Place of Our Legacy

by firstprime1230

Earth has been overrun by the forces of the Ori. Beaten, demoralized and on the run in the Ancient city of Atlantis the survivors of Earth make a desperate gamble to save what little they have left. Arriving in a galaxy so different from their own, can they uphold the legacy left to them by the races that came before? And save a galaxy doomed to a suffer a fate worse than death.

14. Chapter 14

1450 Hours, October 22, 2183 (Council Calendar)
Daedalus, Hyperspace, Milky Way Galaxy

Colonel Caldwell strode onto the bridge of his ship offering nods of acknowledgement to his crew as he took his position in the command chair. Staring out the viewport at the tunnel of subspace his ship was flying through, he was glad that his ship and crew we're getting a mission of their own. Of course, General O'Neill had made it clear in no uncertain terms that they were to avoid any and all conflict this time. He didn't want a repeat of what had happened on New Rivers.

And after the Geth assault just a few days ago… well, he was prepared for anything to happen at this point. In fact, they wouldn't even be out here if it wasn't for the Quarians, or rather Admiral Gerrel, making the urgent request. Originally, the Daedalus had been dispatched with SG-2 to head for some world called Illium, but after learning everything SG-1 did on Joab General O'Neill ordered a recall of all personnel. But Gerrel sent an urgent message via the subspace communications device they loaned them, asking if they could send a ship to Omega as they had none available. The Migrant Fleet was in total lockdown with the Geth active once more, and for the safety of the Quarian people no ships were permitted to leave the flotilla. Hence Caldwell being re-tasked to Omega, something he was not particularly happy about.

"Dropping out of hyperspace in three… two… one," Major Marks's voice interrupted his thoughts.

In an instant the blue tunnel of subspace disappeared and was replaced with the darkness of normal space. As the Daedalus eased to a steady cruising speed, the bridge crew took note of their new surroundings. There was a fairly large asteroid field a few thousand miles off their portside bow that seemed to go on and on; likely the remnants of some massive, failed planet. Bleeding through the cracks in the field, a massive ruby star shone brightly as rocks and asteroids floated and shifted the patterns of the sun's rays. The battlecruiser's sublights kicked in, the tubular extremities blazing bright as it moved forward towards the field, following a set of coordinates that the Quarians had given them.

As they neared the asteroid belt, an opening in the perimeter large enough for passage of ships appeared. Marks carefully guided the ship in, making sure not to clip the edges of the belt lest an asteroid hit them. With the shields in place, such a thing wouldn't damage the ship. However, it wouldn't befit the best 304 pilot in the fleet to fly so sloppily. The Daedalus danced and weaved through the looped tunnel that was carved into the asteroid belt, never coming close to hitting anything thanks to its superior agility. Before long, the ship finally came out of the belt and into a vast open area. In the center lay a massive mushroom-shaped space station. Red lights decorated the hull of the construct, while the head of it appeared to be a half-sphere asteroid as if the station was growing out of the rock.

An alert rang out on Major Meyer's console, "Sir, sensors are detecting several hundred vessels… looks like most are heavy freighters, a few civilian transport types… there's definitely a few warships as well."

Caldwell leaned back in his command chair, "Understood Meyers. Roland, transmit our IFF to the station."

"Yes sir," Lieutenant Roland responded from his communications suite.

A beeping of acknowledgement sounded out from Roland's station, "IFF received, sir. Docking permission has been granted at cradle eighty-three. Our path to Omega is free and clear."

"Thank you, Roland. Collins, keep our shields up until we're ready to dock. Marks, take us in," Caldwell ordered.

The battlecruiser surged forward as it followed the flight path sent to them by Omega's traffic control. As they got closer and closer to the station, they could see how truly massive it was; it was easily twice the size of the Hasara station used by the System Lords, and about the length of four Wraith Hiveships. It probably held the record for largest space -borne construct ever seen by anyone in the Stargate Program, barring Atlantis of course. They could see hundreds of skyscraper-like spires jutting down and out from the main spine of the station, as well as various kinds of personal shuttles flying about in between. The interior of the station had a rusty-hue, and one could see light bouncing of particles inside the self-contained atmosphere within.

The Daedalus approached the docking area meant for cruiser sized vessels such as itself. It was one of only a handful of ships, however, since such ships were rare in the Terminus Systems. Slowly, it aligned the bow near one of the extended docking arms. The arm extended as far as it could reach before resting its opening directly over one of the many airlocks on the ship's hull. The arm suctioned to the hull with a slight hiss before an orange shimmer appeared over its edges indicating a small atmospheric barrier had gone up.

"We're secure sir. Position is stable and locked," Marks reported as he disengaged the sublights.

Caldwell nodded, "Keep the maneuvering thrusters primed; I want us ready to leave at a moment's notice. Meyers, keep your fingers on the trigger, at the first sign of trouble we might have to blast our way out of here." He pressed the comm button on his chair, "Sheppard, your team has the green light. See you at 1700, Caldwell out."

"…Copy that sir. We'll maintain radio contact every sixty minutes. SG-2-"

---

"-disembarking. Alright guys keep it tight. This is our first outing on an alien space station in this galaxy, and I'd rather not have this one end in a fiery explosion."

Turning Sheppard hit the panel that opened the airlock. The titanium-trinium alloy doors slid open and allowed the Colonel to walk through followed by Ronon Dex, Lt. Jennifer Hailey, Dr. Rodney McKay, and Rola'Jaram vas Nuvo who was acting as their guide while on Omega. The team roster was slightly different this time. Teyla was busy working with her people and the other Pegasus societies that had settled on the mainland. The young Lt. Hailey, whose sharp mind was second only to Carter and McKay, was selected since General O'Neill figured she could use the experience.

The human members were all decked out in their Asgard enviro-suits with Blackhawk Omega assault vests over their torsos and wielding M-9 Tempest submachine guns and Zats for sidearms; except for Ronon who per usual went with his signature Particle Magnum. He also had his recently acquired Eviscerator shotgun slung behind his back and under his overcoat. The five walked through the docking arm as the airlock doors sealed behind them. Moving out of the arm, they turned left and began walking down the hall until they came to a set of holographically locked doors that held for only a moment before allowing them passage.

"Whoa…" Lt Hailey quietly muttered as she stared in awe at the sight before her.

The hallway had spit them out onto a large walkway that held a fantastic view of the station. In the distance they could see those massive spires pointing down from the 'roof' of the station like upside-down buildings. There were shuttles flying all over, and skycars weaving around the buildings. Walking all around them were people of all sorts of species all going about their daily lives as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Some were sitting on benches locked in conversation, others were speed-walking to destinations unknown. One particular group of four-eyed aliens seemed to be glaring at the Sheppard and his team. That was, until, Ronon moved to the front of the group and simply stared at them unflinchingly. They seemed to get the hint and moved on after a few moments of locking eyes with the large Satedan.

"This is definitely not something you see every day… even in our line of work," Sheppard commented.

Rola stepped out in front of them all and raised her arms in dramatic fashion, "Friends! Welcome to the trash pile of the galaxy that is… Omega! Home to the destitute and desperate, a fine place to live as long as you don't mind breathing in rust and sleeping with a gun under your pillow."

"Good thing we're wearing helmets! I swear though, I can still smell this place from in here," Hailey commented as she waved a hand in front of her covered nose.

He couldn't help but agree with the young officer, but knowing that they needed to get this mission done ASAP the Colonel directed his attention to Rola, "So, you wanna lead the way to where your friend is supposed to be? We shouldn't stick around here longer than we need to."

Rola nodded and motioned for the team to follow. As they walked through the crowds, they took note of the new races that until now they had only read about in the extranet data they had gotten access to. Apparently, some of these races rarely if ever left the Terminus Systems, so they had not seen them on New Rivers. Rodney's head kept twisting and turning as he took in all the sights, and the slight jump in his step spoke volumes about how he felt about being here. Ronon eyed the Turians and Batarians with suspicion and kept his right hand near his holstered weapon. Lt. Hailey looked at all the various businesses and shops with their holographic advertising, the different technologies on display, and the flying cars with the interest of a child in a candy shop. Her off-world experience was fairly limited, and she was going to make the most of this one. Sheppard meanwhile seemed to notice that as they were walking that the occasional dirty, or outright hostile glance, was being cast their way. Of course, such glances would quickly fade once they took notice of the large human at the back of the group.

Sheppard moved forward slightly so he was in pace with Rola, "I see that friendliness isn't exactly the hometown motto on this rock. Is it a human thing?"

Rola's shoulders seemed to sag a bit, "Actually, that's probably my fault… Quarians as you know aren't thought of very highly even in places like this…"

Sheppard rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Oh… right, jeez sorry kid. Kinda forgot about that… I'm still getting used to all this. Sometimes things slip my mind."

"It's alright, you get used to it… eventually. But you're correct as well; humans aren't held in the highest regard either. Adding the two together, well, we should be careful where we step."

Sheppard nodded at that and continued walking in silence. As they made their way through this market district, he was continually surprised how… well, human these aliens seemed to act. Granted, he couldn't tell what they were eating or buying but all their interactions seemed like any he'd expect to encounter on Earth or any of the worlds in Pegasus. Their brief time on New Rivers had gotten them more used to it, but not much. Suddenly something caught his eye. A very familiar sight… something he hadn't seen in almost two years.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa guys hold up! You seeing this?" he exclaimed as he stopped, moving towards the object of his interest.

Rodney shook his head, "So much for not sticking around longer than we needed…." he mumbled under his breath.

The group stopped and watched their commanding officer walk over to a small stand being run by a Salarian decked out in what appeared to be traditional Japanese garments: a white kimono and a rising sun headband. He was chopping vegetables and meats of various varieties, none of which looked recognizable to the human members of SG-2. As he neared the stand the amphibian-like alien jumped up from what he was doing and raised his arms high.

"Irasshaimase! Welcome to Jogan's Authentic Ramen Cuisine stand! I am Jogan! How can I service you?"

Sheppard tilted his head in confusion, "Authentic Ramen huh? So, how'd a Salarian get authentic human food all the way from Earth?"

"I spent much time travelling the galaxy going from world to world perfecting my craft: cooking! Each time I learn of a new style of cooking, I do whatever it takes to master it. During my last trip to the Citadel, I discovered the delicacy that is Ramen! Since then, I have been doing everything I can to learn the Ramen. To understand the Ramen. To be the Ramen. My journey eventually led me here, where I was inspired to share the wonderful gift that is Ramen with these uncultured miscreants so that they too might benefit from this life changing food," the Salarian rattled off in a single breath.

"…And the Japanese get up?"

Jogan looked down at his clothing, "Oh. I ordered this from a costume supply store on the Citadel. Cost me almost five thousand credits but I think it was well spent. It really completes the experience don't you think?"

Shaking his head in disbelief at the absurdity of the conversation he was having, Sheppard changed topics, "So what is all this? I don't recognize any of these foods."

Jogan seemed to wring his hands together nervously, "Well… getting the exact ingredients out here is nearly impossible. Or costs a fortune. So… I make do with the best substitutions I've been able to find. I assure you, the flavor is exceptional! Nothing but the best for Jogan's customers!"

Sheppard crossed his arms unconvinced. Seeing the skepticism in the man's posture, the Salarian grabbed a bowl and quickly poured a healthy portion into it and held it out for the human.

"Here! A free sample. If it meets your human standards, then I will be well on my way to achieving my goal! You can be the first human to taste it!"

Lt. Hailey looked at him incredulously, "Wait. You haven't even had any humans taste test it first? How do you know it's even authentic? Or doesn't negatively affect humans in some way?"

"Well, there aren't many humans on Omega. Particularly in this Ward. But I use only the finest Asari and Salarian ingredients, which shouldn't have any adverse effects whatsoever on your physiologies… probably."

Sheppard looked down at the bowl in his hands in curiosity. Turning to his team he tried to gauge their opinions. Ronon merely shrugged and went back to observing the passing aliens around them, Rodney seemed more interested in the stores that were selling various pieces of expensive looking tech, and Rola seemed to be keeping to herself but close to the former Runner. She clearly saw everyone giving him a wide berth, so she figured if she was close to him, they'd do the same for her. Jennifer simply folded her arms over the other and leaned back on her right foot in silent protest.

Shrugging his shoulders, Sheppard set the bowl down and unlatched his helmet with a slight hiss. Clipping it to his belt, he picked the bowl back up and brought it his face. He was immediately hit with scents and smells that he'd never experienced before. They weren't noxious smells, however, and he felt his stomach growl in anticipation. It had a very… fish-like odor that one could expect to find in some Japanese restaurants, but it didn't smell like any fish he'd ever heard of. He grabbed the spoon very delicately and scooped up a healthy serving. Lt. Hailey's eyes went hide behind her visor as her CO shoved the spoonful of exotic food into his mouth. He chewed it and swished around the broth in his mouth for a few moments before slowing swallowing it all with an audible gulp. He kept his eyes closed as he waited for the potential allergic reaction to begin causing him to bloat up and his throat to close. But after about a minute of nothing happening, he opened his eyes and smiled a bit before taking another mouthful in.

"Well? Does it satisfy you, my friend?" Jogan asked, his eyes wide with anticipation.

John continued to eat as he mumbled a 'mhmm' before finally swallowing and setting the almost empty bowl on the counter, "Wow…haven't had something like that in forever. A little different than what I'm used to, but good! Props to the chef."

Jogan's giant ebony eyes lit up, "Oh thank you human, thank you! Hearing your praise validates all of my hard work these past months!"

"Well, glad I could help. Keep up the good work and I'm sure that more folks will start stopping by," he replied as he started to out his helmet back on.

"Wait! There is one more thing you could do for me, if you're willing to that is," the Salarian leaned close as he pulled up his Omni-tool.

"Uh, what else do you need?" Sheppard asked with slight suspicion in his voice.

"You're a human who likes my food! If you'd be willing to endorse my stand it would bring legitimacy to my food!"

Sheppard looked over at Hailey in confusion, who in turn raised her hands in her own misunderstanding. He turned his attention back to the ramen maker and saw that the Omni-tool on his arm had a screen showing the Colonel standing looking even more confused.

"I'm not like a tv star or anything man… no one's gonna know who that is."

Jogan held up a finger, "Ahh but they will see that a human said Jogan's Ramen is good! And that's enough for me! I'll tell you what, endorse my stand and I'll give you and your friends one free bowl a week and seven percent off every other purchase… of thirty-five credits or more."

Sheppard scratched his head and grimaced slightly as he thought about it. Their orders were to attract as little attention as possible while on Omega. After the debacle on New Rivers, General O'Neill 'kindly asked' him if they could try and not get them drawn into another war. That being said, he was authorized to interact with the station's populace for the purposes of gaining intel, technology, and assisting Rola with her mission, within reason. And while this situation didn't exactly fall into any of those categories, having a few new 'friends' on the station could come in handy.

"Alright, sure. Why not," he relented and walked closer to the stand.

Jogan nodded fervently and adjusted the angle his Omni-tool's video capture, "Perfect! Now, just say your name and something about how Jogan's Ramen is the best on Omega!"

Sheppard frowned as he tried to think of something to say. On the spot moments like this weren't exactly his strong point; he thought of his brother and all the corporate meetings and shareholders conferences he had to run. How he ever managed to do all that, John would never know. Sure, he had administrative responsibilities he had to deal with from time to time, but nothing where he had to be charismatic or give a speech. That was definitely more his brother's wheelhouse. He shook his head as he tried to clear his mind of those memories; where they once brought him annoyance, they only brought pain now.

