CHAPTER 10
The World Without Law
Our vessel was parked outside the Charon Relay, we were about to jump through it. One of the pilots was surprisingly Calio Eboso. But then again it wasn't so surprising, because back on the Undaunted, we both participated in flight simulations. We were good pilots, practically equal, even though piloting didn't interest me much.
"Just like old times, Tarren!" Said Calio. "You sure you don't want to be my co-pilot?"
"Eboso, I don't need to remind you, until we retrieve the part, my identity to the rest of the galaxy is Argus Pallin." I replied in a mood.
"I'm just asking." He shrugged.
"Besides, I need to be focused on to the task at hand." I answered. "And your co-pilot seems capable."
My disguise was active, Argus Pallin was ready for Omega. At least, to retrieve the parts for the initiative. According to Barro, I was to meet with an elcor, Harrot, who owned an emporium. I was also advised to use caution since the station was notorious for criminals and thugs roaming about. Before our departure, I had relayed to my comrades what I knew about Omega. Even though I had never been there before, that didn't mean I wasn't aware of the dangers of the worst space stations in the galaxy. I told them everything, from the few thugs that escaped to Omega, plus Omega's practical "queen", Aria T'Loak. The general information.
"So far, J…" Alar spoke and corrected himself. "Argus… The camouflage program I modified is working well."
I saw a reflection of myself on the window of the shuttle. It was like my markings were glowing in the dark. My carapace was as dark as space, my facial tattoos were green as the forest and the design was an upside-down arch, and my eyes were yellow as a middle-aged dwarf star. I was wearing a black suit, too.
Even though my reflection showed what I looked on the outside. To my eyes, I still looked like myself. My uniform was blue and black, like a standard C-Sec officer would wear.
"But we got your back." Jesa assured me.
"Covert as it is, should the worst-case scenario ever happen, we can handle it." Said Kayu.
"None of those criminals you dealt with should be a problem for us." Erik grinned. "This Omega station won't know what hit them."
But... The one thing I neglected to mention was Garrus. I withheld that information for good reasons. One, Omega was a fairly large space station with a population of seven million. The chances of running into him were slim… Very, very slim… And two, the reason why I wanted to lay low in a dangerous environment. I knew Garrus was playing vigilante against mercenary gangs and other thugs, and under a… what was it the humans say, a moniker or nom de plume? The point was, if anyone fingered me for having connections to Garrus, or if I had incidentally outed Garrus' identity anyone close to the both of us would get in trouble. Our friends, comrades, and family above all would be used as leverage to get to us, get hurt or killed… And after what happened to my parents, I couldn't bear that uncle, aunt, or Solana would get hurt because of me…
Our shuttle made the push, and Calio guided us next to the rotating rings of the relay.
We passed through the Charon Relay and arrived in the Sahrabarik System of the Omega Nebula.
It didn't take long for us to catch sight of the asteroid with an oversized syringe sticking out from below. Neon lights of red illuminated the entire station, it almost reminded me of the Silversun Strip on the Citadel. But that wasn't the Citadel, at least not like the Citadel. My gut churned harshly that we were traveling to hell like Omega. Calio managed to get us permission to land inside the station. As we entered, we flew by column after column of buildings that resembled pillars holding the ground and ceiling of a subterranean world. And it was hell alright…
As we disembarked, we were greeted by two guards, a turian and a batarian. And of course, that batarian was Krako Sakdradrak. Seriously, what were the chances of running into that escaped murderer that soon?
"Welcome to Omega." Said Krako. "Under Aria's orders, we need to scan you all."
"Of course." I replied with an altered voice. So far, this disguise was working, from the carapace discoloration, different facial tattoos, and my voice sounded lower than usual…
As he approached us, my face was calm and confident as any turian soldier, but my heart raced faster than in a line of battle. My hand clenched on the handle of my phalanx in my pouch. If Alar's plan didn't work, we would have to risk outing the guards even if Aria finds out. I felt a hand grasping behind my right shoulder, it was Erik calming me down, assuring me that we won't be compromised.
It took a moment for the turian guard's scanner to conclude, and a blip appeared in his omni-tool. "Confirmed." He responded. "Argus Pallin, Alar Zaels, Kayu Druen, Jesa'Girol nar Saeron, and Erik Laharo." My grip on the handle loosened. Alar, I'm never doubting you again. "All from the Andromeda Initiative."
"You're from that Initiative program?" Krako asked. "You might as well join up with a mercenary gang, or Archangel's team. And carrying weapons, too."
"Archangel?" Jesa asked.
"We're just here to pick up parts for the Initiative, and we'll be on our way." I interrupted. "Our weapons are a precaution."
Krako approached me, my heart raced again. I was ready to pull my pistol out and shoot these thugs. But the turian received a blip from his omni-tool. "Sakdradrak, our shift is over, whatever reason they have for carrying weapons, just let 'em."
The batarian gazed at me, then he grinned. "Clever of you all. Be careful of what you do around here."
"Wait!" I called them. "Before you go, can you at least tell us where Harrot's Emporium is?"
The turian activated his omni-tool and I received a blip, a 3-D holographic map showing us directions to the Emporium. "Watch your step." He said as he and Krako walked away.
Where we stood was on the roof of a sky rise, the map showed we were in a district not too far from the Afterlife bar and club. How we would get there, whether by a transit cab or tram, it didn't matter to us, but we took a cab for safety reasons.
We arrived at the main square in front of the Afterlife bar and club. The civilians were strolling about, minding their business, despite the station's reputation. But few others… to our left, an asari nearly stripped of her clothes was dancing in front of a pair of humans. To our right, a pair of salarians were on the ground with bottles littered around them.
The scenery was practically a mess, even with hues of red and orange it was dark, and room temperature. The atmosphere ranked of varren shit and pyjak piss. Of all places I've been to in my time in the turian military, Omega was by far the worst station I had ever set foot on.
"Well, this place is… charming." Kayu said sarcastically.
We moved on, there was no trouble on the way. And good thing, too. The last thing we needed was to cause any problems with the locals. As we passed by the Afterlife club, I had heard whispers and murmurs from the citizens. A pandemic was going on in the Gozu District, a majority of species except for the humans were catching a plague. No one knew the exact cause at the moment.
A monitor had a news report, mercenary gangs were being thwarted by Archangel. The Blood Pack, Eclipse, and the Blue Suns were being decimated by his team. And loads of shipments (armor, weapons, even drugs) were being halted or destroyed.
Archangel, if I recall correctly, was an angel of high rank. The divine religions of Earth depict them as immortal, a messenger from God, to the warriors of the light and heaven. Almost like a… well, I don't know if I would go that far.
"Archangel."Is that what he is calling himself these days? Wow, that's original… As much as I despised the thugs in a hellhole like Omega, coming to eradicate them and stopping shipments of drugs across the galaxy… His intentions may be reasonable, but that was also egotistical and practically pointless. His goal is only going to place a really big target on his back. One of these days, that would bite him in the ass real hard.
"Damn." Said Erik. "Whoever this Archangel is, he's my kind of guy."
"Don't idolize him." I said angrily. "Whoever this Archangel is, he's just another thug, just as bad as these bastards here. And I know because I've dealt with them in my time in the military and C-Sec."
"I'm just saying, hermano." Erik replied. "Nothing more."
"Let's just get the parts and get out of here." I reminded him as we pressed on.
We had passed a doorway, the emporium was dead ahead. On the way, however, a batarian stood tall on a crate, surrounded by a small crowd of civilians. Some of the civilians, mostly the humans, walked away from the batarian speaking heresy.
"Repent! The end is nigh!"
Something about the humans being a blight on galactic purity. The protheans casting down on them, the krogan, and the vorcha. But we pressed on and ignored him.
"Typical reaper heterodoxy." Alar sighed.
It took us a few minutes to find the emporium. According to Pathfinder Barro, we were supposed to meet an elcor merchant named Harrot. The store was small, but seemed to be in a complex, duplex? I don't know, I just wanted to purchase the parts before we get into trouble with the local thugs around us.
