"Why don't we talk about this in private," the towering Krogan said with a gravelly voice and steady stare.
"There's nothing to talk about," Aria replied coolly from where she reclined on her couch shaped throne. "You already know the answer."
"Fine, then just humor an old man awhile. It's been a long time and I'm in the mood for some company."
Aria sighed and tilted her head back to look up at the towering ceiling of her nightclub. "Fine," she groaned, "Everyone else, out."
As various guards and lackeys for both parties filed through the door, Aria nodded to a sturdy padded bench made for those who might otherwise damage her favorite furniture. The Krogan's eyes were on the bar, though. "Help yourself," she said, allowing a half smile now that the room was empty.
"Don't mind if I do," he replied, his heavy footsteps a bass counterbeat to the still audible music from downstairs. "Glad to see you back on that chair. Didn't think you had another run in ya." He didn't turn to see her smirk as he poured.
"I think the only way either of us will give up our seats is when we're carried away in a bodybag," Aria said with a tired shake of her head.
"You want somethin'?" Wrex asked, turning slightly so his beady eyes could spot her expression.
Aria smirked again, "Whatever you're having is fine."
He turned back to the bottles before him, "Didn't take you for a ryncol girl."
"Only when circumstances dictate. I suppose talking to you is one of them," she drawled.
"Ouch." He turned and lumbered back over to hand her a tumbler full of clear liquid, then over to take his seat. "So...Jack still workin' out for ya?"
That was a turn in conversation she hadn't expected. She was bored already. "Didn't know you were interested."
The Warlord grunted, "Come on Aleena, take that stick outta your ass for a second and talk to me." He took a deep drink from his glass. "Not gonna kill ya."
"I don't know what's funnier, you thinking that name is going to soften me up or that the alcohol will."
Wrex grunted again. "Here, I'll show you how polite conversation works." He gestured to himself in the hypothetical conversation, "Only asking about Jack because one of my krantt has a soft spot for her. Would be nice to take back a good word or two." His hand then extended to her expectantly.
Aria huffed in amusement. "If she weren't working out she wouldn't be breathing. Want me to detail her current assignments? Tell you if she's in harm's way? Shall I tell her to contact you and check in?"
"Damn if you aren't one cold fish," he retorted before leaning forward with his elbows on his knee guards. "I could say something about how curious I am, you putting so much investment in a human and all, but truth is I don't really give a shit. We got bigger problems here and you can't hide behind your little glass crown forever."
Aria finally took a drink, hiding her calculations for a moment before speaking. "The only 'problems' I might have are coming straight from you, Wrex. How about you just take my refusal and fuck off back to your little empire? We can both live happily for whatever lifespan we have left."
The Krogan just looked at her silently for a moment and that quiet calm was more unnerving than loud voices and wild articulation. "I'm here as a courtesy, because of the respect I have for you."
Aria finished for him, lips curled in a sneer, "But you can just take it whenever you want, right? Try it. I think you might find I've got a few surprises."
"I know you're in bed with Tevos and the Council," he explained patiently, "And you know that doesn't matter, not way out here. You knew this was coming, Omega-4 just made it happen faster. We're taking Eingana, Aria, whether you like it or not. Then we're going through the relay and all the mercenaries in the galaxy can't stop us. I don't wanna fight you on this. I want you onboard ."
"And what can you possibly give me that I don't already have?" Aria scoffed with barely hidden disgust.
"Complete autonomy while you live and a percentage of our profits," he replied with a suggestive nod. "We'll use Omega as our base camp but we'll be tenants only, you're the landlord. You'll die as you've lived, the undisputed Queen of Omega; and for once you won't have to worry about anybody taking it from you."
