MASS EFFECT DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. I CAN'T WAIT FOR MY NEXT TRIP INTO SPACE. I ONLY NEEDED TO BRIBE THREE PEOPLE TO GET ONTO THE SHIP THIS TIME.

I really liked Omega in ME2. I kind of wish I'd gotten more time on it that didn't involve fighting Cerberus there, especially without my squad to back me up. Well, at least Alanna gets to visit, and deal with another of her dad's… well, she's not a friend. Associate is about right.

Mass Effect: Legacy

XXI

Omega was every bit the mess Alanna had heard about. The floors were covered in litter, dust, blood, and other fluids she didn't want to think about, and the walls were almost as bad. The only people she passed by that weren't filthy were mercenaries in over-polished armor. She recognized the Blue Suns, but there were several logos she didn't know; those were either small-time outfits, or they were new, and trying to get their start in the big leagues.

There were hundreds of people milling about the docks. Most were carrying things to and from docked ships, but others were either acting as security—and doing a terrible job, to Alanna's trained eye—or scoping the area out for some crime or another.

All in all, Alanna's first impression of Omega was that it wasn't too far off from the stories.

"That war the Alliance had with the Council really helped us out," the Patriarch rumbled as he walked. "Lots of salvage, lots of mercenary contracts—you name it, it happened, and if it happened in the Terminus, it passed through Omega."

"And conducting business on Omega means paying a tax to Aria," Alanna finished.

The Patriarch grinned. "You're catching on. Aria already had a hand in almost every major enterprise in the Terminus, but that war of yours has made her wealthier than she's ever been."

"Always glad to help out," Alanna said sarcastically. "Why are you telling us all this? Seems kind of stupid to just admit that."

"Because Aria has certain arrangements in place," the Patriarch said. "As long as Aria doesn't directly do anything in Council or Alliance space, keeps her activities inside the Terminus, and keeps certain interested parties aware of anything that might change things. In exchange, Aria is allowed free reign."

"The joys of compromise." Tetros idly kicked a piece of garbage that might have been part of a hardsuit.

"Without it, things would be a lot bloodier," the Patriarch warned. "Aria has no desire to start a war that will bleed everyone dry, especially if some new aliens are getting ready for something big."

"And I'll bet that Aria would stand to make a lot more credits if she helps us fight them," Alanna added.

The Patriarch chuckled. "You're catching on."

The old Krogan brought them to Afterlife, the biggest club and seat of power in Omega. Alanna raised an eyebrow at the Asari dancing around the club, surrounded by patrons that were almost certainly armed criminals.

Aria was waiting for them at the upper level, seated on a couch that probably cost more than what Alanna made in a year. Like all Asari, she hadn't changed over the last century, though she now sported a blood-red coat over a black bodysuit that Alanna was sure was packed full of tech to give the Queen of Omega an edge if she needed it.

"Well, if it isn't the second Shepard to come through my door," Aria said with a confident smirk. "I heard that Lawson was sending you, but I had to see it for myself. What's the daughter of the most famous person in the galaxy doing here? Vacationing through Daddy's old stomping grounds?"

Alanna handed her weapons and helmet over to Haley before approaching, and not just because it would make sitting on the couch opposite Aria more of a challenge. She wanted this mission to be successful, so she had to show some respect, but she also did it to show that she wasn't so fearful of Aria that she needed weapons on her.

"As much as I'd like to visit some of those places, this is a business trip." Alanna sat and mirrored Aria's relaxed posture. "I need access to the Omega-4 Relay, which you control. I'm hoping that we can come to some kind of agreement to let that happen."

Aria's smile widened by a fraction. "Oh, you Shepards, always hoping to exchange favors. Considering what Lawson has told me about these Outsiders, I'm willing to allow you passage… if you'll help me with a small issue."

"I'm assuming it involves me doing something most folks wouldn't approve of."

"Of course." Aria gestured to a Batarian, who brought up his omni-tool to show Alanna an image of a Turian with black face paint in jagged lines under his eyes. "This is Meridus Pax. Until recently, he ran a small gang—protection rackets, shakedowns for larger groups too busy for small stuff, and the occasional hit. That's changed in recent weeks; his crew started showing up with high-end equipment, and stole territory from eight other gangs in just a few days. He's not smart enough to pull off these kinds of moves, but if things don't change soon, he'll have enough bodies to challenge me directly. I don't want that kind of bloodshed, so I want you to take care of it for me."

