Chapter 20 - The Oakland Raiders

Illium Entertainment News Update - 6th Dimensions Vids announced that legendary human heavy metal band Mit Ümläüt had reunited and recorded a new song, "Pisse gegen Quallenstich," to be featured in the soundtrack for Blasto: The Battle for the Citadel. It marked the 15th reunion in the Berlin-based band's 40-year history. Plans for a concert tour of the galaxy were put on hold when band's newest drummer, Lauter Industrielärm, tragically died shortly after the recording sessions were finished.

Major Kirrahe cleared his throat and announced, "Let's begin," to the nine other individuals in the darkened room. He tapped his remote controller and the nearby wall screen began displaying the technical specs of a starship with a photo of a male human inserted in the upper right of the image. The specs showed the ship to be a commercial freight carrier modified with heavy armor and top of the line armaments. The photo of the human showed a sturdy-looking but otherwise unremarkable adult man with a receding head of dark hair and a beard. He was casting a surly glare at whoever had snapped the picture.

"This is our target," Kirrahe declared. "The Oakland, captained by one 'Lew Barwick.' A human colony kid, former smuggler of some repute in the Terminus Systems, and now a newly-minted Cerberus officer doing supply runs for Omega. His ship has a seasoned crew of 47, is well-armored and, as you can see, has cannons strong enough to make batarian pirates look elsewhere for prey."

The audience included the major's fellow Special Tasks Group agent Solik Vass, Aria T'Loak, and T'Loak's top henchmen: her batarian lieutenant Bray, turian ex-soldier Grizz, turian marksman Preitor Gavorn, batarian bodyguards Anto and Narl, and salarian tech expert Jahdak Ahz. Also present was Blue Suns mercenary leader Darner Vosque, the group's lone human. All were paying close attention to Kirrahe's presentation except for Vosque. He was rather obviously staring at T'Loak's chest, much to the asari's annoyance.

"Darner, if I have to tell you one more time to pay attention to the salarian instead of my tits…" the gangster queen hissed, interrupting Kirrahe.

The human merely smirked in response, then motioned to Kirrahe to continue. The STG agent, instead of accepting Vosque's instruction, cast an inquiring glance at T'Loak. She nodded 'yes' back to him, prompting the major to continue.

"Our mission is to board the Oakland, subdue the crew, and obtain from them the docking clearance codes Cerberus uses for Omega," Kirrahe announced. "We must complete this mission before the crew can send out a distress message to Omega or to any other Cerberus operatives in the vicinity. We must also keep the killings to an absolute minimum. We need the bulk of the human crew alive and unharmed. A crucial aspect of this mission requires their co-operation."

Vosque laughed out loud. "Co-operation?! With Aria?! And how exactly do you plan to get them to go along with that?!" he remarked, his words dripping with sarcasm. "Need I remind you that those Cerberus bastards slaughtered even the human members of the Blue Suns who were on Omega? That they killed my brothers and sisters-in-arms just for working with turians and batarians?"

"It was the fanatical Cerberus goons on Omega who did that," Bray retorted. "These aren't the same ones. This is just a ship full of Terminus Systems smugglers who only recently opted to take paychecks from Cerberus. Under the right circumstances, these types can be… reasoned with."

"Correct. Plus, we don't need the Oakland's human crew to do anything like commit to fighting on our side," Kirrahe explained. "We just need them to be visible but quiet for a short period so Cerberus doesn't suspect anything."

Ahz raised his hand. "I'm more worried about the fact that we have to take over the ship before they can get a message out. How do you propose to do that? Sending one just requires the click of a button," the salarian noted.

Kirrahe gave a thoughtful nod. "That will indeed be tricky. But if everyone does their part, Agent Vass and I will be able to shut down off-ship communications before the Oakland tries to send any messages out."

"That's a big 'if,' major," Ahz grumbled.