An elcor merchant stood behind the counter.
"In amazed appeasement:" said the elcor, "welcome to Harrot's Emporium, My name is Harrot and I own this store, how may I help you?"
"We're from the Andromeda Initiative." I answered. "We're here to purchase parts for the ODSY Drive system."
He paused for a moment. I've known that the elcor were specific in their responses because they were monotone, they didn't talk the way other species do or make facial expressions. But regardless, I had an instinct that what Harrot was about to tell us wasn't good.
"With regretful disappointment: I apologize, but there is a slight problem with your request."
My mandibles twitched, I wasn't liking where that was going… "What problem?" I asked.
"One of the parts for the ODSY Drive Core, the capacitor, was stolen from us last night…"
SON OF A BITCH! Just my luck. Some assholes had to pick the worst possible time to rip off a crucial component for an initiative ark. I was feeling very explosive I could kill on the inside, the on the outside, I stood still with clenched fists and exhaled deeply not doing anything.
"Well, that's a problem." Alar replied disappointingly.
I was about to ask Harrot if he had any idea who broke into his store and stole the capacitor. But someone came from behind.
"Harrot!" Said a quarian. "I've got information on the break-in…" He paused as he gazed at us. "Oh, I see you have customers…"
Jesa broke through from behind, it could have been a thing between her people, but I had a hunch when she flinched from the quarian behind the elcor.
"Kenn?" She interrupted. "Kenn is that you?"
"Jesa." He replied. "Long time no see."
"Do you two know each other?" Erik asked.
"Kenn and I have run into each other more than once on the Flotilla." Jesa answered. "What are you doing here?"
"I was…" Kenn paused for a moment to correct his sentence. "Am on my pilgrimage."
"What?" Jesa gasped. "Why are you working here?"
Kenn tilted his head down as if he regretted something that recently happened to him. "I came to Omega during my pilgrimage. I'd hope to find something to bring back to the Migrant Fleet, but I learned the hard way not to trust people. All my credits were stolen and I've been stuck here since…
"Keelah…" Jesa sighed. "I'm sorry that happened."
"But what brings you here?" Kenn asked.
She revealed to Kenn about our errand for the Andromeda Initiative. We were supposed to retrieve parts for an ODSY Drive system. But knowing that a certain piece of the drive core was stolen…
"ODSY?" Kenn interrupted. "I was just looking into that, I've had cameras set up around the store, and this was what I got."
The screen showed an image of the store during closing hours. At the moment, all seemed quiet during the first few moments of the footage. But it didn't stay empty forever, a turian figure appeared from the side. It was too dark to see who it was. That bastard, whoever he was took the capacitor and ran off.
I viewed the footage carefully, and I noticed the turian's face was familiar. Using my omni-tool to enhance the footage, the image brightened up and rendered its clarity. It took me a moment to zoom in on the turians face so we could save the image and ask around. But, his facial plates caught me by surprise in many ways. That turian was Bertan Mattinus!
"I could scan the store and look for traces using biometrics and track his whereabouts." Alar suggested.
"Why bother?" Kenn interrupted. "I can offer better."
"What do you mean?" Jesa asked.
"I had an instinct that someone would steal something as… special, as parts of an ODSY Drive System." Kenn explained he had placed trackers on all items in the store, including the parts we needed for the Ark. "If I had the training, how to use a gun and self-defense I would get them back."
Damn it! Things were not going according to plan. We were supposed to come to Omega, run to Harrot's Emporium, purchase and retrieve parts for the ODSY Drive System, and take the shuttle back to Luna… So, we were stuck on the fucking hellhole of Omega for, who knows how long? Well, like it or not, we were not leaving without those parts.
I gazed back at everyone else, Jesa, Kayu, Alar, and Erik agreed to help me. I was concerned at first because we were on Omega, an asteroid station that was three kinds of holes. The station was notorious for their criminals to roam about, stealing and killing the weak. And standing in it made me sick to my stomach. But, they all knew the risk. There was no talking them out of it.
"We'll get the parts back." I said calmly. "When we do, will you sell it to us?"
"Genuine reply:" Harrot answered, "Consider it a deal, we will keep the parts to you only, and no one else."
After that, we followed Kenn to his workstation not too far from the Emporium. He would let us use his workshop to get our weapons ready. We all had our professions from previous missions, my weapons: M-8 Avenger, M-97 Viper, and M-5 Phalanx. My programs in my omni-tool included: Decryption, Damping, and Tactical Cloaking. I was also carrying other supplies from several clips, grenades, medi-gel, and revive packs. And Alar suggested our suits to have jump-jets installed. I was glad we brought essentials to Omega of all places, whether if we were retrieving items for the initiative or gunning for a firefight against mercenary thugs, I knew we would end up fighting for our lives.
I wasn't worried about myself, or my friends. Since we joined the initiative, we've improved our skills. In the simulators, we had encountered virtually every worst-case scenario when it came to high-risk situations. But, that wasn't something to be naïve about, which was a real case scenario. If we get punched we would feel the pain, if we get shot blood would erupt. If we get killed here, we stay killed! All the more reason why we had to prepare ourselves.
Kenn gave us a schematic of the Kenzo District. It was small, a rural district, and not many civilians lived there. According to Kenn, most of the residence had vacated the area due to massive mercenary activity. It seemed that the Blue Suns and the Blood Pack had been doing a lot of damages to the area. Seeing that kind of shit made me sick to my stomach. Once I heard someone say we should send any and many available soldiers to Omega and set orders to the place. Detaining any convict, murderer, basically every criminal behind bars. (Killing was excessive, only if it was necessary). I would halfway agree, but taking that action would result in a massive conflict between the lawless regions and the council worlds. Though I am a turian, we were born for our possible demise (die for the cause). But that didn't mean I wanted to see bloodshed of turians or other species. A real nightmare…
We arrived at the Kenzo District, and we parked in an alleyway. The district had several buildings surrounding the square, an intersection where civilians usually walk about minding their business. But that wasn't the case since the scenery was quiet and empty. It looked as if it had seen combat action. No doubt the mercs were at war with each other and took it out on the weaker civilians. Damned assholes…
The tracer was marked in a medical facility, third floor up. Both Jesa and Alar were at a kiosk, they hacked into the system to gain access to the facility's security cameras. It took them a moment to get a connection, we had eyes on over 20 rooms interchanging with each other. I approached from behind to find Mattinus. But there was no sign of him.
So many screens and each one changed their point of view every 10 seconds with an interval of five to ten seconds. Alar programmed his omni-tool, he was trying to enhance some of the imagery. And after a few seconds of the data handling, we found a pair of vorcha lounging in a laboratory. We found another pair of vorcha lazing around in an office. Another image showed more vorcha making a round across a hallway. And a krogan… what in the… there was something wrong with that image. That krogan Blood Pack member was… killed. From the looks of the hole in his head, he was murdered… The other mercs paced in their patrols investigating the situation.
Alar was on his omni-tool, multitasking it seemed. And I say that because I noticed all of the monitors glitched at least once. He was still programming into something, I could tell.
"What are you doing?" Jesa asked.
"I recorded all the images for a distraction." Alar explained. "They are all on an endless loop."
"We should split up." Erik suggested. "That way, we can cover both sides and flank 'em with ease."
I grabbed him before he could proceed with his plan. "Let's not jump the gun here."
"And he's right." Alar interrupted as he revealed that the mercs set traps around the facility. An abandoned hospital filled with mercs was no walk in the park. If one of them got a hitch that a bunch of random initiative recruits armed with guns was coming to retrieve the stolen capacitor, they would have one hundred escape plans prepared. "But Erik has a point, we can get by them both the mercs and the traps if we split up."
"Are there any air vents accessible?" Kayu asked as he approached Alar.
Alar enhanced the blueprints of the facility, when I peeked in I saw white lines stroking in all six directions, horizontally and vertically. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea, considering how damaged the place was, and old. I was certain those vents wouldn't support all of our weight put together. Even Alar said the same thing. "Any heavier than 250 kilos and the vents would bend and break."
