III: Requiem

by RedCenturionG

The Collector threat is done; and the Normandy crew survived. The Shadow Broker has eyes watching a friend of Shepard's. Loyalties will be questioned, lives put on the line. And Peta will stop at nothing to get the girl of his dreams. In this, the crew is never safe. And in the end, Marcus Shepard will have to make a decision that could cripple his resolve forever.

18. Chapter 17 Aim For The Head

REQUIEM

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:

AIM FOR THE HEAD

November 1, 2185

1640 hours.

Aria's Quarters, Upper Afterlife, Dyuko District, Omega.

War for Omega, Battle of the Dyuko District.

Ruler of the Terminus Aria T'Loak.

Noone fucked with Aria; it was the one rule of Omega. Those who were smart followed that rule to the letter, while the not so smart...well, they learned quickly or just died...usually painfully. Aria wasn't a picky woman, but when she felt threatened, she knew how to bring down the hammer; troops and biotics.

Both of which she had plentiful of. She had an entire army of personal mercenaries under her belt, all lead by her most trusted lieutenants; Anto Korrogan, Preitor Gavorn, Grizz and Bray. That, and asari's natural affinty for biotics, and Aria was the most powerful bitch on the Omega space station. She ruled it; and anyone who dared to fight her were utterly destroyed. Aria remembered how there used to be forty-nine minor mercenary organizations on her space station, but now there was only forty-two. Shows that you don't fuck with Aria.

Many things had happened to Aria during her reign over Omega, pretty and not pretty. She had stopped an exchange of humans between the Blue Suns and the Collectors, which lead her to become aware of the Collector's involvement in the human colony abductions. She remembered Liara T'Soni approaching her a year ago for information on the whereabouts of Shepard's body.

She also remembered when she first landed on Omega, hundreds of years ago when the Patriarch had been in control of the asteroid. At first glance, she had been nothing but an innocent, horny, seductive asari stripper in Afterlife, but the entire time, she had been undercover, just waiting to strike.

Before her attack, she had planned for decades on how to take Omega from Patriarch, and had gathered up a massive mercenary army of her own to help her do it. And when the time came, she killed the owner of Afterlife, ceased control of the club and used it as a Forward Operating Base. And within days, Omega was hers. She spared the krogan, casting aside his old name and calling him Patriarch; a mocking title used by asari to those of the 'opposite sex' (Asari elders are called Matriarchs, but because the asari are monogendered but seen as feminine, they have no name for a male elder, but in the human language the male version is a 'Patriarch,' hence the title). She used him as an example to those who fucked with her, but in reality, she really liked Patriarch. He had balls.

But the most standoutish memory had to be when she met Nyreen Kandros, elusive mercenary of Omega's Talon mercenary group. Under their leader, the Talons were essentially the criminal of criminals, being highly disciplined mercs that would accept any client contract, no matter how gruesome, suicidal or sickening it might be. They had no moral compass or any rules, and they had become an enemy in Aria's book; they followed no rules, not even the one rule of Omega. They had raided her operations more than once, but because of Nyreen, she never reacted on it. Damn that turian. Luckily, the Talons were based solely on the station, which meant if Nyreen ever left, she could destroy them.

Nyreen Kandros.

She was a needle in a haystack when it came to the Talons. Unlike most Talon mercs who were non-military mercenaries with no morals and were extremely reckless, selfish and only acted on behalf of themselves and their ruthless leader, Nyreen was the disgustingly sick pinnacle of a paragade.

A shining beacon of hope, the turian envisioned herself as, or at least Aria thought she did. Nyreen was a turian female who had served in the turian military for the required five years before being kicked out due to the fact that she was a rare breed of turian that was equipped with biotic abilities; and a female at that. She was kind hearted and always wished to protect the innocent, almost like a justicar in her ways, but was deadly, efficient and just as ruthless on the battlefield as a Talon would be.

Why an ex-military biotic soldier, and a turian Cabal at that (which were elite turian biotic storm troopers), had joined the Talons, was beyond her, but Aria didn't much care when she met the turian woman. Nyreen always liked to wear a hoodie, which allowed her to pull a hood over her head, giving her the look of a mystique (that, and her morals and willingness to protect innocents while in a bad light with legal authorities lead many to call her the alien female incarnation of Batman). When they had first met, they had battled.

Aria won of course, but had spared Nyreen for the simple fact that she liked the turian. Afterwards, they both had a strained working relationship; Nyreen working with Aria for the sole purpose of helping each other. However, after awhile, they got used to each other and became friends, and then the unexpected happened.

Aria couldn't remember what happened, or how it lead to that, but it happened.

Aria and Nyreen had sex.

As was expected from such a melding, Aria became pregnant, naming the child Sata in Nyreen's absence, labelling the turian woman as the father...technically speaking. Aria demanded that Nyreen informed noone of the joining, and the turian kept her word, and they shared several more nights of passionate fucking, until eventually it stopped.

It became too much when Aria openly killed a crowd of civilians for the simple fact of being too 'noisy and annoying.' Nyreen had, to her chagrin, been present when it happened and they had argued, eventually leading to a falling out. By the time Aria finally gave birth to Sata, their relationship had fallen apart and they had not contacted each other since.

But Aria knew Nyreen was still around; working for the Talons, and most of all, on Omega. But to her surprise, the turian made no efforts to besiege her operations, and therefore, Aria had no reason to actively try and kill the ex-Cabal. Damn that woman and the feelings she invokes in me. At least I've still got Sata. The asari was young, only being the age of 22, but for an asari, that was enough time to reach the size of a human adult. Sata had already taken to dancing, although Aria had forbade her from doing so in Afterlife, as she wasn't old enough. Sata had complained, but had stopped when Aria promised to let Gavorn give her lessons in weaponry.

Aria smiled many times at the thought of Sata continuing her legacy. When I die, which won't be for another four hundred years or so, my daughter will take over. Omega will be hers, and she'll be Omega. Sata T'Loak has a nice ring to it, now that I think about it. However, relations had soured, even with her, after Nyreen had made the decision to drop in and inform Sata that she was her forgotten father. Sata had gotten angry and since then, the two of them barely talked. Not that Aria cared. Or did she?

Long had Aria ruled on Omega. Long had she been uncontested. Long had she sat on her sofa, effectively her throne, up in Upper Afterlife, leading the station. But now she was being overruled. She was being contested. And the enemy wished to dethrone her. She didn't know how they had suddenly gained the balls to fight her, but they had, and now all three of the major mercenary organizations were assaulting facilities all over Omega, attempting to overwhelm Aria's troops while also attacking Afterlife, trying to dethrone the asari ruler herself. Sata, luckily, was at a safe location, but that wouldn't last long.

It wasn't just them either. Minors like the Grim Skulls, Dark Raiders, The Primals and many others had united against her as well, and she could only be confused at how they had been able to gain the courage to actually launch an offensive of this scale, especially since it was mercenaries.

Who's paying them to do this? What do they gain from overthrowing me?

And to her irritation, the Talons were nowhere to be seen; they hid, as they always did. Nyreen was probably chuckling at the amusement of it all, for all she knew. But Aria didn't care, and as soon as Gavorn stormed in, she knew they were in trouble from the sound of gunfire and explosions outside that rocked the night club's foundations.

The turian looked like shit, to say the least. One of his shoulder plates had been blown off and blue blood caked numerous areas where bullets had penetrated his armor, and there was a slight limb to his step. One of his mandibles was clicked and hanging limply, and one eye was covered by a bandage, the bits of dried blue blood coated under the eye socket on his right. Hell, even his preferred sniper rifle, the M-97 Viper Marksman, looked all but shot to hell, covered in dust, scorch marks and one bullet seems to have lodged itself in the barrel, making the weapon completely useless.

"Aria!" Gavorn choked out, coughing as he winced from the pain coming from his useless left mandible, "...damn mercs are breaking through! I've ordered a full retreat into the club core; we'll try to use homefield advantage on them and the high ground. Anto's leading the rearguard, and as far as I know, Grizz is commanding the vanguard. Blue Suns have brought alot of firepower, and the Eclipse just reeled in two YMIRs! The Blood Pack have a heavy presence in their rear, and minor mercs are all over the place! We can't hold them without backup!"

Aria sighed, pushing her chair aside as she stood up, reaching into her white, leather jacket and pulling out two phalanx pistols, dual-wielding them in both hands as she motioned to the door, glowing in biotic blue, eyes alight with fury, "Well, you've just got it. I'm going to show these fuckers what the consequences of breaking the rule of Omega are."

Gavorn seemed invigorated by this, nodding his assent before limping away, only to stop at the door as he palmed it open, turning back to her, "Also, we found out why they're rebelling. They found out about Patriarch, and the Blood Pack killed him."

"They killed him...?" Aria stated, dumbfounded by the news. But how the hell did they find out? Noone knows how important Patriarch was to me except my top lieutenants, and they'd never betray me...fuck! Her eyes glowed with more fury at the words, "Then I shall find another Patriarch. Let them hope that their leaders do not survive, because I'm going to want to replace my krogan pet, and I crave many more."

Gavorn nodded his assent, moving up the stairs into the main club, followed by Aria, who quickly made it onto the main level. Aria was basically abandoned; the thumping, ear-pounding music that usually played was now completely absent, giving the club an eerily-silent feel. Even the asari dancers on the central stage were gone, with the club emptied of its inhabitants. She looked to the entrance to see her troops streaming inside, all assuming defensive positions all over the club. She watched as Anto, her batarian bodyguard, moved into the club in the midst of a dozen more of her mercs, yelling at them to assume positions. But Grizz and his troops were nowhere to be seen.

She moved up to Anto, the batarian turning to face her, "Where the fuck is Grizz and his men?"

Anto frowned, turning towards the entrance and scratching his head, "Damn it, he was just there! We sounded the retreat, and he kept the vanguard at the entrance to keep the mercs busy. By the time Gavorn's men fell back in line with mine, I could see Grizz sounding his own retreat! He should have been right behind us!"

She growled, spinning to face the entrance corridor to Afterlife. It was long and drawn out, with multiple sofas aligning its edges, and the walls simulated holographic flames burning, giving more credit to the club's title. And it was completely empty.

She growled a second time, spinning around to grab at Anto's arm, activating the batarian's omni-tool and bringing it to her mouth, pressing the contact button for Grizz, the turian bastard. However, the omni-tool just kept ringing, noone picking up. Getting angry, she pushed Anto away and prepared to storm the corridor to kill the mercs for killing her troops, but a loud bang stopped her.

She froze in place, eyes widening at the sound. Then the door shot open and a human woman, wearing Eclipse armor, rushed through the door, practically panting as she dropped her weapon and she just sprinted, seemingly unafraid or aware of Aria and her men that stood before her. And from what Aria saw behind her, the asari couldn't blame her.

Those mercenaries were now the least of her problems.

The Dyuko District swam in the blood of multiple species as an angry horde of creatures Aria had never seen before overwhelmed the united mercenaries from behind, the beasts tearing through them in uncountable numbers, the enemy unable to stem the tide. Blue Suns were ripped apart, Eclipse infected and transformed, and Blood Pack were tossed about like rag dolls; even the krogan stood little chance and quickly routed. There was no sign of the other minor mercenary troops.

