Chapter 13 - A Message From Home
In This Edition of Fornax:
'She struts & sweats her hour upon the stage. And then is heard no more' - Has Cerberus silenced the sound & fury of Omega's legendary strip clubs for good?
Behind the Scenes of 'Vaenia' - Steamy, previously unpublished pics from the modern classic!
"I am a sex god!" - Volus porn superstar Niftu Cal on how mind-expanding drugs revealed his true purpose in life!
Three-Species Threesomes - Another way the asari are helping to bring the galaxy together!
Dr. Solus Advises - Drell skin contact & hallucinations: what you *need* to know!
Aria T'Loak sneered as she sat on a couch and watched the patrons of Purgatory drinking, dancing and laughing. They were only able to have a good time because they were utterly ignorant of the club's sheer phoniness, the asari gangster queen thought. And if any of those patrons were aware, then that only made them even more detestable in her eyes. Purgatory had the reputation of being the wildest nightlife spot on the Presidium, but to T'Loak it was like a quiet memorial garden. It was so sterile it even smelled of disinfectant. It certainly didn't compare to the clubs on Illium or her own piece of paradise, Omega's Afterlife. Those were places that vibrated with mystery, excitement and danger - the raw stuff of life. Purgatory was nothing like them.
Fights hardly ever broke out in Purgatory and they were quickly stopped when they did. Somebody getting knifed to death in a dark corner was unheard of. The bartenders would actually stop serving somebody if they started getting obnoxious. 'Why do that when you could just allow other patrons to clobber the person?' T'Loak wondered. 'How else are they supposed to blow off steam?' Even relatively mild drugs like red sand were prohibited and bouncers would eject people caught with them, then call Citadel Security. 'What is the point in doing that?' she wondered. The pole dancers were forced to do tame routines and, bafflingly, could be fired if they were caught prostituting themselves to patrons. It had never occurred to T'Loak to prohibit her Afterlife dancers from doing that. As long as they worked their shifts and weren't ripping her off, how they earned any additional credits was their own damn business. 'Do the prudes that run the Citadel really hate dancers so much that they won't give them the same freedom?' T'Loak wondered. 'And they say I'm cruel...'
The absolute worst part was that Purgatory was the wildest nightlife spot on the Presidium. Reportedly, there were a few clubs scattered across the other wards that were properly decadent, but getting to and from them was a time-consuming hassle. T'Loak needed to be close to the center of operations she had set up in a Presidium hotel. Her plans were far too important for her to risk being away for too long. Purgatory was nearby, so she made do.
'This is only temporary,' T'Loak thought. Soon, she would end her exile and take Omega back from the human terrorist group called Cerberus. She could then return to her beloved Afterlife and be able to truly relax and enjoy herself. Until then, she would silently endure. Purgatory was at least aptly named, the asari mused.
T'Loak's silent brooding was interrupted when a half-dozen humans approached her. They were young, all male and wearing Alliance Navy uniforms. The gangster queen's entourage, consisting of Bray, a burly batarian, and Grizz, a turian ex-soldier, tensed up as the humans approached. T'Loak signaled them to be watchful but not to act unless the humans did something first.
A marine slightly older than the rest and with dark skin and a shaved head began speaking. He was evidently the leader of the group. "Ma'am, we just wanted to say that we think it's damn unfair that members of our species have caused so much trouble for you," he began. His tone was humble and earnest. "We certainly don't want you to judge humanity by what a few species-ist assholes have said & done. They don't speak for the rest of us," he declared. "Most of us want to be part of the galactic community. We humans are part of the Council now and we want to pull our weight too. And beyond that to, you know, just be friends with the aliens."
The other marines nodded and murmured in agreement. "Anyhow, just wanted to let you know that, ma'am," the marine concluded.
T'Loak blinked, genuinely uncertain what to make of this. While she was used to being addressed in a humble manner, it was usually accompanied by an obvious amount of fear on the part of the speaker. If it wasn't, that was her cue to figure out the true agenda behind the speaker's words. In this case, however, the human appeared to be saying exactly what he meant.
