MASS EFFECT WINTER EYES: CHAPTER 29
Still in his undercover attire, Perez casually leaned up against the wall a few meters outside the security room that housed the controls to Omega's defense systems. He pretended to be reading over a datapad and carrying on a private conversation with someone part of the Eclipse. No one in the vicinity paid him any attention or found his presence to be out of place. Avery was stationed just around the corner at a small volus diner, enjoying a light lunch. That's what she wanted to display to everyone else. In fact, she was on Perez's frequency, waiting for the order.
There were no guards stationed outside the room, but that didn't mean that inside would be unsecure. Most likely, the techs were protected by one to two of Aria's people. Perez and Avery staked out the place earlier that day to discover the staff inside were on tier shifts. One would leave for home, while another would take their place fifteen minutes later. All exchanges were timely and precise. The salarians were noted for their punctuality. A routine with a window far too perfect not to ignore the opportunity. The first switched an hour ago, but Perez didn't budge. He tried to peek inside to see what they were up against. The room was too dark and the manned workstations were deep within. He would have to go into this blind. Checking his holo watch, he noted the second shift would be switching in one minute. It was time. Tapping his ear com, he reached out to Avery. "You ready?"
"Positive."
"I'll hit the salarian coming out. Watch to make sure no one comes to his aid. Take them out if needed." Perez reached into his pocket and pulled out a long thin wire and held it between his fingers. As predetermined, a green pigmented female salarian exited the room and swiped her badge pass to close the door. Turning, she walked towards Perez's direction with the intent of heading home. That was not going to happen today. Staying calm, the Charon operative waited until she just passed before making his deadly move. Extending the wire between both hands, he looped it around to the front of her body, pressing it quickly against her slender neck, jerking her violently towards him. Alarmed, the salarian gagged and grasped at the vice, trying her best to ward off her attacker. Her voice rasped as she tried to speak, but the wire pressed tighter, cutting into her flesh. Perez jerked her body along with his towards the alley to his left to continue the assault away from prying eyes. So far, no one seemed to notice what was happening. Grunting, he gripped the wire tighter as he felt the salarian's body desperately trying to escape her fate. Seconds later, she went limp as the life force escaped her lungs and her deceased body dropped to the ground once the wire was removed. Her face had a bluish tint from the strangulation and intense bruising formed around the outside of her bloody throat. Placing the wire back in his pocket, Perez leaned down to relieve the dead worker of her badge.
Avery walked up to where he was and used her body to block any view into their location. She watched Perez loot the body while he was down there. A few cred chits, but nothing of any real value. The badge was the primary focus. "That went well."
"Salarians were never known for their brute strength." Perez stashed the body behind a few trash receptacle containers. "Easy enough."
Holding onto the badge, he walked up to the door and quickly scanned the precured item. A chime indicated that the access was granted and the door opened. Holding his pistol at the ready, Perez walked in first and noted only one turian guard stationed to the right at their location. Catching the turian off-guard, Perez gathered dark energy and used a throw maneuver to slam his victim into the wall nearby with a sickening crack.
Alarmed, the rest of the staff poked their heads up from their workstations to see the intruders. Avery lifted her pistol and took aim. Methodically moving from desk to desk, each round striking a worker squarely in the chest. Perez finished off the remaining ones that were too frozen by fear to move. Closing the door quickly behind them, Perez moved deeper inside the bloody room and made sure that no one else was lurking nearby. "It's clean."
Avery hurried over to a nearby terminal, shoving the dead worker onto the floor. Placing herself down in his chair, her fingers dashed over the keyboard to bring up the program's controls. "I have access to all the canons."
Perez pulled up his omni tool to use a nearby comm buoy's QEC to send a message to the awaiting fleet that was already through the relay in the system, but too far to be detected yet. Advancement in technology made the technique of sending messages off world quicker and more efficient. The Charon fleet was already patched into the buoy to await the signal. Smiling, Perez tapped Avery on the shoulder. "We have ten minutes. Let's move." Moving into his pocket, he took out an electronical locking device to prevent entry to the room. The code was very complex and experienced hackers could eventually crack it, but it would take time. Minutes that would enable Perez and Avery to swiftly leave the station and prevent Aria to know what was truly going on until it was too late. Leaving the device to the control panel in their wake, the pair swiftly made their way to the docks. All the while, checking their holo watches for the countdown. Perez flashed a grin over to Avery who was running along beside him. "Now this is going to be fun."
