Chapter 57 - No Place for a Child
April 6th, 1711 hours – Omega Nebula, Sahrabarik System, Omega
Docking Bay Epsilon
(Spectre Operative 04272182-Cloud)
Omega. What a complete and utter shithole.
There was a special…breed of romantics and pseudo-intellectuals who had christened Omega as the crown jewel of the Terminus Systems and the last bastion of true freedom in the civilized galaxy. To them, Omega was exciting, raw, and intoxicating – a land of endless opportunities where you could be whoever you want and do whatever you want, free from the constraints and protocols that burdened civilized society. Idiots, all of them. They don't know how good they have it with all their rules.
Only a certain kind of person thrived on Omega and those idiots weren't it. You show up in Omega all wide-eyed and with a huge grin on your face and you had fifty-fifty odds of ending up cold in an alley with your credit chit missing your first night.
I got out of the shuttle. The docking bay was dimly-lit by orange lights and looked as if it hadn't been cleaned since before the Reaper Wars. The first thing I noticed when I stepped out onto the dimly-lit bay were a line of automatic cleaning bots shoved against the back wall. All of them had been stripped for parts. Fitting.
Shepard stepped off the shuttle next, glanced around, and then signaled to her friend Kasumi. Kasumi nodded and then disappeared into the catwalks above with a series of incredible gymnastics that had to be a product of at least some cybernetics. She'd be gathering information and watching over us as we sought out Aria.
I had spoken to Kasumi a bit on the shuttle on the way here. It turns out that she had been a legendary thief in her heyday, responsible for dozens of infamous heists and she had assisted Shepard in her fight against the Collectors. Who would have known? I'd never heard of her. She now spends her days reading books and enjoying good food. She also still collects art she tells me.
Percival jumped out of the shuttle with Cade just behind him. "You boys remember the last time we were here?" Percival asked us.
"Yeah," Cade nodded. "Three and a half years ago – maybe four? We were investigating a group of suspected traffickers. We thought they were slavers, remember?
"Who could forget a religious cult of inter-species cannibals?" I muttered darkly. That hadn't been a good memory. We hadn't recovered a single soul, but the cannibals had been made to pay. I wondered if their underground shrine was still here or if someone had found it. We hadn't exactly cleaned up after ourselves.
A squad of six batarians were standing in front of the exit to the docking bay, wearing battered sets of armor comprised of a hodge-podge of pieces from different vendors. The one in the lead was an older batarian and of the six of them he was the only one looking warily at the four of us. The rest seemed indifferent. Shepard had made each of us wear long, black, hooded ponchos over our armor. It was to hide the make and number of our weapons and equipment and make thieves think twice about trying their luck against us.
Cade was absolutely loving it of course. He thought it made us all look cool. My friend always had a dramatic streak to him.
"Back from the dead once more, are you? Welcome to Omega again, Shepard," the lead batarian greeted.
Shepard lifted back her hood. The younger batarians reeled in shock and began to whisper amongst themselves in Kharshani. "Moklan. Still working for Arya answering doors, huh?" Shepard said with a cocky grin. I could hardly recognize her right now from the woman I had seen last night.
"Still greeting dead Spectres, yeah. You know the drill, Shepard. Afterlife," he grunted. Moklan looked the three of us up and down. "Your friends intending to start any trouble?"
Shepard looked at the three of us and smirked. "Start it? No, but they'll be damn sure to finish it if someone else does. Hopefully no one will be that stupid, but it is Omega after all."
Anyone with eyes could see the outlines of various weapons beneath our poncho. I hated how restrictive it was. It would make pulling my weapons off my back a pain in the ass.
"Right right," Moklan nodded lazily. The old batarian looked like he'd seen some shit in his day. He gave me only a fleeting glance and he frowned when he saw that Cade was a turian, but his eyes lingered the most on Percival. My friend was a full head taller than the two of us and a foot broader. "Try to be on your best behavior, and if you have to kill someone please alert the cleaners. Don't need another damn plague… The number is toll-free," he grumbled.
He stepped aside and waved us through. We passed by the group and stepped through a door that lead to the metropolitan area.
My ears were immediately assaulted by a harsh cacophony of angry shouts, low-flying shuttles and electronic club music from a dozen nearby bars. The air reeked of cheap perfume, booze, vomit and urine.
Cade looked up at the towering, haphazardly-designed high-rises that ran from the ground-level or floor of the hollowed-out asteroid all the way to the top. A spiderweb of catwalks connected the high-rises to one another in a chaotic fashion. Shuttles of every make and model flitted recklessly between them.
He then walked over to a nearby balcony and leaned on it, glancing down at the twisting streets that lay hundreds of feet below on the ground-level. "Omega's still a cesspit, I see. Lovely," he sighed.
