AN at the end.

Please enjoy.

-Omega Station – April 30th 2181 CE, 18:21 pm Terran time-

How do I keep getting myself into this kind of situations?!

"My processes indicate that the appropriate saying here is 'I told you so'."

"Kinda busy at the moment, BT!" I shouted, sliding behind a container to avoid the hail of gunfire that followed a split second later. "You can sass me later! Right now I need an escape route!"

"Calculating." A pause as I leaned out of cover to drop a Vorcha trying to flank me with a well placed burst of amped mass-accelerated rounds from my Avenger rifle. "Marking your HUD."

I took a quick look at the mini-map in the corner of my vision and groaned. "Really?"

"The other option involves the approaching Krogan warriors and their trained varrens."

"Motherfucking Blood Pack." I cursed under my breath, sending an overload to destroy the lights and plunging the warehouse in darkness before engaging my cloak to slip away from the chaos and into the sewers. I suddenly had a lot more respect for Garrus' time as Archangel if he had -will have- to deal with the Eclipse and Blue Sun on top of those bloodthirsty bastards.

As for how I got into this mess? Well...

-A month prior, on Cyrene- March 24 2181 CE, 11:39 am Terran time-

"I'm sorry, my translator must've glitched. Can you say that again?" I deadpanned at the trio in front of me.

Beside me, Emma looked half uncertain and half amused as she continued the final checkups before we left Cyrene. BT's container and the supplies from Hektor had already been loaded and I was somewhat anxious to get going.

The faster I could get away from the Alliance before they could ask too many questions the better. That, and I had a pirate warehouse to loot.

"As I said, we would like to join you." The Turian, Tiruns if I remembered right, repeated. At his sides stood the pink-skinned Salarian medic and the Quarian engineer still in his red, if very dirty, suit.

All three still looked worse for wear from their time spent enjoying the raiders' hospitality, but proper food and sleep, along with a few liberal applications of medi-gel, were doing wonders on them already.

"Right. That's what I thought I heard." I massaged my temples with a sigh. "May I ask why? I'm not saying no, but surely you have other options than joining a low key mercenary?"

The Salarian snorted. "There's nothing 'low-key' about you from what I've seen, human." She said, her eyes narrowing at him. "But to answer your question, while we do have other options, none of them are very appealing considering our situations."

I raised an eyebrow. "Care to elaborate on that?"

"I'm an ex-soldier turned mercenary myself." Tiruns answered first. "The crew and I weren't big shots by any mean, but we were quick and efficient on the job. Problem was, we got a bit too close to the Eclipse's turf for their liking. Next thing we knew the bastards blew up our ship and sold those who of us who survived to those four-eyed scum for a few paltry credits." He gave a tired sigh as he finished his tale.

I blinked. "...That's rough, buddy. I know how it feels to lose squadmates." I said empathically. "Since you're here alone, I assume the others were shipped off somewhere else?"

He nodded, a determined expression in his eyes. "Including me, six of us are left. And I intend to find them all." Then, he grimaced. "I still got a few contacts who can help, but you're the one who has direct info from the raiders' data. That, and there's not much I can do alone right now. I'm willing to work for you in exchange for the data and whatever help you can give me to find my brothers and sisters."

I gazed at him silently for a moment. "And what about the Eclipse?"

His mandibles flared in a snarl. "I wouldn't mind getting some payback in the future, but my squad comes first. Always have and always will."

I nodded. "I can respect that, Tiruns. I would've given you the information regardless of if you'd joined us or not but I have no objection to having you onboard." I turned to Emma. "What about you?"

She shrugged. "This is your show. I don't have anything against him," She gestured at at Tiruns and the other two. "or them coming along so long as they do their part of things around here."

The Salarian chortled. "A girl after my own heart, I see. Don't worry, the boys and I will pull our own weight. Besides, I suspect your friend over there will need to recruit people before long."

I raised an eyebrow. "And you would be?"

"Call me Aerarth, human. Ex-STG medic. I was doing some freelance work with an old friend when the four-eyes grabbed me to work for them instead."

An old friend... Mordin perhaps? Something worth looking into, at any rate.

"So why join us? " I asked, honestly curious as to why. "Wouldn't it be better to join your friend again?"

Aerarth waves a hand dismissively. "That stubborn idiot can handle himself, trust me. If I know him at all, he's already made a place for himself somewhere discreet. He knows I'm alive and unharmed, that's enough. He'll be fine. "

"That's... nice, I suppose?" I wasn't sure what to make of her, to be honest. "But that doesn't tell me why you want to come with us."

