Killing the Cerberus team that managed to reach the support columns, Forta moved to the control console in an effort to disable the bombs. "Crap."

Forta was looking around, and quickly moved to the columns themselves, checking something. Shepard looked back to the console, "Don't we need to open the access panels first?"

"Yeah, but if Rang has taught me anything about explosives, then these things are rigged." After a few moments of examining the panel, he slammed his fist against it, "Damn them! We need to open the access panels, but the only way to do that is with the console, and once they open the bombs will go live and we're on the clock."

Aria looked back to the batarian, "Don't you have some kind of short cut or something here too?"

"With your paranoia, and mine, I never dreamed of touching these. Well, not the central support columns at any rate."

Mandalore tapped the console, "Then we better get moving." He then turned toward the spinning fan at the other end of the room, "We'll draw Cerberus' attention. Focus on disabling those bombs."

Forta was already disarming the Cerberus explosive once he could interface with it. After a bit of tinkering with the wiring he carefully removed the device, ripping out a few extra wires to permanently disable it. "Three more to go!"

"Really wishing Rang's 'magic fingers' were here right about now."

"Rang? Isn't he better at blowing things up?"

Mandalore took cover next to Shepard, "He prefers it that way, yeah, but being a master of explosives he can arm or disarm any of them. Now watch your flank."

Mandalore killed the Cerberus solder as Shepard tagged a Rampart mech. The two of them nod to one another before breaking cover to engage another group that appeared, distracting Cerberus from Forta as he moved to work on the second column's bomb.

The Talons were continuing ahead, though Aay'han and Tishad were holding back because of Lissarkh. The Jedi was meditating in a small room, relying completely on those two for her defense. Tishad watched this strange behavior, still uncertain how this was helping. "So why aren't we gunning through Cerberus like you usually do?"

Aay'han was completely focused on keeping the area secured, "Three reasons. First, we've got civilians fighting. Second, we're only fighting long enough for Mandalore, Shepard and Aria to reach the Cerberus general. And third, that battle meditation will be the difference between thousands of civilian casualties and a few hundred. Not ideal, but we save as many lives as we can. Trust me, we're doing more to help everyone than fighting sector by sector. Just listen to the reports."

Tishad wasn't sure what listening to the comm chatter would do, but she wasn't going to fight against him after seeing some things the Mandalorians have managed to pull off. She scanned through the various channels they were using for the assault and it was all rather good. They were starting to suffer heavier casualty counts, but overall everyone was managing to push Cerberus back hard. Despite their lack of any formal training for the civilians, or even fighting together, they were managing to have Cerberus scrambling to even fight back. "How is she doing this?"

"The ultimate form of psychological warfare. Allied forces get morale boosts and better coordination with one another, while the enemy starts cowering in fear and loss of resolve. Can't really put fear into a tinne, but that doesn't mean the men couldn't use the encouragement. The only downside to that would be she's nearly defenseless while doing this."

Aria kicked a Cerberus flunky down before shooting his back with her shotgun and Forta hacked a mech that killed the Cerberus soldier that was behind her. Mandalore ripped the mech's head off, the last hostile standing. "Clear."

"Good. Nyreen, things are under control here. What's your situation?"

"We're advancing through the Gozu district. We're holding our own, and I don't know how, but so are the civilians. Cerberus is starting to fall back, cornering themselves. Even so, reports of casualties are coming in from all sectors."

"Save those you can, and head for the rendezvous point. We'll meet you there."

"We'll do what we can. Nyreen out."

Mandalore was tempted to note her rather unusual behavior, however he looked toward Afterlife's direction, "So, any plans on how we're getting there?"

Aria walked next to Mandalore, "I'm thinking the straightforward approach…for a change." Aria flared her biotics, charging an orb in her fist before launching it at the fan they were looking at. The orb broke one of the fan blades as it cascaded to the other blades until it eventually left a gap to a door behind it.

Forta unlocked the door as Shepard took lead now. In the next room they could hear gun fire as someone shouted, "Shoot! Shoot!"

Shepard looked up as Forta climbed up the ladder, "Cerberus."

"How do you know that? Could be the Talons or…" before Aria could even suggest it was a Mandalorian a Cerberus soldier was flung through the glass, "Never mind."

Continuing into the next room they came upon a rather unsettling sight, Cerberus soldiers attempting to hold off an adjutant. "Damn it. Bev, there are adjutants here. Track our progress, and seal the rooms behind us. Don't let this thing have a back door."

"Locking down the doors now."