Percival joined him at the railing. "All the shit in the galaxy has to pool somewhere. If Omega wasn't around there would be another place like this. You can bet on it," Percival said.
I joined them as well. Every few seconds I could hear a scream of terror echoing out from one of the streets or apartments below us. Being in this place made me sick. The weak died in droves with the strong exploiting them every step of the way. Those who were neither lived a paltry, tenuous life, clawing desperately to be on the right side of the dial. It was brutal. It made me feel like nothing I ever did in the galaxy had made a dent in the first place.
Shepard cleared her throat and the three of us turned to face her. "Save the sight-seeing for later boys. Aria's expecting us," Shepard beckoned towards another side-passage.
Her hood was back up now. None of us had ever been to Afterlife and so Shepard had to take the lead. Omega was a space station built inside a hollowed-out mining asteroid. The high-rises that connected the ceiling of the asteroid to the artificial bottom took up most of the hollow space. Below the bottom the station had been artificially extended vertically and crammed with more processing facilities, maintenance tunnels, and factories, giving the whole station a jelly-fish like silhouette with the original asteroid as the dome.
Most of the docking bays like the one we had come out of were around the middle of the asteroid, with massive, open, concentric tiers containing shops and bars and other buildings ringing the inside of the asteroid. There were several such tiers and a person could easily get lost in them for the rest of their lives without ever setting foot into the high-rises or the vertical parts of the station or even the streets below. Afterlife, the bar that served as Aria's de facto headquarters, was on one of the tiers below us.
Omega was dimly lit and what lights there were in the streets were often red emergency lights, but Shepard led us down flights of stairs, through rusty doors, and up narrow streets with confident familiarity, navigating the tiers of Omega like she'd been living here all her life. We walked by hundreds of ramshackle kiosks selling all manners of illegal goods. Drunk or drugged-up civilians lay passed out on the streets in the dozens, and it wouldn't have surprised me if a fair number of them were already dead. Wouldn't be easy to smell a dead body when every inch of this station already smelled like that.
I dropped a few credits in the lap of a pair of thin, sickly-looking batarian children. They looked up at me and smiled, saying something in Kharshani that I couldn't understand. Immediately a nearby human began to walk over to the children. He slunk back into the shadows after I shoved my pistol in his face. Percival quickly shooed the children away, giving them a few more credits for their trouble.
Shepard watched us out of the corner of her eye. "Keep a low profile, please. Spectres aren't exactly welcome here," she admonished us.
I returned my pistol to my belt and pulled my hood lower across my face. I had half a mind to try out my new biotics on him. "Someone has to teach these guys that they can't get away with doing shit like that."
"That 'someone' doesn't have to be you right now," the Commander grunted. "Don't forget, we have bigger fish to fry, and we won't be able to do that if that guy comes back with a dozen of his friends."
Cade scoffed beside me and unclasped the straps on his Carnifex holsters. "I'd like to see them try."
Only Percival had the professionalism to abstain from adding his own two cents. Shepard stared pointedly at the two of us. "Stand down, operatives," she said in her best commander's voice.
It worked. Cade and I both nodded. Shepard was right after all – we did have bigger fish to fry.
We passed by more of Omega. It hadn't changed much in the four years since we were last here. Steam hissed from floor-grates and vents and there were oddly-colored puddles everywhere. This tier looked like it was mostly shops that sold weapons and armor. I spotted mercenaries from a dozen different groups and from a hundred more that I did not recognize, walking around and browsing among the kiosks.
"Repent, the end is nigh!" a rough, worn-out voice called out. There was an elderly batarian standing atop a small make-shift podium speaking to a small group of aliens, gesturing furiously with his hands. Shepard spotted him too and gave a small, knowing chuckle.
The batarian pointed to Percival. "Humans are a blight on galactic purity. You sir! You are a blight!". He then pointed at me next, and then at a young woman and what looked like her boyfriend who were just passing by "And you! And you, human. And you!"
I just ignored him. Percival gave the harmless old madman a double-thumbs up and a big smile and Cade just recorded the whole thing. We continued on our merry way.
If Omega was a diseased leper then Afterlife was the brainstem. It was a massive, multi-level nightclub sitting right on the edge of the tier. A line dozens long extended from the entrance, which was guarded by several armed bouncers.
Shepard walked right past the line of drunk club-goers without slowing down, with us hot on her heels. No one dared to say anything. We were an intimidating quartet.
She whispered something to one of the bouncers and the turian opened the door. We passed into a small hallway lined with seats and holo-screens displaying digital fire. Another door lay at the very end.