She watched the form of Grizz, the turian's left leg now gone from the knee down, dragging a river of blue blood behind it. The ankle on his other leg was broken and twisted, forcing the turian to crawl across the ground to escape, weapon discarded. His entire back was shredded and caked in blue blood, skin plates torn completely off and revealing the tender muscle beneath, the turian's face a contortion of unbelievable agony. His neck was dripping blood from what looked to be a bite wound, and his eyes looked terrified and afraid, begging Aria for salvation as he dragged himself on, and Aria was almost sympathetic for the poor bastard.

But just like the rest of her men and her enemies, Grizz would not survive the creature's onslaught. Out of the horde, one the creatures leapt and landed just behind Grizz's crawling form, body towering over any krogan, body rippling with muscle and head bulging like a balloon, purple eyes glowing with malicious intent. Its claws were scythes, and it quickly made its way over to Grizz, the blood of salarians, krogan, vorcha, humans, asari and many other species dripping from its claws.

It grabbed one of Grizz's legs, the one with the broken ankle and began dragging him back outside, and Grizz could only scream, not in agony, but in desperation, in trepidation. He screamed and screamed, trying desperately to kick the massive abomination off of him, but was helpless as he was dragged into the slaughter house that was the Dyuko District. And just as the doors closed, Aria was forced to watch as the creature lunged forth, fangs beared, and ripped into Grizz's throat, his screams echoing through the asari's soul forever, scarring even her.

"What...the...fuck," Gavorn stated with horror in tone, and he would have noticed Aria's frightened posture had he been a second faster. When he turned however, he saw the queen of Omega bristling with fury as she motioned her men to place explosives on the doors, fully knowing that the horde's immense strength would easily smash down the doors.

Anto looked at her with raised eyebrows, "What the hell are you doing, Aria!? You'll let them in! They'll slaughter us all! You saw what they did to those mercenaries and Grizz's team! They'll rip us to shreds! And you saw what was going on in the background...I am not turning into one of those fucking freaks!"

Like watching a fucking zombie movie, except its real. And the zombies are far more ugly. And terrifying. And big. Where's Nyreen when you need her...All Aria knew right now is that the War for Omega was about to get worse if these things were spreading all over her station, and judging by their numbers, they definitely were. Great. Turns from a simple mercenary uprising to a fucking zombie apocalypse. Greatest day of my life. How the hell do you tell zombies not to fuck with you? They don't follow rules! And they're certainly afraid of nothing.

The men planting the charges finished planting them, but stopped halfway to the club main area when they heard the screaming and gunfire outside cease. Everything was silent for a few, painful minutes, before a loud bang echoed through the corridor, the sound of one of the freaks attempting to break down the blast doors. She motioned her men back and opened her omni-tool, pointing it at the door and opening it.

It did, and a living flood poured towards them, an army of demonic abominations rushing towards them with wicked intent, their only goal to consume every last one of Aria's men and Aria herself. But that would not happen. She ripped the detonator from Gavorn's limp fingers, the turian too busy shouting at his men to fire at the incoming horde, and Anto trying to maintain order as some of his soldiers tried to flee in fear.

She spared the swarm one last glance before she thumbed the detonation switch.

It was like she was deaf. A colossal boom rocked the entire club, almost knocking them all over in its intensity. It was only due to Aria's, and with a few other mercs, biotics that the explosion didn't send them all flying, but they weren't able to shield themselves from the bright light. They all winced at it, the bright light becoming a cloud of destructive fire as the explosion tore through the corridor of Afterlife and incinerated the massive horde that had been pouring through it.

One of the creature's had been leaping at Anto when the blast sounded, but Aria raised both her pistols at the beast's head and fired, its brains exploding in a mass of black liquid that coated their faces as the creature plopped to the ground, still moving despite it being paralyzed due to lack of brain commands. Aria stepped over it and fired into it a few more times, and it finally stopped moving. Then she looked up, examining the once proud corridor of Afterlife.

The explosion had not only vaporized every single one of the creatures trying to reach them (Aria didn't fool around when it came to explosives), but it had literally brought the entire corridor's ceiling down, leaving only rubble in its wake, blocking access to the club and stopping them from exiting. That must have really put a dent in the horde. Hard to believe that one of those fucking things was once Grizz and his men...not to mention all those poor bastards who were at the wrong place at the wrong time...fuck. Did I literally bring hell upon me?

"We need to get out there and contain this situation," Aria declared, turning towards Anto who was currently holding the human eclipse woman in his grip. She squirmed in the batarian's grip, desperately trying to escape.

"What about her?" Anto asked, motioning to the woman in his arms.

"Kill her," Aria bluntly stated, "Its a mercy killing. Let her go and her fate is to be either ripped apart by or turned into one of those...husks." That's where she recognized them; she had seen husks before when the Collectors brought them to Omega. She knew what they looked like, and now an army of them were on her station, and they were much bigger. Collectors are wiped out so that means...fuck, so Shepard wasn't a crazy fuck. The Reapers are real.

And they're attacking my station.

Anto snapped the human's neck and dumped her body on the ground, turning around and awaiting Aria's orders. Aria nodded to the merc and activated her omni-pad, trying to contact Bray, her other batarian lieutenant. Gavorn sat down, letting one of his medics tend to his injuries. With Grizz gone, she was going to be giving out a promotion.

It wasn't long before Bray's rough voice came over the omni-pad, "Aria? You calling for reinforcements or to be the reinforcements? I've got mercenaries all over me!"

"Fuck the mercs. We've got bigger problems," Aria growled, not at Bray, but at the whole situation before her. She motioned for everyone to follow her to the stairs leading to Lower Afterlife, where they'd then exit back to the surface.

"Bigger than mercenaries trying to take the station?" Bray deadpanned, obviously not convinced.

"How about a fucking zombie apocalypse?" Aria snapped, not liking the batarian's attitude as she reached the stairs and palmed the interface to the door to open, "Don't know where they came from, but they have; ripped the mercenaries at Afterlife apart and almost killed us if it weren't for the explosives I placed. There's a horde of them, Bray. Fucking hundreds. And they're not on our side or these mercs'."

"Well shit," Bray replied, sighing expaseratedly, "Well, we haven't encountered anything like that; I'll try and pinpoint where they're coming from. Me and my men are in the Tuhi District."

"Good, I'm also giving a promotion," Aria declared, running down the stairwell with Gavorn, Anto and his men moving down behind her, "Grizz was killed by these things and transformed; he might still be alive as one of those things, or dead as one of those things; point is, he's left a hole in the command structure, and I need it filled. Tell Moklan he's promoted to Grizz's position."

"Moklan?" Bray snapped, unable to believe he had heard that name put forward for promotion. Aria didn't like the batarian either, but this was desperate. This was Omega she could lose to this...horde, "Fuck. Fine, I'll tell him. Meanwhile, I'll try and find out the origin of these bloody zombies."

Aria nodded and deactivated her omni-tool, and she and her men stormed into the Lower Afterlife, which wasn't quite as empty as Upper. People hid under tables and many asari strippers and dancers had hidden behind the bar. The music, like upstairs, was absent, but the people certainly weren't; a few of her own mercs guarded the area and Aria motioned for them to follow her; civilians weren't any of her concern, only Omega.

She quickly recognized one batarian, Garka, and motioned for him to take point, while she assumed a position behind him, biotics glowing with anger. Gavorn limped behind the rest of the group while Anto was right behind Aria, ready to fight when the time came. Behind her was also Ahz, Jarral and Sanak. Never saw my love for batarians.

They took the back exit, moving down the corridor and her nose twitched, the stench of dead vorcha corpses littering the dimly lit corridor, the red light piecing together a rough picture. As she spun the corner to the left, they came face to face with five more vorcha, these ones not belonging to the Blood Pack, but wielding weapons nonetheless. One vorcha snarled and took aim with its Blood Pack Punisher SMG...

...only for Aria to wrap the creature in blue fury, her biotics effortlessly picking up the vorcha and tossing it into a wall, its broken form falling to the ground dead. She turned to the rest of her enemy and formed a biotic flare, firing it straight into the enemy's midst. Blue flame completely consumed the five of them, eating away at their bodies until nothing but puddles of red existed to prove their existence.

Aria, still bubbling with fury poured on, pistols raised and barking as more vorcha rounded the corner, this time flying Blood Pack banners. Her pistols coughed and death hit the vorcha charge up front, gunning them down in glorious fire. Her men also joined the fight, easily taking care of the animalistic animals. They continued through what had once been Kenn's workshop, up the stairs, and into the main market district.

Turning right, they saw a barracks had been set up, with Blue Suns with LMGs manning the front and an Eclipse YMIR mech providing support. Two eclipse salarians with omni-tools drawn stood next to it, holding them up, palm facing forward. Aria shouted at her men to aim and fire, but before either side could shoot, the same unnatural screech echoed through the corridor and screaming was heard.

Five of them came, leaping over the barricade like monkeys leaping through trees. One of them landed on a turian, pinning him to the ground, but before it could bite him, he rammed his LMG into its chest, and pulled the trigger. The animal screeched one final time before going limp as the turian whipped it across the face with the butt of his rifle, pushing it off the merc, letting him stand up. The YMIR's HMG powered up and prepared to tear into the beasts, but it was far too slow to stop their onslaught.

For mindless beasts, they were pretty smart. One flanked from behind the mech, while another leapt onto the YMIR's heavy machine gun, its momentum pushing the mech's weapon at the ground. Another leapt onto its optics and began pulling it left and right, screeching as it did. The fourth one helped the one flanking and ripped the YMIR's legs off, causing the mech to fall uselessly forwards. With a final yank, the creature on its optics ripped those optics off, tossing it aside and leaping off the wasted heavy mech.

One salarian managed to hit one of the beasts with an incineration protocol before another jumped in and closed its jaws around his neck, using its maw to tear his head clean off, spine and everything, dangling green blood all over the place as the beast gave one more chomp, swallowing his head before turning to face Aria, and snarling.

But the Blue Suns weren't finished and quickly joined Aria's assault on the enemy, pouring fire into the beast that had killed their salarian comrade. With only two left, they tried to rush Aria, only for said asari to raise both her pistols, aim at both and fire, a steady thump, thump, thump taking down both husks, and killing them. The Blue Suns didn't seem keen on being allies however, and raised their weapons to take aim at Aria's squad.

Only for her men to empty into them, taking them all down in a steady stream of molten bullets. She sighed, turning towards her men and nodding, before rushing forwards, leaping over the barricade and continuing on past Harrot's and the place where the batarian priest preached about human impurity. Her men followed closely behind, Gavorn catching up with Anto at her side, weapon drawn and ready to die for her.

They erupted into the main area to the left of Afterlife's entrance, which was now flooding with the Reaper minions. They must have had super hearing, because upon the door opening, their heads all snapped around...all thirty of them.

Must have really wittled their numbers down. Now to just finish them off.

"Fire!" Came Bray's voice as his men arrived from behind her and opened fire, Aria quickly ordering her men to do the same as the horde charged.

Gunfire literally ripped into the flood of husks, tearing off arms, legs and heads in a desperate attempt to keep the monsters back. One of the abominations reached them and ripped the tentacles off of one of Bray's hanar mercs, before crushing the hanar with its foot, only to be blasted by a jet of flame from another merc's Firestorm flamethrower. Missiles shot into the horde and blew apart husks, while the others fired their assault rifles, pistols, shotguns and SMGs into them.

The battle, surprisingly, didn't last long. By the time the last weapon stopped firing, the entire swarm of husks had been killed. Black fluid coated the steel ground, with ripped off synthetic flesh lying on the ground, the bodies of multiple transformed husks laying, unmoving, eyes absent of their murderous, purple glow. Aria moved through the piles of dead bodies, emptying shots into any bodies that were still twitching. Her men did the same, Bray quickly catching up to her, Moklan in tow, with Gavorn and Anto staying behind to maintain the situation.

