Omega

Joker informed us that he was preparing to dock on Omega, the gargantuan asteroid which had turned from the biggest element zero mine in the galaxy to a city with a population almost as large as that of the Citadel. The place was the biggest haven for criminals and scum that you could find, and we were about to go straight into the darkest heart of it. With Miranda and Jacob, I stepped ashore and headed straight for the main plaza from where we could go to Afterlife; a nightclub and the home of Omega's unofficial ruler, Aria T'Loak. We needed to find Zaeed Massani, Mordin Solus and Archangel while we were here, and she would no doubt have information on all of them. However, true to the reputation of Omega, a group of Batarians tried to mug us within five minutes of our arrival. I brandished my pistol in front of them while Miranda and Jacob scared them off with a vicious biotic display in which one of the muggers had his shoulder dislocated.

"I hate this fucking pisshole," Miranda muttered.

Afterlife was like no club I had ever been to before. The music was pounding and the clientele was the most varied and mean looking bunch I had laid my eyes on so far. Mercenaries from various organisations were everywhere and the Asari dancers obviously had no problems with the punters roaming their hands all over them. In fact, I was pretty sure that this was a strip club with a few "bonuses" for those who could afford to use one of the dozen private rooms that lined the sides of the huge hall. On that note, I noticed that there was a queue forming outside one of said rooms and they were all wearing various kinds of armour and boasting some firepower.

"Where d'you think we'll find Aria in here?" I asked. Miranda pointed to a balcony higher up at the back of the club,

"I'm guessing she's the intense looking Asari that hasn't taken her eyes off of you since we arrived."

I looked up and met the eyes of a fierce looking woman with lightening blue eyes and a disapproving frown. She stood cross-armed but proudly, like the alpha lioness watching over her pride. When Aria saw us looking at her, she turned away with a slight nod of the head and disappeared out of sight,

"I think she wants us to follow," Jacob said.

Up a set of stairs we went, and found ourselves suddenly surrounded by a squad of heavily armed guards of all species and all with guns aimed at our heads. A Batarian stepped forward and started circling me with a scanner. I lifted my pistol up for him to see,

"If you're checking for weapons, you're not doing a very good job."

"Can't be too careful with dead Spectres, Commander," Aria said, "that could be anyone wearing your face."

"It's him alright," the Batarian announced as he put away the scanner and drifted into the shadows from where he kept watch on his boss. Aria trusted her servant's judgement and motioned for me to join her on her couch,

"I trust you aren't here to cause problems on my station, Gardner. It won't end well for you if you are."

"I'm here for information and to see a few people; that's all. If there is any trouble then it's not going to be intentional," I answered.

"Good," Aria said without looking at me, "then ask what you need and we can be done."

"I need to find Mordin Solus, Archangel and Zaeed Massani. What Intel have you got for me?" I hoped that I was not asking too much of Aria.

"That's an intriguing list of people Commander," now she looked at me with a curious expression, "why would you be needing dangerous men such as these?"

"It's classified."

""Classified" is a term used in civilised places by civilised people. On Omega; nothing is classified, especially not from me. Were you expecting information from me for free?"

I looked at Miranda, wondering whether we should be telling anyone what we were setting out to do. The supremely intelligent Cerberus Officer knew, however, that the only way to get information from someone like Aria was to give in to her, if it was important enough. Information for information.

"The Collectors are abducting hundreds of thousands of Humans out in the Terminus Systems; I'm assembling a team to fight back."

That definitely sparked the Asari's interest, but she still wanted more,

"And how does a man that was killed in space come back to life? Who would put so much effort into bringing back one person? Certainly not the Council; not even for one of their Spectres. You look a lot more… machine-like than in the vids I've watched about you; just for the record."

She was trying to distract me, get under my skin and force me to make a mistake.

"It was a private organisation," I was trying to limit how much I had to tell her as best as I could.

"By the name of?" she asked, fully expecting an answer. However, I was not ready to admit my working with Cerberus; it still did not feel right.