"But are they safe from any traps?" Kayu asked.
We waited a moment for Alar to answer. "No traps detected in the air duct system."
"I can move around quicker in the air vents." Kayu suggested.
But even so, we needed a plan. We couldn't go waltzing into enemy territory and step on a landmine haphazardly. I suggested that one of us would monitor us and deactivate any traps should we walk into.
Without hesitation, Jesa volunteered to monitor our movements, hack into their systems and control any traps within the facility. While the rest of us infiltrate the facility and obtain the capacitor.
It took a conversation or two to convince Kayu to pair up with Alar. It wasn't surprising that assassins normally work alone, but Kayu accepted the plan. In the meantime, Erik and I would go into the main lobby.
It took us moments to devise the plan to infiltrate the facility and extract the capacitor. Jesa was at a safe distance out of harm's way to be our monitor, hacker, and informer. The rest of us got into position.
"We're in." Kayu answered. "And we're on the move."
"It's been a while since I had to infiltrate enemy lines by ventilation shafts." Alar interrupted. "Not that I am claustrophobic, but still…"
"Just stick to the plan, Zaels." Erik replied as he and I took cover behind the sides of the entrance.
"Jesa, any traps in the main lobby?" I asked.
She explained the layout, the elevator was down. Not that that was our first choice, I learned that since Mars, and the fact that we would get caught and killed instantly. Our next option was to take the stairs. We found a stairwell not far from the entrance. But before we could step on the first rung, Erik caught sight of trip-lasers from the bottom to the top of the stairs. I asked Jesa why she didn't mention any booby traps there.
"I'm not detecting any." She answered. "I don't think these traps are connected with the others, let alone those mercs up there. These traps must be isolated from the others."
So there were more traps that even the scanners from the schematics of the medical center didn't pick up. The situation got a little complicated, we had to keep our eyes open. It took me a moment for me to dampen the traps to deactivate them. Erik and I dashed up the stairs and instantly Jesa stopped us screaming into our coms.
"There are a few LOKI mechs to your right and a turret at the other end of the hallway." She replied.
We both stood behind the edge of the archway. Erik had his pistol in hand, he gazed in my direction as he spoke. "Can you shut down both of them?" He asked Jesa.
"NO! DON'T!" Alar shouted in our ears. He explained that he had double-checked the schematics of the security systems. Whoever designed it was very thorough, and very methodical, that if we attempted to disarm two traps at once the mercs would easily get suspicious and they would engage against the intruders.
"But do they know?" Erik asked, referring to the mercs.
Jesa was silent for a moment, and she answered. "No, they seem unaware of our presence." But it wouldn't matter either way.
There was this phrase I have heard from the humans, the saying "between a rock and a hard place". A slang meaning no matter which way you go, left or right, you are stuck in a difficult position with no safe way out. In our case, it was pun intended… Damn! No matter what choice we would pick, it would alert the mercs in the building…
"Then we do this smart." I ordered. "Jesa, deactivate the turrets." After counting to three, I ghosted into the hallway, Erik followed and sent rounds of bullets at the LOKIs.
"Turrets deactivated." I heard Jesa over the coms. I peeked around the left side of the hall, the barrels slumped downward. One less of a problem to worry about. As for the LOKI mechs, it took me moments to hack their systems, my damping ability rendered them useless. We pressed on towards the turrets and turned left at the corner of the hallway.
We were three to four paces through when we heard Jesa speak to us. "Jacen, whatever you did there, something just triggered to the mercs."
I froze that moment and asked. "Where are they now?"
"wHat GoINg oN Down tHERe!" A vorcha's snarl echoed across the hallway. Not too far away from us. And too little too late, we were in their sight… I HAD to ask…
"INTRUDERS!" The other vorcha hissed. "KILL THEM!"
It didn't take long for us to subdue the mercs. Erik and I were about to proceed forward when I off the corner of my right eye, I saw someone from behind… I was about to push Erik out of the way and pull my avenger out… But a bullet pierced through the Vorcha's cranium, dropping him like a ragdoll. But where did that come from? Last I checked, both Kayu and Alar were still in the ventilation shafts and on the opposite side of the facility. And Jesa, she was far from where we stood, and she was no expert sniper like me. Who did it?
We pressed on after that.
Alar spoke loudly over the communication set. "We heard gunfire, you two okay?"
"We'll live." I answered. "Where are you now?"
"We're right above them, that part Kenn placed a tracker on should be here." Kayu answered.
I checked my omni-tool, he was right, that part should be around the corner ahead. Erik and I were steps away. "Any mercs on your visual?" I asked.
"Only two vorcha, they seem tense." Kayu answered.
Only vorcha? No turian? Where the hell was Mattinus? Whatever the case, we came for the component, we didn't come for a manhunt.
I suggested I would provide a distraction, while they surprise them from behind. I threw an empty flask I found on the floor hard enough at a column to cause a loud clang in the air. It echoed down the hallway, from the shadow figures, both of them stood up.
"WhAt that?" Said a vorcha. He approached the archway to see, but we stayed hidden behind the corner. Erik and I had our avengers armed and ready to fire if the scenario went south.
A loud thump echoed from the end of the hallway, the vorcha yelled a snarl loudly enough, Erik and I jumped out with the barrels pointed at the room. We expected a sign of trouble but instead, Kayu stood in front of the merc, and within seconds, the vorcha collapsed.
I didn't know what he did, but it made Alar's face flushed in surprise.
"It's been a while since I've done that." Kayu sighed.
As Erik and I entered we immediately skimmed the room. So Mattinus was nowhere to be found in the hospital. I stood next to the vorcha merc who was out cold, ensuring that he didn't get up and surprise us. I found the tracker Kenn said he placed it on the capacitor, but the device itself was gone… DAMN IT ALL TO HELL! LITERALLY!
"So it was here." Kayu sighed.
"But what happened here?" Erik asked.
Jesa spoke to us through the coms. "I've been looking through the security footage here. There was a fight here. A massacre." She revealed a group of aliens came to the facility armed and fired without hesitation. That explained why that krogan took a hole in his head…
Erik knelt, he was holding an I.D. badge. An image showed a human female with short brown hair, her name was unfortunately covered with a stroke of black ink. He turned the badge around to show an icon or logo. To me it looked like a hexagon with a small split opening, it also had two horns pointing downward, they were both parallel and symmetrical from each other.
I heard Erik sigh in fury as if he had seen it before. We all heard what he mumbled to us all.
CERBERUS.
I couldn't put my finger on it, but something about the name Cerberus sounded really familiar to me. And I wasn't the only one…
"Cerberus…" Kayu sighed. "Jesa isn't that the terrorist group you told me about once?"
"Yes." Jesa grimaced. "A while back they attacked the Idenna, only to get to a human biotic. Gillian Grayson. Those bosh'tets did a lot of damage to that ship."
I looked down at Erik as he stood back up, I asked if he knew them.
"Yeah, I know them." Erik answered. "Cerberus is a bunch of human supremacists who believe that humanity should be above all other species in the galaxy."
"What xenophobes…" Alar sighed. "But what would Cerberus want with a capacitor from an ODSY drive core?"
None of us had the answer to that. But I intended to find out from the vorcha that was on the ground, still breathing. I grabbed him hard to get him on his feet. And I did what any C-Sec officer would do to interrogate the perp.
"WHERE IS MATTINUS?" I yelled.
"Who?" The vorcha gasped.
I gave him a piece of brief information about the turian we were looking for, and what he had taken.
"YeSs, I knoW wHAt you mean." He exhaled. "But Why sHoUlD I HElp yOU? YoU jUsT kiLL me anYwaY…"
The shit was sorely testing my patience, I grabbed and took him away from the group. Thrusting him against the wall, I gazed into his eyes and I gave him a few words of advice. The few words… I dare not to repeat on this passage…
"Very well, I will tell what I know…" He yielded.