"All this to kill a guy who's causing you problems?" Alanna shook her head. "I would have figured you'd have ways of cleaning up your own house."

"Oh, I do, but that involves money, threats, bribes, and a whole headache that I don't want to deal with." Aria smiled, but it did nothing to assure the younger Asari. "If your conscience is bothering you, just know that Pax has at least twenty murders on his record from before he got here."

Alanna wasn't surprised, nor was she too bothered about needing to kill someone. The Outsiders were the biggest threat the galaxy had seen since the Reapers, and if Alanna had to stain her soul to stop them, she would. A part of her accused her of being just like Miranda, but she quashed that by reasoning that she wasn't forcing anyone to follow her into this.

"Give me the coordinates, and we'll head there ASAP." Alanna held out her omni-tool and prepped it to receive data. "We'll find a way to make this happen—at the very least, we'll figure out how to make it as easy for you as possible."

"That's what I like to hear." Aria sent the location and leaned back. "If you can, try to find who's using Pax as a puppet. I might have something nice for you as a reward."

Alanna got up and rejoined her squad; the Patriarch was sitting at a table near an Asari dancer, so one of Aria's Batarians led them out of Afterlife.

"I know what I just signed on for," Alanna said over the squad's private channel. "But none of you did. If you want to back out, I'll understand."

"If we don't do this, we'll have a problem getting through the Omega-4 Relay," Haley said. "I won't let you do this on your own."

Tetros made a show of checking his sniper rifle. "Same here. This Pax guy is giving Turians a bad name, and I'd like to do something about that."

Nok laughed. "Hey, I'm not missing out on a fight."

"This is the most expedient solution to our mission," Mantle added.

Only Korim was hesitant. "Just… remember that we're Alliance soldiers first, not Alliance Intelligence. We don't have to be so ruthless."

Alanna put a hand on his shoulder. "Of course. Thanks for the reminder."

She just hoped that she wouldn't need it again.

…

Liara read over the report Miranda had sent her for the third time. She was equal parts furious and glad that Kasumi had been alive all this time; Liara had never been as close to her as some of the others from Shepard's teams, but John had once privately told her that Kasumi was one of his closest confidants, behind only her and Garrus. Finding out that she was alive was like having a small piece of John back.

For some reason, learning that Alanna had taken this news just as badly as her warmed her heart. Perhaps it was because, like her mother, Alanna knew that she would outlive all of her Normandy family, and finding out that she'd missed out on decades of time with one of them bothered her.

Finally, Liara set aside her misgivings, and turned her attention to why Kasumi had been gone for so long. She had read about the Entitlement from the Shadow Broker files years ago; she wasn't sure which of the previous Brokers had learned of them, but the knowledge had been kept for over three centuries. What surprised her was how divisive the Entitlement could be among her predecessors; some had no problem working with those Batarians, while others did everything they could to undermine them.

"These people have been using the Hegemony for their own ends for generations," she mused. "I wouldn't be surprised if they were responsible for so many of the Batarians' more unsavory traits. Taking them off the board might be beneficial to the entire galaxy."

Still, Liara wasn't about to start a war with a secret organization; she had enough to worry about with the Outsiders, and balancing her many deals with the various intelligence agencies around the galaxy.

Actually, just because I could start a war doesn't mean I have to wage it, Liara thought, as an idea came to mind. Perhaps I can solve two problems at once.

Her hands danced across her terminal as she began forging information at a breakneck pace. It was only a rough draft, and she would have to make sure that what she was doing would pass scrutiny, but if it worked…

Well, the Athamean League was upsetting the delicate balance of galactic politics. Having the Batarians keep them off-balance would be a welcome change.

…

Once, long ago, this section of Omega had had a different name, but it had been forgotten for centuries. Now, it was simply called Burnout; some believed that that was where those whose ambitions outstripped their ability ended up, while those with a less poetic mindset believed it got the name because Aria sent kill-squads down there to destroy the Vorcha nests with flamethrowers.

Regardless, that was where Alanna led her squad, weapons raised and ready for whatever this part of Omega threw at them.

