Book II - Chapter 2: MIA
"Commander Shepard is not dead."
Jack rolled her eyes at the feminine voice making the same ridiculous assertion over the public news channel on board the station. Obviously, this asari chick was stuck in the denial stage of grief. Tough though. She had heard this blue tail was the Alliance big shot's wife of less than a month. Young love. No wonder the chick was in denial. Soft people like her had no idea how hard real life was like. People die. Simple as that.
"... Incredible footage captured by a nearby survey probe had revealed a dreadnought of unknown origin. A comparison of the silhouette of the ship has yielded no viable match." Jack looked up at the screen and muttered a curse. Shit. This again. The public news channel replayed the grainy recording of a gigantic dreadnought firing upon a tiny frigate. Who the hell could survive that?
It had been a week since the Normandy was shot down inside the Terminus systems while hunting for geth. During the entire week, it was like nothing else happened at all in the whole fucking galaxy. For two days, it was nothing but the same stupid clip of the same stupid ship getting shredded by the same stupid dreadnought, like anyone on Omega cared about that. After that, it was interview after interview of the surviving Normandy crew members who had managed to reach escape pods before the ship got blown to bits.
Jack was sick of it all. Omega was not a complete shit hole comparing to the other stations she had been on, but there were too many people. It got loud inside her head. Hearing the same news on loop over the public announcement did nothing to improve her mood.
She needed a fucking drink.
The elcor bouncer outside the club gave her one look and stepped out of her way. Smart. Afterlife was a decent enough watering hole. Music was a tad too loud, but it was just fine by her. It helped numb the crawling, itching, fluttering buzz in her skull. Plus, all the asari dancers working the poles served as the perfect distraction to draw unwanted attention away from herself. Jack was pleased with the setting. She wanted to be left the hell alone.
Jack wove through the throngs of clubbers thrashing and twisting on the dance floor to the thump thump of the music; she bet most of them were high on something. Nobody sober could dance like those morons. She scanned the dark corners of the room for a quiet place and found a door leading down to the lower level.
Having been stuck on the station for a month, Jack had rarely visited this particular club where the Queen of Omega held court. Normally Jack had no problem picking a fight, but today she kinda just wanted to empty her head and chill. Afterlife was the perfect place for that because nobody was dumb enough to make trouble inside the Queen's own castle.
Jack headed downstairs. She had never been to this level before. The music was just as loud, but there was notably fewer people around. This suited her just fine.
She made eye contact with the batarian bartender and gestured for a shot of hard liquor. The guy wordlessly poured her a glass of something blue and left her alone.
A gloved hand grabbed her wrist before she could reach her glass.
"Let. Go." Jack growled. A visible layer of biotics flared to life, shrouding her body with pent up energy. She could see a faint haze of red beginning to crowd over the edge of her vision. It would be a bad idea to flip her shit inside the Queen's domain, but she would make the fucker who had dared to touch her a smear on the ground if he didn't remove his hand in two seconds.
"It's poisoned."
Jack's eyebrows shot up in surprise. She looked up at the owner of the offending hand still holding onto her wrist and found a feminine figure covered head to toe in a gunmetal grey hardsuit that resembled a great deal like a set of antique plate armor forged in the Middle Age. As if this getup wasn't flashy enough by its design, the suit featured a blood red dragon painted across the left side of the shoulder and chest plate.
Fucking ridiculous! Is that a sword on her back? Is this clown for fucking real?!
"Who the hell are you?"
The stranger shrugged. "Nobody important."
Jack pulled her lips back in a snarl. "Let go or lose that hand."
The stranger wisely loosen her grip, but she managed to reach for Jack's glass before she could stop her. With a quick flip of her wrist, the armored drink-snatcher summoned her biotics and pulled the batarian bartender towards her.
"What the hell you playing at?! Aria will skin you alive for harming her people in her own house!" The bartender shouted as he struggled to free himself from the stranger's grasp.
The crowd fell into a hushed silence. The dancers had stopped dancing, even though the music continued on with the thump thump ceaselessly.
Everyone was watching.
Shit.
The stranger lifted the glass of blue liquor. "Drink your own poison, you varren shit." She spoke in a clipping tone, and forced the drink down the batarian's throat.
Jack watched with her mouth hanging open. The batarian gagged on the drink, and started to vomit blood. The stranger released the convulsing batarian and let him fall to the floor in a trembling heap. He became completely still in just a few heartbeats.
Shiiit!
The dancers resumed dancing. The crowd went back to their previous activities. Omega's own brand of justice was served. There was nothing more to see.
"Fuck. Fair is fair. I owe you one. What do you want from me?" Jack asked sullenly.
The stranger shook her head. "You came here for a drink. Let's get you that drink first. We can talk business afterward. Agreed?"
x-x-x
The woman had a talking tin dog as a pet.
Jack followed the stranger out of Afterlife. They slowly picked their way through the Gozu district and arrived at a small apartment next door to a salarian-run medical clinic.
"Welcome back, Warden." The tin dog greeted in an overly polite male voice in typical VI fashion.
"You have a pet mech? What are you, like, ten or something?" Jack wrinkled her nose in disgust. "And what did it call you? Warden? Seriously? I ain't calling you that. The fuck is your name again?"