The major ignored the comment and tapped his controller again, bringing up a list of the Cerberus ships guarding Omega and their technical specs. "Obtaining the codes without Cerberus knowing we have them is crucial to the eventual full-scale operation to liberate Omega. Based on what both Aria's and the Special Tasks Groups' sources on still on Omega have been able to tell us, there's no other way to get close to the station. These Cerberus ships patrolling it would decimate the forces we have recruited long before they could land. Therefore, the only option is to use the codes to bluff our way past them. If General Petrovsky discovers that the codes have been compromised, he'll change them, rendering anything we obtain from the Oakland useless."

Vass spotted T'Loak smiling and nodding along at Kirrahe's use of the words "liberate Omega" to characterize the mission. It lasted for only a few moments before her face returned to its usual stern glare. She asked the major to return to the image of the Oakland's specs. T'Loak studied them for a few seconds, then asked, "Kirrahe, why did you choose this ship as the target? There have got to be other Cerberus supply runners that would be easier pickings."

The major tapped his controller, bringing up the image a human colony spaceport. "Two reasons, Ms. T'Loak. The first one is the cargo that the Oakland will be carrying: human-made food and medicine. These are basic essentials that, while not exactly cheap, can be quickly and easily replaced. They also don't get the same level of security scrutiny applied to things like weapons, mechs or eezo. Both factors will make the mission easier to pull off. The second one is the human colony port that the Oakland will be on-loading that food and medicine from, New Athens. A Special Tasks Group colleague of mine, a procurement expert, is quite familiar with the port, its operations and the people who run it. He was able to help plan the initial part of our mission. As for the fact that the Oakland would be formidable in a fight, yes, that is true. But, again, if everyone does their part, it shouldn't come to that."

The gangster queen drummed her fingers on her chair. "Okay, then. Kirrahe, it's about time that you explained what each one of us has to– GODDESS, WILL YOU STOP STARING AT MY TITS, DARNER?!" she shouted. "It'll be a serious problem for Kirrahe's plan if I have to biotically yank your eyes out of their sockets. I swear, if the STG agent hadn't said we needed at least one human involved..."

Vosque again smirked in response. "Okay, okay, Aria. Have it your way… for now." He nodded to Kirrahe. "Please, salarian, continue."

The STG agent loudly cleared his throat. "Okay, here's how we take this Cerberus ship before they send a distress message out..."

New Athens Port Supervisor Gene Seroka had been working for 11 hours straight when the Oakland signaled that it was approaching. The ship was almost exactly on time, which was unusual in the galactic transportation industry, but Seroka was not about to question what was, to him, good fortune. The Oakland was the last scheduled arrival for the port that day. The sooner he could get the ship loaded up and sent back out on into space, the sooner his shift was done and he could head home.

"Welcome back, Captain… Barwick?" Seroka said from the port's command center, as he glanced at the ship's registration data. The information on file showed the captain to have dark hair and a beard. The person hailing him from the ship was clean-shaven on both his face and head.

The ship's captain laughed. "Oh, that again. Yeah, yeah, I know that I ought to have had the registry info updated now that I've gotten rid of the beard and opted to go bald, but it's such a hassle to update it, especially when it's just swapping out an old photo, you know? They make you reconfirm everything! Just do me a favor this one time, okay, Gene?" the captain said. "I might even be able to swing you a case of balarian ale that got, uhh, accidentally left behind during my last Council run. If Gus or Ronny upstairs find out and give you any grief for not following protocol, tell them I'll have it updated when I come around for the next pick-up. Ready to transmit the remaining half of the payment, by the way."

Seroka contemplated the three extra hours it would take to get the registration details confirmed via subspace signal. That was on top of the hour it would take for the mechs to do the loading. He was still thinking that over when his computer's interface lit up, indicating that the port's financial VI program had confirmed that the incoming credits were legitimate. "Fuck it," he muttered and pressed the button to accept them. "Nah, it's fine, captain. Head over to Bay Seven. Your cargo is waiting for you. So are the loading mechs. Now, about that batarian ale..."

