And here we go. Saleon.

Also, high key shout out to Tony McNucklz and The Prime Cronos for the reviews. Helped me do some editing I had planned on doing and helped the overall development of the story.

*POV: Aedon W(Torchbearer)

The last week has been hectic. Not in the fun kind either, the kinda depressing way. Wasn't a good situation and it all started right after the interrogation with the N7 who was still currently in the Brig.

You see she gave us a list of politicians and business who were in cahoots with Cerberus and we forwarded it all to Hackett and Anderson. They were treating it seriously so that was the good news. The bad news was that after we did that we started getting pushback and funding cut. Nothing we could directly trace to any one specific person as it was all 'lost in transit' but we knew what was happening. Cerberus knew we were onto them and were playing with us.

Still, it didn't bother us all too much. Most of us knew how to get on without much funding. What did bother us was when we went down to that planet in the Sparta system with the distress beacon. There we found the dead alliance soldiers and the beacon, and as of that point we all knew it was Cerberus.

Didn't help matters that after we had marked the bodies for recovery we got treated to the sight of a massive Thresher Maw. Thankfully we were in the Mako already and Shepard was able to play keep away with it while Wrex shot the thing to hell with the Mako's gun. It was after that things started to go downhill.

If you remember, in the Lore Cerberus caused the attack which made Shepard the sole survivor of one of his first units. Now compounding that he had a real enemy to blame it on and a real target to go after he became a man possessed. Not in the good way either. The man barely slept, rarely ate and was just focused on delivering the biggest punch he could to Cerberus.

Not saying I wasn't all for it but we was losing his focus on the real problem. Saren. He was throwing away possible leads on Saren, shit not in the game, for going after Cerberus. Not to mention that he would talk to no one about it. It was frustrating but for now I was going to leave him alone unless prompted.

Now, it was long overdue for me to get my dip back and as a peace offering for the Doc I was bringing her the Serrice Ice Brandy Frank had given me. Walking past of few people in the Mess they gave me curious looks but did nothing beyond that.

The door opened for me as I went to the med bay and Dr. Chakwas was looking over her notes not bothering to look up. Simply knocking on the side of the door I held up the brandy and her eyes lit up as soon as she saw it. Smiling at me she ushered me over as she reached into her drawer and produced the dip packs.

"A peace offering young man?" she gave me a sly knowing smile as I handed her the bottle and grabbed the packs.

"Of course ma'am. You know I'll end up back in here," she gave me a small chuckle at that before taking out two glasses.

"Sit. Can't have the first glass alone now can I?" I smiled behind my helmet and then took it off, setting it down on the desk. I had makeup on today, some eyeshadow, contact lens, and a couple small fake scars.

"Of course not," as she finished pouring she handed me a glass and sat down.

We each took our first drink at the same time clinking the glasses together. That being said I definitely see where they call it "ice" brandy. It was so cold it damn near froze my throat but boy did it taste good. Like glacier water fresh from the mountains but with alcohol in it, a lot of alcohol. After the first drink I looked at the bottle and it had 120 Proof on it; 60% alcohol. It certainly kicked.

"So, young man," she cleared her throat after taking another drink and I looked at her with curiosity. "Why the makeup all the time?"

I shrugged before responding. "I don't trust easy. Besides, you were the first one here to see my true face."

"Indeed I was," she let out a soft chuckle at that as we each took sips of our drinks. "Have you heard from Frank recently?"

"No, last I knew he was going after a couple Cerberus bases with some Merc buddies. He's probably fine though."

"More than likely, that man was something else," my curiosity was peaked. Frank never did much besides physical training and showing me some fighting moves during the training; plus making sure I was always on track.

"How so?" she gave me a curious look before speaking.

"In his hay day, he was more of a known name then you are now. Underworld called him The Eye. The scared ones called him The Forbidden Eye."

"Why?"

"His symbol was an eye. People knew to stay away when they'd see it on his shoulder, man survived so many times where others would die. If that wasn't enough he only ever failed one job his entire career and he made them suffer for it. Which is how he got The Forbidden Eye moniker."

"What happened?" she adopted a sad expression before setting down her half empty glass and staring at me in the eyes.

"He was asked to protect a group of human scientists working as relief workers after a natural disaster on some backwater Asari world. Then Pirates attacked, quite a famous band back in the day. Called themselves The Spear Clan led by Clint Darragh. Slavers, rapists, weapons dealers, the usual for pirates.