Fifteen minutes later, Moklan, a batarian bodyguard for the ruler of Omega, approached his boss on her platform. "Something is going on at the command station."
This perplexed Aria and she sat up straighter on her plushy couch. "What do you mean?"
"The door to the room was locked and prevented the worker from getting in. She said there was a strange device on the panel and right now, I have a team working on gaining access."
"Did you bother to contact the workers inside?" The asari shot. Her question dumbfounded the batarian and his facial expression made her seem to think he didn't bother to check this before coming to her.
"I didn't. The worker did. She couldn't get through. Could be a block on the device."
Standing up, Aria dismissed the dancer that was at her private booth and followed Moklan down to her personal exit from the club. She needed to handle this matter discreetly. Tapping her comm, she reached out to all her workers on the same frequency. "This is Aria T'Loak. I want access to the command station upon my arrival. No excuses."
Their small craft couldn't hold up against the Omega vessel in front of them that Bray was piloting. When Shepard and her team departed Grissom Academy, they were about twenty minutes behind and he was gaining distance as he approached the system's relay. Macha remained at the cockpit's open doorway as she watched Miranda man the controls. "Damnit…can't this thing move any faster?"
"This isn't the Normandy!" Lawson shot back in frustration.
"We won't lose him, Shepard. We know where he's going." Liara assured her friend from where she sat next to Miranda.
"I don't like what may be waiting for him or us on the other side…" Kaidan grumbled as he stood behind Macha.
"The fleet will be behind us." Garrus spoke up. "Shepard, we should wait until they catch up. We will have more of a chance to get through their defenses with more firepower. High Command is sending their best ships to aid us."
Gritting her teeth, Macha looked back over at Liara. "Reach out to Bray again."
Liara nodded her head and opened a channel. "Bray, we need you to wait. Charon may be waiting for you on the other end." Silence was his response.
"Damnit!" Macha yelled out as she moved over and slammed her fist back down on the radio controls. "Bray! Throwing your life away for Aria is completely irrational. You won't stand a chance." Still no reply. "Fuck! What's wrong with him?!" She growled in anger as she moved back to her spot.
"Commander, the relay is coming online. He has it set." Miranda announced.
"Follow him through." Macha moved away to take her seat to get strapped in. Kaidan and Garrus followed suit. She actually didn't owe Bray the help she was giving him nor the warning. After all, he tried to kill her and her team. Aria was not a friend and certainly not an ally she could trust. Charon was their big concern. Still, she was tired of the lives lost. A soft spot for her and one that the Illusive Man exploited during the Collector raids on colonies.
A few minutes later, Miranda's voice broke the silence, "Hitting the relay in thirty minutes. He already went through."
The command station on Omega was a sickening blood bath. Corpses of the dead workers were still on the ground with pools of blood all around. Their eyes open with fear frozen on their faces. Each was killed by bullets in their chest. "Defense canons are offline, but in another twenty minutes, we should have them up and running again." A salarian greeted her and Moklan at the door.
Aria lifted her eye ridge at the deceased turian guard right of where they were standing. His body contorted in an unnatural position with lumbar deformity. His spine was severed. No bullets confirmed a biotic attack or one pissed off krogan. Most likely, his cause of death was the former and not the latter. "All the workers accounted for?"
"Yes…well, we found one…outside in an alley." The salarian answered.
"Outside?" Moklan asked. "Inside job?"
"Hard to say…her badge was missing and it appears she was strangled."
"Witnesses to the intruders?" Aria pressed again as she stepped around the dead bodies to inspect the weapons' systems.
The male salarian followed her. "None to the actual attack. A few vendors stated they saw two Eclipse mercs in the vicinity right before, but they are now gone."