"So, Mantle, have you found anything else on this Pax guy?" Alanna asked.

"Affirmative, Shepard-Commander. He is wanted for multiple crimes in Turian space, including murder and treason."

Tetros almost lost his focus for a moment. "Whoa, we take treason really seriously. How have I not heard of this guy?" He paused. "Wait, what was the grade of treason?"

"It was a Grade Five," Mantle said.

"Ah, okay." Tetros was now a little dismissive. "Grade Five just means he committed crimes while serving in the military. If he was a Grade Three or higher, Hierarchy Intelligence would have scooped him up before he left his house."

Nok scoffed. "So, what, he's just a little fish?"

"A little fish with advanced weapons," Alanna reminded them all, and pointed to a dead Batarian. "Look at that body; he's got more holes than Swiss cheese, and he was wearing armor."

Nok peered down at the corpse. "Armor-piercing rounds, probably a heavy weapon."

Tetros hummed thoughtfully. "I can think of maybe five man-portable guns that can do this kind of damage."

"Six, if you count an Extinction at long range," Alanna said.

"That's a Krogan gun, doesn't count."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nok asked.

Haley patted the big Krogan on the shoulder. "That your people's guns are in a class all their own, big guy."

Nok chuckled. "I can live with that."

Mantle brought up his rifle. "Alert: movement detected by the stairs ahead."

The squad immediately took cover behind a half-destroyed barricade. "I need details, Mantle," Alanna said tersely.

"Sixty-four percent probability the target was Salarian," Mantle answered. "Unable to speculate further."

Alanna nodded. "Okay, we'll keep advancing, but stay spread out; the last thing we need is to get hit by a big Overload. Mantle, stay cloaked for now, I don't want you to get hacked."

After Mantle followed her order, the squad cautiously moved towards the stairs. Alanna was halfway to the second level when a Salarian stuck half his body out of cover and opened fire with an SMG. Alanna's shields handled the first burst of fire, and the Salarian was frozen solid with a blast of cryo before he could shoot again. She then hacked his omni-tool before the device was rendered useless by the cryo; to her surprise, the firewalls around the omni-tool were some of the strongest she'd ever seen, and was only able to grab a few files.

"Good gear," Tetros noted. "The only Salarians with better equipment would be their special forces."

"Then Aria didn't lie about that. Good to know." Alanna read through the files she'd captured. "Okay, we may have a problem."

"Of course," Haley sighed.

Alanna glared at her for a moment. "Anyway, remember how those rebel Krogan on Tuchanka had old STG codes in their drones? I'm seeing the same code in these files; old code, but in modern tech. Any theories?"

"It's a lot easier to grab modern equipment before it's uploaded with modern software," Korim suggested. "Especially if they're made by different manufacturers. Salarian and Asari companies tend to do that. But I think I have an idea about that old code—maybe whoever is programming this tech couldn't access modern STG computers, and had to make do with what they had available." He paused. "Then again, maybe STG is supplying these guys, and they're using old coding as plausible deniability."

"Huh." Alanna thought about that. "I could see them wanting to destabilize Tuchanka—I mean, they're still wetting themselves because the genophage got cured—but why would they care about Omega?"

"Maybe they're looking to control the Terminus," Korim said. "Right now, Aria is the most influential player, and she's smart enough not to let anyone influence her. If I was in STG, the best bet would be to give a whole lot of hardware to someone I could control, and use them to overthrow Aria. Boom, now I have a puppet to control most of the crime in the Terminus."

That brought the squad up short.

"That… makes a whole lot of sense," Alanna admitted. "Wait, but the rebel Krogan were working for the Outsiders."

"Maybe they started as STG's puppets, but the Outsiders gave them a better deal," Haley said.

"Well, it's all just theory right now," Alanna decided. "We can figure out who's pulling the strings after we put these guys down."

A hail of gunfire rained down on them from a window across the street, catching the squad by surprise. Korim had his tech armor up, which gave him just enough time to get behind cover, while Nok roared defiantly as he used his own body to shield Tetros. Alanna gathered biotic power and created a large barrier, buying precious seconds for everyone else.

"Get that shooter!" she yelled.

A moment later, two sniper rifles rang out, and a Turian tumbled out of the window. Haley and Tetros slowly lowered their rifles.