"Ah, that. I overheard your conversation with Bathytha and, to put it simply, I want in." She said bluntly and I gaped at her. "As I said, you're probably going to need more people before long, especially for something like that. That also includes medical staff and those aren't easy to find in the Terminus Systems. At least those that know what they're doing and won't just try to harvest your organs as soon as you're on the operation table."

"...You've made your point." I said after a moment of silence where all of us looked at the Salarian with some apprehension. "I trust, however, that you will not report back to the STG as to what we're doing?"

"Of course." She nodded and I made a note to myself to ask BT to monitor her communications nonetheless.

"Moving on," I turned to the last member of the trio, who'd been silent until now. "I'm guessing you're still on your pilgrimage and don't really have anywhere to go as you're still looking for a gift to bring back to the Flotilla?"

"...Yes, that is correct." The Quarian said, surprised. "Not many outsiders know the traditions of our people." He added, a question in his tone.

"I make it a point to know what there is to know about the different people of the galaxy. That includes their culture." I replied. "But tell me, what is it you're hoping to gain from me? That program you've made to disable the slave chips seems like something you could easily tweak to work against the Geth and that would be a boon for your admiralty, no?"

The Quarian shook his head. "That program itself was based on one we already use against the Geth. And even then, it's probably outdated by now." He slumped a bit. "The Geth... adapt at a ridiculous speed against hacking and disabling programs. Use the same one a few times, and you'll already see it be less and less effective. If I could make a self-updating program, then maybe. But I'm not good enough for that."

I raised an eyebrow. "So what? You're hoping that I'll help you refine it? I'm sorry but I'm no programmer or hacker. My tech does it for me and, before you ask I'm not about to hand blueprints of it to anyone."

"I'm not here for that. I'm here for her." He pointed at Aerarth.

The Salarian blinked. "Oh? And what do you want from me, suit boy?"

"I want you to teach me." He replied bluntly. "You are a former STG medic, that means you know a good deal of scientific and medical knowledge. With that knowledge, I can help create better medicine for my people. Perhaps even start to reverse the damage living in ships for the last few generations has done to us."

"Which reminds me." I snapped my fingers. "I may be able to help you with that last one. Not now, but sometime in the near future. If... Aerarth, was it? And I pool our resources together, I'm pretty sure we'll get it down eventually."

Silence greeted my declaration as everyone gaped at me. "...How?" The Quarian croaked. "My people have been dealing with this problem for centuries."

"Immune systems don't generally degrade so fast over the course of a few hundred years. Evolution just doesn't work that way." I replied. "Even aboard ships, microbes, organisms, and sickness can spread. Decontamination isn't one hundred percent sure to erase everything and just meeting with other species would expose you to pathogens regardless." I went on. "From what I know, something on Rannoch, some kind of bio organism, worked in symbiosis with the Quarian immune system to stimulate it and that, without it and the stimulation it provided, said immune system basically stopped functioning properly. Add in a couple generations without any individual coming in contact with the organism and your people starting to wear sterile suits and... well, that would basically do it."

"Keelah." The Quarian breathed out in horror, staring at his suit with trembling hands. "If what you're saying is true... Then we only made things worse by trying to solve the issue?"

I shrugged. "More or less. All that remains to be seen is if we can cook up something that simulates the missing organism closely enough to boost your immune system in the same way until it reaches an acceptable point. Kinda like a human vaccine."

At those words, the Quarian made a keening noise before collapsing into one of the cockpit's chairs and putting his head in his hands, his frame shaking.

"...I said it before, and I'll say it again. There's nothing low-key about you, human." Aerarth said as she sympathetically laid a hand on the Quarian's back. "There there, Faan'Tis. It'll be alright. Come on, let's find a bed for you to lie down."

"Three centuries. Three centuries and this human solves it just like that." He muttered as the Salarian led him away, supporting him all the while.

Ah, so Faan'Tis that was the guy's name. I'd forgotten.

"Solving species-wide crises already, boss?" Emma grinned. "You don't waste any time, do you?"

I rolled my eyes. "If anyone with a lick of sense and compassion had taken the time and resources to take a real in-depth look at the issue, this would've been solved a long time ago."

"But because they're Quarians, no one did." Tiruns muttered, shaking his head. "No one wanted to be associated with the galaxy's pariahs."

"Idiots, the lot of them." I snorted. "Quarians have some of the best electronic experts and engineers out of all the races and the Council basically decided that, instead of helping them after losing their homeworld to AIs, they had to make things even worse by turning them into undesirable people number one." I shook my head. "Hell, it's a coin toss between the Quarians and the Krogans for who got the most fucked over by the Council at this point."