By the time they reached the area just outside Afterlife, they had cleared the dead husk horde and reached the bloodbath that had been the broken back of the mercenary assault on her club. Most of herself told her mind that they deserved it for fucking with her, but that small bit told her that noone deserved this kind of fate.

Blood flowed through the area, wet and dried, with multiple corpses laying there; all the ones that the husks didn't infect lay broken and battered, either with limps missing or just slashed. However, she quickly noticed the unmolested bodies were very few, and that the horde was probably bigger due to the fact that they had so many hosts to transform. It was a gruesome sight, and even Aria had a time not flinching at it.

"Give me a fucking location on that source so I can blow it straight to hell," Aria growled, spinning to face Bray, and ignoring Moklan's imploring gaze, "I've got enough shit to deal with already, I don't zombies too."

"Whatever you say Aria," Bray replied, standing firm, "Well, before I came to save your ass, I discovered that these...creatures, originated from that Cerberus research vessel that docked not too long ago; the one docked at the standard Dyuko Docking Bay, just behind us."

Where Shepard's ship usually docks. Aria scowled, clenching her hands into fists. Cerberus. Should have known they'd be behind this. Those fuckers will pay for trying to overwhelm my station. I already kicked their ass once already, I can do it again. No fucking problem.

"I'll deal with this ship myself," Aria snarled, turning to Moklan, "Bring your men with me. I'm going to blow that ship right into Athame's embrace."

Moklan nodded, barking at his men to follow his lead as Aria stomped into the docking bay corridor, baring noticing the mutilated eclipse cadavers littering it, her gaze focused solely on the wide open airlock leading into the Cerberus starship. Looking through the grimy windows, she could see their eyesore of a logo glaring back at her. Should never have trusted the fucking Illusive Man. Nothing good comes from faceless assholes.

She stormed into the ship's airlock, suddenly met by pure darkness. With a violent shake of her head, she lit up with biotics, which illuminated the entire area, allowing her to move further inside and see where she was going. She expected to see the corpses of Cerberus personnel, but she saw nothing, which only strengthened what she thought. Cerberus did this intentionally. But why the fuck would they infect Omega if they want to take it? Come to think of it, why would they want it anyway? To a bunch of human supremacists, Omega is nothing but a slum asteroid. Nothing of value. Fuck! Wish I could understand strategy...

She marched into the cockpit to find it also empty, not to mention that it looked an awful lot like a Kowloon-Class freighter's cockpit. She moved over to the captain's chair on the right and pressed a few buttons, activating the ship's self-destruct while simultaneously moving over to the ship's pilot interface, setting a course for a destination far away from Omega. With a satisfied grin on her face, she marched out of the cockpit and got through the airlock just in time to watch it slide shut and for the Cerberus vessel to lift out of the dock and fly away, thrusters flashing with light as it acellerated away fron the station. With Moklan and his men in tow, they marched back towards Afterlife's main entrance, which was still blocked off.

Aria looked into the distance and saw Omega's skyline; and it was filled with gunfire and explosions, one skyscraper having actually toppled over and crashed into another, with flames completely consuming another. The inhabitants of Omega were tearing each other apart, and her own men being overwhelmed by the three most infamous mercenary factions of the galaxy, and for what? What did they hope to achieve? To overthrow her?

I've done good to Omega. They don't fuck with me, and they can do what they want; why is that so much to fucking ask? But no more, everyone wants more, and they all come to me. What would Patriarch have done? What would Nyreen do?

Nyreen would have you surrender to protect the people of Omega. To protect Sata who, for all she knew, still alive and hiding. Patriarch would have used the bulk of his forces to strike at the heart of the three merc organizations and crush their leadership, break the bone of their morale. That was the old krogan's style; to decapitate the enemy before they can form adequate resistance. But Patriarch was dead; murdered by the Blood Pack. And Nyreen was nowhere to be seen, either dead or hiding.

Nyreen's a smart girl. She'll bide her time. Can't believe I miss that cunt. Where the fuck are the Talons? Maybe they're helping the mercenaries fight me? Wouldn't surprise me. But why would they suddenly care about politics? The Talons are lawless; they don't follow anyone but their leader, and their leader follows their clients. And they'd never accept a political, warmonger client. That puts the Talons out of the picture.

"Aria ma'am," Gavorn coughed, causing the asari's attention to be dragged away from the sight of Omega burning in the distance and to the scarred turian. He had seen better days, for sure. And to think, all he used to do was control the local vorcha population; 'pest control' he called it. And now he was one of her military commanders, go figure, "We've found your daughter and she's currently deep in an area occupied by our forces."

"Good," Aria didn't sigh in relief, but she wanted to. At least Sata's safe. But it seems Gavorn wasn't finished.

"Also, Bray has detected a large force of mercenary gunships heading our way, all flying Eclipse and Blue Suns colors. They've also detected a sizable force of troops moving in for a second assault on Afterlife, this one consisting of three thousand combined forces; more than enough to utterly outnumber us."

Aria cursed and leaned on the railing, eyes drifting to the empty streets below; empty streets that would soon be teeming with enemy troops; Blood Pack krogan, Blue Suns turians, and Eclipse asari. This day just couldn't fucking finish fast enough. She turned back to Gavorn, "Then assemble your men, Bray's, Anto's and Moklan's into defensive formations around Afterlife and the lower districts; I hope to secure them in a bottleneck. You can have numbers, but it amounts to nothing in close combat."

"And what of the gunship support? Lets not forget the mechs the Eclipse use to bolster their soldiers," Gavorn convened, "They'll just blow holes in our defenses, not to mention wittle done our ammo. It'll take a considerable amount just to take down one gunship; we'll need enough to deal with two whole squadrons, an unknown amount of LOKIs, FENRIS' and YMIRs and the rest of the enemy force. Aria, we just don't have the resources or troops to hold this position. We need to link up with the rest of our strength if we want to be able to mount a better defense. Not to mention they'll have mechs and gunships as well."

She jabbed a finger in Gavorn's face, before also pointing at Afterlife, "I. Will. Not. Surrender. This. Place. Afterlife is the source of my power! If it falls, so does my power! I need to show these fuckers that my home does not fall easily!"

"Afterlife will fall!" Gavorn insisted against his own wits, "Only death will be given to us if we stay here! We don't have the firepower or troop numbers to hold this position! Your men are not asari commandos or justicars! These are mercenaries, and we're facing the three most distiniguishable mercenary factions in the galaxy! They will overwhelm us and Afterlife will fall. We either fall back, or die. Either way, Afterlife is theirs."

Aria, in a fit of rage and denial, headbutted Gavorn, causing him to stumble backwards in pain as her head impacted his clipped mandible, issuing a loud yelp of agony from his jaws, "Fuck you! I hate it when you're fucking right! Argggghhhh!" Her biotics glowed and she became smashing everything in sight, unable to contain her rage before she finally stopped at the edge of the railing, biotics lessening. Afterlife. My home. And I'm about to abandon it because I have no choice.

Gavorn was still yelping in pain when Bray ran to her side, face looking worried. She stood up, turning to face him with a weary look. She knew what the batarian would say, and as much as she was reluctant to say it, there was no choice. Retreat was all the options they had, "Issue a full retreat back to the bunker I set up in the Tuhi District on D-Deck. We'll-"

"Its not that Aria!" Bray exclaimed, and it had to be important if he was cutting her off, "You know that Cerberus ship you just blew up? Well another one just arrived through the relay!"

She widened her eyes and was suddenly walking away, "Take me to Omega Control, ASAP. How long until it gets here?"

"Five minutes," Bray stated, both of them getting into a skycar and heading straight for Omega Control; yes, even Omega had a control station to monitor traffic, but that's not all it was for. It monitored the relay, the mining facilities and even the station's ancient defenses. Aria just watched Omega's skyline disappear as they rose, eventually reaching the tip of Omega's spherical dome structure; home to Omega Control itself which, to her luck, was still under the occupation of her forces.

It didn't take long for Bray to find a parking spot outside the control center and both of them exited it, heading inside at a rushed pace. The doors slid open to reveal a rather spacious area; Omega Control was much like the station's main structure in shape; a sort of semi-spherical shape. There were three levels to the area, all accessible by stairs running up the middle, and all containing terminals and platforms with numerous batarians, turians, asari and humans under her employ working at them, with the main viewscreen at the front of the room, large enough to cover the entire wall, which was ten meters high and seven in width.

Aria moved past Bray and addressed the person in command on the viewscreen controls, "Get me a visual on that research vessel."

The turian nodded, typing at a fast pace with his six talons and soon the viewscreen dimmed and lit up again, giving them a view of the space around Omega, which was largely one huge asteroid field. The Sahrabarik relay was far too small to see at this distance, and was only a blue dot on the horizon, but they could clearly see the form of another Cerberus research vessel heading towards them; no doubt filled with more of those uber-husk creatures. She could only look at it in disgust and fear. Just one has a horde...my men can't repel another...the rebels tried that, and looked how that turned out; all slaughtered to fatten the already huge swarm. We need to blow that thing right out of fucking space.

"Can you reactivate Omega's defenses?" Aria growled, turning to the batarian in charge of maintaining Omega's ancient defense grid.

The batarian blinked and then nodded, "Well...theoretically, yes. But this grid hasn't been used for five hundred years! No telling if it might just die on us or explode when it fires! Hell, I don't even know if they're loaded!"

"Then we'll find out!" Aria roared, pointing at the approaching vessel, "Activate the defenses and take that ship down!"

The batarian mumbled to himself and began activating the AAA cannons that acted as Omega's defenses; ancient was definitely the right word, as these weapons dated before the quarian exile from Rannoch, and just five hundred years after the Krogan Rebellions, not to mention they were older than the Patriarch's rule over Omega. She wouldn't be surprised if they stopped working.

The view on the viewscreen changed to that of the cannon's POV, with it rotating to face the incoming vessel, which was now too close for comfort. From its peripheral vision, four other cannons stood on the platform this one was planted on, but were inactive. And Aria knew why. Only one cannon would be needed to take down this ship, because this cannon wasn't just any AAA weapon. It was krogan-designed; based on technology originally present in the old Krogan Empire before its desolation in the Rebellions.

She watched as the cannon locked onto the enemy vessel and fired; to their surprise. The cannon seemed to rock from the force of the shot and they all watched as a streak of molten metal seemed to rocket across space. Due to the fact the ship was already close to the station, the shot was point-blank, guaranteeing an instant-kill. The shot tore through its shields like they weren't there and impacted the belly of the vessel, the impact punching right through and gutting the ship, before completely severing it in half, explosions tearing through its frame.

Aria watched in smug attention as the ship broke apart and died, the threat to Omega now over, allowing her to face the mercenary forces on the station. But just as she was turning around, the asari managing relay surveillance called out, "Aria! I'm picking up intense activity at the relay! Multiple ships are pouring through!"

Aria's smug smile fell from her face as she marched back to her previous position as the viewscreen switched to a surveillance camera orbitting the Sahrabarik Relay. She was forced to watch as the relay pulsed with energy and the rings spun at hyper-speed, two streaks of light representing the arrival of new vessels. It was another Cerberus research ship. Followed by another. And another. And another. And another.