Seroka had just finished loading a crate of batarian ale into the back of his skycar and was getting ready to head home when the message came in on his omni-tool to return "immediately" to the port control room. He rolled his eyes and headed back. "Yeah, what is it this time, Edgar?" Seroka growled at the supervisor who was supposed to have relieved him.

"Yeah, uh, Captain Barwick of the freight ship Oakland would like to have a word with you," the supervisor replied. He pointed to the main view screen, which showed the scowling face of a dark-haired man with a beard.

"What the fuck is going on here?!" the man shouted. "Where is my cargo?!"

Seroka's face turned ashen. "Captain... Barwick?" he muttered.

"Yes, Captain Lew Barwick. Of the Oakland. Here to pickup the cargo I ordered and already paid half of for up front. Now where the fuck is it?" the ship captain barked. "The other stooge told me your records say it has already been released."

Seroka gulped hard as perspiration began to dot his brow. "Yes. About a half hour ago. It was onloaded to... the Oakland. That is, we thought that-"

Barwick slammed his arms on the console at his end of the transmission, causing the image on the screen to wobble for a second. "You. Fucking. Idiot," he bellowed. "You let a group of con artists waltz in here and fly off with our goods, only paying half for them, didn't you?"

Seroka tugged at his shirt collar. "Okay! okay! A mistake may been made," he stammered. "They- They, uhh, literally only just left here though and they must be heading to the Mass Effect relay. We can relay their initial co-ordinates to Planetary Defense and..."

"No! We don't involve them or Colonial Affairs in this! At all! You understand?" barked Barwick. "You give those coordinates to me. And for your sake you had better pray that I do catch up with them."

The freight ship carrying the Oakland's cargo of food and medicine was well on its way to that sector's mass effect relay when a similar but more heavily-armed freight ship also called the Oakland dropped out of faster-than-light travel and intercepted it.

"This is Captain Barwick of the merchant ship Oakland," the bald-headed captain of the ship carrying the cargo said as soon as a communications line had been opened. "State your business or I will have to-"

The bearded captain curtly interrupted him. "The jig is up, thief. Turn over what you stole. Immediately," Captain Barwick demanded.

The bald-head head captain glared at him. "I don't know who you are, but I am Captain Lew Barwick and the Oakland is a Cerberus-flagged ship. If you know what is good for you, you'll cease this attempt at robbery before you get on Cerberus' shit list."

The bearded captain drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. "Word to wise," he began, "I am the real Captain Barwick. If you try to keep this 'you're me'-charade going that will just give me one more reason to let my anger override my better judgement and blow your ship into scrap metal before I get my cargo back. Go ahead and scan my ship's armaments and you'll see that I am not bluffing."

The bald-headed captain tapped away at his ship's main control panel and stared at the results for a few seconds. "Yes, your weapons would appear to... outclass what my ship is armed with," he conceded. "Okay, I can see that you are a man with a purpose. I can respect that. Can we... perhaps work something out? If you want the cargo so badly maybe we could negotiate a deal? I'd be willing to part with it for-"

The bearded Captain Barwick again cut him off. "Alright, here's my deal: you give me the entire cargo plus, to cover the inconvenience of getting it back from you, ten percent of its value in credits. In return, I don't have my ship fire on yours."

The bald-headed captain winced. "Now, wait just a minute-"

The bearded Captain Barwick again interrupted him. "Ok, the deal is now the entire cargo plus, to cover the inconvenience of getting it back from a dirty thief who fucked with the wrong guy, 15 percent of its value in credits. Are you going to take the deal or do you wish to continue to negotiate?"

The other captain sighed. "You drive a hard bargain, my friend. Very well, I'll accept your terms IF we can hold off on the credit transfer until after the cargo is loaded onto your ship," he requested. "Just as a bit of insurance so that, as you put it, you don't let your anger override your better judgement and decide to fire on my ship before then."

