They soon docked at Omega, was a huge space station carved out of a meteor. Shepard only new the place by reputation, it housed criminals, terrorists, and malcontents for thousands of years. Basically it was the Grand Central for crime in the Terminus System.

They had practically exited from the airlock when an eager salarian greeted them. "Ah! Welcome to Omega! You're new here, aren't you? I can always tell. Allow me to—" He halted as a batarian approached. "Oh…" He swallowed nervously. "Hello, Moklan! I was just—"

"Leave, Fargut. Now." The batarian gestured.

"Of course, Moklan! Whatever she wants!" Fargut then quickly scampered away.

"Blasted scavengers. Welcome to Omega…" All four of the batarian's eyes narrowed. "Shepard."

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "You know who I am?"

"Of course. We had you tagged the moment you entered the Terminus Systems. You're not as subtle as you think." Moklan looked him over. "Aria wants to know what brings a dead Spectre to Omega. I suggest you go to Afterlife now and present yourself."

"The attitude. I'm not here to cause problems for Omega." Of course you can say for Omega causing problems against him.

"Think explode around you, Shepard. You can't blame Aria for keeping an eye on you." The batarian jerked his head towards the door. "Afterlife. Now." He walked away.

Shepard rolled his eyes. EDI's voice came over the comm. "I'm receiving quarantine warnings about the slums where Dr. Mordin Solus runs the clinic. Anticipate resistance at the transport station. I have also accessed messages between mercenary groups regarding plans to deal with Archangel. There's a recruiting station at Afterlife that may have more information on him."

"Thanks, EDI."

Zaeed Massani was beating up a batarian while he waited. The bataraib looked to Shepard with a pleading look. "Please… you have to help me."

Zaeed then punched him again. "No one said you could talk, jackass."

"You Zaeed Massani?" Shepard asked.

The man turned, and looked back at him with mismatched eyes his face for scars. "Yeah. That's me. You must be Commander Shepard. I hear we have a galaxy to save."

He glanced down at the batarian. "My contact told me we're picking up one man. Not two."

"Batarian delinquent. Pissed off someone rich enough to hire me to go after him. And for my 'bring 'em in alive' rates, even." The prisoner tried to plead, and Zaeed kicked him in the face. "Tried to lead me on a chase all over the Systems. He should have known better. These people always run to Omega."

"I assume you've been briefed?" He'd heard the name Massani before, though he hadn't gotten a lot of details.

"I've done my homework. Cerberus sent me everything I needed to know."

Two of them then shook hands. "Good to have you, Zaeed. We have a lot to do."

Zaeed nodded. "That's what they tell me. I assume the Illusive Man told you about our arrangement?"

So there was a catch. "No. I guess he decided to leave that information out of the dossier."

Zaeed nodded as if he expected as much. "Good thing I asked. Pick the permission a little while back, just before I signed on with Cerberus. Thought you might be interested. You heard the name Vido Santiago?" Shepard shook his head. "He's the head of the Blue Suns. Runs the whole organisation. Seems he's recently captured an Eldell-Ashland refinery on Zorya and is using their work for slave labour. The company wants it dealt with."

"I'll make sure that gets done," Shepard assured.

"Good. Get out of the way so we can concentrate on being big goddamn heroes."

The batarian then make a break for it, but he didn't get far before Zaeed shot him in leg. "I better turn this thing in before it starts to stink. I'll be locked and loaded next time you're ready to get some killing done."

Zaeed then began dragging the batarian away.

They then collided with a group of batarian stepped into his path. "What are you looking at?"

Shepard rolled his eyes. "Don't you have something better to do than pick a fight with people you don't know?"

"No. Just want to get in my face."

Shepard then pulled out his pistol. "You see my gun. Do you really want to do this?"

"I…" All the belligerence fled the man. "Fine. You're off the hook. For now. See you around."

He shook his head, holstered his sidearm, and headed into the bar.

He had heard rumours of Aria, who was commonly known as the Pirate Queen. "That's close enough," she said as he reached the top of her little platform.

And then he had guns pointed at him again. Miranda and Jacob both drew their own sidearms, while the rest of Aria's goons pointed weapons at them. He didn't bother drawing his pistol. If Aria was going to shoot him, she never would have let him get this close to her. This was a show. Sure enough, at a small gesture from her, the guards stowed their weapons. "Stand still." A batarian ran a scanner over him.

