Chapter 3 – A Warm Welcome

"So let me get this straight… the four of you were out on a double date at some fancy restaurant… are we talking French-guy at the door serious? Nevermind… when suddenly you guys were attacked by a bunch of mercenaries looking to get even with Archangel. Bullets flew, mercs died, Vega didn't get his bacon-onion pizza, and now we're headed to the seedy underbelly of the galactic community to figure out who, what, and why." Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau turned his driver seat around to face Garrus, Shepard, Ashley, and Vega, who were all armed and ready for action. "What is this? Garrus' and Shepard's honeymoon?"

"Nice!" Vega laughed. Joker accepted a high five from the burly Alliance soldier and Garrus could tell the pilot immediately regretted the interaction as he let out a hiss and shook out his hand. "Always figured their honeymoon would take place on Tuchanka or something, but Omega works too!"

"As if! When the galaxy isn't demanding our attentions, our honeymoon will be taking place on a nice beach on a planet whose I name I won't be mentioning for sake of privacy and peace of mind!" Shepard announced as she casually leaned back against the wall with her arms crossed. "Garrus and I have been planning the trip for months and I don't want anything or anyone interfering."

"So… Tarith?" Vega ventured again playfully.

Joker just shook his head. "That's a good guess, but I doubt it. Too much wildlife and not enough mercenary activity for Garrus' tastes. Plus, that toxic atmosphere wouldn't inspire that romantic mood… I'm guessing Korlus!"

Shepard rolled her eyes. "Why do you people assume Garrus and I can't get it on unless we're trapped in dire circumstances?"

"Because… you're obviously armed, so I'm not going to answer that question!" Joker sniggered at Shepard's irritated scowl, facing his seat forward again. "At any rate it's good to be flying the old girl again. It's not quite the same… but it's still good." Joker's voice trailed off as he cast a sad glance toward the co-pilot's seat to his right. Garrus followed his gaze, the faint pangs of regret troubling him as he too remembered the Normandy's AI, EDI. "She's all I've really got left in this galaxy… it's a shame she's been grounded for so long." the Alliance pilot said wistfully.

Shepard uncrossed her arms and took a step toward Joker, gently putting a hand on his shoulder. "Joker- "

"I'm good, Shepard." Joker stated, attempting to busy himself with haptic interface spread out before him. Garrus almost would've believed the pilot's attempt if not for the emotional crack in his voice as he spoke. "Let's just focus on getting you and Garrus out of trouble. Again."

"So, our would-be assassins revealed they were approached by their customer's rep on Omega. A lot of credits were paid up front and they were given a detailed profile on Garrus. His family, friends, regular contacts… they even knew what fancy restaurant he'd be at. Obviously, they weren't aware he'd have back-up. Otherwise that whole scenario could've turned out quite different." Ashley spoke up, interrupting what would have been a depressingly awkward silence. "You know I've never been to Omega. What's it like?"

Garrus couldn't decide if he found Ashley's question to be naïve or her lack of knowledge as privileged. "Dirty, dangerous, and bustling… think the Citadel without C-Sec or politicians." He answered automatically, keeping his definition concise but accurate.

Joker perked up and turned in his chair, "And mercs! Mercs as far as the eye can see! Think you'll run into Zaeed?" Joker asked comedically.

"Nope. Talked to him about a week ago, and he said something about making a hunting trip to Zorya." Shepard answered. "Didn't bother prying."

"Oh. Too bad… he might've heard something through his merc buddies." Joker stated. "Hell, he was probably offered the bounty; likely he turned it down out of respect for you two. Knowing Zaeed, he might've passed it along to some of his buddies in hopes you'll take out his competition in the business."

"Right. Your guys' taste in friends aside, I'm not a fan of this whole going in blind situation." Ashley bit her lip, a pensive expression crossing her dusky features as she continued, "But I suppose we've gone on less… Like that one-time Anderson sent us out to search the whole Artemis Tau cluster for Liara while we were hunting down Saren. Speaking of Little Miss Prothean Expert, did you manage to get a hold of her for any insights?"