"It doesn't matter," Miranda said, "all you need to know is that they're not sending us here to cause trouble for you. If you help us then I can assure you that things will stay that way."

Aria did not bat an eyelid,

"I was talking to the dead Commander. He seems less… irritating."

"Aria," I said, "the sooner that we find the people we need then the sooner we'll be out of your way. That's what you want right?"

"You don't know what I want. But this time I'll help you. Fortunately for you, you won't need to look far for Zaeed. He's down at the bar right now; if you hurry you'll be able to talk to him before he starts a fight with someone."

I looked back down onto the ground floor and checked out the scene at the bar. Among the throng of heavily drinking party-goers I spotted a man, in his fifties at least but well built. He had the appearance of a seasoned soldier, even had the tattoos to match. When he briefly turned his head, my upgraded eyesight allowed me to see that there was a deep and disfiguring scar running down the right side of his face, narrowly missing his eye.

"Well at least he's easily recognised. Mordin's the priority though. What can you tell us about him?" I asked. Aria shook her head,

"If it's my advice you want then I suggest you look for Archangel first."

"What? Why?"

"Because he's in a spot of bother right now. The Merc gangs have joined forces to take him down. Archangel had a team of ten or so; but as far as I've heard they've been killed and it's just the Turian himself left. The Mercs have one of the private rooms over there for recruiting freelancers to bolster their numbers. Archangel is cornered and the killing blow is going to be delivered soon."

I looked over to Miranda and Jacob,

"Ok; we're going back to the Normandy. Suit up for combat and we'll join the freelancers. That should get us in and past the Mercs. Hopefully we'll be able to contact Archangel and let him know that we're there to help him. Fighting our way out past the Mercs again will be a different story."

"We'll get it done Commander," Jacob said.

"I'll meet up with Zaeed and offer him our signing bonus. Couldn't hurt to have another gun on our side," Miranda said as she set off for the bar.

"Bring him onto the Normandy and we'll brief him together."

Jacob and I were already armoured up and were prepping our weapons when Miranda arrived with Zaeed by her side,

"I hear we have a galaxy to save, Gardner," the cockney killer said to me.

"I was hoping for your help Zaeed; you in?"

"For the money I just got offered? Goddamn right I am."

He was already wearing his yellow and silver armour but I showed him the Normandy's armoury and offered him whatever he wanted,

"We've even got Geth pulse rifles if you're interested," Miranda added.

"Thanks, but I don't need your fancy shit. I've got Jessie."

He showed me his assault rifle; a battered and beaten old Avenger. Zaeed saw my expression and calmly reassured me,

"Don't judge her like that; this is most reliable gun in the galaxy. All this maintenance crap you're doing right now; I've never had to do that once. More men have been killed by this rifle than died in the blitz on Elysium."

"Coming from someone who was there; I highly doubt that," I said as I thought about the thousands of Alliance soldiers and the bodies of the Batarians that blanketed the lands around me.

"It was a figure of speech, but it's still true," Zaeed said with a sly grin.

"Welcome aboard Zaeed," I said.

The four of us entered Afterlife once again, looking as if we were expecting battle there and then. However, with the number of geared up men and women going around nobody gave us a second glance. The queue was full of hopeful mercenaries of all species and ages. For a moment I almost felt bad that I would be closing in on Archangel by their side before turning against them in order to get the trapped Turian out and back to the Normandy. I only felt worse when I saw a young man join behind us, he could not have been more than 15 or 16. I could not help but speak to him,

"You look a little young to be signing up as a Merc."

The kid had a smug look on his face,

"I grew up on Omega; I can look after myself."

"Trust me, I don't think you know what you're getting in to."

The kid whipped out a piece of crap pistol and held it proudly for us to see,

"I just bought this and I'm gonna damn well use it!"

I grabbed the cheap pistol and broke the trigger mechanism with ease,

"Get your money back," I told him and gave him a gentle push back towards the door. The boy was furious, but I did not care: I was glad that the possibility of me having to kill him was now gone.