"Uhh… I'm Lt. Colonel Sheppard and, uh, this is my favorite Ramen stand on Omega?" he stated uncertainly with a shrug, not sure exactly what the alien was looking for.

Jogan seemed pleased with it, however, and quickly typed in a few commands before closing his wrist computer, "Yes, this is exactly what I need! Thank you very much sir! Be sure to stop by Jogan's Authentic Ramen Cuisine stand anytime!"

With that the Salarian went back to expertly chopping, dicing, and cooking all the different ingredients he had laid out on his table. Seeing it was time to move on, Sheppard motioned for Rola to start leading them towards wherever she needed to go again. As they walked Hailey took the opportunity to question her CO's decision-making process.

"A bit reckless don't you think sir?"

Sheppard merely shrugged and let a small smirk creep onto his face, "I was gathering intel. We gotta know if other race's foods are edible for us, right? Never know when we might have to eat some in a pinch."

The lieutenant gave a small frown in response, "I think that Dr. Beckett and Dr. Lam might have something to say about that."

The smirk disappeared and a slight nervous chuckle escaped his lips, "Well, maybe we don't mention this part in the briefing."

Eventually after passing through what the Earth born members of SG-2 assumed was Omega's downtown equivalent, Rola led them down a set of stairs that led towards what looked like a dumpster. They took a sharp left down a short hallway before coming across a very crude store front. It was no bigger than any of the other ones they'd seen; in fact, it was no larger than Jogan's stand. There was a large counter that separated the store from the hall with a kiosk terminal sitting on top. Behind that, piles of rusted or damaged pieces of tech lay about in various piles. Even Ronon could see that there was little point in trying to repair most of it. Sparks shot up from behind the counter, and Rola leaned over to see what was going on.

"Kenn? Kenn is that you?" she asked loudly as she walked around the counter.

Immediately another Quarian stood up from where he was crouched. His ivory suit was stained various shades of red and brown from rust and grime, and there were also occasional burn marks scattered all over. He put down the welding tool he was using and walked over to Rola slowly.

His eyes went wide behind his facemask, "Rola… what… how?"

"Yes Kenn! It's me!" she exclaimed as she embraced her friend in a tight hug.

His arms slowly wrapped around her as well, his disbelief that his friend was here fading as strong emotions began to take over. The two stood like that for some time with SG-2 standing a bit awkwardly at the meeting between long lost friends. The two broke their hug and stepped apart. Rola turned and raised a hand to the team as she proceeded to introduce them.

"Kenn, these are my friends: Colonel John Sheppard, Dr. Rodney McKay, Lt. Jennifer Hailey, and Ronon Dex."

The young Quarian stared at them for a moment before slowly finding his voice, "…H-hello, it's a pleasure to meet friends of Rola. But I have to ask Ro, how in the name of the Ancestors did you start running with a mercenary group? Last time I saw you and Jal you were taking transport off station."

She nodded, "It's a long story Kenn. And one I'll tell you later, but we've got more important things to discuss I'm afraid."

"And we're not mercenaries. Think of us as… well, I don't know how you'd classify our organization. But our people formed an alliance with the Quarian people," Sheppard interjected.

Kenn's helmet tilted to the side, "An alliance? Who would want to be in an alliance with us? And why? What would we have to offer, and receive, that would make such a thing worthwhile?"

Rola placed her hand over his affectionately, "I promise Kenn, I will explain everything later. But right now, I need to know why you haven't checked in with the Fleet in several months. Not even a message."

The young man seemed to sag at the question, and he walked back around his small counter and sat down on a pile of trash. He rested his forearms on his knees and leaned forward, staring intently at the ground before him. Sighing, he explained how after Rola, Jal, and a few of the other Quarians who had come to Omega to start their Pilgrimages left, all of his belongings and credits were stolen. With no means of getting off-world and, being too ashamed to contact the Fleet for help, found himself in the employment of an Elcor merchant named Harrot. It seemed like a good idea at the time given he was homeless and had no money for nutrient paste. However, after a few weeks of running this stand Harrot started forcing Kenn to raise his prices so that customers would be forced to buy merchandise from the Elcor at a much cheaper rate. It made Harrot's business boom, but at the cost of Kenn being able to save up enough money to get transport off-station. He barely made enough to support himself, but if things didn't turn around soon, he wouldn't even be able to do that.

Hailey was appalled at what was essentially someone being forced into indentured servitude, "Isn't there some kind law enforcement you can go to? This can't be legal."

Kenn just stared at her like she was crazy, "…This is Omega. There's no such things as 'legal' and 'illegal'. As long as you don't piss off the major merc' gangs and the boss, anything goes."'

"Kenn… you could have sent a message! There's no shame in it! Not every Quarian who goes out on their Pilgrimage has an easy time of it," Rola admonished him.

Kenn scoffed at that, however, "And what would I say to my family… to my father? I… I couldn't face them again if I did that. No, this is my fault that I'm here. And I'm going to make it right, even if it takes me years to do it."

Rola crossed her arms as her eyes narrowed, "Kenn! That's just you being stubborn!"

"Maybe. But if I return to the fleet with nothing to show for all my troubles… if I return to my father like that… it'll haunt me for the rest of my life. I'll figure out; always have."

Rola looked like she wanted to argue some more but a hand placed gently on her shoulder stopped her. She turned and saw Colonel Sheppard shaking his head before stepping between the two so no further arguments could arise.

"Well, I can definitely understand that Kenn. I had to deal with the same situation when I was your age," he sympathized as he gave a slight nod to Kenn.

"Really?" the young Quarian asked, his doubt clear as day.

Sheppard rested his folded arms on his M-9 that hung over his chest, "Sure. My father was the owner of a pretty huge utilities conglomerate. Raised me and my brother to take it over when we got older. But… it wasn't what I wanted. We argued, hell, it almost came to blows," he chuckled a bit, his eyes gaining a distant look as he thought about the day in question.

Rodney and Ronon looked at their friend as he told his story, one that they knew well, and shifted uncomfortably as they knew this wasn't a particularly happy story. Rola and Hailey looked up at the man, curious and wondering where he was going with this. Kenn leaned back against his stand, waiting for the Colonel to continue.

"Well, the day I turned eighteen, I left for Stanford University. My father thought I was getting prepared to follow in his footsteps, but I had other ideas. Once I graduated, I joined the Air Force Academy," noticing the confusion in Kenn's eyes, he clarified, "I joined the military."

"Ah, I see… and how did your father react?" he asked, now fully vested in the man's story.

Now Sheppard looked physically pained, "I don't know. We never spoke again."

There was an awkward silence that followed, with no one knowing what to say.

Sheppard sighed and motioned towards Kenn, "Look, the point is that whatever issues you've got with your dad that's making you so stubborn, don't let them keep you from making decisions you're gonna regret later. Trust me, you won't get the chance to make up for it."

"…It's not easy, being the son of an Admiral. There's pressures…" Kenn quietly spoke.

"I get it kid. I do. But this isn't a failure on your part. Also, you don't really have a choice. The Fleet is recalling nearly all of its Pilgrims that are in the Terminus Systems," he stated, Kenn's head looking up in surprise, "Besides, Admiral Gerrel has another idea for how you can complete your Pilgrimage," the Colonel explained.

"What? Why would Pilgrims be called back to Fleet prematurely?" he asked, before shaking his head, "I can't leave. Not yet… there's… something else…"

"What? What could possibly be keeping you here besides that brute of an Elcor? We can leave right now, he won't be able to stop us!" Rola exclaimed, motioning to the massive human beside her.

Kenn's head dipped down, "It's…hard to explain…"

Before Rola could protest, Sheppard stepped forward, "Hey Kenn, why don't you show Lt. Hailey and Rodney here some of your merchandise. They're science wizzes, I'm sure you guys got loads to talk about. In the meantime, Rola," he motioned for her to follow.

The Quarian's eyes lit up a bit at that, and his demeanor became a bit more unguarded. As he started showing the Lieutenant and physicist all his wares on the kiosk terminal, Sheppard and Rola walked away from everyone else a few yards away. Once they were out of earshot, he faced their guide who didn't seem all too pleased.

"Before you say anything, just know that I'm just trying to keep you from jumping down the guy's throat minutes after you meet him," Sheppard explained before Rola could get a word out.

She through her hands up in exasperation, "Colonel you don't understand! Kenn can't stay here! Omega isn't safe for Quarians; hell, it's not safe for anyone!"

"But didn't you and Jal come here when you first left the fleet?" he pointed out.

Rola shook her head, "That was different. Omega is a common starting point for those of us who are starting their Pilgrimages thanks to its ports. But we don't stay here for more than a day or two at most as we get transport booked to more… civilized areas of the galaxy."

"Okay, fair enough. But I'm sure Kenn isn't the first Quarian to settle down in one spot outside the Fleet right?"

"No, he isn't… but most of those cases are either because those Quarians found a life outside the fleet… or they were exiled. Kenn is still on his Pilgrimage and him staying here puts that all on hold!" she exclaimed, drawing the attention of the others.

Easing their minds with a wave, Sheppard gave Rola a pointed look, "I think I see what's going on here. And why you specifically requested to be our guide for this mission."

Rola started rubbing her arm as she avoided eye contact with him at all costs, "I-I don't know what you're talking about. I merely wanted to prove myself as a valuable friend and ally."

"You've got feelings for him, right? That's why you were so adamant about us checking in on him during the flight here."

Rola chose not to reply, instead she let her gaze drift back towards the kiosk where Kenn was showing off a modification spec for the Tempest Lt. Hailey was carrying. Being in the same generation born in the Fleet, Kenn and her were very close. Each new generation in the Fleet trained together, ate together, and interacted heavily with each other. This was done to help inspire the camaraderie and reliance on each other that was essential to the survival of the Fleet as a whole. Of course, all those years of spending nearly every day together meant that certain… feelings sometimes developed between young, impressionable Quarians. But was that what she was feeling? Did she harbor feelings for Kenn? Rola certainly cared for him, that much she knew for sure. But more than that, she just didn't know. Those feelings had become all the more confusing since she had come to Atlantis and had met…

She shook her head at the thought, trying to ignore the image in her mind, "I do care for him… he's my friend and I just want to make sure he is safe. Omega is one of the most dangerous places in the galaxy."

Sheppard nodded appreciatively, "I understand. Really, I do. Let's see why he doesn't want to leave and then deal with the situation. I promise you this, we're not leaving this station without him."

"Really?" Rola asked, genuine hope in her voice.

Sheppard shrugged, "Yeah, besides the fact that leaving an Admiral's kid in a place like this is sure to look bad on a report, I've got a soft spot for kids."

Rola narrowed her eyes and folded her arms, "We're not kids."

"Could have fooled me," he smirked.

The two walked back to the stall and saw Hailey scanning her own Omni-tool over the counter. She must have taken her helmet off to get a better look at the hardware since it was clipped to her side. The terminal lit up and a ping of acknowledgement rang out. Kenn hand her a small box that she tucked securely in the pack she was carrying.

"Thanks Kenn, this'll be a lot of help!" she exclaimed as she secured the pack over her shoulders again.

"Whatchya got there Lieutenant?" Sheppard asked.

Rodney spoke before she could and turned to him, "It's an upgrade mod for our guns. Phasic Jacketing: it's an internal mechanism that coats the slugs in a warp field that disrupts barriers on contact!"

Sheppard and Ronon merely stared at her in silence. The look of excitement on the Lieutenant's face quickly turned to annoyance as she sighed and sounded out her words very slowly.

"It. Makes. The. Gun. Shoot. Through. Shields. Better," she slowly explained, drawing an amused look from the Canadian.

Ronon grunted, "Coulda' just led with that."

Kenn sheepishly maneuvered his way over into the group, "Um, I'm sorry to interrupt Lieutenant. But, um, you seem to have paid way more than what the mod costs."

Hailey shook her head, "I know. I gave an extra ten thousand credits because you need it a lot more than we do."

The young Quarian's eyes went bright and wide behind his helmet, "I've never heard of anyone being so generous to a Quarian. Let alone one on Omega!"

"Well, to be fair we have a pretty large discretionary fund that we're authorized to use as we see fit. And like we said, our people are allies. Wouldn't be a very good friend if we didn't help out one in need," Sheppard explained, "Speaking of which…"

Kenn let out a breath, "Right… well, it all started when I started working for Harrot. Things were going alright, but then I met this Asari-"

"-Asari?!" Rola squealed out, drawing looks to her before she cleared her throat, "I-I mean, um, how did you two meet."

"She helped me when I was being mugged by Batarians. Afterwards we stayed in touch. I would assist her with her equipment issues, and she would bring me pieces for me to sell that she… um, acquired in her escapades," he explained.

"So, what about this Asari is making you want to stay?" Sheppard asked.

"Well, she usually stops by a few times a week. But she's been gone for almost five solar cycles. I'm afraid somethings happened to her," Kenn replied, his worry manifesting as he wrung his hands.

Hailey frowned, "Kenn, I'm sorry that your friend hasn't stopped by, but that's not something we can worry about right now. There's things happening out there in the galaxy. Bad things. We have orders to get you out of here."

Kenn stood up straighter, "I can't leave without knowing she's alright! You'll have to drag me out of here if you want me to leave."

"Kenn!" Rola exclaimed, giving her friend a hard look.

"Hold on a minute, everyone just relax," Sheppard raised his hands in a placating manner, "Kenn, I'm assuming you have a way of finding out about your friend? Otherwise you wouldn't be holding out hope."

Kenn seemed at a loss for words until he lowered his gaze to the floor, "Yes, I believe that Aria may have information on her whereabouts. I'm pretty sure my friend works for her."

Rola's glowing eyes widened, "Oh Kenn, don't tell me you've gotten yourself mixed up with Aria T'Loak! You stupid bosh'tet!"

"Woah! Take it down a notch Rola! No need for name calling," Hailey chastised the younger woman.

"Uh, who's Aria T'Loak?" Rodney raised his hand.

Rola turned to the Canadian, "She's the ruler of Omega. She's ruthless, and has no mercy for anyone who gets in her way," she turned back to Kenn, "What were you thinking? Getting involved with one of her people!"

"I didn't know she was one of Aria's people, at first. But over time I started noticing things, and I finally put two and two together. I never confronted my friend about it though, I figured she would tell me on her own," he replied.

Sheppard raised a hand to his chin in thought. On one hand, Kenn didn't seem like he really knew what was going on with his friend. If this Asari was working for the ruler of Omega, whoever the hell that was, then they were getting involved in sticky situation that could see a New Rivers part two on his resume. Already Kenn had proven that he was capable of being taken advantage of by others. He seemed like a good kid, but Omega didn't seem like the kind of place that one could get away with being kind. Maybe this Asari was just using him to get intel on the Migrant Fleet.

On the other hand, he could see that Kenn was adamant about not leaving without at least finding out about his friend. And he'd rather not have to stun the kid and drag him out of here. That wouldn't look good, plus he was sure that Admiral Gerrel would have some choice words for him and his team.

"Alright, we'll go ask this Aria if she knows anything. What's this Asari's name?" Sheppard asked.