Shepard glanced down at his sidearm. "If you're looking for weapons, you're not doing a very good job."

"Can't be too careful with dead Spectres." Aria didn't turn around. "That could be anyone wearing your face."

He walked past the batarian. "I was told you're the person to talk to if I have questions."

"They're clean." The batarian's voice sounded almost grudging.

"Depends on the questions." She finally turned around to face him.

"You run Omega?" He raised an eyebrow.

Aria laughed, turned, spread her arms in a rather histrionic gesture, and said, "I am Omega." She even managed to get some reverberation into her voice. She turned back to him. "But you need more. Everyone needs more something. And they all come to me. I'm the boss, CEO, queen if you're feeling dramatic. It doesn't matter. Omega has no titled ruler and only one rule." She sat down. "Don't fuck with Aria."

"I like it. Easy to remember."

"If you forget, someone will remind you," he said gesturing to a guards.

"And then I toss your sorry ass out of the nearest airlock," said a bata rian.

She then gestured for him to sit. "So, what can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for a couple people. Professor Mordin Solus is one."

"The salarian doctor? Last I heard he was trying to help plague victims in the quarantine zone." She leaned back a little. "I always liked Mordin. He's as likely to heal you as he is to shoot you."

"What can you tell me about him?"

"Used to be part of the Salarain Special Task Group. He's brilliant and dangerous. Just don't get them talking. He never shuts up." She turned and looked at him. "If you really need to find him, take a shuttle to the quarantine zone. No guarantee they'll let you in, of course."

"I'm also trying to track down an 'Archangel'."

She smirked. "You and half of Omega. You want him dead, too?"

Shepard blinked. "Why's everyone after him?"

"He thinks he's fighting on the side of good. There is no good side to Omega. Everything he does pisses someone off. It's catching up to him."

"Just the kind of guy I'm looking for."

"Really? Well, aren't you interesting?" Aria gave him a contemplative look. "You're going to make some enemies teaming up with Archangel." Well, good. There was still a little room at the bottom of the list. "That's assuming you can get to him. He's in a bit of trouble right now."

"What kind of trouble?"

"The local merc groups have joined forces are take him down. They've him cornered, but it sounds like they're having trouble finishing him off. They've started hiring anyone with a gun to help them."

"Sounds like might be our ticket in," said Jacob.

"They're using a private room for recruiting… just over there," she gestured. "I'm sure they'll sign you up."

"What can you tell me about Archangel?"

"Not as much as I'd like. He showed up several months ago and started causing all sorts of problems. If you make your own laws—which everyone here does—he make life difficult for. He's reckless and idealistic. But he seems to know enough to stay clear of me."

"I hear you're recruiting." Shepard stopped in front of the batarian in the Blue Suns uniform.

The batarian looked him over. "Hmmm. Why don't you step inside?"

The recruitment officer looked at them. "You feel like you could do some damage. Looking for a good fight?"

"You could say that," said Shepard.

"Standard fee is 500 credits each. You get paid when the job's done. If you die, your friends don't collect your share. You need your own weapons and armour…" He looked over all of them. "Looks like you got that covered. And no, this doesn't make you a member of Blue Suns, Eclipse or Blood Pack. You are a freelancer. Period. Any questions?"

Shepard asked a few questions discovering that Archangel had caused quite a bit of trouble for all three merc groups, so much so that they actually joined forces to kill them. Also Archangel appeared to have a team, but they had already taken care of that. He also discovered that the freelance job was nothing more than a suicide mission, but they were practically already on one.

"So where do we go?" Shepard asked.

"Just head over to the transport people outside the club. One of our boys will take you from there. Sending the next one."

Shepard was about to head out when the next recruit in line stepped in. "Hey, is this where I sign up?"

"You look a little young to be freelancing as a merc." Shepard looked him over. The reminded him of Jenkins.

"I'm old enough." The kid turned towards him belligerently. "I grew up on Omega. I know how to use a gun." He demonstrated by waving a crappy sidearm haphazardly.

Jacob shook his head. "So does Archangel."

"I can handle myself." The kid squared his shoulders and puffed out his chest trying to make himself look tough. "Besides, I just spent 50 credits on this pistol, and I wanna use it!"