"Why d'you do that?" Zaeed asked.

"If we can succeed without having to kill kids then that's what we're going to do."

"Well said, Sir," Jacob agreed, "we're just as bad as the Collectors if we start doing that."

We stepped up to the Merc recruiter, a member of the Blue Suns, when it was our turn. When the Batarian looked at us with our vast array of top-of-the-line weapons and state-of-the-art armour systems he seemed pleasantly surprised,

"You're the first battle-worthy guys I've seen all damn day. Standard joining fee is 500 credits. This does not make you a member of the Blue Suns, Eclipse or Blood Pack; you are a freelancer, period. If you die your friends don't collect your share. Meet up with our logistics officers outside Afterlife and they'll take you to Archangel's base."

We signed up and got whisked away in the back of a lorry to where the Blue Suns, Eclipse and Blood Pack had cornered Archangel in an antique shop; his base of operations.

When we arrived, the driver formed us up with another dozen freelancers and told us what was expected of us,

"At the end of the boulevard you'll see a bridge. That bridge is the only way across to our enemy. Archangel has every inch of that bridge pre-sighted; so you're going in first. When we reach the base, we'll deal with Archangel and those of you still alive can collect your pay and go home."

"So we're fodder," Zaeed stated.

"Pretty much," the Human driver pointed us out, "but you look like you can handle it. Report to Cathka for the details."

The other freelancers were clearly disgruntled about how the Mercs were simply using them as fodder for Archangel; a feeling that I could sympathise with. Zaeed, Miranda, Jacob and I gathered together while the others shuffled off,

"Sounds like we'll be able to get in easily enough," Miranda said, "but getting out could be another story, like you said."

"I think we should just take this one step at a time," I said, "we'll see this Cathka guy and see what the situation is. If there's still some time before the attack begins, we can try to gather what Intel we can. It'll make it easier to help Archangel that way."

"The Blue Suns leader will be a Batarian called Tarak," Zaeed told me, "he likes to use massed firepower and he usually flies a gunship on important missions; and if that bastard's willing to hook up with the other Merc bands then this is important."

We passed through several lines of defences, garrisoned by different squads of Merc bands. Along the way we saw corpses on the street, most of them with gaping gunshot wounds in their heads,

"Heard Archangel was a good sniper," Zaeed commented, "now I know."

There were dead Vorcha, Asari, Humans, Turians, Salarians and even a Krogan that had four huge holes in its head and neck. Miranda had done a quick bit of research and was able to point out the representative leaders of the different Merc groups. We tried to take notes of numbers and strength of each faction. The Eclipse had brought a number of mechs including a heavy one like the ones we had fought on Freedoms Progress. In a stroke of genius Miranda hacked its Friend or Foe programming, making it dangerous to everyone instead of just us; as soon as the Eclipse switched the beast on it would likely turn straight around and start firing back at its owners.

When we passed by the Blood Pack held area, we noticed a lot of heavy digging equipment and high explosives. Soon enough we were on the front line where the Blue Suns were "encouraging" the freelancers to keep poking their heads out and lay down suppressive fire. Trouble was that every time one summoned up the courage to try and take a few shots at the large store, a heavy calibre shot would come singing through the air and either punch through the freelancer's eye or whack dangerously close on the target's cover.

I found myself an isolated spot and drew my sniper rifle. Looking through the scope I hoped to catch a glimpse of Archangel as he took shots at the Mercs and then relocated somewhere else. He had the inside of the shop darkened which made spotting him virtually impossible, but when I saw a muzzle flash, I focused hard on the fleeting movement that followed. He was Turian; that I knew beforehand, but when I saw him duck into another of his sangers and pop out to line up another shot, I felt a sense of… familiarity. It was strange, like I had seen this movement style before, but I did not say anything to the others. Along a side street I saw a gunship sitting and a Batarian doing field repairs,

"Cathka?" I said when I had approached him. The Blue Sun Merc kept on with his job and did not turn to speak to me,

"More freelancers? Just get to the front and wait for my signal. All you need to do is charge across the bridge and hope you don't get nailed. If you make it inside; kill Archangel."