"Lis. Her name is Lis," he replied eagerly, "Thank you Colonel. It means a lot to me that you're doing this. I just want to know she's safe… and if she's dead, well, at least I'll have closure…"

Rola seemed to soften at hearing those words, "Colonel, if you don't mind, I'd like to stay here for a while and catch up with Kenn."

"Ehh, I'm not sure we should-"

"-I'll stay with them sir, I've got some more questions I was hoping Kenn could answer anyway," Hailey cut in.

Sheppard frowned a bit, "Well, I'm not too sure where we're supposed to go exactly without our guide."

"Oh, if you back down that hallway and down the stairs, then through another hallway you'll be able to get into the lower level of Afterlife. It's not the worst place in the world to spend a few minutes in while you wait for an audience with Aria," Kenn chimed in.

Rodney tilted his head, "What's Afterlife?"

Rola rolled her shining eyes, "It's a club. One of the more 'civilized' places on the station. But don't let the drinks and dancers fool you. More than one unsuspecting patron has ended up in the back alley with a shard of glass in their back."

Ronon let out a soft grunt, "Sounds like my kind of place."

Sheppard clicked his tongue on his cheek, "Uh-huh. And why would we go there to wait for this Aria?"

"She has a private section there. It's sort of like her throne room, I guess," Kenn explained, "I'm not exactly sure how you'll get an audience with her, but it's the best place to start."

"Alright, Lieutenant keep in radio contact with me and the Daedalus. Anything seems fishy, I want you three to get back to the ship, no ifs ands or buts," the Colonel ordered.

Hailey nodded in compliance, and with that, the three other members of SG-2 departed. As they walked down the hall that Kenn directed them towards, the sounds of bass and rhythm could be faintly heard echoing throughout. The sounds got more and more aggressive the closer they got. Soon enough, they arrived at a set of large doors with a Batarian standing outside with his arms crossed. He gave them a once over before opening the doors for them and allowing them passage much to Sheppard's surprise.

"Huh, not even a pat down."

"If this place is as lawless as Kenn said, then everyone in here is probably packing," Ronon replied.

They walked into the club as the sounds of the music overrode any other noise inside. The bar was a large circular construction in the center of the room; there were stools that some patrons were sitting at enjoying exotic drinks while others were leaning unsteadily against the counter. Surrounding that were dozens of couches, leather chairs, and other lounge areas filled with extremely intoxicated people of all different species. There were dance floors beyond that with very liberal and freestyles being displayed. And, much to the shock of the Colonel and Rodney, poles with Turians, Batarians, and Asari dancing up and down them in very… interesting ways. It was an odd thing for the Earth-born members of SG-2 to see. He couldn't help but grimace at the thought of the debrief he was going to have to explain back on Atlantis. Maybe he'd skip this part too…

Ronon peeled off his helmet and clipped it to his belt, "I remember going to a planet during my military days. It was a lot like this."

Before the Colonel could protest, he had briskly walked off towards the bar and leaned both hands on the metal. Sighing, he walked to his Satedan friend with Rodney trailing behind. Shaking his head and surrendering to the oddness of the situation, he took his off his own helmet and made his way over one of the stools that was welded into the floor. As he neared the bar he noticed a finely dressed Turian standing in front of his friends polishing a glass; again, a very odd sight for him.

"Huh, humans. Don't see too many of your kind around here," he commented, his voice flaring with the odd sub-harmonics that all Turians had.

Ronon leveled a stare at the bartender, "That a problem?"

"Just an observation. Most humans don't have the quad to come out to the Terminus Systems, let alone to Omega. You three look like you can handle yourselves though, and as long as you've got the credits, you're welcome in this place."

"Yeah, we're on duty right now so we can't-" Sheppard started before Ronon interrupted him.

"Got any beer?" he asked.

The Turian nodded, going behind the bar and grabbing a bottle. He popped the cap off, and slid it to the Satedan, who grabbed in and threw it back as he gulped down a swig. Setting it back down, he wiped his mouth off with his sleave, turning to his friend as he noticed the look he was getting.

"What? You at that worm stuff earlier," he pointed out.

"It's called Ramen first of all. And second, this is a little different. We wanna make sure we get something that's not going to end up disagreeing with us," he pointed out and sent a sharp glance to the Turian in front of them.

The bartender let out a light chuckle, "Relax human. I make my money on repeat business; wouldn't look too good if the bartender was poisoning his patrons now would it?"

Sheppard stared at him for a brief moment as he tried to gauge whether or not he was telling the truth. After a second more he nodded ordered himself and Rodney the same thing. It was some kind of lager, but he didn't recognize the brand. Hell, he was surprised they even had human beer this far out from System Alliance territory.

After seeing the Satedan have no visible reaction, the Colonel slowly raised his bottle to his mouth to take a swig. It was… interesting to say the least. Personally, he preferred an ice-cold Millers any day of the week but given that this was an alien space station he couldn't exactly complain. He looked over at Ronon to see that he'd already finished his and was about to order another when Sheppard shook his head.

"It's not like a couple beers are going to do anything to me," he pointed out, motioning to his large size.

"Sorry big guy, but we're on duty. Can't exactly find out about Kenn's friend if we're hammered," Sheppard replied.

Before he could think of a response, Ronon's gaze drifted behind the Colonel as his hand reached toward his sidearm, "Sheppard."

The Colonel turned around at hearing the tone his friend used; it was his no-nonsense indication that something was about to go down. Walking directly towards them was a group of three individuals: two Turians and a Batarian. All of them heavily armed and armored. Their walk and stances weren't overly aggressive, but they were tense, and Sheppard could tell they were no strangers to combat. Rodney swiveled around in his chair as he sipped her drink, his eyes going wide as she saw the trio heading their way and he spluttered and coughed as the beer went down the wrong pipe.

Sensing Ronon's attitude Sheppard raised a hand, "Easy big guy. Let's see what they want before we turn this place into a shooting gallery."

The dreaded man grunted but didn't say anything, and he kept his right hand lowered near his leg ready at a moment's notice. Rodney finally got his coughing fit under control and set the bottle down, moving to stand beside Ronon and behind their team leader. Sheppard stood up from his stool and kept his hands folded over his submachine gun clipped to his tactical vest. The Batarian led the group until they were only about half a dozen feet away from SG-2 and two groups stared each other down.

Finally, the four eyed alien spoke, "Humans. Aria wants to see you."

'Well, that was easy. And here I thought we'd have to spend hours figuring out a way to talk to this lady' the Colonel thought to himself.

"Huh, nice to meet you too," Sheppard replied in his usual sarcasm.

"You'll come with us. Now."

Ronon gripped his Magnum tightly, but the Colonel put his hand in front of him before he could make a move. The Turians standing behind the Batarian tensed and gripped their weapons tighter but didn't raise them at anyone. Yet.

Sheppard chewed his lip in thought and slight annoyance, "Who exactly is this Aria, and why do they wanna to see us?" he feigned ignorance, "We just got here; haven't caused any trouble and we're not looking to get into any."

The Batarian narrowed all four of his eyes, "Aria is the boss on this station. Don't know why she wants to see you; I just do what I'm told. Now, follow us."

"And if we decide we wanna stay here and enjoy the drinks?"

"Then maintenance is gonna have to clean up more than spilled drinks tonight."

Ronon sped forward before anyone could react, pulling his sidearm out with its signature whine as the power cell came online in a red glow. He crossed the short distance between the groups as his left hand shot out and gripped the Batarian's throat tightly. The alien found himself lifted bodily off the floor while Ronon's right hand stuck his gun directly against the Batarian's stomach. The sound of safeties being clicked off echoed throughout the bar as the Turians aimed their rifles at the tall human; in turn Shepard and Rodney brought their own guns to bare on them. Immediately, the music and noise in the lower level died down as everyone looked onwards at the standoff. Some were slowly and cautiously slipping out of the exits, others hid under their tables, some began pulling out weapons of their own for the inevitable gun fight, and others still just sat and watched the spectacle while they continued to drink.

Sheppard couldn't help but groan a bit as he mentally chastised himself for letting them get into this situation, "Ronon, we've really gotta work on your people skills."

"He threatened us."

The Turian to the Batarian's left circled a bit to get a better angle on Ronon, "Drop him, now!"

Surprisingly, the Batarian raised his left hand which forced the avian-like alien to back off. He let out a slight chuckle, or what could be perceived as a chuckle since his air ways were being heavily restricted by the death grip he had on his neck.

"Augh… Y-you've got a quad human… I'll give you that. I'll let this one go… y-you should probably turn around," he choked out.

Sheppard, without taking his aim off the guards peaked over at the sudden blur of movement in his peripherals. In the dance areas slightly elevated above them and behind some of the booths he saw more Turians, Batarians, and a plethora of other races surrounding their position with rifles and sidearms. Sheppard grimaced and realized they were severely outnumbered; even if they managed to find cover in time this place was filled with civilians, even if they were alien. He had no desire to start a massacre today.

"Ronon, put him down and back off," he ordered, his usual care-free attitude gone and replaced with the rarely seen CO of SG-2 commanding his team.

Ronon's face tightened with anger, and for a moment Sheppard actually wondered if he going to disobey his order and blow the Batarian's insides wide open. Letting out a growl, the Satedan dropped the alien and back off next to his team leader. The two groups still kept their weapons raised, but slowly lowered them towards the ground. The Batarian, after having a slight coughing fit, stood back up and raised his hands to signal the surrounding guards to lower their weapons as well. The music went back on and people almost instantly returned to their dancing, their drinks, and other intoxicated activities as if nothing ever happened.

"So… now what?" Sheppard asked, keeping his Tempest at port arms but ready.

The Batarian raised a hand towards the entrance they came in from, "Now we go to Aria. You can keep your weapons. They wouldn't do you much good anyway."

As they started walking away, Sheppard turned to his friend, "Okay. Next time, let me do the talking."

Ronon put his sidearm away and crossed his arms, "We're walking into a trap."

"Probably, but I would've liked to discuss it with him before you decided to go Undertaker on his ass. Now we're gonna be watched like a hawk, and we've lost the benefit of the doubt for… well, whatever reason this Aria wants to see us," he chastised.

Rodney looked back towards the entrance they came in from, "Why don't we just go back to Kenn's shop. I think we've spent more than enough time on Omega."

Sheppard eyes the trio that was waiting for them at the entrance, "Don't think these guys are gonna let us go before meeting their boss. Not without a fight at least, which I'd like to avoid."

"Why are we going along with this anyway? We should just knock the kid out and take him with us," Ronon bluntly suggested.

"We're not gonna assault the son of one of our allies," he shook his head, "And if we don't wanna start end our second mission out into the galaxy with a fight, then we need to go meet with her and see what she wants. Worst case scenario, I'll call in the Daedalus to beam us out."

Begrudgingly, the two other members conceded to his decision, and the team followed the Batarian and his guards out of the club. Instead of turning right, the group went left and up a long set of stairs. The sounds of bass went muffled for a time before picking back up again when they reached the top of the stairs. As they entered the second floor of Afterlife, Sheppard and Rodney could immediately tell that this part of the club was meant for much nicer and wealthier clientele. In the center of the massive room was an opening that showed the lower level of the bar they were just in, while off to the right was a smaller but higher end bar with many more exotic looking drinks.

The Batarian led them left and around the entrance to another set of stairs. When they reached the top a short distance up, they found themselves in a VIP area with a small lounge with a mini bar to their right with a few Asari and Turians drinking and conversating. To their left, a raised platform with an expensive looking leather couch facing them with a lone figure sitting directly in the middle sipping a glass of blue liquid in her hand.

The team was directed to stand directly in front of the Asari who was staring intently at them behind her piercing lavender eyes. As they reached the floor directly below her, her guards stopped them from proceeding as the Batarian from before walked in front of them.

"I need to scan you. Hold still," he ordered as he pulled up his Omni-tool, and orange ray of light running up and down the bodies of SG-2.

Sheppard frowned in confusion as he pointed to the gun hanging from his vest, "Uh, it's not like we're hiding our weapons exactly here."

"It's not guns I'm worried about," a suave voice drew his attention.

Looking over the Batarians shoulder, Sheppard was able to get a better look at her. She was wearing dark skintight legging-like pants with a thin white line running down the sides, knee high ebony boots that had an almost heel-like quality to them, and an equally for fitting top that left little to the imagination and could barely be called a tank top. Over that, a pristine ivory vest that came down just past her chest with a popped collar with ruby lined interior. Similarly colored white sleeves covered her arms entirely and attached to fingerless black gloves. Like many of the Asari he'd seen in New Rivers and since they arrived on this station, her skin was a deep shade of purple with even darker tattoo like markings covering her brow line and her chin.

All in all, she gave Sheppard the impression of some kind of Mafia Don as opposed to a club owner, which made sense if she was indeed the 'boss' Kenn had been talking about. He was also beginning to understand why the Asari were universally praised for their beauty and grace; he hadn't had much experience with non-human aliens but given how human they looked, he'd be lying if he said they weren't easy on the eyes. Still, her eyes gave an air of mystery and danger that Sheppard instantly picked up on. This person wasn't to be taken lightly.

That being said, Sheppard had faced down Wraith Queens, so in comparison to that he wasn't all that intimidated, "I take it your Aria?"

She nodded and motioned for the Colonel to take a seat. He complied and walked over to cushioned couch to her right; Rodney tried to follow but was stopped when Ronon gripped his shoulder tightly. He looked like he wanted to protest, but felt his voice leave him when he saw the look in the Satedan's eyes. Rodney wisely chose not to say a word as he sulked silently by his side.

"You got a name human?"

Sheppard took his seat as he leaned back into the comfortable cushion, "Lt. Colonel John Sheppard. So, Aria, mind tellin' me why you sent your boys to come get us?"

The Asari stared curiously at him for a moment before smirking as she too leaned back into her seat and folded on leg over the other, "You and your friends intrigued me."

"Intriguing? How exactly?"

Aria pulled up her Omni-tool and a large, holographic screen popped up in front of them showing the Daedalus currently parked in one of Omega's ports. Whatever the camera showing the footage was attached to tried to get a better angle to look inside the windows of the cruiser, but before that could happen bulkhead doors clamped shut on every translucent surface on the hull.

"An impressive looking ship. Can't say I've ever seen one like it," she commented as she eyed the Colonel predatorily.

"It's a custom job," he repeated the same line that he'd given Captain Iruna on New Rivers, not sure what else to say about and unsure as to where she was going with this.

She nodded at that, "It's not every day we get a cruiser-sized vessel pulling into Omega, an independent one at that. And your IFF… says here that your ship is recently registered?"

Sheppard could almost see the skepticism in her voice, "So what? I'm sure you guys get all kinds of ships with fresh ID's pulling into port all the time. Why are we being singled out?"

"Fresh IFF's usually mean one of two things: you just bought that tub out there, or you're swapped ID's to cover your trail for something you did," she speculated, "Normally no one would give a shit that you showed up fresh creds. These are the Terminus Systems after all."

Sheppard had a bad feeling about where she was trying to lead the conversation, "But?"

"But over the last few months we've been getting a steady increase in traffic from Migrant Fleet shifts buying vast amounts of supplies. Levo-based supplies in particular," she explained, a small smirk forming on her face as she noticed the human's disappearing.

"…And? What's that got to do with us?"

"Besides a bunch of humans showing up in an unregistered warship with a Quarian guiding them around Omega? Just this," she stated simply and changed the screen to show hull-camera footage of some kind of ship.