They blitzed the colony and Frank couldn't do anything. He saved as many as he could and killed a quarter of the pirates single handedly but he was the only one there for protection and about three fourths of the population was taken. He spent the next year and a half tracking them all down.

Now, here's something you have to understand. The Spear Clan was easily the most powerful clan at that time covering almost the entirety of the Terminus systems and were feared by everyone there besides the leader of Omega, Aria T'loak. You did not pick a fight with them but Frank did.

It took him a year and a half and he obliterated The Spear Clan. When he was done they were all gone but their leader. Frank, single handedly, dismantled them and it gets better. At about the 6 month mark on his crusade he started to leave his symbol on the outside of their bases before he would attack. He told them he was coming and they could do absolutely nothing about it. When he finally did finish them off he assaulted their come base, killed everyone there and then took Clint's eye. Beat him down, pinned him and ripped it out of its socket.

The final nail in the coffin though was when he got the rest of the colonists back. He had steadily recovered most of them over the year and a half but there were still about 100 he didn't get. They were sold to some Batarian pirates before he could get to them. So he did his usual and put his symbol on the side of their base but in the symbol he nailed Clint's eye so it dangled with the symbol.

The Batarians didn't even fight when they saw that they just got up and left. Leaving the colonists there. Frank found them and took them back home. The stories of how he would put his symbol out before attacking and then the literal eye nailed on the side of the Batarians base earned him the title. The Forbidden Eye."

"Christ. I knew Frank was good but holy shit."

"Holy shit indeed," she hummed, picking up her drink and taking a swig. "Though I know he didn't do it all alone. After the first base he did all alone he came to me riddled with bullet holes and barely surviving. Patched him up and he was on his way but I made him promise to get help so he did. Juni, Volio and Ceelo. You're teachers."

"Jesus," I took a big swig at that. It did make sense with how good they all were but still, crazy.

"You're mentor was a Legend and you are well on your way to beating his status. I look forward to watching you develop young man. Don't you dare die on me."

"I don't plan to ma'am," she smiled at me and nodded.

"Good. Then can you do me a favor," it was worded as a question but I knew it wasn't. Not really.

"What is it?"

"Shepard."

Sighing I finished off my glass, the heat of the alcohol rising in my chest. "Where is he?"

"In his room. Joker's kept me updated on where he goes," I nodded and put my helmet on.

"It's always a pleasure ma'am."

"Likewise young man," she gave me a serene smile and then I left and headed to Shepard's room.

Leaving the med bay I made my way to Shepard's room with trepidation. This was not part of my job description or anywhere near my area of expertise. I was a merc and assassin for pete's sake. Psychiatry wasn't a place someone like me should even be near. Preferably about ten miles away and in a bunker shielded from everyone.

I had absolutely no idea how to go about this. No idea whatsoever and frankly if Dr. Chakwas was asking me then they had exhausted all other possibilities which wasn't a good sign. You would think Garrus would've been on that already, or even Liara or Ashley. Though if they went together than it was sure to be a disaster.

They got along well enough in the field but off of it was a constant stream of backhanded compliments and antagonization. For the life of me I can't believe Shepard hasn't picked up on them, they might as well have had giant neon signs above their heads saying they wanted him. That being said if they actually did that he'd probably ask what they needed him for. He's so thick headed that at this point it's concerning.

Moving on, how was I supposed to approach this? Getting the man drunk to talk out his problems was out of the question; we didn't have enough alcohol. Talking to him and getting him to see reason to push down Cerberus and focus on Saren had probably already been used and failed. Well… maybe he just needs someone to listen? Everyone else has probably tried to talk him back into it and not let him do that himself. Worth a shot.

Rounding the corner to go to Shepard's room I got so see Liara and Ashley bickering between each other. They were a couple steps away from the door leaving it open. Not bothering to even get involved in that nonsense I walked past them, greeting them with a simple "Ladies,". The door hissed open and Shepard standing in front of his bed staring at me.

"You come to talk to me like the others?" there was an underlying tone of accusation and I couldn't blame him. I'd be annoyed at this point too.

"No," he looked at me curiously before I sat down on his chair at his desk and took off my helmet. "I'm here to listen."

His eyes bore into mine and neither of us blinked or looked away. Finally relenting Shepard sighed and stood up. As he made his way to the door everything about the man that was John Shepard seemed to wash away. It was replaced by someone who was vulnerable and tired; someone who had way too many things going on to properly maintain them. Himself included.

He locked the door and then went back to his bed sitting on the edge as he was before.