A human, clearly drunk, got up out of one of the nearby seats and got in Shepard's way, waving a pack of deathsticks in her face. Likely a hard-working entrepreneur trying to make a quick buck off of a drunk addict. She didn't break her stride and a split-second later the pack was gone. The human's eyes flickered dumbly between his now-empty hand and Shepard's departing figure, the gears in his mind turning slowly as he tried to decide whether she had taken them or not.
We passed through the second set of doors into a massive, multi-tiered room. In the middle of it was a circular, free-hanging stage with a large, purple holographic cylinder in the middle, where exotic asari dancers were entertaining the masses gathering below. The bars were off to one side and almost every single table or booth in the place had been laid claim to by patrons of every species.
The loud electronic club music had my chest pounding. Some club-goers shot glances at the four of us but most paid us no heed. Shepard led us to the back of the room where a couple of armed guards stood in front of a set of stairs. One of them – another older-looking batarian – waved us through.
We ascended the stairs with Shepard in the lead. The stairs lead to a small, open lounge overlooking the first floor. An asari dressed in skin-tight black leather and a white, bomber jacket stood in front of a couch facing away from the rest of the club with her back turned to the four of us.
Shepard stopped a few feet away from the asari and removed her hood, causing some of the guards to audibly gasp. She crossed her arms. "What, are you not going to scan me? Couldn't it be anyone wearing my face?"
Aria T'Loak, the Pirate Queen of Omega, turned around and adopted a stance that mirrored Shepard's. "You know I thought you were actually dead this time Shepard. For real."
Shepard shrugged and pulled a drink off of a passing waitress' serving tray. She downed it in one toss and smacked her lips. "Wish I had. Maybe then I'd get some actual rest. Sorry if I disappointed you."
Aria smiled and sat down onto the couch. "You know, I didn't believe it at first. Vakarian just wasn't cut up enough. But after you stayed missing for a decade, even I started to think you were dead."
She signaled another waitress who brought us all a round of drinks. No one except Shepard and Aria grabbed one. "Every surprise is an opportunity in disguise," Aria said. "You didn't break your twenty-year exile to just come here just to chat my ear off. You want something. What is it?"
Shepard took a seat on the couch beside her. "I'll cut to the chase. The rogue Ninth Fleet is coming straight for Sahrabarik and the Omega relay, and I need to stop them."
Aria took a sip of her own tumbler and smiled coyly. She didn't reply to Shepard, and instead looked over at Cade and Percival.
"Spectre Operatives Lancelot Percival and Cade Kitiarian," she greeted my two friends. "Your reputations precede you. I'm surprised you'd show your faces here. I know a lot of people who'd love nothing more than to take a shot at you two."
"Spectres are an occupational hazard when you're a criminal. Anyone stupid enough to take it personally instead of hedging for it is not someone I'm worried about," Cade replied.
Aria laughed. "Bold words, Kitiarian. Don't underestimate the gangs here on Omega. Your little mentor Vakarian learned that the hard way once upon a time."
Then she turned to me. "And if those two are those two, then you must be Spectre Operative Cloud," she purred. My skin crawled as Aria eyed me up and down. There was no denying it. She was the apex predator here, with biotics at the level of an asari matriarch and combat skills honed over centuries of conflict – the skills needed to not only claw her way to the top of this shit-heap but to also hold it.
"There's lots on the extranet about your two friends over here, but nothing on you. Tell me, what's your deal?"
I didn't know how to reply. I decided to do my usual thing and just stare unblinkingly into her eyes.
Shepard cleared her throat. "Aria, please. You said yourself I wouldn't come to you if this wasn't important. This is important. Is there somewhere we can talk? Privately?"
On top of all her other virtues Shepard wasn't prideful. She knew when to bend the knee and she wasn't afraid of doing so to get what she wanted. Her deferential tone pulled Aria away and the asari crime lord diverted her attention back to Shepard.
"Last I recall, our accounts were settled. You helped me take back Omega and I lent you my fleets and my eezo. If you want something else from me it won't be free."
"Never expected it to be. Let's talk shop."
Aria uncrossed her legs and stood up. "Fine. Tell your pets to go enjoy themselves while the grown-ups talk. Do you still remember the first and only rule on Omega, Shepard?"
"Yes," Shepard nodded.
"Excellent," Aria smiled. "Make sure they do too. I'll meet you downstairs." The asari left the lounge with two bodyguards in tow. She shot me a glance as she departed.
Shepard gestured to the three of us and we all gathered around.
"I don't trust her," Percival immediately whispered. "Whatever she's going to ask for is going to be too heavy a price. This is the pirate queen of Omega we're talking about here."
"I agree," Cade nodded. "Let's just get the Hierarchy into Sahrabarik. The Wrath can be back here in less than a day with her escort and we can get a battlegroup in here from a patrol fleet in two. The Wrath could destroy Omega in a few salvos. We could force her to capitulate. Cloud, what do you think?"