With nothing left that they could do, the team pushed forward, discovering more dead Cerberus soldiers and personnel, and a recording that just continued to repeat itself, "…with the civilian population contained, we should be ready to…"

"Looks like they bit off more than they could chew."

Aria tipped one of the hanging bodies over, "We should get moving."

"Not before we find out what they were doing."

Mandalore walked to the console next to the shattered glass of the containment pod. After a few adjustments the recording was fix and played its message in its entirety. "With the civilian population contained, we should be ready to initiate the next phase of the project on schedule. Before host conversion, we should begin the process of fusing the control implants to the subject's nervous system. With the current success ratio, we project being able to surpass demand by 300 percent."

Mandalore then played back the first recording available, "The first generation adjutants have been transferred from the containment area and are being outfitted with the implants. The previous batches have been processed and moved to the storage area."

He now played the next recording, "We can now control when and where the adjutants convert their victims. Initial testing on various species provides ample proof the virus can adapt flawlessly regardless of the host used."

"Bev, pull up records from Cerberus and the Talons. How many people surrendered, and how many have they taken?"

There was a rather long pause, "Records indicate over two hundred gang members and resistance fighters accepted Petrovsky's offer of amnesty. Another thousand or so civilians have been collected for 'registration'."

Mandalore slammed his vibroblade through the console's monitor. "Demagolka'se!" He stepped away from the console, "Forta, salvage what you can. Sorry. Those bastards have been trying to control the adjutants from the very beginning, all of the lives lost to study these things!"

"Are we going to tell the others?"

Mandalore started cracking his knuckles, "I'm tempted to, but I don't want them fighting angry. They've got civvies to watch over. And you know how some of them are when angry."

Bev had C3 purge the consoles while maintaining control over security and deactivate the lights once the remaining personnel had been evacuated. Cerberus finally managed to open the welded doors and rushed into the command center. With the blast shields closed to the dock and the other doors locked down, the only light source was from the room they just came through. A few of them activated their flashlights to get a better look around. They were walking right into his trap. As soon as the commander attempted to activate the lights several hidden turrets came online and started to mow through the unfortunate troopers. The few that weren't killed fall back through the doors and managed to toss a grenade or two that disabled the turrets.

While the assault team attempted to reorganize themselves a knife was tossed from the darkness as it struck one of the soldiers through the helmet's eye slit, killing him before he realized it. The others opened fire in the direction the knife came from, trying to kill the one who tossed it. After several seconds, two of them moved to investigate.

In a swift and relentless assault, something killed both soldiers before they could react to their assailant. The survivors opened fire again, only hitting their dead comrades. Something was rolled to them from the other side before it became apparent what it was. At first they assumed it to be a grenade and tried to flee only it wasn't. The 'grenade' was a flash bang, disabling them to fall prey to the one who used it. Bev had one of force pikes fully extended, beating each one of them to the ground or wall before using the sharp ends to finish them.

More Cerberus soldiers were now coming to assault the command center and Bev retreated back to the hanger. Leading Cerberus into the hanger where an ambush had been set up, using the Tervho's outer defenses to cover Bev as the other Mandalorians joined to wipe them out. "Mandalorians, next wave incoming!"

Shepard pressed the button on the elevator taking them up from Gozu district. "Nyreen here. Something's not right."

"Cerberus is still on my station. Of course something's not right."

"Not what I was talking about. I'm checking this out. Going radio silent."

Mandalore looked to Aria, "What the hell is she doing?"

Once the elevator opened, they were behind a defense line with three members of the Talons. One of them walked toward them as Shepard turned to him, "Where's Nyreen?"

"Scouting ahead. We've got our hands full, holding this area."

One of the Talons moved the crate aside for them, though Aria quickly pieced it together, "She's going on to Afterlife!" running to catch up.

A group of civilians managed to reach the main entrance to Afterlife, however the Cerberus squad defending it weren't letting up. The fight seemed one sided, or it was until Cerberus fell back and locked the door. A group of adjutants had found their way over there and the civilians were now backed against a wall. Two of them tried fighting back, but it was completely futile as they were torn apart.

Nyreen found her way into this, drawing the attention of the adjutants, only for three more to move in from behind her. She looked around and grabbed the grenade belt off a dead Cerberus Guardian, activating the grenades as she tossed them just in front of herself. Aria was running as fast as she could, but Nyreen projected a modest size biotic field around herself, the adjutants and the grenades. Before the adjutants could completely encircle her or the grenades detonated, Nyona rushed out from the shadows and slid her way into Nyreen's biotic bubble. Nyona creating her own biotic sphere just before the grenades detonated.