The armored stranger shrugged nonchalantly. "You can call me whatever you want."
Jack looked around the sparsely furnished room and crossed her arms. "Alright, I'll play. What do other people call you, besides 'Warden'?"
The stranger tilted her head. She looked to be deep in thought; it was impossible to tell when her head was completely covered under the metal bucket. "Good questions. I haven't decided yet. How about 'Grey'? Colour of my hardsuit. Yeah, it'll work. You can call me Grey." She pointed at the FENRIS mech and said, "this is Vigil."
Jack gave the stranger, Grey, an incredulous look. "You named your pet mech but you didn't have one for yourself? Fine. Whatever. Grey it is. I'm Jack. You said you wanted to talk business. Now talk."
Grey casually leaned back against the wall. "I'm hiring freelancers for a few jobs. Since it's my intel, my targets, everything we find on the jobs is mine. I'm only paying you a set retention fee. I'm not swimming in credit, but I can guarantee you decent fights. Food and board are covered. So are transportation and hardware. One other requirement is that you must follow orders on the field. If you ever want to walk, let me know. I won't stop you."
Jack scowled at the armored freak with an obviously made up name. "You're paying me peanuts and you're still expecting me to agree to this shit? You think I'm stupid."
"No, I don't think you're stupid, and I'm not stiffing you because I could. I just think you're bored. I need the resources, and you need the excitement. Take my offer, and we both get what we want."
The woman has got a point. Jack thought to herself, amazed and a little alarmed that she was actually starting to consider this one-sided offer. "What's the catch? There's always a catch."
"The jobs I mentioned are all hard targets. If you're not tough enough, you're gonna die. That's the catch."
"That's not a catch." Jack scoffed, grinning at her new employer with a bloodthirsty glint in her eyes. "That's a bonus. They say challenge is its own reward, right?"
"Right." Grey agreed.
"So when do we start?"
"I'm still waiting on more intel for some of the bigger jobs I have planned. Right now I'm kinda stuck in the 'hurry up and wait' stage. But I do have a list of smaller jobs. Warm-ups, if you are interested. If not, my people can handle them without me."
"You have people?" Jack asked, curious as to what kind of losers associated themselves with this weirdo.
"Kasumi, come out and say hi." Grey said to an empty corner of the room.
At her order, a slender woman clad in a hooded black bodysuit deactivated her cloaking device, and waved chipperly at her. "Hey there. It's nice to see you."
Jack jumped. "You were here the whole time?"
"Yup." Kasumi added helpfully, "I can be very quiet. I'm a thief, not to be confused with a stalker."
Grey snorted.
Kasumi bristled. "Hey! That was one time! And it was an accident."
"Right."
Jack grumbled, "figures, you're both freaks."
"Look who's talking." Grey shook her head. "So what do you say? Are you in?" She stuck out her hand.
After a brief moment of consideration, Jack shook it. "Yeah, I'm in. Now find me something interesting to kill. I'm bored."
x-x-x
Jack regretted her poor choice of words. She had asked for something interesting to kill, and boy had the new Boss Lady delivered.
The three of them hitched a ride off-world on a salvage vessel and landed on a backwater planet out in the Minos Wasteland. The shuttle dropped them off near the entrance of a run down mine before taking off without a fuss.
"How did you get the ride?" Jack asked, a little suspicious to the almost military style operation they were running.
Kasumi answered for Grey. "She's friends with their boss."
"Alright. What's the target?"
Kasumi looked at Grey.
"Dead things." The armored freak said.
Jack grinned and followed Grey into the mine. The smile was instantly wiped off her face when she saw her opponent. She instinctively lashed out with a surge of biotic shockwave as a mutilated zombie sprinted towards her when they set foot inside the mine. Her biotics ripped into the monster and shredded it to several meaty chunks of half-rotten body parts. "What the fuck is that thing?!" Jack screamed at Grey, pushing her back a step with a furious shove.
"Calm your tits, Jack. Like I said, dead things." Grey replied mildly, seemingly not the least surprised or upset at all.
"You knew about it all along! You set me up!" Jack accused.
Grey shook her head. "No, I didn't. Scans showed alien tech. I was hoping to find Prothean artifacts down this mine. Looks like we've found something completely different. Better make sure. Move out."
Jack refused to obey this ridiculous order. "What? No! This shit ain't natural."
Grey straightened up, holstered her pistol, and crossed her arms. Even with her full helmet on, Jack could tell the woman was pissed. "I gave you an order. You've promised to obey before we started. You don't want to follow through, fine. Stand outside and sit on your thumbs. We can do this without you. Once we're done here, I'll drop you back on Omega. Amateur. Should've gone with the professionals."
The woman's derisive comment made her see red. "You take that back! I ain't no amateur! Just you watch. I can handle this, bitch!"
"Sure. You say that now, but you'll be running scared when the action starts. Scared people make stupid mistakes, Jack. Go wait outside if you don't want to follow orders."
Jack threw up her hands. "Fine! God, you're a bitch. Alright, I'll do whatever you say. I give you my word. Happy now?"
"Ok then." Grey drew her pistol. "Husks are weak against biotics. Kasumi, stay back. I'll take point. Jack, watch my flank."
