Joker hated it when Jo agreed to meet Aria on an out-of-the-way dock on the Citadel, alone. He boiled inside each time the asari's goons called N7 Commander Spectre Shepard "Aria's indentured servant" or other things of the same meaning. He knew that Jo had already given Aria her death sentence. She'd said so to the entire crew back in the day, when they'd just returned from the Collector base. Aria's clock was ticking and even if she didn't know it, every little insult she threw Jo's way only shortened her lifespan.

All he wondered was one simple thing: was Aria really that self-absorbed and that stupid that she didn't realise any of it? Did she really take Jo's enigmatic smile for the real thing? How could she not realise that that little smile meant that Jo was dismembering her blue body in her mind? What in the world had given the bitch the idea that Commander Shepard was her friend?

Joker knew many things about his woman. One of them was that her integrity won over her practicality. Aria was offering Jo mercenary troops for the war against the Reapers, which was useful, but it wouldn't save her from Jo's final wrath. He only hoped that Aria wasn't playing Jo in the same way Jo was playing Aria. They were both merciless, ruthless bitches with wicked leadership skills and uncanny insight into people. Aria was a little bit too much like Jo for Joker's comfort. That was why he hated letting Jo go alone to meet the asari on her own territory, wearing nothing more than a dress.

That dress. Joker fumed when it arrived as soon as they docked on the Citadel last night, along with a whole crate marked ICA-N7. There were upgrades for her armour, new weapons, some software for EDI and that dress. Joker had seen it in the IC Academy catalogue when he browsed for a little present for his girl, but he'd chosen the hoodie because he knew she loved hoodies. She'd told him she didn't wear dresses in private life and he'd believed her. Except when she found the dress and finally stopped smiling at the little N7 badge on its halter, she put it on and wore it all day. This taught Joker a valuable lesson: Commander Shepard or not, she was still a girl like any other who didn't know what the hell she wanted. From now on he would just get her things he liked.

The manifesto from the crate specifically declared the dress a birthday present. Joker couldn't remember ever seeing other birthday gifts arriving for Jo from her mysterious academy, or any birthday presents at all. When he counted back, he realised that there had never been a chance to celebrate her birthday on the ship. They either hadn't met yet or she'd been dead. Hence, her thirty second birthday (or thirtieth, if someone asked her opinion) would be the first to be celebrated with the crew. Yes, he, Liara, Garrus, Doctor, Vega, Gabby and Ken were all involved in planning a party, assuming Jo didn't throw them into action because saving people always came first. The party was supposed to relocate to the cargo bay instead of Purgatory in such a case, which was not at all unlikely. Still, Joker couldn't help but feel a tiny pinch of jealousy, knowing that someone out there remembered and cared about her birthday, too. The whole galaxy knew her and she got fan mail by gigabytes, of course, and Joker had never been jealous about that. Maybe it was just the fact that someone who wasn't him knew her size and shape well enough to send her a sexy, clinging dress that left nothing to imagination and also knew her well enough to know she'd actually wear it.

She didn't wear it to dazzle people, though. She didn't shake her ass like Allers did, didn't show off her cleavage or strike poses, like Miranda used to, wasn't even deadly graceful about it like the day she and Kasumi dressed up for Hock's party. She just wore a dress when she met Aria.

Well, she obviously didn't just wear a dress. He'd seen her strap two pistols to interesting places in the morning and had no doubt she had more weapons than even he knew about hidden on her. He still hated it when Aria showed up and stole Jo away in a car. If the asari thought there were too many eyes and ears in the Purgatory, she was in for a surprise, believing Commander Shepard unmonitored by her entire crew. Not after what happened with Dr Kenson. In fact, every single crew member was on board despite technically having some shore leave, and most of them were in the CIC, watching the monitors or tracing her signal wherever Aria was taking her. Javik was a bit cynical and sceptical, but curious about the well-oiled machinery that worked behind Commander Shepard. The rest of them were simply fiercely protective.

While Jo was still pumping Aria for intel about Cerberus troops occupying Omega and on her plans to retake it, EDI was already running a detailed search about Oleg Petrovsky. Both Garrus and Vega growled right behind Joker when Aria said she wanted Jo to go alone and leave the Normandy behind.

"Can I at least go back and change clothes?" Jo smirked at the other woman.