"You'll have to excuse me. I'm not used to gestures of friendship with no strings attached. But I do believe you're being sincere," the asari replied. "So, I... appreciate the sentiment, human."
The marines all began grinning, prompting T'Loak to faintly smile in response. She decided to take a modest risk with the humans. "If you want to really help out, I am looking for people for my next... 'project,' shall we say," the asari declared. "I could give you the number of a person who is helping to coordinate that. I'm sure we could get you a spot where you'd be... part of the action. A little adventure you could tell your kids about later on. But you cannot tell your superiors about it. I'm trying to be hush-hush about things for the time being. What's the human phrase? 'Loose lips sink ships'?"
The spokesman mouthed a "wow" and looked around at his marine buddies. They exchanged wordless glances and shrugs for a few moments before the group appeared to come to a consensus. "Ohhh, that's a very tempting offer, ma'am," the spokesman replied. "But we're all active duty. We just cannot shirk our responsibilities to the Alliance Navy."
T'Loak wasn't surprised. She knew the offer was a longshot. "I understand. The offer remains open if circumstances change."
The marine's smile returned. "That's doubtful, but we promise we'll keep it in mind, ma'am," he announced. The human started to speak again, then paused. He appeared to be working up his courage. Intrigued, T'Loak leaned forward and gestured to the marine to speak. He nodded and said, "Since we cannot be extras in your next vid, Ms. S'Voz, could we just have a photo with you now instead?"
T'Loak drummed her fingers against the couch for a seconds, then announced, "Fuck it. Why not? Gather 'round, boys."
The marines' faces all lit up and they hurriedly scampered to arrange themselves behind T'Loak's couch. The asari gestured to Bray, who rolled all four of his eyes but nevertheless stepped forward and readied his omni-tool's photo function. "Wow! Thanks!" declared the spokesman. "After all the grief you got for playing Commander Shepard in the Blasto vid, Ms. S'Voz, we thought you'd be more resentful towards humans. It's kind of inspiring to learn that isn't the case. And you were terrific in the part by the way. We're really looking forward to the next vid. We also loved the one where you played that Omega gangster." The other marines enthusiastically agreed. A few quoted lines from Blasto: The Hunt for Saren and Don't Fuck With Aria.
T'Loak smirked. "Well, some of us aliens see a lot of potential in humanity, even if, individually, you are hard to tell apart."
Bray took the picture, then forwarded the image to the address the spokesman gave for his omni-tool. The human forwarded the image to his buddies, who began high-fiving each other.
"Sorry to impose again, ma'am, but could we also get you to sign a copy of Vaenia?" the group's leader asked. "It's a really popular vid in the barracks."
T'Loak smirked again and chuckled. "Ok, but only if you disinfect it first."
The marines' good spirits sagged slightly at that. "Oh, yeah. Of course. We'll be back tomorrow, then," the group's leader said, then added, "Thank you, again, Ms. S'Voz." The humans strode away towards the main bar area.
Bray shook his head once they were out of earshot. "Surprised you didn't call out their ignorance, boss."
T'Loak shrugged. "Nothing to be gained from doing that. Besides, it'll be a hell of a laugh when they post the picture and I point it out to S'Voz."
The somber, defeated expression on Adria S'Voz's face as she walked into the crime boss' makeshift headquarters the following morning indicated that she was upset about something more significant than a mislabeled social media posting. The chatter amongst T'Loak's crew died down as the actress slowly and quietly strode inside. T'Loak caught sight of the actress' downcast face and heard the murmuring amongst her crew. "Back to work, all of you!" she shouted to the hoodlums. The gangster queen turned to S'Voz and sneered. She beckoned the actress to follow her. "My private room. Now," T'Loak ordered.
S'Voz quietly acquiesced. Once they were both inside, T'Loak shut the door. "Ok, clearly you have bad news. Out with it."
The actress nodded and began, "The meet-up with al-Jilani did not go according to plan..."
T'Loak crossed her arms and let out a derisive snort. "I guessed that much! Now, get to the point."