"Copy that." Kasumi answered.
Jack just growled and glared at nothing in particular.
They carefully advanced into the mine. The entire place was filled to the brim with those disgusting, fast zombies. They smelled bad and they made wet gurgling sounds that made her skin crawl. Oh, and the red ones blew up. The place was like the set of a low budget horror flick. There were ropes of entrails and chunks of rancid meat everywhere.
Those glowing dead eyes. Fuck. They were like demon spawn.
And the Boss Lady was one tough biotic bitch. Jack was not easily impressed, but this woman was something else. No wonder she got to call the shots. Half-way down the mine, Grey holstered her pistol and drew the sword from her back. Jack thought the prop was only for show, to complete the medieval armor getup to make her seem more badass. But no. Boss Lady channeled biotics through the blade and cut down those husks like they were made of marshmallow. It was difficult to suppress the rising sense of grudging admiration when the woman was such an artist with violence.
This woman was like another her. A tough biotic bitch and a freak.
… And she had called her an amateur.
Jack suddenly felt the very burning need to prove the other woman wrong.
As they went in further, the size of the horde coming at them steadily grew larger. Whatever cursed artifact that turned people into the walking dead had to be located at the very bowel of this godforsaken place. Deep in the mine, the winding tunnel widened into a large chamber where a strange alien structure stood. A mesmerizing sphere of blue light sat at the top of the structure, like a glowing ball being cradled in gentle fingers…
And the entire place was infested with husks. They shrieked and moaned while running up the ramp to tear at them with their dead hands. Jack alternated between blasting them with shotgun and flinging them around with her biotics, whichever was available first.
"Cover fire! I'll clear a path!" Grey barked out an order.
Jack crouched behind a short stone wall and yanked the few husks at Grey's flank off their feet.
Boss Lady's body became a streak of blue. Grey charged down the ramp, bypassing the crowd of husks, and ended up right inside the chamber where the artifact resided. "I'm blowing this up!" She shouted.
Jack didn't know what the woman was doing - she guessed Grey had found a few mining caps - and then the whole place just went KABOOM!
Her ears were ringing. She didn't even notice she was knocked flat on her ass by the explosion, until Boss Lady hauled her up by her elbow.
"On the double!"
Jack ran for her life. Her lungs hurt, her entire body felt numb, and her heart was hammering in her chest like it was gonna burst.
She couldn't remember the last time she felt this alive.
They cleared out of the mine with seconds on the clock before the whole thing caved in.
Jack felt a pat on her back.
"Well done, Jack."
Jack wasn't sure whether the euphoria was from the usual after-battle adrenaline rush, or if it was from the simple gesture of acknowledgement. But right now, she didn't care to find out. "Told you I could handle it."
x-x-x
Grey must have had some kind of unsightly facial disfiguration or a severe phobia that prevented her from showing her face to the public. Or maybe she had a really high bounty on her head. Combine that with the fake name and her need for credit, it could also be that she was fleeing from debtors. Really, it could be a number of reasons. Omega was good for that. People who wanted to disappear flocked to the station all the time.
After hanging around her for a solid week, Jack still had no clue what the woman looked like underneath her helmet. Hell, Jack had never seen Boss Lady take off her helmet for a bite or a drink either. She must have been saving that for when she was completely alone in her quarters.
During down time, Grey would remain fully dressed in that blood dragon armor like an unholy knight while diligently tapping away at her Omni-tool, or fiddling with her dog-mech. Rarely would Jack see her out of that hardsuit. Even when she did, she would be completely covered in an all black jumpsuit with a recon hood over her face like she wanted to melt into the shadows. It was as if she were a vampire and her skin would spontaneously combust if it touched the open air. She was like a card-carrying never-nude spacer.
Tonight was one such rare occasion. Kasumi was out, probably doing recreational thievery. Jack didn't care. So it was just the two of them at the apartment. Grey had taken off her hardsuit to do some tweaking with the onboard micro-frame. Instead of being completely absorbed with her Omni-tool, Boss Lady had turned on the audio for the public news channel while performing hardsuit maintenance. Their last raid on a geth occupied base had bagged them a lot of intel and fancy hardware, but it had also put a few dents in her armor.
"... Unconfirmed footage showing non-Alliance salvagers sifting through the Normandy's wreckage after the frigate was shot down by an unknown dreadnought. Sources suggest that the illegal salvage operation had recovered the body of the first human Spectre, Commander Shepard. The Alliance HQ had issued an official statement that the investigation for the Normandy's destruction is still on-going. Commander Shepard is, for the moment, missing-in-action until there is more evidence to suggest otherwise. Councillor Anderson also made a strongly worded statement, condemning the unsanctioned salvage as 'grave robbing'..."
Jack shook her head at the latest news announcement. What use was all that speculation? At least they were reporting something different for a change. She did not need to hear another sappy news report on the big Alliance hero's life story. "I wish they would just shut up about it already." She complained.
Grey looked up from the workbench that Jack also used as her dinner table and turned down the volume of the news channel. "Why? Not a fan of Commander Shepard?"
"Not really." Jack said with a snort. "It's not like I hate her or anything. I'm just sick of hearing her name all over the news."