"I thought even your little finger was a deadly weapon," Aria smirked right back.

"I'm wearing a dress, Aria," Jo rolled her eyes and Joker wondered if she'd worn it just for that, to give herself a chance to get back to the ship and make plans with the crew before Aria took her somewhere against her will. He'd never know, he thought. Jo played people all the time. In any case, Aria agreed and just a few minutes later Jo stood in the CIC, addressing everyone:

"Aria T'Loak will die on this mission, after I've used her to defeat Cerberus. I will go with her on her ship by myself, but I'm counting on each of you to not leave me alone at any time. Cloak the ship and follow her fleet when she signals it to enter the system, and stay cloaked until it's over. I mean it, people, and especially you, Joker: stay out of any kind of fighting. That's not why you're there. You're there for me and only me, no matter what happens." Joker nodded reluctantly, but he nodded anyway. Mercs or Cerberus - he didn't really care who lost more troops. All he cared about was Jo and he'd do anything to keep her safe.

"Now to the elephant in the room," Jo continued. "After I kill Aria, someone will have to take over Omega and maybe even get us the resources for the war. Liara, get ready."

Liara's head snapped up to look at Jo directly.

"Me? Why me? I don't know how to 'rule the mercenaries'," she sounded taken aback.

"You're the creepiest mother I know when you threaten to flay someone with your mind. They'll obey you. Besides, as the Shadow Broker, you can do more if you have room and recourses the Normandy facilities can't offer you. And I can trust you, yes?"

The question was loaded. Liara wasn't as self-absorbed as Aria. She knew that her relationship with Jo was complicated, but she was still as fiercely loyal to Jo and to the cause as everyone else in the room.

"Yes, you can trust me. I'll never disappoint you," Liara said and Joker could hear the word she didn't add: again.

Before taking the shuttle, Jo came to him in the cockpit and insisted that he stayed away from the battle no matter what happened and how bad it looked, and followed the plan she devised to the letter. Then she surprised the hell out of him by kissing him passionately. Right in the middle of their working shift, with EDI's body sitting in the next chair, with about twenty people waiting in the CIC, wearing her battle armour and all weapons.

His eyes closed automatically because her lips on his always clouded his brain, but a part of him remembered clearly the day the two of them told the crew about their relationship. She'd made a deal with everyone who worked under her that day: remain strictly professional during their work shifts, as long as she could be intimate with him in their off hours. Up until right now she'd never broken that rule, save some flirtatious remarks on the coms during battle when she needed him to keep her calm. She was still kissing him when a fear rose in him: was this mission more than she said it was? Was this a goodbye kiss?

The fear disappeared when Jo ended the kiss and gave him a winning smile. Then she closed her eyes and licked her lips, as if savouring his taste on them.

"Fuck," Joker got half-hard just watching.

"Couldn't help myself, sorry," Jo said, putting her battle gloves on. Her cheeks were red and her chest heaved with sexual tension, and his own body was definitely picking up on that.

"Uh... um. No, don't apologise," he tried for faked nonchalance he wasn't feeling. "Who could blame you, eh? So, the prospect of finally killing Aria gets you so hot?"

"Maybe it's you watching me do it that gets me so hot. Or maybe things change. And people change," she waggled one eyebrow suggestively. Then she was gone and the game was on, while Joker was left wondering what her last statement meant.

The whole ship was on high alert, listening ship-wide to the feed coming directly from Jo's earpiece. Jo and Joker had both learned their lesson with Dr Kenson and weren't taking any unnecessary chances. She was a fucking good actress, too. Not once did she betray her real feelings for Aria in any way, always giving her just enough needles to remind her she was her own person, but stayed agreeable enough to let Aria's plans unfold. Oddly, nobody on her end noticed that she'd left her earpiece on and that it was transmitting to the Normandy all the time.

The firing started and Aria's fleet got the signal to come through the relay. Joker and the techies cloaked the ship and quietly attached themselves to the tail of the fleet, following them through close enough to go unnoticed among two dozen other jumping ships. Then, while the fleet turned to engage with Cerberus forces, Joker steered behind the relay and powered down. The ship grew dark and quiet, all ears listening eagerly to Jo's transmission. If there had ever been any other situation that made clearer that the Normandy people lived and breathed their Commander, Joker couldn't remember it.

