Salnak and Gar stood outside the freighter's cargo bay doors and waited, along with several other mercenaries and pirates. The Scrapyard was, like the rest of the Docks, officially neutral territory where no one was allowed to start fights on pain of death. However, like everything on Omega, that neutrality had a price and with the payout from the bounty they were about to collect, that price wasn't all that high, relatively speaking. Of course, they'd had to agree to work with a few other mercenaries and some pirates of shore leave in order to put together the bribe money, but they'd more than make it back as soon as the doors opened. Dead or Alive.
The large cargo door slowly opened into an abattoir. The stench of rotting flesh and gore of dead humans filled the air. Within the side cargo bay of the freighter were dozens of corpses, most but not all in armor, strewn all throughout the room on top of crates and in piles. At the entrance to that charnel house was a small human child.
Neither Krogan was familiar with the determining the genders of human children, but the long hair was more common on their females and the glowing eyes belonged to the female Human bounty. So the human was probably the female they were waiting for.
The crowd behind them slowed and sped up alternately as the small of the dead spread through the street of the Scrapyard. The more inexperienced hawkers and street vendors stopped and even the some of the more experienced vendors paused. Those pedestrians with more acute survival instincts went for cover or hurried on their way.
The Human child's eyes passed over the assembled crowed of bounty hunters. Salnak enough about human expressions to tell she wasn't impressed. Gar knew enough to understand that she was a seriously powerful psychic.
"Yes?" she asked.
"You're coming with us," a Batarian, and presumably less experienced, bounty hunters demanded. More of the crowd started to distance themselves from the airlock.
"I'm waiting for an evaluator from Meegor's Salvage," the child explained. "You are not that evaluator."
"And?" the same bounty hunter asked, casually aiming his gun at the Human.
The Batarian collapsed screaming as blood poured from his eyes, nostrils, and ears. "That."
The Human child looked at the other bounty hunters as they all raised their guns and pointed them at her.
She was still not impressed.
Salnak and Gar shared a look. Sure they'd probably get resleaved if they were killed normally, but if they fought a powerful psychic, then their Soul Catcher could get damaged or destroyed when they were killed and that would be much worse than just the cost of a new body. They were Krogan, so they didn't like the idea of backing down from a fight, but they were also several centuries old so they were smart enough and in control enough to know when to back down from one.
"We're not with him," they said at the same time as they started to back away. Several others bounty hunters followed their lead and one had already left.
"Oh come on, she doesn't even have a barrier!" one of the bounty hunters still in front of the Human said.
"Yes, I do," the Human replied as a purple field of energy appeared around her.
This startled the one of those remaining enough that she opened fire.
The psionic Human didn't do anything flashy like a telekinetic wave or psi lightning to kill them, she just stood there as they fired at her and dove for cover. Killing them one by one the same way she killed the first Batarian.
When they were all dead, she swept her eyes over the crowd. "Do not touch my ship or annoy me." Then she turned back to the ship where another Human was coming out holding a pistol.
"I guess we'll just add these guys to our haul then," the taller human said.
By this time Salnak and Gar had left that section of the Scrapyard.
Meegor'Oketaka and Tali'Zorah walked up the stolen freighter. Since Armacham had paid a high bounty on the ship, its crew and anyone else on board, particularly a young Human adult and a young Human child, they wouldn't normally be coming to evaluate the ship because it would have been seized by mercenaries and bounty hunters well before then. In fact, after Meegor had received the call, he almost hadn't bothered to even go out to its docking berth since it would most likely be gone by then.
However, Tali had just come here at the start of her Pilgrimage and Meegor wanted to set a good example for his young employee while she became accustomed to life outside of the Migrant Fleet.
She would also probably nag him about it if he didn't. She was naïve and dutiful, the worst kind of people to send to Omega. [i]Whoever decided to drop her off here at the start of her Pilgrimage must have hated her,[/i] Meegor decided.