"Simple enough. Any idea how long before we attack?" I asked.

"Nothing solid," Cathka answered, bored of having been asked so many times, "but it won't be too long."

"We'll be ready," Miranda added.

In a quiet corner we discussed our possibilities.

"We're going to be under heavy attack the entire time that we're in there," Jacob said, "and that's assuming we even get in. There's no guarantee that we won't find ourselves on the receiving end of Archangel's rifle."

"Maybe we can contact him," I said, "there's got to be a way that we can reach him."

Miranda opened up her Omni tool and explained,

"The Mercenaries have been trying to reach him, to what end I'm not sure, but I detected that one of the frequencies that they tried was actually successful."

"They didn't speak to him?"

"I think Archangel just didn't reply. I'll try reaching him now, I'll patch you in."

When my Omni tool lit up with the relevant data, I instantly recognised the frequency that was displayed in front of me. It was the one that my squad and I had used back in the days when we were fighting against Saren; I had to remind myself that that was now over two years ago. I felt a jolt in my chest as I slowly began to hope that this Archangel might just turn out to be someone that I knew well.

"Archangel?" I said over my comm, "Archangel, can you hear me?"

Miranda confirmed that someone nearby was receiving my signal.

"Archangel, I'm Commander Scott Gardner. I'm just across the bridge with the Mercs, but me and my team are here to help you out of here. The attack will be starting soon and we'll be advancing across the bridge with the Mercs, but if we get to you we're going to help you defend your base."

Only silence followed,

"Archangel, listen. I am here to help you. We need you for our mission against the Collectors. And…" I guessed I should take a chance, "if my gut instinct's right, I think we already know each other. We may have chased down a certain rogue Spectre together two years ago. Am I right?"

"Keep your helmet off and tell your team to stick close behind you so I don't take them out," a flanged voice said in reply, "oh… and watch out for the trip-wires."

"Rodger that. See you on the other side."

The signal for the attack was sent out and the freelancers were sent out in a wave of bodies. We knew from hacking the Mercs' communications that the freelancers would be followed closely by Eclipse mechs and troops. All of this was to tie down Archangel while Blood Pack diggers and demolition teams blasted their way through the lower levels of the shop, which Archangel had caved in to seal them off. The Blue Suns, as the ones in charge of the operation, would come in last with overwhelming numbers to seize the victory and claim the glory. I took my helmet off as per Archangel's instructions and had it secured by my side, I would definitely need it later. The four of us formed into a tight formation and advanced along one side of the bridge.

The inexperienced Mercs around us were advancing and spraying bullets in the general direction of the shop, but Archangel remained in the dark. Only when one of the freelancer's heads burst open did I see any trace of the elusive Turian. True to his word, none of the bullets were aimed at us, but I still received a spray of blood from a few of the unfortunate Mercs. The bridge must have been over a hundred metres long with absolutely no cover whatsoever, and the body count was rising at an ever-steeper rate. We let a number of freelancers stay ahead of us at all times, using them to clear booby-traps that lay inconspicuously ahead of us. I sometimes felt as if we were under heavy artillery fire when one of the traps went off. The explosions would shower us with dust and bits of freelancer.

After an intense duck and dodge approach to the front door we linked up with a small group of freelancers that had made it there first. The door was sealed and the self-professed tech expert was getting nowhere quickly. I took over and with Miranda's help we soon had the door primed to be opened. The team knew what we had to do, and when we opened the door Zaeed and Miranda quickly dispatched the freelancers that were with us while Jacob and I put down a few more that were within sprinting distance of getting into Archangel's base. Once inside the dark shop, Miranda locked the door again and I shot out the electricity supply, rendering it completely inoperable.

