Liara

This ship was too loud. Even in the black, non-gravitational void of space it made raucous noises that kept me even from what little rest I allowed myself. I sat in the cargo hold of this sad little vessel, watching the countdown on my omni-tool. We were close to Omega.

A creeping darkness filled my heart as I stared at the name of my destination. In every language of every race, it's title held the same meaning. The End of All Things. I shuddered. Little asari children were told, when they misbehaved, that they would be sent to Omega to work under its evil queen. Even now, far removed from those years gone by, the thought of setting foot there sent a chill up my spine.

The end of all things…I thought, looking at the crates full of contraband, red sand, illegally modified weapons...and the specialty of Thessia's black market, biotic amps that surpassed those with military grade capabilities. Is that where I am? Where I must go to find Shepard…to know that she is truly dead? Is that where I must run to find safety after the crimes I have committed?

I stared at the cuff of my sleeve, eyeing the stain of violet…the dried blood of a matriarch. Avarya had invaded my home…she had been warned. The commando in her service had lived...Avarya herself had not. She wrongly expected me to bow to her status and her power. She did not expect the pistol behind my back, the cryogenic rounds in the chamber that stole her life and her breath. She could not even cry out as the icy projectile fissured her heart.

I hung my head, trying to feel remorse, trying to feel fear…trying to feel anything, really. But I could not. My entire body felt numb to any sensation. My mind had become an arid wasteland of incoherent thoughts. I lived alone there, alone in a series of moments that held less and less significance. I had one goal. To meet with the one who had messaged me, asking me to meet them at the end of all things.

For Serena…the last words whispered through the desert of my thoughts, leaving a chill in their wake.

Once, I would have done anything for her. Including abandoning her to death. A death that she had chosen, that she must have somehow known…why else would she have shut that elevator door? Why else would she have breathed "It's time."?

{Now approaching Omega docking station} my omni-tool alerted me and I rose from the crate I leaned against, eyeing the weapons inside.

I sneered. They were poor quality…as cheap and pathetic as the batarian I had hired to bring me here. He had been my only option…the only one who did not demand an itinerary or ask for identification. No. All he desired was money. That, I could provide. In abundance.

Avarya might have seized the T'Soni estate, but she could not touch my mother's accounts, which now belonged to me. Financial security was not something I would have to worry about.

I moved towards the flight deck, about to step forward from the shadows when I heard the batarian speak.

"One of Shepard's crew, huh?" I peered around the corner, saw the ship's captain speaking with the turian brothers who worked under him. "I'm not worried. If you're gonna have a Spectre on your side, might wanna make sure they aren't dead."

"Heh. Yeah." one of the turians agreed. "Looked the asari up on the extranet. She's got money, boss…lots more than she paid you. She's also wanted for questioning in the case of an attack and a murder."

The batarian blinked all four eyes, slow. "Well." he hefted his rifle. "This looks like a business opportunity. I'm willing to bet she'd pay a lot more if we didn't tell anyone who our passenger was."

"You've been paid, captain." I broke my cover, striding into the flight deck. "And it is not as though anyone at our destination will care that I am wanted on my homeworld."

"Just like a damn two-eyed rich girl." the batarian snarled, and I could see why my dead lover had hated his kind and what they had done to her people. Miserable slaver scum. "Your damn matriarchy isn't above putting a price on your head."

"And when they send a bounty hunter, I will be more than happy to treat them in the same manner I treated Matriarch Avarya. Let us simply conduct a civil business transaction and part ways on the station."

"How about no." the batarian snarled. "I want quadruple what you paid for passage."

{Batarian Freighter, this is Omega Control. Prepare for docking, over.}

"What's it gonna be, two-eyes?" the batarian growled. "Do I tell 'em we dock, or do I turn around and take you back to Thessia?"

"You can do neither!" I hissed. I did not have time to waste with this petty criminal.

I pulled up a biotic shield with one hand and released a shockwave with another, throwing all three of them back in the flight deck. Bullets pinged off of my shield and spun into the walls of the ship. The warning systems went off and a cacophonic alarm began shrieking through the vessel. One of the turian's pistols landed against my feet and I smiled at my good fortune.

I crouched to the ground and lifted it, holding my shield before me with the other. The turian brothers died against the walls of the ship where they had fallen, two bullets in each heart. The batarian fired his rifle, the bullets deflecting off of my shield. I smiled as I lifted him into the air and shot him in the head. Brain matter and chunks of skull splattered against the walls, ceiling, and floor.

I stared at the sight for a moment, expecting the nausea, the regret that had followed me when I had taken life during the missions aboard the Normandy…but it simply did not exist. Shepard had chosen to die, and she had taken the heart that cared, the naïve archaeologist, with her. I did not know who I was…but it was no longer who I had been when in her presence.

{Batarian Freighter, this is Omega Control. Do you want to dock or not!?}

I rushed to the comm deck and opened the communications channel. "Omega Control, this is Liara T'Soni. I was simply…negotiating my fee. Yes, I wish to dock."

{Omega Control copies, T'Soni. Are you here on Omega for business, or personal reasons?}

"Both." I replied, looking back at the dead behind me, thinking of the dead I had come to seek. "I have someone I need to meet…in the Afterlife."