Shepard disarmed the kid rather casually, then snapped the firing mechanism off the gun. "Get your money back." He handed the now useless firearm back to the kid. "Trust me, kid. You'll thank me later." He headed back out.

"Omega." Miranda shook her head as they walked to the transit hub. "What a pisshole. At least it keeps you on your toes. I've had to come here on business before. I feel like I need a shower afterward—in addition to normal decontamination."

"Not exactly the kind of place I want to live in," said Shepard.

"It's about time they sent me someone who looks like they can actually fight." The batarian who met them almost looked relieved. "They tell you what we're up against."

Shepard surveyed the scene. "The recruiter was a little vague."

"We wouldn't get many hires if everyone knew the truth. Archangel's holed up in a building at the end of the boulevard over there. He's got a superior position, and the only way in is over a very exposed bridge. It's a killing ground." The batarian shrugged. "But he's getting tired, making mistakes. We'll have him soon enough."

"You guys have a plan?" Shepard asked.

"A small team is waiting to infiltrate his hideout, but we need to draw Archangel's fire so they can move in."

"And that's where we come in?" Shepard guessed.

He nodded. "Exactly. You'll be on the distraction team. Head straight over the bridge and keep Archangel busy so the infiltration team can sneak in behind him."

"Sounds like a suicide mission to me," said Jacob.

"Pretty much. But you look like you can handle it. Head up to the boulevard and get to the third barricade. Talk to Sergeant Cathka. He'll tell you when to go in."

"I better go and find Sergeant Cathka."

"Good idea. What yourself on the boulevard. Archangel's killed dozens out there already."

He turned to his companions as soon as the batarian walked away to meet another couple freelancers.

"Well, we might have a way to get in, but getting out could be interesting," said Jacob.

"Let's find him first," Shepard advised. "Then we'll figure out how to get back."

Sabotaged ammo, a couple stolen accounts, some hacked mechs, a damaged gunship, and a dead gunship repairman later, they headed towards the bridge.

"Doesn't look like Archangel's got much time," Jacob noted.

"Well, let's not wait around too long," said Miranda.

"Come on. We'll give these guys as a surprise of our own," said Shepard

They made their way over the bridge and then they began shooting the freelancers, taking them completely by surprise. The sniper, Archangel, winged him with a shot, but it just grazed him as the entered the base. He saw a group setting up some explosives, and casually shot the explosives. The resulting fireball took out the entire group.

The sniper had his back to them when they entered the room. "Archangel?" Shepard asked.

To his surprise, the sniper signalled for him to wait a moment, then took aim again. He got the last of the group that had come across the bridge with a headshot. He set the rifle down, using it to push himself tiredly back to his feet. Then he pulled off his helmet. "Shepard. I thought you were dead."

Shepard's eyes widened as his eyes fell upon to his old friend. "Garrus! What are you doing here?"

"Just keeping my skills sharp. A little target practice."

Shepard gave his friend an once-over. Garrus looked exhausted. "You okay?"

"Been better, but it sure is good to see a friendly face." Garrus nodded. "Killing mercs is hard work. Especially on my own."

Shepard started to nod, and then he narrowed his eyes. "You nailed me good a couple of times, by the way."

"Concussive rounds only. No harm done. Didn't want the mercs getting suspicious." Garrus shrugged.

"Uh-huh."

Garrus clicked his mandibles. "If I want to do more than bring your shields down, I'd have done it. Besides, you are taking your sweet time. I need you to get moving."

"What are you doing here on Omega?"

"I got fed up with all the bureaucratic crap on the Citadel. Figured I could do more good on my own." He stretched his arm, clearly he's been fighting for quite some time. "At least it's not hard to fight criminals here. All I have to do is point my gun and shoot."

Shepard shook his head in bewilderment. "How'd you managed to piss off every major merc organisation in the Terminus Systems?"

Garrus shrugged. "It wasn't easy. I really had to work at it." He looked over the bridge. "I'm amazed that they teamed up to fight me. They must really hate me."

"Since when did you start calling yourself Archangel?"

"It's just a name the locals gave me. For all my good deeds." Garrus leaned back. "I don't mind it, but please..."He looked up at Shepard. "It's just 'Garrus' to you."