Grey made a vague gesture to ask her to elaborate. So she did.
"I know she's some kind of big goddamn hero who saved the Citadel or some shit, but it has nothing to do with me. Like anyone in the Terminus system cares. Those stuck-up fancy-pants on the Citadel like to think the universe revolves around them, but the rest of us disagree. The Citadel is just another space station, well, a big ass space station. Commander Shepard is just another dead Alliance soldier. But the galaxy is a big place, and the Alliance has no power here. I don't understand what the big deal is."
Boss Lady did something Jack had not expected. She doubled over in hilarity.
"What's so funny?" Jack narrowed her eyes at the woman.
"Nothing, really. I just thought you are being very honest. It's refreshing. I'm pleased to know someone else shares my opinion. Commander Shepard is just one soldier. You stab her, she bleeds and feels pain just like any other human does. She did her job, and people called her a hero. I don't get it either."
Jack's eyes lit up. "Right? You get what I mean. And those curly haired reporters with fake boobs and fake eyelashes are all over her private life like it's the most tragic story in the world. So what if she narrowly escaped a batarian slave raid as a teenager? Tell that to the actual slaves with collars around their necks right now everywhere in the Terminus systems. Or to the ex-slaves who fought their way out from under batarian boots. I bet you they'll tell you different."
"I know. It's been how many years? I'm sure she dealt with that a long time ago. Other people had it rougher than she did. They really didn't need to dig up the sob stories." Grey agreed.
"And she really had it good. I mean, look at all the interviews with her old crewmates. She had a good-looking wife who loved her so much she wouldn't let go. She had all her men's undying loyalty and respect. For fuck's sake, those are grown ass adults crying like babies on live television. Most people would kill to get a taste of what she had."
Grey let out a slow sigh and crossed her arms. "Yeah, she really had it good."
Jack continued. "I wish they would just drop it and move on to other stuff already. What's the point of bringing it up over and over again? She's dead, obviously. Just let it go. Her friends and families sure could use some space to deal with it on their own terms without having camera drones constantly in their faces. I'm sick of it. I'm sure they feel the same way. They should just punch the reporters to get that message across."
"Punching reporters. Now that's an idea."
"But you agree, right?"
"Completely, yes."
"And those people out there digging for her corpse like some kind of sick treasure hunt are just fucked. This shit ain't right." Jack pointed at the screen of the muted news report. It was showing the same low quality footage again. "If I were Blue, I would've wrung their necks so hard, their eyes would've fallen out."
"Blue?"
"The wife." Jack explained.
"Ah." Grey nodded in understanding. "Dr. Liara T'Soni. Funny how you should mention her. I just received a job request from this woman."
Jack perked up in interest. "Oh yeah? Does she want to hire us to hunt down the graverobbers?"
Grey shook her head. "She needs bodyguards. She got intel that the salvagers are bringing Shepard's corpse to Omega to auction off to the highest bidder. Dr. T'Soni wants her bondmate back."
Jack let out a low whistle. "Damn. Sounds like this is gonna get messy. Mercs would definitely be involved, and probably Aria's people, too."
"It's more than that. The Shadow Broker and Cerberus are both very invested in getting their hands on Shepard's corpse as well. Dr. T'Soni is right to be concerned."
Jack jumped up from her seat on the couch and began pacing around the room in agitation. "Concerned? She should be fucking ballistic. Cerberus is bad news. They will fuck with Shepard's body just like how they…" Jack abruptly cut herself off. "Any way you look at it, they have no claim over Blue's wife, dead or alive."
"Agreed. And the Shadow Broker isn't any better, either. Word on the streets is that they are hunting for Shepard's corpse to sell to the Collectors."
"Serious? I thought the Collectors were just stories. Boogeymen of the Terminus systems." Jack sat back down on the couch, frowning suspiciously at the other woman while half expecting to be made fun of for saying that.
"They are not stories. Ask around. I heard Aria personally killed a bunch of them, along with the group of Blue Suns slavers trying to unload their merchandise on them. That was a while ago."
"Shit." Jack chewed on her lips. "I suppose Commander Shepard really is a big fucking deal then, if all them big bads want her corpse so much."
Grey shook her head at her. Jack could just imagine the woman rolling her eyes behind the recon hood she insisted on wearing. A sudden urge gripped her. Before she could get a hold of herself, Jack blurted out, "so what's with the mask and the full-body suit? You a germaphobe like a quarian or something?"
The woman chuckled in clear amusement. "No."
"Then why?"
Grey rubbed her chin. "Maybe I'm just ugly." She suggested in a teasing tone.
"Ugh. Whatever. Like I care." Jack sulked.
"What about you?" The infuriating woman asked, making a sweeping gesture at Jack's direction. "What's with the ink?"
Jack gave a quick glance down at the overlapping tattoos spanning across every inch of available skin on her upper body. "Some are for prisons I've been in, some are for kills, you know, good ones. Some are for things I've lost. The others, because why the fuck not?" And they hide scars.
"I see. So there's your answer."
"Answer to what?"
Grey tapped her mask covered face with a finger. "Same reason. My armor is just a little more literal than yours."
Jack stared at her.