"She suggested meeting at a hotel room for the interview," S'Voz explained in a halting voice. "It seemed obvious that she hoped for more than just talk, except-"
T'Loak rolled her eyes and shook her head. "It turned out to be set-up, is that it?" she inquired. S'Voz weakly nodded 'yes.' T'Loak raised her arms and activated her biotics, then a few moments later lowered her hands and let the biotic energy fade. The exiled Queen of Omega closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, this is on me. I never - never - should have let you do this on your own. Not after you said al-Jilani turning up during your secret meeting with the Special Task Group's Kirrahe had to be a coincidence. Goddess, if that wasn't proof that you were out of your depth..." T'Loak let out a long, low growl. "Alright, tell me everything that happened. Omit nothing. I need to know how much damage you've caused."
S'Voz winced at T'Loak's comments, but resumed speaking. "She opened a new bottle of wine I brought and poured us both drinks," the actress explained. "She sipped first, so I assumed she couldn't have spiked the bottle with anything after opening it. I drank as well, but then everything started turning hazy really fast."
T'Loak again interrupted her. "That's because the drug wasn't in the wine. The human must have coated the inside of the glass she gave you with something colorless and odorless. It's a popular tactic with human crooks who have pretensions to class. The 'Beckenstein Goodnight,' they call it."
The dejected S'Voz continued. "It crept up on me. At first, I just thought the wine was a little strong and my having cut back on booze as my part of physical training for the vid's stunt scenes had lowered my tolerance. But pretty soon I couldn't think straight. I blacked out and woke up in the back of a skycab taking me to 6th Dimension Vids' temporary headquarters. The driver said the human who called the cab didn't know what hotel I was staying at, so to take me there instead. The driver dumped me at the front entrance but I couldn't even stand upright. Luckily, Jorgal Dreed spotted me crawling to the main door on all fours and picked me up before, I hope, too many people saw me. The krogan carried me to my trailer. He seemed to think I had just been out drinking. I vomited on him as he tried to put me on my couch. Dreed thought that was... hilarious. 'It's been half a century since an asari spewed up on me while I tried to put her to bed!' he laughed. 'Want me to tuck you in and tell you a bedtime story about Warlord Shiagur too?'" S'Voz managed a weak grin, then muttered, "Krogans, right?"
"Well, I'm glad you have got your own Patriarch," T'Loak shot back. "Did you learn anything at all from al-Jilani?"
S'Voz shook her head.
The gangster raised her forefinger. "Now, this is important: did you tell them anything about me or my operation?"
"I don't think so..." T'Loak mumbled. "But, like I said, it was all so... fuzzy."
"Have you checked your omni-tool to see if was hacked?" T'Loak asked.
S'Voz nodded. "My omni-tool was accessed, but they couldn't have learned anything because I deliberately excluded anything relating to you. You haven't told me much anyway and I intentionally haven't asked."
"The one thing you have gotten right," T'Loak acidly quipped. She eased herself into a chair and motioned for S'Voz to do the same. "Alright, this is only a setback. The human had you figured from the beginning, so this plan was never going to work in the first place. At least she hasn't learned anything extra from you."
For the first time that evening, S'Voz flashed a bit of anger. "Just remember this was your plan from the beginning-" she began.
A glowering T'Loak sharply cut her off. "Which was based on your confident assertion that al-Jilani was a starstuck fan who melted when in your magnificent presence! You claimed that a person would have to be a better actress than you to fake that and that just wasn't possible, remember?"
S'Voz said nothing in response for a few pregnant moments, then replied, "I'm sorry I let you down."
T'Loak shook her head. "You can play me on the screen pretty well, Adria, but you are not me and I was wrong to think you could do this kind of work by yourself. You are an actress, not a spy or a merc. You haven't lived in my world for a long time. Even back in the day when you did dance for Afterlife, you kept away from the 'business' side of what I do," T'Loak declared. She drummed her fingers along her chair. "We do know that al-Jilani is still looking for inside info. She wouldn't have accepted your 'interview' offer, then drugged you and rooted through your omni-tool otherwise. We probably have some time then. And the STG is investigating her too, though I'm still think there's something the salarians are not telling me."