He snorted when the pompous bastard Petrovsky appeared on Aria's transmitter and started psycho-analysing Jo. 'Perhaps deep down you fear success'? Seriously? Who talked like that anymore?

Cerberus people, that's who. The Illusive Asshole sounded just like that.

Everyone sighed in relief when both Jo and Aria survived the crash and hit the ground running. These two women were pretty well-matched, and equally hard to kill.

"Okay," Jo sounded like she was grinning when Aria said she would follow her lead during the ground assault. Her helmet camera finally came online along with the rest of the sensors hidden in her armour. Now Joker could run tactical for her as usual and talk into her ear without Aria or anyone else noticing. She slammed a new clip into her rifle and proudly showed it to Aria: "Watch and learn, rookie."

It was incendiary rounds. Her most favourite way of killing. She always had a whole wagon of them about her person.

The next couple of hours took the Normandy crew to the limits of their patience and self-control. Joker was better off than most because he was busy running the analysis of the battlefield, giving her tactical, hacking his way into Omega systems and giving her the best support he was capable of. He had had no training in this in the flight academy, but the day he started working for Johanna Shepard, he had to take over because she never appointed anyone else for it. He had to learn fast and by now they were a perfect team, especially because he had vested interest in keeping her safe. The rest of the people standing behind his chair had the decency to stay quiet, but they were still very nervous.

When a new ally joined them, things started getting really interesting. Both Nyreen and the Talons caught Jo's interest, Joker could tell, only to find out that Nyreen was the leader of the Talons. That was when interests clashed. Aria wanted her station back at any cost, Nyreen wanted to protect the civilian population at any cost. Soon enough the turian and the asari were arguing about who would get what they wanted first and Jo put an end to the squabble by laying down the rule:

"Truth is, none of us can do this alone. Our only chance is to join forces."

Knowing what the Normandy crew knew - that Aria was not going to survive this mission - everyone in the CIC couldn't help a small shudder. Jo's voice carried real conviction, the same kind she displayed when she brokered peace between races in the name of galactic cooperation. They all knew she was lying through her teeth right now and for the majority of them this was the first time seeing how fucking good she was at deception and betrayal if it suited her goals. Joker had always known, Garrus had learned long ago, but many people were still flabbergasted.

Joker smiled secretly. Jo was such a great liar that nobody would ever know anything was off from interacting with her directly. Yes, he loved her fair and noble side, but what he loved much more than that was the fact that this woman couldn't be put in one simple category. She was many different things at once, contradicting and almost mutually exclusive things. For many people it was confusing. For him there was nothing hotter in the world.

Aria's next move was so in character that Joker and the whole crew could only roll their eyes. He was hacked into the station's com system and her little speech showed on his screens as well. Aria was so deeply engrossed in her own drama and self-expression that she was truly enjoying the theatrics and pathos of her actions. She revelled in them, soaked up the attention, took energy from the shouts of approval when she urged the 'lawless of the galaxy' to take Omega back together with her.

"And I bet she's still going to be really surprised when she gets a bullet between her eyes for that," Garrus shook his head at her gimmicks.

Interestingly, both Aria and Nyreen told Jo that they were playing each other. Joker felt a hot shiver run up and down his spine as he watched, because neither of the women realised that Jo was playing them both, all the while putting on a noble face of someone who'd never betray someone else. That was hot as hell and he was not ashamed of half a boner he was already sporting.

"We're going to war together," Jo was saying. "I'll make sure we can rely on each other."

"Fuck, she's good," Vega sounded as turned on as Joker was. Who could blame him?

Before they knew it, the three women were teamed up and fighting their way across Omega.

"Spirits," Garrus groaned. "Now there's three of them."

Joker grinned. He knew what Garrus meant. All three women were well-matched, which was not something that happened often in Shepard's life anymore. Also, Jo usually took males, or at least one male groundside with her, rarely making her team all-female. Three women from three different species fighting like demons - that was more than a force of nature, it was blood-chilling.

The squabbling resumed when an Adjutant attacked. Nyreen froze for a moment and Aria didn't miss a chance to pick on her former lover for showing fear.

"I swear to god, they'll both be lucky if I don't rip their tongues out by the end of this corridor," Jo whispered into her mic, making the Normandy crew chuckle. She sighed and tried a different tactic to stop her companions' talk. She sent Aria ahead and hung back with Nyreen.