Five Cerberus research ships had exited the relay and five ships were now making best speed towards Omega, this time acellerating harder than the other one did, and they would arrive in two minutes. In the time it took for the cannons to rotate, they'd be too late to stop them.

"Fuck!" Aria cussed, turning to the room, "We need to-"

"Aria, new contact on the relay!" the asari cried out, frowning, "But...ma'am, its dreadnought sized."

Aria practically rolled her eyes, "Who the fuck cares? If its a dreadnought, then its a pariah to these fucking things! We cannot let them land on Omega!"

Aria's triumphant smile glistened once more...

...only to disappear again as the dreadnought came through the relay. It was an Alliance Killmanjaro-Class Dreadnought, but it definitely wasn't flying Alliance banners. The name 'Elbrus' was written in bold writing on the side, and the entire ship was covered in the gold and white of Cerberus. And from what she could see, this ship was bristling with enough weaponry to lay waste to half of Omega; one MAC, dozens of GARDIAN batteries, even more pulse lasers, rotary guns, high-powered tungsten cannons like that of Omega but less powerful, and strong enough barriers to hold off a barrage from a fleet of Aria's ships. The zombies weren't enough, were they Illusive Man? Now you send a fucking dreadnought!

"We can't fight that kind of firepower!" Bray exclaimed as the Elbrus made a sharp turn and made straight for Omega, bringing it in the rear of the five research ships, obviously protecting them. Aria watched from Omega's cannons' view as the Cerberus dreadnought brought its weapons to bear, ready to unleash hell on them if they decided to fire on its ships again...

...only for a stream of missiles to dance from its hull, tearing into the nearest research vessel, bypassing its shields and blowing apart its hull like it was made of paper. Aria, Bray and all the people of Omega Control just watched in astonishment as the Cerberus dreadnought, seemingly their doom, turned on their own abominations and ripped the ships apart. It was all over in seconds; the dreadnought having completely torn apart the five research ships, their debris melding with the asteroid field. When that was all done, the Elbrus seemed to just sit there, its captain seemingly watching them...daring them to fire on it...

What the fuck do they want...

"Aria?" Bray called again, interrupting her thoughts, making her realize he had been asking her something. She scowled at him, trying to seem less complacent than she actually was.

"What?"

"The Cerberus ship is hailing us," Bray informed her, "The captain of the dreadnought is requesting to speak with you specifically."

Aria hesitantly nodded, turning to stand in the center of the room, facing the viewscreen. She nodded to Bray, who immediately relayed the connection, and the words 'connecting...' popped up on the screen, replacing the view of Omega's asteroid field.

In a couple of seconds, the link was established and the face of a human male popped up on screen. He wasn't young, that was for sure; he had brown, cropped hair and a heavy beard, all connected to an equally bushy moustache. His eyebrows were close to forming a monobrow, and his face was squarish and gaunt. He had a large forehead, with alot of muscle under his gold and white uniform, the bars of a General on his left breast, the Cerberus insignia on his right. Another man stood behind him, who wore the same uniform, but with the bars of a Colonel, and he was definitely younger, with a more rounded face, smoother features, no facial hair save a large amount of raven black hair on his head, and a large chin. This man seemed to sneer at Aria, making her think of the more racist of Cerberus' members. But the captain didn't seem to sneer at all; his expression was neutral actually, with his eyes looking professionally at her own and his hands clasped behind his back.

"Aria T'Loak," the man spoke in an accent that could only be russian mixed with a hint of North American, "A pleasure to meet the ruler of the Terminus Systems and Pirate Queen of Omega herself."

"Fuck your formalities. Cerberus has alot to answer for, especially for what just fucking happened, so lets cut to the chase," Aria growled, shoving a finger in his direction, but the general seemed completely unfazed by the gesture, with the man in the back looking like he was desperately trying to hold back a chuckle, "Who the fuck are you and why should I trust you?"

"Straight into trust now are we?" The man in the back asked rhetorically, finally letting himself chuckle, "Wow, she seems to immediately assume we're here to help her. Not that we're not, but she is quick to judge."

"Indeed," the captain responded, but, without even turning to the sneering man, continued, "But you better keep your lips closed, Colonel. My patience can leap boundaries, but that doesn't mean my temper can do the same."

"Of course General," the man apologized, snapping into a more formal posture, "Sorry General."

Without a response or even acknowledging his subordinate's apology, he looked at Aria, "I am General Oleg Petrovsky of the Cerberus Military, Admiral of the Cerberus First Fleet and Captain of the Cerberus Assault Warship Elbrus. This," he motioned to the man behind him, "Is Colonel Raymond Ashe of the Cerberus Military and Commander of the 3rd Regiment of the Cerberus Army. We come with apologies from the Illusive Man."

"Tell him to go shove it," Aria growled, "I want to know what the fuck he wants with my station."

"Absolutely nothing," Petrovsky replied, still unfazed, "Omega has little value to Cerberus."

"Then why the fuck did techno zombies, from a Cerberus ship, start flooding into my station and slaughter my people and my men?"

Petrovsky inhaled and exhaled quietly and rapidly, "Ah yes, I see you've fought our Adjutants. An experiment gone wrong, nothing else. We lost contact with one our facilities in the Phoenix Massing Cluster, so the Illusive Man sent us to investigate. We discovered that the facility had been making Reaper husks controllable by Cerberus named 'Adjutants', but they got out of control. They overran the station, boarded whatever Cerberus transports they could and used them to head through the Sahrabarik relay, where they then proceeded to attack the nearest population that promised them victims..."

"Omega," Aria finished for him, "And let me guess, you just happened to arrive in time?" Pretty fucking conveinient that he just happens to show up at the same time we're about to be overrun...and why would the Illusive Man send a dreadnought on an investigation mission? Not to mention a General and a Colonel? Yet again, they did just destroy their own transports...fuck! What the hell do they want?

"That we did," Petrovsky replied a matter-of-factly, "And a good thing too; we must contain this outbreak before our experiment kills more lives; we can't allow them to spread. What we've created is very potent, and cannot be allowed to escape. Just one adjutant is enough to cause an entire infestation. For now, and to our luck, they seem to be soley focused on infecting Omega for some reason; we're guessing due to the proximity."

"To your luck?" Aria snarled, "They murdered my men!"

"Better your men than those of Palaven. Or Earth. Or Sur'Kesh. Or Thessia. If its contained on Omega, it won't go anywhere else, correct?" the general finished, his logic uncounterable. She mumbled her assent, which seemed enough to the Cerberus officer, who immediately continued, "This will not be the last of the adjutants, I'm afraid. More research ships are on their way, and will soon arrive. We predict their ships to number well past forty."

Aria blinked in surprise, "Forty? Fucking forty? How many of those damn 'adjutants' did you bloody create?"

"We planned for an army against the Reapers. We got it," Ashe replied instead, obviously uncomfortable with talking to Aria. Petrvosky nodded agreement.

"Except this army is mindless. Out of control," the general explained, "The Illusive Man wanted an army of husks under his control to combat the Reapers, but these adjutants only follow Reaper command signals, and despite our best attempts to scramble them, the Reapers always break through. They are far beyond our comprehension," with a sigh, Petrovsky finished, "In the end, you cannot stop this invasion alone; the adjutants will board your station, one way or another, and they will infect every living thing they can find. Omega will be their hive. It is in the Illusive Man's, and yours, to work together."

Work together...?

After what just fucking happened!?

"Work together? Us?" Aria asked incredulously, breaking down into laughter.

Ashe and Petrovsky didn't seem amused however, and neither did any of Aria's men for that matter, who just looked at her as if she was crazy.

Aria looked at Bray, her laughter dying, "You're not fucking serious! You actually want to work with this guy?"

Bray swallowed, "T'Loak, this is a Cerberus dreadnought offering support against an invasion by floods of zombies intent on transforming us all. We're not at liberty or in the comfortable zone to be rejecting their offer. We either work with them, or we die."

Aria had no way to refute that, and Petrovsky just seemed to be waiting for an answer. What have I to lose? Of course, one dreadnought won't stop an entire armada of forty ships...I'll need to call upon my fleet...but can I even trust Cerberus? What if this is some kind of trap? Some elaborate plan to snatch Omega out of my hands when I'm not looking? But again, why would the Illusive Man waste precious resources on making zombies only to blow them up in an elaborate scheme? I have to trust this man. Trust him. I must. I will not lose Omega. Omega is my home. I am Omega.

"Very well," Aria declared, looking at Petrovsky with not a defeated pose, but more a determined one, "I accept the offer. We'll join forces. But one dreadnought won't be able to stop an armada of that size from reaching Omega; they might even board your ship, and then we're all fucked. I'll assemble my fleet to aid you."

"Thank you Aria," Petrovsky answered, turning to Ashe. The Colonel whispered something in his ear, to which the General nodded, turning back to Aria, "We also request permission to send a shuttle to Omega, with myself and Colonel Ashe on it, along with a small squad of my personal guard. Consider it a...parley of sorts."

"Parley?" Aria asked incredulously, "The fuck is a parley?"

"A human sentiment you wouldn't understand," Ashe butted in, "Suffice to say, we merely want to talk, face to face, no games, no hostilities. Both sides are free to bring guards if they wish to feel safer that way, but we merely wish to assess the situation. If the adjutants do, somehow, reach the station, Cerberus wants to be able to deploy troops to bolster yours."

Aria shot a glare at the Colonel, deciding she already didn't like this asshole. He'll soon learn to respect me, pathetic little human cunt. Can't believe I'm allied with Cerberus. But hey, if Shepard can do it, why can't I?

"I shall meet you outside of Afterlife," Aria informed them, looking at Bray and nodding, "Bray will send you the coordinates for the dock you'll land at. I look forward to meeting in person."

"It shall be invigorating, I'm sure," Petrovsky replied in what she was sure was a sarcastic tone, "We shall meet soon."

"Just one more thing," Aria held up a finger, one question coming to mind, "Why can't we just mine the relay?"

"It would take too much time," Petrovsky replied instantly, "Plus, my ship simply isn't equipped for minedropping. Also, any civilian ships that accidentally come through would be destroyed, causing unnecessary death. Best to keep our defense moderated and controllable."

Aria nodded, ableit reluctantly, "Fine. Seems logical enough. We shall meet soon."

"Elbrus out," Petrovsky announced, before his face disappeared from screen.

Aria sighed, nodding for Bray to take her back to the skycar, using her omni-tool to contact Anto and have him come up to Omega Control where he can keep everything in check. With that message sent, she deactivated her omni-tool and entered the skycar, this time driving instead of Bray, who sat beside her, weapons holstered. She glared out the windscreen, as if daring someone to attack her.

It seemed the tables for the War for Omega had just turned.

{Loading...}

November 1, 2185

1748 hours.

Entrance to Afterlife, Dyuko District, Omega.

War for Omega.

General Oleg Petrovsky, Colonel Raymond Ashe.

The only thought that went through General Petrovsky's mind as the Cerberus Kodiak shuttle approached Aria's designated docking bay is that Omega was a very unimpressive space station. Sure, it was definitely a feat of engineering and construction skill that the asari were able to build a space station of his size on an asteroid and keep it from floating away, but that had been when it was an asari station. Now it was a criminal haven; of little likability to anyone who wasn't some crime boss or drug dealer.