Getting the vorcha to spill was a cinch, it took moments for him to explain all he could with his broken language, but I understood clearly. Then afterward, I head-butted him knocking him out cold for hours. If he lied I would come back for him…
But anyways, according to the vorcha, Mattinus, along with another turian, a pair of krogans, a few asari. This group simply went in and attacked the mercs in the facility without any hesitation. The one thing he noticed, the selection of aliens had this metallic patch attached to their heads. Not sure what that was about. But I didn't care why. They took the capacitor for the ODSY drive core. We had to get it back, no matter what…
The problem was, that the footage Jesa obtained was recorded two hours ago and there was no way of tracking their movement…
Oh, the day was getting better and better by the hour… Damn it all…
"I got it!" Alar gasped as I turned at him. "Those plates they wore on their heads, they contain enough silicon to hold information and data to be tracked back."
I was amazed he could do that. Erik even asked how he did it.
"Now who do you think you are talking to?" He flabbergasted. "I was formally STG, I've done this sort of operation as my day and night job, I don't get paid for nothing!" He uploaded a schematic of Omega from his omni-tool. The tracers embedded onto the aliens blinked every second and were positioned within the mines of Omega. If I remember right, inside the asteroid of the station was an Element Zero processing plant.
Alar, surprisingly knew where he was going. It took us several minutes by cab to get into the mines. His visit to Omega was an STG mission apparently, he and two others came to the station as ordinary civilians. They were tasked to locate a salarian scientist, Codin Reu…
That name sounded familiar… If I recall correctly, when I assisted Enobia Barius on Zakera, I researched Drathor Babraros' history. After getting discharged from the Batarian Military, he traveled to Omega, where he met a salarian scientist. According to Alar, he and his team located him in the Doru District. The conflict was challenging and tight, and when Codin was overpowered, he chose suicide over apprehension.
"That sight's never escaping my mind…" Alar sighed. "And the next day, taking a few drinks was when a few krogan members attacked us and scarred me. Literally."
We had made our way into the mines of the station. After disembarking from our ride, we pressed on. The only thing we saw during our venture, just metal platings on the floor, boardwalks, pillars, and a lot of rocks… I never really paid much attention to the general history of Omega. But I had heard that the station had existed before the first species set foot on it.
Kayu had an instinct that we were being watched… I didn't blame him, because I had that feeling, too. Back at the hospital, that one vorcha who almost attacked us got shot… I couldn't wrap my head around that.
There was an archway in front of us, and at that moment when Alar was about to activate his omni-tool the pair of doors opened so suddenly, there was a Cerberus operative in heavy armor right in front of us…
SHIT! So much for our element of surprise. I had my avenger pointed at the soldier, but before I pulled the trigger, a bullet pierced into his head, dropping him dead on the floor… At that point, I knew we were being watched!
I looked to see who made that shot at the operative. A pair came down at us, we were armed and prepared for another fight, but I hesitated. Because I recognized the turian Spectre. Anlea Falrian… Yeah, I probably shouldn't have said her name out loud.
"Do I know you?" She asked me.
Remember, Jacen, YOU are not supposed to BE on Omega, and yet you are. I say to myself. As far as the station (and the galaxy) is concerned, you are Argus Pallin. You are on the hellhole station to retrieve parts for the Initiative and get out. NOW REMEMBER THAT, DAMN IT!
"A friend of mine worked for you from the Undaunted and might have mentioned you once." I answered. I know, that sounded awkward… and lame, I had to say something to cover my story.
I introduced everyone including myself to her. I had outed her name, and that left her salarian companion behind her. His name was Jondum Bau, a Spectre in training. Alar approached from behind as if he had recognized him. Well, he didn't. He only heard his name once from his former leader of STG, Kirrahe. Introductions aside, we explained our reasons why we were in the mines of Omega.
For us, the turian, Mattinus, stole a capacitor for an ODSY drive core and ended up here. A vorcha merc member said he went up into the mines to someone associated with Cerberus. Anlea and Jondum were also after Cerberus, the council received Intel the people behind the murder of Admiral Kahoku, were also responsible for kidnapping aliens across the galaxy for their sick and twisted experiments. Not as grotesque as Dr. Saleon, but it was horrible. It was reported that a salarian, a krogan, even a turian, and other non-human aliens were behaving belligerently in random places. Whether by stealing a valuable item, hacking into systems to acquire information or money, or even assault and murder to humans making their species look bad and resentful…
The one thing the witnesses caught about the attacks and the people involved was that they had something implanted on their foreheads, like a computer chip… They described an insignia similar to that of Cerberus.
"That's definitely how Cerberus plays out." Erik responded. "Those assholes are one taco short of a combination plate."
Human metaphors aside, I had an instinct that we could help each other in that situation, this way we could stop Cerberus and retrieve the part we were sent to pick up. I walked up to Anlea and told her about my idea. She seemed hesitant for a moment, but she knew I was right and she knew that time was running out. By the time we finished our conversation, those Cerberus bastards would get away. And so we pressed on.
Traveling through the mines was something else. We came to a fork in the road, but according to Jondum and Alar, either way, they would take us to the reactor of the mine's drill. Anlea suggested we split up and take both sides. Hmm, just like old times. Jondum suggested he would take Alar and Erik. While I teamed up with Anlea, Jesa, and Kayu.
Our trek lasted several minutes when we arrived at a walkway bent at an angle. Headed towards a massive and oversized turbine, no, it was a drill. We could hear a little rumbling echoing across the cave.
There was an elevator that took us up a platform, but it was shut down, under maintenance. The ladder was our only option as Anlea climbed first. As did I, Kayu followed and Jesa was the last behind him.
We had reached the top, Anlea went ahead, while Kayu and I stood on the ledge waiting for Jesa to reach us.
"It's rusty, Jesa." Said Kayu. "Be careful."
"I know and I am." She said exasperatedly as she continued climbing towards us.
"Easy now." I said to her. "No need to rush it."
Jesa snickered at us. "You boys worry too much." She was three rungs to the top as she continued to ascend, and she sneered at us. "Just because I'm a quarian doesn't mean I'm some damsel who needs to be coddled over."
I looked back at Anlea for one second, she was at an archway, which no doubt would lead to the reactor. But then a cling rang in the air, I whipped my head back at Jesa as she was one rung to the edge. The ladder detached from the handles. We froze that moment… SHIT. She was going to lean over and fall. But that split second, she used her jump jet to ascend over the ledge and landed on us.
"Bosh'tet!" She gasped loudly. "That was close."
I guess that was one landing she could walk away from… Anyways, we proceeded after the spectre. The archway open and the couple went in first. I was about to follow but she stopped me…
"Alright!" Anlea snapped. "Who are you? And don't even say Argus Pallin, because I know that's bullshit!" She approached me. "Spit it out, already."
Damn… She's a lot wiser than I gave her credit for… At that point, to get on with it, I activated my omni-tool and my body lit up with a flash. She saw me for who I truly am and recognized me.
"Jacen!" She exhaled.
Afterward, I immediately switched on my camouflage program back to Argus Pallin. Hopefully, no one noticed my change of appearance.
"So why the cloak and dagger?" She asked.
Without saying too much, I gave her the short story. After what had happened to my parents, I didn't want anyone close to me to get hurt or killed.
"That's it?" She asked.
"That's it." I answered. "I can't say anymore, because even walls are full of unwanted ears."
She nodded at me as we proceeded onward.
Kayu found a ladder going up into the shafts, up the rafters, we found the control of the reactor. I counted five humans. A light-blonde-haired man stood by the control panels, he seemed to be the man in charge of the operation. The other four, two men and two women. A pair was on their omni-tools, and others were observing the group of aliens. Mattinus was among them… There were also several Cerberus members armed with guns and other weapons, and LOKI mechs… At least they looked like LOKI's, they were darker though… and they looked angry in red eyes…
The capacitor was found on one of the control panels in the center of the room. It looked fine, no damage was done. But why would Cerberus want it though?
"I don't know what the Illusive Man was thinking." Said the leader. "He and that Lawson woman are wasting time and money to bring some dead soldier back to life…"
"It's pure voodoo if you ask me." Said one of the scientists.
"What do you expect, the Illusive Man will do anything to bring humanity as the ruling species in the galaxy." Said the other scientist.
