Chapter 25
"Kallen, do you have the data on the Garvug delegation?"
"Sure it's around here somewhere. Um, give me a minute," the Colonel added, glancing down with a certain dismay at his desk, buried under stacks of datapads four or five layers deep. He began picking through them at speed, but it was clear even his meticulous systems of organization had broken down.
Well, who could blame him? The delegates had arrived and the summit was due to begin this afternoon but we couldn't claim to have finished the due diligence on even half of the matters that needed attending to. T'Roth had been as good as her word when she promised to bury us in paperwork, but in truth she needn't have bothered. There was just so much to do.
By now the guest list had swelled to over five hundred attendees, each delegation ballooning in size to outdo their competitors. The moment the surviving rebel leaders from Selvos heard that we had also invited a group from Chalkhos they immediately demanded we allow them to increase the number of personal guards they brought with them. And it's not just personal guards either, we've got requests for family members, "military advisers", court entertainers and god only knows what else.
It wasn't long before our duties to the summit started to be impeded by more urgent requests to secure new accommodations for groups that had arrived several days early and two or three times the expected size. A task made all the more difficult when refugees from outlying systems started to flood into the station as well (we started to realise something was up when the 'delegation' from Parasc was the size of a small colony).
I think Aria would have quite liked to have sent the refugee ships packing, ordering them to turn round and head for Sanctuary or the Citadel possibly. But even from the outset, she knew that wasn't an option this time. As long as the Terminus alliance, as she referred to it, was still in its infancy she had to roll out the welcome wagon, opening up Omega as a refuge to all those not welcome elsewhere. While she cut a surprisingly impressive figure as a wartime leader, I still dreaded to think what she might have in store for those people long term.
"Ah found it!" Kallen called out before bringing the pad over to me (pausing only the weave his way past Bray and a pair of Vorcha who were lugging Shield Generators across the room).
"What have we got?"
"Lot of Krogan and Vorcha as you'd expect coming from Garvug. Head honcho is a guy called Jarsan Gakara. I've brought you the pad for clan Jarsan as well."
"Thanks. Anyone else coming?"
"We've got a couple of Volus that he's bringing along as his "financial advisers" and a Drell."
I glanced up from my work at him in askance.
"Yeah, we don't know much about that one. I've got that Salarian, what's his name? Y'know the one with the green skin and the funny little scar on his right horn?"
"Orbal Robane?"
"Yeah that's the one. I've got him trying to look into that now but I'm still waiting to hear back," he called out, his voice rising to be heard as Nalar and T'Roth started up another argument in the corner about the camera surveillance in the atrium (we had just about managed to talk Aria out of holding the event in Afterlife).
"Alright that's fine, I'll see if I can catch five minutes with him before it starts. Now has anyone, anyone at all managed to find out what going on with the Illium delegation? They were meant to be here three days ago so Aria could sweet talk them before the summit."
I glanced around the room but most people just gave shrugs or had shakes or just ignored the question entirely. Thankfully Nalar stepped forward and gave a solemn chopping gesture to his throat.
Concerned I stepped closer, so I could whisper my next question to him.
"What happened?"
"Reapers," he replied quietly but simply.
"Their defense fleet managed to take out some of their troop transports which is slowing them down but..."
His expression made the truth obvious. Even if they could resist planetside, they were still out of the fight as far as we were concerned. I swore under my breath, it was only the third planet this week but Illium was important, perhaps second only to Omega in its importance to the Terminus.
"Does Aria know?"
"I sent word down two hours ago. Haven't heard anything since."
"Okay just see if you can get me an update in the next half hour. Try and keep this under wraps if you can."
"No problem, Lawson."
"Thanks Nalar. I appreciate it."
And so it went, on and on. Every meeting led to another, every answer brought with it a dozen more questions as we did our best to unravel the complex web of loyalties, conflicts, wars, and betrayals upon which the Terminus is built. Eventually, Bray came up to us to deliver a simple message.
"It's time."
