Chapter 2! Enjoy!

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The shuttle reeked of sweat and diverse species of tobacco and the walls and seats had been scribbled on using various alphabets. The children that were running around in the docks were now nowhere to be found. Strangely, they didn't actually get on the ship. Nicolas left his duffel bag above his seat and slid the armour crate under the one in front of him. A bare-faced turian sat quietly beside him and did the same. He noticed no one was playing videogames or watching vids on the screens in front of them or going through their omnitools. Everyone just looked straight ahead or out the viewports.

There was almost no warning before the blast doors closed and the shuttle left the dock at the end of Zakera Ward. As the ship made its transit, waiting its turn to go through the Relay, there was no safety demonstration on behalf of the crew, snacks or refreshments. Nicolas' stomach grumbled and he produced a small nutritional bar from one of his pockets which he was done with before even reaching the Relay.

One by one, the passengers began going to the restrooms. Nicolas looked around to see lines forming along the corridors. When his neighbour got up to go, he noticed the turian had taken his armour crate. Hal recommended Nicolas to do the same once turian entered the restrooms When he himself stood up, he noticed that those who returned were in armour, most of them with their helmets on their laps. Baker entered the restroom once it was his turn and quickly changed into the onyx armour he had stowed away after leaving the Normandy, holstering his handgun on the magnetic clasp on his thigh.

He returned to his seat, nodding to his turian companion as he sat down. Peeking over the seats in front of him, he spied a passenger that hadn't changed yet. Nicolas decided to keep an eye on him. Looking out the small viewport beside his seat he saw the blue glow of the Relay glaring through the plexiglass, taking more and more space as the shuttle drew closer. A moment later, the starry exterior blurred to a tunnel of blue and violet, and after a couple of seconds, back again to a starry void. A PA told the cabin that they had arrived at Omega. Nicolas saw the armourless passenger nervously get up and walk up and down the aisle, asking for an extra suit of armour. The turian sitting beside him batted the nervous human off with annoyance and went back to staring at the back of the seat in front of him. Soon enough, the human walked back to his own seat, shaking from head to toe. Nicolas heard him murmur under his breath as he passed, "those fucking kids… they took my armour…"

The shuttle touched down on Omega, and all the passengers stood in unison, taking their luggage out from in front and over their seats. The armourless passenger struggled to the front of the shuttle to get off as quickly as possible. When the blast doors opened, Nicolas walked with the rest of the passengers out and found himself in a dirty corridor. There were no viewports to look out to space through and no police or customs scanners. Nicolas walked with his duffle bag down the corridor and progressively noticed that the crowd was thinning out. Small kiosks started dotting the walls, selling fast food and wares of many kinds: weapons, ship part replacements, omnitools, etc.

Turning a corner, he saw the nervous passenger that had left the shuttle in a hurry. Nicolas walked briskly after him, either to see what he was nervous about or at least make sure he got wherever he was going safely. Rounding the corner, he saw the human moving at almost jogging speed. His once combed over hair was now pointing everywhere and he looked over his shoulder every few steps. A batarian walked past Nicolas, bumping into his shoulder as he went. With a growl, he turned around to address Baker, "This one is mine, human. Stay away."

Now he absolutely had to stay close. He stopped for a moment, watching which way the human turned and following him once the batarian had followed. Staying at a discrete distance, he ended up huddling against the corner of a dimly lit alleyway. He tried listening for any sign of a struggle.

A batarian voice came from the alley, "Hey, human! Yes, you. Stop jogging, it's a dead end up ahead. Say, what are you doing here alone? Mighty dangerous for someone who looks wealthy as you do without protection."

Nicolas frowned and whispered to Hal to ready the aim-assist protocols in his handgun. He peeked into the alley and saw the batarian drawing closer to the human, who had his back against a door, which he seemed to be unable to open. He almost squeaked, "I- I- I have everything in my bag. You can take it."

"Oh, I'll take it alright. I wanted to know what you had on you." The batarian's tone grew more and more menacing with each step he took.

