Spread out but stick close to each other" Drim says "Check for survivors and any clues as to what happened".
The men walk deeper in to the compound, scanning their environment. Drim and six of his men walk toward the prison building and the rest head toward the barracks building. Three men enter the prison building first, followed by Drim and the other three men behind him. The foyer looks just like nothing happened. The large room with all of the slave chambers, however, tells a different story. All of the transparent cells are opened and its occupants are nowhere to be found. Further into the room, the men notice bullet scratches on the cell walls.
"There!" yells one of the guards.
He and the group run to a chamber close to the elevator where they see the dead bodies of three Batarians. One of his men turns the bodies over to show Drim that they are full of bullet holes. One of the men behind Drim looks around the room and freezes his head when he looks to his left. "Look, another one" he says.
The group walks to the body which is laid out on the floor next to a chamber. The man who discovered the body checks for signs of life. When there aren't any, he looks up at Drim and shakes his head. The man looks back at the body and examines it further. "Hold on, look" he exclaims "He has an omni-tool". The observant Batarian picks up the dead arm and activates the omni-tool. The orange holographic interface appears and the man does a diagnostic on it.
"It says his vitals stopped at the same time a recording was stopped" he looks up at Drim "His omni-tool was recording something the moment he died". All the men look at each other and then to Drim. "Play the recording" he demands.
With a command to the interface, the orange holographic expands to form a square the same length of the body's forearm. A holographic image of the Batarian's face is shown and the recording begins to play. It starts out as a normal report. The former Batarian was talking about working on the repairs he was assigned to do and how he must get it done before the new slaves arrive. He then makes a remark about how he is not going to get any rest and that the problem is in the wiring. Suddenly, the image shows the camera quickly panning to the left. An image of two figures is briefly shown holding weapons before the Batarian screams and the camera drops to the floor. The recording ends with the camera pointing at the chamber wall.
"Go back" Drim says "Play it again and freeze it when it shows the two shooters".
The man does what he is told and the recording plays again. When the camera quickly pans to the left, the man pauses the recording. Drim kneels down next to the man and snatches the arm out of his hands. He stares at the image of the two shooters. He first sees an Asari woman in a dark purple skin tight outfit. He does not recognize her. But the other figure, he knows all too well. The human man is wearing dark blue armor and has short dead hair. Drim's eyes widen and his nose flares up as he visually expresses the anger that is building up in him.
"Marco" he grunts through his teeth. Drim tightens his grip on the dead arm. If the man was alive, he would be screaming n pain pleading for Drim to release him. Drim violently throws the arm to the floor and stands up.
"Follow me!" he barks as he sprints for the elevator.
On the third level, he and his men stop running when they approach more Batarian bodies in front of Tanya's old holding cell. Drim steps over the corpses and kicks a small round device out of the way as he dashes into the cell. When he sees that it is empty he punches the cell doors.
"Damn it"!
Drim runs out of the room and back to the elevator. His men run right behind him. It isn't long before he reaches his office. He looks to his left and sees the Asari child is gone. Then he runs straight for the secured cabinet and pulls the already opened door as far as it can go. He looks at the shelves searching for the Shadow Broker's data disk. When he doesn't see it, he punches the side of the thick metal cabinet so hard it falls on its side, spilling the syringes on the floor.
"Fuck"!
His men stands there watching him breathe heavily and pacing back and forth. One of the men goes over to the dead Batarian sitting in the chair behind the desk. The sound of Drim's communicator beeping interrupts the heavy breathing. Drim puts his forearm close to his mouth and yells "What"?
"Sir, we finished our sweep of the other building".
"Any survivors?" Drim asks.
"No, sir" the voice replies "It's a blood bath over here. And most of the slaves are missing". Drim slaps his forearm device to turn it off. "Okay, Marco" he says to himself "That's how you want to play it? I won't hold back anymore". He then goes over to his desk and activates his personal computer. After a few seconds, one of his men gains the courage to talk to Drim in his angered state.
"Sir, let me find Marco for you" he says "I'll take a few of the best men here and we will hunt him down".