Shepard let loose an obnoxious snort, "Nope! Liara's holed up at some Prothean dig site with Javik. Again. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if she proved the expression 'Married to her work.'" She rolled her eyes. "According to her publisher, despite the fact she's got a living, breathing Prothean to verify the facts, Liara's still got 'quite a bit of research to do' if she's going to put out that book on Protheans. And I'm sure Javik wanted an excuse to see what was left of his people. Or to be with Liara. Not sure which. So naturally we couldn't get a hold of either of them."

"What's the plan then? Just march in and start interrogating mercenaries in the bars? Don't suppose you've got some old vigilante buddies still kicking there?" Vega asked in a tone that made Garrus wonder if the Alliance soldier was serious. "What about that Sidonis guy?"

Ignoring the curious glance Shepard gave him, he straightened his stance and cleared his throat, "I had some contacts on Omega back during my Archangel days. I'm going to track some of them down, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Since my Archangel days Omega's had a plague, numerous gang uprisings, and then there was that Cerberus occupation…" Garrus' mandibles flared as he looked at Shepard and mused, "I still don't know how they managed to liberate Omega from Cerberus. I heard that Petrovsky guy had one hell of military operation going. I guess Aria was pissed enough about someone else sitting on her throne in Afterlife…"

Garrus was surprised when Shepard didn't even smile at the comment; rather she avoided his gaze to mess with the thermal clip in her pistol. Before he could inquire about her sudden shift in mood, she spoke up, "Maybe we should approach Aria."

He stiffened at the mention of dealing with the self-proclaimed Queen of Omega. Garrus wasn't entirely averse to the idea of dealing with devils; he understood that sometimes you had to play them at their own games to get a decent foothold on their turf. But he hated dealing with Aria t'Loak, something he'd made clear to Shepard when they were working with Cerberus to stop the Collectors. The asari was ruthless and self-serving; she'd get what she wanted regardless of who she ran roughshod over to get it. He'd only relented at the time because the galaxy was at stake and the asari was willing to part with the intel no strings attached… strings he was aware of at any rate. "I'd rather not-"

Before he could protest the idea, Shepard cut in again, "We're gonna have to. She kept a close eye on the mercs when Archangel was wreaking havoc. She'll probably know something about who's got a beef with you. Besides, she owes me a favor…"

"A favor? For what?" Garrus asked abruptly, unaware Shepard had even made contact with the asari since they'd run with Cerberus. As far as he'd known, Aria and Shepard had no debts or favors toward one another. The two of them were usually quick to repay debts before any interest built up. When Shepard had helped Aria with the merc gangs, Aria gave her intel on Mordin and permission to enter the plague zone. When Shepard dealt with assassins that were after Patriarch, Aria had given her coordinates to some world with a valuable cache on it. "We haven't seen Aria since our Cerberus days."

Shepard was about to say something when Joker cut in, his hands expertly flying over the haptic interface before him, "We're approaching the relay. Brace yourselves." He craned his neck to cast a quick, attentive glance between Shepard and Garrus. "But feel free to continue… not that Ashley and James' couple problems aren't amusing to listen to or anything, but you two have the hot tension of a good drama cooking up. We'll call it 'As the Galaxy Spins'."

Without a word, Shepard gave Garrus a tense expression that said 'We'll discuss it later…' before exiting the cockpit to head for the CIC. Garrus glowered at Joker, who held up his hands, "What? You two chose to start something with an audience present." Ignoring the contrite looks from Ashley and James, Garrus exited the cockpit after Shepard. "Good luck with the assassins!" Joker called after him as the doors to the cockpit slid shut.

"Well that jump was a bit rougher than usual." Ashley commented loudly to break the strained silence that had overcome the small group as they departed the Normandy. She rubbed the back of her neck and groaned. "I didn't want to say anything in front of Joker, but either he's lost his touch or we need to get the motion dampeners on the Normandy fixed."