Nicolas stood up and inched towards the pair. The batarian heard him and looked over his shoulder before turning around, a hand hovering over the shotgun attached to the small of his back, "I told you this one was mine, human. Leave."

"You don't want to threaten me, beautiful," he muttered sarcastically, looking between the batarian's four eyes, "I'm in a bad mood today."

"Nicolas," Hal protested into his translator, "we should stay out of trouble."

In one swift motion, the batarian grabbed the handle of his shotgun, expanded it and shot from the holstering position, blowing a chunk off the armourless human's chest before pulling the gun off his armour and swinging it around to point at Nicolas. Before the barrel had lined up, however, Nicolas had raised his pistol and unloaded heavy tungsten rounds in the direction of the batarian's head. The first projectile bounced off harmlessly, but the second went through the shields and into the relatively soft flesh, bone and brains of the alien.

In a moment, all the windows leading into the alley from the levels above closed or darkened, and Nicolas was left squinting, trying to make out what the damage was. He activated his omnitool to make it glow and saw the dead batarian and human. Sighing, Nicolas walked over and croutched down, scanning the batarian's omnitool, letting Hal datamine its contents for credits. He then walked over to the human and shook his head. What a waste. He searched the pockets of the dead man's suit, finding nothing. A quick inspection of the wrists revealed no omnitools. Nicolas smacked his lips and looked around from his crouched position when he saw the man's bag. He walked over to it and opened the zipper. Plastic bags fell to the ground, full of various kinds of drugs.

Nicolas turned the bag upside down, letting everything fall to the ground. A small piece of paper fell from the bag, so he bent over and found coordinates scribbled on. After reading them to Hal, he said it was the same door the human was trying to get into. Nicolas eyed the door and swiped his omnitool over it, looking for an onboard computer to hack. He found none and went over it again and again, thinking his omnitool was malfunctioning.

A minute later, Baker scratched his head, looking at the door. Hal spoke into his translator, "Maybe it's just an old door?"

"But that would mean that you could just kick it open," Nicolas crossed his arms, wondering why the dead man would be lead with a bag full of drugs to a door that wouldn't open, unarmed.

He took a step back and kicked the door where an old fashioned card slot was. The lock gave immediately, and Nicolas walked in, gun raised, not knowing what to expect. It was a small apartment. Everything was coated in dust and every piece of furniture that wasn't bolted to the walls or floors was missing, probably stolen years ago.

Hal spoke over his translator, "I think I know why the guy was lead here. Someone in omega just wanted cheap drugs, so they called him and had someone steal his armour before getting here, rendering him defenceless."

"Good plan," Nicolas said absentmindedly as he inspected the apartment. He tested a cupboard in the kitchen, noticing it was loose. Pulling it out, he found nothing but dust, but he could probably hide his duffel bag there if he dented the back of the cupboard in. He kicked the back panel off and cut through the rest of the material with a flash forged blade before stowing his bag.

He walked out of the apartment and stumbled into the pile of drugs the human had brought. Hal asked, "What do we do with them?"

"Burn 'em," Nicolas replied. He let Hal synthesize kerosene and sprayed the pile before letting a piece of red-hot nano carbide fall on it, igniting the fuel. When the pile was irrevocably ablaze, Nicolas stood idly before the two corpses, deciding to leave them and head for a more populated part of the lawless space station.

"Hell of a first impression," Hal commented as Baker walked.

Back at the corridors with stores, Nicolas looked up at the colourful signs against the grimy walls lit an orangey-red by the deteriorating lamps lining the ceiling. A sign read 'Commercial District' in common and Nicolas followed it. The corridor (at that point bordering on claustrophobic) opened up to a five block wide ring stretching upwards into the meteor's body, the outer walls consisting mainly of small businesses. At the center of the ring was Afterlife, a club spanning five stories up and five down the ring's levels. Since Omega had no day-night cycle, the place was open around the clock, and there was always someone willing to get drunk or drugged. Nicolas chewed on his lip, he was in no mood to be sober.

He walked up to the ten person long queue, and he judged the club must be in the lazy hours, since the holograms placed to keep the line contained stretched outwards and around the club. Once he got to the krogan bouncer at the beginning of the queue, he figured being nice might get him a long way; at least longer than being a prick.