Tiruns gave me a strange look. "...You really don't like the Council, do you?"

"Tiruns, let's be honest. If the Council managed to get the Salarian STG to create the Genophage, there's no way they wouldn't be able to create something similar to fix the Quarians' immune system issue." I replied flatly. "Either they want the secrets of true AI making to disappear or they simply don't think Quarians as a race are worth dedicating the resources for."

The Turian blinked in astonishment. "When you put it like that..."

I shrugged. "I think the current Council and their predecessors made a bunch of stupid decisions which they haven't bothered to fix the consequences of. And that they have a tendency to either ignore important issues hoping they'll go away given enough time, or get rid of them with extreme prejudice if they feel that the status quo is threatened enough."

"I'll say it's usually more complicated than that, but you're not wrong." Aerarth commented as she came back into the cockpit.

"Moving on, I have no objection to either of you coming along." I said. "So welcome aboard, everyone. I'm your captain Ethan Wolfe and we have a lot of work to do today. Emma?" I turned to my pilot. "Let's get this bird in the air, shall we?"

"Aye aye, captain. Preparing for lift off." Emma obliged, turning back to the controls. "Where are we going?"

"Paz system, in the Valhallan Threshold." I replied. "As close as possible to the coordinates I'm sending you."

"Roger that. Alliance Control, this is Gaea. Request permission for take off, over."

I shook my head mentally at the ship's new name. Emma had a witty sense of humor, that was for sure, choosing the mother of titans' name.

"Acknowledged, Gaea. You are clear for take-off. Safe travels out there, over."

And with that confirmation, we were off. The blond pilot quickly taking us out of Cyrene's atmosphere and heading toward the mass relay. It would be a good four hours before we'd reach our destination.

"Say, Tiruns, where do you think I'd be able to recruit people?" I asked the Turian as he inspected the surplus of various guns I'd kept from pilfering the pirates (and that the Alliance hadn't taken) for one who met his tastes. "You've been in the Terminus Systems way longer than I've been. You must have a clear idea of where I can start looking."

"Depends on what kind of job you're offering." He answered, his eyes meeting mine as he raised an eye-plate. "Why do you ask? I thought you weren't too interested in starting your own mercenary group? Well, not yet at least."

"What I'm going to need are workers, traders, technicians, engineers and the likes." I said as I brought up my omni-tool and set it up to display the various resources I'd liberated from the slavers. "I have plans for that money and those materials. But to enact them I need more people. People who know stuff other than how to shoot a gun."

Tiruns hummed thoughtfully for a moment, arms crossed, before nodding. "I know a guy who's hooked into that kind of network. Give me a couple weeks?"

"Take all the time you need. We're in no rush just yet." 'Though that won't always be the case.' I added internally as I left the Turian to his weapon tinkering.

Faan'Tis was still sleeping off the metaphorical bombs I'd dropped on him, so my next stop was the ship's med bay.

"Getting settled in?" I asked, leaning against the door as I watched Aerarth go through the shelves of medical products while muttering under her breath.

"Blasted Batarians didn't bother keeping the infirmary stocked." She grumbled. "And I'm not sure I want to keep any of what's still in there, judging by some of the dates I'm seeing on these. Thankfully we got some supplies from your friends on Cyrene, so we're good for now. But we'll have to restock as soon as we can or even treating our Quarian friend if he gets an infection due to a suit rupture is going to be a problem."

"That's a problem, yeah." I nodded. "Though we'll probably have to swing by council space if we want to get quality goods. Not sure I trust anything we'll find in the Terminus Systems to not be second rate stuff."

The Salarian scoffed. "Try third-rate. Some of the things I've seen people sell looked just as likely to make things worse as they were to help you. Did you want something?"

"Yes, actually." I replied, fishing my last stim syringe out of one of the pouches on my belt and presenting it to her. "Can you take a look at this? I'd like to know if it's possible to make more and if it might be harmful to other races besides humans."

Dubiously, Aerarth took the syringe, bringing it to her eyes and examining it. "And what is this supposed to be?" She asked.

I made a vague gesture. "I guess you could call it a homemade version of an adrenaline surge."

"Hn." Was her unimpressed response as she brought up her omni-tool and started running scans on the syringe. "Sure. You're the boss, after all."

"Great! I'll leave you to it, then." I said as I made my exit and started heading toward the cargo bay.

Not even thirty steps later, I heard a muffled expletive coming from the medical wing and chuckled to myself.