"He was using a turret," Haley revealed. "I got the gunner, Tetros disabled the gun."

"Good work," Alanna said. "Everyone okay?"

Korim did a quick check. "Nothing permanent."

"Speak for yourself," Nok groaned; his hand pulled away from his side, and came away bloody. "Damn, that hurts."

Alanna ran her omni-tool over the Krogan. "One of your livers is hit, but it's regenerating. Everything else is a flesh wound."

"Good thing I've got more than one of everything," Nok joked. "If it's healing, then it's not serious."

"Just in case…" Alanna applied some medi-gel, followed by a dose of omni-gel for his armor. "Korim, stay with him; if we get in another firefight within the next ten minutes, give him your tech armor."

"Copy that." Korim patted Nok's arm, and then ran a quick program on his omni-tool to send over the tech-armor without him needing to manually do so.

"Thanks." Nok reached out to slap the Quarian on the back, but thought better of it before he accidentally broke Korim's spine.

Alanna grinned, but then a thought occurred to her. "Hey, what's the model of that turret?"

Tetros examined it through his scope. "Oof, it's a KX-19. It's about thirty years old, but they're really popular among mercenary companies, because a lot of the parts can be replaced or updated with modern components." He shrugged. "I prefer the KX-22 that rolled out last year. Slower rate of fire, but way more accurate, and can punch clean through six inches of reinforced titanium. If Nok had been hit by one of those, he'd be dead."

"Thanks," the Krogan in question drawled.

For the next few minutes, the squad advanced in silence; the further into Burnout they traveled, the uglier it got. There were dozens of corpses—mostly Batarian, but the odd human and Asari as well. One thing Alanna noticed was that not a single body had been looted; armor remained intact, and weapons lay where they fell. She thought about mentioning it to the squad, but she figured that the answer was obvious: that the mercenaries didn't need to loot the bodies if they already had much better gear.

Besides, she had other things on her mind when they encountered a barricade between them and the next junction. There were no turrets, but plenty of spots for weapons to poke out; it reminded Alanna of the murder holes from castles during Earth's medieval period. She barely had time to think that before several weapons opened fire on them.

"Take cover!" Alanna barked, and then ducked behind a half-destroyed crate. "Mantle, take one of my drones and flank them; the rest of us will keep them busy."

Mantle accepted a flamethrower-drone from Alanna, and then cloaked. The rest of the squad did what they could to keep the mercenaries' attention, and Haley managed to kill one of them through their own gun port with a well-aimed shot from her sniper rifle. Less than a minute later, they heard shouts of surprise, the whine of a plasma rifle firing, and screams of pain as several beings were burned alive.

"All clear," Mantle announced, and climbed over the barricade with a dead human over his shoulder.

"Oh, what the hell, man?" Haley gagged when she saw that the corpse was missing most of his head.

"It is necessary to examine enemies for weakness," Mantle said.

"Yeah, but now you look like the killer from an old slasher vid." Alanna gestured to the blood smeared over Mantle's frame. "Anything about this guy that stood out?"

"It was the most intact body," Mantle admitted, and then pointed to the dead man's armor. "This is a modified Batarian hardsuit, not typically seen in standard units."

"Why would he have Batarian gear?" Tetros asked.

"No data available."

"Maybe whoever is supplying these guys doesn't have access to Alliance equipment?" Alanna guessed. "If it's some rogue STG element, maybe it's easier to snatch Council gear."

"Logging possibilities for future consideration," Mantle said.

"Right, let's table that for later." Alanna checked the map Aria's men had sent her. "Okay, we've got three objectives now. Primary is killing Pax, secondary is eliminating his lieutenants, and tertiary is destabilizing the enemy communications so that Aria's guys can clean up. According to the map, we're close to their command hub."

"That means we're also close to Pax, right?" Korim asked.

"He might not be there," Tetros said. "If he has even a little sense from his time in the military, he'll know not to keep his leadership in one place while in enemy territory. Heavier hardware and supplies are harder to keep on the move, so it's likely that those are by the command hub. It'll be heavily guarded, but if we do enough damage to it, Pax will send his best to take it back."

Alanna nodded as she followed his logic. "And since he has to stay strong or risk getting overthrown, he'll have to fight in person if enough of his forces are beaten."

