13 December 2580, Eezo Production Facility Three/Omega
Half a long lifetime in command of Omega had hardly softened Aria T'Loak. I looked at her face, and even knowing that she and I had finally reached an accord after centuries of enmity, I shuddered at what I saw there.
If I were one of the Old Ones, I think I would be fleeing for my life right about now.
In fact, I'm not one of the Old Ones, and I'm still tempted.
"Militia captains are reporting in," said Talia. "The call-up is on schedule. Major engagements are under way on the docking ring, sectors alpha and delta, and in the industrial levels."
"Militia?" Shepard inquired.
"Just because the people of Omega don't carry firearms in public all the time anymore, doesn't mean they don't have them," said Aria. "Reforming the old gangs into citizen militia was one of the first things I did after the war."
He snorted. "Somehow I have a hard time seeing the Blood Pack or the Blue Suns settling down as responsible citizens."
"Well." Aria gave him a sharp glance. "I got rid of the ones who didn't get the message. With extreme prejudice."
"Still only one rule on Omega?" he mused.
"In the final analysis, yes." She grinned. "Though I decided to become a bit more explicit about the interpretation of that one rule. It's easier to be an autocrat if people know what to expect from you. You don't have to kill as many people, either."
I caught Vara's eye, saw a glimmer of humor in her face, and heard a thought across our link.
Aria really has grown up, hasn't she?
"Nyreen would be proud," Shepard murmured.
Aria's face froze for an instant, and then she nodded. "Maybe you're right. She gave me a lot to think about, back then. So did your predecessor."
"Shouldn't we be getting out there to join the fight?" Grunt complained.
"Not yet," said Aria. "We're safe enough in here for the moment, and my people know what to do. No sense jumping into the fight, until we know where we can have the most impact."
Boom. Boom. Once again, the sound of distant explosions. Then another, not quite so distant: BOOM.
Just then, my daimon signaled for attention.
{This is Aspasia, aboard Chandragupta. The valdarii squadron has gone berserk. They're moving to bombard Omega, and the station's defenses have gone to full alert. We had to break free of the docking ring, or be caught nose-to-station. What are your orders?}
I caught Shepard's eye, a flash of tactical insight surging across the link.
{Do whatever you can to help defend Omega. What is the IDF doing?}
{Already coming in hot. ETA about five minutes.}
I glanced back at Aria. "My ship and the Illium fleet are moving to assist. Can you make sure the defense grid doesn't fire on any of them?"
"Already done," said Talia, still listening to a stream of reports. "Omega knows not to fire on any ship putting out Illium IFF. Chandragupta should be safe too, but give me her codes and I'll have Admiral Jarral add them to the list."
I sent a quick thought through my daimon, handshaking with Talia's own device and the Omega high-security network. It surprised me, how easily the transfer went through. Aria was apparently sincere in her commitment to an alliance.
"Right," said Talia suddenly. "I've got a pattern."
"Let's see it," said Aria.
Talia gestured with her omni-tool, producing a large schematic of Omega in mid-air: the great asteroidal cap of the station at the top; the towers full of industrial, commercial, and residential spaces hanging below that; the spaceport's main docking ring. Points of blue and red light appeared scattered throughout the schematic, positions of the Omega militia and known valdarii units.
I had a hard time seeing any pattern in the busy map, but I caught a flash of comprehension from Shepard.
"There, and there," he murmured, pointing into the schematic at particularly large spots of red. "Big valdarii detachments, moving up toward the mining areas. It's the one clearly coordinated move they're making."
"Not a surprise," said Aria.
"It's not a good move," Talia objected. "They have to know that they can't take control of Omega by coming here. They should be going after the administrative areas, the life-support plant."
"You're assuming they give a damn about Omega," said the Matriarch, pointing at Shepard. "Their primary objective, from the very beginning, has been him."
He cocked his head at her. "I'm not sure I disagree. The Old Ones keep making moves that only make sense if you assume that I'm high on their list of targets. The question is why."
"You don't know?"
"Well, I've been rallying potential opposition to them for years, and the technology in my blood has been an important part of that." He made a self-deprecating shrug. "It's just that I'm no longer indispensable. Now that you and Illium are in the game, just about the entire civilized galaxy has lined up against the valdarii and their masters. Millions of people have taken the technology, from all the major species, which means it's going to spread through the whole population without any more need for action on my part. The biggest part of my job is done. The Old Ones have to know that."