Entering the cargo bay, I quickly navigated through the various containers before stopping in front of the biggest one. Tapping a quick combination on the padlock, the lock turned green and I opened the doors.

The sight of BT's chasis crouching greeted me. The optical monitor lit up and blinked before focusing on me.

"Hello, Ethan. Good to see you." My robot friend greeted me.

I grinned. "Nice to see you too, big guy. Had a good nap?"

"Negative. I have been monitoring and countering attempts to spread video footage of our actions onto the extranet. It has been... tedious." The Titan frowned. "The reasoning of those civilians escape me. Don't they understand what results might occur because of them spreading information about us?"

"People will do much to have their short moment of fame on the wide network." I shrugged as I climbed up the chasis' leg and sat back against BT's frame. "It overrides common sense a lot of the time, unfortunately. But don't worry, you won't have to bother continuing to do this for much longer."

"Acknowledged." BT responded. "There is also something I would like to bring to your attention. Sending data."

"What is it?" I asked as my omni-tool lit up and a text box appeared. "'Patch '? I see my sense of humor is getting to you." I chuckled as I opened and selected the install option.

"After careful examination and calculations, I have come to the conclusion that omni-tool devices are far more versatile than I first assumed." BT explained as the patch installed itself. "The data I have sent you contains several upgrades for field combat, such as flash forging pulse blades, fire stars and gravity stars, a launcher for the aforementioned throwing items and an amped ammunition mod."

I whistled in appreciation. "You've been busy, my friend. Those are certainly substantial upgrades that will make things much easier in the field. I'll make sure to read through the list later." I said as I closed down the notification. "Also, have you managed to find our persons of interest yet?"

"They hide their tracks well. I am afraid it will take more time before I can get into contact."

"That matter is fairly time sensitive, so the faster you can find them the better. Hopefully it will be one tragedy we can stop before it's too late." I said. "Anyway, I'm planning to introduce you to the other three once we get to our destination."

"Are you sure that is wise, considering the Quarian's disposition toward AIs?" BT asked.

I shrugged "If he asks me no question, I'll tell him nothing. If he does, I will not lie." I looked up into his optical monitor. "If he can't accept that you're my partner and here to stay, then that's his problem and I'll let him leave at the first opportunity. That doesn't mean I won't help the Quarians, but it will make things harder for sure. Still, who knows? At least some part of this will go smoothly, right?"

"I think we should know better than to assume such things. Especially after what happened on Typhon."

"Yeah, you're right." I sighed, closing my eyes. "Things just can't be simple for us, can they?"

BT didn't reply, but I didn't need him to. Come hell or high water, I knew he'd be at my side through it all.

And that was enough.

"What... is that?" Faan'Tis said faintly as he laid eyes upon my Titan friend for the first time as we stood in the loading bay of the slavers' warehouse. Beside him, both Aerarth and Tiruns looked equally awed as they beheld BT's chasis.

"Everyone, meet BT 7274." I said from my seat on the Titan's shoulder, clad in my pilot gear. "He's basically my personal combat mech and my backup for missions in which I might need more firepower than I can carry upon my person."

"Greetings." The Vanguard Titan said, raising a hand a slightly waiving it in a manner that reminded me of those Marvin bots I'd encountered before.

"If humans had had those during the Relay 314 incident..." Tiruns swallowed. "Spirits, our ground troops wouldn't have stood a chance."

"Forget about that, where did it come from? Who designed it?!" Aerarth all but demanded. "I've seen the YMIR mechs of the Alliance, along with their prototype for a piloted mech, and they look nothing like this!"

"BT's one of a kind." I replied. "There are no others like him. As for his creator... well, I'm afraid they're not with us anymore."

"...You keep calling it 'him'." Faan'Tis finally spoke. "Why?"

I blinked. "Well, BT's voice is clearly male, you know? It wouldn't make sense if I started calling him 'her'. And if you're referring to the fact that he's just a robot, well." I shrugged. "It's just like calling a pet 'girl' or 'little guy'. It doesn't mean anything, really."

The Quarian seemed unsure for a moment, looking between BT's optical monitor and myself before shaking his head.

"Now," I clapped my hands. "This place is going to become our primary base of operations for the time being. But first, we need to make an inventory of what's already there and unload our own ship."

"Won't there be a risk of pirates stealing everything when we're away though?" Tiruns asked.