Soon as we heard that announcement we caught a transport over to Omega's new Grand Atrium. It had been converted from an old storage warehouse because there had been no space on the whole station ever designed to house a meeting of this size and scale. It had been chosen for three simple reasons: it was one of the few areas big enough, its cargo (batches of red sand that had required a very thorough cleaning of the warehouse ahead of time) was valuable enough that the doors were all designed to pretty impenetrable and because Aria had assured us that it intersected none of her secret shortcuts through the station.
Inside it was very much as you would expect of an old abandoned warehouse that had had a thin veneer of civility added for the occasion. We had to install the main stage with a podium at the back where Aria could address the crowd. Just in front of that, we had added a pit with its own (smaller) podium so that the delegates could step up and challenge her arguments (to my surprise she had insisted on this herself, claiming that anyone who had a problem with her leadership should be made to stand up to her directly so everyone could see what happened to them). We'd also installed cameras and a few other electronic surveillance toys (though less than Nalar would have liked).
Aside from these functional additions everything was just as it had originally been. The shelves had been cleared away around the stage but it was still standing only and more shelving closed in on the crowd from all sides leaving more alleyways to lurk in than I liked (I had wanted them all cleared away but the construction crews hadn't finished on time). Up above there was a maze of catwalks and loading platforms and even an attic where it appeared some of the workers had slept during their shifts.
I wasn't happy about the security arrangements. And I really wasn't happy with the number of guards we'd had to spread around the outer reaches of the building just to make sure it was all covered. I'd even gone as far as asking Aria to delay the summit for a few more days so that we could rip up the entire pointless maze of junk and leave clear lines of sight across the room but she had overruled me. The Reapers invasion rolled over more and more systems every day. Waiting was no longer an option.
The delegates rolled in first, row after row of them in all shapes and sizes. Humans, Turians, Batarians, Salarians, Vorcha, and Krogan mostly. Though there were more than a few Volus and a couple of Hanar also filing into the room. Not a single Elcor though, Vorlak really was an outlier among his species.
I was relaxed for the moment, Aria wasn't due to arrive until three minutes after the last delegate had settled in. As I watched these murderers and thugs jostle for a position nearer to the podium I couldn't help but think to myself that all it would take was one well-placed bomb to clean up a whole galaxy of scum. But not today, as long as it was on my watch none of them would be harmed.
At last, the arrivals were finished and happy enough with their places and I started to count down the seconds to Aria's arrival. And kept on counting, on past the three minute mark while still no purple-skinned Asari made an appearance on stage. As we passed the fifth minute the delegates were already starting to look confused and annoyed. By minute seven I was reaching for my radio to call it in as a problem when she finally strutted up to the podium.
"Most of you who know me well know that I don't like to make long speeches so I'll do my best to make this as brief as possible."
She paused for a moment as if awaiting a response but no one managed to say a word before she began speaking again.
"In this room, we have gathered all of the strongest factions that belong to the Terminus. Every one of you here has forged their position through toil and sacrifices that the rest of the galaxy couldn't even begin to understand. Our lives have been shaped through blood and conflict and each of us has earned the respect we demand from others. I know that half of you despise each other; that some of you have even been at war for decades. And I know that all of us despise the Council and its lackeys. They have hunted us, public berated and ridiculed us and turned us all into outcasts."
As the speech built upon itself, the crowd seemed to rise up, building to a crescendo. A few began to stand up, ready to clap and cheer but with her next few words Aria cut that applause short.
"And I don't care."
Each word was spoken slowly, deliberately, cutting across her earlier words like a knife while the venomous look in her eye held everyone silent.
"As of this moment, all of that is over. We no longer have time to indulge our ancient feuds and petty rivalries. If there's one thing that the Terminus understands it's survival. We do what we must to secure our future..."
Aria trailed off for a moment to allow her audience to consider her words before speaking again.
"So from now on, I will give everyone in the Terminus the chance to choose their enemy. Either the Reaper invaders... Or me."
Most of the crowd was stunned. So were the security and Aria's other little helpers who were standing on the sidelines waiting to be called upon. They had been expecting negotiation, diplomacy, a to and fro full of compromises made to try and keep all of the different factions happy. Instead, they had a single ultimatum, one that could hold the new alliance together or ignite a civil war.