The ship was pursuing another and firing its main cannon in an attempt to slow it down. Eventually, the ship being pursued stalled out allowing its pursuer to catch up. As the ship setting directly behind, two other vessels revealed themselves and circled to the left and right of the downed ship. A few moments went by with nothing happening, until a massive cloud-like tear appeared just beyond the pursued ship.

From that tear, the familiar grey bulk of a BC-304 emerged as it blurred to a halt. A few more moments passed before all three vessels opposite of it opened fire. Their mass accelerator rounds detonated harmlessly on the concave shield of the battlecruiser. After a few volleys, pale blue beams erupted from the cruiser and obliterated the two flanking ships in a single blast each. The remaining ship, whose hull-camera recorded the entire event, arrested its uncontrolled lateral spin, turned tail, and engaged it's FTL drive in retreat.

She rewound the footage to the moment the battlecruiser exited the hyperspace window and froze it. She turned to Sheppard with a slight smirk on her face, the Colonel in turn tensing up as his hand slowly drifted towards the Zat'nik'tel on his hip. Ronon too began to prepare for inevitable gunfight, while Rodney started looking around for the nearest exit. Aria's guards slowly began encircling the group as they sensed the sudden change in atmosphere. Until Aria raised her hand and signaled for them to stand down. They immediately obeyed, but the two senior members of SG-2 had no intention of doing the same.

"Relax Colonel, if I wanted you and your team dead, I'd have done it already," Aria calmly reassured him as he raised her glass to her lips.

Sheppard eyed her with a weary side glance before he observed her men, then the image floating above him, then back to the Asari next him. This was not how he was expecting this day to go. In and out, quick and easy, but in less than an hour in things had already gone very, very wrong. On the one hand, he could have Caldwell beam them out immediately and they could wash their hands of this place. Kenn wouldn't like it, but it was better than the inevitable interrogation and/or torture he'd probably be subjected to if he was left behind.

But… his team hadn't been assaulted or imprisoned. In fact, they had been the aggressors so far and Aria seemed content to let it slide. He'd been to plenty of worlds back in Pegasus where far worse had been done to his team for a lot less. She obviously had been tracking their movements since they arrived on station given that as soon as they walked into this club they were approached by her guards. It was only once they were in a tactically poor position that they made their move, but it was also the most ideal situation for getting them to come quietly without inciting casualties. So, she must have had something in mind for them if she was showing such patience and restraint. And Sheppard got the feeling that such words were not normally associated to Aria. So, he decided to play along for now.

"Alright, so you've got us short and curlies. You still haven't told me what you want?" he relaxed slightly, signaling Ronon to stand down as well.

She waved her security away and leaned towards the spiky-haired human, "A pirate crew under contract with me was nearly wiped out a few months ago. The surviving crew came to me with this vid and said a cruiser with unknown and powerful technology destroyed them effortlessly. I had my techs analyze the footage… they said the technology being used was unlike anything they'd ever seen."

Sheppard folded his arms over the other, "I'm still waiting to hear the point."

"There's also rumors surrounding the failed raid on New Rivers a few weeks back. Apparently, a powerful slaver ring got some insider intel that was supposed to let them take the colony without much of a fight," she explained, noticing the narrowing of the Colonel's eyes, "But they were stopped by the intervention of a ship that looks suspiciously like the one you arrived in. Not too mention that there are reports of a squad who worked with New Rivers security forces to expel the slavers from the colony. A squad that looks an awful lot like yours."

"And just where did you hear about all this?" Sheppard asked knowing that, while the raid on New Rivers, while galactic news, their involvement was kept out of the limelight thanks to Administrator Rollin.

"I have my sources," was the cryptic reply she gave, not inspiring happy thoughts in the Colonel, "So I started to think. Since there's no way the Alliance could keep this kind of technology under wraps, and given the Quarians recent purchasing habits, and now that ship out there showing up on Omega… well, I think there's a new organization on the rise out there. A powerful organization," she concluded as she let her words sink in.

The Colonel sighed as he saw where she was going with this, "And being the head honcho of a place like this, it's only natural that you try and get an in with said organization…"

She nodded in agreement, and she scooted a bit closer causing the Colonel to lean back in slight surprise, "Whoever you people are, whether it's a multi-species venture or some Alliance black op, it's a game changer. And I want in. But… it's also got to be a small organization if you've had to go to the Quarians for help. You're using them to run your errands, so you don't bring too many eyes down on you. It's also why you'd come to Omega. One can be discreet here… if I allow them to be."

Sheppard narrowed his eyes, annoyed that she was so perceptive about a lot of their activities but thankful that she didn't know yet why they were here for Kenn, "So… blackmail?"

"Think of it as a mutual understanding of our new relationship: your ship and your people will have complete anonymity while on Omega and freedom to conduct whatever business you need to. And I offer my own resources in return: weapons, mercenaries, even the occasional bit of intelligence I happen across."

"And in return?" he asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

"A moderate fee considering all that I'm offering you, believe me," she smirked as she stared unflinchingly into Sheppard's eyes, "And a promise to do favors for me when I need them. In exchange, I can do… favors for you."

Sheppard couldn't help but feel annoyed by her smug attitude. He'd have to have a serious conversation with Admiral Gerrel who claimed that this trip to Omega would be a walk in the park. Well, maybe he didn't word it exactly like that… but he had implied that they wouldn't run into too much trouble.

"And if we politely decline and say our farewells?" he tentatively asked, though he was pretty sure of the answer.

Aria leaned back and shrugged, "Then I will 'politely' ask you to leave. That's all… of course, should such a thing happen this vid just might be leaked out onto the extranet. Or, goddess forbid, it may find its way into the hands of some rather unscrupulous individuals and organizations. I can think of a few off of the top of my head would do anything to get their hands on this kind of technology…"

Sheppard sighed as he scratched his hair in annoyance, "Yep, pretty much what I figured. So, why not just take the extra step and try and take us yourself? Cut out the potential middleman. Seems like it would be more profitable?"

It genuinely confused Sheppard as to why she hadn't made such a move yet. Sure, by offering herself as an ally she was setting herself up for some future benefits. And even Sheppard could see how having the leader of Omega would be beneficial, even if it would be a… tenuous alliance at best. But she had no way of knowing how large their organization was. For all she knew, this was a lone ship that had found some interesting Prothean tech and slapped it onto its hull. Someone like her surely would be able to muster enough forces to make trying to take their ship a possibility, at least in their eyes without knowing the full capabilities of the Daedalus. So why was she going through all this extra effort?

Aria nodded at the Colonel's inquiry, "It's true, I did think of doing just that when your ship arrived in system. Of course, based on what you did to those pirate ships such a fight would be costly. I've always been practical. Why take when you can persuade or turn. And I see the potential for both of us to benefit from this. Besides, even if I somehow was able to get my hands on your ship, it would bring all my enemies down on my head: the STG, Broker agents, SPECTREs? I know what Omega can handle and what it can't. And they won't let Omega have a monopoly on tech like this for very long."

Now Sheppard was understanding, "So the second the rest of the galaxy gets wind of us and what we've got you'll hang us out to dry."

"Pretty much. Don't take it too hard, it's just the way the galaxy turns. You'll have protection from the local merc companies and organizations that reside on Omega, that I can guarantee. But off station, anywhere else in Terminus and beyond you're on your own. You had to know that venturing out into the galaxy in a ship like that you were going to draw attention. Plus, you made the mistake of letting that pirate ship go. Weakness like that will cost you," she chastised as she gulped down the last of her drink before one of her attendants took it away for her.

Sheppard felt a frown form on his face, "I don't think showing mercy is a weakness."

Aria rolled her eyes at that, "Then you're a damn fool. Look at the situation it has gotten you into. Had you destroyed that ship, or abandoned New Rivers to its fate, you could have gone about your business and no one here would have been the wiser."

Not feeling like getting into a philosophical debate he changed topics back to the reason they were meeting, "Look, I'm not exactly authorized to negotiate a deal like this. I'll have to report back to my CO and let him decide. And I can tell ya, he's not gonna be jumping for joy when I tell him about all this."

"Well, you know what will happen should you choose to decline my generous offer. A few more months of being under the radar… or having images of you, your team, and your ship plastered all over the extranet. Plus, the sensor logs I'll send to every intelligence organization in the galaxy. Sure, it'll happen eventually anyway, but at least with me you'll be getting a grateful ally out it," she seductively finished her last sentence and leaned towards the man.

Sheppard leaned further back before she could move closer, ignoring the amusement that appeared on her face, and wiped a hand down his face, "…Fine. But if this is going to happen, I might as well call in that favor now."

"Oh, do tell. What is it you need from me already?" she asked, taking another sip.

"We came here to get a Quarian named Kenn, he's needed for something important," he answered, before becoming confused when he noticed the immediate pause Aria's movement.

"…Yes, I know who you're talking about. I hear he does good work," was her simple reply.

"Right… well, he has a friend he hasn't heard from in some time. Some Asari named Lis," as soon as the name left his mouth, he noticed the woman's eyes turn even harsher, confirming that Aria definitely knew something about this, "And he refuses to leave without making sure she's alright. You got any idea who he's talking about?"

The Asari boss was quiet, swilling her glass with whatever amber colored liquor was inside. She continued to stare at it as the liquid spun around the rim before settling down into the bottom, then back up again as it moved with the momentum of her wrist. Sheppard glanced over at his team, who looked equally confused at the sudden silence the woman was offering. Finally, she knocked the glass back and finished off that last of her drink. Setting it down and motioning to one of her Asari attendants. They bowed and walked over, handed Aria a datapad, then bowed again and walked backwards to her spot. Aria's fingers danced over the datapad, going through screen after screen before settling on one. She tapped another, and suddenly Sheppard's Omni-tool lit up. He looked down at the orange screen on his wrist, noticing that the information was a set of coordinates for somewhere on the station.

"Those coordinates are for where I suspect Lis is," Aria explained.

"So she does work for you," Sheppard concluded, confirming what Kenn had suspected.

Aria turned her gaze away from the Colonel, looking down from her seat past the rest of SG-2 and her people, past the small bar behind them, and seemingly through the walls as if she had x-ray vision. Her face scrunched up like a mother panther waiting to strike, and the slightest hue of biotic energy started to wisp off her body. Even Sheppard had enough tact to know when someone was extremely pissed off so he started to slide ever so slightly away from her.

After a moment, the energy dissipated, and she seemed to calm down ever so slightly, "She… occasionally works for me. When the need arises. You get her back, and I'll see that you're handsomely rewarded."

"Get her back? So, she's in some kind of trouble?" he asked.

"Yes… I'll give you the details if you agree, but suffice to say I need someone who can go in and extract her."

Sheppard folded his arms over his chest, "Why not just send your goons to go get her. You've obviously got the muscle to do it."

Aria got an annoyed look on her face, "It's… complicated. I have… certain appearances I need to maintain. You and your people arriving provide me with opportunity to get her while denying official involvement."

Sheppard looked around at the club, "Uhh, we're not exactly in a private place right now. People can see us plain as day."

"The security cameras are mine, and we sweep for bugs every minute of every day. The people on the VIP level are loyal to me… they know what would happen to them if they betrayed me," she stated ruthlessly, and Sheppard didn't really want to know more details, "No one will know we've talked."

Sheppard leaned back and started to think it all over. Ronon and McKay had a point, once again they were getting involved in business that was not their own. This time not even for a good cause like on New Rivers. Just in the few minutes he'd been talking to Aria, he knew that she was not to be trusted and would likely betray them the moment it was advantageous to her. But… she also had way too much intel on them and their technology that they really did not want going out into the galaxy at large. Not yet at least. Part of him wanted to just have Caldwell beam all of them out and wash their hands of this place.

"I don't think that's something we can-"

"Why don't we go ahead and add that that to the list of things I want from you. You don't go in and get Lis, the intel drops just the same as you leaving," she interrupted.

Now Sheppard was getting a little pissed off, "Changing the deal on us already?"

"Let's just say that you bringing her up is dealing with a problem for me that I've been trying to solve for a while now… your arrival is actually quite timely," she replied with a smile that was anything but friendly.

Sighing, he stood up and moved towards the rest of his team, "Let me talk to my people, and I'll get back to you."

"I'd hurry if I were you. This offer has an expiration date."

---

"You had one job Sheppard! One. Job," Jack O'Neill reprimanded his subordinate as he stood in his and Weir's office near Stargate Control in front of the holoscreen that was connected via subspace to the Daedalus.

The screen showed the Colonel in question sitting next to Caldwell with the rest of SG-2 and Rola sitting around the table in one of the ship's conference rooms. Once Sheppard and his team had returned to the ship, they contacted Atlantis immediately saying they'd had the 'pleasure' of meeting with the station's leadership. Understandably, General O'Neill and Dr. Weir were less than thrilled given the Colonel's orders were to be discreet.

"In Colonel Sheppard's defense, we were made the second we appeared in system. Aria had the hull-camera vids from the pirate ship you let escape," Rola spoke up.

"She waited until we had entered her night club before making her move," Ronon further corroborated.

Weir cleared her throat at that, "I'm sorry… did you say night club?"

She could see Sheppard shoot the former Runner a glare, who in turn just shrugged without a care in the world. The spiky-haired man shook his head and turned back towards the screen on their end showing the two noticeably annoyed leaders of Atlantis.

"The point is as soon as we showed up her goons brought us to her. She's offering protection on Omega and beyond … if we ever go back," Sheppard explained.

Jack crossed his arms as he leaned against his desk, "I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop."

Sheppard winced slightly, "Well… if we don't agree to her terms, she'll send all the data she has on us to this galaxy's governments and intelligence groups. Not sure what their capabilities are but… I can imagine that it would make traveling anywhere else a lot harder."

Both Weir and O'Neill frowned at that. The last thing they needed was that level of scrutiny on their missions. After the attack on New Rivers and their run-in with the Geth, they knew it was only a matter of time before the galaxy knew about Atlantis. Mr. Woolsey was getting prepared to be their ambassador when the day came. But they were hoping that day would not come for at least a little while longer.

Rola tentatively raised her hand, "I'm also concerned what these organizations will do if they learn about the Migrant Fleet's alliance with Atlantis. We can't afford those kinds of enemies right now."

"So, we don't have much of a choice then do we?" Elizabeth asked as she looked for someone to suggest another option.

"We're sure she's serious? She's not bluffing?" Jack asked.

Caldwell shook his head, "She sent us a data packet on everything she's got. The pirate ship's sensor logs recorded everything so anyone who gets the data will be able to authenticate it. And someone on New Rivers must have sent her data from the battle, and vids of Sheppard's team helping the security forces. They'll know the technology being used is beyond anything the other races are using. She's serious."

"Could it have been Ambassador Rollin?" Wier wondered.

Sheppard shook his head, "I doubt it. He's a pretty decent guy. A bit gruff, but he's an older guy so-" he paused when he noticed the look Jack was giving him, "Not that there's anything wrong with that. Experience. Wisdom, all that good stuff."

"What if she was behind the attack on the colony?" Caldwell asked, the idea suddenly popping up in his mind, "If she got info from someone there…"

"Maybe. But, from what Rola and Kenn have told us, that doesn't strike me as her M.O. She seems mostly concerned with Omega and Terminus," Sheppard replied.

Weir didn't like the sound of that, "So, she got it from someone else? Another party on New Rivers? Either behind the attack, or just a witness?"