"Nyreen, are the Adjutants going to be a problem?" She asked the turian veteran quietly.

"I know fighting Reapers is old hat to you, Commander, but these..." She averted her eyes. "What they do to people? The image drives me. It haunts me. I've seen my friends turn into monsters and I had to kill them."

Jo stopped them and got really close to Nyreen's face in order to speak very quietly and still be heard:

"Look, I'm going to tell you something I'm not supposed to share with anyone because it's the secret of my trade, but I'll tell you because believe it or not, I do care about the people of Omega and about you. When you go to war, there are a few things you need to live and breathe, making them your core belief. They'll give you the strength to deal with anything. First one is called the serenity prayer."

"Oh?" Nyreen seemed taken aback but intrigued.

"Goes like this. Spirits, grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference."

There was deep silence for a long moment after that, when Nyreen thought about Jo's words.

"I can't do anything anymore when the people have already been turned, so the only thing I can do is kill them and relieve them of this terrible fate," Nyreen nodded eventually. "But that doesn't mean I should accept what the Adjutants do in the first place, I need courage to stop them." She paused and then almost sobbed: "And I need wisdom to know the difference."

"You are as smart as I thought you'd be. Turian military lost a great asset with you," Jo nodded. "Second thing you need to know is: No matter how deep the shit is you're in, the only way out of it is through it. There is always the other end of the tunnel and when you get there, it'll be over. Swimming through that shit will make you stronger, but no matter how stinky or sticky it is, all shit can be washed off. All you need to do is wash it off yourself. You need to be able to fix yourself to move on. How do you get this strength? Me, I decided a long time ago that nothing's going to bring me down unless I choose to go down. Worked so far. You, for now, can find the strength in what you believe in most. The people of Omega need you to protect them. Imagine what will happen to them if you lose it, if you freeze in fear, if you die? Your honourable heart won't let you be in peace if you don't know for sure that you did absolutely everything you could to save them. You can do it. All you have to do is decide that nothing's going to stop you from saving those who can still be saved. You're strong, passionate, skilled and most importantly: you care. You could be a great leader on this station, bring order where Aria ruled wit pure iron will and fist. You could change Omega into something it always had the potential to be but never got the chance: A turning point in people's lives instead of the last stop."

Joker shuddered from the power of her words, and everyone who heard her had the same reaction. Jo spent weeks, months even, laying her wisdom on her best friends, but she didn't have that kind of time with Nyreen. This was a crash course in Shepard-ness.

"There is only one problem," she leaned back a little to appraise the turian woman.

"What problem?" Nyreen sounded alarmed. Aria cursed in the distance and killed something before calling for them. Jo ignored her.

"Aria is right about one thing. Omega is the home of the lawless of the galaxy, and as much as you care about the innocent civilians, they aren't the ones who need real leadership. The lawless do. The criminals, the mercenaries, all those who will stream to the streets to fight Cerberus along with us. Answer me this, Nyreen. Are you badass enough to rule them? Are you ruthless enough to earn their respect and make them follow you? Trust me, you don't have to be as ruthless as Aria is to do that, but you definitely need to toughen up a little bit."

"I don't want to rule all of Omega," Nyreen whispered, making sure Aria didn't hear them.

"You will have to," Jo said back.

"Why?"

"Because I'm not here to help our blue friend," she loaded the statement with meaning. "Your toughness will decide whether I'm here to help you or not."

"What's the hold up?" Aria yelled, approaching them again. Nyreen was still staring at Jo with an unreadable expression, when Jo checked her thermal clip and shrugged at the asari:

"Just laying some wisdom on your friend here."

"What kind of wisdom?"

"That it's in her own interest to stop shaking in her boots and to toughen up when facing the Adjutants."

That seemed good enough of an explanation to Aria and the women moved on, but Nyreen seemed quieter now, thoughtful.

Before long Aria sent Jo alone through a barrier to overload the reactor powering those barriers all over Omega, but when Jo got there, Petrovsky's pesky hologram informed her that overloading the reactor would crush life support on many levels of the station, killing thousands of people. Joker felt it in his own bones when Jo took a breath, finding her Zen. Aria kept shouting in her ear to overload the reactor, kill the people and get the barriers down. Nyreen shouted in her other ear to re-rout the power. Talk about a devil and an angel on each shoulder. Petrovsky meanwhile kept trying to psycho-analyse Jo. Joker knew she just tuned them all out right now.