Shepard stayed silent. I looked at my two friends, and then at Shepard. "First of all, under no circumstances are we going to threaten or jeopardize the safety of the civilians on this station," I told the two. Cade turned his eyes downwards and nodded apologetically. I understood that it was a heat-of-the-moment comment but I felt like I had to remind him that just because we were in the asshole of the galaxy it didn't mean that we could go around making it worse. It was rule number two in our unofficial Spectre rule-book, right beneath 'die a cool death'.
"Second, I think if we bring a turian fleet here we're going to get locked into a space battle with ships from a dozen different gangs as soon as they clear the relay. We'll probably win, sure, but not without losses, and when that happens the Ninth is going to just steamroll right through us to the Omega relay. Or we're still stuck fighting the gangs when they arrive and they use the opportunity to get by us and take the Omega-4 relay. It's hard, but I think we have to play her game," I said. And win it before the Project arrived in forced.
Percival gave a heavy sigh of acceptance. "You're right." Cade nodded as well.
"Right then," Shepard interrupted. "Look, I'm going to hammer down the details with her. You've got to trust that I won't screw you guys over. In the meantime, either have some fun or do some recon. Talk to some of the dancers and the patrons and get a feel for the environment. How would Omega react to a little shake-up?"
We all nodded at Shepard. "Wait, what's the one rule on Omega?" Cade asked her.
Shepard downed her drink. "Don't fuck with Aria," she grinned. With that, Shepard sauntered off after Aria.
The mood was a bit somber between the three of us. Neither Cade nor Percival were exactly thrilled with the prospect of working with the pirate queen.
I nudged Percival and gave Cade a light kick in the shin. "Hey, cheer up you two. If what she's asking for is extremely unethical then we'll come back and deal with her as well," I told them.
"Promise?" Cade pouted.
I grabbed my friend on the shoulder and gestured around the club. "Look at these guys," I said gesturing at the guards stationed around the club. They hardly looked competent. Aria seemed the type of person who relied on her own strength to defend herself. "A few tac cloaks and a carnifex or two and Aria T'loak is going to be Aria T'Croaked."
Cade pulled away. "That is a terrible, terrible joke and you should feel very, very bad. But I would love the chance to try out the new toys Shepard got me. She said she designed them herself." I guess I wasn't the only one whom Shepard had gifted something to.
"Shepard just told us the one rule on Omega," Percival groaned in exasperation.
I grinned. "Alright," I continued. "Let's blend in a bit. Look inconspicuous. Do some recon, like Shepard suggested."
"The three of us are wearing black ponchos."
I ignored them and made my way back down the stairs. A group of turians wearing the insignia of some local gang I didn't recognize were throwing credits at an asari dancer. I overheard a salarian and a batarian talking about a local gravball tournament and a krogan was boasting about how he'd just come back from a job in the Terminus Systems with a rachni egg. It wasn't very productive. Most of the patrons were either high or too drunk out of their minds to let slip anything useful.
I scanned the rest of the club. Percival had bought a drink and he was now silently sitting in a corner, nursing it and keeping an eye on all the egresses and ingresses into the club. Cade had sat down with what looked like a few dock workers and was engaged in a boisterous discussion over a few alcoholic beverages.
I gave a small sigh. Figures. The dancers were often the best sources of information in places like these, but neither Cade nor Percival were too keen on sidling up to them anymore, what with their relationships and all.
Percival met my eye and jerked his head at once of the dancers. I shot him a look that said 'you do it', but he just jerked his head again. This time he added some puppy-dog eyes. The asshole knew exactly what he was doing.
I rolled my eyes and began to make my way over to a dancer lounging by the bar.
On my way I collided with a slim figure, knocking her to the floor and causing her to drop her serving platter. The ground around her was covered in glass and I had made her spill the drinks she was carrying all over her blouse. "I'm so sorry!" I said immediately. I knelt down and helped her up, then began collecting the glass with my armored gloves.
The waitress was a quarian with big, silver eyes. She was lithe and delicate-looking like most of her species, with light, violet skin and dark, purple hair that ran down to her shoulders. She was suitless, meaning she had to have been born after the war, and she looked like she was only a few years younger than I was.
"I'm sorry," she stammered apologetically. "I shouldn't have gotten in your way."
Her voice carried the distinct, rolling accent that her people had. It sounded different when they were out of their enviro-suits. Much more lyrical. Still, it was strange to see a quarian this far away from Rannoch or the Citadel, and in Omega no less.
"I'm the one who should be sorry," I told her. "I should have watched where I was going."