"Could be the relay… those things sustained quite a bit of damage when the Crucible was set off." Garrus stated, stretching out and rolling his shoulders. "They've been doing their best to repair the damage, but…"

"Don't tell me… they just need some calibrating." Shepard joked eagerly, earning grins from both Ashley and James. But Garrus said nothing; instead he gave her an even stare that made her stomach twist into knots. Apparently, he hadn't been happy to hear she'd been in contact with Aria throughout the Reaper War and he was still waiting for her explanation, a matter she most certainly didn't want to touch with a ten-foot pole. Shepard knew he wasn't the biggest fan of Omega's CEO. "Gonna offer your services to the Council, Garrus?" she asked half-heartedly, knowing she was failing to distract the turian with humor. She let out an emphatic sigh, "Look, Garrus…"

"I forgot to ask, what'd you tell Hackett to get us the Normandy?" Ashley boorishly asked Shepard, purposely saving Shepard from what might've been the start of something: a confession, an argument, possibly even a full-blown fight. The group stepped into the dank, dingy hallway that connected the interior of Omega to the Normandy's docking bay and Ashley wrinkled her nose as she surveyed their surroundings. "I'm surprised he let you out of the Human Embassy, much less take humanity's best military asset on a personal mission."

"It's all good! They'll get me back in a few days!" Vega chimed and thumped his chest. "Hoorah!"

"I was talking about the Normandy, Vega." Ashley said in a bored tone. "I doubt they've noticed your absence."

Shepard loudly cleared her throat to return the favor to Ashley, cutting off her and Vega's banter before it escalated into another of their famous couple's arguments. She tore her gaze from Garrus and spoke glibly, trying to cover up her doubt, "Well, now that things have calmed down some since the Reaper War, Hackett was easy to convince… something, something, nice hat… something, something Spectre… something, something, galaxy's savior… I might have promised to attend some irritating military conference too." Shepard let out an exaggerated sigh. "Should've promised my first-born to the Alliance or something. Those conferences are boring!"

"And hunting down lunatics out to kill your husband is exciting?" Vega asked dubiously. "Sometimes your guys' relationship scares me, you know that?"

"Me too." Shepard heard Garrus mutter from behind her. Before she could ask him what he meant by that, the door at the end of the hallway hissed open and seven well-equipped mercenaries of various species came marching toward them. Garrus, Ashley, and Vega all instinctively drew their weapons, but Shepard raised an arm and stepped in front of them, earning looks of confusion from Ashley and Vega and one of distaste from Garrus. At the head of the welcoming party was a seasoned batarian Shepard recognized as the one batarian on Omega who didn't want her dead. "Aria still got you on crap details, Bray?" she asked facetiously.

The batarian bared his pointed teeth at her in a grin. "Should've known you'd show up, Shepard. You tend to show up just when things start to get interesting on Omega."

Shepard let out a haughty laugh and crossed her arms. "When aren't things interesting on Omega, Bray?"

Bray grunted and looked at Shepard's companions skeptically. "Aria wants to talk with you. Alone. Your companions-"

"Aren't leaving her side." Garrus said coldly, cutting into Bray's sentence. Shepard turned to look at her husband, who stared back at her, waiting for her to either contradict or concur with him. When she didn't do either, he continued, "Tell Aria she can deal with her own problems. We came here for our own reasons.

"That's a pretty bold statement, turian." Bray said patronizingly as a couple of the mercenaries behind him primed their weapons. "Not exactly a wise move though. This is Omega… what Aria says goes-"

Just as Bray finished his sentence, movement further down the hallway caught Shepard's eye. She observed a few armed individuals taking aim toward them and she quickly threw herself up against the wall as gunshots went off, the fired rounds embedding themselves in a couple of Bray's mercs, the floors, the walls, and the ceiling of the hallway. Bray and what few of his mercs who weren't hit dropped to the floor and Ashley, Vega, and Garrus followed Shepard's lead, flattening themselves up against the wall to make themselves less of a target. Shepard removed her assault rifle from its holster on her back and let loose a spray of bullets down the hallway in retaliation. She watched their assailants take cover and took the opportunity to quickly reload some thermal clips. "What the hell is going on now?" Garrus asked, taking up a position next to Shepard while keeping a noticeable distance from her.