Cerberus and this Illusive Man aside, I adverted my gaze to the other pair of scientists at the other side of the reactor. A blonde-haired woman, in a braid, overlapping her left shoulder. And a man, his short hair, brown as dirt, and he was big with broad shoulders. Up to that moment, he was the first human I'd seen that was bigger than any other human I had met.
"So far the patches are working, these aliens easily succumb to our control, Jeff." Said the woman.
"Well, Nadine, it was your beautiful and brilliant brain that thought of these mind control patches and my tactical expertise and calibrating. A winning combination." Said the other scientist.
So their names were Nadine and Jeff, but that didn't matter. We needed to get that capacitor out of here.
A large pair of doors opened, a few Cerberus Soldiers emerged out with various aliens handcuffed, I counted eight of them. Among the hostages were an asari, a salarian, and a pair of turian children… Children! What the fuck were these people doing to them?
"Mr. Faraday." Said one of the scientists. "We have more subjects to use for our operation."
Anlea approached me and spoke. "That's Randall Faraday, the blonde-haired human, he's who we're after." She explained that Faraday was one of few associates working with the Illusive Man. To name a few others, Oleg Petrovsky, Miranda Lawson, Kai Leng. This Faraday guy, I could tell he was one nasty son of a bitch! Considering the fact he approached the hostages, with a grin.
"Nice crop of recruits, gentlemen." He leaned towards those kids, the asari and salarian quivered with fear, the pair of turians stood motionlessly. The other four hostages were a krogan, a batarian, a vorcha, and another turian. "These four will be of use to us. But as for these weaklings, a squid bitch, a gray toad, and the bird freaks, I don't know really."
Hearing that kind of racist bigotry made me sick to my stomach, I was ready to jump down and wanted to murder that bastard.
The asari girl approached Faraday, begging him to be released. The only response she got was a petrifying whip across her face sending her hard to the floor…
"We need to respond, right now." I whispered to Anlea. "How should we play this?"
As we spoke I saw one turian lending his hand to the asari. But Faraday approached the turian as he not only threw his fist at his left mandible but also took out his pistol and shot his gut… Okay, that was it!
Viewing the surroundings, those LOKI mechs could be a problem, next to the several Cerberus soldiers spread out. I had activated my omni-tool and hacked into all the LOKI's programmings. On my signal, they would attack all the soldiers around and then at each other. That would leave the scientists and the hostages.
We had descended to the reactor, the four scientists fled to the nearest exit. But Faraday stayed with a gun in hand.
"I see we have uninvited guests…" Faraday sighed in disappointment. He adverted his gaze, I thought he was looking at me, but no, he squinted at Anlea. "Falrian… I should have known."
I noticed how she flinched from his remark, I could only guess that the two never met face to face. But either way, how would someone like Faraday even know about her?
"My boss is very resourceful, he makes it his business to know everything and everyone. Almost like the Shadow Broker that freak of a monster…" Said Faraday as he activated his omni-tool. Those who were enslaved by Faraday approached with weapons armed and ready for a fight. "Slaves, kill them all."
We hid behind the control panels to avoid their gunfire. Well, that was a problem, those hostages were being controlled by that bastard Faraday. And those people, it wasn't their fault, we couldn't risk hurting them…
But the scenario got worse when more of the dark LOKI's emerged out of the doors at fired at us. Those bastards were way different from the LOKI's I've encountered before… They were more powerful and aggressively violent. It took me two clips to render that bot useless. The next LOKI with Erik and Jesa lending a bullet or two took less time. As for everyone else, they had picked up on the bot's weaknesses.
But I saw a Cerberus soldier pick himself off the ground and pointed his assault rifle at Kayu. Out of reflex, I raised my pistol at the soldier and pulled the trigger once, and his head exploded with blood, and brain pieces were sent flying.
Kayu swung around and found the dead soldier in front of his feet. And then he adverted his gaze at me as I saluted him.
"You're welcome!" I say to Kayu as he snorted. We were officially even.
There was a scream in the air, the asari girl along with the salarian and the turian sat in front of the wounded kid that was shot by Faraday. LOKI's approached them and were about to kill them. But Jesa's combat drone intervened as did I. After rendering those bots useless, I checked on the kids, the turian who was shot… He couldn't have been any younger than 11 or 12 years old. I spoke to him, it turned out his name was Maxter. In his last breath, he wished for his two friends and younger brother safe out of harm's way… The moment he died, my emotions exploded!
"He's getting away!" Erik shouted as he ran after him. "I got him!"
I couldn't sit behind while he went after the man in charge himself. I had to run after and help him. Alar, Jesa, and Kayu were more than capable of assisting Anlea and Jondum in neutralizing the hostages without killing them.
It took me moments to catch up to Erik, as he sighed loudly enough for me to hear him.
"He was in my sight and I lost him!" Said Erik.
"We'll find him." I replied. "He couldn't have gone far…"
We had each other's back, creeping our way across the seemingly endless chamber of pillars holding the ceiling above us. The scenery was dim, barely any lights were on to show our surroundings. And the chamber echoed with pieces of metal clanging with each other and stomps of pads tapping on the metal floor…
We turned and saw a massive four-legged beast lunged at us, but we split and avoided being tackled and possibly eaten. It turned out those things were FENRIS (attack dog) Mechs. The material and design were similar to that of LOKI and YMIR mechs I had encountered in the past. Only those were slightly based on… Varren.
Four of those omnivorous mutts of Tuchanka emerged out of the pillars along with several FENRIS mechs. We were surrounded, ten to two… Seemingly unfair, but that's typical for most gunfights since they never play by the rules…
"Well, Jacen, you ready to dance?" Erik asked.
I answered him in three words. "Bring it on!"
We both fired our guns at the mutts, as they jump out of the way it was time to run in opposite directions. Once we had separated, we blew them away without hesitation. With parts of the FENRIS mutts scattered all over, it was one hell of a mess I made.
I lost sight of Erik, and more of those mutts showed up in front of me. These bastards keep showing, I took at least three of them, and five more show up. Unless the FENRIS mechs and Varren were fast breeders, Faraday had prepared for an attack by intruders. I was running out of ammo, too.
Just as I took out the last FENRIS mech, I whipped my head around and a varren jumped at me. But luckily, it missed me. However, I staggered backward and my left wrist hit the edge of a pillar. I didn't hurt myself, because my omni-tool took the hit. As for the varren that tried to take a bite out of my carapace, I shot it dead.
"Shit!" Said Erik over communications. "I'm out of ammo…" He paused a moment, in the background I heard snarls of an animal, a varren to be exact. "Whoa!" He gasped loudly. "N-Nice doggy! Good doggy! Doggy want a bone?"
Bribery? Really, Erik?
I heard a loud huff in the background, that didn't sound good… I launched toward his coordinates, not too far from where I stood.
"I guess not!" He said. I turned at the corner when I saw an ominous orange glow. I heard a faint whimper and the varren leaped out of the blaze. Erik emerged out of the corner, his right hand sizzled with steam. "I like to fire it up, and it feels so right!"
That human thinks he's funny, his phrase almost sounded like he was serenading. Erik later gazed at me, and the look on his face shifted with wide eyes as if something was wrong. I gazed back but did not see anything bad or dangerous behind me.
"Uh… Argus." He stuttered. "You're Jacen now."
I almost reminded Erik not to say that name out loud, but knowing him, he wouldn't say that to me if he wasn't serious. One of the pillars beside me, its metal was reflective enough to show my face. My mid-tone gray carapace, the acid scar on the left side of my face, the blue facial tattoos of my ancestor, and my blue eyes, and blue suit I wore in C-Sec. I don't know what happened, I know I never activated my omni-tool.
When I looked down at my left wrist, there was a small but noticeable crack on the lens that projects the solid-state hologram, enabling its user to push buttons, touch screen monitors, and even project the omni-blade. Well shit… But I couldn't think about that… With the mutts out for the count, that left us with Faraday.