"Archangel?" I said loudly, "It's Commander Gardner, we're inside. Where are you?"

"Head up the stairs at the back of the shop then head back around to the front, I'll meet you there," came the Turian's voice from above. Even once we were upstairs and made it to the windows that overlooked the bridge Archangel was nowhere to be seen, but he was watching us.

"You know…" his voice came from the shadows, "those glowing eyes make it easy to spot you, Gardner. You might want to stay away from the windows."

Archangel emerged from the dark into the faint light that was coming in from the outside. He had removed his helmet and had a wide grin on his tired looking face.

"Garrus," I was barely able to contain myself as I shook my old friend's hand, "I knew it was you!"

"Been a long time Scott," he replied, "I thought you were dead."

"I was; it's a long story."

"Well, if you manage to get me out of here then I'd love to hear it, but right now I've got every major Mercenary band after my hide. My old boss at C-Sec would be proud of me!"

I opened my Omni tool and displayed all the information that we had gathered on the Mercs' plan of attack to Garrus. For the moment the attack had been called back; I guessed that the Mercs had not planned on Archangel receiving reinforcements.

"This is Zaeed, Jacob and Miranda. You know your base; just tell us where you want us."

"Until the Blood Pack start making real progress down below, we can all hold them off from here. Attacking across the bridge would be suicide; they'll have to try a different approach."

"I'm not so sure," Jacob said, "the way they're throwing the freelancers away I don't think so."

"Fair enough," Garrus said as he went back to watch for any activity.

"Okay," I agreed, "but when they breach the basement, Zaeed and I will go and cover that section. Keep it locked down."

"Good call," my Turian friend said, "but there's enough ordnance down there to hold them back for a while at least; that'll give you time to get down there and prevent them attacking from all routes at once."

"I have detected numerous energy signatures starting up in the Eclipse controlled section," EDI's voice suddenly announced.

"Thanks EDI. Ok guys, Eclipse are going to send in their mechs soon, be ready," I ordered.

"You didn't happen to see if they had any of the heavy mechs did you?" Garrus asked.

"They have one; but Miranda may have… fooled around with its IFF."

"By the Spirits I'm glad you're back!"

"Let's kick some ass," I said eagerly.

"Just like old times!" Garrus laughed.

The light mechs and the freelancers came at us in one large wave. With my Widow, I took out over a dozen of the unlucky Mercs and tore apart even more mechs. Garrus was wasting loads of the enemy with his trusty Viper rifle while Jacob, Zaeed and Miranda took care of the closer range targets with assault rifles; Zaeed using "Jessie" to great effect. Caught in the cross-fire and suffering from yet more traps that Garrus was detonating remotely, the Mercs began to fall back and most of the mechs that were left were quickly picked off. Eclipse marksmen had taken up positions at the far end and were proving quite adept at hampering our movement. I was starting to think that perhaps they really could see my glowing red eyes in the darkness of the room.

The long-range engagement lasted for a good while; Garrus and I having the clear advantage with superior weaponry, skill and positioning. Just as I let a round fly from my Widow and destroyed a Salarian's chest EDI warned me over the comm,

"Commander, Blood Pack mercenaries are reporting that they are close to breaking through the debris in the tunnels and are preparing strike teams for entry."

"Good work EDI; Zaeed, let's go meet them."

While Garrus, Miranda and Jacob held their positions and fought off the slowly advancing Eclipse and freelancers, Zaeed and I raced to the basement and over the next half an hour or so fought a furious close-range engagement with the Vorcha and Krogan of the Blood Pack. Fortunately, Zaeed had prepared himself with incendiary ammunition; extremely expensive but one of the surest ways of fighting off Krogan.

Casualties inflicted on the diggers were heavy and one by one Zaeed and I were able to close off all access routes to Garrus' base by locking down the blast doors again, undoing hours of hard work that the Mercs had put into opening them. However, back Garrus' location, the heat was really being turned up. The Blue Suns had joined the fight and the increased firepower was having an effect. Even after the Eclipse activated the hacked heavy mech, which proceeded to kill around twenty Mercs before being destroyed, the pressure rapidly increased.