Grey went back to maintaining her hardsuit. "We'll be meeting Dr. T'Soni at the dock in two days. This job is gonna be a tough one, so rest up. I want you in top form."
x-x-x
Dr. Liara T'Soni looked younger in person than in vids, Jack thought. The recently widowed asari maiden came onto the Omega's main dock, looking fully prepared for a serious firefight. She must have been briefed on who her contacts were because her eyes zero'd in on them without a moment's hesitation. The relieved expression on her youthful face when she spotted them made Jack feel a little uncomfortable. She might have agreed on acting as someone's bodyguard, but was not used to being depended on.
In her opinion, this soft asari scientist was completely in over her head. However, Jack respected Blue's resolve to do right by her dead bondmate by putting herself in harm's way. Tangling with mercs on Omega was bad enough. Throwing Cerberus and the Shadow Broker in the mix and heads would roll. On her own, Blue had no chance of getting the body. The maiden must have been aware of her odds as well. No wonder she forked out the credit for hired muscles.
"Dr. T'Soni." Grey greeted the asari with a polite nod. "This is Jack. You can call me Grey. We will serve as your bodyguards on Omega."
Blue didn't say anything back right away. She just silently returned the nod, looking anxious and on edge. "I need to go to a club called 'Afterlife' to meet with a Cerberus agent. They told me they can assist me on the recovery of the… of the body."
Jack tensed up immediately upon hearing the hated name. Before she had the chance to blow her top, Boss Lady gestured for her to stand down.
"Of course. We can find out more when we meet with the agent." Grey replied smoothly. "Jack here is not the biggest Cerberus fan. So please excuse her."
"On that, we can both agree. If not for this... I need to… I just want this to be over so I can have my bondmate back."
Grey gently placed a gloved hand on the asari's shoulder. The touch made her jump. "You've been through a lot. Just hang in there a little longer. You'll get what you came here for."
"Sh… Sure. Thank you." T'Soni closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath. "I'm all right. I can do this."
"Afterlife is this way. You lead, we'll be right behind you."
The club was not far from where they were, but it did require them to go through a bustling commercial port. It seemed obvious to Jack that Blue was tagged the moment she touched down on Omega. She could feel many pairs of eyes glued to the back of her heads.
"I got four. You?" Grey asked.
Jack did a quick survey around the area. "Three. They are Blue Suns."
"One more on the balcony in the building on your left. Sniper." Grey said without turning her head. "We're almost there. They won't be able to make a move inside Aria's house. The kill zone is the open space right in front of the club. Dr. T'Soni, prepare to tumble. Jack, get the sniper."
Jack cracked her knuckles. "Gladly."
The three of them sprang into action the moment a flashbang grenade rolled down the steps in front of the club. Jack whipped towards her left and used her biotics to fling the sniper dressed in Blue Suns colours off the balcony. Behind her, the flashbang went off with a high pitched screech. She turned around, picked out another Blue Suns merc from the disoriented crowd, and launched the guy off the ground with a shockwave.
"Get her in there!" Firing off two rapid shots of biotic blasts, Boss Lady ordered Jack to help Blue clear the steps to find shelter inside Afterlife. The Suns wouldn't dare come crashing in with their guns ablazing. Aria would personally flay them alive if they tried. The mercs knew they were trying to get inside the club, so they threw themselves in front of the doors and began raining down bullets at them.
"Outta my way!" Biotics rolled off of Jack's body in visible waves. She let out a shout of exertion and tossed the mercs blocking her like rag dolls with an angry wave of her arms. T'Soni dashed through the doors and took cover from a hail of bullets fired at her direction; the Suns' reinforcements had come. Jack took cover behind a row of upturn seats right next to Blue. Technically, they were within the Queen's court so no mercs could get them without incurring her majesty's wrath. In reality, a stray bullet could kill just as well as a carefully aimed one. "Hurry up!" She yelled at Grey, who was slowly backing into the club while firing at the mercs to keep them away.
The shooting stopped soon after Grey made it inside the club.
"They're a lot more aggressive than I had anticipated." T'Soni commented with a perturbed expression on her face. "They initiated a live fire fight with lethal forces in the middle of the street. There were so many innocent bystanders around. They could've kill someone in their attempt to get to me."
Jack scoffed at Blue's blatant naivety. "Welcome to Omega."
"I think your official welcome party just arrived." Grey commented coolly.
Jack turned around and saw a batarian and a turian standing in the middle of the club's deserted hallway entrance. She knew who they were. Anyone who had been to the club knew who they were. "Dr. T'Soni. Please come with us. Aria wants to see you." The batarian, Anto, Jack thought that was his name if she remembered it correctly, said to the maiden in a way that demanded no objection.
Blue straightened up and brushed away some invisible dust on her form-fitting white and blue hardsuit that looked to be custom made for asari commandos. Her movement was graceful and fluid, hinting at experience with combat training. Only just now Jack realized the young asari chick might be more than a simple nerdy scientist than her title suggested. "Very well. Lead the way."
Inside the main floor of Afterlife, clubbers automatically fell quiet and made way for the group as they passed. They might have been drunk or high or both, but they were not stupid.