The black smoke of the detonation was thick inside of the bubble, as the others were unable to discern if the two survived. The outer sphere dissipated and the smoke hastily fanned out to reveal Nyona and Nyreen both safe, minus Nyona's left foot. She didn't have time to adjust the size to compensate for her slide. Nyona was muscling through the obvious pain, holding up the biotic barrier just to forget about it. "Nyona!"

Mandalore and Forta rushed to her aid, getting medi-gel ready to apply to the amputated limb for anesthetic purposes. Nyreen was prepared for death in exchange for the civilians who were now moving out of their way. Nyona finally dropped the barrier as she let out a painful scream before the medi-gel was applied to the charred cauterized flesh. When she could finally speak, she looked to Aria, "Guess this is why people like us don't play the hero…"

Aria clenched her fist, looked to Afterlife as a few Cerberus soldiers were sent out to investigate the situation. She ran at them, blasting the two over the edge, "Tell your boss I'm coming for him!" jumping through the doors before they could close her out.

"Damn it, Aria." Nyreen turned to Shepard and Mandalore. "You two make sure she doesn't do something stupid. I'll stay here with your friend until a medic can arrive."

"Or a Jedi." Forta nodded to Mandalore, as he did what he could to ease Nyona's pain.

Forta watched Mandalore open the door with Aria shouting, "Enough! I will kill you all!" blasting the Cerberus soldiers surrounding her with nothing but her biotics. "Petrovsky dies. Now!"

Forta looked to Nyona, "Hold tight, help will be here soon. Aay'han, can you read me? We're just outside of Afterlife and we have a Mandalorian down."

"Who?!"

"Nyona, and she's lost a foot. I'm doing what I can to help with the pain, though it looks like the cauterization will prevent infection."

In the heart of Afterlife, Petrovsky was standing where Aria's couch originally used to be. Nothing about the bar was the same, it had been completely renovated for military purposes. Looking down upon the trio, Petrovsky scoffed, "You Mandalorians are a well-trained, efficient group. It's a shame one of your soldiers had to suffer such an unnecessary injury."

That only proved to provoke Aria and Mandalore. "You're a dead man!"

Mandalore got his DC-17 set to its anti-armor configuration, but Shepard quickly lowered the weapon, "No, wait!" It was too late for Aria however, as she jumped right at him only for a strange device that had been set up where the massive monitor in the center of the bar once was activated, trapping the powerful biotic in energy binders. Mandalore shrugged Shepard off his weapon, as they turned to Petrovsky, "What now, Petrovsky?"

"Divide and conquer, Commander. Kandros killed the adjutants we hadn't finished experimenting on…" below him the door opened as a pair of adjutants walked in, "These are fully under our control-the prototypes for our future army."

"You bastard!" Before Mandalore could fire, a shield quickly surrounded Petrovsky's booth, completely protecting him from anything. Mandalore looked around, signaling to Shepard the four generators holding Aria and the two he was going after. "You haven't seen the Mandalorian version, Petrovsky!"

Talon mercs had secured the area as Aay'han, Tishad and Lissarkh arrived to Nyona's side. "What? You guys came just for me? We have Cerberus assholes to kill. I think they take precedent, or the civvies."

"Not when it's one of our own."

Lissarkh started using her abilities to assist with alleviating the pain. "I am still maintaining my battle meditation, though weaker than it was it should be more than sufficient. However, I shouldn't be tasked with much else less I lose this concentration on both."

Tishad looked to the leg, "So what happens to her now? Getting put down like a sick dog?"

"Oh, ha, ha, bitch."

"Well, at least your personality is still intact. That's something. Hey Forta, can't you or someone create a metal foot for her now. I think it'll be an improvement."

"Just laugh it up. When I'm standing again, I'm going to pay you back, tenfold."

"She is right though." Forta was also keeping an eye out for any more Cerberus, "Rang's lab is a bit dangerous without him, and it'll take time to grow you a replacement foot. So if you want to be mobile without crutches, a temporary metal foot will have to do."

"Damn it…"

Shepard and Mandalore's division worked, Aria managed to break herself free after the binds holding her arms were destroyed. Despite the adjutants and the forces that tried to stop them, it was Petrovsky who finally submitted to what was coming. "Attention! All Cerberus forces: surrender!" The shield protecting the booth deactivated and the doors were unlocked as he walked over to a console to make this order station wide, "Cease and desist all aggression. It's over." Deactivating the holograms of his chess board, he turned to Shepard, "Commander Shepard, I surrender myself into your custody."

"That is the most pathetic thing I've ever heard."

Aria gave him a biotic backhand that sent him down to the ground. "Shepard, I'm unarmed…and I can give the Alliance intel on the Illusive Man!"