I opened my omni-tool and transferred enough credits to pay for the spilt drinks three times over. "Here, that should cover it and then some. Get them a double round. Keep the rest."
Her silver eyes widened as the transfer went through. "Keelah! Thank you very much! I'm still new here, and the customers can get pretty angry if you're late with their drinks."
I knelt down and picked up the platter that she had dropped and gently handed it to her. When she made to grab it our fingers touched. She blushed furiously and I apologized again. The quarian quickly dropped her gaze down to the floor and brushed an errant strand of hair behind her pointed ear.
I swallowed and took a step back. "Well, if anyone gives them trouble you just send them my way. I'll sort them out for you."
"Thank you," she smiled. "You don't look like an average mercenary from around these parts. Did you come to the station recently?"
"I'm a security contractor for Eldfell-Ashland Energy. My employer is here to negotiate some new Helium-3 contracts with some local businesses," I lied to her. "My security company operates mainly in the Traverse. We just got in today."
The quarian tucked the platter under her arm and her expression suddenly changed. "Eldfell-Ashland, huh? You know, they still haven't forgiven us for the incident in the Nubian Expanse from twenty-five years ago – or vice versa," she said reproachfully.
I mentally kicked myself. Damn it, what was wrong with me? I should have registered the connection there.
My distress must have been visible because she reached out and gave my arm a friendly squeeze. "Keelah I'm just joking, look at you! That was a long time ago, hardly anyone cares anymore," she laughed. Her laugh was even more musical than her voice.
I chuckled in a desperate attempt to cover up my own awkwardness. It sounded cool. Kind of. No, there was no way that worked. I began to scream at myself quietly inside. And why was it suddenly so hard to maintain eye contact? Must be the weird, silver eyes. Every ounce of my willpower was instantly diverted to keeping my eyes from looking away.
I had to disengage before I did or said something really stupid. "Well, don't let me keep you from your customers. They'll probably kick my ass if I hold you up any longer."
She gave me a smile. "You're probably right. You know, I feel like you gave me too many credits there. If you want a tour from a seasoned Omega resident I get off in about an hour."
I rubbed the back of my neck. "I think I may be busy tonight. If I have time, sure. Depends on my employer," I apologized.
"That's fine!" she said cheerfully. "Don't be a stranger!"
I watched as she slipped back into the crowd. Now that I was free from her gaze I felt as if I could breath again. I never realized how bright a quarian's eyes could get outside of their mask.
My gaze drifted back over to the dancer. I looked around to see if the quarian was still nearby, but she was nowhere to be seen. I let out a sigh and made my way over, shoving away a drunk human that was pawing grossly at her. She seemed thankful for the intervention.
It wasn't a fruitful conversation. I gave her a fair amount of credits and sat through a quick dance before I started to ask her about local merc gangs and who the most prominent ones were around here by coming up with a quick story about how I was searching for my brother who had joined one on Omega. It wasn't a productive discussion, with her just saying how there were 'all kinds'. Honestly, the quarian waitress was probably a better source of information that she was. The dancer also kept turning the discussion back to me and asking me about where I was from and what I did and I couldn't help but wonder if Aria had perhaps planted her to do the same thing that we were trying to do.
I was getting nowhere, so eventually I gave up to spare my credits and walked back to the bar. I ordered a drink and sighed again.
My omni-tool beeped and I looked down. Percival was messaging me on our group-chat instead of coming over to talk to me. I guess he didn't want anyone thinking that the three poncho-wearing weirdos were anything more than professional colleagues or something.
[ ] [18:15]: Find anything?
[ .0C] [18:15]: No. Got the feeling that the dancer was told not to divulge information to the patrons. And to do her own information-gathering.
It was a good tactic. Training her dancers to do that helped keep Aria safe and at the same time increased her own influence by helping her gather important information.
[ ] [18:15]: Yes and no. You clueless bastard.
[ .CK] [18:16]: Found out from the guys here that the major merc groups are steering clear of this bar. Cade typed. Some bad blood between Aria and them right now. Also, look over here.
I turned my head and looked back over at Cade. He was still sitting at the merc table. His poncho was thrown back and he had an arm wrapped around the shoulder of the merc sitting beside him and he was chatting animatedly with another. He must have been telling a joke because the entire table suddenly roared with laughter.
None of the mercs were known to me and I couldn't see anything significant about them. I was about to ask him what I was supposed to be looking for when the quarian waitress came up to their table with a platter of drinks.
She handed Cade and the rest of the mercs a drink. Cade said something to her that I couldn't hear, but it caused her to laugh. He then looked at me and raised his drink, a twinkle in his eyes and his mandibles stretched into a mischievous grin. Of course, he'd seen what had happened between her and I and like usual had totally misconstrued the whole thing. I debated throwing away the mission right then and there and dueling my former best friend to the bitter death.