Alar called us on coms, he said to us that they had managed to subdue some of the hostages. Some, meaning that few of them were still active, and one of them was gone. Not dead gone, but missing. I was confident they would handle the situation.
Erik managed to track Faraday into a room only paces away. He could have an escape plan, and after what he had done, I could not take that chance. There was a map on one of the pillars showing where we were and an entire layout of the current floor we were standing on. The room he was in had two exits, thinking about it, if we both entered at once, he would get away again…
I suggested Erik to give me a moment as a ghosted and made my way around the foyer. When I gave him the signal, he entered with his avenger in hand.
I was a ghost for a few more seconds, Erik had Faraday backed into the end of the hallway, towards me. When he turned at me, I reappeared and threw my fist at his nose. He never saw me coming! That thrust knocked the wind out of him. Out enough for me to thrust that xenophobic bastard up against the wall to my left. After what I saw, and hell he treated those hostages, those children, my patience was on a thin red line.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't snap your neck right now!" I hissed at him.
"Only a coward would resent killing his foes." Faraday grinned.
Argh! Any other species I've encountered, those thugs, criminals, terrorists. I've never met a human foe with a nasty and evil personality like his. And after hearing that, I threw my fist hard enough to push the air out of him.
"My late father believed that humanity deserved a place within the Galactic community." I rebuked at him. "He believed in coexistence between our peoples. Why do you want to destroy that?"
He gagged as he was trying to breathe. "Who says it was just you turians?" He spoke about the galaxy's long and complicated history. Of how the asari and the salarians had ruled the Citadel and the galaxy for more than 10 millennia. The krogan tried to conquer the galaxy, the salarians invented the sterility virus, and the turians deployed it on Tuchanka. The Batarians attacked both Elysium and Terra Nova. Cerberus saw the aliens as a pestilence in the galaxy. A pestilence that deserved to be in their "rightful place", crushed by human dominance…
Erik had his pistol in hand, ready to fire at Faraday's head. "You sick, heartless bastard." He said angrily.
"That does not give you the right to blame it on those hostages, let alone those kids you laid a hand on." I yelled at him.
"Well, I regret nothing of it, you damned dirty FREAK!" He hissed.
Oh, that was it… I gave him another hard punch and threw him to the ground. I stepped on his neck choking him, my blood inside me was on fire.
"ENOUGH OF THIS SHIT!" I screamed at him as I pressed harder, choking him. "Release those hostages, NOW!"
"Or what?" He gagged. "You make me suffer? I've put up with a lot of tortures my whole life, nothing you can do will change my mind."
"Does that include a gun to your head?" Erik suggested.
"That depends if you are murderous enough to do such a thing." He tried to laugh. "I've lived with countless types of blood on my hands. How about you?"
I had my pistol in hand and pointed the barrel in between Faraday's eyes. I was ready to pull the trigger on him… I could see clearly, this human, this Randall Faraday was sick, a piece of heartless shit. A man like him was beyond redemption, beyond convincing to keep alive…
His bright blue eyes stared into mine, his mouth crooked into a grin. "Read my lips." He snarled. "Do your fucking worse, you fucking human traitor and bird-freak!" He closed his left eye, he winked at me, that bastard was begging for his end. And then his head exploded…
The moment I saw a bullet hole between his eyes, and his blood-spattered at me, my life flashed before me. Both my parents told me once about their experience living on Earth for less than a month. Around that time was six months before I was born. The places they had visited around Earth, the people. They told me the humans were an interesting species, culture, and history.
Those times when my father taught me how to handle an automatic weapon, followed by combat and survival. That one time when I punched my cousin's eye, by accident, he told me not to feel any regret against punching my foes. The lives I've taken, Siyax, several vorcha, Srag, Babraros, Micus… They were different species that I've personally dealt with. I've shot other people in my life, in my time in C-Sec, even I've shot humans before. But never in my life did I ever think I kill one as I did…
Did I regret killing Faraday?
"Jacen, don't let this discourage you…" Said Erik. "Think about those other people you've taken, the Batarian Juggernaut, Micus…"
I turned at Erik when he mentioned those names to me, he brought me back to Memory Lane.
"They were all like Faraday, they were all evil men that wanted nothing but put misery into the lives of the innocent. All peoples regardless of species may be good or bad, black or white, paragon or renegade."
My answer was "NO". Erik was right, the purely evil men could never be redeemed, Faraday proved that. He made his choice when he refused to release his hostages, and brutally attack the aliens, whether they were old or youthful… Damn it all…
The downside, that bullet I used to kill Faraday, was the last one… None of my weapons had any ammunition, they were all gone, used up from start-up to that moment. The monitor where Faraday stood was probably the control panel that monitors and commands those enthralled by those Cerberus assholes.
"This is Alar here, Jacen, Erik, do you read?" He asked.
"Affirmative." I answered. "The culprit, Faraday, he's dead."
I heard Anlea's voice in the background. She sounded concerned as if she didn't want him killed. Though, personally, killing was a last resort. But if I had let him go, he would have attempted escape again and we would have repeated the chase all over again. And besides, his response at me, and how he never flinched when I pointed my gun at him. He practically begged for his end, considering the beating I gave to him. The bottom line…
"He made his choice, Anlea." I answered. "I'm sorry it had to come down to it, but I do not regret my actions."
She was still silent for a moment until she answered. "Very well…"
Alar told us that all the hostages that were enslaved by Cerberus were waking up, feeling back to normal. We got the capacitor, but unfortunately, the other Cerberus bastards got away.
"Is that a kid over there?" Erik asked.
I looked behind me to see a turian kid wandering about. I could only guess he was hiding from the gunfire exchange. I went after him while Erik was working on the control panels.
As I approached, I viewed my surroundings. Behind me was where I left Erik, I know that the hallway we came from was around the corner. And lastly to my left was the edge of the floor. There were railings to prevent people from accidentally falling over, however, there were a pair of barricades with signs warning people to not approach…
The kid was Maxter's younger brother, I told him he would be alright and he would be taken to safety. We were about to leave the area, but I heard a voice…
"C-Sec Officer, Tarren."
I whipped my head around at the barricade blocking people from falling over the edge, only to see a familiar face…
"Mattinus…" I called him. I noticed there was something wrong with him. He seemed disoriented and confused… He still had that metal plate on his temple.
"I thought that was you, Tarren." He exhaled. "Nice look, Scarface!"
"What's wrong with you?" I asked. "Cerberus isn't controlling you anymore you are free now."
"You meddled in on the experiment!" He yelled. I don't know why, but something about that remark, how he said it. It was as if he wasn't himself. During my time in C-Sec, when I interrogated him after busting him. He was naturally calm, but also he had an attitude. That was almost common for most criminals. "You murdered the chief executor!"
I knew very well we had shut down Cerberus' program, all the hostages that were freed. So why was Mattinus still wearing that thing on his head? "Mattinus, it's over, you and the other hostages…"
He pointed his pistol at me. I had nothing, no more ammo to use or replace in the weapons I carry… Of all the rotten shitty luck on my hands… Was that last bullet on Faraday for nothing?
"Bertan, look at what you are doing." I said to him. "You are better than this, you were a thief, not a murderer."
"You are here…" His talon slightly clenched on the trigger. "I will not let you get me again!"
At that moment, I didn't want to believe that was the end of the line for me… But off the corner of my eyes and her sudden appearance, Anlea jumped in front of me. He was going to pull the trigger on her, but I couldn't let anyone take a bullet that was meant for me. The moment my fingers grasped on her waist to push her aside, there was an explosion from his pistol. At that moment, Mattinus flinched backward, it took me a moment to see blue blood erupt out of his chest. I caught sight of Kayu with a sniper in his arms, he made that shot.
Mattinus staggered back, he collided with a barricade and fell over the edge. There was a loud thud when I looked over. Mattinus was a mess, as a puddle of his blood surrounded his corpse. My best guess was that he fell a story or two before colliding with the hard metallic ground. That traumatic force plus a gunshot to the heart, no way he could have survived that…
From behind, I heard Jondum talking, asking if Anlea was hurt. We were lucky none of us was shot at that moment. But why she would throw herself in front of me? If I had died, that would have been fine by me, but I wasn't going to let anyone else take the bullet for me like that…
"Anlea?" Jesa yelled.