"Eclipse?" The name of a well known merc group on the station peaked Aria's interest.
"Power move?" Moklan looked over at his boss.
The asari remained quiet. It didn't make any sense to her why the weapons' systems were of any use to them, especially the defense canons. The Eclipse had a foothold on the station and it wasn't their MO to bring a fleet. "Maybe," She held this piece of information to herself.
An alarm chimed at a nearby workstation, catching their attention. The salarian rushed to check it out. "Oh no…no no…that can't be good!" His slender fingers manned the controls.
"What is it?" Aria called to him from where she stood observing his actions.
"Multiple large ships have entered the outside perimeter scans. They must have come through the relay." His voice was filled in a panic.
"What ships?" T'Loak pushed him to the side to see the screen herself. A faint surprised look fell on her face. "Bastards!"
"What is it, Aria?" Moklan moved so he could try to see what was going on.
"Heavy ships are coming in. Charon…" She snapped her head to the salarian. "I want those canons online right now!" Erinyes was not bluffing after all.
"Y-Yes, mam…" The salarian stuttered as he moved to where his coworker was busy working away and took his place.
"Damnit…where the hell is Bray…" Aria stormed out of the room to move back to Afterlife with the batarian in tow. "Moklan, get the troops ready. We need to prepare for a ground assault. I want Afterlife fully defended and shut off the lower sections to bring power to all the shields."
The order baffled him. "If we shut off the lower sections, then life support will be gone as well."
"Yes, I know." She didn't bother looking at him to address his concern. "Just do it."
"Fuck!" Bray yelled as the ship violently rocked for a third time after a blast struck the starboard side. Alarms and klaxons wailed within the hold as smoke began to fill the cabin. Shields were down to twenty percent and holding by a thread. He directed the ship away from the two dreadnoughts that seemed to block his direct route from the relay to Omega. The small viewport allowed him to see the red hue that generated from the station and the fire it was taking from blunt hits. Explosions rocked the bottom as Charon seemed to be directing their full power on Omega's eezo stations. Punching the throttle, he maneuvered the ship to the far left of the first dreadnought and shot around the front. "Damnit. I'm getting down there." He grinded his teeth and ignored the beeps from inbound fighters who were locking on to finish him off.
Suddenly the battered station came to life as the canons fired up at the threatening dreadnoughts, striking one directly in the center. The defense canons continued to fire upwards hitting their opponent relentlessly till finally Charon broke the attack to begin evasive maneuvers. Watching on, Bray cheered. "Take that! Don't fuck with Aria!" His celebration was cut short as a fighter's guns nailed Bray's ship in the rear sending him spiraling off course. The ship's mass effect fields worked the natural forces of space. Bray never understood the science behind space travel and just used it. Alarms seem to wail louder within the cockpit. The shields were completely depleted. One more hit and he was done for. Getting to Omega was out of the question and he would be damned to leave the station. Accepting his fate, Bray turned the ship towards his foes, ignoring the warnings of a head on collision. Seconds later, before the imminent peril could befall him, a large blast took out the opposing fighters and left his path clear. Confused, he checked the scanner to see more vessels entering the perimeter. The closest one was a krogan frigate class ship followed by three krogan dreadnoughts, two turian carriers, and three asari dreadnoughts.
"Come to save the galaxy again," A krogan's laughter came through the radio.
"What the hell is going on?" Bray asked out loud, confused by the welcoming aid. Charon seemed to have met its match.
"Krogan flexing," The krogan chuckled. "Urdnot Wrex here to save the day."
"You cleared me in. Thanks," Bray returned his focus to the docks. It would be a bumpy ride, but with Charon distracted, he had a higher survival rate.
Ten minutes later, Macha's ship entered the system and moved towards the station. It felt like she walked right into some kind of b class vid movie. Ships were firing at one another while half of Omega's canons were still operational. The station had taken massive hits and it was amazing how it still held its distinctive shape. "This is Shepard. How's the fight?" Surprisingly, the fleets arrived before they did.
"About time you showed up." Wrex answered first. "We are outdoing the turians, but that should be expected."