"Scott!" came Garrus' voice over the comm, "we need you back up here. The Blue Suns and Eclipse are preparing to blast through the walls into the base; and I saw the gunship take off not too long ago. I think it's dropping troops on top of the building; they'll be rappelling in soon."

I raced back up to my friends' aid and quickly put down three Blue Suns that smashed in through one of the side windows. The whole building rocked as two sections of the wall were erased by sheer explosive power and Eclipse and Blood Pack Mercs began filing in. We had the advantage that the enemy was forced to come in through such tight and confined spaces; and the amount of fire we put on them turned every corridor and entryway into a murder pit. Soon the breaches were being blocked off again with bodies; the multiple colours of blood mixing as they ran together along the polished floors.

The battle was a blood-bath; no word could better describe it. We were outnumbered, surrounded and exhausted. The gunship made multiple runs as it dropped off squads of Blue Suns infantry to attack us from above. Miranda and Jacob were making full use of their biotic powers to blast close range targets and create barricades at the windows for when enemy infantry tried to rappel in; leaving them open to our rifle fire as they dangled helplessly in the air. After a tide of Merc blood had been spilled and the morale of their men had begun to fade away; the Blue Suns leader, Tarak, decided that he had had enough.

I had switched to my Mattock rifle and was hammering away at a group of scurrying Eclipse Mercs when the gunship suddenly swooped past at close range and let loose a volley of rockets. Tarak did not care who was caught in the blasts; Eclipse Mercs, Blood Pack troopers and even his own men were killed. Had my team not been deeper inside the building, we might have ended up as casualties as well, but then Jacob contacted me over the radio,

"Commander! Garrus has been hit. He's down and bleeding heavily. I've given him medi-gel but I can't do any more for him here."

"Shit," I exclaimed, "get him out of sight and keep him safe. We need to get out of here."

I tossed a grenade at the nearest breach and eliminated a Blue Suns soldier who had suddenly found some courage. I gathered our group together and told them that now was the time to escape from this death-trap.

"Zaeed, Jacob; you clear the way to the basement. Miranda; keep them off our backs and keep up a barrier around us. I kept one of the activation codes for the last blast door; we have a way out."

"What?" Miranda said, "there could still be dozens of Blood Pack troops down there."

"There won't be," Zaeed cut in, "me and the Commander decimated them down here. And if there are still some skulking about it's gotta be better than the hundreds that are trying to get in here right now."

I picked up Garrus and carried him in a fireman's lift, leaving me with a hand free to dish it out with my pistol. Despite my Turian friend being in a full suit of armour, I found it easier than I had expected to carry him down the stairs and down to the basement. I followed Zaeed and Jacob as they blasted a path clear for all of us. As we passed a Krogan leapt out at us but was thrown away by a full power biotic shot from Miranda. Thankfully, when I opened the blast door there were no Blood Pack still present, other than the corpses that we had left all over the place. However, before we started along the path Garrus grunted on my shoulder and tried to reach back for the access panel,

"What is it Garrus?"

"Urg… bomb…" he groaned.

"What? Where?" I was confused.

"Bomb… destroy base in case…" Garrus agonisingly punched in a code and hit the enter button before he seemed to go limp again, "run!"

I took Garrus' word for it and ran as fast as I could along the passageway until we reached the ventilation shaft that served as the hidden entrance. Once outside, Zaeed dispatched a Blood Pack sentry with a knife to the throat and we slipped away into a dingy back alley. Just as we did so I heard the thud as Garrus' base was sent up in flames from his last gasp defence.

"EDI; I need you to guide us past the Mercs and back to the Normandy; and hurry, Garrus is wounded," I urged the AI to be fast. EDI proved herself as she allowed us to slip by the Merc patrols and sentries unnoticed. When we made our break through the crowded streets of Omega and back towards the Normandy, we only attracted minimal attention from a populace so used to violence and fights between groups of Mercs and thugs.