"I was still a recruit. First major posting and we got a distress call from a small colony only a world away. We went to check it out. Entire colony was cleared out, didn't even have blood left. Just some melted parts of buildings, cars, etcetera. Next thing we know our LT was dragged underground. Didn't even see what did it.

Next was my buddy, Crick, good guy smart and great with a pistol. He was hit with acid before the thing raised up in front of us and swallowed him whole. That's when we saw it, a god damn Thresher Maw, and there wasn't just one either. There were at least 3 and they hunted all of us down. I was the only one to make it out of there and certainly not unscathed," he gingerly raised the side of his shirt showing the acid burns on his side before putting the shirt back down.

"I put it out of my mind for almost a decade Wynne. A decade I suppressed it and then Cerberus came to light and that beacon and all those soldiers back in a Thresher Maw nest. After that I talked to Wrex and asked him if they ever shared territory. He laughed Wynne, he laughed. Maws don't even have sex during their breeding season, they lay eggs and leave them for the males; they never interact with each other. Let alone hunt together.

Someone, probably Cerberus, set up those Maws and sicced them on a whole colony of innocent people and my entire unit. I can't rest easy while those monsters are out there. I… I just can't."

Taking a few moments to digest his words I stayed silent. I always had a suspicion he was the lone survivor archetype but to actually hear about the experience was haunting. Shepard well and truly was a man haunted by that event and from how he talked about it I understood. What he went through I wouldn't be able to understand but his conflict I did.

"Commander," I started slowly. "No one is telling you to forget them. No one but do you remember why you brought this team together?"

"To catch Saren."

"No."

"No?"

"You told us about the Reapers and I believe you. Whatever Saren is doing he intends to bring them back and that will be the end of us. We aren't ready, not even remotely. If we are to survive we need you with your head on straight."

"So you too want me to forget about them?" his anger was palpable but I responded immediately.

"No. Never. Just remember what takes priority. The galaxy or revenge," His anger was there again but this time it dissipated and he let out a heavy sigh before responding.

"Yeah," rubbing his temples he looked at the ground searching for something there before picking his head back up and looked at me. "I don't like it but you're right."

"You don't have to like it sir. But we all believe in you, all of us. If I have some advice talk to Garrus or Wrex about the errands they wanted to run, maybe helping them will ease your mind."

"Maybe," I turned to leave, picking up my helmet and putting it back on but before I could get to the door Shepard cleared his throat. "Thanks Wynne."

Nodding to him I responded. "Everyone needs a swift kick in the ass every now and again, no one is exempt."

I left the room and still outside quietly bickering were Liara and Ashley. They both turned their heads and stared at me blankly. Not bothering to say anything I just walked on past them. Judging from the quick footsteps behind me though they were either following me away or wanted to talk.

Getting to the door that would lead me back to the rest of the crew there was a hand on my shoulder. Sighing I grabbed it and took it off my shoulder gently before turning around. Ashley and Liara were both standing there staring at me without saying a word. You know, if those two were ever actually able to be friends I dread what they could do together.

"Yes?"

"Is he okay?" Ash asked, taking the lead.

"His head is on straight now." was my answering not truly answering their question. Shepard wouldn't be alright until he got closure and seeing how he'll work for Cerberus in the future will only complicate things.

"Thank you Wynne," Liara said sincerely and then I took my leave.

Going down to the Mess I grabbed an MRE bag and started to eat. Noticing for the first time that my beard was starting to get a little too long. My mustache got in my mouth as I ate and it wasn't fun. At least it was a full beard and not scraggly, I was cursed with half a soul though. Dark red in color.

Still, it didn't disrupt my meal all that much and it was silent for the most part. Most of the crew left me alone out of either fear or respect. Didn't matter all that much to me but they did start to avoid me more after they saw what I did to the Cerberus guy. Speaking of them, wonder what Miranda is doing. She has to be mad that she got beat twice by the same guy.

Finishing my meal and throwing away the scraps I made my way to the cargo hold. Grabbing my AR out of the locker, I began to disassemble and clean it; doing so gave me silence. No one bothered me, nothing made a sound around me and the world was peaceful. Stuff like this doesn't happen often, find something that does this to you and you'll be fine. Though my peace didn't last that long.

An hour or so in, maybe, there was a tap on my shoulder. Turning my head Garrus was standing there. He made a motion to the seat next to mine and I nodded. He set down his rifle and set about doing the same as me. He was quiet for a couple minutes before he started talking.