"You just count wrong," A turian admiral piped in.
Macha eyed the Charon ships. The dreadnoughts were still standing and were fully engaged with the other vessels. "Erinyes has to be on one of those."
"Storm it?" Alenko suggested.
"Too risky for the approach." Shepard chewed her lip as she continued to assess all her options. She wasn't about to let Erinyes get away.
"Draw her out and then I have the turian ships unleash hell on her," Garrus rose from his seat.
"And let them have all the fun?" Tali teased.
"If Erinyes wants me…and Aria. Then she will get it." Macha moved towards the cockpit once more, holding onto the walls for support should the ship get hit with an unsuspecting attack. "Miranda, open a link out. Let's see if the bitch will talk to me."
"Feisty," Miranda giggled as she complied.
Ignoring the comment, Macha waited a few seconds before speaking up. "Erinyes, I know you can hear me. I'm out of your reach now. You will no longer control me. I'm heading to Omega. Why don't you face me down there? Shepard out." Without giving the command, Lawson programmed the ship's route to Omega's docks.
"Let's just hope there's a dock left," She muttered.
"I'm going with you," Garrus stated matter-of-factly.
"Me too," Alenko took to her side. His jaw squared from the intensity of the situation.
"I can handle this," Macha shook her head as she checked her weapons.
"You went to Omega alone once to fight Cerberus. We won't allow it to happen again." Garrus argued as he rested his talons on her arms to stop her.
"Garrus is right."
"I had Aria last time." Macha countered.
"Aria won't help this time, Shepard. She has her own troubles." Alenko pressed. "You really think she's an ally?"
"Take someone, Shepard." Tali protested through her helmet. "I'll give you my drone if you need it."
"Fine. Garrus and Kaidan, you are both with me." She glanced at each of them. "Just watch your asses." Both gave a grim smile. A smile crested Macha's lips as she leaned in and gave each a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."
"Shepard!" Erinyes' voice cracked through the comm, interrupting the tender moment. "Just like you to hide."
"I'm not hiding!" Macha snapped. "I'm not a coward like you. I don't try to control my enemies."
This aroused a sinister laughter on the other end. "The way it should have been during Lazarus. Too bad Miranda's recommendation wasn't granted."
"Your father let himself be controlled by the Reapers. He got too close to the enemy. His fate was all on him." There was silence on the other end. "Yes, Erinyes. I know. I know that you are the daughter of the Illusive Man. You have the same wires crossed as he did. You are becoming obsessed."
"I will kill you myself!" Erinyes screamed through the other end.
"She severed the connection," Miranda looked back at Macha. "We are heading in. This will get bumpy so strap in."
"You really pissed her off, Commander." Garrus chuckled as she took the seat next to him.
"I think I have a way of doing that," Shepard grinned as she harnessed herself in.
Omega's streets that once led to the prominent markets and apartments were littered with dead bodies. The corpses riddled with bullet wounds. No species was left untouched. Ground troops hit the station in correlation with the space assault. The citizens were left stranded outside the club as Afterlife was placed in lock-down. A few of Aria's men were dead on the steps of the club, but there was no sign of Charon's soldiers. The freshly killed bodies led a blood trail deeper down into the station away from Afterlife. Macha felt sick as bile formed in her throat at the gruesome sight. Her stomach sunk like a rock when she realized this was not strategy. It was pure murder. Charon was going from level to level, taking out each citizen while Aria's men hunkered in their strongholds to recoup. Totally opposite than the previous assault by Oleg Petrovsky and Cerberus.
"My God…." Kaidan's words failed him as he paused in midstep to take stock of what they truly were up against.
"Charon doesn't care about humanity…this is pure revenge." Garrus knelt down beside two deceased human children at their dead mother's side. Most likely, the trio were running to their apartment to seek shelter and were gunned down in the back.
Macha joined his side and gently closed the young boy's eyes, allowing her fingertips to rest on his forehead for several seconds before she lifted them up. "The order came from Erinyes. She has to be stopped."