[SpectreOp.0C] [18:17] Cade do you want to die in this bar? Because I will kill you and you will bleed to death on the floor of this damn bar.
[ [18:17] What happened?
[ ] [18:18] Relax friend. She asked me if I was in the same security company as you were. I told her I was. I also told her we would be in town for a few days. You're welcome. Also – don't threaten me with a good time.
I threw my entire drink back and asked the bartender to give me another one. I glanced back at Cade. The bastard probably thought that I wanted to ask him why she had laughed. Well I wasn't going to give him that satisfaction. Because I didn't care.
[SpectreOp.0C] [18:18] Waitress seemed to know a bit about the local merc groups. Dancer was a bust but maybe she knows something.
[ ] [18:18] Yeah whatever you need to tell yourself
[ ] [18:17] If she seems like a good source of intel then we should keep her in our corner. Plus, with her being in Aria's bar she might know a few things about her too. Run a honeypot on her if you have to. She's your type isn't she? Extraterrestrial?
I watched as Cade spat his drink out laughing. My cheeks burned.
A hand came down on my shoulder and I looked back. "Hey, come to the private room. Aria wants to talk," Shepard said.
I nodded and signaled to Cade and Percival. The three of us extricated ourselves and went back to being serious. We followed Shepard down a heavily-guarded hallway. We went through a set of security doors into a large room filled with expensive paintings, nice furniture, and luxuries from every species and core world you could think of. The contents alone would probably cost millions of credits.
A large window showcasing a view of the Omega skyline spanned an entire wall, presenting an obvious sniper's risk, but I would bet anything that Aria had taken great lengths to render it bullet-proof. Inside the room the Pirate Queen sat at the head of a large, polished table made of what looked like actual oak.
"Sit down," she ordered.
The four of us sat down. Cade was about to put his armored elbows onto the table but Aria quickly shot him a murderous look.
"Aria and I have talked things over, but she'd like to tell you herself so that there won't be any confusion," Shepard told us.
The crime lord nodded and then looked at each of us. "Shepard told me about the Ninth. So, they'll be coming for the Omega relay huh? Potentially up to five-hundred ships?"
"They lost a bunch over Anhur and I bet they'll keep a significant portion in reserve and in other theatres, but yes. I would expect that they will be coming with a sizeable attack force," Percival said.
"I see, but Omega isn't what they want," Aria crossed her arms. "What Shepard didn't tell me no matter how much I asked her was what they were after on the other side of the Omega relay. I thought it was just a straight path to the galactic core, where the old collector base used to be."
"It is," I lied. "But there's something there that they're after. Something bad. We can't tell you what it is but we swear, you don't want them getting their hands on it."
Aria looked at the four of us. She looked as if she were running calculations in her head. It gave me a bad feeling – was she going to try and screw us?
"What happened on Anhur?" she asked suddenly. "I lost a bunch of my contacts in New Thebes. I've heard rumors here and there. Something about an ecological disaster?"
The three of us looked at one another. "We can't give you the details, but it is connected with what the Ninth is looking for on the other side of the relay."
"Trust us, working together to stop them is in everyone's best interests," Percival pleaded.
Aria thought about it some more, and then she got up and walked over to a nearby bar. The asari poured all of us a drink and set them down on some coasters she laid down before returning to her seat each. "I get the impression that you three are quite the boy scouts—that if I ask you to do any dirty work for me you'll likely all end up coming after me yourselves."
None of us said anything or moved so much as a muscle, but she had the measure of it.
"As much as I'd enjoy the challenge, it wouldn't be a productive option," Aria took a sip. "You three are young, idealistic, and seem somewhat honorable. You're not scheming or conniving like asari or salarian spectres are and seem far more flexible than the turians. You three are also extremely talented, or so I've heard and as Shepard has vouched."
"So what do you want from us?" I asked.
She walked over to my chair and pushed my drink closer to me. "To get what you want you'll need to convince the other major merc groups to play ball. The three other major merc groups on Omega haven't changed since the War. They're the Eclipse, the Blue Suns, and the Blood Pack. There are dozens of other mid-league groups and hundreds of minor ones, but if you want turian ships in here those are the ones you'll have to convince. You'll need to ask them for permission yourselves."
"Ourselves?" Cade echoed.
"Yes," she smiled. "I could do it but you probably wouldn't approve of my methods. If you don't want to do any dirty work for me then I won't make you do any dirty work for me. You can go and convince them yourselves in whatever manner you see fit. You have my blessing."
"So you won't help us?" Percival asked her.
She shrugged and swirled her crystal glass. "I told you. You have my blessing."