"How much is the entrance, big buddy?" Nicolas produced two cigarettes from his jacket pocket and offered the krogan one, which the alien took after a moment's hesitance.

"Not your buddy, human. Its 10, though. Need a lighter?"

"No, I'm good," they both lit their cigarettes and took a couple of drags, until Nicolas spoke again, "These are the down hours, right?"

"Not at all, the club is packed. But almost everybody just got tired of waiting, and patrons have only started leaving now," the bouncer eyed him, examining his armour and chuckled, "New to Omega?"

"Was I that easy to spot?" He took a short drag from his cigarette, "Yes, I am."

"It's too clean, you see. The scuffs are convincing but there's no grime. People around here don't usually clean their armour. Not the outside anyway."

"Thanks for the tip," Nicolas smiled before looking up at the higher levels, "Everything is upside down here. The 'sky' is orange, there's no security whatsoever, and the krogan are talkative."

The bouncer snickered at the remark, "It's a thank you for the cigarette. Maybe you actually didn't spot the security, since they don't wear uniforms. They work for us, by the way. Aria T'Loak runs this town, and owns Afterlife."

"I'm assuming that's something I wouldn't want to forget." Nicolas flicked the cigarette over the platform's railing, down to the lower levels, "Well, it's been nice talking to you, man. Let's see how much fun 10 credits get you in an Omega club."

"Enjoy, human," the krogan nodded as Nicolas walked by to the big two door entrance that lead to a tunnel with bright displays for walls. Patrons sat at the edges on black leather sofas, either talking between themselves and sneering at the newcomer, or slumped over and passed out from a night of intense drinking and drug abuse.

The tunnel opened up to an enormous hall, ring-shaped like outside the club, and from the centre of the ring, a veranda gave an overview of the club's lower levels, similar in shape. Overhead and towards the back of the club was a big balcony overlooking the main level, surely a VIP lounge. Nicolas scanned the first level in search of a bar, and to his right, through the strobe lights and red mist that permeated the whole building, he found the bar, with a couple of patrons sitting at the stools. The tables beside them were at capacity, so his seat would have to be a no-backrest one.

He approached a turian bartender, his yellow eyes almost glowing in the hazy atmosphere and hectic lights that danced across every surface. His face had no tattoos to associate him with any turian family, probably burned off as punishment for a terrible crime, or he never was part of a family to begin with.

"What'll it be, human?" the last word was said almost as an insult, the bartender was clearly not in the mood to deal with humans.

"What's the cheapest whiskey you have?"

"Nanus double distilled." The turian snapped and stayed silent for a second before turning to attend someone else.

"Can I have a glass of it, Mandibles?" He shouted at the top of his lungs, making the turian duck his head in surprise before turning to Baker glaring. Nicolas smiled and produced another cigarette from his jacket pocket, "with ice… and hurry, please."

The turian grumbled a response and slid Nicolas a glass not generously filled before storming off. Needless to say, that turian wasn't getting a tip from any human patrons that night. After a couple of minutes nursing his drink, a salarian sat beside Nicolas and tapped his foot to Baker's ankle.

"Hey buddy, I don't know what that means, but I'm not into frog men." Nicolas left his glass on the table and smiled his best fake smile at the neighbouring patron. This was warning one before he'd make the salarian regret bothering him.

"Oh no. The human misunderstands. Offering quality red sand. Cheap!" the salarian whispered. It was the first salarian Nicolas had seen with independently moving eyes. Offering drugs and creepy looking? Strike two.

"No thanks, man. I'm always faithful to my alcohol." Nicolas turned to face the bar and sipped from his glass but the salarian didn't leave.

"But maybe you would want to try-" the drug dealer leaned closer towards Nicolas and touched his forearm, which was batted off violently. Strike three.