"It will take hours to flush out the entire station to save civilian casualty." Kaidan noted.
"Erinyes will be here any minute. We can't risk leading her down to the untouched areas yet." Garrus' mandible twitched as he logically thought about their options.
Standing up, Macha nodded her head to her turian comrade. "You're right, Garrus."
"We make the stand here?" Kaidan checked his round capacity.
"No. Kaidan, you and Garrus, follow the attack and save what lives you can. I'll deal with Erinyes."
"Commander, that's crazy!" Garrus' voice rose in fear as he heard her order.
"It's the only way, Garrus." Macha held his gaze.
"She's over there!" A trooper shouted to their location. Several of Charon's forces arrived from the direction of the docks with more in pursuit.
"Shit! Move!" Shepard dashed to take shelter behind a metal divider that was used to divert the line that would form to gain entrance to Afterlife. Luckily, it was thick enough to withstand the assail of gunfire. Kaidan and Garrus darted towards the lower apartments to rescue who was lucky enough to be still alive.
Lifting up, Macha squeezed the trigger and used cryo rounds to strike the soldiers in the front. They grunted as the impact formed ice over their amor and limbs, turning them into motionless statutes. The return of gunfire hit Shepard's shields before she had a chance to take cover. "Damnit!" She was pinned and the only escape was the closed club behind her.
Strangely the cacophony of fire was abruptly stopped. Erinyes voice called to her from where the soldiers stood. "Give up, Shepard and face your death."
Macha peeked over her refuge to see the soldiers standing at the ready with their weapons poised along with Erinyes and a young male beside her. Both wearing medium grade Kassa armor. A victorious smirk slithered over Erinyes' lips. "You will pay for what you have done, Erinyes! You are crazy!"
"Doesn't look it from here, Shepard!" The male taunted her. "You're the one hiding! Are you a coward?"
Clenching her assault rifle tighter, Macha growled in frustration. Her heart wanted her to rise to the bait and stand up to unleash her anger to them while her head cautioned her from doing so. She was extremely outnumbered and her shields were down to half capacity. "You are just like your father, Erinyes! Letting your minions do your dirty work. I bet you would tap into Reaper tech if it was still able just like him to."
"Why should I? I have won, Shepard. You are as good as dead." The woman replied calmly. "I will cease your parasitic existence, then I will take out the remainder of your crew. I will annihilate this station and burn Aria T'Loak alive in the destruction."
"Omega is mine, bitch!" Aria yelled from where she stood at the entrance of the club with a small army of her own. Her body engulfed in a purple aurora as dark energy drew to her. She unleashed a shockwave that sent several of Charon's men flying over the rails and into the chasm below. The krogan near her roared as they began the charge down the steps, firing their assault rifles in rapid succession with each step. Behind them were batarians and a couple of asari and turians. Shepard noticed that Bray took Aria's side with a nod of acceptance towards Macha's way before moving out with the rest of the men.
With the tables turned, Macha rose up and began to fire also at Charon, aiming directly at Erinyes. The rounds struck the woman's chest plate and barriers as she was caught off guard. The man of the group leaped at the krogan firing at them. He managed to bring one down, but blood rage consumed the other two and they were on him within seconds. They growled loudly as they head-butted him, knocking him hard to the ground with his gun sliding several feet away. Dazed from the concussive blow, Perez struggled to stand up and just as he did, the krogan were at him again. The first krogan twisted the man's arm in an unnatural angle, snapping the bones causing him to yell from the horrific pain. His wails were silenced as his neck was twisted, severing his spinal cord and then his lifeless body was thrown into the chasm.
"No!" Erinyes screamed as she shot at one krogan, tearing apart his armor, hitting vital organs till the burly alien groaned softly and collapsed dead. Even the species' organ redundancy couldn't withstand the strike.
Bray moved in to take her on, hoping to seize the opportunity. Erinyes spotted him and turned her rifle quickly upon him and squeezed the trigger. He was caught in the side and was thrown onto his back. Spitting in his direction, Erinyes narrowed her eyes as she approached with her weapon moving towards where he slid to finish him off. "Back off!" Aria screamed as she fired at Erinyes, causing her to dodge away from her intended target. Erinyes returned fire, but her counter was blocked by a biotic sustained barrier.