"Either way, it's bad for us," the General sighed deeply, "So, we're jumping in bed with a ticking timebomb that'll explode on us as soon as we're an inconvenience?" Jack summed everything up.

"Sir, it's not the worst thing to happen. We'll have the cooperation of a major player in the Terminus Systems as well as protection for our people while they're on Omega. For now, at least," Lt. Hailey tried to look on the bright side.

Jack wagged a finger at that, "See, it's the 'for now' part that I really don't like,"" he commented, his headache getting worse by the minute, "So, if we were gonna do this, how would we go about it?"

Sheppard explained that Kenn was refusing to leave without knowing what happened to his friend Lis. And Aria had provided the location for where she was. But even from the little description Aria gave, it sounded more like the Asari was being held against her will. Meaning that if they were to go looking for her, a fight was inevitable. And that was not something they wanted. But if they didn't agree to do so, not only would Kenn not come with them, but Aria would drop every intelligence organization in the galaxy on their head. For whatever reason, the woman wanted Lis rescued as much as Kenn. And that would be bad news for them, the Migrant Fleet, and anyone else they wanted to associate with.

"Well, I'm hoping we'll get more intel on our way to the coordinates that she gave us. I'm thinking we'll take SG-42 as back up," Sheppard replied, noting the look the General was giving him, "I'll keep an eye on him, sir. But if the whoever's holding this Lis looks like it's going to be too much to handle, I'll report back, and we can try and come up with something else."

"Alright… keep us appraised. Atlantis, out," Jack clicked off the transmission.

Sighing, the aging General walked around to the other side of his desk and slumped into his chair.

"… I swear, I must have pissed someone off upstairs, cause anytime I feel like I might finally be able to relax the proverbial wrench gets tossed at my face," he groaned.

Weir shrugged slightly at that and sat down at her own desk in the opposite corner from his, "You could have said no to that promotion."

"Yes… could have. Should have… would have if I'd known what being the 'man' was really going to be like…"

Weir smiled slightly at that as she swiveled her chair towards the SG veteran, "But if that had happened, we never would have made it to where we are today."

Jack chuckled and scoffed a bit that but didn't reply. He simply pulled up his laptop and started writing up a report on the briefing they just had. If he was being honest with himself, he never understood why he was always put in these positions. Positions where he had to make choices that effected the lives of thousands, sometimes millions, of people. He was an airman; he got his orders, and he carried them out as best he could. South America, Afghanistan, Europe. Dozens of missions over his career, most of them successful. And after his son… well, he lost his drive. His passion, and not just for his career.

Then came the fateful day when Major General West reactivated him and tasked him with the most important mission of his life. It was that mission that changed the direction of his life forever. And he was forever grateful for that. But… ever since then the responsibility that had been thrust onto his shoulders was something he didn't quite understand. He tried his best to carry that weight, even if he stumbled from time to time, and found that over the years even when he had opportunities to walk away and retire… he just couldn't. Maybe deep down he knew he couldn't handle the sedentary life or maybe he didn't like leaving things unfinished. Or maybe he was just a glutton for punishment. Whatever the reason, here he was a decade later still trying to do right by his people and make sure they all lived to see another day. It was times like these he really wished Thor was still around… he could use his honest albeit cryptic advice now more than ever.

"Well, I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about… so, we're just gonna add aiding and abetting a crime boss to our growing list of accolades?" he joked.

"There are worse things to have on our resume. Still, we should probably be careful with this Aria T'Loak, right? She sounds like she could be a serious problem for us, and not just because of the things she knows. Maybe we should see if the Tok'ra an get some of their people near her and learn something about her."

Jack let out a chuckle, "Maybe we should change your position from Administrator to Director of Intelligence, huh? Start sending you off to skulk in the shadows of shady people all over the galaxy?"

Weir shook her head at that, smiling slightly, "I don't think I'm much for espionage… but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't secretly looking forward to going out into the galaxy and meet some of these new cultures. Especially the Citadel!"

"This Citadel Council on the other hand…" the General trailed off.

One of the major points of contention the command staff had discussed over the last few months was the issue of the Citadel Council. Specifically, how they would handle the interaction once their two people inevitably met. Jack's opinion on the leaders of the galaxy was well known by this point: he saw another group of advanced aliens who thought because they had technology and power they simply knew better than everyone else. He drew more than a few similarities between them and the Tok'ra and the Tollan. Maybe he just had one too many experiences with races like that. Everyone else had scattered opinions, but they all agreed that their interaction with the galactic superpower was going to be… strenuous at best. Then there was the issue of the Systems Alliance.

It was very strange for them at first when they went over the history of humanity in this galaxy. There didn't seem to be any indications of the Ancients or any of the races or technology they were familiar with in their home universe. Or if there were, no one seemed aware of them. Humanity in this universe had instead discovered the ruins of a race called Protheans on Mars and reverse engineered mass effect technology from it. After colonizing a number of worlds in the 22nd century, the temporal displacement between their two universes was something that continued to drive Rodney crazy, they eventually came into contact with the Turians. After a brief skirmish, the Council stepped in stopped the conflict. The humans were given an embassy on the Citadel and had been pushing for more and more political power and influence ever since. They abided by Council laws and regulations, and even went so far as to limit the size of their military under something called the Treaty of Farixen.

Admittedly, Jack could see why the Systems Alliance chose to subject themselves to the Council's authority even if he personally didn't agree with it. Never mind the fact that the Council races had the Alliance outnumbered and outgunned, but their technology was more advanced as well. It made sense that they'd go with the diplomatic route that was already opened up for them as opposed to striking out on their own, especially given their relative inexperience in traveling the galaxy. Had the SGC managed to contact an advanced civilization like the Council races, he'd be lying if he said they wouldn't have taken a similar deal. Especially in the early days of the program before they had ships and weapons to defend themselves from orbital attack by the Goa'uld. For better or worse, the Asgard and other races seemed content to let the Taur'i stumble and make mistakes in order to learn from them.

Of course, that meant they were fiercely independent. Thus, there was going to be a problem once they made contact with both the Alliance and the Council. Humans were already viewed as aggressive and ambitious by the other races. And a completely unknown and independent band of humans showing up on the galactic stage with technology more advanced than anything ever seen before? Well, the command staff could already guess at how that first meeting was going to go down. Admiral Zorah had said as much in their meeting the other day.

"I'm hoping that our first contact with them will go well. It'll help having some credibility behind our name with what Sheppard and SG-2 did on New Rivers. Plus, if we can give them warning about the Geth. Optimistic, I know…" Weir acknowledged that she was hoping for the best here.

"Well, we're a long way from that happening. Right now, I'm more concerned with this new deal that we had no intention of getting into. Let's get Woolsey and Bra'tac up here. We've got a lot to figure out."

---

SG-2 and SG-42 were sitting in a shuttle, flying through the upside-down towers of Omega. After getting the go ahead, Sheppard contacted Aria and agreed to her 'proposal'. Twenty minutes later, the layout for where Lis was being held was sent over via an encrypted channel. The coordinates led to the factory district, specifically, to an eezo refinery that took in the raw material from Omega's mines and converted it into its useable form.

Sheppard and SG-42's commanding officer had spent the better part of an hour going over the layout of the building that Lis was in, as well as the suspected opposition inside. Aria's people reported at least twenty armed hostiles, mostly Blood pack mercenaries, inside. Which meant Krogan and Vorcha, two races that the Atlanteans had not had the pleasure of running into yet. There were two entrances, a primary one and a secondary maintenance shaft. Obviously, the front door was not the most ideal way in. However, if they could cause a distraction it could provide the perfect opportunity for someone to slip in the back.

"I still think we should have just grabbed Kenn and left," McKay complained from his seat, bouncing uncomfortably in the crappy shuttle whose inertial dampeners weren't working properly.

Sheppard sighed, "We know Rodney, you've said that about twenty times now."

Rodney was about to respond, when the shuttle ducked suddenly, causing the Canadian to bang his head against bulkhead, "Ow!" he shouted, raising a hand to his head and checking for blood, "And yet, no one seems to be listening to me!"

"Well, the alternative isn't exactly the best choice," Lt. Hailey spoke up, playing with the phasic jacketing modification she'd gotten from Kenn, "What do you suggest we do when Aria leaks all the intel she's got on us?"

McKay gripped the sides of his seat to keep himself steady, "I actually had an idea about that. I've been playing around with a infiltration program I've been developing and I believe that-"

"-Oh, can it McKay," a younger voice called out, and a figure walked out from the shuttle's cockpit, "We're doing this whether you want to or not. It's just another day in outer space."

The figure stepped into the troop transport area of the shuttle, revealing the thirty-year younger face of General O'Neill. He was decked out in similar gear to everyone else, with an olive-colored ball cap over his head and a pair of sunglasses hanging from his neck. A short stubble covered his face, and small smirk found its way there as well as he leaned against the archway into the cockpit.

Sheppard sent a sharp look at the man, "Easy there, Captain. McKay's got a point, in his unique way of saying it."

"Understood sir," Captain O'Neill replied, though the mirthful tone suggested he wasn't chastised in the slightest.

Shaking his head, Sheppard started wishing that the kid hadn't inherited the General's mouth, though he'd never say that out loud. Not that he could say much, his own sarcastic wit well known with his peers. But the clone was beyond what even the General would consider abrasive behavior. Maybe it had to do with hormones. Still, he was glad to have Jon O'Neill with them. He had decades of special operations training and experience rattling around in that cloned brain of his. Combined with his youthful body… well, Sheppard was glad the man was with them. Among the many skilled Airmen and Marines in Atlantis, Jon was the one he wanted to spar with the least.

Looking over at the rest of SG-42, he couldn't help but notice how old he felt when he looked them over. Rya'c was decked out in his Asgard nano-mesh suit with trinium armor plating, checking his clips and making sure it was all secure. Rola was sitting nervously, holding the shotgun in her lap with tight fingers. She'd been commandeered by Jon who stated that he needed a tech expert of his own, and before she could protest, he was slapping a temporary badge on the shoulder of the Quarian.

"Alright, let's go over this one more time," the Colonel stated, drawing everyone's attention, pulling up his Omni-tool and expanding the three-dimensional layout of the building for everyone to see, "We'll set down here, half a klick away. We'll be heading in the front entrance."

"Right, about that actually- I was thinking-" Rodney started.

"-Once we've got their attention, SG-42 makes their way in the back," Sheppard continued, "Now, Daedalus scanned the building and managed to find one Asari life sign here," he highlighted a single room with a blue blinking dot.

Jon pushed off from the bulkhead and moved closer to the hologram, "Hopefully, with everyone out front dealing with you guys, we can slip by unnoticed. At the very least, there shouldn't be more than a handful of guards."

"If we know where she is why don't you just beam her out?" Rola asked, fidgeting in her seat as she looked at the layout of the refinery.

Rodney pointed to her, "Yes, why don't we do that?"

"Because that would be one more piece of technology we'd have to explain to Aria. And if word got out that we had something that let us drop in and out of anywhere anytime we please…" he trailed off, letting their imaginations fill in the blanks.

So far, only their energy shields and weapons had been exposed. Only the Quarians were aware of the other kind of technology the Atlanteans had, and they were trying to keep it that way for a little while longer at least. Keeping that kind of knowledge out of the hands of someone like Aria T'Loak was a no brainer.

Ronon was leaning against the hull of the shuttle near Rola, twirling his Particle Magnum around, "These Krogan are going to be a problem. How many are we talking?"

"Three based on the scans we took," the Colonel said.

Rya'c finished checking his gear and moved closer as well, "Indeed. I've fought an Unas before, and from what I've studied these Krogan will no doubt prove similarly challenging."

"What's an Unas?" Ronon asked the younger Jaffa.

"They were the first beings the Goa'uld took as hosts. They have far superior strength and speed compared to humans, and a regenerative healing factor that allows them to heal nearly any injury," he explained, "These Krogan have similar abilities, we will need to tread carefully around them."

Ronon grunted in agreement, "Use your agility to keep away from these guys then. Don't let them get a hand on you."

"I'm sure your sword will be useful. Perhaps I shall make one for myself when we return to Atlantis," the Jaffa complimented.

Rola's eyes grew large, "Wait, you two aren't seriously thinking of fighting Krogan in hand-to-hand, are you?!"

The Jaffa and Satedan both looked at the girl, before turning back to share a grin with each other. The two warriors had spent many months sparing humans and Jaffa. Both of their cultures, however, believed that true experience and growth was gained in combat. Having learned about the Krogans when they arrived in the galaxy, whose society was similar to theirs, the two were looking forward to fighting such dangerous aliens.

Jon shared a look with the Colonel who seemed to know what he was thinking, so Jon waved to both of them, "Alright, we'll let you guys handle them if it comes to that."

A voice called out from the pilot's chair, "We're approaching the LZ, Colonel Sheppard."

Shaking his head, Sheppard closed his Omni-tool, "Alright, time to get to work."

Everyone stood up and pulled their weapons out, moving behind the Colonel and waiting for the shuttle to land. It began to slow down, before finally lowering and hovering about a foot off the ground. The doors opened, revealing the rust-tinted view of Omega's industrial district. Sheppard hopped off, followed by Cpt. O'Neill, and then everyone else. Once they had disembarked, the shuttle doors closed again, and the ship took off. Aria had given them a radio frequency to contact once their mission was complete, and the shuttle would return to extract them.

Sahrabarik, the system's sun, shined brightly through the towers of Omega, causing a few of them to wince as their eyes adjusted to the light change. Jon pulled up his sunglasses, putting them over his eyes and popping a piece of gum into his mouth. Sheppard looked out over the vast expanse of the station, still surprised at how large it was. Sure, he was used to living on Atlantis, but that was built by the Ancients. He wondered how long it would have taken before his own people would have been able to build places like this.

Turning around, he faced the two team, "Alright. SG-42, fall out. Stay in contact, and radio when you're in position."

Cpt. O'Neill nodded, his usual smirk gone and replaced with the look of a seasoned operator, "Copy that. Rya'c, Rola. Let's roll."

With that he started walking away towards a nearby alley, followed closely by the Jaffa. Rola hesitated only for the briefest of moments, sharing a look with Sheppard who gave her a smile and nod of encouragement. Letting out a breath, she hefted the shotgun in her hand and jogged after the other two, disappearing into the shadows.

Sheppard turned and motioned for the rest of them to follow, and the four humans made their way down the street towards in the direction of the refinery. There were surprisingly few people on the streets given the fact that the main industry of Omega was eezo production. Maybe it was the weekend for Omega. Or, the new tenants down the block had scared everyone away. Either way, it was a good thing for SG-2 since they wouldn't need to worry about civilians getting caught in the crossfire.

After a few minutes of walking, Sheppard held up his hand and motioned for everyone to stack up behind the wall of a building. Once they were in cover, he peaked his head around the corner and looked down the street. At the very end, a large square building with pipes and vents sticking out of it sat. It was non-descript to a tee, being pretty much the same as every other refinery in the area. The only thing that really set it apart were the two Vorcha standing guard outside of it. Each was packing some kind of rifle, but the Colonel couldn't tell what they were from this distance.

Pulling back around the corner, he looked over at his team, "Alright. Everyone ready?"

"Yep," Ronon replied simply.

"Good to go, sir," Lt. Hailey replied.

"Wait, hang on. I think I've got something in my boot," Rodney held a hand up.

"Alright, let's go," he ignored the last comment, walking around the corner.