Colonel Ashe sat across from him, his posture straightened and professional, but Petrovsky had long learned to read people's face; he could see the disgust, the prejudice; the absolute revulsion at the thought of having to speak to an alien. The man was unimpressed with aliens as Petrovsky was with his reputation. He's a loose cannon, if what the Illusive Man has told me is correct. Willing to endanger lives if it means the continuation of human ones, or for his own self-preservation. Hardly command material, but he has gotten results in the past. A pity he had to be assigned to the Elbrus. His racial prejudice could cause problems. Would have been better if he had just stayed at Athens.

Petrovsky turned from the irritated colonel and looked at the squad of soldiers next to him. Gone were Cerberus' trademark commandos; incompetent soldiers who had once been guns-for-hire and couldn't pull a trigger worth a damn. Idiots who were too undisciplined to be of any consequence. Gone were the unarmoured technicians with only an omni-tool and a pistol to protect them, as incompetent as their commando comrades. And gone was their incompetent sergeant, who couldn't lead his squad if his life depended on it.

Now they were upgraded. In place of the commandos sat assault troopers in bulky full-body armor, gold and white colors covering their bulk and a full-head helmet hiding their features, with only glowing red slits for eyes. The armor was thick and heavy looking, but with the cybernetics the soldiers were implanted with, they easily carried it. They held numerous rifles and SMGs at their sides, all looking blankly at the wall before them. Mindless, but their incompetence is gone. They are now professional, tactically-aware and flawless. The perfect soldiers.

Gone was the two technicians, now replaced by two combat engineers in medium armor that wasn't quiet as thick, bulky or large as the armor of assault troopers, and had a black undersuit with golden-white armor plating fitted all around. Their helmets also hid their faces, but instead of two glowing red eye slits, there was one large, golden visor, reaching from cheek to cheek across their helmet. They were armed with a single M-5 phalanx pistol on their hip, and their omni-tool was their key weapon. Usually they'd have a turret fitted on their back and ready for deployment, but that was hardly necessary for a parley.

Gone was the sergeant, now replaced by a centurion. This soldier's armor was even bulkier and larger than that of the normal assault trooper, with a larger helmet and armor, but overall had the same design as the assault trooper, ableit with a slight darker color and more strength. They also wielded more accurate weapons, needing them to compensate for their slowness in battle.

Overall, Cerberus' military structure had gotten a complete overall, and Petrovsky wouldn't be looking a gift horse in the mouth. One day, he might have been an Alliance patriot, but they had untied the rope, and Cerberus and picked it back up and promised never to untie it again. Now the General was not only supreme commander of a large portion of Cerberus' forces, but he also had command of an entire fleet, his flagship was the pride of the Cerberus armada and he would soon rule over Omega, protecting its citizens in a way he could never do in the Alliance.

It would not end well for Aria T'Loak.

Oblivious to the asari, the adjutants weren't completely absent. Deep down in the depths of the Elbrus was at least five adjutants, ready to unleash on Aria when he got the chance. All he had to do was find a reason for Aria to board the Elbrus so that he could unleash them on her. With Aria out of the picture, that would leave Omega ripe for the taking.

And if anything, Petrovsky was a master manipulator.

"Sir," one of the assault troopers piloting the shuttle shouted. The man's voice was croaky and heavily synthetic coming through his helmet's radio. It was so artificial that it sounded almost inhuman, "ETA five seconds to dock. And we've got company."

Petrovsky nodded, "Then let us not seem the hostile type. Show them how accomodating we can be." Right before we unleash the blood hound. And she doesn't even know that the entire First Fleet and an army of forty thousand troops is ready to pour through that relay and pluck the station right from her hands. Aria's always been a ruthless one, but she never was a tactician. This victory will be so quick and seemless, she won't have seen it coming.

True to his word, the pilot landed the shuttle with a thump in the dock and the hatch unlatched, and opened. With a metallic sigh, the Cerberus soldiers, lead by their centurion, got up without a moment's pause, as machine-like as humanly possible, and moved out of the hatch, Petrovsky and Ashe not far behind. Mindless indeed. They have no emotions and no morals; they follow commands like a master plucks the strings of a puppet. And I am plucking the strings.

They moved through the airlock and down the corridor, with Petrovsky and Ashe in the middle, surrounded by a full squad of assault troopers and centurions. All that firepower, and it would all amount to nothing if Aria and her men attacked. Their one fatal flaw; none of them are biotic capable. Most of my biotics are back on Athens Station. Its of no matter though; my lack of biotics will just make tricking Aria all the more easier.

With a calmness only possible in a fearless man, Petrovsky just edged on, Ashe still sneering all the way through. Can the man not lose his disgust for more than one second? Its a wonder he hasn't managed to declare war on Thessia yet. A detriment to the mission, but one I can handle. I have dealt with looser cannons than him.

They turned a sharp right and arrived outside Afterlife, who's main entrance was currently covered by rubble with flames licking at the sides. As he looked on, holes laddened the sides of the buildings, bits of rubble and dust falling out of them. He sniffed and was immediately repulsed by the smell, his nose twitching. A repulsive place, but easily fixable. Once I have control of Omega, I will use Afterlife as my headquarters. Easily defensible position, and the building is large enough to install a war room and command center, not to mention a holding pen for any of my perfected adjutants.

His 'perfected' adjutants being the ones he could actually control. Not the rampant ones the Illusive Man decided to unleash on Omega. A risky plan, but it can work. Its severely hampered Aria's forces, at least.

Aria was easily noticed; the asari's extravagant choice of clothing easily stood out amongst her men who wore mismatched and potmarked armor and some without armor at all, simply wearing ragged clothes with mediocre weapons at their sides. This is my foe. Not one I should underestimate, by any stretch. Hitler underestimated the Red Army, and the Russians crushed him like a foot does an ant on the ground. I must tread lightly. And keep Ashe's mouth in line before it runs us into death's jaws.

"Aria," Petrovsky greeted, holding his hands up. The troopers infront of him split in the center, allowing him to pass through and stand at the front, revealing himself to Aria. If the asari had snipers in place, they had a perfect chance to take their shot. Let her feel like I've got nothing to hide, especially when I have everything to hide. Let her feel secure. That's when a viper strikes hardest; when the prey is unsuspecting.

Aria looked umimpressed by his entrance; not that he was looking to be complimented. She wore a white leather jacket and straight jeans, with multiple tattooes all over her blue face, along with a drip on her lower lip. She glared at him with eyes that seemed to bore into his skull like a demon, and her arms were held at her side like some disciplined marine. The men around her were mostly batarians, but some of them were turians, asari, humans and even a few krogan. She wasn't racially exclusive, that was for sure. Almost as racially diverse as Shepard.

"General Petrovsky," Aria spat, looking at him with a demeaning glare, "I thought you'd be taller."

"It would seem all our expectations are meeting dead ends today," Petrovsky replied, which earned himself a glare from the asari pirate, "But that doesn't mean we need to sour our meeting with talks of expectations. My expectation is that its your own best interests to defend this station, and that means you'll work alongside me, whether you like it or not. I have to say, I don't like working with pirates and criminals either, but its within my best interests."

"Coming from a Cerberus general, that makes me cry with laughter," Aria replied in tandem with one of the batarian's crossing his arms. Aria pointed to one of the dead corpses at her feet; the form of the mutilated adjutant completely riddled with bullets, black fluid oozing from bullet wounds and limps missing. She kicked it with her foot, "Now, how the fuck do we defeat these bloody 'adjutants?' I've encountered husks, but these are an entirely different world of fucked up."

"To put it less colorfully, yes, indeed they are," Petrovsky replied, moving past his men, with Ashe in tow and moving to approach the beast, only for one batarian to stop him with a scowl, avenger assault rifle bumping against the general's chest. He matched the batarian's glare with a unfazed gaze, but this didn't whether or reassure the batarian at all. Finally, Aria called out.

"Let him through Bray," Aria ordered, "Let him look at his Cerberus play thing."

Petrovsky nodded and Bray, reluctantly, stepped aside, letting the general past. Ashe followed, shooting the batarian an equally poisonous glare, before Petrovsky arrived at the dead adjutant's side. He was surprised to see its head still attached. You'd think common sense would dictate decapitating them. Obviously they haven't thought along that line of reasoning. With a heavy exhale of breath, Petrovsky turned to Ashe and nodded, the man chuckling at Aria's incompetence in the matter. Can't let the adjutants come up and revive their brethren.

Ashe moved forward, a smug grin still plastered on his face as he extended the omni-blade on his left wrist. The smile on his face would have been charming to most women, although most didn't know Ashe as Petrovsky did. Opportunistic. Idealistic. Ruthless. He'd sooner stab a woman's eyes out than lie with them. Ashe stood next to the adjutant, obviously a transformed turian, and brought his omni-blade arm up, swinging downwards in one fell swoop.

A geyser of black erupted from the Adjutant's severed head and its lonely neck, head rolling away. A few gasps sounded behind him, followed by angered growls while Ashe looked thoroughly pleased with himself. Petrovsky looked at the body with the same, unamused glance he addressed everything else. Life leaves little time for personal amusement. Morals are an obstacle, and defeat a waste of time.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" The batarian named Bray exclaimed.

"Decapitating adjutants," Ashe deadpanned, grin dropping as he more professionally added, "Adjutants are never just dead. Adjutants can be revived by other adjutants, and if another horde somehow boarded the station...well, you've got enough to supply a supermarket. You might as well be handing them victory on a silver platter."

"Fair enough," Aria replied, crossing her arms, "Could have at least done it more...respectfully and less like you're enjoying it. That was one of my men once; his name was Grizz. Watched the poor fuck get dragged away and his throat ripped open. He was a dickhead, but he was a loyal dickhead. Didn't deserve that fate."

Petrovsky arched an eyebrow. Was able to recognize one of her own men despite the mutation. She also shows a tremendous amount of care for her own men. We share something in common then; maybe we're not all that different. Petrovsky may be Cerberus, but he cared for the men under his command, and would never risk their lives unnecessarily. Only by necessity. Only when victory was demanded, not requested. Petrovsky and Aria at least shared one quality.

"All these corpses need to be decapitated," Petrovsky dictated, breaking the awkward silence, "They are a risk if being kept unmolested. We must either burn their bodies or cut off their heads. My men will proceed to do this."

"As will hers," Ashe spoke up, causing all heads to snap to him, including Aria's. Oblivious to Aria's glare, "We can't do this on our own; far too many bodies. We need to do this quickly before they can have time to land," he turned to Bray, "You, start arranging these bodies into a pile, and you," he pointed to Gavorn, "Start readying fires to burn these bodies-"

"These are my men, asshole," Aria growled, Ashe having obviously trotted on dangerous territory, "They are mine. They will follow my orders! So you can fuck right off!" Aria took a step forward, anger flashing in her stance, biotics wrapping her form in liquid blue flames that licked across her body.

Ashe looked unfazed, raising an eyebrow at her with a unamused glare, "I don't give a shit who leads them, Aria. Only that they follow my orders; you see, the difference between pirates and soldiers is that soldiers have disicipline, and pirates are idiots. Idiots need discipline, and I offer it. Follow my lead, or just fuck off, Aria."

She didn't back down, moving with inches of the man's face, her breath coming off in waves on Ashe's smooth face, "Watch where you step, bitch. I will make you wish you never stepped on Omega. Your place here is a courtesy, and I will only allow it for as long as you don't piss me off. And trust me, Omega's first rule covers that quite well; don't fuck with Aria..." Her words were pure venom.

Petrovsky surveyed Ashe's actions and knew what he would say. Its all part of the plan. I understand why someone as racist as Ashe would be needed; easier for him to piss off the wrong people. Now, we just have to hope the Illusive Man's info is right...