Aria had far too much practice to give away any emotion in her expression but she had to admit that just now she felt powerfully tired. She'd had to take this damnable rock not once but three times, the last from an Elcor hailing from Thunawanuro who fancied himself a liberator while the nebula was isolated from the rest of the galaxy by broken relays. The victory had been swift with the aid of her newly trained security forces, but the very act was humiliating from the start. Sure, what chance was there of her not being able to return to the station and command...ever again? But in the minds of the average merc it was always about your last victory, your latest display of power, and recent events had lowered that bar substantially. She'd spent the majority of her thousand years in this place ruling with an iron fist and it might as well have been six months to the rabble that crowded the asteroid's cracks and crannies now. She'd been fighting a new war for reputation ever since, resorting to bloody and inefficient demonstrations to enforce her view and assert her dominance, a display apparently not necessary for the similarly long-lived Urdnot Wrex.
He paused for a moment, looking at her intently, "Now, I know you. You've probably got a dozen things behind your back you can use to spoil the well. You can hurt me, you can slow me down if that's your choice but it's a fight you can't win and this time I don't think you'll escape the explosion." He could have gloated over the reference but seemed completely earnest. She found herself wanting to kick him in the quad nevertheless. "I want to work with you because I know you'll keep your word. Don't you think it's time we both had some peace?"
Peace. Hah. What she needed was space. She needed room to maneuver, but his offer wasn't a terrible one. Her eyes narrowed with interest, "How much of a percentage?" The Krogan managed to look surprised at her response and she wasn't sure if it was for effect or not. The bastard had real power now so it was probably beneath him to play dumb.
He leaned back against the wall pensively, the weight of his body making the bench groan. "Half a percent," he said.
Aria rolled her eyes, "Get out of my club before I have you thrown out."
"I leave that way and your club will be a crater when I'm done," he retorted with a curled reptilian smile.
Aria wasn't phased. "You're a sorry sack of dreck, Wrex. You think I don't know what you're looking for in there? How much would the Shadow Broker charge you for that tech?"
"Heheh, if the Shadow Broker played ball I wouldn't be here and you wouldn't have the chance to profit from his loss."
Aria laughed and kicked back the Ryncol before speaking. "You know what I think?" She pointed a finger from around the highball as she continued, "I think he gave you a price you couldn't afford. That's what I think. I think "Empire Urdnot" is all out of cash after your recent expansions and you need me to facilitate this bit of archaeology for the 'cause'." Her eyes flashed and she set her glass on the table beside the couch. "Five percent. That's my price."
"Hah!" Wrex exclaimed, "Not unless you want to join this 'little empire' and fight for me, it's not." He leaned forward, an elbow on his knee and his red, beady eyes narrowing aggressively. "You think you can hold this system against all takers with what you got? "
"Don't have to," she replied with a sniff, "No one else is crazy enough to go in there."
"Not what I heard." When she didn't answer, he continued. "In fact, I hear there's pretty regular traffic going through that relay. Know anything about that?" His eyes were steady as he drank, watching her carefully.
"That's not your concern and that traffic isn't to be interfered with in any way," she said with a clenched jaw. "Four percent."
His body shook with a laugh that never made it free of his chest, "Tell you what. Because it's you and this is some mighty fine Ryncol, I'll give you one. Two if you give me the secret on how they're surviving passage. Whoever we run into once we're there needs to stay clear of us, though. Salvage rights will be enforced. Vigorously."
Aria took a deep breath, exhaling through her nose before speaking again. "I'll think about it," she said, and there was no room for equivocation in her tone.
"All I ask," Wrex said, standing. "I need to know your answer before I leave system, though."
"Don't dictate terms to me, old man," she snapped despite the creeping fondness she felt for the Krogan leader, "The Council might not be willing to fight you over Eingana but one word from me and you can kiss Tyr goodbye. Remember that."
Wrex laughed as he turned to leave then spoke over his shoulder with a deep approving rumble, "There's my girl."
Aria shook her head once he was gone and walked over to refill her glass with something more palatable. As she was pouring she heard her longtime bodyguard Bray's low voice from the door.
"Boss, Jack is back. Send her up?"
"Already? Hmm." Aria turned to look at the Batarian and gave a slight nod, which turned him around and out, then took a seat on her leather couch with a contemplative sigh.