"Tell me a joke," she said very quietly and he knew this was a moment just between the two of them, like many other times when she had to do something incredibly difficult and needed his strength to carry it out.

"What's the difference between erotic and kinky?" He said with a shit-eating grin.

"Hm?" She smiled back, he could hear it, while her helmet camera was pointed at her hands flying over the console, re-routing the power.

"Erotic is using a feather. Kinky is using the whole chicken." Her chuckle was gentle, almost inaudible, but he knew it was there. The deafening silence on the Normandy, interrupted only by noises coming from her com, told him that the entire crew was holding their breath, observing the magical moment between them, afraid to break it by making a single sound. Jo was not done with the console and things were starting to get really dangerous on her end. Joker continued: "Why is being in the military like a blowjob?"

"The closer you get to discharge, the better you feel," she chuckled. "I knew that one."

"What?" Aria, Nyreen and Petrovsky all said together. Jo kept working.

"How do they say 'fuck you' on Illium?" Joker continued, giving her a chance to answer, in case she knew this one, too. She didn't. "Trust me."

"Got it," Jo hissed in triumph when the power was re-routed and the reactor shut down without killing civilians. Everyone exhaled.

"Man, your jokes are so lame," Vega declared, but promptly got elbowed by Garrus:

"Shut up. It's a requirement, the worse the jokes - the better she does. It's kind of their thing."

As soon as the shooting paused even for a minute, Aria and Nyreen were back to squabbling. This time Aria was dishing out some real tough love to the turian girl about her fear of Adjutants. Jo got them apart, but pulled Nyreen away to whisper in her ear:

"She's not wrong, you know. The longer you're frozen on the battlefield, the more of your friends get turned into those things, and that one will be on you. Roar, pound your chest, throw biotics, bash in skulls, just do something to get over that fear and back to saving people."

Liara snuck up on them in the cockpit and asked very quietly:

"Is it selfish of me to hope that she's found someone else to take over as Omega's new ruler and might leave me where I am?"

"No," Garrus said simply and just as quietly.

On Joker's screens the girls separated and moved towards Afterlife from two directions.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Jo shouted when she saw Nyreen standing amidst a dozen of dead Talons, surrounded by several Adjutants and ready to die a heroic death of noble sacrifice. "Not on my watch!"

Nyreen still stood in the same spot, her biotics playing around her and a belt with grenades in her hands, when the fires from Jo's incendiary rounds eventually began to die away on the remains of the Adjutants' bodies.

"That was not the kind of fear-overcoming I meant, okay?" Jo hissed at the turian girl when the three of them reunited in front of the club's main entrance. Nyreen looked shaken, but she still stood and that was all that mattered. Petrovsky was waiting for them.

It didn't take long until the man was giving his final order in his capacity as a general, as a Cerberus member, as a temporary ruler of Omega, and quite frankly - the last order in his life, Joker didn't doubt that for a second:

"Cease and desist all aggression. It's over."

Joker's work was only starting, however.

"Get ready, people! We're powering up." Garrus ordered and EDI started up all the systems. The drive core purred like a kitten and the techie team got to work as Joker set course for the dock nearest to Afterlife.

The scene on his screens unfolded into a real drama as he and the team watched it through the cameras in Afterlife that EDI tapped into. Petrovsky declared:

"Commander Shepard, I surrender myself into your custody."

"Is this guy for real?" Vega snorted.

"Shepard, I'm unarmed!" Petrovsky started begging when Aria backhanded him and Jo simply watched. "I can give the Alliance intel on the Illusive Man!"

Joker was quietly docking the ship on the station as everyone watched the screens. Jo said nothing, letting Aria do whatever she needed to do for the moment. They all knew that this was the defining moment of this whole mission, the reason why Jo went to Omega in the first place. There was going to be bloodshed and a lot of theatrics. Being Shepard's crew, they loved a good show that starred their favourite woman.

Inexplicably, Aria let Petrovsky live and gave him over to Jo. Jo still said nothing while she handcuffed the man and made him kneel at her feet as she and Nyreen watched Aria get a grip on herself and address her people:

"Citizen of Omega!" She shouted. "I, Aria T'Loak..."