"I got a ping on Dr. Saleon; or well Dr. Heart as he calls himself now. Told Shepard and he agreed to head out and get the bastard."

"Good," was my only response.

"I want you with us," looking at him as he said those words he stared into my eyes in response.

Not responding verbally I got up and went back over to my locker, leaving my AR on the bench. Opening the locker I reached in and grabbed my pistol. Loading it with regular hollow points I walked back to Garrus sitting next to him. Holding the pistol in my hand for a second I placed it on the bench in front of him.

"Colt 1911. Longest ever pistol in the service loaded with hollow point rounds. They'll pop a head like our fingers pop grapes. Use it when you kill him, it'll make it more satisfying."

He looked curiously at the pistol before looking back to me and I nodded at him. Taking that as the okay he picked up the pistol and examined it. Getting used to the feel and how much it weighed he held it with the care one would to a newborn infant.

"The humans ol' reliable huh," he joked.

"Yes. And been with me for years," with how his eyes snapped to mine after that seemingly simple statement told me he understood.

To let someone else use your weapon in a pinch, with friends just shooting or if it was issued is one thing but to let someone use your personal weapon is another. Your weapon is your life and to let another use it is a huge sign of trust. Essentially, it was me telling Garrus that if needed something from me in the future all he had to do was ask.

"Thank you Wynne."

"No problem Garrus. Any estimate on the ETA?"

"It's in the next system over and Joker's already on the way. Four, maybe five hours."

"You know anything about what we're heading into?"

"I know he's on a ship about the size of the one from those Biotic Terrorists. Nothing beyond that really."

"Well, I've gone off less."

"So have I."

We both shared a chuckle at that and went back into a comfortable silence. One of the main reasons I like Garrus here in fact. He could do silence. The type where you just share someone's company and that's it. Nothing more, nothing less. Still, it had to end and did when our resident Krogan plopped down in front of me.

"Wynne."

"Wrex."

"Garrus."

"Wrex." After addressing us both Wrex stared at me.

"Keep your head on straight kid," was all he said and I cocked my head to the side confused.

"What are ya talking about?" his response was immediate.

"Tali."

"Ah. I will, no worry there."

"Good, can't have a mistake in the field. You're too good for that and this is too important."

"I understand."

"Then stop staring at her ass every chance you get," Garrus stated, joining our conversation. Wrex pointed at Garrus nodding.

"No comment," Wrex looked slightly confused at that but Garrus got it and laughed.

From there we began to banter in between each other. It was fun and it was nice to have people who could both talk shit and take it. Didn't have to worry about hurting anyone's feelings, not that I ever did anyways, but this way we could really go after each other. Let me tell you something right now, Wrex is a god tier shit talker. It got to point where Garrus and I ganged up on him and he still beat us down. My inner shit talker was quite embarrassed.

After about an hour of getting torched by Wrex Garrus made his leave and not long after him so did I. Mostly just to check on my other gear. The Predator armor had seen a lot of use recently and needed some maintenance work. Nothing crazy but it needed to be cleaned, shield capacitor checked and diagnosed, the same being needed for its biotic dampener. Had to make sure everything was in tip top shape. Still, the armor wouldn't be ready for the Saleon mission. The Mantis armor would work, the Predator was still my personal favorite but it was really only for assault type situations. The Mantis was far more utilitarian.

Putting on the armor I sent a message to Tali asking her for some help. I wanted to get the diagnostics done as fast as possible and that wouldn't happen until after the Saleon mission. However long it took if I started the diagnostics now anything could happen. So Tali was my call to look it over just in case. She got to the cargo hold a couple minutes after my message was sent.

"Just basic diagnostics on the shield capacitor and biotic dampener?" she asked as she looked over the armor.

"Yep. I'll handle everything else later, but I'll be with Shepard and Garrus for a bit. I don't want to miss anything."

"So you're putting it on me?" She asked, putting a hand on her hip and cocking them to the side. She was teasing me, I think.

"Come now Tali. This is Predator X armor; it's not even on the market yet," I gave her my best placating voice playing with her. Though, from the twitch in body I knew I had her as soon as she heard that the armor wasn't even on the market yet. Doubling down I pushed closer to her.

"You can say you're the first one to work on the armor outside of their company. And learn all its secrets," I whispered the last part as I leaned just past her on the side of her head.

"Fine," she clipped out before grabbing the armor and practically sprinting away. I would like to say that I didn't look at her ass but then I would be a liar. She had a very nice ass.