"No. That is not correct." John Tikolo stepped forward, still looking shaky from the abrupt loss of his alien handler, but determined. "I remember what the Old One riding me was thinking. It knew all of what you have just said, that is true. Yet it still feared you, Mr. Shepard. It feared something you may yet do."
Shepard looked confused. "I wish I knew what that was."
Aria and Talia exchanged a determined glance.
"It doesn't matter," said the Queen of Omega. "We stop them, right here."
Talia nodded, and turned back to the schematic, which began to show signs of furious activity. Icon after blue icon flashed and indicated change of status. I guessed she must be issuing orders to the militia through her daimon.
"Come on," said Aria. "There's an arms locker right over here."
Shepard grinned. "Already covered," he said, and raised his arms. A flash of silver in the air, and suddenly his armor and weapon arrived, wrapping around his body and going active.
Aria blinked. "All right, just how did that get past my security systems?"
"You're good, Aria," said Shepard. "But not as good as the Reapers. May I suggest a plan?"
The valdarii arrived about ten minutes later, breaking through the last of the Omega militia and smashing into the eezo mining facility by force. They came up a shaft, blew a hole in the wall of the chamber, and began to pour in.
We were ready for them.
Vara, Talia, Kamala, and Grunt made up our front line. They took positions in cover, close to the barbarians' point of emergence, and opened fire the moment they saw targets. Four rifles could lay down an amazing amount of crossfire. When the enemy approached, all of them proved able to hold their own in close-quarters combat as well. Vara and Talia were biotic vanguards with different styles, my bondmate with her sword, Aria's daughter with an explosive charge-and-nova combination. Kamala and Grunt lacked biotic talents, but they were strong, well-armed and armored, and extremely tough.
Almost immediately, that end of the mining chamber began to roar and flash. Crackles of gunfire and the thunder of biotic explosions echoed through the whole chamber.
Then Kalan got to work, from a sniper's nest high in the scaffolding behind us. From that position, he could see almost the entire chamber. Our quarian friend had been getting plenty of practice with his sniper rifle, and Tekanta could look through his eyes and provide computational assistance. He soon proved horribly deadly, making headshot after headshot even at long range.
Miranda stayed by her lover, not an experienced combatant, but ready to protect him with a sidearm and her biotics. Even John Tikolo had insisted on a pistol and a kinetic barrier. He also had very little combat experience – he was a civilian engineer by profession – but he wanted to help. He positioned himself near Kalan and Miranda, hoping to take down any valdarii that tried to attack them.
The valdarii had only a narrow breach through which to enter the eezo mine, and they had to climb a long vertical shaft to get even that far. It slowed them down, broke them into bite-sized pieces. We held for two minutes, then for five, as the fighting around their point of entry became ever more intense.
Then the inevitable happened. A rush of valdarii runners forced Vara to pull back a few paces, or be overwhelmed. At the same time, a centaur's heavy weapon caught Kamala in center of mass, slamming her off her feet and forcing her to take cover for a moment. Grunt and Talia backpedaled frantically to avoid being flanked.
A whole squad of valdarii soldiers surged into the mine.
Only to be met by our artillery.
Aria and I had been waiting in a carefully chosen vantage point, a safe distance back from the front, but well ahead of Kalan's sniper nest. Now we had a clear shot.
When I had first met Aria, she was still only a matron. Even then, she was perhaps the second most powerful biotic I had ever encountered, following only after my mother Benezia. Given her raw power and her sheer killer instinct, I had always been thankful that she and I never came to blows.
Now she was a Matriarch, at the absolute peak of her power . . . and if she had chosen softer methods of rule over the centuries, she had not lost a gram of that killer instinct.
The moment she had a clear line of sight at the incoming valdarii, Aria's corona surged to nova brilliance. She made a broad two-armed gesture, and a deceptively small knot of force flew across the chamber. It landed amid the barbarians, and then it detonated.
The flash lit up that entire vast chamber, bright as the noonday sun, and thunder rumbled from wall to wall for a good half minute afterward.
"Show-off," I muttered.
Aria only gave me a daredevil grin.
In any case, Aria's first salvo certainly gave the valdarii something to think about. All the barbarians who had been standing at ground zero were now down and very still. The rest continued their attack, but I thought I could detect a certain caution in their movements. Just as well, for now she and I both went to work.
I had gained a certain amount of biotic might myself, in four hundred years.
Singularity and flare, balls and streamers of telekinetic force, we lashed at the valdarii and gave our front line a chance to recover. Then Vara slashed with her blade, Talia launched a vicious shockwave, and Kamala and Grunt resumed laying down heavy fire.