Trying not to let that distancing bother her, Shepard gave Garrus a rueful smirk as she sarcastically answered, "Don't know. Wanna ask?" Her smirk faltered when she realized something. "A gunfight this close to Afterlife? I highly doubt Aria would let that go down. Something's up and I'm assuming it has something to do with what Aria wants to talk about…" Shepard cast a knowing glance at Bray on the floor, whose grim expression confirmed her suspicions. "So much for what Aria says…" she sighed as their assailants appeared at the doorway again. "Vega, you're with me. Ashley, Garrus, cover us." she commanded as she used her omni-tool to summon her tech assault armor. She gripped her rifle tightly as she daringly charged on ahead, her heart racing as bullets ricocheted uselessly off her shields. Shepard silently hoped her shield's energy would hold out as she ran the length of the long hallway.

The assailants hadn't anticipated her and Vega charging them and were caught off-guard when they'd closed the distance between them in mere seconds. Shepard ducked the melee attempt of one of the thugs and rammed her shoulder into his gut hard, throwing him off balance so she could aim and shoot him point blank. Some meters to her left she heard Vega give a celebratory whoop, which told her number two was likely taken care of. Confidant two were down, Shepard turned to deal with the third and fourth assailants.

Number three was already aiming to shoot her, but Shepard's reflexes were much faster; she quickly raised her own rifle and pulled the trigger to bury several rounds in his torso before he could even lock on to her. The thug dropped his rifle and fell to the ground, clutching his abdomen; Shepard hurried forward and kicked his rifle out of reach. She habitually popped her own rifle's spent heat sinks before turning to focus her weapon where she'd seen the fourth guy standing.

Unfortunately, he was no longer there and she carefully scanned the area, her eyes tracking and tracing any and all movements to try relocate her target. A single shot went off from behind her then, followed by a whistling noise and a sickening crunch that made her whole body go numb. Shepard slowly turned just as the fourth guy slumped to the floor with a hole in the head and a shocked expression on his face. "Thanks…" she breathed as Garrus jogged up, Bray, Ashley, and the rest of the merc entourage trailing behind.

"I'll always have your six, Shepard." Garrus said quietly and Shepard felt the knots in her stomach loosen up considerably as a safe, comfortable feeling spread through her. She took a moment to give him a warm smile and his cold gaze softened some. He was about to say something else when Bray walked up and interrupted him.

"We need to get to Afterlife before another altercation breaks out. Aria will tell you everything you need to know once we get there." Bray's tone was less casual and more urgent now as he anxiously scanned the unusually empty streets of Omega. The remaining mercs in his group looked perturbed as they too surveyed the area, looking as if they were expecting another fight. "I really could care less if you brought your companions, but it's crucial that you speak with Aria, Shepard."

Shepard looked at the dead assailants on the floor before returning her gaze to the nervous batarian; she was surprised by the Bray's sudden uneasiness regarding a few attackers. Things must've been serious on Omega if Aria was asking for her assistance a second time; asking a favor from the same person twice was like begging for Aria. She then glanced at Garrus, who'd closed himself off again, all prepared to play the compliant peon to her decisive commanding officer. "It's not my call, Bray. We came here to take care of some business of our own…" she said calmly, watching Garrus ease up some.

"Aria knows that." Bray said exasperatedly. He nodded toward Garrus as he said, "She knows you're all here about the hit on the Citadel. And she's willing to tell you what she knows, after you assist her…"

Shepard let out a derisive snort, cutting Bray off. "Assist her? Aria still owes me for the last time I 'assisted' her with Omega." She shook her head and crossed her arms. "It doesn't matter. Whether or not we talk with Aria isn't my call. I'm not running the show this time… Garrus is."

Bray laughed. "You're serious? The great Commander Shepard is taking orders from one of her underlings?" When Shepard didn't answer, he shrugged nonchalantly. "I doubt that arrangement will last long. But if that's how you want to play it, Shepard…" Bray turned toward Garrus. "So how about it, Archangel? You gonna make yourself another enemy here on Omega or are you going to approach Aria?"

Garrus crossed his arms and stared down the batarian. "We'll figure this out without Aria's 'help'." He said sternly, turning from Aria's people to head away from Afterlife. "Let's go."