"Shepard, the fleets have taken out many of Charon's ships. You doing okay?" Tali's voice cracked with interference into Shepard's ear.
"Yeah, about to end this here," Macha replied under her breath as she looked at Erinyes. All she could see was the pure hatred and the lives lost. "Erinyes!" Macha fired to keep the woman pinned until she on her, then tossed her gun to the side, clenching her fist and nailing the woman straight in the face. Erinyes stumbled backwards, but threw aside her weapon as well. She grabbed Macha's arm to block another punch, and delivered her own uppercut, causing Shepard to bite her tongue. Blood filled her mouth. Spitting it out, Macha growled and moved to strike again, but her punch was blocked yet again and was met by a swift roundhouse kick. Before experiencing the pain from the blow, Macha felt her body spin until it impacted with the metal floor sharply. She cried out as the side of her body landed.
"I was trained by Kai Leng himself, Shepard." Erinyes looked on smugly. "You can't win in hand to hand combat."
Staggering, Macha stood back up to face her opponent. Yelling out, she struck at the woman, but was met yet again with the side of Erinyes' foot in the same exact spot. This time, her body tumbled onto the ground. "Shepard, quit pissin' around and let me just fucking shoot her." Aria watched on in frustration as she kept her gun held up. With Shepard being so close, it was hard for the asari to get a good lock-on. "I'll fucking shoot you too if I have to."
Shaking her head to regain her composure, a quick blur of blue armor caught her view behind them. Realizing that Erinyes didn't see this, Macha stood back up as she spat the blood out again from her mouth as she clenched her fists in a guard position. "There's one thing you forgot about Kai Leng."
"What's that?" Erinyes spat.
"I killed him."
Just as she spoke the words, there was the sound of gunfire and Erinyes' body lurched forward with her eyes wide as they could go in pure shock. She rasped as she stumbled to try to look back at what hit her from behind. Her mouth still gaped open. Her feet pivoted slowly as the blood drained from her face. As she turned to face her attacker, Macha noted the large wound in her back that penetrated he body armor. It was high enough to hit her heart from the back. Concussive blast with armor piercing rounds. Her shields and armor didn't stand a chance. The turn revealed Garrus Vakarian standing there with his rifle still at the ready should he need to fire again. "Scratch one," The turian confidently stated as he watched her.
Erinyes stumbled towards the turian to one final attack, but her body was thrown by a biotic toss from Aria T'Loak. The dark energy lifted Erinyes over the rail and into the abyss below to join her comrades. Her screams disappearing into the void. "I told you that she was mine." The asari flatly said to the commander.
"Garrus…" Macha looked at him as her body throbbed in pain. The turian rushed and pulled her to him, kissing her deeply.
"Gross…" Bray grumbled from where he was, still applying pressure to his wound.
"Bray, you are stupid." Aria moved to where he was to see how bad the damage was. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"That I could kick her ass." The batarian muttered.
"I swear, Bray…"
Macha smiled at Garrus after they broke apart. "I thought you were down there with Kaidan."
"Only a handful left," Kaidan answered for them as he walked back from the direction they went. "The rest of the citizens are safe."
"Miranda, what's your status up there?" Macha reached out to her friends in the ship.
"Only two Charon's ships left and they jumped the relay before we had a chance to take them down. Don't worry. We are sending the krogan after them."
Shepard chuckled. "I'm sure Wrex will know what to do."
"Shepard, I- "Aria began as she approached her.
Macha held up her hand to stop her. "Yes, I'm saving your ass again. Twice now, huh?" She crossed her arms with a grin.
Aria rolled her eyes. "Hardly. Just…just be done with this soon. You bring bad luck to my station." She turned and motioned for the remaining batarians to usher Bray inside the club with her.
"Is that a thank you?" Kaidan watched on with curiosity.
"Doubt it." Macha moved to head back to the docks to await pick up. "I need a shower."
THE END