"Fine," Barwick declared. "I'm bringing the Oakland to your starboard side. Prepare to link up hatches. And keep your people out of the cargo bay. I'm sending over mechs to move the goods. I'm not risking one of my crew stepping onto your ship."

"Understood," the other captain replied, then ended the com link. Barwick turned and ordered his helmsman to bring the Oakland around for the link-up.

Barwick's First Officer, Damon Lentz, who had been watching the exchange closely, chimed in. "Captain, you know they'll just make a break for it rather than complete the credits transfer," he warned.

Barwick sat back in his chair and rubbed his beard. "Let them try. Maybe they get away. Or maybe they don't move fast enough to avoid our guns. The important thing is to get the cargo back. Otherwise, we have to pay to replace it ourselves."

First Officer Lentz mulled that over. "You really think Cerberus would cancel our contract even though it was the idiots at New Athens who got scammed, not us?"

"You don't know much about Cerberus, do you?" Barwick retorted. "Losing our contract would be the least of our worries if they began to think we weren't reliable suppliers. No, we don't tell them any of this. We get the cargo back, then see if we can teach these thieves a lesson. However that turns out, we then continue on to Omega as quick as we can to make up for lost time. On the upside, we do at least get to keep the credits we would have had to pay New Athens for the cargo."

Barwick and his others crew members watched from monitors as their mechs marched in unison through the joined airlocks and into the other ship's cargo bay. This was going to take considerably longer than loading ordinarily took since they couldn't use the ship's larger main loading doors. Those were designed only to be opened on planets with atmospheres or inside space stations. Opening them in space was not feasible.

The mechanical men dutifully scanned the creates of food, all of it packed into modular boxes one perfect cubic meter in size, and found that they all contained nothing but organic materials and some synthetic cloth packaging, as expected. They quickly carried them over, along with smaller boxes that scans showed contained the rest of the cargo: various special utensils, food preparation devices, restaurant condiments, medicines and medical devices.

The transfer took three hours. The Oakland's crew maintained watch over the transfer, though boredom caused their attention to drift at times. They did not switch on any of the monitoring devices inside their own ship's cargo bay however. They assumed that, once scanned, the crates were safe and didn't need to be watched. If the Oakland's crew had thought differently, they might have glimpsed two of the crates dropped in their own cargo hold subsequently opening and the emergence of a pair of salarians who had previously contorted themselves to fit inside the boxes.

The cargo transfer was nearly complete when the Oakland's communications officer shouted, "Captain, you need to hear this! It's coming in from Omega!"

This was highly unusual. Cerberus' standard practice was to maintain radio silence as much as possible to avoid any monitoring by outside groups. If they had sent out a message it was something important. "Okay, put it on," Barwick ordered.

There was considerable static in the message but the communications officer made it clear enough to be heard. "Alert: All Cerberus-flagged vessels," began a computerized voice. "Recent intel gathered on Omega suggests aliens allied with Aria T'Loak will attempt to infiltrate the station via supply ships. Use extreme caution. Scan and inspect all incoming cargo thoroughly. Eject into space any suspicious item or items. Do not respond to this message. Updated communication security protocols are being devised. This message will repeat."

"Oh, fucking hell," muttered Barwick. "Okay, turn on all monitors in our own cargo bay and put them on the main viewer."

The Oakland crewmembers on the bridge stared at the images on the main view screen being fed in from the eight different cameras in and around the cargo bay. After a few seconds First Officer Lentz said, "Enlarge the feed on the camera second from top left." The image expanded and silently revealed two salarians with rifles and body armor located between a stack of boxes and the hull of the ship. A panel in the hull had been removed. One salarian was crouched down and operating a portable device whose cables ran into the open panel. The other salarian was clearly standing watch. The salarian operating the device grew suddenly agitated and shouted something to the other, then looked up for a few moments before pointing in the direction of the camera. The other salarian swiftly took aim with his rifle and fired in the camera's direction. The image became pure static. The other cameras then began shutting off one-by-one.