Wrex was right, she had seen this coming. Being in the Terminus systems used to mean forging your own destiny while the rest of the galaxy squabbled over worlds on the other side of the swirl. When the humans made their grand entrance on the scene and in a few decades managed to settle an area that rivaled Council space in size it opened a lot of eyes and a lot of wallets. That rush to claim territory had been stopped cold by the Reapers, though; the vast majority of colonies destroyed and their territories opened up again to any who could hold it.
Before the Reapers Aria would have guessed the Salarians would be the quickest to expand but everything had changed with the war. With the recognition of the Rachni as a sentient species and the curing of the Krogan genophage the two races quickly took stock of homeworlds devastated before the invasion even began. They had nothing to lose by branching out and the treaties offered by the council gave them latitude to pick a small number of worlds not formally claimed by any of the recognized races as restitution and reward. The Salarians, on the other hand, were the target of censure and with the majority of their fleet missing in action after their failed attempt to conquer Tuchanka were hamstrung in their efforts to participate in the new race for colonization.
To add insult to Salarian injury, both the Krogan and the Rachni elected to settle planets in the Exodus Cluster. The garden planet Terra Nova was already claimed by the Alliance, but Tyr and Loki's living conditions were both within tolerances of their respective species with a bit of terraforming. If it weren't enough that the new alliance between the three races spat in the face of Salarian objectives the Exodus Cluster lay just a single relay jump away from their homeworld, Sur'Kesh; not only posing what they deemed an unacceptable security risk but potentially blocking the shortest route to the rimworlds of the Traverse if conflict ever arose.
It had been a bitter pill to swallow but the Salarians still had teeth. There was no better terraforming technology in the galaxy than theirs and they outright refused to provide it to either race in protest. Wrex's pleas to the Shadow Broker for aid in their endeavors had apparently also come up empty, though Aria knew better than to believe it was about credits. The Salarians might have the lion's share of galactic ire heaped upon them for recent warlike activities but that didn't mean their motives were without merit. No other species in the galaxy could reproduce as quickly as the Rachni and Krogan and there wasn't any debate about how dangerous they could become. In the past the Salarians had pit one against the other to keep them in check but if either of them chose to become a bad actor this time that wouldn't be an option.
No, Aria suspected the Shadow Brokers were withholding that tech for a very simple reason: To slow the Krogan and Rachni down. She hadn't been close enough to the Convergence for the last year to know it for a fact, of course, but she surmised the decision would have been an easy one for Tevos to embrace; it achieved some level of safety against the threat with no one the wiser. It bought the galaxy time but that's why Wrex had come to her doorstep instead. There was no guarantee the Krogan would find any terraforming tech in the unfathomably old shipwrecks at the center of the galaxy but there was every chance they would find far more valuable things they could use for payment or extortion.
She heard Wrex's loud laughter downstairs. He and Jack must've been catching up while she was lost in thought. If it had been any other Krogan asking for the secret of the Omega 4 relay they'd have been escorted out at gunpoint but she and Wrex went way back. He really was a beacon of hope for his race, a sane voice that had powerful friends in the Council because he was among the few Krogan that could be trusted not only to consider compromise but make good on his promises. Whether she helped him or not this was likely the end of an independent Omega. There was no logistical or political way to stop the Krogan from spreading to this system and beyond, so she'd have to consider his offer carefully.
Any smile on Jack's face leftover from her talk with Wrex was gone by the time she stormed into Aria's chambers. Well, Aria thought, perhaps 'stormed' was the wrong word. While anger radiated from the woman it wasn't the same aura she had when they first met. It was controlled. Internalized. Banked. With a barely perceptible nod she walked right by where Aria was seated and began to drown her emotions at the bar.
"Trouble in paradise?" Aria taunted, but just shy of enough venom to set the woman off.
"Whattaya you want me to say?" Jack asked between gulps of something purple, "That you were right?"
She smiled at the victory while Jack wasn't looking but smoothed it quickly when she turned. "Right about which part, that you'd get tired of playing step and fetch or that she meant more to you than you ever cared to admit?"