Still some of the delegates recovered from the shock faster than others.
"Hell Aria, you think you're worse than the Reapers now?"
The rest of the crowd went silent at this shout, all eyes turning immediately on the stage as they awaited the reaction. But she was a statue, not stiff or tense but motionless, a puppet left hanging on its strings for a moment while the mind within carefully considered its next move. Then slowly, almost imperceptibly, her lips dragged upwards into a small coy smile.
"Hask, it's good to see you again. I'm afraid I didn't quite catch all of that. Maybe you'd like to step up to the podium so we can all hear your concerns."
"You mean that one down there?" he asked hesitantly, pointing to the box we had put just in front of the stage. Aria nodded slowly and he shrugged as if it were no big deal before strolling casually over to it. Once there he stood alone (the crowd had backed away even further from that spot) and looked up at Aria, suddenly not seeming quite so sure of himself.
"Why should we fear being your enemy more than we fear the Reapers?"
Aria's smile widened into a grin as she prepared her reply.
"I would have thought that was obvious. We've all seen how powerful these machines are. They are brutal, ruthless, and terrifying in their efficiency, it's true. But unlike me, they don't care about inflicting pain. So if you hope to stand by and watch while the rest of the galaxy burns I want you to believe that I will hunt you down no matter where you may try to hide and subject you to a death that will be so much slower and more painful than anything that the Reapers have patience for."
She paused for a moment to let those words sink in before continuing.
"I won't harm anyone who throws their weight behind the cause but those who resist can rest assured that I will be more vindictive than anything those machines are capable of. Or anyone else for that matter."
"Or so you would like others to believe, Miss T'Loak. But the truth of the matter, as we both well know, is that there monsters out there far more terrible than yourself."
The voice did not come from Hask, who had been left speechless by Aria's little performance only to find himself now looking around the room for the source of this new interruption, along with most of the audience. Then someone pointed up as the screen behind Aria changed its image and finally, we saw the face of our enemy.
The Salarian was old, anyone could see that even at a casual glance. His skin had turned grey, dry, and withered. It resembled baked in mud on an African plain, so deep were the wrinkles on his face. Of the rest of him, there was nothing to see as he kept himself shrouded in a black cloak and hood the whole time.
Aria turned around and looked up at the screen, her figure now dwarfed by the blown-up face in front of her.
"Guests are usually expected to introduce themselves before they start interrupting," she snapped with a warning tone.
"Oh, I am no one of importance. Just a friend come to warn these fine people of the deception you present them with. You lost Omega once already to Cerberus and now you have the audacity to try and threaten the Terminus into obeying your every whim? Worse still you intend to lead us all into certain death to satisfy your debt to the Alliance. A debt you incurred because you were too weak to take back the station without the help of the Council's lapdog, Commander Shepard? Why should any of us help you settle your accounts? Why should the Terminus involve themselves in the Council's war at your whim?"
"Brave words from someone too cowardly to stand before me when he makes his challenge."
Immediately I hit the commlink on my omnitool.
"Nalar, they're in the system. Can you do anything about it?"
"I'm trying," he replied instantly, but from the frustration in his voice I figured it might take a while. Back on stage, the Salarian was answering Aria's comments.
"But it is not I that makes this challenge Aria. I leave that in the hands of someone much more dangerous. The Demon of Omega himself."
At these words, the image shifted away from the Salarian for a moment and over to a bulky and very well-armed Elcor. Several of the guests gasped and looked around the room as if they expected him to make an appearance at any moment. But before Vorlak could speak the camera shifted back round to the Salarian.
"You drove him off the station once before Aria, but it seems not even you were quite up to the task of ending his life. Now Vorlak has returned to exact his vengeance against you my dear. And as for anyone foolish enough to agree to stand with you? Well, let's just say my new client takes a very dim view of that kind of thing. Let's just say that anyone that signs your little deal is going to die a most horrible death."
And with that last sentence, the screen went blank, followed almost immediately by the lights. As pitch darkness fell across the warehouse, the first of the gunshots began to sound.