Many thanks to girlfromgraz, my intrepid and tireless beta, and to TheOddLittleTurtle for sciency tech stuff.
Note: I'm going to try to get chapters out faster than once a week. I want to have it out before ME3 hits the shelves.
Chapter 2
Shepard waited, tense, beside Joker as they approached Nearog's largest moon, Cral. Nearog, a hydrogen-methane gas giant, loomed blue and cold above.
"I don't like this," Joker commented. "We're way too close to batarians in this system. You're not exactly their favorite person right now."
"I've taken care of three major problems for Aria and delivered information about that Blood Pack plot against her," Shepard said. "She owes me and she knows it. Besides, her little empire is crumbling. She's probably desperate enough to trade intel with me. At least that's what I'm counting on." She folded her hands behind her in parade rest. "After what Cerberus did to her, she doesn't have any reason to withhold information."
Joker snorted. "Cerberus isn't what I'm worried about."
Shepard couldn't argue with that. The Batalla System was home to a large batarian slave colony. One whiff of the Normandy and they would find themselves under heavy fire. But Aria was here too, recovering from her ordeal at the hands of Cerberus and attempting to reclaim her faltering empire. Shepard would have to rely on the asari's lingering influence to stay the batarian's rage, at least while in the system.
"Normandy, you are cleared," came a smooth asari voice over the comm.
Shepard let out a breath and nodded to Joker. "Take us in… but leave the shields up."
"Aye, aye."
#
"You sure about this?" Kaidan asked as they stepped out of the airlock. Shepard stepped out beside him, hand lightly on her sidearm.
"To be honest? Not really. Aria's out for one thing: Aria. But she has intel; better eyes in this region than we do. Cerberus is moving and we need to know what they're up to."
Cral, the moon Aria was hiding out on, had a pre-existing structure from a batarian warlord's glory days. The Spectres who'd come after him had collapsed the eastern end of the complex, but the rest was still habitable. Shepard had only skimmed the computer's information on the moon—a drab, gray rock little better than an asteroid. Considering what Omega was carved out of, however, perhaps it made Aria feel at home.
"I don't know," Garrus rumbled, "I'm kinda glad she's not on Omega anymore."
Shepard chuckled. "We can arrange to get cornered by the biggest gangs on this rock for old times' sake if you like, Garrus."
"Nah, I'm good."
Kaidan looked at both of them, eyebrows raised behind his helmet's visor. "That sounds like a story."
"We'll fill you in later," Shepard said, nodding at the approaching trio of guards, led by an asari in combat armor.
"Aria wants to know your business here, Shepard," the asari said coldly as they reached Kaidan, Shepard, and Garrus.
Shepard raised an eyebrow. "If she didn't want to talk to me, she wouldn't have let me land." She gestured to the door. "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can leave."
The asari scowled but nodded to the turians flanking her. They dropped behind the group, assault rifles held casually. Kaidan grimaced, the back of his neck itching. Shepard, however, didn't show any evidence that the presence of the armed escorts bothered her.
They walked through narrow, dingy gray tunnels of what looked like concrete slab, the closeness of the tunnel relieved only by lights every few feet.
"Defense mechanism," Garrus muttered. Kaidan nodded. The tunnels were narrow enough that they had to walk single-file. The batarian terrorist who'd constructed this place probably built it intentionally like this—any invaders would have to go single-file and get picked off easily at the other side. Anyone fleeing would get the same treatment.
Aria held court in a large room with a window that overlooked a gray, crater pocked landscape of Cral. She was standing at the windowsill, brooding out over the view. The asari guard walked up and murmured something in Aria's ear. Aria's eyes flicked to the side. After a tense moment, during which Kaidan increased power to his hardsuit's shields, she jerked her head and the escorts left.
"Shepard," the former queen of Omega said, "seems like I only see you when you want something. I have little time to waste on Alliance thugs. What do you want this time?"
"Shepard?" A batarian guard standing in the background shifted, gripping his assault rifle. "The Shepard? The Butcher of Aratoht?"
Kaidan stiffened, hand going to his sidearm. Beside him, Garrus did the same. Shepard hadn't moved, eyes locked on Aria.
Aria looked over at him, eyes narrowing. "Butt out, Grak. This is my conversation."
The batarian lifted his assault rifle, sighting down it. In a blink, Aria flared her biotics, slamming the guard against the wall. He groaned, a trickle of blood oozing from his mouth.
"Anyone else care to interrupt me?" Aria glared at the rest of the assembled batarians. None of them moved. Aria turned back to Shepard's group. Though the batarians had been subdued, Kaidan caught a few gestures aimed their direction he didn't recognize but probably weren't polite.
"Cerberus," Shepard said as if there'd been no interruption. Kaidan saw Aria's lips pull back in a barely controlled snarl. "I need to know what they're doing in this region."
Aria regarded her for a moment, unmoving. "I told you once that information is a commodity, yes?" She turned and sat down in a chair, crossing her leg over the other. "You help me get Cerberus off Omega and we have a deal."
Shepard narrowed her eyes. "All right, but my first priority is the Reapers. Once they're taken care of, I'll help."
The two women faced off for a quiet moment, then Aria nodded. "I have a name for you, Shepard, overheard during my captivity: Project Persephone. No details, I'm afraid—they didn't talk much around me aside from taunts and the like. All I know is that is that this Project is somehow connected to you." Aria folded her arms over her chest. "The rest, you pretty much know. Cerberus is using Omega as a base of operations for their stations beyond the Omega 4 Relay. I still have a few inside people on Omega, and what I hear isn't promising. Gangs fighting each other rather than Cerberus," she shook her head. "Useless thugs. I'll forward you the latest news, but there isn't much."
Shepard nodded slowly, looking thoughtful. "Thank you." She inclined her head. "Assuming the Reapers don't fry us into oblivion… I'll see you soon, Aria."
"One other thing, Shepard." The asari rose from her seat and walked with the languid grace of a cat toward Kaidan. He resisted the urge to shift on his feet, calling on his training from being a private faced with a screaming sergeant. Shepard, however, tensed as she watched Aria prowl around the Alliance marine, her eyes calculating.
"I see you took my advice after all," she said with an amused lift to her tattooed eyebrows. Shepard opened her mouth, blushed, and stayed quiet.
"Let's move out," she said, brushing past Aria.
As they reached the docking bay, Kaidan noticed Garrus chuckling to himself.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing," Shepard said hurriedly. "Come on." Shepard hurried to the airlock, her cheeks still stained pink. "Let's go before Aria turns her batarians loose."