As she walked away there was a loud cough behind me. Looking over, Wrex was standing there looking at me expectantly. I shrugged and flipped him off before walking away to the elevator. Taking it up to the top and then walking to the cockpit.

Joker was sitting there doing his stuff in the pilot's seat. Seeing the co-pilot seat open I sat down and relaxed. It wasn't that comfortable to be honest but not terrible. Sure as shit would never buy it but for a military vessel it wasn't all that bad. Looking over at Joker he was looking right at me silently.

"How's the scary man doing?"

"Meh," I answered, waving my hand in a so-so gesture.

"Do you even know what to do over there?"

"No clue," I did have a faint idea thanks to Sam but nothing more.

"Then why are you here?"

"Bored."

"Okay then. No feet on the dash though," and we went back to silence.

It would be another hour just sitting in the cockpit silently with Joker before Shepard came up and tapped me on the shoulder. Knowing it was about time to go I went back down to the cargo hold, grabbed my gear and then came back up. Waiting for me at the airlock were both Shepard and Garrus.

Both had their usual gear on but instead of a sniper rifle Garrus was sporting just a regular rifle and some low tier shotgun. Didn't even recognize the thing but it looked at least proficient and well worn so it had probably seen some action. On his hip was my pistol waiting to be used. He gave me a small nod as he saw me and I returned it.

"You ready?" Shepard asked. I knew he wasn't asking me and looked at Garrus. He didn't respond verbally and nodded.

Shepard grunted in affirmation and then the airlock opened. We walked through and waited for the decontamination process to finish. It didn't take long and when it ended we were through.

The first thing I noticed when we went through was the smell. Nowhere near as unique or potent as the Thorian's but it was bad and smelled like rotting flesh. The next thing we all noticed was the silence. It was completely dead except for the soft hum of the engine keeping the ship alive. Otherwise, complete and utter silence.

Slowly stalking forward checking corners and each others backs as we went deeper into the ship it started to get a bit creepy. Just the silence that hung in the air and the smell wafting through our filters did that. We didn't see anything the further we went until we got to the door outside the main cargo hold of the ship.

As we got to the door we heard faint moaning. Obviously not the sexual kind but the kind of someone in massive amounts of pain. Looking at me Shepard nodded and Sam hit the pulse. There were just about twenty hostiles on the other side of the door. Seeing that Shepard made a few movements with his hand and I stacked up behind him on his side of the door as Garrus went to the other side.

Garrus, being on the side with the door controls counted down from three with his fingers before opening the door. As soon as the doors were open Shepard and I went in aiming for heads as we began to fire. Only to be mildly surprised as our first couple headshots dropped the people right away.

Realizing they weren't shielded we momentarily held fire but then the rest of them collectively turned to us. All of them let out loud moans of pain and anger as they rushed us. Shepard tried to talk to them but they weren't having it and when the first one tried to rip his helmet off he just started firing. Garrus and I took that as our cue and started firing along with Shepard.

Being unshielded against us the people all died fairly quickly but honestly to call them people was a stretch after properly looking at them. They were mangled and bloated forms of beings that had once been people. Infected with some kind of disease or broken by the pain of whatever had happened to them. It never really goes into detail about the Saleon mission besides you doing it but to see what he was doing first hand was disgusting.

These people weren't even proper volunteers being used in an experiment to try and better the galaxy. These were the desperate taken off the streets or, no doubt, kidnapped from their homes and used to make a man rich. Nothing more, and it made me sick. Seeing this made me a bit more understanding of why Garrus was furious the Citadel let this guy go. It would've been better to just kill him and the people he had taken, it would've been a mercy to them.

Hitting the pulse again nothing was in the area except for a single ping down the corridor in a room. Looking between each other we all nodded and Garrus took point with his shotgun out. Not taking any chances we kept our guard up and pushed down the corridor to the room. Getting there the door was locked, I didn't have to be asked before I started to hack it. It was open within a second.

"Oh thank God. I'm rescued!" Those were the first words I heard out of the Salarians mouth. Just from hearing the guy's voice I knew he was a coward, you can tell.

"No, we're not," growled Garrus as he stood defiantly in the doorway. "Hello Dr. Saleon."

"Who's Dr. Saleon?" the salarian cried out. "I'm Dr. Heart!"

"No. No you're not. I remember you doctor. Do you remember me? Garrus Vakarian, the detective who investigated you," at that Saleon switched tactics and looked to Shepard and I.

"I'm Dr. Heart! Please, sirs, this man is crazy," he pleaded. Shepard leaned over to Garrus.