"Alright, you fucking tadpole, I said back off. You have five seconds before I shove that sand up your cloaca, so get lost." Nicolas had turned around to face the salarian, whose eyes had focused on the human alone instead of wandering around the club. He got up, nodded once and walked off. Soon, Nicolas noticed out of the corner of his eye that the dealer was talking to another human, but this one was a lot more eager to buy the product. Once the transaction had been completed, the human left for a bathroom and vanished into it. A minute passed, then another, then five more minutes, and at the ten minute mark, after Nicolas had finished his drink, the human still didn't come out. Nicolas got up and made his way to the bathrooms. The music died down, muffled by the corridor walls leading into the men's room. It felt as if the local DJ knew of Nicolas' situation, and the rhythm seemed to pick up as he entered the toilets, finding them empty. His heart was racing as he opened the empty stalls, looking for the human, until he reached the last one.

He hesitated a moment before opening the stall door, where his suspicions were confirmed. The human was hunched over on the toilet. The bag of red sand was on the floor, a little hole in the corner showing that the victim had taken an extremely small amount before overdosing. Grabbing him by the hair, Nicolas pulled the victims head up, revealing a face twisted into an expression of agony. Pink foam dripped from his nose and mouth, and there was no pulse to be found. Dead.

Baker pursed his lips, exhaling from his nose. He wasn't as angry as he wanted to be, but the Salarian was dangerous. If not to him, to other suggestible patrons. He let the dead man's hair go and backed away as the corpse flopped to the bathroom floor. He walked out to see the music was growing more hectic by the minute. Red strobes and lasers flashed through the artificial fog as Baker made his way towards the bar to look for the Salarian pusher. As he sat down, he heard a distant startled yelp. He looked to see a patron being pushed aside by the krogan bouncer Nicolas had seen at the entrance. He was holding someone as he walked out and Nicolas was able to make out the long fingered hand of a Salarian, "Bingo."

Going back out the entrance tunnel, his vision blurred out everything around him except the krogan and the Salarian. Outisde, the bouncer dumped the pusher down the stairs and walked back inside, nodding to Nicolas as he passed. Baker saw the salarian pat dust off his jacket before walking briskly around the club towards the backside. Nicolas jogged behind him, hugging the wall to remain unseen by the killer.

Suddenly, the salarian turned around and stretched his arms outward, a smile forming as his eyes dashed in every direction. He exclaimed, "Ah! The human reconsidered!" Nicolas stalked closer and closer, nodding, surprised at the dealer's naivety. When he was a meter away, the pusher began opening his jacket.

Baker delivered a sharp blow to the dealer's face, making him stumble backwards, "I'm actually here to make sure you never deal sand again."

"But- but- I thought Aria-"

Nicolas gave the drug dealer another swift but heavy punch right under the rib cage, making him double over, his lungs unable to decide whether to make him retch or gasp for air. The bass from Afterlife's music permeated through the walls and spurred Nicolas' heartbeat on. It felt as if his blood boiled when one of the Salarian's eyes met his.

"You thought Aria wouldn't have noticed a Salarian with crazy eyes poisoning the patrons? Maybe she didn't, pal, but I wasn't sent by Aria. I came here on my own."

Between gasps, the Salarian spoke again, "Then she won't be happy. Oh no, she won't."

Nicolas kicked the killer's ribcage. Hard. He felt a sharp crack through his boot and prosthetics, and the Salarian's arms gave way, making him fall completely to the ground, green blood trickling from his mouth. It was impossible to feel sorry for the drug dealer, but Nicolas didn't want to have the memory of needless torture in the back of his brain. With a quick movement, he expanded his handgun and ended the dealer's misery.

Baker walked back to the entrance. At the doors, the krogan stood in his way and shook his head.

"Come on, man. I just walked out." Nicolas let his arms fall to his sides, the gauntlets clacking on the rest of his armour.

"Aria sent a message for you, human. She says you should clean up your mess around here," the krogan tilted his head the way he had gone earlier, "There's a garbage disposal chute round the back. Get busy."

Nicolas rolled his eyes and walked back around Afterlife. The salarian was still there, and Nicolas noticed the garbage disposal a little further down the wall. He picked up the light corpse and threw it into the chute before walking back. Now he really needed a drink.

"Nicolas?" Hal talked into Baker's translator as he finished his second drink.