"Sounds fun," Nok said gleefully.

"Oh, yeah, it'll be great," Haley muttered. "I love attacking dug-in enemies that probably know we're coming."

"Then we'd better get there fast, before they get too prepared." Alanna brought up the map so that everyone could see. "Okay, Nok and I will draw their fire. Haley, there's a series of gantries on their north side; take Tetros and start sniping. Mantle, I want you to sneak behind the enemy and set up remote access to their systems for Korim so that he can have some fun; after you do that, cause some mayhem of your own."

"I'm feeling a little better about this now," Haley admitted.

…

It took several minutes, but the squad got into position; the command center use to be an apartment complex, but had been fortified with sections of armor, retractable shutters, and a series of turrets around the perimeter. Twenty mercenaries guarded the outside, and to make things worse, Alanna picked up a network of mines on her omni-tool. It was almost a fortress in its own right, but Alanna saw one fatal flaw.

"Mantle, I'm not seeing a back door, but the only thing protecting the roof is one sniper. If you take him out, that can be our signal for our attack."

"Affirmative," Mantle replied, the comms making his artificial voice even more pronounced. "I will engage in thirty-nine seconds."

Those seconds dragged on for what felt like hours, but Mantle made his move exactly when he promised; from Alanna's angle, she could see the sniper abruptly pull back, but none of the mercenaries on the ground noticed.

"Rooftop clear. Infiltrating now. You are cleared to engage, Shepard-Commander."

Alanna grinned at Nok behind her helmet. "You heard him; light 'em up."

Nok laughed as he launched a trio of missiles; each one hit the turrets that had the best angle on them, while Alanna opened fire on the infantry. Four of her targets were gunned down before the rest scrambled into cover, but it only protected them from her; a few seconds later, they started to drop as Haley and Tetros sniped one after another.

"We've got them pinned," Haley said. "You can get closer."

"Update: I have eliminated three tech-specialists inside the building," Mantle said a moment later. "Establishing remote connection for Creator Dor now."

"Thanks, I've got it," Korim said, a few paces behind Alanna. "Ooh, I've got control over the turrets and the mines."

"Can you turn them off?" Alanna asked.

"Even better; watch this." Korim sounded like he was about to start cackling as the turrets rotated to open fire on the mercenaries. There were shouts of alarm and confusion, which were suddenly and violently cut off. "Okay, front entrance is clear. Mantle, can you hold your position until we get to you?"

"Affirmative, Creator Dor."

Alanna hesitated. "Korim, link up with Haley and Tetros and watch their backs. Nok and I will breach the building with Mantle."

Korim lazily saluted. "You got it, Commander; let us know if you find anything cool."

"So, what, keep any and all credits I find for myself? Thanks for being generous."

Nok chuckled as he followed after Alanna, but then got serious. "Hey, how bad would it be if Aria lost her throne?"

Alanna sighed. "Well, she's not exactly a friend to the Alliance, but she's a stabilizing influence, and she knows that it's better to be useful to us than an enemy. If she dies or gets ousted, it will be a lot harder for us to track the pirates and slavers in the Terminus, not to mention we lose out on a lot of intel."

"What's that old human saying? 'Better the devil you know, than the devil you don't'?"

"Exactly." Alanna stepped over what was left of the perimeter guards and opened the door to find Mantle snapping a Salarian's neck. "Whoa."

"Location secure, Shepard-Commander," Mantle reported.

"I can see that." Alanna gestured to the computers. "I know you set up a connection for Korim, but work with him to breach the firewalls. Find anything we can use and transfer it to the Sicily. Nok, I want you on security; if anyone comes by that isn't with us, put them in the ground. I'll join you after I check the bodies."

To Alanna's disappointment, there wasn't much of use on the mercenaries, including their omni-tools. Mostly credits, though she did find a mod for assault rifles that allowed for steadier aim, at the cost of slightly shorter range. She figured it would be useful if the squad was going to be on a mission with plenty of close-quarters fighting.

"Anything good?" she called out.

"An alert has been sent out to the lieutenants," Mantle said. "They will be here in five minutes. There are two, both operating under aliases. One is called Shiver—Salarian, claims to be former STG."

"I call bullshit," Nok interrupted.