Aria T'Loak, the Pirate Queen, lounged on her throne in such a boneless yet predatory way, only a extremely deadly feline could compare. This woman was an apex predator; she reveled and flaunted her dominance with every fiber of her being. Jack was fully aware that no matter how much Cerberus had fucked with her to make herself the strongest human biotic in the universe, the Queen could crush her with a casual flick of her fingers.
"Dr. T'Soni." Aria's eyes slowly roamed over the maiden's body. She looked satisfied at what she saw. "What a fresh, sweet thing. How old are you? A hundred, a hundred and ten?"
"One hundred and seven." Blue answered.
"One hundred and seven." Aria repeated, smirking playfully at the maiden. "Half-way through your maidenhood. Not bad for someone so…" Her eyes flittered to Jack and Grey for a split second. "... young and innocent. You have the good sense to ask for help when you need it."
T'Soni squared her shoulders. "You know why I am here."
"I know everything worth knowing on this station. I am Omega." Aria stated plainly.
"Then you understand why I must not fail in my mission." A spasm of pain flashed across Blue's face. "I need my bondmate back."
"Here is what I don't understand, Dr. T'Soni." Aria leaned forward from the lounging position and rested her elbows on her knees. "Forgive the bluntness, but Commander Shepard is dead as dead can be. I can sympathize with your desire to retrieve her body. Your need for closure is understandable. But why the desperation? You don't have to be here in person if you're not above hiring freelancers for the job. Enlighten me."
T'Soni took a deep breath. "I paid the ransom to the salvagers and obtained the coordinates where they hid my bondmate's body. Immediately after the transaction, I was contacted by both the Shadow Broker and Cerberus. The Broker threatened me. They said if I didn't surrender my bondmate over to them, they would take her from me by force. Cerberus promised to help me retrieve Shepard and protect me from the Broker's agents. I do not trust either of them. This is a task I need to attend to in person, not one to delegate to proxies."
"Hmm… You paid the salvagers?"
T'Soni nodded. "Half up front. The biometric scan was a perfect match to her Alliance record. I made sure it was really her body."
Aria clicked her tongue in clear disapproval. "That's where you messed up. You were being watched. They knew the moment you moved so much credit out of your account. Careless."
T'Soni bit her bottom lip.
"And you're here to retrieve her body?"
T'Soni shook her head. "No. I need to meet with a Cerberus contact first."
Aria raised an eyebrow at the reply. "Why? You just told me you don't trust them."
"Cerberus is a pro-human terrorist group. I am an asari; I'd sooner be a drooling imbecile than to trust them. But they said they can give me intel on who shot down the Normandy, and why the Shadow Broker wanted Shepard's body. I can't pass up this information. I need to know who is responsible for all this." T'Soni's demure, sweet countenance contorted into a cold mask of fury in a blink of an eye. The sudden switch was jarring to say the least. "I demand vengeance - blood spilled must be repaid with blood. Anything less would be an insult."
Yikes! Looks like Blue had some steel in her after all. Damn. Jack made a mental note to avoid getting on her bad side for future reference.
"Well said." Aria smoothly rose from her seat. Frowning thoughtfully, she folded her arms across her chest. "The Blue Suns are acting on the Shadow Broker's orders, it would seem. I think I've figured this out. If my suspicions are correct, you are in a lot more trouble then you know, Dr. T'Soni." The Queen snapped her fingers and called out, "someone bring me Lawson, now."
Her turian henchman gave a curt nod and left to carry out her order. Jack had no idea what his name was.
"Have a seat while we wait. This shouldn't take long." Aria sat down on her customary spot and gestured grandiosely at the empty seats on the luxurious leather couch that took up the entire length of the balcony.
T'Soni gingerly sat down on the far side of the couch a good distance away from where Aria sat. She sat with her knees together and her hand folded daintily on top of her thighs like a well behaved schoolgirl in a lecture hall. Grey remained standing, so Jack didn't move from her spot either.
The self-satisfied smirk on Aria's face widened to a smug grin. The Queen of Omega seemed to be really enjoying the sight of Blue's obvious discomfort. "Relax before you strain something. I don't bite. Much." She leaned back into the couch and looked at their direction. "So tell me, Liara. Where did you find these two clowns?"
Jack bristled.
"We have a mutual friend on Illium. They came highly recommended." T'Soni replied simply.
"Hmm. Then I hope your friend is not prone to exaggeration. Because from I what can see," Aria looked at Jack with an arrogant smile on her lips and said, "this one is a ball of anger and resentment wrapped up in too much power and too little control. And this one," she looked at Grey and shook her head, "is ex-Alliance with enough emotional baggage to break an elcor's back. Not my first choice for something this important."
"I know what I'm doing." Jack blurted out.
"Sure you do." Aria scoffed dismissively at her. "But I'm not wrong, am I?"
"No." Grey answered instead.
Aria grinned. Jack just stood there and fumed silently.
T'Soni glanced at Grey with some puzzlement. "How did you know she is ex-Alliance?" She asked the Queen.