Jack sneered and came to settle her weight on the same couch segment. She sat, legs spread and back bowed, glass hanging from her fingertips while she chewed her bottom lip. "Is this the part where you send a dancer to my room? 'Cause I've got a pre-emptive fuck-you waiting."
Aria shrugged nonchalantly, "I don't care who you take to bed. That's your business."
She could feel the waves of angst coming off the young human in response and it nearly made her eyes roll out of her head. "Jack," she said sternly until the biotic turned to look at her, "Did you break it off with her?"
She could almost hear Jack's teeth grinding with her nod and Aria sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Stupid. Little. Child. You're going to run back to her the first time you get lonely and give her the upper hand."
"Oh shut the.." Jack growled, straightening. "You think I don't see what you're doing? She's not trying to play me, she's just got her head stuck so far up her ass she can smell what she had for breakfast!"
Aria scoffed, widened her eyes in consternation and shook her head, "Keep deluding yourself, kid. I think you're letting your cunt make decisions but hey, what do I know about double-dealing, backstabbing power brokers?" When Jack narrowed her eyes at her she added, "She happen to ask you about current events?"
When Jack stood to pace she laughed and gestured with an open hand. "Behold the towering pillar of strength. I thought you had a handle on this. I thought your relationship was a...a convenience? A way to blow off steam. How concerned should I be at this point?"
Jack's head swiveled and glared. Progress at last. "I'm no snitch," she retorted with barely concealed rage. "Power that shit down.."
Aria didn't move, didn't blink, just stared. Jack stared right back, challenge in her eyes. The human was learning but had a long, long way to go before Aria could trust her judgement. She softened her tone, though; denigrating the woman's pubescent need for connection would only push her farther away from where she needed to be. "You know what? You're right. Miranda Lawson is good at her job. She's good at it because it's all she's ever known, which also means it's what she falls back on whenever she feels threatened. It's what professionals do. Are you a professional?"
Jack sniffed and pulled at her face, something she often did when struggling to bring herself under control.
Sometimes Aria wondered if this was worth the effort, but Jack was far more biddable than Shepard ever was and with her tutelage only slightly less effective. Every weapon ever made needed maintenance and this human was no different. "Have you stopped meditating?" Aria asked in a detached voice.
Jack shook her head wearily, "Just haven't yet, today."
"Then you know what you need to do. I've got nothing else for you tonight."
When Jack was nearly at the exit Aria interrupted, "Jack." When the biotic turned and levelled that pained gaze back upon her she continued, "I need you to get your shit together. "
Jack shifted her weight from one hip to the other, her posture just as willing for violence as it ever was. "Point and shoot, boss. Point and shoot."
Jack pondered another lonely night in the darkness of her apartment and dismissed it immediately. It wasn't a terrible place, really; she'd once lived under a dank stairwell for a month after relocating (not running, dammit, not running) from Chasca with 50 screaming pain-cultists on her six. That pisshole sucked about as much as you'd expect. Nah, this place was great, but the red glow that permeated the interior of Omega shone through her windows and reminded her of long Teltin nights. It wasn't the redness that creeped her, it was the memory that the moment the facility came off battery power, when the lights turned sanitary white instead of smoldering red that she'd start wishing death had stolen her away while she slept. Even now she sometimes woke in that dull hellish glow, forgot where she was and her first thought would be, ' How long 'til morning? '.
Didn't help that she felt like a scalded puppy after having come back to Miranda begging for scraps and getting a crack in the face for her trouble. Okay crappy metaphors aside she just wasn't gonna stay there tonight. At least if she roamed the station she couldn't doubt she was free; so she only stopped in to drop off her pack and change clothes. And check my messages, I guess. Her terminal was chiming politely so she woke it and ran her finger to the one highlighted mail, tapping it before turning away toward the washroom.