"Well, we got here, but I don't think getting out will be as easy," said Shepard.

"No, it won't." Garrus stood. "That bridge has saved my life… funnelling all those witless idiots into scope. But it works both ways." He looked out over the scene. "They'll slaughter us if we try to get out that way."

Miranda spoke up. "So we just sit here and wait for them to take us out?"

Garrus glanced at Miranda. "It's not all that bad. This place has held them off so far. And with the three of you…" He waved a hand. "I suggest we hold this location, wait for a crack in their defences, and take our chances. It's not a perfect plan, but it's a plan."

Shepard was a price that Garrus got himself into this position. "How'd you let yourself get into this position?"

"My feeling is not on the way of my better judgement. It's a long story. I'll make you a deal: you get me out of here alive, and I'll tell you the whole damn thing."

Shepard couldn't argue with that. "If we find as a team, we'll hold them off."

"You're right. Their numbers won't help them in here, anyway." Garrus nodded. "Let's see what they're up to." He went to the window and looked out his scope. "Hmm…" His mandibles clicked. "Looks like they know their infiltration team failed. Take a look. Scouts. Eclipse, I think." He handed Shepard the rifle.

He hefted it, and begrudgingly noted it actually was a bit nicer than the Cerberus had provided. He saw mechs appearing over the barricade. Sheppard then pulled the trigger blown one of their heads off. "More than scouts. One less now though."

"Indeed. We better get ready." Garrus got into position. "I'll stay up here. I can do a lot of damage from this vantage point. You…" Garrus nodded. "You can do what you do best. Just like old times, Shepard."

Mechs began to advance towards them, but they were more prepared and began shooting them down like they were in a shooting gallery. Slowly more Eclipse mercs started to advance, some even had shields and biotics.

After they mowed them down the Eclipse leader, Jaroth showed himself looking quite frustrated. "If you want something done properly…" He then broadcast his voice. "All right, let's see how you handle this, Archangel."

A curse came from Garrus. "Damn it. They're sending out the heavy mechs."

"That problem to take care of itself!" Shepard smirked.

The heavy mech turned, and opened fire on the mercenaries. Over the comm, he heard Garrus laugh.

"You're kicking ass, Shepard. They barely touched me." Garrus nodded when they re-entered his sniper perch. "And we got Jaroth in the process. I've been hunting that little bastard for months."

"Why were you after him?" Shepard tossed him another ammo block.

"He's been shipping tainted eezo all over Citadel space. Half the goods I seized back at C-Sec came from his team here on Omega." Garrus clicked his mandibles. "I took out a big shipment a while back and killed his top lieutenant in the process. Not surprised he decided to work with the other mercs after that."

"Seems like you've been having fun." Shepard hesitated a moment. "I ran into Tali. Don't suppose you know where some of the others are?"

"Last time I talked to Ashley, she was under the command of Rick Ryder, he's been a Lieutenant Commander and they been doing several missions for Councillor Anderson." Garrus shrugged. "Thought that was almost a year ago. We stopped being able to tell each other what we were doing and things kind of…" His mandibles clicked. "Wrex headed back to Tuchanka, and I'm not sure what Liara is up to these days. How was Tali?"

"Good. She's running missions on her own now." He glanced over the balcony. "We've still got Blood Pack and Blue Suns left. Think we can make a break for it?"

"Maybe. Let's see what they're up to."

Shepard started to walk over, and then noticed the land and Jacob as they approached. He gestured for them to hold the walkway just in case something did make it over the bridge. "Look at that." He gestured.

"They've reinforced the other side…" Garrus nodded. "Heavily. But they're not coming over the bridge yet. What are they waiting for?"

The building answered their question by shaking slightly. Some alarms went off. Miranda turned towards them. "What the hell was that?"

"Damn it. They've breached the lower level." Garrus looked down at his omnitool. "Well, they had to use their brains eventually. You'd better get down there, Shepard. I'll keep the bridge clear."

"Let's split up two and two." He gestured. "Jacob, stay with Garrus and watch his back. Keep them alive."

"If you say so," said Jacob uneasily. "I'm not sure it's a good idea…"

"Thanks, Shepard. You better get going."

"Vorcha, varren, and krogan." Shepard sniped one of the mercenaries. "Garrus, you sure know how to throw a welcome back party."