"Captain, they're hacking the ship's computer!" the communications officer shouted. "We've already lost internal and external ship cameras. Off-ship communications are down too."

"Can we activate the computer firewalls?" Barwick asked.

"I don't know if we can before they gain root access," the communications officer replied, perspiration dripping from his brow as he tried to keep ahead of the situation.

There was only one thing to do, the captain decided. "Turn the main computer off," he ordered. "Just shut it down. Somebody call engineering and tell them to sever the cables to the computer VI if they have to. We'll operate things manually for the time being and boot the computer back up once we've dealt with these intruders." The members of the bridge crew nodded and soon about half of the panels and monitors on the bridge went dark.

Barwick strode over to the bridge's arms locker and opened it. "Everyone, grab your guns. Lentz, tell Omar to seal off the airlocks to the other ship so we don't get any other surprises. After that, gather Henry, Mags, Morrison, Finch, Woody and Bissinger and meet me by the hatch to the cargo bay. We've got some rats we need to flush out."

A few minutes later, Barwick, First Officer Lentz and the six others, all variously carrying rifles or shotguns, were gathered by the main access hatch to the cargo bay. They were tense and nervous but stealing themselves for the inevitable fight. Their planned assault on the bay was halted when they realized the hatch remained sealed.

"T'Loak's salarians must have locked it down when the computer was still up," Lentz announced. "We can't open it manually. Not from a here. There are locks on both sides. If the computer were up, that could do it. Otherwise we need somebody on the other side to unlock it."

Barwick cursed, then began thinking. "The hatch hasn't been opened since we first spotted the salarians, is that correct?" Lentz nodded yes, prompting Barwick to break into a slight smile. "Then we know that they're at least still inside. Well, there is one thing we can do to get rid of them: manually open the main cargo bay doors. Right now, into space. Just vent the whole damn area. We'll lose the cargo when the bay depressurizes but T'Loak's goons will be sucked out with it."

Lentz turned to the others. "Okay, everyone. You heard the captain. There are four separate access panels on this level that we need to release the main cargo bay door locks. Here's where they are..."

While she would never admit it, it had taken Aria T'Loak a few minutes to adjust to the disorientation of stepping out of the hatch of bogus Oakland freight ship and into open space. It had been a long time, possibly even centuries, since she had put on a space walk suit. The skills she had learned during her mercenary days came back to her quickly though and after a few minutes any lingering dizziness or nausea was gone. After that, she merely waited quietly, her magnetic boots keeping her firmly attached to the underside of the freight ship. She had forgotten how quiet and serene open space felt, as well as how chilly it was even when wearing top-of-the-line gear.

Near T'Loak waited the rest of her team, all also in space walk suits: Bray, Grizz, Ahz, Anto, Narl, Preitor Gavorn, Patriarch, a group of a half-dozen asari dancers who had also had commando training, and Darner Vosque. His performance as the fake Captain Barwick had been pitch perfect, T'Loak thought. It was just irritating enough to throw the real one off-balance. Not that she was ever going to tell Vosque this. He would probably respond with a comment about how T'Loak's breasts looked in zero gravity anyway.

The gangster queen kept watch on the real Oakland's main cargo bay doors. If Kirrahe's plan didn't work, she and her team would have to race back inside their ship and take the chance that they could avoid the other ship's guns long enough to make the jump to faster than light.

Eventually, the Oakland's cargo bay doors began to open and T'Loak could see the cargo and various other items like loading devices and even a soft drink vending machine being sucked into the void of space. She waited until it had been 20 seconds since an item was seen leaving bay before shouting, "Okay, everyone: move out. Watch your step and make sure your boots connect but keep going forward. We don't know how long we have before the cargo doors close."