Ashe grinned smugly, "I wouldn't fuck an alien Aria, so you can be calm on that account. Besides, why should you care which of your dickhead crew I lead around? They're all simpletons! I'm just doing you a favor! Now, if you can please back off, your men require orders..."

Aria's biotics intensified and a ghost of ever own smug grin crossed her features, "I was kinda hoping you'd push it, asshole. Fuck you."

The asari's hand suddenly latched around Ashe's throat and began choking him. Ashe lunged out with his omni-blade arm, but she blocked it easily with a biotic barrier. Snarling like a rabid varren, she let go of his throat and threw him through the air like a rag doll, the man's form slamming into the ground seven meters away. Still growling, she turned to Petrovsky. He simply rolled his eyes, expressing his dislike at Ashe's actions. She hasn't killed him yet, which means...

Aria turned to Bray, "Get this fuckwit out of my sight," she turned to Petrovsky, "I don't care who he is; if the Illusive Man wants to work with me, then he'll have to deal with one simple compromise," she shoved a finger at Ashe's form, who was now being dragged to his feet by a krogan and a turian pirate, "That asshole is to stay locked up until this crisis is over. Once I have Omega back, he can go free, but I will not have him leading my men! Those are my terms Petrovsky; take them or get the fuck off my station!"

"Very well," Petrovsky replied, face neutral. Perfect. She's fallen for it, now I just need to lure her away from Omega and her men.

Aria nodded, turning to both of her men holding Ashe, who spat at the krogan's feet with a disgusted look, "Take him and lock him up somewhere. I don't care where, just somewhere. Don't kill him though; we'll release him when this is over."

They both nodded and they dragged Ashe away, who shot Petrovsky one last look. Noone noticed as Petrovsky nodded, and Ashe let a grin creep across his face before letting it drop, pretending to struggle once more. The general turned away from the colonel and turned to Aria, who had his back turned to him, "However Aria, there must be a compromise for a compromise. If you must imprison Ashe, you must do something in return for me."

Aria narrowed her eyes at him, but gave an understanding nod, crossing her arms as she did, "What kind of compromise?"

"You have taken Ashe under your custody," Petrovsky replied, "Only fair we do the same with one of your men."

Aria raised an eyebrow, "Who?"

Petrovsky was treading dangerously, and he licked his lips, "You."

Aria eyes narrowed into slits at that, and her men immediately brought their weapons to bare at Petrovsky. The general's own men weren't far away, and he heard the click of multiple weapons behind him, the centurion taking point with the two combat engineers at the back, and the assault troopers forming a ring around them.

Aria stepped forward, hesitantly, eyes locked with his, "And why is that? I can hardly lead my troops if I'm imprisoned."

Petrovsky shook his head, "I am not imprisoning you Aria, just as much as you're not imprisoning the Colonel, just...incarcerating him temporarily. I simply believe that having you on the Elbrus with me will help you coordinate your forces better. It can be your flagship, as well as mine. I will make sure all of Cerberus' resources are at your disposal."

Aria nodded slowly before asking the obvious question, "And if I refuse?"

Petrovsky sighed, "Then I take the Elbrus and leave, and you can deal with the adjutants yourself. We both know you won't last."

Aria sighed heavily, nodding as if already aware of the answer and just asked the question for a sense of finality. Her arms fell to her side with a thump, "Fucking fine. I guess I'll go to the Elbrus with you. But no funny business Petrovsky; I don't like being yanked around."

"Indeed," Petrovsky then proceeded to motion to the dock where his kodiak was docked, "So, shall we leave? The Adjutants wait for noone, and their fleet will soon be upon us. We must act quickly if they are to be stopped."

"Right," Aria then proceeded to move past him, through his squad of troopers, and moved towards the airlock. Before she reached it however, she stopped, turned around and shouted to her batarian lieutenant, "Bray! Inform Anto that he is in command while I am gone!"

"Yes Aria," Bray shouted back, and Aria continued, moving towards the airlock, with Petrovsky and his Cerberus squad in tow, and Aria's men quickly cleared out, with the Cerberus general watching Aria's back as she obliviously walked into his trap.

The time isn't ripe enough yet. Soon the trap will be sprung, and Omega will fall into our hands. I assured the Illusive Man victory, and he will get it.

It was only a matter of time.

{Loading...}

November 3, 2185

0822 hours.

Main Bridge, Killmanjaro-Class Dreadnought SSV Orizaba HA-2, Haskins System, Titan Nebula, In FTL inbound for Jarrahe Station.

Fleet Admiral Viktoriya Arefyev, Captain Hannah Rila Shepard, Commander Phillipo Coniglione.

The SSV Orizaba silently approached Jarrahe Station, an abandoned Cerberus facility, at a high speed, and Hannah Shepard could only wonder why they were wasting time on such a task. A task better suited to a wolf pack of frigates, or even a single cruiser. Why did they have to send a dreadnought? It just made no sense. What they should be doing is following up on those rumors about Omega, or doing patrols over Noveria. Why the hell would they be sent over here?

Makes no sense. But whatever the admiral says, goes. Hannah felt her gaze drifting from the viewscreen from her position in the captain's chair and looked at the fleet admiral, who stood to the right, hands clasped behind her back and eyes looking straight ahead, occasionally barking orders at Hannah for the captain to relay to her crew.

Not far down sat her XO, Phillip, who seemed to shoot the admiral disrespectful looks every once and a while. Can't exactly reprimand him for it; I despise Arefyev as well. Wish I commanded the McKinley, or the Logan...at least Hackett and Singh are more accomodating and less of a hardass. Hannah grimaced as another thought came up. And Hackett doesn't think my son's crazy...

The thought of her son hurt her, wondering where in the galaxy he was now. With his quarian girlfriend, on his state of the art warship, trying to rally the races of the galaxy to fight a threat they failed to recognize. I gave him the Orizaba; but is one dreadnought enough against the might of the Reapers? How can we even hope to stop such power?

The captain shook those thoughts away very quickly. I have to hope in my son...otherwise, who will? Noone stands by him but his crew. His loyal crew. And Tali. The sweet girl...I saw the way she looked at him, and how he looked at her...young love. She'll keep him together...she has to. The galaxy needs him if we ever hope to survive the coming storm. I just hope he treats her right...She smiled at the thought of Tali and Marcus together, and it made her happy. She didn't care if she was quarian; her son had found someone to make him happy and be with, and she was more than happy to welcome her in. Perhaps, she would even welcome her in as a Shepard one day...I can only hope.

Meanwhile, Hannah just kept watching as the form of the dead Jarrahe Station kept getting larger and larger. Apparently Arefyev had received word from Naval Command on Arcturus that they had detected a Cerberus presence in the Haskins System, and had immediately assumed they were reinhabiting Jarrahe Station. And now here they were, a dreadnought dealing with a rumored Cerberus incursion.

You're looking in the wrong place for a Cerberus incursion, if you ask me...but it was hardly within Hannah's rights to deny Admiral Arefyev's orders. Sometimes life in the military sucked, and many times she had thought of retiring, but thoughts of her late husband William came into her mind, and of her son. If she wasn't on the bridge, she would have shed tears at the thought of William, missing her husband immensely. But she was on duty, and couldn't show weakness in the face of that duty.

Not having realized it, she was surprised when her navigator informed her they were docking with Jarrahe. Hannah shook her head and looked at the viewscreen, seeing that the Orizaba was indeed docking; the gold and white exterior of the station staring back at them non-commitantly. She sighed and nodded to Phillip, who had asked if she was already, while Arefyev made no noise, not particularly liking Hannah after her meeting with her son. She had the audacity to say I was a 'bad mother.' She's lucky I'm her subordinate, or I would have belted her for saying that. I am the best damn mother in the galaxy if I made a son like that.

By the time the ship shuddered from the impact of the station's docking clamps latching onto the Orizaba, one of the ship's marine squads was already at the airlock and ready for combat. Arefyev had sure the team was filled with the best of the best their dreadnought lead, and had one of her personal N7 guard take command of the team. With an N7 in command, the mission would be clean and smooth, with Cerberus troops not being too bright or competent. A clean fight, in other words.

Hannah inhaled as she reached for the cup of coffee laying on the arm of her chair and she took a sip from the searing hot cup, enjoying the feel of the hot liquid dripping down her throat. She gently lay the cup back down on her seat and picked up a datapad from her seat, going over the information. Oblivious to the admiral, Phillip and herself had taken the time to research as much as they could on anything remotely Reaper related. What they had found was very interesting.

In 2163, a batarian survey team had been surveying the planet of Jartar, located in the Dis System of the Hades Gamma cluster, when they found something mysterious in a massive crater. It was described as the remains of a genetically engineered starship that had been completely torn in half on one side, and resembled a cephlopod in shape. The batarians put its date at billions of years old and it had been dead for a very long time. The batarians termed it the Leviathan of Dis.

Not long after however, a batarian dreadnought entered the system and a few days later, the Leviathan of Dis mysteriously vanished. The Hegemony began denying its existence, saying it was just another hoax. When shown documentation of its discovery by the STG, the batarians became angry and accused of the Council of trying to villainize them, causing Hannah to laugh. But the descriptions fit those of Sovereign at the Battle of the Citadel, which meant the batarians had, or still were, in possession of a Reaper corpse. What they were doing with it, was unknown. But it was likely that their hopes at defeating them lay with the Leviathan of Dis.

Research conjured up from Sovereign's main gun, now known as the 'Thanix Cannon' (Thanix in the turian language meant 'horror'). It is described as being a 'magnetohydrodynamic' cannon with a yield of 132 to 450 kilotons of TNT, which easily dwarfes the main gun of an Alliance Everest-Class Dreadnought. Overall, if the rest of the Reapers possessed firepower like Sovereign, the galaxy's fleets weren't going to last very long.

As Hannah read the datapad, the ship shook with an external explosion and alarms began to blare all over the colossal vessel. Hannah shot to her feet and Arefyev looked extremely alarmed, turning to face the door, predator pistol raised. Hannah drew her own predator sidearm, also aiming at the door while Phillipo followed suit behind her. She inched towards the door and opened it, immediately aiming at the airlock.

An explosion and torn through the airlock and killed half of the marine squad. Burnt corpses lay on the ground, armor either blown open or they simply died from broken limbs or bones. Only four marines survived, with the N7 leading them, pointing her N7 Crusader roaring into the airlock door, with a human scream following suit.

"Keep them pinned!" the N7 soldier roared, "Keep them bloody pinned! Nobody gets through!"

The marines reacted in tandem, controlled fire bursts filing into the doorway one by one. Hannah risked moving outside in her unarmoured state, pistol raised. She knew the basic combat from what Marcus had taught her, but she wasn't a marine, and she was most likely going to get herself killed. But her curiosity was taking over. How the hell is Cerberus kicking our ass? I thought they were incompetent...

Just as she moved to peek out the doorway, she heard the N7 grunt. She turned around to see the woman having barely blocked a katana blade swipe with her crusader shotgun, the weapon cutting her shotgun clean in half and forcing the N7 to strafe to the side to avoid the blade. Hannah saw that the blade wielder wore the gold and white of Cerberus, with full body light armor, even with a full-head helmet, complete with two eye slits for eyes to see through, both glowing red. She was female, and her only weapon was a katana sword, and a palm like device on her hand. The N7 blocked the rest of her blows and kicks, but the way she moved...she was like a ninja! Faster than a ninja! How the hell did Cerberus make their commandos into that?