"I'm pretty positive no one but us knows about this place." I replied. "But there's still a risk, yes. So just to be sure our first priority is going to install security measures and make this place defensible. But for now, as I said, we need to get this place up and running." I pointed to each of them as I spoke. "Aerarth, you're in charge of cataloging everything as BT and I start moving things around. Faan'Tis, please check on what installations are already in place and make sure they're not at risk of giving out on us. Repair what needs to be if you can, make me a list of components we'll need otherwise. Tiruns, Emma, I want you to scour this place from top to bottom. Check for hidden compartments and the likes that don't show up on the plan we have. After that... I'm sorry, but we'll need to start on cleaning up what available rooms there are. Now let's get to it, people!"

And so began the long and grueling task of turning what was basically a crappy warehouse into a somewhat proper headquarters. With only four people plus BT, it took us six days to get everything done. Days of moving crates and containers around, cleaning the place up and fixing broken or damaged appliances. Replacing what couldn't be repaired and buying new equipment to set things up, which required us to collect said equipment by meeting up with a relay cargo ship just at the edge of Council Space, ect...

It took some time for the others aside from Ema to adjust to BT's presence, but once they got it into their heads that he was no different from a security mech with a VI, they started to relax.

But by the time we were done, I was honestly quite proud of our little hideout among the stars.

And now, it was time to start going job hunting. Which meant only one thing.

Omega.

This... was going to be intresting.

-Omega Station – March 31st 2181 CE, 12:36 pm Terran time-

"Finally! I've been trying to contact you for days! Where have you been, Fe- You're not Fezis." The Batarian stopped mid-rant as he finally noticed that none of the three people who'd exited the ship weren't one of his fellow four-eyed friends. And were all pointing guns at him.

Neither Tiruns, Aerarth or I were much amused.

"Quite the astute observation there. What gave it away?" I drawled. "Now, give me one reason why I shouldn't blast your brains out for conspiring with slavers?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, human. Obviously I mistook your ship for another." The Batarian replied with his best poker face as he turned around. Which would have been more convincing if he wasn't sweating bullets.

"Yeah, no." I said as I closed the distance between us in three short steps and put him in a submission hold. "I think there are a few questions you're gonna answer us first, buddy."

"Y-you wouldn't dare!" He yelled, struggling against me. "I work for the Queen of Omega herself! She'll have you killed if you do anything to me!"

I rolled my eyes behind my helmet. "Please, you're just a grunt. But sure, let's talk to Aria herself and see what she thinks of this, shall we?" I said, causing the Batarian to pale as I pushed him forward.

It was a relatively short trip to the Afterlife Club, but the Batarian trying to sweet talk his way out through the entirety of it quickly got old and I started smacking him in the head after a few minutes.

The Krogan bouncer on the steps at the entrance took one look at us and shook his head. "I told you the shit you got into would come to bite you in the quad, Pralark. Go in, human. Aria's expecting you."

"Much obliged." I inclined my head before marching past the doors and into the corridor leading to the Club itself. I heard a few prospective patrons in the waiting line complain before the Krogan quickly put a stop to it by shouting that anyone complaining would find themselves at the end of the waiting line in short order.

Halfway through the corridor, a trio of Batarians lounging on one of the benches stood up at the sight of a human manhandling one of their fellows and approached us, fingering their guns.

"I suggest you let him go, human. Or this is going to get ugly." One of them growled.

"I agree." I nodded before pulling Pralark against me like a meat shield and pointing my gun at the side of his head. "Either you get out of the way, or someone's day is going to get ruined. I'll give you a hint, it won't be mine."

There was a tense moment where the Batarians looked ready to start a gunfight in the middle of the hallway but they seemed to think better of it and stepped back.

"Smart choice." I said as I pushed Pralark forward again, keeping an eye on the three others in my peripheral vision as they slunk back to their bench.

Finally, we entered Afterlife itself. Loud music instantly started blasting my ears while the central pillar's neon pink lighting almost forced me to avert my eyes. Holographic flames danced in the background of the various booths I could see as people drank, danced, watched Asari exotic dancers dance, or all of the above at the same time.

Ignoring the party, we made a beeline for the booth Aria used as a vantage point to watch over the little kingdom that was her club. As we approached, I saw her. Arms crossed with that unmistakable white jacket, her eyes looking down at us, gauging us.

I raised my head in challenge, my helmet's visor looking up at her. For a moment, we just looked at each other. A ruler judging an unknown element in her kingdom, and a newcomer to the galaxy evaluating a potential ally... or enemy.

But if there was one thing I could trust Aria to do, it was to aim for a way to come up on top in any situation.