T'Loak led her team in a march across the underside of the airlock connecting the ships and onto the hull of the Oakland, then straight across that to the open cargo bay. They reached the edge of the doors and after a disorienting step around that edge they made it inside the still-open cargo bay itself. "Headlamp lights!" T'Loak ordered as her people began moving deeper into the much darker area. The team scanned the interior of the bay, looking for their allies from the Special Tasks Group.

"Down and to left from the direction you're currently looking, Ms. T'Loak," Major Kirrahe announced over their omni-tool group communications line.

The gangster queen twisted around and spotted the STG agents. Both were in their space suits and attached to the interior hull by cables. Kirrahe was gripping the other salarian, whose floating body was limp.

"Your sidekick okay, Kirrahe?" T'Loak asked as she began striding in his direction.

"I believe so," the major replied. "These magnetic tether lines worked but the sheer force of the sudden depressurization caused young Solik here to lose consciousness." He gave his fellow agent a shake. "Come on, lad. Snap to it. There's still work to do."

Agent Vass woke with a start. "What-what?!" he sputtered, then looked around and spotted T'Loak and her team approaching. "Oh, you guys made it... So, we're still on Plan A, then?"

"Yes," T'Loak confirmed. "We're all on board the Oakland. Captain Barwick fell for Ahz's faked message and followed its advice to vent the cargo bay. So, he thinks he's already killed you salarian infiltrators." A loud explosion off in the distance briefly interrupted the asari. "And that would indicate that he has just fired on and destroyed the other ship. So, it's likely he assumes he has killed any other would-be hijackers. Now, we just wait for him to close the cargo doors and re-pressurize the bay, so we can open the hatch and get to the rest of the ship. If that doesn't happen in the next five minutes, then we go to Plan B."

With the other ship obliterated and the cargo bay having been left open for a good 10 minutes, Captain Barwick decided they were safe. He ordered the ship's computer be rebooted and the cargo bay closed and re-pressurized. Any sense of triumph he felt at having foiled T'Loak's scheme was countered by the concern regarding what his next move should be. He had lost the entire cargo, after all. On the other hand, the message from Omega had seemed clear enough: security came first, so Cerberus ought to forgive the loss. They would definitely want to know that a hijacking attempt had been made. But should he admit that some of T'Loak's goons had snuck onto his ship, even briefly? How could he explain the cargo loss without revealing that? And would Cerberus want him to replace the cargo before he continued on to Omega?

He decided the answer to the last question at least was "yes" and ordered the helmsman to lay in a course back to New Athens.

"We're stuck. The engines aren't responding," the helmsman replied.

"Omar, get off your ass and get the drive core back up," Barwick ordered his chief engineer through the ship's main communication line. There was no response from the engine room. "Omar?!" shouted Barwick. When no response came a second time, the captain announced, "All hands, red alert! Intruders likely still on the ship!"

Agent Vass darted forward and threw his body into the shallow alcove along the corridor, trying to make himself as flat as possible. He was just barely able to use the alcove as cover from incoming fire by Captain Barwick and his bridge crew. On the other side of the corridor from Vass, Kirrahe likewise pressed himself into an alcove to avoid incoming fire. If it weren't for the salarians' natural thinness and flexibility, neither would have been able to use the spots as cover at all.

It had been a long difficult slog to get to this point. Ahz had at least been able to hack into the computer and again shut down the engines and off-ship communications. But the presence of Aria's team had been detected by the Oakland crew's far sooner than the hijackers had hoped, prompting a series of firefights in narrow corridors with little in the way of cover. T'Loak and the asari dancers/commandos had been able to use biotic barriers to compensate but the humans had nevertheless fought tenaciously to hold their ship. T'Loak's team was further hampered by the fact that they had use to disruptor rounds to knock out, rather than kill, the crewmembers. That meant that that T'Loak's team had to advance quickly through the ship. Getting bogged down meant that the Oakland crewmembers who had been taken down earlier might recover and re-join the fight. And the humans weren't shooting back with disruptor rounds.