I cursed inwardly at her scheming, blue ass. She was likely expecting that we wouldn't be able to turn them without force. We'd likely end up weakening them and putting more of Omega into her hands and she technically wouldn't be doing anything wrong either because she wasn't asking us to hurt them. It was a good play.
Percival was about to protest but I held up a hand. We had maybe a week before the Project got here and I didn't want to waste another second arguing over the rules of the game.
"And what do you want? The other merc groups don't run Omega and you don't gain anything by making us win them over, so what do you want out of this."
The Pirate Queen wagged her finger at me approvingly. "Oh I like you. You seem like you might actually have something between your ears, unlike these other two."
She walked back to her chair and set down her glass. "Don't worry. What I want is nothing your sad, little moral appetites cannot handle. If you can give me what I want I'll do more than just allow your fleet in. I'll even throw a few ships of my own. Full cooperation."
"What do you want?" I repeated.
Aria smiled. "All I want you to do is to find my daughter."
That was unexpected. The three of us exchanged surprised looks. "Your daughter?"
"My daughter Narala," Aria nodded. "She disappeared a week ago. I've sent my best agents out to find her but so far they've been unsuccessful. See? I told you that you wouldn't find it morally despicable. I'm just a concerned mother, looking for her child."
"Do you have any leads?"
"None. I taught her everything I know about secrecy and staying hidden. The fact that there isn't a single trace of her tells me that either she doesn't want to be found or she is involved with some really bad people – people with enough resources and power to hide even from me here on Omega."
Her haughty exterior slipped and for a moment I thought I caught a glimpse of a concerned mother inside the Pirate Queen of Omega, though whether that was intentional or unintentional I couldn't begin to guess at.
Aria looked at the three of us. "Please Spectres, please help me find my daughter. Do that, and I'll help you. Please, find her."
April 6th, 2030 hours – Omega Nebula, Sahrabarik System, Omega
SSV Excalibur, Deck 2, Briefing Room
(Spectre Operative 04272182-Cloud)
The team pow-wow went about as well as we could have expected. In hindsight I should have let everyone have dinner first, but I really wanted to get all my plans out on the table while it was still fresh in my head.
"So she's not going to do anything except give us 'permission' to get the gangs on our side? That is absolutely ridiculous!" Elektra shouted. She slammed a fist into the armrest of her chair and then crossed her arms with a scoff.
"Aria T'loak's reputation as a cunning strategist is well-deserved. Force against upper echelons of mercenary groups possibly required to get them to capitulate. Pirate Queen withholds involvement – Pirate Queen maintains deniability. Inevitably will fill any power vacuum we create without losing any of her pieces on the board," Jaelen voiced to the group.
"Exactly my thought," I nodded in agreement. "Plus, I don't think she wants to give us any reason to go after her. Look - we're low on time. We don't have any choice but to win over the gangs ourselves. But, we won't play her game the way she wants us to. We're going to do it with as little bloodshed as possible. Remember – we want as many of them on our side as we can. Can't do that if half of them are holding grudges against us for offing their leaders. We will need as united a front as we can muster when the Ninth gets here. Diplomacy is the name of the game."
"Going to be tough to do with the time we have. What is the earliest they can arrive?" Accer asked.
"Based on what I saw from the combat footage and the damage to their engines, probably the fourteenth of this month?" Camilla replied. "It took us about six days to get here and I would guess that they – or at least the Exeter – would have needed at least five days to repair the ship. I am not sure how long the roundabout route would add though."
"They won't follow the route we took, so anywhere between eight to twelve days I believe," I said. "Let's say they started repairs on the thirty-first. Then they would have been done by the fifth... add the eight days…"
Cade crossed his arms. "The thirteenth. Let's expect the Exeter on the thirteenth. We can keep Revak's ships close to the relay to try to try and spot an advance force."
I nodded in agreement. "And let's not forget, even after we win the gangs we need every day we can get to prepare for their arrival. So let's try to get everything done as soon as possible."
I turned to Revak and Elektra. "Revak, you and Elektra will get in touch with the head of the Blue Suns on Omega. Be diplomatic. I imagine news has spread of our little team-up at Anhur and we're likely to start off on decent terms with them."
"It will be done."
"You've got it."
"I'll handle the Blood Pack," Garm immediately interjected. The krogan set both hands on his knees and gave a small sigh. "And I won't need anyone else."
I was a bit surprised at Garm's eagerness and what looked to me like tired resignation. "Okay, but take Galen with you anyways. I know you're a hard bastard but I still don't want you going at this alone."
Garm grunted and gave me a nod. "Fine, but don't worry. I know the krogan who currently runs the Blood Pack on Omega. He and I go way back. I also know exactly what it'll take for him to cooperate."