"I have eyes." Aria tilted her chin up haughtily. "Her posture, her gait, the way she carries herself practically scream military. The fact she is here means she's ex-Alliance. Her biotics is strong - I can feel it even though she tries to lock herself in a suit, as if it can insulate her from the outside world. She is an L2 then. Humans have a strange prejudice against their own biotics. As an L2 ex-Alliance, she is rejected twice over by her own people. I doubt anyone can come away without any emotional trauma." She peered at the subject of her analysis triumphantly. "How am I doing?"
Grey stood stock still. "Very impressive."
The Pirate Queen chuckled. "Besides, my people had you pegged the moment you set foot on Omega over a month ago. You stood out, Miss Alison Gunn. A fish your size does not slip my net."
"Please don't use that name. I go by 'Grey' now." Grey asked politely.
"If you insist." Aria agreed amiably, all the while holding the same aggravating smirk on her lips.
Jack really wanted to punch that fucking smile off her face.
"Ah, Miss Lawson." Aria said to the person walking into the elevated enclosure. The newcomer was a woman dressed in a form-fitting black and white bodysuit that was designed to show off her tits and ass. Even though she looked slightly disheveled from the manhandling by Aria's people, not a hair was out of place on her full head of luscious black silk cascading off her shoulders in gentle curls. "I was wondering why the Illusive Man sent his top agent to my humble little station."
"Aria." The woman with perfect hair greeted curtly. She turned to Blue's direction and gave her a polite nod. "Dr. T'Soni."
T'Soni began. "Operative Lawson. You'd mentioned that you had intel for me."
"Yes." Lawson glanced at Aria's direction deliberately before she replied, "I think it's best if we have this conversation in private."
T'Soni crossed her arms over her chest. Her purple lips thinned to a petulant frown. "Aria is courteous enough to provide shelter and a neutral ground for me to conduct business. The least I can do is to repay her generosity with some honesty. You may speak freely in her presence."
The Queen gave Blue a look of clear approval.
Lawson sighed. "Very well. But I must preface that the information I am about to divulge was obtained through enormous efforts and tremendous sacrifices. This information is extremely valuable, and I cannot stress just how dangerous it is in the wrong hands. The Illusive Man has instructed me to pass on this intel to you as a token of goodwill - Cerberus is not your enemy."
Jack let out a derisive snort. "Yeah, right."
Lawson shot her a glare. Jack flip her the bird with both hands. The look of pure shock on her face made Jack feel all gooey inside.
T'Soni gave the Cerberus bitch a flat look. "I will make my own judgement, Operative Lawson. The intel, please."
"There is a reason why the Alliance has so far been unable to find a match to the dreadnought that shot down the Normandy - it was a Collector ship. The Collectors are a technologically advanced race that lived beyond the Omega 4 Relay. Most people consider them a myth, but trust me, they are anything but. Once in a few centuries, they would venture out of their homeworld and trade advanced technologies for people with rare genetic mutations. For whatever nefarious purposes, they collect people like they are things; that's why they are called the Collectors. We have proof the Shadow Broker is trying to sell Commander Shepard's body to those aliens."
T'Soni shot the woman a clear look of incredulity. "You are telling me that the monster of the Terminus systems shot down the Normandy because they wanted to add Shepard to their collection? You'll have to pardon me, but this is straining what I am willing to believe."
"You don't have to take my word for it, Dr. T'Soni." Lawson turned to give Aria a significant look. "Why don't you ask Aria herself? She killed a few Collectors with her own hands right here on the station. She probably knows more than I do."
Grey was right! Jack tried her best to appear uninterested. Where the hell did she learn about all this?
"Get out." Aria rose from her seat. Her voice was cold and flat, and her expression was a thunderhead.
Lawson lost the charming smile on her face. "Excuse me?"
Aria narrowed her eyes at Lawson. The menacing aura shrouding the Queen was enough to force the Cerberus cheerleader to take an involuntary step back. "I said, get off my station. I do not tolerate vermines scurrying about in my domain. You have overplayed your hand, Cerberus. If you think you can get away with spying on me in my own house, then you are sadly mistaken. Grizz, get her out of my sight. I've heard enough."
In her desperation, Lawson decided to appeal to Blue before Aria's men could physically eject her from the club. "Please, hear me out! Dr. T'Soni, we can bring her back! That's why we contacted you. The Illusive Man is willing to commit an astronomical amount of resources to bring Commander Shepard back to life!"
Aria put a hand up to signal her men to stand back and wait. T'Soni just sat there, looking completely stunned.
Lawson seized the chance to resume campaigning for her case. "A mysterious alien race with advanced technology and vile use for organics; ring any bell? The Collectors are working for the Reapers! The Council can whitewash the truth, but you of all people should know who the real enemies are. Commander Shepard defeated Sovereign, a Reaper. They targeted her specifically because they perceived her as a threat. Think about that. We need Shepard to win the war against the Reapers. This is bigger than Cerberus. This is bigger than humanity. The survival of all civilization is at stake. Please. Shepard is dead. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain."
All eyes were on the Commander's young widow. Impossible as it might sound, Lawson had a good point. Hell, even Jack agreed. Case in point, just look at herself. They wanted to create strong human biotics, they got Jack. The process might have been messy and painful, but they sure got results.
"I…" T'Soni began. "I need to… I can't. I can't give you an answer right away."