"So. You're the one who's had the important people of the entire galaxy running around like headless pyjaks for the past few days?" Was the first thing Aria asked as our little group was being scanned by her guards. "I have to say, I expected more."

"I'll let my actions speak for myself, thank you very much." I replied as I pushed Parlark down on the ground. "What do you intend to do with this sorry fool?"

The Pirate Queen glanced at the Batarian briefly, before fixing her eyes on me again. "There isn't much that happens on Omega that I don't learn about, sooner or later. Meetings, trades, transactions, you name it and I'll know who, what, when, where and how in due time." She said as she stood from her seat and approached Pralark. "Doesn't matter if it's red sand, contraband weaponry, illegal biotic implants, slaves, whatever. I don't give a fuck about what kind of merchandise you sell so long as you don't try to mess with me and mine." I saw a flicker of hope go through Pralark's eyes.

"But."

In a swift movement, Aria brought her leg up and stomped onto the downed Batarian's hand, her heel impacting with a sharp cracking sound and drawing a howl of pain from him as the bones in his hand broke.

"I do not tolerate such deception within my own ranks. Instead of reporting Fezis' dealings, you hid them, wanting to get a piece of the pie for yourself. Because of that, well I imagine several suspicious missing person reports are about to get cleared up." She continued as she ground her boot, drawing pained whimpers from Pralark as he squirmed on the ground. "I am Omega. To fuck with my station is to fuck with me. And you do know the one rule of Omega, don't you? Don't." Stomp. "Fuck." Stomp. "With." Stomp. "Aria." Stomp.

Pralark would likely never be able to use that hand properly again, if he lived through this, but I didn't feel too sympathetic for him.

Finally, the Asari warlord kicked the Batarian away from her and sat down again. "Get this piece of trash out of my sight and find out what he knows. I want the report on my omni-tool by this evening."

With a nod, one of her Batarian guards gestured and two others Turian guards came up to drag Pralark's moaning form away.

"I would appreciate a copy of that report, if you'd be so inclined." I said as soon as they were out of sight.

"Certainly. It is thanks to you that this was brought to my attention, after all. Every job done deserves its own reward." Aria replied as she gestured for me to sit down. I did so, Tiruns and Aerarth choosing to stand by the stairs and content with watching. "But back to you, my mysterious merc. Or do you prefer to be addressed by the nickname you were given, 'The Wolf of Cyrene'?" She asked with a raised brow.

It had been three days since I'd made BT release the lockdown on the video footage of us laying waste to the Batarian Slavers' raid force. In less than twenty four hours, the extranet had all but exploded. People asking questions or posting theories left and right, demanding who I was and where I'd come from, presuming that BT was a secret weapon the Alliance had relocated to the Terminus Systems for testing purposes, wondering if I was even human at all, ect...

One thing that kept happening, however, was my actions being compared to Shepard's during the siege of Elysium. Someone had leaked my name at some point and commented that if Shepard was a Lioness, then I had to be a Wolf (because obvious name puns are obvious) and before long I was being referred to as 'The Wolf of Cyrene'.

I wonder if Shepard's feeling flattered or insulted by all this?

"Call me Wolfe, since that's my actual name." I answered.

"Very well, Wolfe. Now that the niceties are out of the way," She leaned forward. "what can I do for you? And what can you do for me?"

"Simply put, I want to propose an alliance." I replied. "As you might be well aware, I have come into a rather substantial amount of valuable resources. Some I have plans for, others are useless to me and I am looking to sell to the highest bidder. However, those resources are only the starting point. I am planning to expand our little group to a proper organization, one big enough to rival the other warlords. But I will need allies, and who better than the Pirate Queen herself?"

"You certainly have ambition." Aria said, after a moment. "Yet more dangerous people than you have tried, and they've all bit the dust, as you humans say. What makes you different than the rest of them? That mech of yours?"

"In part." I nodded. "But I feel that talk is cheap at this point. So I will make a deal with you and let my actions speak for themselves: give me the information I need to hit my targets and in return, I will work for you, free of charge, until my organization is truly up and running."

"And what targets would that be?"

"Slavers, of course." I said as I leaned back. "Raiding parties, auction houses, control implant factories... doesn't matter. If it's linked to the slave trade, I want to know where it is."

I would've missed it if I hadn't been paying attention, but Aria's eyes widened for an instant before she blinked. Then, she did something I didn't expect.

She laughed.

"You want to get rid of the slave trade?!" She said, between guffaws. "Do you even have any idea of what this means, kid? Most warlords have slaves, you'd be fighting against the Terminus Systems themselves! Do you really think that, where the Council itself fears to thread, you can simply waltz in? No." She shook her head, her laughing having slowed down to chuckles. "Just no. I will not associate myself with a fool who thinks having a fancy robot allows him to have delusions of grandeur."