They walked through the large intersection doors and approached the berth for the stolen Armacham freighter. Meegor frowned when his suit detected rotting flesh. It also seemed that people were avoiding where the freighter was docked. He knew it was still there, if it hadn't been there he wouldn't have come, and he knew there had been a fight, but he had not exactly expected the bodies to still be there. Why hadn't scavengers or cleaners taken the bodies?
Then he saw the bloody bodies inside and outside the freighter and the two Humans standing before them.
"Keelah."
Tali had so far spent the past several cycles working for Meegor'Oketaka in his salvage shop in Omega. He was supposed to be a source of reasonable work and a way to get used to the Galaxy outside the Migrant Fleet, but she mainly thought of him as a slave driver. Though she supposed the only real difference was that he was somewhat creepy, constantly keeping her busy and the increased variety and unpleasantness of his customers. Take for instance the two Human psychics she was dealing with at the moment.
One of them was a small Human child who reminded her vaguely of what a Quarian child would look like without their suit. Though her glowing eyes and the way they seemed to stare through her visor and into her very soul was very unsettling. The way she had apparently killed the fourteen bounty hunters outside her ship helped contribute to that feeling.
She could feel pain, hatred and an unnatural hunger emanating from the girl. Tali hardly needed to look at the girl to know she was dangerous. And she was focused on Tali.
"Listen Meegor, I know we have a bounty on us and the ship but can't you turn in the ship for the bounty and salvage the rest?" the other Human asked. He was slightly taller than her, lean and seemed alight with determination. She could tell he was psionic as well, but he wasn't as unnaturally powerful as the girl.
"Yeah, but it's dangerous work, salvaging from a ship with this kind of bounty on it. What's to stop more mercenaries from showing up and trying to take this stuff like your mech?" Meegor replied. Tali thought
The Human gestured to Meegor's variety of work and combat robots arrayed around them.
"Well, yeah, but robots are expensive and can be hacked."
"The docks are neutral territory," the girl interjected.
"Yes but you were still attacked, weren't you?" Meegor justified.
"They will not do so again," the girl replied.
It looked like Meegor wanted to argue nut the girl stared him down.
"Fine, fine, but you still need to pay me the fees for setting up your accounts and storing the mech and whatnot," he finally said.
"Sure," the Human man said and the two quickly reached an agreement and Tali started examining the crates in the cargo hold, nervous about the dead bodies.
She had just catalogued another crate of cloth fiber clothing when she felt some unnerving presence behind her. Nervously turning around, she saw it was the Human girl.
"I am Alma Wade," the girl said, staring at her intently with her glowing amber eyes.
"I'm Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."
"We need a Quarian Engineer," Alma stated.
Tali paused. "Why a Quarian engineer?"
"Quarian engineers can work with any type of ship and with Armacham after us we need someone who has the capability of maintaining and repairing a variety of ship systems." Tali had the feeling that Alma's explanation wasn't complete, in part because Tali found it hard to believe that Alma was the type to not try and strike back.
"Why is Armacham after you?"
"They were experimenting on psionic children but we escaped so they have decided to kill us."
"Oh." Tali wasn't sure how to take that. She knew that Armacham was a major Human megacorp along with Umbrella, Weylan-Yutanni, Dahl and Hyperion, and she'd heard or see all sorts of rumors of things that the Human corporations did, and how they were only slightly worse than what the Salarian Megacorps did. But she hadn't actually thought that they would do something like that, especially to children. She supposed that it explained something of Alma's…unique nature.
"If you were told to restore a derelict battleship to functionality, how would you go about it?" Alma asked.
Tali paused. "What kind of ship?"
"Assume you have access to the layout but are otherwise unfamiliar to the ship type or construction."
"Well…" Tali thought for a moment. "I would make sure all of the components like the engines, sensors and life support were working though there's only so much I could say about that with such a vague scenario, and then I would network them all together in either the bridge or the operations room depending on their condition," Tali said as she became more absorbed in the problem. "Then I would be able to pilot the ship and monitor its status from one place. Though, if I had to control it from one place over a long period I would probably put the controls in engineering so I could monitor and repair the systems more easily."