A knock on the door to her room was followed by the voice of Ahz, T'Loak's salarian communications expert. "Boss, we have got a message incoming from Omega! No idea who it is," he announced. "I can keep the scramblers going for three minutes, tops, before Cerberus notices the transmission."
Prior to her escape, T'Loak had passed along instructions on how to reach her at the Citadel to a few residents of Omega she knew wouldn't be able to escape themselves. These weren't exactly friends of hers - she had precious few of those - but Cerberus' hostility towards non-humans meant she could be reasonably sure the recipients were going to be on her side. Still, taking the call was a risk. Cerberus could be manipulating the caller. Even if it wasn't, Ahz's communications scramblers weren't foolproof.
It took T'Loak only a moment to make up her mind on whether to take the call. She simply had to know more about what was happening on the ground in Omega. "Put it on-screen, quickly. I'll join you in a second," she ordered as she hopped up out of her chair. Ahz opened the line just as T'Loak entered the room. Bray, Grizz and other members of the gangster queen's team also crowded inside, prompting an intrigued S'Voz to peak in as well. The main viewscreen remained blurry for several long seconds while Ahz adjusted the settings. The image of an elcor slowly came in to focus. T'Loak and her gang all relaxed slightly at the sight of a familiar face.
"Harrot, good to see you're still okay," T'Loak told the junk dealer. "What can you tell me about the situation on Omega?"
"Nervously. I cannot talk long," the elcor replied. "Conspiratorially. I am using a jury-rigged inter-galactic communicator with an independent power source to speak now. I have hidden it inside a secret storage room in the back of my shop. The power generator is unfortunately noisy. The Cerberus patrols in the merchant district are frequent but at least predictable."
"Understood. Just tell me as much as you can," T'Loak requested.
Harrot took a short breath and began. "Trembling terror. The situation has become even worse than initially feared. Cerberus is keeping strict martial law. Many areas are off-limits. All non-humans are prohibited from owning weapons of any kind. Even power tools are being confiscated. No unapproved communications off-station are allowed. Spaceport traffic is down and the local economy is struggling. Censorship and propaganda are rampant. Many of my friends are simply... missing."
Several of T'Loak's gang exchanged worried glances. The asari's face betrayed no emotion. "What are their forces like? How are they keeping control?" she asked.
The elcor continued. "Anxiously. Cerberus' troop strength remains substantial. Their numbers appear to have grown since your exile. Rumors abound that some humans are being forcibly conscripted. The Cerberus troops are heavily armed and supplemented by unusual new mechs and forcefield technology. The troops frequently use lethal force against violators of the curfew or other rules, even minor ones. The remnants of the Blood Pack, Blue Suns and Eclipse gangs were quickly crushed. The Talons are reportedly still holding out. Their territory is the only district Cerberus does not have locked down."
"Is there any resistance besides that one gang?" T'Loak inquired. "And are Omega's humans helping Cerberus?"
The elcor slowly shook his head. "Grimly. The lockdown has prevented others from organizing. Cerberus' forcefields severely restrict movement across the station. Cerberus is also causing shortages of food, water and other essentials in 'troublesome' regions. Faint hopefulness. While some humans are aiding Cerberus, the majority appear to be passively resisting. Helena Blake spoke out against the occupation. She urged humans to shelter and aid non-humans if they could."
It took T'Loak a moment to remember who Harrot was referring to. Helena Blake was an oddball human who had frequented Afterlife. She claimed to be a social worker looking for people to help. T'Loak had naturally assumed that Blake was a scam artist prowling the club for marks. Since Blake had never caused her any trouble, the Queen of Omega had in turn paid her little mind. Harrot's news was a surprise revelation that T'Loak might have misjudged Blake all along. "Oh? How did Cerberus react to her denunciation?" the asari asked.
Harrot twitched slightly, a surprising display of emotion from an elcor, then replied, "With anguish. Helena Blake vanished a week ago."
"Damn..." declared Grizz. T'Loak glanced over at the turian and saw he was shaken. She recalled seeing him chat with Blake from time to time back in Afterlife. Had they been friends? Apparently so. Grizz dropped his head and started quietly praying. "Spirits, guide her safely to the afterlife..." he began.