"No" Drim quickly replies "You men have already failed me. I want this done right. Look". The slave master turns the computer display screen to face his men. The screen shows a list of names on the left and profile pictures on the right. The same man asks "What is it"?
"It's my list of assassins" he says "There was one that impressed me the last time I hired him". Drim quickly taps the screen when he sees the assassin he is looking for. "There. That's him". A profile of a Drell is enlarged on the screen. The Drell's scaly skin is green and his eyes look like a fish's. The list of names disappears except for one. The name is moved to the top of the picture.
"Thane Krios" it reads.
Drim grabs the man's shoulder with one hand and points to the screen with the other. "That's the one" he says "Get him here, now"!
Alone in the vast void of space lies the small personal shuttlecraft Ish took from the slave compound's landing pad. In the cockpit, The Asari woman rests her chin on the knuckles of her fist. For nearly an hour she has been contemplating how best to report the mission progress to Aria T'Loak. She has the data disk but neither she nor Aria knew that Tanya Jevings is the only one who can decrypt its contents to reveal the true identity and location of the Shadow Broker.
Ish first thought about lying to Aria. Maybe she could make up a story about how she didn't have what she was sent to get. But Ish decided against lying. If Aria found out she was deceived, Ish would be severely punished. She feared spending a few hours in Thrasher's interrogation room.
Then she thought about pretending to not know about Tanya and her involvement. She had planned to return to Omega, give the data disk to Aria, receive her compliments on a job well done and watch Aria's futile efforts to crack the encryption. But she decided against that as well. Aria's resources are vast and near limitless. There was still a chance she will discover the truth.
Unfortunately for Ish, she came to the realization that, the best thing she could do is tell Aria what really happened. It wouldn't be pretty. Ish wasn't concerned about Aria's verbal scolding. She has known Aria a long time and has learned how to endure the verbal brunt. What Ish didn't want was falling out of her favor. Ish spent many years becoming one of Aria's most reliable mercenaries. It was a ladder she vigilantly climbed so she and Braiala could live good lives. Ish also hoped that, if she succeeded in this mission, Aria would repay her by helping her find Braiala. But that was no longer a possibility.
Ish hovers her hand over the cockpit's communication computer. After nearly a minute of hesitation, she activates the terminal. The screen is blank for several seconds while it uses the galaxy's extranet system to establish a link to Omega. Suddenly, Aria T'Loak's face appears on the screen. Ish was taken a little off guard by how fast Aria answered the call.
"Ish" Aria says "Do you have the data disk"?
Ish reaches in her pocket, pulls out the round disk and presents it to the screen. But Ish replies in a somber and small voice. "Yes, Aria". The self proclaimed queen of Omega didn't get to the top by letting people say one thing while meaning another. Her honed skills instantly pick up Ish's tone.
"Then why do I get the feeling you are about to give me bad news?" she says. Ish was glad she didn't lie to Aria. Her ability to turn people transparent and know what they are thinking before they could speak was uncanny. There was no choice. She had to tell the truth.
"Marco lied to us" Ish says "I discovered the location of the disk but he didn't tell me his wife was the only one who could decrypt it". Aria doesn't change her commanding demeanor. "His wife?" she echoes trying to determine if what she heard was true or not.
"He tricked me" Ish continues "He pretended to"- she didn't finish the rest of her sentence. She remembered Aria hates excuses. "The disk is useless without his wife".
"You're over two hundred years old, Ish" Aria says "How could you let a child of a Human trick you? Did you sleep with him"? Aria knew the answer from the look of disgust on Ish's face before she yelled "No, of course not".
"Listen to me, Ish and listen well" Aria says, her voice turning even more serious than most people thought possible "I don't care what Marco said or did to you. All I care about is the information on that data disk. The contents inside that little round thing you're holding is worth a lot of money to me. I want it".
"I don't know where to look" Ish says.
Aria only gives a look so cold it nearly freezes the screen. "That's not my problem" she replies "I want the disk and Marco's wife. Don't come back to Omega without them. And you have two days. If I don't hear from you by then, I'm going to send someone after you". Aria slaps her desk and ends the transmission. The black screen returns and Ish just stares at it. She curses Marco under her breath for making her job harder than it should have been.