Even the N7 was getting winded now and finally a break allowed the Cerberus soldier to break through her defense and land a kick between her legs, causing the N7 to howl and double over. The soldier followed up with a knee to the N7's armoured chest, and then a knee to her head to force her backwards where she then rammed her sword into the N7's gut.

Red blood blew forth and coated the soldier's blade, but she was unable to pull out as the N7 grabbed her by the throat and pulled her closer, ripping her helmet off and letting her ginger hair flow, red blood trickling past her lips as she coughed. Her voice was a snarl, "The fuck...do you...think...you're going?" A smile came to her face, and she raised her hand to reveal a primed incendiary grenade, "We're not...finished...with...intro-...ductions!"

The soldier with the blade tried to wriggle free, but she was too late. The fire grenade detonated, enveloping them in searing hot flames. The N7 was screamed for but a second before she was incinerated, but the soldier with the blade wasn't so lucky. The blade flew from her hands, landing at Hannah's feet, and she seemed to dance spastically as she tried to pat down the flames, but she didn't seem to scream, almost like she was...incapable of feeling pain.

She then crumbled down to the ground dead, as if the puppet master and just dropped the strings of its puppet and let it plop to the ground, discarded. Flames still licked here and there, but it was obvious that the hostile was dead. But the battle was far from over.

Another marine fell dead from a sniper round to the head, his face splitting open like a melon. Hannah was sure she saw a flicker of light run past and towards her, and upon reflex, she picked up the blade next to her and thrusted it into the area where she saw the distortion.

She was met with the blade going through a meaty substance, and the sound of blade penetreating flesh. Bingo. She watched the tactical cloak of her assailant drop, revealing the form of yet another of Cerberus' surprises. It was a woman, again, wearing what looked to be a gold, white and black skin-tight full-body catsuit, complete with armoured areas. She wore a mask around her face, with the only distinquishable feature being a single, red circle on the right side of her face, obviously meant as a scope enhancer or eye piece. The woman was curvy, and certainly didn't come off as a warrior, but the human-made M-13 Raptor Sniper Rifle in her hands.

Despite the blade wedged in her stomach, the Cerberus sniper seemed intent on continuing to fight, and to Hannah's amazement, managed to raise her rifle to Hannah's face before the captain raised her own, bypassed her shields and fired point blank into the woman's face, leaving a nice lumpy fragment of meat for a face. The sniper went limp and Hannah pulled the sword out, letting the body fall limp to the ground.

When she looked up, she saw that only two marines were left, and they had retreated slightly. She watched a heavily armoured trooper exit the airlock wielding a mattock heavy rifle. He wore a bandolier of smoke grenades on his chest, along with a transmission pack on his back to boost transmissions in combat to bypass jamming. Behind him, more heavily armoured troops, ableit with smaller armor, no backpack and no bandoliers, and only armed with avengers and vindicators, filed out, taking positions behind him to reinforce him, followed by a lightly armoured engineer, with a box like unit on his back.

The Cerberus troops began to push against the outnumbered marines, oblivious to the crew behind them, as was the combat engineer, apparently. She watched as he grabbed the box from his back and deployed it on the ground, standing back up, accessing his omni-tool and playing around with it. The human captain frowned at the movement...

...only to watch as the gold and white box transformed; three legs extending from under it and lifting it up, to where a 'shield' of sorts extended from to the left, followed by a barrel extending from the front. The engineer kneeled behind the shield, using it as cover. Hannah blinked in surprise. Within moments, it had turned from a featureless box to a fully portable turret. Cerberus has definitely taken a technological leap...where did all this come from?

An idea forming in her mind, Hannah wielded the sword and quietly approached the engineer from behind, raising a finger to her lips to signal Arefyev and Phillip to be silent. The gunfire before them became background noise as she approached, stopping just behind the engineer without him even noticing. She raised the blade above her, and prepared to strike.

The engineer heard the sound of her inhaling and unholstered his phalanx, spinning around with surprisingly reaction speed, but it wasn't enough to save him. Her blade came down, stabbing straight through the scalp. The blade exited through his throat, a great gush of red blood erupting from the top of his head and, most notably, from his throat, staining Hannah's uniform and drenching her officer's bars.

Letting go of the blade and pushing the engineer's dead corpse to the side, she quickly retrieved his phalanx pistol and hid behind the shield of the turret, which for now was simply rotating, scanning the corridor ahead of it, trying to locate enemy IFFs to fire at. With a laugh, she raised her own omni-tool and began to hack into the Cerberus turret. Would you believe William was an engineer? Pretty coincidental. Just so happens I need those skills...glad I listened...and remembered...

With seconds, she had hacked into the turret and changed its coding to attack Cerberus IFFs. She stole a peek, watching the massive trooper infront raising his mattock rifle to aim at the face of the last marine, who lay on the ground, bleeding. A shot fired, and the marine slumped to the ground, dead. She watched with smugness as the Cerberus squad turned around...

...and was met by a wall of death as the turret's gun spun up with a loud whir, akin to that of a minigun, and fired.

By the time they scrambled, the turret had done its job. Apparently these soldiers lacked the common sense to utilize kinetic barriers, so the bullets tore into them, piecemeal. Blood flew through the air like confetti, bodies crumbling to the ground as the weapon seemed to just take them down, one by one.

The leader deployed a smoke grenade, letting his shields, as apparently he was the only one smart enough to use them, absorb the turret's fire as he dove for cover. The smoke that filled the corridor barely deterred the turret however, as its programming had it switching to infrared in a second, easily seeing through the smoke screen and firing on the lone soldier's position. Survivors of the assault moaned in pain on the ground, while others crawled across the ground for weapons, but that quickly stopped when the bridge crew arrived, dispatching the survivors with pistol shots.

One crewman had his head blown apart by a mattock rifle as the Cerberus commander bull rushed their position, firing a stream of fire to keep them pinned, but a turret had no such worries. It immediately opened fire, the soldier's recharged shields barely shrugging off the attack before failing and a shot tore into his kneecap; but the soldier limped on, not even taking the time to acknowledge the injury before falling into cover, giving him time to recharge his shields again.

But Hannah would have none of it. And as soon as he peeked out again, her phalanx raised and joined the fire of that of the turret, both of them ripping into the helpless trooper. Before he could leap into cover again, his shields crackled and burst, and Hannah lowered her sights...

BOOM!

The blood seemed to sparkle as it glided through the space, the entire right of the soldier's face getting blown off mid combat roll, causing him to stumble in the roll, snap his neck at the velocity of the impact and slide into the wall, dead. Bits of muscle and bone illuminated the destroyed side of the soldier's face, but as Hannah looked closer, she could see the telltale signs of cybernetics. The soldier moved to stand again, causing everyone to gasp in confusion. Were these people even human anymore?

Arefyev was having none of it and emptied the entire clip of her pistol into the commander's face, downing him once and for all. Hannah just stood there, half her uniform drenched in red blood, phalanx hanging limply in her grip. This is not how I imagined my day turning out...

One of the crewman deactivated the rotating turret and Phillip just frowned at the sight of all the dead marines and Cerberus soldiers, "What the hell just happened? When did Cerberus become this powerful? They've gone from hiring mercenaries with Cerberus coloured armor to...to..."

"Cybernetic supersoldiers," Hannah replied for him, turning to face a disgruntled Arefyev, "This attack came far too quickly for them not to expect us. They literally attacked us the moment we docked. This was a trap; they lured us here."

Arefyev waved a dismissive hand, "What does it matter now?"

"Don't you think its a little coincidental that Cerberus want my son dead?" Hannah asked, suddenly realizing the gravity of this situation, "And I just happen to be on the ship the Alliance send to investigate a station full of supersoldiers ready to attack said ship the moment it arrives, and just happen to fly Cerberus colors? Way beyond coincidence."

"You're saying this entire attack was just so they could kill you?" Arefyev asked disbelievingly.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Hannah stated, pointing to the entrance to the bridge, "We're getting out of here before Cerberus reinforcements arrive. And just to piss Cerberus off, lets send a MAC round right up this station's ass."

The tactical officer grinned as the whole crew snapped a salute, save the fleet admiral, "Aye aye ma'am," they then rushed off to their duties.

Arefyev shot her a disapproving look, "This is all your fault."

Hannah shook her head dejectedly, "No, its not my fault," she looked at her one final time before leaving for the bridge, "Its Cerberus' fault."

Give them hell son. Send Cerberus back to the stone age and kill those fuckers.

{Loading...}

November 3, 2185

0836 hours.

Admiral's Quarters, Paramount-Class Heavy Cruiser QMFV Tonbay, Migrant Fleet, Enoch System, Rosetta Nebula.

Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay, Prime Prayer Byp'Raan vas Tonbay.

"Shala, are you even listening to me?"

Shala'Raan didn't know what to do with herself. All of the recent events had hit her with the force of a MOAB, and she just couldn't take it anymore. First the attempts against Tali's life, and now the Rayya had been attacked by Shadow Broker and Cerberus agents alike, leaving dozens of civilians dead. As a result, marine security on all of the liveships was doubled, and the passcodes updated for all pilgrims. A complete change had to be made to ensure an attack like this couldn't be made again. Two times had the Migrant Fleet been attacked. Not again, the admiralty board and the conclave swore.

As a result, the Admiralty Board was working over time. Every single one of them had a fleet to keep safe, with Xen having the lightest of the payload. Gerrel didn't have to worry as much, as the Heavy Fleet was a military strongpoint in the Flotilla, being marine presence in that area was markedably strong anyway. Koris had the hardest job of all and Shala was left to clean up the Patrol Fleet. And Gerrel had the entire fleet to worry about until that damn Chief Admiral could be found. Should have reopened voting by now...

The reports were less than great. Multiple captains in the Patrol fleet were panicking, suddenly scared out of their wits by Cerberus' bold move on a liveship, making them think twice about protocol, almost to the point where they refused to let any ships dock out of fear that they would all spontaneously be killed by an enemy force. Shala had her work cut out for her just trying to handle the situation; now she rarely saw her husband anymore, even at night time, choosing to just sleep at her desk.

Damn you Rael...why did you have to go off and die? Tali needed you, and the Flotilla needs you now more than ever. Gerrel is handling it well, but he's no political figure like you. He's a marine to the bones and you? A marine with a role in politics. You would have sorted this out by now. But no, you had to get yourself killed, idiotic bosh'tet...

She ripped her eyes from the glowing terminal before her and gave her husband a cursory glare, obviously not in the mood to have an argument with Byp of all people. Poor man...goes out of his way to make sure I've got company, and then I completely ignore him...damn you Rael...damn the Conclave...

She let her glare melt, knowing the man didn't deserve it, "I'm sorry, Byp. But this work has got me tongue-tied and ear-shut. I hate being an admiral sometimes."

She knew through his body language and the narrowing of his eyes that he was smiling warmly. Some part of her yearned to see his unmasked smile, and to feel his skin against hers, but she kept those urges in check as he spoke, stretching her back, "Life, I admit, was alot easier when you were just a captain."

"And better," Shala mused, rubbing the sides of her helmet, "No politics involved except for the occassional formation order from the original Patrol Fleet Admiral. Just the ship, my crew, and you."

"How sweet," Byp teased, moving to sit on the desk just beside her and placing a hand on her bicep, "You know, if you get too tired, just let me know and I'll be at your side. You shouldn't work yourself so hard."

"Its my job, Byp," Shala replied, placing her left hand on his leg and squeezing it, "I can't just drop it when it gets too hard. And as much as cuddling in bed sounds good to me, I really can't afford the time. And you really shouldn't have taken the day off just to be with me."