Harrot looked off-camera to his right, then turned back to face T'Loak. "Sudden panic. The Cerberus patrol appears to be early this time. I must end transmission," he announced. The elcor looked down, placed a finger on a kill switch, then looked back into the camera. "Desperately. Aria, please return. We are very afraid." Before T'Loak could respond, Harrot again glanced to his right, then abruptly severed the communications line.
A grim silence hung in the air of the hotel room for a few moments before T'Loak turned around and addressed her gang. Her eyes blazed with rage but her voice was calm, measured and steely. "Alright everybody, now you know what we are up against and what the stakes are. Don't be worried and don't be afraid. Be angry! And stay angry! Remember what is happening to your home, to your families, to your friends. Use that anger as fuel to keep you pushing forward. We are vengeance and vengeance is coming to Omega!" T'Loak declared. "Now, get back to work! We've got a lot of preparations still to make before we can kick those Cerberus bastards out."
S'Voz watched in awe as T'Loak began barking out orders to her team. The gangster queen led her people with a level of harsh discipline and ruthless efficiency that would make a turian general envious. She demanded updates on various projects and plans, then made snap decisions regarding them, all while showing a mastery of details, large and small.
It made S'Voz think back to when she first met T'Loak four centuries ago. At the time, S'Voz was a depressed and dejected maiden who had given up hope of ever getting a break as an actress and instead accepted an offer to dance at a club called Afterlife. She had figured that that was the best she could do to earn a living as an 'entertainer.' Dancing in clubs for a few decades was common enough among asari that it was almost viewed as a rite of passage. S'Voz soon learned that dancing on the notoriously dangerous and vice-ridden station Omega was a different matter. Most saw it as a fast-lane trip to the gutter. S'Voz's well-to-do family scorned her decision. She was only just starting the second century of her life and she already felt like a failure.
Her perspective changed shortly after she discovered that her new boss was another asari who didn't merely run the club, but the entire rest of the station - and she did it with an iron will. The toughest gangs of the Terminus Systems were forced to accept Aria T'Loak's rule. S'Voz studied T'Loak keenly for two decades, then returned to Thessia to re-start her acting career. The second time around S'Voz stopped asking for good roles and started fighting for them instead, trampling over anyone that her got in her way. After she won her first 'best maiden' trophy at the Thessia vid industry's annual awards - The first of 17 eventual wins - she admitted in a news interview that T'Loak was a role model of hers. The comment prompted quite a bit of controversy. Several matriarchs called S'Voz a bad influence and warned maidens to avoid her vids. The actress was soon pressured by the studios to disavow T'Loak. Her career would in jeopardy if she didn't, they said.
While S'Voz was still mulling over what to do, she received a message from T'Loak herself. 'I don't care what you or anyone else on Thessia says about me,' the message read. 'But if you truly are using me as a role model then you should know that I never apologize for anything. Nor do I ask for respect. I demand it.' The following day, S'Voz told a reporter that the next studio head who told her to walk back the T'Loak comment could "take an express shuttle into the nearest black hole" as far as she was concerned. A few more days of controversy had followed that but the matter quickly faded once the studios realized that S'Voz wasn't budging. The whole incident was barely a blip in her career.
S'Voz realized she had forgotten that earlier lesson when she came to speak T'Loak today. She had arrived humble, apologetic and asking - no, begging - for forgiveness. In return, the gangster queen had treated S'Voz with dismissive contempt. T'Loak then immediately moved on to the important business of getting Omega back. She had no time for regrets and no interest in dwelling on mistakes. The setback with S'Voz was just that and T'Loak was already acting to ensure that that mistake wasn't repeated. S'Voz realized she needed to do the same.
'Get over yourself, Adria,' the actress thought, 'and find some other way to help Aria.' A moment later she had an idea.
"Aria, if you still think the salarians are hiding something, I may be able to help with that," she announced during a brief moment when the gangster queen wasn't issuing orders. "You said before that the Special Tasks Group's Kirrahe was leading their operation here and that he was being assisted by a 'five day-old hatchling.' By any chance is that other STG agent named 'Solik Vass'?"