"Could you actually do this, especially if you had a technically competent but physically limited assistant?"
Tali nodded. "I'm not sure, but it would make it easier, though it would take at least a few days, maybe more if the design was very different from what I'm used to."
Alma nodded thoughtfully. "You're hired."
"What?" Tali asked, surprised.
"You were truthful and believed that you could potentially accomplish that task," Alma explained. "You would be suitable for our required role and you would be able to travel the galaxy on your Pilgrimage."
Tali straightened in surprise. "You want me to join you in your fight against a megacorp? You don't even have a ship!"
"Meegor will arrange for the sale of another ship to us," Alma explained. "Jack said that we should allow prospective recruits time to consider our offer, so you have until our return to decide."
With that Alma walked over to where the other Human, Jack, had finished speaking with Meegor and the two left.
Tali shook her head.
"Keelah."
Jakc looked over at Alma. Even though the crowds gave her a wide berth, she still seemed very uncomfortable with so many people and such a variety of emotions around them all. It was making buying gear with their new funds somewhat diffictul with the way the vendors edged away from the two and all of the attention her fear aura brought.
[i]I need something to help her relax,[/i] Jack thought to himself.
Then he spotted a particular vendor and he smiled.
It was a large, heavyset Batarian with a face covered in tattooed depictions of violence and threatening, wearing thick armor with what had to be one of the biggest shotguns Jack had ever seen propped casually next to where the Batarian stood.
"What do you want, Human?" the Batarain sneered.
"Just browsing," Jack replied, nodding towards Alma.
The Batarian's eyes scanned her before he nodded. "Skittish as an ill-trained Vorcha."
Alma, who couldn't see what the vendor sold from her angle, asked "What are you considering purchasing?"
Jack and the Batarian thoughtfully for a long, silent moment.
"What is it, Jack?" she asked, her nervousness increasing.
When he didn't answer, her anxiety increased, spreading and intensifying her aura and causing more passerby to quicken their pace and the more paranoid or jump denizens of Omega to start looking around and reach for their weapons and their fear increased.
Eventually Jack turned to the Batarian again and said, "The brown and white one."
The Batarian nodded in agreement, or that this was what he expected the Human to say. He reached for one of the shelves as he listed the price. Jack nodded, and the two swiped their omnitools across each other before Jack took hold of whatever it was he purchased and held it out of sight of her for a moment.
Alma frowned. "I can sense the shape of the object."
"Yeah, yeah," Jack said as he held it out for her. "Here you go, Alma."
She looked at it before taking it uncertainly. "What is this?"
The Batarian vendor spoke gruffly. "It's a Teddy Bear, a doll based on one of your animals, Human."
"What do I do with it?"
"Hug it."
She looked at Jack who nodded encouragingly.
She held it close to her and as the two started walking again her aura slowly receded around her.
It had taken about one hour to find all of the equipment that they were going to by, at least in part because of their lack of funds. Now they stood on the edge of the Docks, outside a bar labeled "The Gutted Varren." Based upon its outside it certainly lived up to such an auspicious name, Jack decided.
"What do you think?" he asked Alma, who was still holding the Teddy Bear close.
"We may be able to find crew here, but our method of payment is in question."
Jack shrugged. "We have bounties on us, so we'll just kill anyone that tries to collect and sell their stuff."
"That is a reasonable plan."
"Thought you'd think so; and if it fails to get us enough we can always hit the Armacham offices in Omega."
"I like that plan."
"So do I, now come on."
The two walked into the bar. It was built not in the loud Asari club style, but in the Krogan style with plenty of large round tables with ample space between, trophies on the walls and quietly played Krogan music about the joys of freedom and fighting.
One corner was slightly lower than the rest of the bar and had a small crowd around it which watched the occasional fight that happened within.