Joker had EDI record every single angle of what happened next and he was sure as hell making a great vid out of it later. It would explode all over the extranet within minutes after release, he knew it. For now he watched, frozen in awe how Aria's determined face turned to a camera to address the people and a huge pistol suddenly appeared right at her temple. One shot sounded. Blue blood sprayed in all direction.

In the deadly silence when everyone seemed to hold their breath in utter shock, Aria's now almost-headless body crumpled on the floor with an undignified sound.

She disappeared from the screens only to reveal Jo standing right behind her with the smoking pistol in her hand. Jo looked down at the corpse and then slowly up into the camera and at the people already standing in the main room of Afterlife.

"Citizen of Omega," she spoke slowly, lacing every word with more power than Aria could ever dream off. Joker seriously wanted to pee himself from fear of that woman. She was his woman and he usually had no reason to fear her, but at that moment, covered in Aria's blood and brain matter, looking at everyone with the unbending power of an Alpha animal, she scared everyone shitless. Even him.

Jo paused and let her glance glide over the crowd in Afterlife, letting the camera catch her every move.

"Do you. Know. My. NAME?" She shouted, not unlike Aria, only her voice carried even more power. "I am Commander Fucking Shepard," she declared slowly, letting everyone adjust their world to the new situation. Their beloved Aria was dead and there was a new bitch in town, claiming the top spot. "Have you heard of me? Let me refresh your memory." She started pacing this and that way slowly, letting them appreciate her figure in the sexy, worn and bloody armour, and the amount of her guns. "I'm the toughest motherfucking Special Agent in the entire human race. I'm the first human Spectre. I defeated Saren and his first Reaper ally, Sovereign. I saved the Council and I wiped out an entire batarian system. Why? Because first humanity and then the Council declared me the judge, the jury and the executioner, to make those kinds of decisions. I am not afraid to make them! Just last week I ended the krogan genophage and united the turian and the krogan forces. If you've heard anything about me at all, you know not to cross me because even if you kill me, someone out there will resurrect me right back. The technology exists and I've already been resurrected once. There is no escape from my judgement."

She let that sink in before she continued, nudging Aria's body with her foot.

"Your beloved Aria T'Loak was weak. She lost your home to Cerberus and spent weeks hiding out in a bar on the Citadel, biting her nails and begging me to help her get it back. She was too scared to come here and find the strength in her to fight this fight at your side. She needed me. She only dared to come here once she secured my help. Well, I told her I'd get Omega back. I didn't say I would get it back for her."

The initial shock started to wear off and people slowly came back to life with angry shouts. Joker caught the sight of Nyreen. She was a little shell-shocked and didn't really know what to do. Her unease grew stronger when Garrus and Vega, both dressed for battle and fully armed, appeared on the screens at Nyreen's sides, taking Petrovsky in their custody. Jo was no longer alone in front of an angry mob. The three of them could easily take apart the whole station.

"That's right, citizen of Omega!" Jo pressed the theatrics a little harder, working the crowd. "I have given you your lives and now I'm the top bitch on Omega. I have no tolerance for weakness. Aria was not worthy of her self-proclaimed title. Queen! Now she's nothing more than a bloody mess at my feet! This is your lesson, so learn it fast: I am Commander Shepard and I do not tolerate weakness or disobedience!"

Joker was fully hard. Oh, so much power in one little woman!.. Oh, to fuck her right now, in front of all those people... He smirked. He would be the one fucking her later tonight, after she'd made the lawless of the galaxy her obedient bitches.

"Cerberus thought they could move in and take over what doesn't belong to them," Jo continued and Joker could feel from the shouts that the crowd was almost on her side. All they needed was a little push. She flicked her wrist and Garrus yanked Petrovsky to his feet. He brought the general closer to Shepard, making sure everyone could see him. Jo pointed a finger at him: "This pompous son of a pyjak whore believes himself something of an artist," she sneered and the entire crowd sneered at Petrovsky along with her. "A great strategist, Cerberus' best general, the mastermind behind the army that took Omega from you. This pathetic piece of shit moved into your home, changed all the laws and thought he could RULE YOU!"

Now the crowd was really angry - with Petrovsky, not with Jo.

"Look at him, citizen of Omega, and see what happens to Cerberus' best man! He wasn't good enough to stop me. Aria wasn't good enough to stop me. Look, people of Omega, what I do to worthless, pathetic wannabes. As a judge and a jury I sentence you, Oleg Petrovsky, to immediate death. As the executioner I will happily carry out that sentence right now."