I whipped my head around, she was on her knee. I didn't know what had happened at the time. But when I approached the group, Anlea had her hand over her chest. I saw a tiny stream of blood flowing downward… When she released her hand, there was a hole… and blood erupted slowly…
My heart stopped, Mattinus' damned shot managed to penetrate her suit. There wasn't time to have any second thoughts, let alone any regrets, she needed medical attention. We had to carry her to our rides.
Halfway to our shuttles, I decided to travel with Jondum and Anlea to the nearest medical facility available. I worked with her before, it was because of her that I was a candidate for the Spectres that I turned down on an instinct. It was her determination and leadership the reason why I assassinated Ganar Srag back on Noveria a few years back.
She gagged blood out of her mandibles, that damned bullet punctured her lung. The best I did was patch up her wound to stop her blood from erupting. But it wouldn't do much since she bled internally. I saw her eyes as she gazed into mine as if she wanted to say something.
"Don't speak." I say to her. "Keep your eyes on me, you'll be okay."
Alar called me on coms, according to him a mercenary team arrived at the reactor where we found the Cerberus scientists and their hostages. But luckily, all the hostages fled the scene before they arrived. But what mercenaries would want to infiltrate a reactor for? Blood Pack, Eclipse, or Blue Suns?
"Neither." Alar mentioned. "These aren't your standard merc gang. And none I've ever seen."
From the images that he sent me, it was a team of ten-odd men led by a turian in black and blue armor and a golden bird-like insignia…
Archangel
I was glad we got out of there before they arrived, the last thing we needed was to get caught in his crossfire. And the last thing I needed was to get involved in any vigilantism, let alone expose my cousin's identity to the station. It was best to stay out of his radar…
There was a small clinic not too far from the main square of the Afterlife district, not too far from Harrot's Emporium. It wasn't big as a hospital, and heavily staffed as a hospital should… The people involved were two asari, a turian, a salarian, and a few humans…
In the waiting room, it was myself and Jondum. We sat and waited for information. Anlea had been in the operating room for about half an hour. During the wait, I got to know Jondum a little better, he recently became a Spectre, and before he was a member of STG. The council member, (back in the day) learned about Jondum's accomplishments, and one week before the Battle of the Citadel he had officially become one.
That moment later, someone approached us, she was a turian with a red streak… more like a red arrow pointing down to the tip of her chin.
"Where is she?" She hollered. "Jondum, I received your message and got here as quickly as I could."
"I'm glad you are here." Said Jondum. "She's currently in the operating room… We don't know how she is though…"
I stood up staring at her, and she gazed at me. "Who the hell are you?" She asked me.
At that moment, I almost said my name. But I kept reminding myself not to… But my omni-tool got damaged during the fight with Cerberus. So my disguise wouldn't work anymore. "I'm just a friend to Anlea."
"So am I, and she never mentioned anything about some random ass…"
"Nyreen, stop!" Jondum yelled. "I vouch for him, he and few others assisted us in our mission to take care of the Cerberus Operative that was stationed on Omega."
Even though she still eyed me out of suspicion, she calmed herself and approached me. "Sorry, recently I've been preoccupied dealing with personal issues." She approached me and took my hand, shaking it. "I'm Nyreen. Nice to meet you, "Friend"."
Nyreen… I couldn't put my finger on it, but something about her name sounded familiar…
The asari doctor emerged out of the operating room, the look on her face wasn't promising. She revealed to us that they did everything they could to keep her stable, but her condition was fatal. She told us we had to say goodbye…
And so we did, Jondum went first, and after a few moments, he told us Anlea wanted to see both myself and Nyreen…
Anlea was resting on a gurney, bandages were wrapped around her chest and torso. Nyreen approached first as I followed behind. It seemed like the two had a history together, from the looks of Nyreen, probably less than platonic.
"I know things are different between us." Anlea spoke. "Thank you for the information you gave to me about Faraday and Cerberus."
"Well, I owe you, despite our differences, those were good days during boot camp." Nyreen replied.
Anlea adverted her gaze at me. "And Jacen…" She gasped. "Our missions were different, but our paths crossed together…"
Nyreen then gazed at me, my name was spoken out loud… But I couldn't think about that. Especially when someone I've worked with during my time in the turian military was dying on a gurney.
"Nyreen, I ask for one more favor, it's not much…" She asked. Nyreen nodded as she listened. "Jacen Tarren here is part of the Andromeda Initiative only to retrieve some components, all I ask is that you keep his identity safe from the people here, especially Aria. You hear me, Kandros?"
She nodded. "What you are asking will be a challenge, but I'll get it done."
Kandros… Nyreen Kandros… I wondered if she was related to Ravis Kandros? Last time I saw her was 20 years ago at one of the parties my parents threw… Now that I think about it, there was a turian who was part of the Initiative's Security team stationed onboard the Nexus, Tiran Kandros. His background showed he had a sister, but she was on Palaven. I could assume that he and Nyreen were probably cousins…
Nyreen approached me the moment she said goodbye to her. "So you are Tarren? I've heard interesting things about you… Next time you see Tiran, give him my regards… And by the way, nice facial scar." She winked at me…
Damn, and I thought the female krogan had a thing for men with scars… I overheard Nyreen as she exited the room, she spoke to some man behind the door, a human. But I paid no attention to that…
"Anlea…" I spoke.
"Don't." She answered. "I don't regret my choice for taking the bullet for you…"
But why did you do it? If I had died, that would have been fine by me, NO ONE should risk their life for me… That phrase sounded familiar, a few years back on Palaven, the night my father died…
"Tarren, about what you did to Faraday…" She gasped. "Did you end him because he fought back, or was it out of vengeance for that kid he murdered?
Was it vengeance? Was it murder? There was no difference, but there was no regret. That man murdered one of the turian boys, he would have killed those other children no doubt.
"Ma'am," I began, "I did what I thought was the best choice. Faraday, human as he was, was part of a supremacist organization that had no issues of hurting and murdering innocent aliens as if we were vicious beasts. And seeing how well equipped he was, I couldn't take that chance."
She exhaled deeply, trying to get the right words out. "Jacen, I thank you for helping me and Jondum, and for stopping Faraday from his evil… But how you did it, it was wrong…"
I eyed at her from that remark. What I did was wrong? What the bastard did was wrong as well… I wondered why she would even say something like that.
"Heed my words, Tarren." She gasped. ""The best revenge is to be unlike your enemy". Always Justice, never vengeance…" She coughed fiercely as blood gushed out… "Those quotes you parents shared with me years ago, from earth were inspiring, between Aurelius and some Dark Knight character…"
Huh, I had no idea Anlea was a fanatic of Earth…
"I hope you realize, not everything you come across will be black or white… It's the right and… best choice that matters…" She exhaled softly as she stared blankly at me… she didn't twitch, nor blink… At that moment, it was my father's death all over again…
The doctors ordered me to leave… As I exited the room, Erik stood by the door. It was no surprise he heard that, and witnessed Anlea's end…
"I'm sorry, Jace…" He sighed at me, tried to comfort me. "You gonna be okay?"
I slightly turned my head at him, and my only response… "I'll live…" I then put my helmet on to conceal my identity to Omega. Jondum accompanied us to the Afterlife Square, on the way Erik revealed to me what happened after the fight with Cerberus at the reactor. He, Alar, Jesa, and Kayu transferred all hostages to a nearby district. The escape was bitter-sweet, but they were safe overall. As for the capacitor, it seemed that those scientists were using it as an amplifier for their mind-control experiment. The device itself seemed to be in working condition, but Alar was skeptical. It was decided that he and Jesa would return to the Emporium and work with Kenn to find a way to repair the device. But it would take time, and waiting in the bloody station wasn't something I wanted. They would let us know when they were finished.