T'Loak and Kirrahe had nevertheless gotten them to the last corridor before the bridge. Once they took that section they would have complete control of the Oakland. Unfortunately the corridor was long and mostly bare of cover, giving the defenders on the bridge a perfect killzone. Vass and Kirrahe had attempted to use their cloaks to advance unseen, but bridge crew had clearly been keeping a sharp watch and spotted the telltale distortion the cloaking fields created. They rained fire at Kirrahe and Vass, hoping a lucky shot would dislodge them from their spots.

From out of the corner of his eye, Vass could see that T'Loak was leading a group including some of the dancers/commandos in a charge down the corridor. She was clearly betting that she and the other asari could maintain their biotic barriers long enough to reach the bridge. Grizz and the rest of the team held back, using sniper rifles in attempt to provide covering fire. T'Loak's group had rushed about halfway down the corridor when Kirrahe shouted, "Turret!"

The bridge crew had evidently been waiting for T'Loak to attempt a charge like this. They placed the heavy mechanized weapon just outside the door to the bridge and it rained fire down the corridor. Using a biotic barrier to absorb standard rifle fire was one thing, but even the most powerful biotic couldn't last long against the fire of a heavy turret. The purplish muzzle flashes indicated the device was using warp ammo as well, allowing it to cut through biotic barriers even faster.

One of the dancer/commandos faltered against the turret fire almost immediately, her barrier suddenly flickering out. Bullets ripped through both her and the batarian named Anto. They were dead before they hit the ground.

T'Loak dropped to one knee, expanding and reinforcing her barrier to provide additional cover to herself and the others who had advanced down the hallway. She was holding out against the turret fire, but the strain on her was obvious. Vass guessed that she wouldn't last much longer.

The bridge crew keep up their rifle fire trained on Kirrahe and Vass, leaving them pinned as well. Grizz and rest at the far end of the corridor concentrated their sniper fire on the turret. Their shots were accurate but did little damage to the device, which continued its relentless hail of fire at T'Loak.

"Grizz, switch all of the sniper rifle settings to 'extra-spicy'!" Vass shouted through his omni-tool.

"What?!" the turian shouted back. "What are you talking about?!"

"No, he's right!" Kirrahe exclaimed. "Find that setting on the guns and use it!"

The sniper fire paused briefly, then resumed. This time, the rounds tore through the turret, quickly turning it into smoking scrap metal. Sniper shots then began hitting the walls at either side of the entrance of the bridge. From his spot Vass could just see through the entranceway. A pair of humans that had been just on the other side of the walls were now both staggering and falling backwards.

"Thanks for the heads up, kid," Grizz told Vass. "Next time though, just say, 'Extra-spicy is the setting for armor-piercing rounds,' okay?"

T'Loak, no longer pinned down by the turret, stood up and sprinted down the corridor. Once she neared the end, she threw a biotic shockwave into the bridge while one of the dancer/commandos cast a singularity. Kirrahe and Vass jumped out from their spots and followed them onto the bridge. They found a half-dozen humans being held aloft by the singularity, two of them with serious wounds from the sniper fire. After a nod from T'Loak, the asari ended the singularity, causing the humans to take hard falls onto the metal floor of the bridge, leaving them stunned and in no small amount of pain. Kirrahe and Vass snatched away the dazed humans' guns as Grizz and the other jogged up the corridor and joined them. The humans who had recovered enough to react slowly held up their arms, signaling surrender.

"Smart move," T'Loak declared. "Okay, now we are going to talk. Which one of you is in charge? Is it you?" she asked a human whose uniform indicated he was an officer. The human merely stared back. T'Loak waved her pistol in his face. "Well?" she asked.

"That is First Officer Damon Lentz," declared another human who was just getting back on his feet. "I am the one in charge here. You may address me as 'Captain Barwick.' And, yes, I know who you are, asari."

T'Loak nodded. "Good. Saves me from having to explain how your life is now hanging by a thread. Let's get down to business, shall we? You have something I need and you are going to give it to me."

