Author's Note:

Updated the rating due to the language that appeared last chapter, and will likely appear again. There is more at the end. Thanks go to Bioware for creating the Mass Effect universe, and to the various creators whose works I reference. Enjoy.

Omega
March 23rd, 2087

Aria had to hand it to the humans. In the span of a single year they had managed to upset the galactic status quo to an incredible degree. In many ways this benefited Aria. By breaking the hold the batarians had held on the Terminus Systems, she had managed to secure a large fraction of the black market. And while the "Free Hegemony" called for all true batarian patriots to strike back against the humans, it could not claim the influence the Hegemony had before.

And humanity appeared to understand this. When the various Terminus powers had warned against any attempts to carry the war into the Terminus, the Systems Alliance merely announced that it held no such intentions. They simply stated that the Hegemony Remnant was not worth antagonizing the rest of the Terminus over.

There was a degree of danger in that. While they weren't a threat now, that wasn't to say that the Hegemony would not rise again. And while the latest Citadel species might not be concerned about it at the moment, the rest of the Terminus was. And so, like the other various powers on the edge of the galaxy, Omega found itself expanding its military might.

Some powers found themselves simply building more ships, training more troops, and building more equipment based off element zero. Others were working to make deals with each other and the human traders who braved the Terminus to share technology. And a very small portion were actively attempting to steal what they could from the humans.

But because Omega served as the crossroads for the Terminus, Aria had managed to secure something even better. Even as the Systems Alliance had worked its way into the rest of the Citadel Space, various illegitimate human enterprises had found their way to Omega. And while some had needed the rules of Omega explained to them, others had found it easier to simply give some tribute to Omega's queen.

Which was why the new Omega fleet would have one of the first Terminus cruisers equipped with the humans' blaster and shield technology. She had not managed to acquire a working hyperdrive, but for the purpose of defending her station that was unnecessary. When you included the improvements the station's defense systems were undergoing Aria was confident that not even the Remnant with its fleet could take the station.

Better still, some of the humans which had taken residence on the station had chosen to seek her employ. And so Aria found herself with several new guards who not only knew how to point and shoot, but also how to work the new technology. That in itself was worth the occasional headache their antics caused.

Because while she didn't know if it was something in their genes or if it was cultural, but every human she had talked to or employed seemed to take pleasure in being as obnoxiously obtuse as possible. Oh they were helpful and direct when it was necessary, but it seemed at every other time that they took some perverse pleasure in driving her "up the wall" as some of them said.

And as she looked at the expression of the guard now approaching her with her drink, she knew that this was likely going to be one of those times.

"What is it Johnathan?"

"Well, this would be the margarita you asked for ma'am."

She really shouldn't put up with the jokes. Fortunately they were adept at figuring out when it was wise to stop.

"Yes Johnathan. I can see quite clearly what you are carrying." putting as much menace into her voice as she felt was necessary she continued, "What I want to know is why you have that look on your face."

"Ah. I see you're not in the mood." Putting the drink down before her, she picked it up and took a sip as the human moved on, "Well it appears that someone would like to speak with you."

"And how do you know this?" She hadn't seen him converse with anyone down on the floor, though she had noticed several newcomers to Afterlife.

"Do you see the human in the suit down below?" Nodding towards the floor, she could make out an individual who quite clearly did not belong. Remarkably well dressed in something she would consider old-fashioned, the human had what she had heard referred to as "sandy-blond" hair. However, there was the unmistakable aura of danger about him.

"Yes. I suppose he's some sort of businessman? Probably here to form some sort of legitimate trade agreement?"

"Nothing of the sort. He's Alliance Intelligence."

If looks could kill, Johnathan would be hanging by a thread. "And how, pray tell, do you know this?"

At least he had the decency to look properly chastened. "Ah, well it was his drink ma'am."

"His. Drink." Narrowing her eyes she could feel the young human's anxiety at her increasingly displeased attention. "And just why is it that you can tell that he is from Alliance Intelligence from his drink?"

"Well, given his accent and the way he asked for the martini to be made, I operated on a hunch and asked the bouncer for more information. He gave me the name I was expecting. I approached him, asked about his suit, and he requested a meeting. And, well, here I am."

"And you expect me to believe that Alliance Intelligence, a group which operates on the level of the STG, would operate so blatantly in my territory?"

"Ma'am, to be honest, if I weren't a human I wouldn't have made the connection. I personally would recommend you meet him. I doubt he's here to cause trouble. Alliance Intelligence doesn't really go for assassination or black-ops against independent polities. The Alliance finds that such undercover operations tend to cause more headaches than they're worth."

"And you know all of this how?" Aria was beginning to become very suspicious of the best human guard she had.

"Alliance Intelligence doesn't exactly hide. Yes they'll sneak around and snoop for whatever data they can get, but their general mandate is well known to humanity." Shrugging his shoulders, Johnathan continued, "I'm not a patriot ma'am. I found the Alliance too rule bound. I'm no ConFed, or else I wouldn't be here working for you. I just want to live my life."

And there was the honesty that Aria like about humans. Most didn't try to hide who they were, and she could respect that, even if it came with a large amount of snark.