That was also mystifying. I was unaware that Garm had run with the Blood Pack, but I suppose that it was a pretty popular gang with krogan so that wasn't too out of the ordinary. Either way, if Garm had insider knowledge that could win the Blood Pack over sooner rather than later then I was all for it.
"Great, I'm counting on you. And Rayla, I believe you mentioned you wanted to tackle the Eclipse?"
Rayla nodded. "A few of them are former commandos so I think I have an in. If Captain Murgen doesn't mind, could I co-op a few of his Jaegers in case I need some assistance?"
Murgen waved a hand. "It's no problem at all."
"The rest of the Jaegers can all go incognito and do some recon," I added. "Be careful though. We don't want word getting out that there is a sizable Systems Alliance presence on Omega." All of the Jaeger team leaders nodded at me.
I gestured at Commander Shepard and Miranda Lawson. "Shepard and Lawson will be our mission control. She has some prior experience dealing with Omega's gangs. Ms. Goto will be her eyes and ears on the ground, and she'll assist us whenever she can." The commander gave an awkward wave and Kasumi a little bow. Lawson just crossed her arms and nodded curtly. On the other side of the meeting table a few of the Jaegers traded knowing smiles and sly nods. Evidently Shepard's 'prior experience' dealing with Omega's gangs was well known among the Systems Alliance.
I looked around the room. "Great. Then that means Cade, Percival and I will handle Aria's personal request. We will find her daughter."
The three of us all knew how hard it could be to track down a missing person, but we were the best-suited for the job given our experience. We'd done it several times over the course of our careers. Percival looked as calm and steady as always but Cade for some reason was positively beaming. He was rocking back and forth on his spurs and humming a jaunty tune to himself. The bastard had something planned for sure.
"That's all," I finished. "I'm not going to micromanage how each of the three task forces go about completing their objective. All I ask is that you again remember that we want to accomplish our goals with the least amount of bloodshed we can manage and with as much goodwill as possible. You're all dismissed."
Percival and Cade lingered behind. "Hey buddy, we're going to go watch a few holovids and unwind a bit before we get into it tomorrow. Want to come?"
"Yeah sounds great. Just give me a moment will you?"
My friends shrugged. "Sure. Bring some snacks."
"You got it."
They departed and I sat back down in my chair with a sigh. I ran my hands through my hair and some numbers in my head. We'd be potentially fighting three dreadnoughts and hundreds of ships. How many could the gangs count with? And of those, how many would have the weapons needed to take out the dreadnoughts? Putting aside the fact that we had yet to even win the cooperation of the gangs, I had to plan for the inevitable space-battle. That wasn't in my wheelhouse nor was it the wheelhouse of anyone else on this ship. Percival, Murgen, Cade, and even Shepard were all infantry. None of them were well-versed in three-dimensional ship-to-ship combat. When it came to tactics and strategy, Octavian and his captains would have the advantage.
I suppose I could ask the Hierarchy admirals for help or trust them to handle the defense of the Omega 4 relay, but they were currently on standby on the edge of the Attican Traverse and they would be coming to the party pretty much as the Ninth arrived unless we miraculously convinced the gangs to let a whole turian fleet into Sahrabarik in a day or two. It would be hard to plan a defence on such short notice.
Something that we also had not talked about yet was the potential for collateral damage. Firstly there was the environmental issue. Hundreds of ships and fighters firing missiles at each other and dozens of destroyed eezo cores were nothing to scoff at. Sahrabarik would be a hazard for years— hell, we hadn't even fully cleaned up Earth or Thessia or Palaven yet. We could be putting a ton of pregnant women and their children at risk.
Also there was the issue of Omega itself. It did have extremely powerful kinetic barriers, but they wouldn't hold up to a sustained barrage from three dreadnoughts. I wasn't willing to put our ships anywhere between Omega and the mass relay that they'd be coming through in case any of their shots ended up missing our ships. I didn't think Octavian would attack Omega and force me to waste resources defending it, but I couldn't put it past him after what happened on Anhur.
I shuddered at the thought of the Project unleashing another infected Reaper Core on Omega just to distract us. There was a lot to do and a lot to think about. I really wish I had a drink right now.
You can't save them all. Not like this, a little voice inside my head said.
But I had to. I had to stop the Project from accidentally killing every organic being in the galaxy somehow. My head began to pound and I could feel the beginnings of yet another migraine. I needed to not only keep the Project from reaching the Omega 4 relay but also protect everyone on Omega. I thought about the quarian waitress and whether she'd be disappointed that I wasn't going to be there when she got off her shift. Was I going to be able to protect her from the Project, or would she just be another name on the list?
I wonder if she had maybe hoped that I would be there tonight, even though I had told her I was going to be busy.
A drink really did sound good right about now.