Mandalore however was standing above him, cutting Aria and Shepard from reaching Petrovsky, "You'll say just about anything if it means keeping yourself alive, even betraying those you were once loyal to."

"Wait, wait," cowering away from Mandalore's pistol, "I let her escape Omega. I deserve mercy."

Shepard turned to Aria, "Is this true, Aria?"

"It's partly true. After their little ruse to remove me from Omega, we started fighting back. Mandalore and his people were doing a number against occupying forces and they had Petrovsky in their sights, but this shit hole threatened to destroy Omega with his fleet… The Mandalorians could've faked his voice, but not his authorization codes."

Mandalore then kicked Petrovsky while he was still down, "Please, mercy…"

"Mercy?" Mandalore lifted Petrovsky up by the collar of his uniform, slowly edging his vibroblade to his throat, "What mercy did you show the civilians whom you mutilated for your goddamn experiments? What mercy was there for the gangs who surrendered to you only to be turned into adjutants? You show me where you gave any decent amount of mercy, and I might do so in return."

"But the intel! It could save lives, give you a fighting chance against Cerberus…"

Mandalore tossed Petrovsky back to the ground, "General…"

Mandalore tapped the side of his helmet as the speaker activated with a female voice coming through, "Cerberus encryption codes 27, 14, 5, and 11. Passwords: Achilles, Psyche, Orpheus, George S. Patton, Cyrus the Great, Hannibal Barca, Erwin Rommel, Temujin, John Churchill, Oda Nobunaga, Ulysses S. Grant, Sun Tzu, and Yue Fei."

Mandalore pressed the pistol to Petrovsky's forehead, "You see, we already have the intel in our grasp. And for your information, it's true you're unarmed but you were never a prisoner." Mandalore waited to see Petrovsky's realization before pulling the trigger. Mandalore walked out of Aria's booth, finding Lissarkh just standing there. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I know this isn't something you would have approved of and…"

She stopped him, raising her hand to do so. "While it is true my Jedi training would demand he be taken alive, his crimes against life here during Aria's absence cannot be simply overlooked as they would should he had the chance to a plea bargain."

Mandalore looked back, "I didn't even stick around long enough to see how Shepard or Aria reacted."

Shepard was walking down now, "She joked how she rubbed off on you more than the two of us rubbed off on her."

"And you? What do you think of her and me?"

Shepard looked back as Aria looked down to the citizens who were gathering within Afterlife, "Citizens of Omega, hear me. I, Aria T'Loak, have given you back your lives."

"I don't completely agree with your decision, but he did cause plenty of death. And hopefully Aria will also learn something from us too."

Aria was now at the console, addressing the rest of the station, "My rule is reignited. My hand is on the controls once more, and I will not let go again." Shepard, Mandalore and Lissarkh walked out as Aria continued her speech, "Each of you owes a debt. Gain my favor by rounding up the remaining Cerberus invaders, and…" Aria looked down for a moment, "…and we cast them from our home, then bury and mourn our dead. My methods haven't always been popular, and I can't promise that will change. But securing this station and everyone inside it is now my primary purpose." Aria's biotics started flaring for a moment, "No one will imprison us again. We may be bruised. We may be bloodied. But we are Omega!"

Aay'han and Tishad were already moving back to the Tervho with Nyona as Forta and Nyreen were waiting for them. Shepard turned to Nyreen, "So, think you can keep Omega safe?"

"I'll do my best. And so will the Talons. I think this change is something Aria needed. Too bad it was at such a cost to teach her."

Mandalore grabbed Forta's shoulder, "Those two are tough. I'd be surprised if this did anything more than fuel their anger toward Cerberus." Mandalore looked back to Afterlife, then to Shepard. "Come on. We'll get you back to the Citadel. We can't keep Wrex and the krogan people waiting for a cure to the genophage any longer."

A/N: Nyreen really didn't deserve to die, but the power of a fanfic can right this wrong. When Petrovsky was first shown to care about the men under his command and civilian lives in the comics I thought he might be worth saving, but after seeing that he had a hand in the projection and experimentation of the adjutants, kinda hard to just look aside and accept his surrender without feeling utterly shameful(though in-game Aria has hackers working on Cerberus files that give out the same amount of war assets if you keep the f-er alive).

Mandalorian Translation:

Demagolka(deh-mah-GOHL-kah)- someone who commits atrocities, a real-life monster, a war criminal - from the notorious Mandalorian scientist of the Old Republic, Demagol, known for his experiments on children, and a figure of hate and dread in the Mando psyche