"Well then, go bring him to me."

As she waited, Aria went through the possible reasons for the Alliance's interest in Omega. The element zero reserves were out, human tech simply did not rely on it as much if at all. Besides, they had over a hundred worlds, surely several had significant reserves. A buffer against the new hegemony? If they were smart they would know that wasn't an option for her, nobody used Aria and lived. Perhaps a request to not trade any of the technology she had already gotten. But thus far they had made no indications that they didn't want anyone else to have it so long as they payed for it.

That was the trouble with dealing with a new race. Too many unknowns.

"Aria" Interrupting her thoughts, she turned to view the men before her, "This would be Agent James Bond, of Alliance Intelligence. Mr Bond, Aria T'Loak."

"I'll assume that isn't your real name Mr Bond?" Gesturing towards a seat on the couch, Aria watched the Alliance official settle down for business.

"Hah, just as Aria T'Loak likely isn't yours." Grinning the man took a sip from his drink before continuing, "Though if you don't mind, I'd like to skip the pleasantries and get down to business. I have to be on Illium in a few days."

"Just as well. I don't like having unscheduled meetings Mr Bond. So why is it that you have come to my station?"

"Simply put, the Alliance would like some information that you are in a unique position to provide." Pausing, the man pressed forward, "No one, except for the Collectors, has ever traversed the Omega-4 relay. We would like to be informed when they pass through, and what deals they are looking for, should you be in a position to learn that information."

That was interesting. "And why are the Collectors of such concern to the Alliance? Surely your people must know something about them."

Frowning the gentleman gave her a glance which told her that this was not a welcome line of conversation. Oh well.

"Yes, we have ascertained some details about them. However, we are more concerned with their movements as of right now. In exchange for this information, the Alliance is willing to forward you a sum of credits, as well as provide a secure means of communication."

That was a cause for concern. If the Alliance was so interested in the Collectors that they were willing to give technology away for information on them it was possible the enigmatic species was a danger to her here in Omega.

"Perhaps you could elaborate on what it is you would be providing should I agree to share any information on the Collectors' movements."

"Certainly. Alliance Intelligence is willing to offer roughly 1 million credits in advance to secure your cooperation. This is in addition to a military grade subspace comm-system which will allow you to contact us without the possibility of other parties listening in. Finally, in order to watch the Omega-4 relay for Collector movements, we will provide two of our older Tartarus spy probes."

That was an impressive offer. And it only reinforced her impression that the Collectors were something that seriously concerned humanity. And if the Collector's were that dangerous, Aria now had another reason to improve her ability to defend Omega.

"I assume that there will be payments for any information provided that is confirmed as accurate?"

"Of course."

"While all of this is acceptable, in order for me to agree to this deal I would require one more item. A working hyperdrive system."

That caused a subtle reaction. Leaning back the Alliance agent put his hand to his chin in what Aria had come to understand was a sign the human in question was considering it. Johnathan was watching the agent with a curious expression on his face. Throughout the exchange he hadn't been surprised by what was being talked about once. It was as if he expected it. Hmmm.

"I believe that will be acceptable to my superiors." Turning to face the human official, Aria gestured for him to continue. "Of course there won't be any formal paperwork. You'll receive the agreed upon items by next month, and the credits will be deposited by tomorrow evening."

"It was a pleasure doing business with you Ms T'Loak." Standing, the agent picked his drink, and walked away.

As her guards watched the man leave, Aria had three things on her mind. The first was that fortifying her little empire here had just become a bit easier. The second was that her position here on Omega had just become more tenuous if the Collector's were as big a threat as the Alliance seemed to be. The third and final thought had to do with just what humanity knew about the galaxy.

And to start unraveling that particular mystery, Aria was going to have to lean quite heavily on those humans she had at her disposal. Ah well, that was one of the difficulties of ruling an independent polity.

"Johnathan, I have some questions for you..."

Citadel Tower
March 25th, 2087

"So that wraps up the situation in the former Hegemony. Obviously we're doing everything in our power to ensure that a new dictatorship doesn't rise up, but it will take some time before the batarians have a stable government. Any questions?"

Looking at his three colleagues, Publius gestured that he was done. While he could work through the various holographic displays already put in place, he found that physically being somewhere made things much easier. Especially with the asari.

"No, your fleets are handling the patrols of batarian territory well enough." Turvic was perhaps the friendliest of the other councilors, no doubt because the turians and humanity shared so much in common. "How are things going with your colonization efforts in the Traverse?"

"Reasonably well. We had located several planets near Relay 314 that were habitable to humanity prior to contact with the greater galaxy. We're currently trying to determine which would be best to colonize given the locations of nearby secondary relays."

Pausing to look at his omnitool, which was a rather ingenious device he had to admit, he called up the latest information on that region's surveys.

"We have also begun colonization of what we call the Exodus Cluster. It directly connects to Arcturus, and as such we'll be building a major naval hub there. In fact we'll probably begin construction of another fleet or two in order bolster patrols throughout the Traverse. Two worlds are of particular interest to us, we're calling the first Eden Prime and the second will be Terra Nova."