For a moment, it seemed we had driven the enemy away.
Then I saw new movement: flick-flick-flick, and a new squad of valdarii came flying out of the shaft into our chamber. Quite literally, in this case. Flying aliens, their middle pair of limbs elaborated into broad leathery wings, soaring through the air and bringing automatic rifles to bear.
"Whoa!" Kamala shouted in surprise.
Shepard! I sent through our telepathic link. They have flyers!
I see them. Kalan is targeting.
Sure enough, the quarian began to turn his attention to the flying creatures. His targeting proved to be superb, especially with his geth companion to assist. He didn't hit with every shot any more – the flyers were too fast and agile – but he continued to damage the enemy.
Unfortunately, as the flyers moved out, they compromised our defensive positions. They immediately moved past the cover our front line used, and they soon threatened Aria and me in our vantage point. My security detail went into action on the scaffolding to either side of us, firing at the flyers and keeping them off our backs. Still, for a fatal moment, Aria and I had to divide our attention.
Another surge of runners and centaurs. Then something big emerged from the shaft.
Like a centaur, but enormous, barely small enough to squeeze out of the shaft at all. On its feet, it towered over the other valdarii, easily three meters tall or more. As soon as it was clear, it reached over its shoulders and produced a weapon: black and crimson and built very much to scale.
"Hah!" barked Grunt. "Finally, something worth the trouble!"
Aria and I hammered at the newcomer, but to no avail. It had kinetic shields in place, and a diamond-hard biotic barrier that flared bright blue-white under our attack. It turned and brought its weapon to bear . . . on our position.
"Uh-oh," muttered Aria.
Crack! Crack!
A bar of lightning struck from the shadows high in the chamber, flashing as it struck the behemoth's barriers. Then another.
A silver statue dropped from the heights, slashing past one of the flyers from ambush, sending it broken and reeling into the abyss.
Shepard!
"You didn't think I could fly too, did you?" he called, challenging the enemy.
With an inarticulate roar, Grunt charged the behemoth, slamming into it from the side. Talia followed suit, striking it with a perfect flash-charge. Kamala and Vara leaped to support them.
I couldn't track the whole battle anymore. Flyers soared all through the space, runners and centaurs worked their way up the maze of platforms and scaffolds, the behemoth stood struggling in the breach. I had to focus, trusting that my security detail would keep the enemy away from Aria and me. Or at least warn me when the moment came to fight for my life.
I hurled biotic force, matching Aria strike for strike, the two of us falling into a near-perfect rhythm. We couldn't attack the behemoth anymore, not with our front-line team in close quarters with it, but we could pick runners and centaurs off the scaffolding. It began to rain broken valdarii down there.
Shepard flew through my field of vision in a flash, three flyers on his tail. I saw a glimpse of his maneuver, turning over to fly face-up and backwards for a moment, firing his weapon past his own feet. Crack-crack-crack, and suddenly he was free of pursuit.
"They are after him," Aria observed in a free moment.
I nodded, too busy scourging a platform with biotic throws to speak. I could see the way all the valdarii concentrated their fire on Shepard, turning to follow him, paying the rest of us little attention. It helped those of us not engaged with the behemoth, as we could pick off the enemy one at a time.
A terrible hollow roar echoed, the first sound I had ever heard a valdarii deliberately make, and the behemoth surged free. Grunt flew backward, slamming into a stone wall with bone-crushing force, but it only seemed to enrage him. Vara was not so fortunate. She lay under the thing, stunned, as it reared up and prepared to smash her with its fore-hooves.
"Vara!" I shouted, and flung my most powerful throw at the beast.
It rocked back, off-balance for just an instant.
A flash of blue-white light: Talia, flash-charging across the platform, scooping Vara up in her arms on the way past.
The behemoth's hooves slammed down, right where my bondmate had been only a moment before.
It rumbled, peering up into the chamber with fierce red eyes, and swung its weapon up once more.
Grunt made a counter-charge, his own roar echoing off the walls, and almost reached his target in time.
Flash!
The behemoth's weapon ejected a trail of white-hot plasma, surging out into the chamber, a missile at its tip. The projectile banked, turned to acquire its target, and then accelerated, flashing across the space in an instant.
Striking Shepard exactly in his center of mass.
The detonation blinded and deafened me.
When my vision cleared, I could see nothing at all where Shepard had just been.