Still covered in blood and stoor and with Garrus bleeding out all over me, we reached the Normandy and rushed to the med-bay. The Cerberus medic quickly went to work and I got my first good look at my friend's injuries; a deep and messy scar had been carved right along the lower right-hand side of his face and the burns continued down his neck and underneath his armour. A sense of fear took hold as I listened to his raspy breathing and heard him gurgling on blood more than once.

"Do everything you can for him… Everything!" I told the doctor.

I stood by Garrus' bed while the doctor set to work and operated on his wounds. I was approached by Miranda who had cleaned herself up but was still geared for combat,

"Commander; I think we should go and look for Mordin Solus now while we're still here. There's no more we can do for Garrus except to place faith in the doctor."

"I'll get him patched up Commander, don't worry," the doctor added confidently.

A quick trip to the armoury to restock on ammunition and give the shields an extra bit of charge and Miranda, Jacob, Zaeed and I were on our way back to Afterlife. Aria could not help but look amused when we stood before her in our scorched and scarred armour,

"So I'm guessing that the Mercs got wise to your little rescue mission," she said with a smirk.

"Something like that," I responded, not amused, "we're hoping that you can tell us where Mordin is now. Help us find him and we can stop tearing your station apart."

"This might surprise you but I've seen worse fights than that on this station; you didn't think I gained control of this station through diplomacy, did you? Although the fireworks at the end were very entertaining."

"Mordin... where is he?" I was quickly losing patience.

Aria looked at me curiously and I wondered if she was used to having people making demands of her.

"The Gozu district," she finally said, "it's been under quarantine since a plague started sweeping through the area. Doctor Solus has a small clinic set up to treat those that feel brave enough to go there."

"Why would people not want to be treated?" I asked.

"Because he's brilliant, and crazy. He's as likely to shoot you as he is to help you. I'm pretty sure he's been with STG at some point in his life."

"Yeah," I agreed, "he has. Anything we should know about the plague? Any countermeasures available that we can get outside of Gozu?"

"Nope," she said flatly, "but you don't need to worry. Humans seem to be immune from what I'm hearing; it's not generating a lot of goodwill towards your species. Everyone thinks that Humans created it."

"Surely the Vorcha'll be immune as well," Jacob stated, "they're immune to diseases and viruses. It could've been them."

Aria laughed with contempt and waved us away. Taking a taxi to the Gozu district, we made it there fast. The Human driver seemed nervous in the presence of four heavily armed and blood-soaked soldiers and did not speak at all and barely had the courage to ask for our fare. To confuse him even more, Miranda tipped him quite generously. The guards who were stationed to keep people out of the quarantine zone let us pass, presumably on Aria's orders and we entered a bleak and depressing scene. There were bodies of Turians, Batarians, Salarians, Asari and a few Krogan piled up at the sides of the streets. In the centre of the streets, in what I supposed used to be little areas for plants and flowers, there were either piles of bodies on fire or the ashes of those already burnt. The smoky atmosphere and the stench of burnt flesh almost forced me to turn around and walk straight back out.

"Combating plague at its most basic," Zaeed muttered, "burn it out."

"The quicker we're out of here the better," I replied.

Mordin's clinic was located towards the farthest end of the slums, and the further in we travelled the more dismal the situation became. We witnessed Human looters enter the apartment of a family of Turians, all of them dead from the plague, and wipe it clean of anything of value. Vorcha skulked about in little packs like feral dogs looking for an easy feed, but they tended to flee at the first sighting of us. The receptionist for the clinic glared at us with suspicion and voiced something over his comm; but he was obviously told to let us in and the young man waved us along a corridor and told us to head left into the main lab.