"Any particular reason for the two names?" Hallis spoke up next, he'd been the most interested in human culture and especially the naming conventions used by humanity for its colonies and ships, "I understand the religious reference, but Terra Nova seems unusual."

"Terra Nova means 'New Earth' in Latin, one of our older dialects. It seems to be particularly rich in some useful minerals, and with the possibility of us expanding our fleet that will be important. Eden Prime is named as such because it is incredibly fertile, responding very well to most of our crops. Apparently the soil has just the right fix of nutrients to make it a veritable bread-basket world."

"If I'm correct, there is evidence that someone visited that world almost a thousand years ago." Meera, the councilor most suspicious of him was next to speak up, "I don't suppose your creators had anything to do with that?"

"Eden Prime was mentioned as being a prothean world in our beacon. When Altera began exploring the galaxy we sent several ships there to investigate." Not the whole truth, but it was enough, "We found some minor relics, but we caught wind of a patrol making its way towards the system and had to leave."

The mention of prothean relics caught the others' attentions, with Hallis being the first to speak, "And what did you find exactly?"

"Nothing significant, some weapons and a piece of armor. Nothing incredibly important or useful." Not quite a lie, but enough truth to prevent further questioning.

"Well, that is disappointing. I don't suppose you found anything to explain why the protheans disappeared?"

That was a dangerous question. One that wasn't going to be answered truthfully while the Citadel was still under Reaper control.

"No, we have our theories. War is the most likely answer, but nothing conclusive at this time."

Turvic looked up from a report he had been reading on human exploration in the Traverse, "You are undergoing some form of analysis on Relay 314? What are you trying to do?"

"Don't worry, we aren't going to be activating it at this time. We've been investigating the Relays for a while now and discovered something interesting. As you know Primary relays operate in pairs, only able to send objects between one another, whereas secondary relays are able to send objects to any other relay in a certain volume of space."

"A while ago we started working on how to determine where a primary relay could send something. Obviously with hyperdrive we could then send a probe to that location and determine whether it was safe to open the Relay or not. Well, in the past 50 years or so we managed to make a breakthrough, and are now able to determine the rough volume of space a relay's partner will send an object."

Though not with the Citadel, it was proving a much tougher nut to crack than humanity had even expected. Otherwise we could simply send a few overloaded subspace cores and wrap things up nice and tight. Not that these three need to concern themselves with that at the moment.

Though what he had revealed did grasp their attention quite magnificently.

"That would make exploring the rest of the galaxy if not safer, then at least significantly easier!" Meera exclaimed excitedly.

"Very interesting. It must require some form of analysis of the relay itself?" Hallis continued. "Though you said the rough volume of space, how large are we talking about?"

"It is very rough. Approximately a volume of half a million cubic light-years. Very much a needle-in-the-haystack scenario as we'd say. And yes, it requires analyzing both the basic code of that individual Relay and the dark energy signature in its localized region of space. Given the amount of time many of the Relays have been inactive, analyzing that signature is incredibly difficult."

"Still, such research could lead to further understanding of how the Relays work. Very useful information."

"Indeed. Now, there is one topic I would like to broach with you. The matter of the Spectre candidates we put forth. I understand that you were responsible for disseminating the information to Spectres for their perusal Turvic?"

"Yes. And the various Spectres we provided with the dossiers focused in on five individuals in particular. There are some concerns about one, however should the candidate prove his capabilities, then those concerns won't matter."

"Excellent. I assume then that we can recall the five candidates to the Citadel for initial testing?"

Meera chose to respond to that. "You certainly can. I too have concerns, but I am willing to put them aside if the candidates prove their ability. Though there will be a period of time where they will be assigned on missions with a senior Spectre."

"Very well then, I'll have high-command have them sent here as soon as possible. Is there anything else that needs to be discussed?"

Author's Notes Part Two:

First things first, Aria is difficult to write properly, and I'm pretty sure I didn't do a great job. It was brought up before how humanity has reacted to the news that the Apocalypse is on a schedule and how they're covering up their knowledge, part of it is humor. Mostly humans throw out a hundred different answers and are just snarky as all get out. The galaxy is quickly becoming convinced that we're just plain weird. Funny and mostly safe unless provoked, but weird nonetheless.

Also, Javik is in stasis. He shall appear, but not for a while now.

As for the yahg and the drell. First off, I'm not sure how I'll deal with the yahg. To be honest, I'd kinda forgotten about them. But I don't think first contact with them will go as it did in the original timeline. I personally like how Chemiclord treats them in Mass Effect: Pieces (which I recommend). But they won't play a major role. Probably.

The drell have already been evacuated from Rakhana, in fact they were evacuated in the 1980s at some point. Humanity is working on some medical treatments for them, but that won't be mentioned for a while. And there will probably be aid missions sent to Rakhana with the terraforming tech utilized in some capacity to restore the planet to a certain degree, much like how it is being used on Earth.

The next couple of chapters will be longer. We'll be going into more depth with a couple of recurring characters and I'll be explaining more of how human politics, society, and technology has developed in the intervening years. No Shepard yet though. He won't be among the first human Spectres.

Until next time. Please review, favorite, follow.