I calmly stood from my seat. "As I said, talk is cheap at this point. I'll let my actions speak for me. So watch me, Queen of Omega." I leaned forward, my visor almost touching her nose. "Because I intend to make you eat those words."

The Asari smiled predatorily. "Oh I'll be watching you, Wolfe. Watching as you try to fly too close to a sun only to burn and crash."

"That went well." Tiruns drawled sarcastically as we exited Afterlife back into the streets of Omega. "Pretty sure I only lost a few years of my life back there."

"Au contraire, mon ami. This has gone much better than I expected it to." I replied as I brought up my omni-tool to display a message with a set of coordinates on the station. "And look, we even got our first job."

"Wha-" The Turian blinked owlishly. "But, she- I mean- What?!"

I turned to Aerarth. "You wanna take this one or should I?"

"To make a long story short : Aria officially rejected our offer." The Salarian medic explained. "Unofficially, she's giving us a chance to prove ourselves useful."

"Ah, I see." Tiruns nodded. "But why do it like this though?"

"Above all, Aria needs to remain in a position of strength to maintain her hold on Omega unchallenged." I replied. "Overtly accepting a proposition from bottom feeders such as ourselves would make her appear weak and stupid. This is her way of testing us while making sure nothing is traced back to her. If we succeed, great, she can continue to give us jobs on the sly until we reach a point where she can make a more official agreement with us. We fail, then she just gives the job to someone else and doesn't lose reputation for having associated with a team of incompetent idiots. It's a win-win situation for her."

"And this is why I was fine with a being a simple soldier for hire." Tiruns said as he scratched his head. "All of this stuff goes waaaay over my head most of the time."

"Don't worry too much about it, Tiruns." I said, smacking his shoulder. "Aria is... unique, even among Asaris. She may not bear the title of Matriarch, but she's one of the most powerful people in the galaxy. And she's crafty as hell."

"I'll say. That woman is even more dangerous than I expected." Aerarth added, shaking her head. "So what's the plan, oh fearless leader?"

"Let's see what we're dealing with first, shall we?" I brought up the message again. "And it looks like our first task is pest control. A group of Vorcha has been causing trouble in the lower levels... by eating people." I grimaced. "Aria wants them gone before they can join the Blood Pack and cause even bigger trouble. Problem is, they're holed tightly enough that a frontal assault would be suicide and they're using the sewer network to get around, making an ambush difficult. Using explosives could possibly bring the whole thing down, so they haven't resorted to that... yet. And that's where we come in." I shook my head in wonder. "Geez, talk about a trial by fire."

"Ugh, Vorchas." Tiruns groaned. "Why'd it have to Vorchas?"

"I've seen what you can do, so I don't doubt that we can handle this, but how do you want to do it?" The Salarian medic asked.

"Well..." I drawled, my grin audible as I turned to her. "If they think they're so secure in that place of theirs, then I say we smoke them out. A frontal assault doesn't always mean you have to be the one coming to the enemy, after all."

"I'll be honest, I expected more of a race who can adapt to almost anything." I said as I downed another Vorcha trying to stumble out of the hideout coughing, his eyes closed in pain and his nose running, with a burst of amped mass accelerated slugs.

"They can't adapt that quickly. As fast as it's been noted to happen, it's not immediate." Aerarth remarked on the coms.

"Please, stop giving my brain nightmare fuel." Tiruns tiredly said.

It had been ridiculously easy to force the Vorcha clan out of their hiding hole. After stealthily eliminating the sentries with my customary cloak and dagger tactics, I'd done what anyone with a lick of tactical sense would have done: leave no way out other than the front doors.

Closing the access to the sewers had only taken a bit of hacking and welding with the omni-tool in order to make sure that escape door was permanently sealed shut.

I'd then thrown in a few flash and stun grenades inside the hideout before retreating to higher ground with my grapple while my two allies covered the side and backdoors.

What Vorchas hadn't been too much affected by the grenades had come out leaping, already in full frenzy and ready to tear anyone to shreds. Too bad the only that had done was turning them into easy targets. And once the more dangerous members had been eliminated, I'd quickly moved in to finish the rest of them, a couple pulse blades making sure there were no stragglers hiding.

Of the state of the hideout itself, the less said the better. The whole place would have to be purged with fire before anyone not desperate could use it for anything. I had never been so thankful my helmet could filter smells.