She expected it to be Lawson...but heard a guttural laugh instead. "Hey Jack, me and some boys from Aralakh are on station. Not sure if you're around but if you're free, catch us at Crashdown. It's been too long since I put you through a wall." Her disappointment about Miranda's latest diss was suddenly replaced with a wicked smile at the thought of hanging with Grunt and co again.
"Meditation," she said with a chuckle and shrug, "Screw that spew." This would be a much better way to forget.
Looking at herself in the mirror brought another unpleasant reminder in the form of long black hair spilling roughshod over her shredded compression tank and darkly patterned shoulders. She leaned to one side and pulled at a belt hanging from a hook until a knife came free then straightened to consider that weak-ass token of useless affection. In moments she had a full foot cut and dumped in the recycler but before she could start shaving she paused, choosing instead to cut it short and tight. After an additional moment she shaved out one of the tattoos that circled her skull, a reminder of that cult and an expression of pain that no-one but she and the universe would understand. The halo of hair poofed in her reflection but she cured that with some product, slicking it back except for a curl over one side of her forehead. Her dark eyes popped against her pale skin and she nodded in silent approval before wiping the blade and putting it away.
Her hand caught the collar of her high black coat as she passed the chair of her desk and with a whoosh of the door she was out into the acrid smelling mining district. It was a place everybody avoided due to eezo poisoning and that, plus the low rent and relative solitude, made it perfect for her. She took a deep breath, the burn in her lungs a distant thing compared to her first days on Omega. She strode through darkened, cloudy alleys; knowing them as well as the veins on the back of her hand. She passed others, mostly Asari but a few biotics of other races and their nods of recognition earned hers in return. Each one of them had earned a place here in this shithole for long enough to know one another and to know someone here for longer than six months meant you didn't wanna fuck with them. When a person couldn't see your weapons but knew you had them they tended to knuckle a brow unless they had a bone to pick. The gangs picked few bones here. Not enough creds for the risk.
The lights rose, colors began to vary and music started to thrum the closer she got to Five Points. Grunt's message was clear...they could've gone anywhere but came to her and she had to admit that tiny little warm spot she had for the Krogan only got bigger every time they hung.
It'd been a long boring night by herself on the Normandy the first time she made her way to his cargo bay. She'd heard of the weirdo tank monkey being brought onboard and the whispered static about setting it free. Once things settled and Shepard stopped stalking the place she figured she'd size it up herself so in she went. She found it sitting with its back to a corner, knees bent, watching the door...and something about that pose struck her deep as a knife.
It watched her and she watched it. It didn't say anything at all, eyes glowing in the reflected light of the corridor before the door slid shut behind her. There, in the dark, they stayed until they could hear one another breathing. It made Jack's hackles rise and she remembered feeling adrenaline flood all the way to her fingertips but she wasn't gonna be the first to speak. She heard its weight rise, the metal bulkhead behind it giving it away; and she padded around the room letting her eyes adjust while putting her side to it like she would any fear-aggressive varren. It wouldn't make 'em friendly but it would make 'em pause and it seemed to work here, too.
"You're in my space, human. If you are looking for death, you've found it," came its voice, low and threatening.
Jack didn't stop her exploration, though now she could make out the sheer size of the Krogan in her peripheral vision thanks to the soft glow of the pod's control panel.
"If I wanted you dead, you would be," was her growled reply. Then, with genuine curiosity, "What makes you so special? Why are you here?"
"I….am Krogan...perfected," it said with confidence and without warning, rushed her.
Later she heard he pulled the same shit with Shepard but unlike her Jack wasn't playing a game of hide the pistol. When security finally broke in, rifles leveled, they found them both covered in blood and sporting broken bones, grinning and surrounded by busted equipment. Chakwas was pissed and Shepard flipped her shit but they'd been tight ever since.