Captain Barwick laughed in response. "My life is hanging by a thread?! You're the one whose days are now numbered. Cerberus was content to let you live in exile before. Not anymore. Not after this. They WILL hunt you down. No matter where you go. No matter who you seek refuge with," he sneered. "Do you understand this? Your only hope now is to accept MY terms, so that Cerberus doesn't find out about this. So here's what you are going to-"

Barwick's speech was abruptly ended when T'Loak shot him between the eyes. His lifeless body fell backwards with a thud. T'Loak turned back in the direction of the first officer, a look of mute horror now on the human's face. The asari merely smiled.

"Well, allow me to be the first person to congratulate you on your promotion, Captain Lentz," the gangster queen announced. "We have some business to discuss. But, before we do that, could you please do me a simple favor? Just tell me who, according to the Oakland's chain of command, is the new first officer? It is possible that I may need to also congratulate them on a rapid rise to the rank of captain."

"You're late," growled the Omega spaceport supervisor over the com line. "If you had taken any longer and we'd have had to start eating the alien crap they have here."

"Oh, sorry about that," the Oakland's captain messaged back. "We had an incident along the way. Had to do some repairs. Anyhow, this is Captain Lentz. Run voice recognition Alpha, Tango, Zed."

"Wait, 'Captain Lentz'? What happened to Barwick?" the supervisor asked.

The Oakland's captain cleared his throat. "That was the incident I was referring to. Captain Barwick is gone. Some of the cargo wasn't secured properly and we were trying fix that when an entire column of containers toppled over. The captain was crushed. So I had to take over. You'll see I'm on the Oakland's registry as first officer and I have the proper code."

There was a long pause on the other end of the com line. "Damn, hell of a way to go," the supervisor declared. "Alright. You'll need to make an official statement about this and we have to update the registry."

"Of course. Do I have to land first or can we do it now?" Captain Lentz asked.

"It's gotta be done before you land," the supervisor replied. "Okay, first a quick confirmation that you are the guy on the ship registry..."

Ten minutes later the supervisor announced that Lentz was officially recognized as the Oakland's new captain and they could proceed with the delivery of the cargo. Lentz thanked him and signed off.

"Nicely done," announced T'Loak, who was watching from a chair to his right with a cup of tea in her hands. "Good to know that these are the actual, current access codes. Now, continue on to the dock, drop off the cargo as quickly and quietly as you can and head back out for your next scheduled supply run. One false move and I will remotely activate the toxin devices we implanted in you."

Lentz remained silent. The glum, defeated expression on his face said all that needed to be said.

T'Loak took a sip of her tea, savored it and then continued, "Again, I'm sorry about all of this. I just can't quite trust you. Not yet, anyway. But do as I say and you'll get the devices removed. You'll then have to be guests of some friends of mine for a period. I'm told Sur'Kesh is especially nice this time of the year, by the way," she remarked, then took another sip of her tea. "In any event, you'll only have to remain there until I do re-take Omega. After that, you'll be free to go, you'll get the credits transfer I promised to compensate you for your trouble and you'll even get special consideration on any future business you wish to conduct on Omega," she declared. "What is the human phrase? 'The carrot and stick approach'? Something like that."

The new starship captain began steering the vessel into the waiting cargo bay. "Myself and the rest of this crew are all dead men if you don't actually take Omega back," Lentz grimly noted.

"Then you know who to root for," T'Loak replied.

The gangster queen sat back and watched as the Oakland glided into the Omega port terminal. It would only take a half-hour to off-load the cargo, at which point the ship would head back out and towards the mass relay. T'Loak would have to remain hidden inside the Oakland the entire time it was docked, unable to announce her presence. Nevertheless, for the first time in months, she had returned to Omega. A millennium of hardening her heart could not prevent T'Loak from feeling a pang in her chest at the realization: she was home.

'The next time I return it will be for good,' she thought.