"Yes?" Nicolas pushed the glass aside and produced a cigarette from his lighter.

"You never told me why we were coming to Omega."

The human puffed a cloud of smoke and watched the tip of the cigarette as it slowly burned up, "I'm here to find out where the Normandy crash landed. For that, I need to know people with connections, and that means I have to stay in the club. The bouncer said Aria owns Afterlife and Omega, so she's the one I have to get to know."

"But that could take months."

"Well, it's the best shot I have. We both know you can't retrieve that info yourself, and no one in citadel space was about to help me. I can only find her if I'm in the Terminus to begin with."

"I'm having trouble understanding why you want to find her.

"I- I don't really know, I want to pay my respects. Maybe bury her like us humans used to. It's hard to explain." Nicolas shook his head.

"Uh-huh." Hal muttered.

"Human." A finger tapped on Nicolas' shoulder. He spun around a bit too quickly for his stomach but kept a straight face. A batarian stood behind him, arms now crossed.

"Anything I can do for you, batarian?" Baker was careful not to slur his words, the third glass of whiskey sitting empty on the table.

"You've been invited to the VIP lounge. Come with me."

The human shrugged and followed the batarian up the stairs at the end of the dancefloor. He was lead to the big balcony overlooking everything. Once there, a turian searched him for concealed weapons. Several armed aliens stood around an asari that sat at the end of the balcony. Behind her, the club music boomed and the lights seemed to almost dance around her; the lasers never touched her and the strobes looked as if they originated from behind her head. An air of sovereignty and arrogance emanated from her, the relaxed way she sat and the dismissive look she gave Nicolas as he approached.

"You killed someone outside my house today," the asari's voice carried through the music effortlessly, sounding as if she'd spoken into Nicolas' ear.

Baker did his best effort not to recoil from the closeness of her voice and just nodded. The relaxed smile on the asari's face turned into a menacing glare, "It annoys me when people make a mess."

An almost imperceptible blue glow emanated from the sitting alien and Nicolas felt his prosthetic legs tingling, feeling some of the synthetic muscles being warped. Whatever she was doing, he wasn't budging. The asari looked surprised, "I see you can keep a straight face through pain. I like it. Sit," that last sentence sounded like an order, and Nicolas was quick to obey.

Hal spoke into Nicolas' ear, "Be careful. She's dangerous."

As Nicolas got comfortable on the sofa, the asari waved her hand, making one of her guards leave, coming back almost immediately with two drinks, "Rum?" she offered.

Nicolas nodded and received one of the glasses, clinking it to Aria's before downing it quickly, hoping to relax his racing heart. He spoke with the most laid back voice he could make, "I'll try to keep things clean from now on. I didn't catch your name, though, miss..."

"Aria. If you haven't heard that name, then you'll have a… difficult time here in my home. You see, Omega is mine. I am the ruler of this station. Queen, if you will. There's only one rule in this lawless place and it's simple: Don't fuck with Aria."

"I'll be sure to write that down," Nicolas faked a smug smile and Aria smirked back.

"Now that you know how things work here, you can go. I have other things to look into." Aria waved Nicolas off as the guards around him reaffirmed their grips on their rifles. Nicolas got up and walked to the place he had stood before being invited to sit. He made an almost unnoticeable bow, keeping eye contact with Aria until he turned around. It might be soon before he overstayed his welcome, and he wasn't sure if he would be able to notice the difference between guest and intruder before being shot.

Behind his back, Aria raised a hand and called out to him, "Oh, by the way," a wave of goosebumps shot down Nicolas' spine and his heart skipped a beat as Omega's queen addressed him again, "Drinks are on the house tonight. Stick around and don't make a mess again."

He didn't want to give away his nervous state so nodded without turning around and headed downstairs, raising a hand lazily to say goodbye. He needed a drink, and quickly.

Once he got down to the bar open to all the guests, he sat down near a salarian barman and asked for a glass of water, and a double rum. The water was downed quickly, but he nursed the rum carefully as he lit a cigarette and scanned the club around him. After finding that no one was looking at him, he settled down and turned back to the bar, flicking the tip of his cigarette into an ashtray the bartender slid over. He called for the salarian once he seemed unoccupied, barmen always had something interesting to say.