"Sealing the blast doors should keep them out long enough," Garrus radioed back. "You've been down there almost a minutes. What's taking you so long?"

"Mostly the krogan. I'm using disruptor ammo to slow them down Miranda's blowing them away with her biotics."

"Sounds like you're having fun."

Shepard hit the control for the blast door, then glanced at his comm unit. "This door seals were making our way to the next one."

"We're taking some heads appear, Shepard," said Garrus.

"We're moving as fast as we can, Garrus." He snapped his rifle up and put a round into the backpack unit of a vorcha with a flamethrower, then ducked into cover as the vorcha and two of its friends exploded.

"Get back here, Shepard. They're coming in through the doors."

Garrus turned just in time to see the Blood Pack's leader, Garm are merging from the door with his vorcha bodyguards. "Raaah! Rip them to shreds!"

Garrus sniped one of the vorcha, which seemed to annoy the krogan. "Watch my back." The krogan gestured. "I'll deal with Archangel!"

Shepard and Miranda arrived shooting another vorcha.

Caught between the two of them, the krogan lasted about a minute. Garrus put a new thermal clip into his sniper rifle. "Thanks, Shepard. They hardly got through to me. And we took out Garm and his Blood Pack. This day just gets better and better. He was one tough son of a bitch."

"You fought with him before?" Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, we tangled once. Caught him alone. None of his gang to help him. I still couldn't take him out. I've never seen a krogan regen that fast. He's a freak of nature. He just kept at it until his vorcha showed up. It was close, but I had to let him go." He clicked his mandibles again. "Not this time."

"Only the Blue Suns are left." Shepard glanced out at the bridge. "I say we take our chances and fight our way out."

"I think you're right. Tarak's got the toughest group, but nothing we haven't faced before. Besides, he won't be expecting us to meet him head-on—"

They were interrupted by the gunship breaking one of the windows. Immediately, they dove for cover. "Shepard, you couldn't take out the gunship?"

"I took down the guy repairing its shields."

"Dammit, they're rappelling down the walls."

He was heading back to the balcony when he saw the gunship rise again with Garrus caught out in the open. The man that was piloting it was none other than the Blue Suns leader, Tarak.

"Archangel!" Tarak roared. "You think you can screw with the Blue Sun! This ends now!"

Garrus turned, but it was far too late as the gunship began to fire at him. He managed to crawl for cover, but then a missile hit before he could get all the way clear.

Shepard took cover and the gunship began to fire at them. He looked towards Garrus' unmoving body and feared the worst. "Garrus!"

Shepard then stood up and began to fire at the gunship of everything he had. He then launched a burst of fire at that must of course a chain reaction at the gunship exploded. The way to see the results and move towards Garrus' side.

"Garrus?" He reached for his medical kit. Blue blood was pooled under Garrus's form.

Then Garrus gasped, his hand clutching at his rifle. As quickly as he could, Shepard got the medigel patch on. "Stay with me, Garrus. I didn't come all this way to see you die." Garrus' breath came in ragged gasps, but he was breathing. "We're getting you out of here, Garrus. Just hold on." He glanced at Jacob. "Radio Joker. May sure they're ready for us."

"We better hurry," said Jacob. "He looks bad."

Ashley sighed, and looked back at the readout. Horizon was a peaceful world, but the residents were making it fairly clear they weren't happy about her presence. It was hard to blame them. It wasn't as though she was happy to be there either.

She began to wish that Rick admin called back to the Citadel. She had no idea why, he was called back, but she had a niggling feeling that it had something to do with the rumours about Shepard. She still couldn't believe them.

The installation of the defence towers wasn't exactly going well. The towers hadn't even been placed yet, and the colonists were already complaining about them. And she couldn't tell if the targeting unit was flawed or if it had been deliberately sabotaged. Cerberus undoubtedly had agents in the colony itself, but the idea that they could sabotage the parts enroute aboard Alliance ships was more than a little disturbing.

Brass was worried Cerberus was involved in the colony disappearance. Was someone impersonating John in an attempt to draw attention away from the disappearances, or to distance Cerberus from them? He forced himself to unclench his fists, and sighed. Tali had left her four messages. She'd yet to read any of them.

She looked down at the readout again. Well, if Horizon was the next target, she better get those towers up and running.