SG-2 calmly walked down the street, making sure to look as casual as possible so they didn't spook the guards. The two ugly looking aliens were chattering away with each other, talking about something that none of the humans understood about. But whatever they were discussing, it kept them from noticing the four heavily armed humans approaching.

One snarled as it pointed a clawed finger at the other, "Ahhh, why we stuck at door! We always get stuck at door!"

"We much better than others! Ahhh, we kill them and take place!" the other growled in agreement.

The first shook his head up and down, "Yes! Then we take over Blood Pack! Finally make move for-"

-The two finally noticed the humans who were now only a few meters from them. They both snarled, turning and raising their weapons at SG-2. The four stopped, gripping their weapons but not raising them yet.

"Ahhh, you no be here! This belong to Blood Pack now!" the first Vorcha yelled.

"Hey, we're not here to take anything from you. Just got a proposal for your bosses," Sheppard calmly stated.

"Humans no welcome here! You go now!" the other sneered.

"Look," he raised his arms in surrender, "We've got some pretty juicy intel that we think your bosses might wanna hear. If you take us to them, there might be a reward in it for you two."

That seemed to get their attention, the two Vorcha lowered their rifles slightly as they contemplated his words.

"We get reward?" the other asked.

"Ahhh, how does human know we get reward?" the other questioned, "We no get reward. We stuck at door!"

The other one seemed to get some sort of epiphany, raising a clawed finger in the air, "Maybe this way we get off door! We bring humans, kill them, and look good to Trock!"

"Ahhh, you right!" the other agreed, "You follow humans! No funny business!"

With that the pair turned around and opened the locked door leading to interior of the refinery. Sheppard shook his head at the odd aliens, wondering if they either didn't understand what they'd just said or if they were too dumb to understand it. Either way, they got what they wanted, and SG-2 followed the pair inside.

The inside of the refinery didn't seem all to dissimilar to ones found on Earth. Their Earth at least. Pipes ran all over the place, conveyer belts filled with what they assumed to be raw eezo moved into deeper parts of the building. One the catwalks above, Vorcha were patrolling and milling about, seemingly disinterested in their duties and clearly not wanting to be there. That changed however, when they noticed the four humans who were now walking inside. They didn't pull out their weapons, but they did watch them like hawks looking for prey in a field. As they continued, the team counted about thirteen Vorcha scattered throughout the main atrium.

"I'm seeing hostiles on the catwalk without a proper field of fire, no overlapping positions. Others with their weapons on crates out of reach, sitting around with no combat readiness," Ronon quietly observed, "No discipline. Shouldn't be too tough to take out if things get out of hand."

Sheppard nodded in agreement, seeing the same things as he looked around, until he focused on where they were walking towards, "Not loving the view in front of us."

As they approached the back of the atrium, a huge, hump-back alien was sitting on a crate, sharpening a rather large knife. The beast wore blood red armor, with black accents on in between the plating. Its skin was leathery brown, and the plate on its head was a burgundy that extended past where the neck ended. Ronon tensed as he saw the Krogan, his hand off hand reaching up and over his shoulder, grasping the hilt of his trinium sword tightly.

Finally, the Krogan looked up, "I gave you two orders to shoot anyone who approaches."

The Vorcha seemed to cow-down when the Krogan spoke. From what they'd read about the alien race, Vorcha followed whoever they deemed to be the strongest. Whoever was in charge, they would submit to and do whatever that person said. Like dogs, they followed a strict hierarchy.

"Ahhh, yes Trock. but humans say they have information!" one spoke, his head bowed.

"We say we get information, then kill them and get reward, yes?" the other exclaimed, hoping to seize the perceived opportunity.

The Krogan didn't say a word. He simply put his knife down, pulled out a shotgun from behind his back and blasted the two Vorcha in rapid succession. The now lifeless Vorcha flew backwards from the impact, drawing the attention of the rest of their kind who were scattered around. SG-2 immediately brought their weapons up, aiming at the Krogan who simply sat back down on his crate, holding the steaming weapon in his hand.

"Idiots. Why are you here humans. For your sake, it had better be a good reason," the large alien grumbled, not even giving the fact that he'd just killed two of his men a second thought.

Sheppard narrowed his eyes, "You just killed two of your guys. Not the best leadership style if you ask me."

The Krogan called Trock shrugged, "I have no patience for incompetence. Or having my time wasted. Speak quickly, human."

"…Fine. You've got an Asari here, we're gonna need you to release her into our custody," the Colonel bluntly spoke.

Trock tilted his head, curious, "What's she to you human. You working for Aria?"

"Nope. A friend of hers asked us to look into where she went. We tracked her down to his refinery, and we want her back," Sheppard replied.

An alert rang out in the Colonel's comm device in his ear, "Sir, SG-42 is in position. Ready whenever you are."

Without giving away anything, he directed his attention back to the Krogan, "What's the price? We're willing to pay for her."

Trock shook his head, standing up to his full height which was at least a head taller than Sheppard, "She's not for sale. Now I'm afraid you humans have to die."

"Really? That's a hell of a way to end negotiations," he replied dryly, knowing that his team was tensing and getting ready for a fight.

"Either you're working for Aria, or someone else. Can't have you leaving here alive and reporting back to them either way," Trock retorted, bringing his shotgun back up.

Ronon rushed forward, bringing his sword out and in one swift motion bringing it down across the weapon. The trinium sword sliced through the shotgun like a knife through butter, surprising Trock long enough for the Satedan to follow up with a teep-kick to the Krogan's chest. The blow stumbled the Krogan enough for the rest of SG-2 to back off and start unloading on the surrounding Vorcha. Instantly the ones who were lounging about on the crates died as hundreds of mass accelerator rounds pierced their tan, leathery skin. The rest shook off their shock and began to return fire, force the Earth-born members of SG-2 to duck into cover behind some crates as their kinetic barriers started to take hits.

Ronon continued to engage the Krogan who now had his knife in his hand. Ronon landed blow after blow while ducking and dodging everything the larger alien threw at him. His sword sliced cleanly through his armor, and soon orange blood was leaking from cuts all over. Trock growled in anger, feinting a downward thrust that forced Ronon to dodge to the left and into the waiting hand of the Krogan. He grabbed the human by his trench coat and sent a vicious headbutt his way. Ronon grunted as he took the full force of the blood, pulling up his Magnum and sending a blast directly into the chest of the larger alien. The blast forced a pained cry to erupt from his throat, and sent Trock careening back into the crate he had been sitting on, a smoking hole in his abdomen, but he stabled himself and pulled out a heavy pistol and let off a few rounds. The impacts caused Ronon's kinetic barriers to flare, forcing him back and into cover.

As he crouched next to Sheppard, he wiped the blood flowing from his nose and growled angrily, "He's tough."

Sheppard nodded, looking over at the Krogan who was now backing up into cover, "Yeah, I can see that. You put a shot into him that would have had anyone else down for the count," he shook his head and raised a hand to his ear, "SG-42, you have a go."

"Copy that, we're breaching now."

---

On the other side of the facility the human, Jaffa, and Quarian had made their way through the maintenance entrance and were now standing behind a wall that separated them from the section that held Lis. Jon was setting up the C4 while Rya'c was waiting with Rola behind cover. Rya'c was kneeling, his eyes closed with his staff weapon laying on the floor in front of him, his mind focused on the coming battle. Rola was fidgeting with her Omni-tool, prepping her overloads and combat drones for the coming battle.

She was feeling the pressure of the moment. She'd never been in combat before, only a marine training course before she left for her Pilgrimage and some training on Atlantis. She wished she was back with Jal or with Kenn, or back on the Daedalus. Anywhere but here. But… she also knew that her friends needed her help. Ever since the naming ceremony for Novus, she and Jal had become close with what Dr. Jackson had called the 'second generation of leaders' in Atlantis. Eli, Cpt. O'Neill, Rya'c, Eleni, and others who were being groomed to help lead the city in the future. Jon and Rya'c had been very supportive during training and given how quickly the young officer had asked her to join them today she suspected that she too was being groomed to join his SG team. She was surprised that he wanted her and not another human like Lt. Hailey, but she felt awkward asking.

Jon coming around the corner interrupted her thoughts, and she closed her Omni-tool, "Are we ready?"

He nodded and held his M-15 Vindicator assault rifle in one arm at high ready, and a detonator in his other hand, "Yep, we're all set. Just waiting for the go ahead," he looked down at his friend, "Ry? You good buddy?"

Rya'c opened his eyes, breathing in deeply and grabbing his staff weapon. Standing up to his full height, a full head and half taller than the other two, he nodded in confirmation and moved to stand behind Rola.

"I am prepared, O'Neill. Rola'Jaram, I wish for you to stay behind us once we have begun our attack," he suggested his Quarian friend, noting her nervousness.

She nodded in thanks, not quite trusting her own voice to say anything else. The three waited in silence, the only noise was the sound of dripping water somewhere and the chewing of gum by Cpt. O'Neill. They continued to wait, with Jon checking his watch every so often, wondering when-

"-SG-42, you have a go," the voice of Colonel Sheppard came over the radio.

Jon spit out his gum and reached for his ear, "Copy that, we're breaching now," he turned to Rya'c and Rola with a smirk, "Here we go."

With that, he clicked the detonator. The wall behind their cover blew into the hall beyond it, and Jon and Rya'c immediately rushed out from cover. Rola gripped her shotgun, trying to keep her hands from shaking. Her head snapped towards the hole that was now in the wall when she heard the sound of gunfire and staff blasts. Finding her resolve to help her friends, she took another deep breath and ran towards the hole. Running through the dust and rubble, she found herself in a dimly lit hallway. One way led to a dead end with a ventilation shaft, and the other-

"-Keelah," she whispered, observing the carnage.

The hall was littered with the bloody bodies of the three Vorcha that were meant to guard their prisoner. Their bodies were leaking from dozens of different places, and each had a large, smoking hole in their chests. Swallowing the bile rising in her throat, she looked up and saw the human and Jaffa waiting down the hallway for her. She slowly walked down the hall and came to stand just before them.

Jon tilted his head as he looked at her, "You alright, Ro?"

Shaking the images from her head she looked up at her commanding officer, "Yes, I'm alright. Just… I've never…"

"It gets easier," he said, his usual sarcasm nowhere to be found as he placed a hand on her shoulder, "Now come on. We've got a prisoner to save."

With that, he moved down the hall with Rola and Rya'c following. A few feet from where the Vorcha were making their rounds, a single door with a red holo-lock was glowing. Motioning to her, Rola pulled up her Omni-tool and began hacking the door while Rya'c kept his eye on the rest of the hallway leading to the greater part of the refinery. Jon was stacked up on the side of the door, waiting patiently for Rola to finish her work.

"So, this has got to be a little different than you're used to, right? Definitely beats working on engines parts all day long," he spoke.

Rola didn't look up as her fingers typed and swiped away at the orange screen, "I actually worked in a shielding array before me and Jal left on our Pilgrimage."

"Same difference. You obviously like being a part of the Embassy on Atlantis," the Captain pointed out, "Being out of a cramped ship. Jaunting across the galaxy."

"I was asked to join the diplomatic team because of the strong first impression I developed when your people first arrived, nothing more," she corrected.

Jon scoffed at that, "Please, you've been running circles around some of our tech guys teaching them about all this fancy new eezo stuff. Plus, Daniel said you've been one of his best students. You and Eleni have been putting in some work on some interesting stuff."

Rola grimaced slightly, "More like Eleni has been dragging me into her projects… is there something fundamentally wrong with adolescent human girls that forces them to never leave people alone or take no for an answer?"

"Yeah… I'm not touching that question with a ten-foot pole," the young man chuckled, "Still, you've been fitting in quite nicely. And for your first off world mission, you're handling it pretty well."

Rola did stop for a moment and looked up, "Is this where you try and recruit me as a permanent member of SG-42?"

Jon shrugged, "We need a tech specialist. I don't know if you've seen me and Rya'c in those technical training courses you guys have been running but…" he trailed off with a shake of his head.

"But I'm a technically a diplomat under the articles of our alliance, and I'm not human," she pointed out.

"Neither am I, Rola'Jaram," Rya'c spoke up but not taking his eye off the hall, "Many SG teams have Jaffa and Tok'ra. The Taur'i do not discriminate based on species. Only the content of your character and your abilities on the battlefield are weighed."

"I see," she quietly said, "I still don't know why you want me specifically. There are Quarian Marines that would be much better candidates."

"Maybe. But I want someone who isn't tied down by conventional Quarian tactics, and who can think on the fly when I need them to," the Captain replied.

Before Rola could reply, the red holo-lock flashed twice before turning green, and the door opened up and receded into the walls. Standing up, she pulled out her shotgun again and turned to the human with a proud smile, though he couldn't see it behind her mask. Jon pushed off the wall and sent a smirk back, looking inside and motioning for her to follow while Rya'c stood guard outside.

"Nice work," he said as they walked into the dark room.

"Thanks, but hacking a door isn't exactly the galaxy's most difficult thing to do," she thought for a moment before going back to Jon's comment a moment before, "Why do you want me to join? Me, specifically?"

Jon simply shrugged again, "I like to think I see things in people."

Without offering any further explanation, he walked towards the back of the room. Rola shook her head in confusion and followed. There was a single light hanging over them, barely enough to keep them from stumbling around in the dark. At the back of the room, there was a single cell with bars that had been hastily welded together to keep the lone figure behind them from escaping. Looking through them, they both could see that an Asari in torn clothes was laying on her side with her back to them. Jon looked at the lock on the door; a simple bolt lock that seemed out of place given the advanced kinetic barriers and digital locks that were present in the galaxy.

"Huh, I've gotta say, I'm a little disappointed," he sighed, pulling out his M-3 Predator and blasting the lock.

"Yes, it's strange that they would leave an Asari unguarded with so little security in place to keep her- unless…" Rola began to think.

Jon yanked open the now unlocked cell and walked inside, crouching down over the unconscious purple woman and noticing something, "Huh, she's got some kind of collar on her neck. I'm guessing it's not for fashion."

Rola looked over his shoulder, "That's why she's been left unguarded: it's a biotic inhibitor collar. It keeps biotics from accessing their abilities."

"Ah, that makes sense. We have something similar for dealing with Priors," he referenced, though Rola wasn't well versed enough in their history to remember everything with perfect memory, "I wonder if there's a-"

-The Asari's legs came up in a flash, wrapping around Jon's neck and in one swift motion, she flipped him over and ended up on top of him. A glint caught the light, and Rola looked down in shock as she saw a piece of jagged metal being held to the Captain's neck. Scrambling, the Quarian brought her own weapon up and aimed it at the Asari, but she dared not fire since she would hit her friend with the scatter blast.

Surprisingly, Jon didn't look even the least bit troubled, sporting an almost bored look on his face as he stared up into the lilac eyes of his attacker, "Well, this is awkward."

The Asari didn't take her eyes of the human underneath her as she held her make-shift weapon, "One move, and I'll cut his throat," she said coldly to Rola.

"That's a hell of a way to treat your rescuers," he pointed out, not even flinching as the tip of the knife dug a little deeper into his skin, "I take it your Lis, right?"

The Asari scoffed, "Please, more like new wardens. No way in hell anyone is busting in here other than to take the Blood Pack's prize. Let me guess: Broker Agents? Blue Suns?"

