Chapter Seven
The small Interceptor shook heavily for a few moments before easing into slightly slower movements as huge clamps outside held the sides of the ship into place. Ishtar reached up to the overhead controls of the ships' power source and began to flick off the lights inside the adjoining mess hall and cockpit as Garrus rose to his feet from the seat beside her in silence and made his way over to the hull's pneumatic door. Sure enough, there were plenty of cargo crates ready for unloading and he figured that it would be most unwise to help Ishtar unload onto the docking platform, it just wasn't worth the risk of being seen together which would undoubtedly endanger them both.
Ishtar and Garrus both looked back at each other momentarily as they heard the unmistakable hiss of the station's docking equipment position them to a more accessible entry against the loading bay. Ishtar rose from her seat and moved over to where Garrus was positioned against the frame of the hull, staring blankly at the hull's door as if he was staring straight through it.
"There's no need to be nervous..." Ishtar began carefully, curving her head around slightly as if trying to distract his gaze from the door.
Garrus' didn't turn around to meet her eyes "Heh... I don't think I need to tell you how serious this is. Mentally preparing for every possibility and outcome is not comparable to any emotions of anxiety."
"Suit yourself." Ishtar shrugged, popping the tension forming around the collar of her neck. "If you're ready, I'll be opening up the hold now." She finished her sentence with a swift thump of her fist against the metal frame beside her and hit a reasonably sized red button that controlled the door and a voluntary soft beep emit from the overhang above them.
Light began to slowly fill in the cracks around the edges of the cargo hold's door and within moments, the door slowly swung downwards to provide a ramp that sat comfortably on top of the loading bay's hanger. Almost suddenly they were greeted by the sounds of bustle and urgency which were quite loud in Omega's large port and it was hard to translate the many squawks and growls that were heard into anything understandable, the loading bay was busy and crowded and Ishtar was quite relieved by this as it gave them both the perfect cover to pass through almost unnoticed by anyone who may of been expecting their arrival close by.
As soon as the door came to a halt, Garrus took his cue to leave and briskly jogged off the ship into the crowd that swarmed around the center of the port. Ishtar grunted under her breath as she watched him disappear into the crowd that breathed and pulsed with alien life until she could no longer see him at all.
"Charming..." Ishtar looked over the crowd once more before turning her attention to the crates inside the hold. "...not even a thank you or a good bye."
--
Garrus bumped shoulders with one too many alien species as he made his way through the port, he was very surprised at the lack of security hanging around the area that breached out into the city itself. This prospect almost made him feel as though he liked the place already, no security protocols, no confirmation of his status and no weapon checks... in fact, he was extremely impressed with the lack of any sort of welcoming committee thus far.
As he reached the exit of the port, he wrinkled his nose in protest at the scents that surrounded his senses in a steady increase of potency. Gone was the scent of metal and fuel, it was now replaced with the smell of thousands upon thousands of alien species that moved with and against each other in a bitter, sour and salty ocean of sweat and pheromones. He shook his head vigorously for a couple of seconds, trying to accommodate the sudden shock to his senses and pressed through the exiting crowd of the station port. There were a lot of angry faces that passed him by as he made his way towards a monument in the center of the station's plaza, he figured Omega was the last place in the universe that anyone in their right mind would spend a well earnt vacation and the expressions of the inhabitants faces here confirmed that to him. The monument was a simple metal obelisk that had an area map console stationed into it's middle and it reflected it's surroundings quite well as Garrus snarled back his disgust at all the filth and grime that was incrusted into the cracks of the monitor.
He scrupulously examined the waypoints on the screen as best as he could manage and was able to make out four sections of the area that were split into loose segments akin to a pie chart. There was a business sector, an industrial sector and a residential sector. The right side of the monitor was far too damaged and cracked to be able to recognise what the last sector might of been and he sighed discontentedly. He knew he was around the outskirts of the business and industrial sector but the map didn't really go into detail about how to navigate around these areas. Earlier on the ship, Ishtar had forewarned him about how easy it was to lose your way around the twisted streets of the city and he didn't pay much attention to her assertion at the time, but now he realised just how right she was and in his current introspection, he scorned himself for not taking her warnings into account.
Before he had a chance to gather his thoughts, he felt a large hand landing heavily upon his shoulder and he spun around on his heels to find a large, gruff krogan standing directly in front of him.
"Hey! Other people are waiting to use this piece of shit..." The krogan barked in annoyance. "Move it!"
Garrus stepped aside instantly, allowing the krogan to move in front of the monitor and use the console as he pleased. There was no use in getting into a fight so early on and although he was heavily armed, he didn't fancy taking his chances against an eight foot tall krogan who may or may not have biotic abilities that could and would send his ass flying into a point of singularity in an instant.
The krogan stared at him viciously before turning his attention back towards the monitor. "Damn turians..." he muttered audibly "...I can't wait for the day that they all get nuked from existence."