Byp shrugged, "I'm sure they won't mind. Besides, you shouldn't be left alone to your work. You might never come to bed, and that would scare me more than anything. You know how much better I sleep when you're there beside me."

Shala smiled warmly behind her mask and cupped his cheek, stroking it with one thumb. Byp was a Prime Prayer, which meant he was the chief prayer of the ship. Every Wednesday, every quarian would halt their duties to come to the main trading deck where they would forsake a few hours to congregate, socialize and, of course, read a few entries from the Scroll of the Ancestors, along with a few prayers. Byp was the one who reignited Shala's belief in the ancestors, and now she attended every function. It was how they came to be; married and happily together. Or as happy as one could, being constantly seperated from each other by their important roles.

They sat there for a few more seconds before Shala's terminal beeped, a communication coming from the decontamination bay. She sighed, turning away from Byp reluctantly, who looked annoyed at the interruption, having finally distracted his wife from her work. She laughed internally at that, having foiled his plans for her. That smile dropped as her hand reached for the terminal...

The ship rocked and an explosion seemed to tear through the vessel, shocking Shala into shooting up and Byp instinctively standing infront of her, in that typical male fashion. She tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to turn around.

"Send for a marine squad," Shala ordered, "Have them to sent to my quarters. I think I know who they're after." It didn't take a genius to know who was attacking, or who they were after. If Cerberus wanted to kill Shepard and Tali, they'd first aim for those connected to them, and Shala was the only quarian family the girl had left. She didn't tell Byp this, or otherwise he would never leave her side. But she didn't want him in harm's way; she wouldn't watch him die...she had seen what it was like to have your spouse die; she had seen it first hand as Rael squeezed Meru's dying hand...that was the first and last time Shala had ever seen the man weep.

She couldn't stand to watch Byp die. She loved him, and wouldn't watch her husband die. If she had to die to ensure that happened, so be it.

"Right," Byp immediately rushed for the door, hitting the haptic interface, watching the door shoot open. Before he could disappear around the corner however, Shala found herself shouting for him to stop. He spun around and faced her, waiting. She didn't want to give her intentions away, but she wanted a proper goodbye. She didn't want their lives together to end with her silent corpse.

"I love you," Shala stated, trying to sound loving and caring, while holding back tears and trying not to shake. This would be the last time she heard Byp's voice, or saw him. She would never kiss him, cuddle him, touch him or make love to him ever again. She would die alone, with him far away...but safe, she convinced herself. Instead, her voice was soothing, loving and full of tenderness.

Byp smiled warmly behind his mask, "I love you too, Shala. You mean alot to me. Now you keep your head down, and I'll be right back with the cavalry, honey. Even an admiral has to learn stop means stop." And with that, Byp gave one final amused salute, sprinting down the hallway, as if everything would be okay. Shala sniffed and finally let out a sob. And all he'll find is a corpse...but at least I got to tell him how much he means to me before I die...

She held no delusions about her fate. Cerberus was a dangerous foe, and this time there was no Commander Shepard or Normandy crew to come in time to rescue her. And she knew that if their first assault failed, they were only trying again because they were more prepared and far better equipped. They would be on her before she could formulate any kind of resistance. She opened the drawer and considered pulling out the carnifex pistol in there to fight one last battle, but thought better against it. I'm not a soldier; I won't go out in a blaze of glory; I'll die a feeble old woman.

She stood there, arms hung limply at her sides for what seemed an eternity, staring blankly at the door. Finally, the door shot open, revealing a black armoured form walking inside, a large, cruel grin on his face. Behind him came three soldiers with Raptor sniper rifles and black armoured catsuits, with their faces covered by a one optic full-head helmet and were all visibly female. They all wore Cerberus' insignias, but it was the man before her that caught her attention.

He had a mop of raven black hair on top of his head, with a almost frown like face. His armour was jet black, but looked thicker than that of the snipers behind him, but still flexible. He had no visible weapons save the thin blade in his hand and what looked to be a palm-like device, but she wasn't even sure the latter was a weapon. A sword? Are humans this primitive?

"You must be Admiral Raan," the man stated with sadistic glee, obviously enjoying the idea of killing someone. Just the sort that Cerberus would hire, of course. However the line was also delivered with such emotionless bluntness that she couldn't tell if he was loving the moment or not, "My name is Kai Leng. I'm here to kill you."

"Of course you are," Shala replied with a glare, "You're Cerberus."

"I wasn't asking you to talk back suit-rat," the man spat, and the three behind him nodded in agreement, with Kai Leng walking right up infront of her, face inches from hers. She saw a hand move up, and for a second she thought he would grope something on her body, but he just grabbed the bottom of her chin and thrusted it upwards to look him in the eyes, "Look me in the eyes and tell me what you see."

"I see a Cerberus scumbag," Shala growled, "I see one more dead man on a spike after Shepard is done with your organization."

Leng spat on her mask, the saliva obscuring her vision, the man obviously loving to toy with his victims before killing them, which might be Shala's boon. If Byp gets more time to bring in the troops, "Shepard will be dealt with in due time; and I will enjoy killing him and bring his head and that of his precious quarian slut to the Illusive Man's front door, but they're time is not ripe yet. Yours however, is." Shala snarled when he mentioned decapitating Tali, but the man gave no indication of caring.

He turned away from her and then swung his blade at her neck, only to stop a mere inch from it, "Usually you'd be dead by now. But I take special time with suit-rat scum like you. I would enjoy watching your fleet burn over Rannoch as you foolishly try to retake it, but it feels much better to do the killing myself," he leaned in and smiled, "Maybe I'll ram this ship into one of these liveships I here are so important."

Shala gave no indication of caring; she had resigned herself to her fate.

Leng looked disappointed, "Nothing? No words of 'you'll pay?' or 'you won't get away with this?' Weak. Pathetic," he spat again, this time at her feet, "Hell, I don't even know why I'm wasting saliva on you. Play time is over; goodbye Admiral," and then he swung the blade, the weapon coming for Shala's chest...

"NO!"

Shala's head snapped towards the source of the voice and watched as the quarian man leapt through the doorway, past the three snipers and barrelled into Leng at full speed. The man kept a firm grip on his blade, but was unable to keep himself up right and both of them rammed into the table, up and over, and onto Shala's side, where he proceeded to trade blows at Leng's face. The snipers went to react, but Shala grabbed the carnifex, took aim, and fired. Three perfect headshots, point blank, taking them out instantly, bodies crumpling down dead. She smiled smugly. My skills aren't as rusty as I thought...

She turned back to assist Byp in fighting Leng, but only turned in time to scream as time seemed to slow...

She watched Leng's fist connect with Byp's mask, causing it to crack as he fell off the man and landed next to him, her husband unable to react due to him having no combat experience, being strictly civilian. Leng punched him again, dazing him, giving Leng the unbelievable amount of speed to pick up his blade and turn back to Byp...

She lunged for him, but she was too late. She watched as Leng's blade plunged deep into Byp's gut, the man letting out a scream of agony, mixed with a choked gasp, and grabbed for the blade thrusted into him. Leng, smugly satisfied, turned to face Shala, wrenching the blade from Byp's soaked chest, allowing a geyser of blood to flow. Tears brimmed in her eyes, but also pure, seething, anger...

Leng's smile dropped as Shala raised her pistol at the speed of light, giving him no time to react as she fired four successive shots at his knees. The first two shots harmlessly connected with his kinetic barriers, but the third impacted the leg below the right knee, and the fourth did the same to his left leg. Leng fell to the ground, but Shala wasn't done.

She knee'd him in the face, causing him to double over onto his back, release his grip on his blade and fall over, bloody droplets flying from his mouth and nose before she then blew apart his left kneecap with the same pistol. It was out of ammo now, but she couldn't care, simply turning the weapon and pistol whipping him across the face, seemingly knocking him out. Satisfied, she let the anger drain out before dropping the weapon, turning and racing for Byp's bleeding form...

By the time she reached him, he was fading out, practically lying in a pool of thick red. Byp looked at her weakly and held out a hand, which Shala rushed over and took, kneeling down beside him. No, you were meant to be safe...out of harm...you're not-you can't...I won't...please...

Another hand meekly stroked her cheek, causing a sob to escape her lips, to which Byp shook his head, wiping his hand across her mask; a symbolic way for quarians to show their affection in times of misery, kind of like how humans wipe away tears on another's face to calm them down. Her grip on his hand tightened.

"Shala..." he weakly groaned.

"Help is coming," Shala blurted out, nodding in a vain attempt to convince herself, "The cavalry is coming, like you said."

"No its not Shala..." he replied, coughing up blood in his visor, "I'm going to die, I won't kid myself. You shouldn't kid yourself. I'm sorry."

"You weren't..." Shala wept, "You were supposed...meant to be safe...I can't...please don't do this to me...you're...oh keelah, ancestors have mercy...don't die! I...I need you! I need...I need you..." her sobbing intensified.

Byp tried to lift himself up, "Please Shala...before I die...take off my mask...take off yours...I want...to see...your face...one...last...time..."

"But..." Shala shook her head, "But you'll be okay..."

"Please Shala," Byp begged, and she could tell he was weeping too, "One last thing...for me...for us..."

Shala nodded reluctantly, reaching up and removing his mask. She placed it next to him, drinking in his calm features, his small lips and his greyish hair. She removed hers next, placing it next to hers and she cupped both his cheeks in her hands as she leaned in and kissed him tenderly, both of their salty tears fixing with each other. She felt Byp pull down her hood and run a hand through her long, blonde hair. Shala almost pulled back when she tasted coppery blood on his lips, but she ignored it, her eyes closed and drinking in her last kiss...their last kiss...

She pulled back and looked at him, his eyes and she knew it was over. There was nothing they could do to save him in time. She wanted to take her anger out on Leng, but she ignored him, deciding to deal with him later. A long moment of silence passed before Byp finally spoke.

"I love you Shala," he mumbled, the light fading from his eyes as she leaned forward and pressed her tender lips against his exposed forehead, "With all my heart, with all my soul, and with all the ancestor's approval. I love you in life, I love you in death, I love you for eternity. Don't mourn me forever though; the fleet must...always...come...first..."

Shala weakly nodded, not even taking in his words. After a few moments she continued stroking his head, "I love you too Byp. Keelah, I do. But please, this can't be the end..."

No response. She pulled away and looked into Byp's now lifeless eyes. She realized that her last goodbye had gone unheard, his body going limp before she could even finish. A new wave of tears fell and she wailed. She spun to stab at Leng, but saw his body gone, the man obviously having fled. But vengeance didn't matter. For her husband, her love, was gone.

She spun back around and embraced his body, holding onto it and rocking it back and forth as she wept into his chest, wailing long and hard, without breath or reprieve. Tears just flowed like a river on her face, and they echoed throughout the ship.

All the Tonbay could hear was the cries of anguish from the broken heart of an admiral.

"Those bastards...noone hurts my auntie like that..."

- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.

"They paid in blood."

- Marcus Shepard.

"So, what happened next?"

- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch

"Ah...can't you guess?"

- Marcus Shepard.

A/N:

Yes, this was largely focused on the War for Omega, which will become a central part of the story, but will not override the Shadow Broker Arc, I promise. And judging by Shepard's mischevious words, you can expect something exciting to happen next chapter...and unfortunately no, it doesn't involve Leng's intestines spilling out onto the pavement.