"What does a bartender do to not die of boredom here? It's night all the time."

"Drink when no one looks. Also watch fights on dance floor. Entertaining to bet."

"Are there a lot of fights in here? I thought Aria wouldn't permit it."

"CCTV, we see fight develop here, and finish outside. Example: turian and human over there, arguing over spilt drink."

Nicolas spun on his chair to look where the salarian's big eyes were staring to see the human getting in the turian's face, evidently demanding another drink, judging by the body language. The turian, however, was looking down at the angry alien with what appeared to be a condescending smile on his face. "Big bird's gonna kick his ass five ways to Sunday, he's a head taller!"

"Ah, but that human is well known to us bartenders. He acts big so people think he's all talk. Turns fight around after receiving a couple of punches."

"I'll have to see that to believe it. Ten credits on the turian."

"Don't say I didn't warn you, human." The salarian laughed and walked away to attend another patron.

The human was pushing his forehead against the turian's now, and out of nowhere head-butted the seemingly calm patron, who laughed and pushed back in response, but before the confrontation could become a fight, a krogan bouncer grabbed the human by his shoulders and shoved him towards the exit. Before being turned around, the human spat at the turian, getting him clean on the chest, causing a faint 'Oh' to simmer in the crowd nearby. This was the last straw for the turian, and he quickly followed behind the krogan.

Nicolas downed his drink and waved his hand at the barman, and he quickly came over with more rum to fill the empty glass and another glass of water. Once he set everything down, he opened his omnitool and brought up a live feed from outside Afterlife just as the krogan threw the human out. He rolled a small distance and was quickly on his feet as the turian stormed up to the human and pushed him with great force. The human fell backwards but regained his footing and stood straight to continue berating the turian.

"Oh, he is so gonna get his head bashed in." Nicolas was intensely focused on the screen, taking big sips off the sweet alcohol.

"Wait, it gets better." The salarian was also enticed by the footage, but filled the glass with rum using his free arm without looking.

Once the turian closed the distance between himself and the still shouting human, he launched a quick punch to the stomach, making the human double over, and followed up by grabbing this shirt and pulling him off his feet to level their faces.

"Looks like you're losing ten credits tonight, bud."

"Just wait for it!"

"A salarian asking for patience? How hypocritical of – Oh shit!"

Nicolas was interrupted by what was happening on the screen before him. The human outside had received a couple of head-butts while the turian held him up, but right before the third one, he moved his head out of the way and brought a fist to the spot behind the turian's right mandible. He was immediately released, and once he touched the ground, he brought a leg up to kick the turian in the ribs, and then tackled the noticeably bigger opponent to the ground. He then proceeded to repeatedly punch the turian across the face until he yelled something and the human let off. The turian's omnitool lit up, and the human, satisfied, walked away from the recovering fighter.

Nicolas looked away from the screen to the salarian, who was smiling at him, maybe expecting some praise for his accurate prediction. Picking up the glass, taking a drag from the nearly forgotten cigarette and then downing the rest of the drink, Nicolas smacked his lips and eyed the salarian. He had a feeling the fight was rigged, but it was good entertainment, so he decided to laugh it off.

"Alright. A win's a win," Nicolas' omnitool flashed to existence and the salarian nodded after a second, "here you go, buddy.

"I did warn you," a toothy grin made the salarian look goofy and slightly like a toad, but soon a curious expression transformed his face as his eyes wandered and stayed at Afterlife's VIP floor, "Someone wants to see you, human."

Nicolas' followed his stare and saw the batarian that had taken him to the VIP lounge earlier standing at the railing. He motioned his head to his side, and Nicolas took it as his cue to go see what it was all about. He tapped the tip jar, leaving another ten credits, and headed to the stairs going up to the next floor. The batarian was waiting for him at the top, his four eyes never coming off the human's.

"What's up?"

"Aria summoned you, human. Come with me."


I hope I captured the dangers of omega and how life has a much smaller value in the station.

As always, feedback of any kind is appreciated!