Garrus ignored the offensive comment and shifted his gaze nonchalantly towards the direction of the business sector and decided it was due time to start making his way into that area. He had no idea how to make his way through there but his instincts told him that he might have a better chance with asking for relevant information at the local bars around that area, that all depended of course if there was free access into those areas without any signs or forms of hostilities or trouble.
--
The port hadn't got any quieter since she first disembarked on the bay and by afternoon the crowd just seemed to grow larger and larger. Many of them were coming in and out of the docking bay to get to their ships and a whole lot more were alighting their ships just to get onto the bay itself.
Ishtar had her cargo set up in front of the interceptor's hull within the first half hour and within minutes she managed to attract quite a number of interested patrons who were ogling her goods on display. She had traded her whole stock of exotic furs for a reasonable amount of fuel as well as a few electronic goods that were just cluttering up the ship and serving no real use. She recognised a short, round volus just off to her side as one of her most eager and regular customers and as she worked on bartering with others, she smiled and offered the volus a warm greeting. The volus lifted his arm and gave a friendly wave back as he tried to scoot in between two rather large elcors who were both taking their time in haggling over the right price for one of the biotic amplifiers that she had on the table.
As the volus squeezed past the two bartering elcor to the edge of the table, he gently rested his hand on top of Ishtar's own and she looked down quickly at him in response.
"You should take the time to go and see him later on..." the volus began as he took his hand away from Ishtar's own, he sucked in another blast of conditioned air from inside his suit before continuing "...he would be surprised and overjoyed to see you back so soon."
Ishtar stood up straight and rolled her shoulders a little in a half-assed attempt at a stretch before leaning in close to the volus again. She knew exactly who he was talking about and although she could appreciate the volus' gentle tact with initiating a request, she still didn't take too kindly to other people getting involved in her personal business.
"Maybe later, I'm busy right now." She turned to the elcors who were standing by either side of him and smiled to them whilst handing them their goods. The volus took this as an obvious sign and a poor attempt at a brush-off and he shook his head bashfully before turning to rummage through one of the crates to look for a hidden bargain or maybe somewhere to hide his slight embarrassment for being so forward with her.
--
The twisting maze of streets around Omega's districts were severely frustrating to Garrus, he had spent the last fifteen minutes going around in a complete circle. He started around the back of a communication repair store and ended up just a block away from it nearly a quarter of an hour later on. His anger and frustration was beginning to ebb to the surface and he slammed the ball of his fist against the side of a pawn shop building. Placing his fingers over the bridge of his nose as he squeezed his eyes shut, he felt a terrible headache coming on and the smell that rose from this hollowed-out rock of a station was just making it all the worse for him.
He slowly opened his eyes again once the sharp pain had passed and he noticed a crumpled up figure just opposite him on the other side of the street that was leaning up against a disused building. He frowned and took a step forward, carefully pushing through the two way crowd that was streaming by him in an almost unbreakable line until he reached the feet of the sitting figure on the ground.
The fetal-positioned creature reached out with a five-fingered hand from beneath a dusty and grimy canvas cloth that covered it from head to toe. "Spare credits...? It croaked with a dry cough and a wheeze "...maybe leftover food?"
Garrus bent down until he was at head-level with the figure, balancing comfortably on the front of both of his digitigrade feet. "If you can show me how to get to the edges of the residential area, I'll get you food and a place to stay for the night."
The figure planted a hand against the wall for support and slowly rose to his feet, Garrus followed him upwards until they were standing straight at eye level, but the man seemed to have a severely bad posture as his vertebrae bent forwards in an awkward manner, giving him the appearance of having a hump upon his back. The man placed his other hand on Garrus' shoulder as he steadied his stumbling until he was satisfied he had better control of his feet.
"I can show you anything you want in this forsaken snakepit.." the man laughed with a wheeze. "I know where all the best consort offices are as well, real good ones." he crooned at Garrus' ear with a subtle hint of perversity in his tone.
"That's not what I'm really looking for..." Garrus began with a slight nervous chuckle "I want to go for a drink, free of distractions of course..." The man nodded at him from underneath his shroud as if he understood, even though it didn't seem as genuine as Garrus had hoped.
"I know of several bars close to the residential area. They seem to get good business there as a lot of the people who work in the business and industrial areas like to have a drink or two before work even starts!" The man bellowed out a roaring laugh before violently coughing into his hand, as he caught his breath once again he beat at his chest with his fist before settling back down into a normal breathing pattern.
"Alright, take me there then." Garrus began as he walked ahead of the man by a few long strides. He stopped for a moment when he realised he was walking alone and he turned on his heel when he noticed that the hobo was a deliberately slow walker. The man waved a hand and beckoned him back and Garrus stayed where he was, waiting for the hobo to catch up.
"Not everyone is as fit and limber as you are, turian" The hobo joked, placing his hand back upron Garrus' shoulder for support. "I'll get you there before evening, don't you worry."