"Wrong, and wrong," he said with a slight shake of his head, careful not to move too much so he didn't end up with a new scar, "Aria T'Loak sent us."

Lis's eyes widened for a moment, before hardening again and readjusting her grip tighter, "Bullshit. Aria wouldn't send in anyone to save me. Can't ruin her precious reputation."

"Yeah, my boss got that impression," Jon admitted, his eyes focusing as he seemed to notice something about the Asari, "Something about us being yet uninvolved with her providing the perfect alibi to come in and get you."

"Let him go," Rola finally spoke up, her eyes narrowing at the woman they were supposed to be rescuing, "Now."

"You're going to have to try harder than that if you want to sound intimidating, little girl," Lis mocked the Quarian, before looking back down at the human, "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"Well, for one thing you don't really have much of a choice. You either try and take us all on, and deal with the Blood Pack who already captured you once," he pointed out, sending a pointed look at the collar on her neck.

Her eyes narrowed even more, and slightest hue of a blush of embarrassment appeared on her cheeks from being reminded of how she ended up here in the first place, "Or?"

"Or you come with us, we get you out of here, and we all live happily ever after," he said with a smirk.

Lis bit her lip in contemplation, weighing the options that were presented before her. Rola kept her shotgun leveled at the Asari, waiting for any sign that she wasn't going to play nice and attack. She didn't know how old Lis was, but from the expert way she threw Jon she had to assume she had some training, maybe even Commando training if she was a couple of centuries old. From what she knew of the 'Queen' of Omega, she didn't work with people who couldn't hold their own in combat. Everyone was tense as the lavender-colored Asari contemplated her options, before finally letting out a growl of frustration and sat up on the Captain's stomach, pulling away her knife. As she sat up, she noticed something and looked beneath her, looking down and looking surprised. Rola saw that Jon was holding a combat knife of his own, held up below the belly of the Asari sitting on top of him. She didn't know when he pulled it, but it must have been during the split-second he was flipping in the air and before Lis landed on top of him. Rola sometimes forgot that despite his age and unique personality, Cpt. O'Neill was a very skilled soldier.

Jon smirked up at her, "I'm glad you saw reason."

Lis harrumphed, pushing hard on the man's belly to support her as she stood up, drawing a grunt from him as he flexed his stomach to keep from getting the wind pushed out of him. Standing up, she moved back from both of them, waiting for them to make another move. Jon grabbed his pistol that he dropped, and stood up, dusting himself off. Noticing that Lis was reaching for her collar, he holstered his pistol and walked over to her. Raising his knife up, she flinched and fell back into a combat stance, forcing Rola to aim her shotgun again. But Jon just raised his hand to the Quarian, giving her a moment of pause.

Raising his hands in a placating manner, he slowly approached the Asari, "Easy now, I figured you'd want that off, right?"

Lis leveled a disbelieving glance at her, "Really? You want to take of the one thing that's keeping me from tearing you two apart?"

Jon paused for a moment, thinking about the possibility, "Well, when you put it like that, it's probably better to keep it on. But, we're gonna need to fight our way out of here. And I'd rather have you with us than against us," he approached again, Lis relaxing ever so slightly, "Consider it an act of trust."

She continued to stare at the human in front of her, before slowly nodding and dropping her guard slightly. The Captain walked behind her, grasping the collar in one hand while holding his knife in the other. He started fiddling with the lock mechanism, shoving his blade in between the seams and twisting and turning it until- pop! The collar fell the floor with a clang, and Lis raised her hands to her neck to massage the muscles that were now free. Inhaling deeply, she dropped her arms and a flared her biotics, the violet energy lighting up the room. Rola tensed, expecting an attack, but Jon simply stood there with his arms crossed.

Lis let out her breath, dissipating her biotics with it, "Oh, that feels good."

"I bet. Can't say I'd be a fan of having a collar on my neck either," he replied tersely, drawing a look from Rola.

"Huh… sounds like you're talking from experience," Lis commented, looking Jon up and down, "Were you a slave?"

"No, but I've got plenty of experience with it. Not a fan," was his simple reply, before sheathing his blade and pulling out his rifle again, "Come on, let's get moving."

He raised his arm towards the door, showing that he wanted Lis to move forward first. Nodding, she slowly walked towards the door, keeping her eyes peeled for any sort of deception. Before Jon could follow, Rola gently grabbed his arm and drew his attention.

"Jon, can we really trust her? She's one of Aria's people," she whispered.

The Captain frowned and shook his head, "I don't trust her as far as I can throw her, but we could use the help. If she wanted to make a move, she wouldn't have hesitated to try and kill me. Besides, if she's as important as I think she is to Aria, we don't have anything to worry about."

Rola was now thoroughly confused, "Wait, what do you mean? Do you know something about her?"

"I'll explain later," he waved her off, and motioned for her to follow.

Out in the hall, Lis was in a staring contest with Rya'c. The Jaffa kept his highly trained eye on the now freed biotic, weary of any hostile movement from her. Lis meanwhile kept her distance from the Jaffa who towered over her, probably thinking he was one of the larger 'humans' she'd met. Clearing his throat and getting their attention, waved his hand for everyone to form up behind him. With Rya'c in the back, followed by Rola, then then Lis, the group moved down the hall in the direction that would lead them to the main part of the facility.

"Colonel, we've got the package and we're proceeding to your position. What's your status?" he asked into his comm.

There was a pause, before the line came on, gunfire in the background, "Copy that SG-42. Be advised we're cut off from the exit, got hostiles surrounding our position."

"Just like we figured," Jon replied, "We're on our way SG-2, just hang in there."

He broke into a light jog, with his team and Lis trailing after. Recalling the layout of the refinery, he led them all through the corridors and stairs. Soon enough they started hearing the sound of small arms fire, causing SG-42 to ready their weapons. They came up to the door that would lead out into the atrium where SG-2 was fighting. He was about to open it up, when he looked at that Asari in their midst who were nothing but a set ragged prison clothes. He pulled out his sidearm and held it out for her.

"Here, if you're gonna help us fight our way out of here, you're gonna need this," he said, pushing the gun into her hands.

She took the pistol, checking it over and popping the heat sink before expertly slapping it back in. Nodding to him, she flared her biotics, and a faint energy coated her entire body. Turning back to the door, he tapped the green holographic button and the entry opened up. The four filed through quickly, only to immediately duck their heads and accelerator rounds started to come their way. Jon and Rola flanked left while Rya'c and Lis went right, getting into cover behind some crates that weren't yet destroyed.

The atrium was a mess, with the bodies of dead Vorcha scattered everywhere. Piles of destroyed crates littered the floor, blood pooling in areas and leaking from the catwalks above, and in the center of the room SG-1 was pinned as the remaining Vorcha were in cover behind and above them, keeping them from getting off accurate shoots without their barriers taking a beating. Some of the Vorcha saw SG-42 come in and directed their fire towards them, allow Sheppard to pick off one that stood up to get a better angle on the young team.

Sheppard ducked back behind cover, flinching slightly as steam came off his weapon as it cooled, "Nice of you guys to join us!" he shouted over the sounds of battle.

Jon peaked around cover, looking through his scope and let off an accurate burst of fire, hitting a Vorcha on the catwalk in the head. The dead alien fell backwards, over the railing and splattering on the floor below. Smirking, Jon pulled back into cover watched as his team and Lis engaged.

"You didn't think we'd let you guys have all the fun!" he shouted back.

A bellowing growl drew his attention, and he looked over to the other side of the Atrium and saw Ronon engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a Krogan. His nose was bleeding, and he had a bruise over his eye, but otherwise looked to be fine. He couldn't see the man's Magnum, but he had his sword out and was sending a flurry of strikes at the massive alien in front of him. The Krogan has cuts all over his body, orange blood pooling underneath him. Yet somehow, he was still standing. Ronon was staying away from every heavy blow sent his way, spinning and twisting out of the range of the Krogan. The Satedan punched the alien with the hilt of his sword, stunning him, and followed up with a two-handed thrust into the Krogan's abdomen. The blade went straight through, coming out the other side.

The Krogan growled again, spitting out a gallon of blood to the side before surprising the human and throwing a haymaker. Ronon let go of his sword and caught the punch with both hands, grimacing as he struggled to hold back the powerful blow. The Krogan put his free hand up to his other one and began to push against the Satedan. Ronon began to move backward despite his best efforts to stay in one spot. The alien continued to push against him until the human was nearly backed up to the wall. In a show of agility, Ronon suddenly stopped resisting and let the Krogan push him all the way back, jumping up and using the wall to run up and over the alien. Landing behind him and sending a kick to his back, the alien stumbled and slammed into the wall. Ronon backed off, pulling out his Eviscerator shotgun and prepared to blast the troublesome alien once and for all when another battle cry drew his attention.

Another Krogan came charging from out of nowhere, forcing Ronon to turn his weapon on him. He let out a blast from his new weapon that stopped the new Krogan in his tracks. He followed up with three more, each one causing the alien to drop to a knee, then both, then the final blast blew apart his head and the pulverized body slumped over. The distraction proved to be enough for the first Krogan to recover, as he pulled the sword out from his stomach and threw it off to the side. Ronon was going to re-engage, but bullets began to impact his barrier and caused him to retreat behind the closest cover he could get to.

"You alright buddy?!" Sheppard yelled out to his friend, noticing his heavy breathing.

Ronon nodded, hefting his shotgun in his hand, "I'll live. That guy is starting to piss me off."

Jon pulled his attention from them and assessed the situation. There weren't too many Vorcha left, but the ones that were still kicking were on the catwalks and had them out positioned and continued to rain fire down on them and preventing them from returning fire effectively. He looked over at the Krogan who Ronon was tangling with. The towering terror had recovered enough to grab the rifle off one of his dead comrades and had retreated to cover of his own. He'd read that the lizard-like aliens had a regenerative healing ability, but to see the hurt that Ronon had put on the alien and to have it still kicking was still shocking. Thankfully, the man's energy weapon once again proved its worth and was able to put the other one down without too much of a fight.

Still, they needed to end things fast. No doubt at least one of the Blood Pack had gotten a signal out. If they hadn't, then he was going to have to seriously reevaluate the threat of these mercenary groups for future ops. Assuming that they did get a message out, they could probably expect to be overrun with Blood Pack reinforcements any time.

"We need to get an angle that fireteam on overwatch!" he pointed to the catwalk, "Rya'c, you got anything?"

Rya'c was sending plasma bolts down range as he crouched behind cover, "I cannot, O'Neill. My barriers are dangerously depleted," he replied back calmly, not even flinching as a burst hit him in the shoulder and caused the blue field around him to flare.

"Well, we need to take them out and mop up the rest. We're gonna have reinforcements coming down on our head any minute," he shouted for everyone else to hear, "I'll flank left and try and get them to pull out of cover. When that happens, you-"

Lis suddenly stood up, her biotics shining brightly as the space around her warped and rippled like water. She brought her arms closer and closer to her chest, ignoring the rounds that were bouncing off her barrier. Jon got worried for a moment that she was going to attack them, when suddenly she let out a cry and threw her arms back and behind her. In a flash of light, she disappeared, and a trail of lavender-white energy shot out from where she stood to the catwalks above. A Vorcha who had made the mistake of trying to shoot her froze as he had a split second to see what was coming for him. A moment after, he exploded into a cloud of blood and body parts, and Lis was standing in his place. Not wasting a second, she turned and unloaded on the remaining combatants on the bridge, dropping them with expert precision. Finishing her work, she looked down at the Captain and sent a two-fingered salute, smirking deviously as she started to fire at the remaining Vorcha on the ground.

Jon turned and looked at Rola, who based on her body language looked thoroughly impressed, and he agreed, "Damn… remind me to recruit a biotic for our team next chance we get."

Rola shook her head, "I haven't even said yes yet."

Jon smirked and waved her off, "You will. Trust me."

With that, everyone broke out of their cover and started to take out the remaining Blood Pack. Vorcha were dropping left and right. Mass accelerator rounds, plasma bolts, and particle discharges rained down on them. Soon enough, the remaining Vorcha broke from cover and tried to retreat further into the refinery, only to be cut down before they made it more than a few feet. The Krogan that Ronon had tangled with, still behind a pillar he'd taken cover from, realized that the odds were no longer in his favor. He took off, running as fast as his large frame would allow, one handed firing his rifle as he went. He ran straight for an exit that would take him into the facility, and safe from his attackers.

Sheppard brought his sight on the alien, unloading everything he had, "Don't let him escape!"

Everyone turned and started to fire, with the Krogan taking fire to his legs and back. His barriers held for a moment before collapsing under the sustained assault, but he kept going. Blood trailed behind him, and he made one last desperate dive for the door, tumbling through it as Ronon and Rya'c chased after him. Just as they were about to pass through, the heavy bulkhead door slammed shut in their faces. Ronon slammed a hammer fist against it in frustration, looking at the thick wall that now separated them from the Krogan.

He turned around and walked over to pick up his Particle Magnum and sword, shaking his head, "It'll take us a while to burn through this," he motioned to his weapon and Rya'c's, "And I'm running low on a charge."

Sheppard walked up to the door, looking at it and frowning, "Forget it. We need to leave before more of those guys show up."

"Won't he report what happened when his friends show up?" Lt. Hailey asked, "I thought the whole plan was to keep anyone else from knowing things about us."

"McKay?" the Colonel asked, turning to his friend who had his Omni-tool up.

"I've got control of the refinery's security systems. It's on a closed system, so no outside connections. I'm wiping all footage of us and making sure that no one can recover it using system backups or data reconstruction," he spoke up, "We should be good."

"Nice work, McKay. Even if he tells people what he saw, there won't be any proof. It's the best we can do for. Now, where's our Asari friend," Sheppard asked.

"Right here," Lis's voice called out from above them.

Looking up, they saw the woman leaning over the railings, observing them in curiosity. Standing up, she leapt over the railing, using her biotics to slow her decent. Her feet gently touched the floor, and she released the dark energy and relaxed, folding her arms and staring at the spiky-haired Colonel.

"So, what now?" she asked, a mirthful tone in her voice that the Colonel couldn't help but think was familiar.

"Now, we get out of here. Captain, radio the shuttle for evac. Everyone else, collect your gear, and let's get out of here," Sheppard ordered, and everyone got busy while he continued to observe their new 'friend'.

Jon watched as the Colonel looked at Lis, and he noticed that that Sheppard seemed to see what he had noticed back in her cell.

'This will make the debrief a little more interesting' he thought, amused and glad he wouldn't be running it.

---

The shuttle had dropped off SG-42, including their temporary Quarian member, Rodney, and Lt. Hailey, off near Kenn's shop before continuing on to another location. They were going to inform him that his friend was safe, and to help him with packing his things so that they could leave the moment that their meeting with Aria was over. The rest of SG-2 and Lis sat quietly in the shuttle, just the rumblings of engines and the rattling of the bulkheads.

Lis finally broke the silence, "…Thanks. For getting me out."

Sheppard looked up from his seat, "Well, we didn't exactly have a choice in that. But it's always nice to be appreciated for a good deed."

Lis leaned back in her seat, "Really? No choice? You don't strike me as the sort to be intimidated, even by the ruler of Omega… was Aria blackmailing you?"

Sheppard frowned, as he really didn't need more people knowing about what Aria had on them, "I'd rather not say. Besides, your friend Kenn refused to leave Omega without making sure you were alright. So, he's as much a reason as your boss."