Jondum, his mission with Anlea was over. The man they were after was eliminated, but apparently, he changed the reports saying that she killed Faraday. It was her last wish to Jondum… I had mixed thoughts and emotions about that, but there was no way I could convince a Spectre NOT to… Like it or not, I would have to live with it. He took off after that.
The lower part of the Afterlife club was where we waited, and Nyreen recommended it. The bartender offered me, Kayu, and Erik complimentary drinks. But before I let them take a sip, I suggested they have their drinks tested. Because, Omega had a bad reputation, where the customers died from consuming poisoned drinks. But fortunately and surprisingly, they were legit and safe.
"Smart move." Said a turian behind me.
As I turned my head, I saw his face. Gray tone, almost candescent with light lavender markings on his mandibles.
"It's not every day someone checks their drinks to make sure they aren't spiked or poisoned."
"Appreciated." I answered.
"So why are you wearing that helmet?" He asked.
The helmet question, it was expected I told him. "It reeks in this station." Honestly, I wished I could take it off because it was getting stuffy inside, and mildly warm without using the oxygen tanks in my suit.
He chuckled at me and sarcastically agreed with me. "I don't blame you there. So why are you here then?"
In my own words, without saying too much, I said to him we were waiting for friends of ours to repair a device for FTL travel. And then it was my turn to ask why he was on Omega of all places in the galaxy.
He explained about his work helping people in need from the criminals, thugs that were attacking the innocent. He was with a group of people that in hopes that one day, Omega would be purged of any (if not) all evil…
Yeah, that's one war that was never going to win… Personally, if it were up to me, I would just blow up the damn station. But no, for one, civilians were living on that station, and committing genocide was the last thing I would do. And second, the galaxy was slowly (but surely) increasing the population of every sentient life, and the people have to live somewhere, like it or not.
"So who are you?" He asked.
"Call me Pallin. And you?" I asked.
"Call me Sidonis." He answered.
Sidonis… Sidonis. That name sounded familiar to me, I think it was two years back… When I gazed at Kayu, it clicked instantly. There was the turian officer at the Zakera Ward, Patticus Sidonis. And I met his brother, Lantar, but I kept my mandibles shut about it.
"Got any friends or family here?" I asked calmly.
He revealed to me the friends he was working with were his new family on Omega. As for his real family, both parents were dead, and his older brother was on Palaven. I haven't heard much of him, or from Enobia, Aerithia, not even Bailey.
"My boss, I work with, when I first met him he was determined to end injustice." Said Sidonis. "I wanted to help because I also believed that injustice was a disease that needed to be cured…"
He paused that moment, I could tell something was bothering him… I asked what?
"Lately, as soon as our "job" got bigger, he's been hard. He's been pushing us to our limits, with barely any recreation or sleep. Though I believe in putting the thugs and criminals in their place. But… I don't know…"
Hm, his boss sounded oddly familiar, but it wasn't my business to ask.
"Your boss sounds like a real hard-ass." I started. "But, his intentions, harsh as it sounds, you and your friends are trying to make Omega of all places a better place. It sounds pointless, but that doesn't mean you should give up on it."
Sidonis glared at me, the look in his eyes, he was skeptical. But yet he agreed and nodded at me.
I felt Kayu's hand pulling on my arm. "Jesa sent me a message. She, Alar, and Kenn have repaired the capacitor."
It was about damn time… I jumped out of my seat and I was ready to take off. But I turned at Sidonis, I shook his hand. I had hopes for him, I don't know why but I could tell he was a good man.
We had returned to the Emporium, Jesa held the capacitor in her hands. And Alar had the other components in two small storage units.
"We're all ready for departure." Said Alar.
I called Calio on my omni-tool to fire up our shuttle.
At that moment, Jesa turned at Kenn. She took his hand and shook it, then she embraced him. "Kenn, I'm sorry this happened to you. I hope one day you will find a way off this station."
"Thank you, Jesa." Kenn replied. "Keelah se'lai."
"Take care of yourself. Keelah si'yah." She waved at him as we bid farewell.
We arrived near the tower, as I gazed at the square the scenery was depressing as hell. For a crime-ridden station, the place was packed with aliens. I could overhear their conversations. From a batarian with an asari going into a bar. A human asking a turian about Archangel. A quarian mentioning Aria T'Loak.
"This place is busier than usual." Said Alar.
"Come on," I exhaled harshly, "let's get moving. I can barely breathe in this damned helmet."
There was a sign on the skypad's lobby area. Maintenance cleaning stairwell, Caution: Slippery Floor. Hm. For a shithole like Omega, I never expected any place on the station to maintain its cleanliness… But anyway, we wouldn't take the stairs, the elevator door opened and after going in, I took my helmet off. It was getting stuffy in there, I wanted some fresh air. But on Omega, the station's atmosphere ranked in shit. The door's closed completely with a loud bang, causing all of us to flinch and Jesa jumping into Kayu's arms.
"KEELAH!" She screamed. "What was that?"
"Maybe someone trying to get in." Erik suggested.
We felt the elevator ascending to the sky pad. Whoever was out there, they were too late to get in. And besides, there wasn't enough room.
It took over a minute for the elevator to ascend to the top floor of the tower. When we got to the entryway to the pad, we saw Calio and the co-pilot confronted by Krako and the turian merc. Something was wrong, and then I received a bleep from my omni-tool, it was a message from Nyreen.
Tarren,
Aria is aware of what had happened in the reactors, she wants to detain you. I am doing everything in my power to prevent her security from receiving her message and stopping you. But you must leave Omega. NOW!
Nyreen Kandros.
"What do you mean the shuttle is grounded?" Calio asked out of annoyance. "You can't do that to us!"
"Order's from Aria, not you nor your companion's leaves this station until…" Krako paused as he and the turian merc adverted their gazes at us.
"What is going on here?" Alar asked.
According to the turian merc, there was some attack on the station's reactors. And somehow, Aria T'Loak had information that we were involved and wanted to question us about the incident. He was about to continue explaining about detainment when my neglect caught the attention of the batarian…
"Wait…" Krako exhaled, looking at me… "I know you. You're that bastard that arrested…"
The batarian inhaled sharply as he froze and then collapsed to the ground. I wasn't even paying attention when Kayu stood in front of him when he jabbed his fingers onto Krako's neck. The turian merc received an electric feedback from a combat drone the moment my eyes caught sight of him lifting his pistol at me. I looked back to see Alar placing his gun back in his holster, and Erik running toward us as if he got distracted.
On my other side, Kayu and Jesa stood near the mercs out of their commission. Those two lovebirds were quite a dynamic duo.
"Hey, come on let's get out of here!" Calio called out.
He was right, I was sure we didn't want to stick around when Aria's mercs come up to the sky pad and kill us. And I say kill us, because knowing Omega, there was no law, meaning no law enforcement, no precinct, no jail cells to detain lawbreakers. And that's because Omega is full of lawbreakers!
We placed the package in the storage compartment of our shuttle. Jesa and Kayu entered first, as did I, Alar followed me, and Erik… What was he doing? He gazed back at the entry and exit way where we came from.
"Erik, what's wrong?" I asked.
He claimed he heard someone yelling the moment we exited the building. "Never mind." He said as he jumped in and took his seat.
Calio announced we were taking off, our shuttle lifted off the pad, and were airborne. Finally, after hours of hell, we were leaving Omega.
"Jacen?" Kayu asked. "You okay?"
"I would feel a lot better when we return to Luna." I answered. I gazed out the window, taking one last look at the hellhole of a station, known as Omega. I even glanced at the sky pad we took off from, there was someone standing on the crosshairs of the pad waving at us. Even though the tower was getting smaller and smaller, I could tell that person was a turian. I couldn't put my finger on it, but he looked so familiar to me… Well, whoever he was, sorry buddy, but we're on a tight schedule.
We were free! Calio guided the shuttle into the rotating rings of the Mass Relay. And away from that damned station. Omega. The World Without Law…
I DO NOT own the Mass Effect franchise or its content. I DO NOT make any money from the writing of this story. All rights belong to their rightful owners (EA Games and BioWare).
Lyrics from Fire It Up rightfully belongs to Disturbed - (C) 2015