"No, you can't execute me! I'm a prisoner of war! I deserve mercy! I can give the Alliance intel..."

"Does he deserve mercy?" Jo asked the crowd. "OR DOES HE DESERVE DEATH?!"

She shouted the last word and the entire population of Omega erupted in wild screams, shaking their fists and guns in the air, chanting: Death, death, death!

Jo stood still for a while, letting the crowd work itself into a real frenzy. People were already storming the room, trying to get to Petrovsky before she could. In that moment they almost loved her.

Finally, when a real riot was about to start, Jo raised a hand, trying to calm everyone down.

"Be still, my darlings," she smiled and that smile sent another chill down Joker's spine. "He'll get what he deserves."

She slowly walked around Petrovsky, as he still tried to beg her not to execute him.

"You've been weighed," she said to him with a truly evil smile. "And measured," she stopped in front of him and pulled her pistol. "And found wanting."

There was beauty in the way she calmly and firmly raised her arm, pointed her pistol at Petrovsky's forehead and emptied her entire clip into his head. Twenty five bullets.

And that was when they truly loved her.

The cheers wouldn't die for about ten minutes after that. Nobody paid attention to the screens for that time, simply shouting their satisfaction with the end of the Cerberus invasion and the death of the man who represented the oppressor. Jo waited patiently. Garrus and Vega stood right behind her. Joker and his team waited for her next step as adrenaline coursed through their veins. Shepard's theatrics had even more drama in them than Aria's.

When things started to calm down again a little, Jo waved Nyreen to stand by her as she addressed the crowd once more:

"You, Aria, Petrovsky, the Adjutants and a whole Cerberus fleet have learned a lesson just now," she spoke calmly. "Commander Shepard is the original badass. However, I have no time to sit on Aria's couch and sort out her legacy. Omega needs a new beginning. You all deserve a new beginning! I'm fighting a war against the Reapers out there and you should all feel sorry for them, because once I'm done with them, there won't be anything left to salvage. As I fight bigger fights out there, Omega needs to be rebuilt and repaired. You all need to tend to your wounded and mourn your dead. Aria's brutal rule is over and a new beginning means a new person in charge. A better future for all citizens of Omega, both the lawless among you and the innocent. I present to you Nyreen Kandros, the leader of the Talons, the last organised resistance on Omega against Cerberus before my arrival. Nyreen knows Omega as well as Aria did, maybe even better, because she also knows you, the people. She fought for you for months, while Aria lounged on the Citadel. Nyreen bled for you today, risking her life over and over to give you back your freedom without murdering most of you, like Aria wanted to."

Jo put a firm hand on Nyreen's shoulder in a show of her approval.

"I am the judge, the jury and the executioner. It is my judgement that Nyreen stays in charge of Omega after I'm gone. She is the best you will get. And if you have a problem with that - I'll find the time to drop by again and pacify all those dissatisfied. Do you feel me, citizen of Omega?"

There were more shouts but the transmission ended soon after. Joker's screen still showed Jo's helmet feed, though.

"You are brutal, Commander," Nyreen said to her quietly. "I'm not sure I'm entirely fine with you executing Aria like this. I just... need to come to terms with it. Can't believe she's really dead. Such a..."

"Pointless death?" Jo finished her sentence when Nyreen paused. "Yes, it was. That's the whole point. Today I blow her brains out, tomorrow someone does that to me. No matter how great we think we are, in the end we're still only as strong as our mortal vessels. Keep that in mind as you put Omega back together."

"About that. I didn't ask you to make me the new queen around here. I was just fine leading my Talons."

"Step up to the challenge, my darling, or someone will step over you."

"You're something else, Commander," Nyreen shook her head.

"They keep telling me that. Look, if you have trouble, call me and I'll come help. I prefer you ruling this station much rather than Aria. You care about people, and they feel it. The Talons love you and soon all Omega will. Just let everything fall into place and you'll do fine. In the meantime - I have things to do and Reapers to kill. Spirits be with you."

"And you, Commander," Nyreen inclined her head with respect she felt despite her disagreement with some of Jo's methods. Jo smiled and waved Garrus and Vega to follow her out.

Another job well done.