Then she leans back on her seat and thinks about how to find Marco. She thinks back to every word he has said to try and find a clue as to where he might have gone. But every word Jevings told her was carefully thought out. From the fake story of his son's death to offering her the soup; everything he did was to fool her into trusting him. Her anger builds inside her and she is degusted at herself for having been played. Aria was right. Her age and experience should have protected her from the tricks of a human.
Her thoughts quickly change from feeling used and embarrassed to feeling revenge. She wants to kill Marco. She sits in the cockpit thinking of how she can do that and give Aria what she wants. Her first idea was to go hunt down Archangel. She remembered they knew each other somehow so he might have some kind of knowledge to his whereabouts.
That idea was quickly tossed out of her mind. Aria didn't allow her to return to Omega. And, even if she did manage to sneak back to the station, she was only one Asari against Archangel and his comrades.
Then she thought about returning to Helyme and striking a deal with Drim. She would bargain to return the disk if he helped her find Marco and Tanya. Of course, she would betray him and steal everything for herself. But that idea was even more far fetched than the first. She couldn't realistically see Drim agreeing to anything she proposed after what she help do to his facility.
Suddenly, an idea forms. She remembers Marco's contact on The Forum and how he worked there as an administrator for recording the flight paths of every vessel that docked there. But, before her idea spawns more ideas, she instantly shoots herself down. The Forum has several security measures to prevent unwanted guests from entering. But maybe Marco's Batarian contact could help her with that as well.
Without fully thinking it through, she activates her communications terminal again and sends an extranet signal request to Gretell in the Aegis planet. The screen is black and remains so for a solid minute. She admits to herself that how desperate the idea was and how unlikely the chances of success were. She reaches over to turn off the monitor but, before her fingertips could touch the interface, a Batarian male appears on the screen. Ish recognizes him as the same man who she met in The Forum's bar.
"Who is this?" Gretell asks "You are not using the proper channel". The Batarian looks closely at the Asari's face and it isn't long before he remembers who she is. "It's you. Why are you contacting me like this"?
"Marco has some good news for you and didn't want to tell you through the official channels".
Gretell rubs his fingers on his chin and asks "What kind of good news"?
Ish despised Gretell for being Batarian but she couldn't express that now. Killing Marco and completing her mission was more important than insulting him. So she forces a smile and plays the part. "We've killed Drim and destroyed his slave operation on Helyme".
"That is good news" Gretell says.
"There's more".
Interested, Gretell tilts his head and brings all his attention to the Asari woman. "In Drim's office was a vault with a large some of credits" she lies "There was still a lot after Marco and I stole our share. He told me to bring you the rest as a way of returning the favor for giving us Drim's information".
"That's what I always liked about Marco" the man says with a smile growing larger on his face "He always kept his promises. I can't wait to thank him in person when you arrive".
"I'm coming alone" Ish says "Marco wanted to be with his wife after the job was done. And there is something else".
When Gretell asks "What do you mean?", Ish tilts her head, bats her eyes and caresses her cheek with the back of her hand. "I wanted to personally apologize for being rude to you before". The Batarian sticks out his chest and smiles at Ish. "I'll never turn down a beautiful Asari who brings me money".
"There's just one thing" Ish quickly interjects "I'll be arriving in a ship I stole from Drim's compound. It's not registered to The Forum and I don't want to be shot down. I was hoping you would take care of it".
"Of course" Gretell replies "Send me the vessel's configurations and your ETA and I will make sure you are allowed to dock"
Ish presses a few commands into the computer. "I'm sending it to you now" she tells Gretell. Then the Batarian inputs commands into his own terminal. "I'm sending you the directions to my living quarters. Go straight there after you dock your ship". Ish doesn't say thank you or show any signs of gratitude. She just says "Very well. I'll see you soon" and ends the transmission.
With the screen black again, Ish's flirty smile disappears. However, she is pleased with herself. Aria was right. When she uses her age and experience to her advantage, she doesn't need anything else to get the job done. With a few commands to the navigational system, the small craft finally takes flight. Just like her plot for revenge.