All in all the whole clan, about thirty individuals in total, had been wiped out in but a dozen minutes.

"And that would be our client." I said as a call notification appeared on the omni-tool.

"I've just received the news. You work fast, don't you?" Aria's voice greeted me.

"I make it a point to not waste time by waiting around." I replied. "I trust you are satisfied?"

"You'll have your information within the next two days. Expect to hear from me soon." And with that, the call ended.

"And that is that, I suppose." I breathed out as I exited the building. "Let's get back to the ship, guys. We'll be busy again before long."

That had been the start of a series of jobs forwarded to us by Aria over the course of the next three weeks, culminating in a mission to take back a stolen cargo from the Talons gang. What no one had expected though, was the gang hiring the Blood Pack to protect said stolen cargo in the meantime it took them to find a buyer.

Which brings us to now.

-Current Time-

"Tiruns, please tell me I didn't do all that for nothing and we managed to retrieve the package?" I said as I climbed out of a sewer access a few hundred meters away from the warehouse.

"Affirmative, boss. The Talons were too busy trying to gun you down to notice the switch." The Turian replied.

"I must say, it's a nice change to have competent backup for once." An accented feminine voice chimed in. "Quite refreshing. Although this didn't go exactly as planned."

"Don't remind me." I groused. "Whatever's in that package better be worth the effort."

It wasn't.

"So you're telling me," I drawled at the ruler of Omega from my seat across her. "That we went through all this trouble and almost certainly got the Blood Pack to bear a grudge against us, for one lousy bottle of alcohol?"

"A single bottle of this stuff can be worth half a million credits, maybe more in certain circles." Aria commented as she turned the container between her hands. "Athame's Grace, as it is called, has a precisely calculated minuscule amount of red sand in it, making it particularly potent with biotics users... and Asari in general, as you might've guessed. I believe about half of the galaxy's supply is in possession of Matriarchs." With an expert twist, she popped the bottle open and filled the two glasses in front of her with the beverage. "Here, as a reward for the unexpected trouble, I shall offer you a single glass."

"How generous." I rolled my eyes but nonetheless took the offered glass. Gingerly, I took a sip and my eyes widened. "Okay. I don't like alcohol as a rule, but even I can recognize that this is exceptional."

"Isn't it?" The Asari smirked, a brief flash of red appearing in her black eyes as she took a sip of her own. "I hope you can savor it, Wolfe. You'll probably never taste this again in your life."

I snorted. If only she knew how much she was right. In but a few years, alcohol would be the least of my worries, or hers.

"Such a shame." A voice said in my ear as I sat in the crew quarters of the Gaea, reading the various information package Aria had sent me while we made the return trip from Omega to our base in the Paz system. "We could have stolen the bottle too and sold it for ourselves."

"I'd like to retain a cordial relationship with the least worst of all the Terminus warlords, thank you." I replied. "Double-crossing her is just asking to bring all of Omega down on us. The Blood Pack we can deal with. Them plus Aria? Nope, no way."

"Such a boring answer." The voice sighed. "Where's the love of the danger, the thrill?"

I looked at the empty space beside me. "Oh, there'll plenty of that later, trust me. But I have to ask, do you have a definitive answer for me?"

The air shimmered as a hooded form clad in a dark almost skin-tight suit un-cloaked in front of me.

"You know," Kasumi Goto said, a grin on her lips. "I think I wouldn't mind such a partnership. It sounds like fun."

So.

First of all, allow me to apologize for my almost two years-long absence. I've been dealing with a lot of IRL stuff during 2020 (I'm sure I'm not the only one) and have only recently found the time and inspiration to properly sit down and write this.

I hope you foud this chapter to be worth the wait. Hopefully the next one won't take nearly as long to come out.

For those of you who are wondering about my other stories... well.

"Wheel of Fate" is definitely abandoned until such a time that I can get over the writer block I have with it.

"Child of the Fell and Divine Dragons" is on hiatus pending its rewrite, and I honestly don't know when that's gonna be complete.

As for "HP and the Four Elemental Spirits", I have been working on it but writer is kicking my ass there again, somehow. But I hope to have the next chapter ready soon.

I have, however, a new story that I am publishing alongside this new chapter. It's a Pokemon fanfic that I hope will feel different from the norm. I called it "Unknown Shores" in honor of another story that I previously deleted. Do give it a read if that tickles your interest.

As always, do leave a review if you'd like. I welcome constructive criticism but baseless flames will be ignored. And again, sorry for the wait.

This is MidnightFenrir, signing out.

Until next time!