Her eyes lit up at the mention of the Quarian boy, "Kenn!? Is he alright? Where are you taking him?" she demanded, her fists clenching.

Ronon sat up straighter, reaching for his weapon, causing Lis to turn to him and flare her biotics ever so slightly. Sheppard sighed and raised both of his hands, waving at both of them to back off.

"Settle down you two, I'd rather not have to pull this shuttle over," he joked, waiting until both had leaned back into their seats before focusing on the Asari, "Kenn is a friend of Rola. And his family has asked us to get him off of Omega. We're just returning a favor, that's all."

The moment after he finished, he saw a flash of disappointment and sadness appear on her face, before it disappeared behind a mask of stone again, "Ah, I see. He's been a… good friend. He's helped me out a lot over the last few months."

"Yeah, he's not exactly thrilled to be leaving either. If there's time after this maybe you two can say goodbye," he offered.

Lis thought about it for a moment, before nodding with the subtlest of smiles, "Yes… I'd appreciate that, Colonel."

They returned to silence once more, waiting for the shuttle to arrive at its destination. Aria had wanted to meet them somewhere more secure than Afterlife. He didn't mind a more private meeting where he didn't have bass blasting in his ear. On the other hand, it also took away any potential caution Aria might have had in a placed filled with civilians.

'Though I doubt she really would care if it came down to it' he grimly thought.

Soon enough the shuttle slowed down before it came to a halt. The doors opened, and the three exited the shuttle. They were in a hangar, where on the station Sheppard and Ronon didn't know. Thankfully, their subcutaneous transmitters let the Daedalus track their movements, so they weren't worried. More curious than anything. Walking away from the shuttle, Lis seemed to know where they were and walked towards the northeast corner. The humans followed her until they came to a locked door with a small pad on the wall next to it. Lis placed her hand on it, and a small light scanned her before the door opened up, allowing them entry. She continued on wordlessly, seemingly expecting the other two to follow.

Walking down a hall, they finally came to another set of doors, this time guarded by two Turians. They gave her a nod and swiped the door open for her. They continued on, now finding themselves in what looked like a cross between a command center and a private living room. There was a large table with a holographic interface over the top of it, and numerous Salarians and Asari technicians running around on it doing who knew what. Beyond that, there was couch, very similar to the one that Aria had in Afterlife, and a large set of windows beyond that looking out at the station. The Asari in question was lounging on it with a drink in one hand and a datapad in the other.

Glancing up at the sound of the doors opening, she finished her drink and tossed the datapad aside on the cushions. Standing up, she walked around the holo-table and came up just in front of Lis. Surprisingly, Sheppard noted that Lis refused to look her boss in the eye, preferring to stare at the floor with her shoulders slouched slightly. If he didn't know any better, he'd say she was ashamed. Or embarrassed. Sheppard was starting to pick up on what was really going on, his suspicions he'd started to have after the fire fight coming to the forefront.

Aria simply stood there, staring unflinchingly at her 'subordinate', "Well. Anything you have to say?"

Lis looked up and simply shrugged, "…Sorry?" she quietly apologized.

"Sorry?!" venom coming out of her voice, causing the other Asari in front of her to flinch, "You go and get yourself captured by the Blood Pack after pulling that stupid move, and all you can say is sorry?"

"I-it's not my fault! Bok tripped the alarm, and Rishi bailed as soon as there was trouble," Lis spluttered, dropping any sort of sort of cool façade she had.

"There shouldn't have been any trouble in the first place," Aria countered, "I told you that I wanted that data their networks. Stealing a shipment of red sand was not in the plan."

Lis scrunched her face, "I saw an opportunity."

Aria shook her head, "And because of that 'opportunity' I had to hire a bunch of strangers whom I had use my leverage on before I'd planned to just to save face with the other heavy hitters on the station."

Lis's gaze returned to ground, "…Sorry mother."

Ronon's eyes perked up at that, but Sheppard didn't even budge. He suspected as much when he noticed that her mannerisms were very familiar. Aria was one of the more unique individuals he'd come across, and despite their short meeting, he'd gotten a pretty good read on her. Lis, like any kid, copied what they saw growing up. Plus, there was the fact that the two were the same pigment and had the same eyes.

Aria held her gaze for a few more moments, before turning around and walking back towards her couch, "One of these days Liselle, you're going to get yourself killed."

Sheppard couldn't help but smirk a bit, "So, Liselle, is it? I can understand not wanting to use your full name. It doesn't really fit the whole cold hearted mercenary thing you're going for."

Liselle scowled at the man but didn't reply. She simply followed her mother over to the couch and took a seat beside her, folding her arms over her chest and frowning off to the side. The Colonel shook his head at the pouting daughter and the disapproving mother. It was definitely not an image he would associate with the crime boss. Wagging two fingers for his friend to follow, the humans moved to stand in front of the two Asari.

"So, you didn't think to tell me we were rescuing your daughter?" he asked.

"I don't like to advertise those kind of things, even in Afterlife," was all she said.

"So much for everyone there being loyal to you," he countered.

Aria's jaw clenched, "Information like that can make greed stronger than loyalty."

Ronon chinned at everyone else in the room, "And them?"

Aria held out her hand, and someone brought her and Liselle fresh drinks, "They'd sooner die than think to betray me."

Sheppard didn't look convinced, but he decided that he was done with the niceties, "Right… well, as fun as it's been running around the station and getting shot at, I'd like to get back to my ship. Are we good?"

"Why the rush Colonel? Relax, have a drink," Aria motioned again, and a servant brought two more drinks for him and Ronon.

"Eh, I don't think we-" he started, only for the servant to push the glasses into their hands.

They took them to avoid getting whatever liquor was inside spilled on them, but before Sheppard could stop him Ronon knocked back a big swig. Sighing, he raised the glass to his nose and took a whiff. It was some kind of whiskey, that much he could tell right away. In fact, he could have sworn it was-

"-That's a Macallan 72, from Scotland. That's a country on Earth, correct?" she asked, bringing her own glass to her mouth.

Sheppard was genuinely surprised. They were a long way from Earth. This universe's Earth at any rate. For an Asari crime lord to have a bottle of human whiskey on the other side of the galaxy was strange, to say the least. Still, he raised the glass to his lips and took a sip.

Closing his eyes as he enjoyed the smokey oak taste, he swallowed and let out a sigh, "Oh, that's good stuff."

She nodded in agreement, "I met a human a while back that introduced me to the stuff. If you ask me, your liquor is the greatest contribution your species has brought to the galaxy."

Sheppard ignored the blatant jab, instead choosing to take a seat on the far end of the couch. Ronon decided to stand, keeping an eye on the other people doing their jobs in the room. Liselle was staying quiet, thoroughly chastised, and content to keep to herself.

"Alright, so what else do you want from us?" Sheppard asked, getting tired beating around the bush, and really just wanting the day to end so they could get back to Atlantis.

Aria swilled her drink, "And what makes you think that I want anything else from you. I didn't even force you to go to the refinery. You were already looking for Liselle, I just pointed you in the right direction."

Liselle seemed to shrink further inside herself, though there was the tiniest hint of anger beneath it all. Sheppard didn't really care for the way the woman was talking about her daughter, especially with the girl sitting right there. But it also wasn't his place or job to say anything to the couple hundred-year-old alien on how to parent. Plus, he'd rather not piss her off given what she had on them.

"You might not have forced us, but you said you would have released the info you have," he pointed out.

"Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn't," she replied with a knowing smile.

Sheppard thought about it for a moment, "Huh, you'd rather not release that info until you determined how useful we could be to you."

She raised her glass to him, "You're smarter than you look, Colonel."

"Thanks, I think," he replied sardonically, "So, what are you thinking now that we rescued your apparent daughter."

"I'm thinking that we could have a very beneficial and profitable relationship," Aria said with light tone.

Ronon grunted, an almost amused snort breaking through. Sheppard was of a similar mind, if a bit more articulate. Other than if they ever decided to come back to Omega, he didn't see how they would benefit in any way from this 'relationship'. Maybe, maybe, Aria could help them out with situations in Terminus. But other than that…

"Well, I'm sure that every great relationship starts off with a little gunfire and blackmail," he joked with a squinted look.

Liselle looked confused at their back and forth, "What are you two talking about? What blackmail?"

Aria raised a hand, "Nothing for you to worry about. And I promise you Colonel, it's as much for making sure you don't try anything against me as it is for keeping you in my back pocket."

"Right, cause we just scream 'hostile takeover' don't we," he joked, before looking over at Ronon who was in the middle of shooting a very intimidating glare towards a nearby Batarian, his hand drifting ever so slightly to his weapon, "Bad example."

"I know you spoke with your superiors, whoever that may be. And that they agreed to my offer of… assistance, whenever you're on Omega and in the Terminus Systems. You wouldn't have come back otherwise," she deduced.

The Colonel shrugged, "Maybe we just wanted to do a good thing and rescue Kenn's friend," he replied, noticing the glare return to Aria and Liselle's slight wince, "What's up with you and Kenn anyway? This is the second time I brought him up and you look like you're ready to tear something apart."

Aria turned to glare at her daughter, who tried her best to ignore it and drink her whiskey, "I have… mixed opinions about the Quarian. He's a distraction at best."

"That's because you don't know him!" Liselle exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention.

Aria shook her head in annoyance, "Knowing him isn't the problem. Quarians are good for two things: fixing broken machines, and burdening supplies. You need to be focusing on other things than some Quarian who's not going to be here for very long."

"Whoa there, easy on what you say about the kid, and Quarians in general," Sheppard spoke up in their defense, drawing a surprised but curious look from Aria and Liselle, "I've got some Quarian friends, and I don't like it when someone bad mouths my friends."

"I don't have anything against Quarians as a species, but I don't waste time on people who have nothing to offer me," she replied coldly.

"You threatened to throw him out an airlock," Liselle muttered.

"Because you wouldn't let go of this," she waved her hands, trying to draw something immaterial, "Fling. I want- need you to focus Liselle."

Her daughter looked into her mother's eyes, and looked like she wanted to say something else, but sighed and stood up, "Right. We can talk about this later. Can I go now?"

Aria rolled her eyes and waved her off. Liselle turned and started to walk away, before stopping and walking back over to Sheppard.

"Thank you, Colonel Sheppard," she offered her hand.

Sheppard stared at it for a moment, before taking it in his hand and nodding, "No problem, Lis."

Nodding one last time, she walked away from them and made her way out of sight. Sheppard looked back at Aria, who was busy sending on last glare at her daughter's backside. Shaking her head, she returned his gaze and continued.

"You can head back to your ship now. Also, I went to the trouble of wiring you a fee for finding Liselle. Consider it a thank you, and a promise of more to come when our paths cross again," she gave him her brightest smile.

Sheppard could see the danger behind the smile, "Yeah… it's gonna be a while before we come back here."

"Well, I'll be looking forward to that day then, John," she said, adding as much sultry to her voice as possible, "If you head back that way, the shuttle will return you to the docks."

Sheppard finished his drink and stood up, moving over to Ronon who had set his glass down already, "Right. Thanks for the drink. Be seeing you, Aria."

---

"What do you mean I can't say goodbye to Lis?!" Kenn cried out, standing in his quarters that he'd been assigned for the trip back to the Migrant Fleet.

Rola stood in front of him, "Because we have a schedule to keep, and we've already wasted enough time getting you off the station."

"But-" he tried to bargain.

"We risked our lives to save your… whatever she is! You can send a vid through the Extranet if it means that much to you," Rola shouted.

Kenn's eyes grew big, before he lowered his head in shame. He shuffled uncomfortably around the room, before settling near the viewport that still looked out at Omega. The Daedalus hadn't left port just yet, they were running a view more scans on the station, but they would be departing soon.

"I- I'm sorry Rola. I didn't mean to put you in any danger," he apologized, his voice quiet, "It's just… she's been the only friend I've made since leaving the Flotilla. I care about her."

It pained a part her to hear him say that, but she knew that he didn't mean to make her upset, "I know. I'm sorry for yelling. It's just that… things are a little crazy right now."

Kenn let out a chuckle, "Yes, I noticed," he motioned to the ship around them, "I still don't know who these people are. They're allied with the Quarians, I get. But I get the feeling I have a lot of catching up to do."

"That's an understatement," she replied, motioning to the computer terminal at the desk in the corner, "I'd suggest doing some catching up. I need to report for my debriefing."

"Right… So, are you a member of this 'SG-42' now? And what is an 'SG-42'?" Kenn questioned.

Rola didn't know how to answer that. She wasn't expecting to be in combat today, nor was she expecting Cpt. O'Neill to pull her onto his team. It was terrifying… and exhilarating. While she only had to fire her weapon a few times and only needed to hack one door, she couldn't help but feel pride in the way she'd handled it. She didn't know if she wanted to join, or if she'd even be allowed, but…

"I'm not sure, I think it was just a one-time thing. But don't worry about it, Kenn. Just take a moment to relax, and see just how much you've missed," she said with a smile.

With that, she turned and walked out of his quarters, hitting the button that closed it as she left. She turned and saw Colonel Sheppard, leaning against the wall. He'd stripped his armor off, and he was wearing black BDU's with the sleeves rolled up. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he was giving her a knowing look.

"What?" she asked.

"Oh nothing, just observing," he replied with a grin, "So, how's he doing?"

"He'll adjust. Being the son of an Admiral means he's used to change," she replied as the two began walking down the hall towards the elevator.

"Well, make sure you take it easy on the kid. He's had a rough go of it," he tried to nudge her.

Rola frowned, "So did me and Jal. I was just trying to remind him that we all have to focus on what's important, meaning what the Fleet needs. And in this case, those needs mean leaving a horrible place and come home where his people need him."

Sheppard frowned now, but waited a moment as they reached the elevator. Hitting the button, the doors slid open and allowed them to enter. Once the door shut, the two fell into a silence. Finally, Sheppard sighed and tilted his head down towards the young Quarian.

"Okay Rola, I get it. But all I'm gonna say is your happiness is important too. Try and remember that," he stated with smile.

She paused, then nodded at that, "I understand Colonel, and thank you. So, what's next us?"

"Us? I see your brief stint on SG-42 lit a fire in your eyes," he joked, before going stone face as he realized what he said, "Uh, sorry, that wasn't a dig against your… eyes."

Rola laughed, "No need to apologize, Colonel. But yes, I think I enjoyed being useful on Cpt. O'Neill's team. But I doubt I'd be able to do it again."

"Never say never," was his cryptic reply, "But anyway, as soon as we drop off Kenn at the Fleet, we'll be heading back to Atlantis for some R&R. But grapevine says that SG-1 has a special assignment somewhere else," he replied.

Rola's eyes widened at that, "Oh, I was under the impression that your people wanted to wait until we had a handle on the Geth situation."

Sheppard shrugged, "That was the plan, but Dr. Jackson found something with all that weird stuff the Prothean thing put in his head. Apparently, he needs more information on these 'Reapers' he was talking about."

"I still can't believe he interfaced with a Prothean Beacon!" Rola exclaimed, "I read the report about what he said he saw… disturbing to say the least if it's true. So, where are they heading to?"

Sheppard shrugged as the elevator stopped, and the doors opened. He motioned for her to follow him, "Not sure. Weir said something about an Alliance colony. Eden something or other."

"Oh, you must mean Eden Prime!"

"Yeah… that's the one. Eden Prime."