The Wards wasn't the prettiest place on the Citadel, but it was where Gavin Romanko had called his home for the past five years. Ever since he volunteered to be relocated from Von Braun Station to the Citadel, things had started to look up for the man.

He opened up his own bar, which had become quite popular among C-Sec officers and the various other denizens that populated the Wards. Mostly aliens, not a lot of humans on this section of the station.

Gavin got to meet various other races though, made good friends of most, including the turians. They weren't the monsters that they were perceived to be during the First Contact War, most were simple men and women, doing the same things as everyone else. A lot of them had some pretty interesting stories to tell, and Gavin had plenty to share of his own, so he was never bored even on the slow nights.

Of course, Gavin's tenure hasn't been perfect. There was always the occasional drunkard who refused to leave or the rowdy group of young guns who decided to start a fight with others across the room.

Sometimes the fight would be over with quickly, damage to property minimal, other times not.

But the barkeep found a way to quell those problems as of recently. He had recently purchased a shotgun that he kept with him behind the bar at all times.

Yes, he had a permit for the weapon, C-Sec permitted him to keep it at home or in the bar. Thankfully, he's never had to fire it yet.

Today had been a slow day for business, something big was going in Citadel Tower, calling for a lot of officers to run security. It had also attracted a lot of citizens, thinning his clientele even more.

Only a few resided within his humble abode today, three old turians drinking together in a corner and a couple sitting up at the head of the bar, an asari and a human woman. They were holding hands, speaking to each other in hushed tones. Another thing that had shown up ever since humanity stepped aboard the Citadel five years back, interspecies relationships.

When Gavin first stepped off the boat, humans kept mostly to themselves. Then every year, humans, both male and female, branched out. Turians and asari primarily, but even volus on occasion. That always made the barkeep chuckle. Seeing a stubby, suit-covered alien walk in with a woman twice his size was always entertaining to see.

Gavin on the other hand, wasn't so luckily with the opposite sex.

He fumbled his words whenever a woman seemed remotely interested in him. Which recalled one time a woman walked in and kept chatting him up, and after closing time they stayed behind and shared a few drinks together. This lady was a turian working with the maintenance teams that helped keep the Citadel running.

He decided to give it a go, hoping for the best.

But Gavin had one drink too many, and mentioned to the woman that it was hard discerning the female turians apart from the men. The lady showed just how sharp her talons were as she struck him hard across the cheek before promptly leaving. He still had scars on his face from that night.

Sighing, Gavin propped his elbows up on the head of the bar, shoving a few bottles of various alcohols out of the way as he did. Activating his omni-tool, he dialed up the volume on the far vid screen.

He noticed it was a news feed, and displayed in big bold letters…

'Breaking News, Council Rules on Act 24-21H'

An asari newscaster appeared on screen just as the volume peaked.

"Earlier this morning, the Council ruled on Act 24-21H, which allows human asylum on the Citadel."

Gavin leaned forward, the couple to his left turned to the screen as well. He hadn't been paying attention to the news lately, only hearing brief mentions that the Act was about to expire. No one really talked about what would happen if the Act didn't get renewed, and that worried a lot of people. Including the barkeep. Regardless, Alliance newscasts assured that humanity would have a more permanent foothold on the station soon, though.

Gavin huffed.

Time to see if those assurances were truthful or not.

"Alliance Ambassador Harland Rowe visited the Council to demonstrate mankind's accomplishments while aboard, but his efforts were in vain, it seemed." Gavin clenched a fist, narrowing his eyes, "The Council has denied renewal of the Act, and has ordered a Citadel-wide deportation order to come into effect."

What? Deportation?

To his left, the couple gasped in tandem, the human pressing her hands against her stomach in shock.

The newscaster continued, "All humans will be given four days to collect belongings from their respective businesses and homes. On the fifth, C-Sec officers and Council representatives will guide human citizens to transport shuttles, taking them to the border worlds for temporary housing and-"

Gavin shut the vid screen off, unable to stand it anymore.

He glanced at the woman to his left, who stared at him right back, fear in her eyes.

Why did the Council do this? How could they possibly justify a station-wide deportation of an entire species? How could they rationalize that for the people who've built lives here, just like Gavin?

Panic filled the barkeep. He could not go back to the colonies. Batarian slavers could attack whole towns and cause untold destruction, physically and psychologically. To see all the unfit men and women lined up and shot to death, to see children dragged away from the corpses of their parents, to be forced to watch as alien thugs raped your best friend, right in front of you…

Conditions aboard the Von Braun were no better. Cramped, dirty, and not enough food to go around were the first in a myriad list of problems aboard that space station.

The Alliance 'saviors' were abusive and couldn't give a shit about refugees.

All of this forced Gavin to fight for a better life, and when the chance came along for him to transfer to the Citadel, you can be damn sure he took it.

And now… And now he had five days to pack up everything he had and just leave? He needed to think.

In a shaky voice, Gavin announced, "Bar's closed people, t-time to go." The asari and human left immediately, not saying a word. But the turians stayed in their corner, still drinking away. More annoyed than scared now, the barkeep repeated in a low tone as he ran a hand through his short hair, "I'm closing up. Beat it."

One of the aliens turned to him and gruffly stated, "You don't close for another three hours. We want our drinks."

"I said get out!"

The three turians stood, "And we said we wanted our damn drinks."

Kneeling behind the head of the bar, Gavin reappeared holding his shotgun. He pumped it once, "And I said get the hell outta my bar!"

He didn't want to use the gun, not at all. But if they didn't leave…

The aliens wised up as they quickly stumbled out the front door, groaning in anger. Following the former customers, Gavin slammed the doors behind the turians and locked them down. He needed to think, to get away from everything else for a few hours.

This was his home, the Wards, this bar, the shitty apartment complex he lived in. All of it was his.

He pressed his back against the locked doors, dropping his shotgun as he slumped to the floor. Gavin's head fell into his shaking hands, and for the first time in nearly seventeen years, he began to cry.

What was he going to do?

So, here's my plan. The first few chapters will introduce the major players throughout this little tale of mine, all just after humanity being banned from the lovely Citadel.

Hope you enjoyed, drop a review if you wish.

Peace.