After passing throngs of patients who had either just been seen to by the few medical attendants or those still waiting for treatment, we entered a room that could scarcely be called a lab. The equipment was outdated and some of it was only partially functional. A Salarian paced back and forward next to a bed with a sick Turian on it. The mouth of the Salarian was moving at a million miles per hour as he muttered to himself, reciting the name of various chemicals and treatments as he worked out the best way to cure the Turian who now coughed violently while specks of blue blood spat out of his mouth.

"Mordin Solus?" I asked. The Salarian walked over to with his wide eyes checking me over. He made a quick scan of each of us with his Omni tool,

"Humans; healthy. Heavily armed. Mercenaries? No, no, no; no gang symbols or insignias…"

I put my hand up to calm him,

"It's ok Doctor, we're not here to cause trouble. We need your help for our mission."

Mordin seemed taken aback,

"Mission? What mission? No, no. Important work to do here. Need to cure the plague. Genetically engineered, not naturally occurring."

For a scientist with a stark reputation for being a genius I knew that I had a chance to pique his interest if I told him what we were doing. When the Salarian Doctor had returned to his patient I revealed what we were undertaking,

"Have you heard of the Collectors?"

Mordin stopped and looked at me,

"They've been abducting thousands of Humans from colonies across the Terminus Systems. We're going after them."

The Collectors… hmm," Mordin mused, "plague created from advanced technology; Collectors only race with capabilities to do so. Our goals could be similar."

Hook, line and sinker.

"But," Mordin said suddenly, "require your aid. Have a cure for plague ready to be distributed. Need to get to environmental control unit. Vorcha keeping everyone away; need to kill them."

"Are you asking us to escort you there?" Miranda said.

"No. Would normally. Spent time with Special Tasks Group; know how to fight. But… need to stay here; care for patients. Need you to go and install cure."

Mordin handed us a crate full of vials,

"Inject all of these into air supply; will quickly disperse cure across district. Need my help? Then I need yours."

"We'll get it done Doctor," I told him and led my team back out of the clinic.

"You know what would be great?" Miranda said as we made a turn in the direction of the environmental controls, "if everyone could just say "yeah sure, I'll join you; no strings attached." Like Zaeed."

"As long as you flash the cash; I'm easy me," Zaeed chuckled.

A heated but brief scrap ensued between us and a handful of Vorcha that had entrenched themselves around the ventilation control unit for the entire district. When we confronted the last of them a Vorcha stepped forward, brandishing a shotgun and waving it around dangerously,

"Gah!" he hissed, "you work for doctor; you want to cure plague. But plague make us strong! Collectors give us Omega!"

"They want to kill off the other species on the station and take over," Miranda decided, "and the Collectors gave them the means to do it."

A gunshot rang out from next to me as Zaeed sent a bullet through the Vorcha's throat, "let's clean this lot up and get this bloody doctor on board."

The Vorcha were well armed, but against our superior equipment, tactics, use of cover and the setting up of improvised kill-zones they were quickly wiped out and we were free to deliver the cure into the vents. It felt good to know that we could be saving hundreds of lives at the same time as getting Mordin to join us; it felt like the first real step towards helping the galaxy again.

Mordin was delighted with our success,

"Victims already showing signs of improvement. Cure spreading quicker than hoped. Vorcha threat mitigated. Thank you, Commander Gardner."

"It felt good to help. Would you be willing to help us beat the Collectors?" I asked.

He nodded quickly,

"Already have plans in place. Assistant, Daniel, will take over and see that the sick are cared for until they are recovered. But… have a question for you."

"I'm listening."

"Who sent you?"

The fact that Mordin was a Salarian, an alien, made me uneasy about answering such a question given Cerberus' disgraceful and well-known hatred for aliens of any species.

"Cerberus sent us. I'm not in line with their… ideals; but what the Collectors are doing leaves me no choice."

"That's because we're the only ones trying to do anything about them," Miranda said matter-of-factly.

"Cerberus? Fascinating! Working with aliens? Perhaps something to be discussed in more private setting."

"We've got a nice, secure warship where we can do just that Doctor," I told him, "we'll show you the way."