"The Shadow Broker is already on your trail. You don't have the luxury of time. If you don't transfer her to Cerberus soon, I can't guarantee how long we can elude the Broker's agents. Can you afford risking the Reapers getting their claws on Shepard's body? You've seen what they did to Saren."
A visible shudder ran down Blue's body. The young maiden looked genuinely terrified by the prospect. Out of morbid curiosity, Jack had to wonder what happened to this Saren person.
"It's best to let the dead rest." Aria spoke solemnly. There was a fleeting look of sadness and sympathy in her eyes, but it was gone as soon as Jack notice it. The Queen put a finger under Blue's chin and tilted her head up to look her in the eyes. "She was your bondmate. It's your choice. Choose wisely." She turned around and sat back down on her throne. "Escort our guests to the dock. You have my permission to kill anyone who interferes with Dr. T'Soni's business."
The Queen had thus spoken. When the group left Afterlife through the front doors, no resistance was found.
x-x-x
The four of them boarded a Kodiak drop shuttle Aria had graciously allowed T'Soni to use. The young widow went to the shuttle's control panel and plotted a course to a specific set of coordinates into the autopilot system.
T'Soni was in no mood to talk. During the entire trip, she just sat quietly in her seat with her eyes fixed somewhere on the floor, lost in her own grief. Lawson was smart enough to keep her teeth together. Jack suspected Blue would have warped the Cerberus bitch through the shuttle's roof if she dared to interrupt her private thoughts. That was precisely what Jack herself would have done.
It didn't take long. The autopilot brought them to one of numerous derelict fuelling stations orbiting the planet Imorkan within the Sahrabarik system. Whoever those salvagers were, they were professional enough to arrange for a dead drop without drawing attention to themselves.
The stasis pod was hidden amongst an entire warehouse of battered old crates. Without proper instructions, this pod could have stayed hidden in obscurity forever.
T'Soni approached the pod. Her entire countenance screamed of agony. It was almost painful to watch. She reached for the control panel, but she was stopped when Grey gripped her wrist.
"Don't." Jack had never heard Grey speak in such a tender voice.
T'Soni looked up at the owner of the gloved hand. Two trails of tears silently rolled down her blue cheeks. "I must."
"It will hurt you."
T'Soni shook her head. "I owe her that much."
Haltingly, Grey withdrew her hand.
T'Soni unlocked the hermetic seal of the stasis pod. The coffin hissed open. Jack barely held back a wince when she saw what was inside.
Commander Shepard's body was nothing more than meat and tubes. Bits and pieces of her shattered N7 armor were embedded throughout the mutilated corpse. All of her extremities were missing, probably burnt away or torn off from the crash. At least her head and her torso was mostly intact. Her hardsuit had done a good enough job of preserving her body, even though only fragments of it were present inside the pod. The majority of it was probably left in the crash site. The salvagers had stripped her to verify her identity; one last slap to the face to pile on top of a mountain of insults. No one, least of Commander Shepard, Hero of Elysium and Savior of the Citadel, deserved this kind of indignity.
No way anyone could be revived from that. Jack glared at Lawson, furious at the lies she spun to cheat a grieving widow out of her bondmate's body. Not even Cerberus.
T'Soni reached in, and slowly ran her fingers through tattered red hair in a lover's caress.
Feeling like she was intruding on an intensely private moment, Jack averted her eyes.
"Find peace in the embrace of the Goddess." T'Soni whispered.
"Dr. T'Soni," Lawson began.
"Shut up, bitch!" Jack got into the woman's face and shoved her back. "Show some fucking respect."
"Thank you, Jack. It's alright." T'Soni spoke without tearing her eyes away from the broken remains. She delicately lifted something shiny from within the pod - a chain - and hung it around her own neck. It was charred and slightly melted, but it was still recognizable. It was the Commander's Alliance dogtag. "Operative Lawson. You promise to take care of her?"
"I give you my word." The Cerberus agent swore solemnly. "The chance of success is small, I won't lie. But if anyone can pull this off, it would be Cerberus. Our resources are vast, and for Commander Shepard, we will spare no expense. I will dedicate my life to bring her back to life. "
T'Soni nodded. "Keep me updated."
"I will."
Jack didn't know what to say. It looked like Blue was really going to let Cerberus have her bondmate's body and gamble on the slim chance they would deliver on this impossible promise. But Aria was right. T'Soni got to make the call, even though Jack knew she was making a huge mistake.
Grey spoke up. Her clipping tone left no room for negotiation. "Contact your own people for pick up, Operative Lawson. Dr. T'Soni has had a very trying day. We're leaving."
Lawson made no move to stop them.
x-x-x
A/N: Lots of elements borrowed from DA. Again, this is not a crossover. I enjoyed the look of Blood Dragon Armor. I thought it would've looked even better with a sword. About the timing: the Normandy had been shot down for a little over two weeks, but as far as Aria knew, Alison Gunn had been on Omega for over a month. This is deliberate, not a mistake.
To the anon who left an angry review back in chapter 16 because they thought I had killed off Shepard: there is a lot I could say to you, but I'll settle with "Gotcha!" I was worried that the fake-her-death cliche wouldn't be convincing enough, but at least I fooled you.