Crashdown was especially lively by the time she got there...Aralakh didn't know the meaning of rules. There were three times the number of bouncers and the regulars had checked out except for a few lurking in corners, fingers twitching near their holsters. A quarter of the space was already taken by the place's namesake, a lifepod ejected from the Cerberus cruiser Aria used to take back the station. It'd put a hole through the roof and planted below the floor and was basically the only thing holding the place together so it had never been removed. You couldn't see the liquor-tenders for the number of ten foot bodies crowding the bar and Jack smelled spilled ryncol all the way at the door. Jack just paused, hip cocked and a stupid grin crawling over her face when she heard him shout.
"About time!" he cried, wide shoulders breaking violently between his buddies before he lifted his hands high in greeting. "We're leaving in the morning. Come!" He gestured wildly. "Drink!"
"What, you left some for me?" Jack barked as she approached, "I'm fucking touched!"
Grunt's unique laughter filled the space, "You will never go without as long as I'm around." He smashed a mug against her chest and put his meaty hands around her head before head-butting her…..politely. His reptilian eyes peered down at her despite her new height as he held her there for a moment, then withdrew. "Men! Meet the second fiercest human I ever met!"
"A fact still in dispute!" She shouted back before drinking deep, the liquor spilling down her face and chest as she slurped to their collective laughter. Ahhh...gods the shit burned. She drank until it tortured her stomach before taking a breath. "Next round's on me!" she managed to shout while choking, "To the bravest Krogan in the 'verse!" Their shouts of approval were music to her ears and for a few hours, she was home.
Funny thing about all the upgrades she had done. They made it hard as hell to get drunk, which put her firmly into Krogan territory as far as holding her liquor. She managed to hang 'til morning and earned herself another Krogan badge of courage, trading stories and jokes until about an hour before 'dawn', but the company had been drinking a lot longer than she had and were in various stages of consciousness. In the end it was her and Grunt at a large table, something she finally mentioned.
"You uh," Jack said with a knowing look at the same mug he'd held for at least 3 rounds, "Holding back?"
Grunt grunted and gave a nod, "Gotta look after these pups. Some o'them are as green as pyjack puke."
"So this a rookie run then?" Jack said, gut twisting with memories of fresh faces looking to her for direction.
"Oh they're all blooded," he replied, "Just so fresh they'd never been off Tuchanka. Earned their merits and got hand-picked to escort Wrex for a tour. Big honor, that kind of thing."
Jack nodded, "Wait 'til you're overrun with kids from the next gen. You better train these guys right, you're gonna need some seeerious help."
"That's only the beginning of my problems, heh heh heh."
Jack saw the odd glint in his eye as he chortled, "Wait a minute….is that a 'I got a ladyfriend' look on your face?"
"Got two," he confirmed with a rise of his chin, such as it was, "And they don't even fight about it."
"Holy shit, two ? How many krogan you have to gut to make that happen?"
Grunt looked around at the still forms of his squad before lowering his voice, "Only one. Was my second's mate at the time. I didn't start anything, either," he growled, "He said he couldn't stomach the thought of a tank-bred breathing much less breeding... so I relieved him of that burden."
Jack snickered. "So the sucker mouths off to the leader of Aralakh company? Hah! I think I know which one shouldn't be breeding." Then she shook her head in disgust. "How many times you think yer gonna have to prove yourself, man?"
"As long as Krogan have quads," he replied with thunder-like finality, "And I'm okay with it. I need to make an example every once in awhile anyway, might as well have them come to me."
Jack considered her friend for a moment then struck his mug with hers, "Ya done pretty well for a fucking toddler, you know that?"
Grunt grinned and finally upended his drink. Jack started to do the same but before it touched her lips the room shook. She set down her mug, trying to focus her bleary vision when it shook a second time and then a third, the last so much stronger it moved everything in the bar and nearly knocked over their chairs. They were both on their feet in an instant, Grunt kicking anyone not already rising, and Jack pulled up her Omni to check in. She was interrupted by the flicker of Aria's face appearing and she didn't look happy.
"Get to Afterlife. Now."
"Sure, but…what's going on?"
The Asari's eyes narrowed irritably at having to explain herself, but she took a breath and gave a single sentence before disconnecting. "Wrex's flagship just exploded."