It was predominantly a place where people could go to quietly drink in peace, and only occasionally scrap.
Jack looked around at the crowd which went silent upon the two of them entering.
Alma pointed at two sitting at a table in the back. "They know us," she said.
They were a Human woman and man. The woman was in a dark Quarian-style suit with its hood drawn far over her face of which he could only see a pierced lip. The man wore dinged armor using tan plates with two parallel yellow stripes across them. He had an obviously artificial eye and what looked like a permanent scowl.
Jack waved and walked up. "Hi there, I believe you know us?"
The woman chuckled and spoke with what Jack assumed was an Asian accent. "Yes, we've heard about you. A lot of people out there want you, not just Armacham but Umbrella too. And others."
"And you're wondering what we did to get in trouble like that?"
"No, I was actually inside the Armacham offices here … shopping … when they received the news, and since I was inside their network I heard it too. Taking out an entire base? That's impressive kid."
"So you broke into their offices?" Jack asked, picking up on her meaning. "We could use someone like you," he continued, ignoring the fact that she couldn't be more than a few years older than him.
She shrugged. "Making an enemy of a megacorp sounds a bit crazy to me."
"I'm sure we could work something out," Jack replied.
"Maybe…" She smiled. "Actually, now that I think about it, plenty of people have called me crazy, so how about this," she said, leaning forward, "you help me do my jobs and I'll help you do yours, as partners."
Jack and Alma shared a look before turning back. "Deal, but why so easy?"
The woman grinned. "I'm being hunted by a Specter, so why not?"
Jack nodded. "I thought it might be something like that…"
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Kasumi Goto, Master Thief." She gave a seated bow with a flourish, before gesturing towards her companion. "And this old badger is Zaeed Massani, he's on a quest for revenge against Vido Santiago, owner of the Blue Suns and Umbrella trustee."
"Bastard betrayed me, stole my mercenary company, and shot me in the face," Zaeed growled in an accent Jack couldn't immediately identify.
"He helps me out when I need someone to distract the guards," Kasumi explained.
"Kill them, you mean."
"He's very good at distractions."
"So are we," Alma supplied.
Kasumi nodded, "So, Zaeed, what do you say to adding another two members to our little revenge club?"
He scowled at the others. "They're just kids."
"Who killed an entire baseful of people and want to do it again," Jack clarified.
Zaeed looked him hard in the eye and Jack met his gaze.
The Zaeed shrugged. "If they get themselves killed it's not my problem."
"Great!" Kasumi declared gleefully. "I'll message Wrexy right now to let him know as soon as he gets back in range!"
If there was one thing that Umbrella Regional Director for Omega Eugene Saneguy knew his subordinates were good at, it was releasing bioweapons. That's why had spent almost ten minutes debating whether or not to order them to release it for maximum spread or to just carry it around the city with themselves and await the inevitable consequences.
Eventually he realized that "accidentally" spilling the chemicals would actually be [i]more[/i] paperwork than deliberately spilling them, so he just gave the direct order. He knew it must have been like a dream come true for some of his people, especially the psychos in the Blue Suns who would be sent out to capture the two psionic children and eliminate any witnesses.
He climbed into the Umbrella Executive Powered Armor as all across the city, Umbrella employees or patsies released clear, odorless goo derived from the Marker's creations.
He seriously doubted that there would [i]be[/i] an Omega after this, so hopefully he'd be sent somewhere better like Illium, but he knew that he'd probably end up running that nightmare of a project on Feros.
"If I just do what comes naturally to my coworkers, eventually they'll run out of places like that to send me too." He laughed. "Who am I kidding? We'll make more."
A/N: I'm naming the chapters of this arc after rock or metal songs, thus far from AC/DC and Black Sabbath, if anyone has suggestions for better chapter names in keeping with this naming theme for this chapter, or just a better name for a chapter of the previous arc please let me know. Thanks!