"You 100% sure?"

"Yes."

"Then do what you need to."

"Thanks Shepard. Dr. Saleon," Garrus declared as he put his shotgun away and grabbed my pistol, flicking off the safety and leveling it at the doctor. "On behalf of the lives you've ruined and taken I sentence you to Death."

Then he pulled the trigger. In the enclosed space of the vessel it was as loud as a thunder crack right next to you and had damn near the same effect on Saleon. The bullet hit his head and literally exploded his head effectively decapitating the man. Far more violently than the Mass Effect weapons and the head popping sprayed blood all over us, even though we were about ten feet away.

"That… was satisfying," Garrus said after taking a couple deep breaths.

"We done here?" I asked, speaking for the first time since getting on the ship.

"Yeah. Let's go," Garrus answered.

"Good. This place makes me feel dirty."

*Frank POV; Omega*

As I approached Omega in my ship Volio was in the co-pilot's seat and Juni stood behind us. It took us two days to get here after meeting with the Kid. The info he gave us could do wonders for some people and Mercs but the Citadel wasn't the place to do it. To many upstarts and amateurs there. The kid was unique, a diamond in the ruff.

The radio crackled to life as we got within a thousand meters.

"Omega docking station. Identify." It was a commanding tone as always with Omega but definitely on the younger side. Hopefully, they would recognize the name of my ship, would make things a lot easier.

"The Watcher requesting to land. ID as follows: 4952 W. J. V. C." the other end of the line was silent for a rather long time. That meant one thing, they knew exactly who the fuck I was. Yeah, the Eye is back.

"Acknowledged Watcher. Proceed to Dock 51C. Aria is requesting your presence immediately." I didn't bother responding to that.

It would be good to see Aria again. We always got along even if she was sweet on Juni for a bit. It was water under the bridge from years ago and getting jealous wasn't a characteristic of mine. Besides, this wasn't a social call, this was a job run.

Landing at the dock I quickly adorned my armor as did the others. Mine I had built from the ground up decades ago and have kept adding to it over the years. At the moment it was probably the best armor out there but not the helmet. Nothing could replace my old one and Sam but it was with the Kid now and he could use it. The symbol of my eye on my shoulder pauldron stained black against the white armor.

Juni was in her commando armor, I had modified it for her recently to offer more protection against tech attacks but otherwise it was your standard commando suit but with plenty of tricks. I didn't even know them all as Juni put them all in herself. She had a bright yellow smiley face on her shoulder pauldron as her symbol.

As for Volio he was decked out in Phantom armor and ready for war with all the explosives and weapons on him. X-crossed bandolier full of grenades, a stolen early edition Mattock rifle and a grenade launcher on his back. He always was our combat engineer and munitions guy. On his shoulder was a cane. Like a walking cane; asked him about it once. Said that after he was done with people the only way they would ever walk again would be with a cane.

As we exited the ship together we walked out only to be approached by a Batarian. One of Aria's men so I couldn't outright kill the fucker but it is what it is.

"Follow me. Aria demands your presence," and so we did in silence.

As we followed the batarian we got curious looks from the younger people on Omega. The young mercs sizing us to look for any weakness. The older and obviously wiser ones took one look at us and made themselves scarce. If a young group had a veteran among them they too made themselves scarce at their insistence. All in all, it was an uninterrupted travel to Aria. She as usual sat on her 'throne' and tried to look intimidating.

"Aria."

"Eye." it got slightly tense for a second before she continued. "Why are you here? Thought you retired. You too Juni, though I am glad to see you're still as sexy as ever," she said with a wink at Juni. Juni smiled and winked back.

"Got work," was my answer to her question. She did not like that answer.

"On my station?" the edge of her voice cutting in.

"No. Job's too big for us alone. Needs to be done hard and fast on multiple worlds."

"Ah. Recruitment then?" I nodded "Okay, you may proceed. You know the rules."

"Don't fuck with the Queen. I know."

"Good. Where's your heavy hitter? I don't see him and he wasn't on your ship according to the scanners."

"Taken," Aria studied me for a couple seconds before laughing loudly. Calming down after a few seconds she responded.

"Oh, I pity the idiots who did that."

"I don't." and then we were off to get recruits.

There ya go folks. Review if you can to help me get better.

Sorry this chapter was more of a filler than anything but it needed to be done and it's set up other things. Obviously.

As for Frank, a little easter egg with him this chapter. Given who it's in reference too and their growing popularity on the internet it should be obvious.

Have a good day y'all!