Mantle narrowed his optic at the Krogan in a rare display of irritation. "The other is called Ring, an Asari with a bounty of twenty thousand credits."

"That's nothing to sneeze at," Alanna noted. "What did she do?"

"Her list of crimes includes murder, corporate espionage, and attempted assassination of Matriarch Aethyta eleven years ago."

"Wait, what the fuck?" Alanna stared at him. "She tried to kill my grandfather?"

"It was unsuccessful," Mantle reminded her.

"Doesn't matter, this bitch made it personal." Alanna went for her comms. "Haley, any sign of these guys?"

"Wait one… yeah, I'm seeing movement, west of your position. Looks like about twenty, mostly Turians, but there are a couple of Salarians. One of 'em has a whole drone swarm, but they're in a defensive formation."

"That's probably Shiver," Alanna mused. "Okay, Haley, take your team and get inside the range of the turrets. We'll draw them in and let the big guns do most of the work. Shiver is eventually going to use his drone swarm, and when he does, everyone with an Overload hits it all at once. Haley, when Shiver is open, take the shot."

"With pleasure."

Haley's half of the squad got into position just in time for the mercenaries to launch their first attack. Eight Turians charged forward, firing their assault rifles as they went; they had better shields than the typical merc, which allowed most of them to survive the turrets, though sniper fire from Haley and Tetros finished the job for all but two of them. Alanna took care of the survivors with a few biotic attacks, but didn't let herself get overconfident; she knew that those guys had been sent in to scout out their position.

"Looks like the rest are coming in," Tetros said, and adjusted his aim. "Shiver is sending some of his swarm to cover them."

"Okay, Overloads on the drones on my mark," Alanna ordered. "Nok, you and I will lay down suppressing fire as soon as their cover is gone." She waited several seconds, until she judged the time was right. "Mark!"

With only a portion of the drone swarm present, it was easy for the staggered Overloads to destroy them. The remaining mercenaries had just enough time to be surprised by their lack of cover before getting hit by heavy fire from both machine guns and turrets. With his defenses weakened, it only took a well-placed shot from Haley to finish Shiver off.

Mantle pivoted in place. "Alert: Ring's squad is two minutes away. She is leading a team of Krogan and Asari, all with heavy armor and barriers."

A loud bang caught their attention, and the turrets suddenly went limp. Korim checked his omni-tool, and started to swear.

"Pax sent a feedback pulse into the system," he said. "Everything is fried."

Alanna grimaced. "Then we do this the hard way. Haley, you've got Nok and Tetros; focus on the Krogan. Korim and Mantle, we'll go after the Asari."

The squad barely had time to get into cover before Ring's troops charged them; two Krogan, both armed with heavy shotguns, nearly blew Mantle off his feet before concentrated fire from Haley's team put one down. The other Krogan kept pushing forward, but had his shotgun destroyed by Nok's Extinction; the two Krogan crashed into each other, grappling like professional wrestlers, but Nok had the advantage of backup, and Haley plunged an omni-blade into the mercenary's back. The injury wasn't fatal, but it gave Nok an opening and rammed his own omni-blade into his opponent's eye.

With Mantle working on repairing himself, Alanna only had Korim to face down five Asari. The two of them popped the mercenaries' biotic barriers as quickly as their biotics recharged, but their own defenses were getting whittled down even faster. Alanna managed to kill two Asari with a lucky blast of cryo, but fell to one knee when a bullet shattered her weakened barriers and pierced her leg.

Another Asari vaulted over Alanna's cover and tried to shoot her point-blank. Injured though she was, Alanna wasn't an N7 for nothing, and was able to disarm her opponent, and then drew her knife and opened the other Asari's throat in one clean motion. She saw the leader of the squad, Ring, raising an assault rifle, and knew her hardsuit wouldn't stand up to the gunfire as it was; she grabbed the dying Asari and used her as a living shield. By the time Korim had finished off the remaining mercenaries, Alanna's bullet-sponge had been all but torn apart, but it bought her enough breathing room for her barriers to recharge. That let her withstand another burst of fire long enough for her to punch Ring across the face; this time, her fist was encased in biotic energy, and she hit hard enough to tear Ring's head from her shoulders.

"Alanna, down!"

Haley's warning came just in time; Alanna threw herself to the floor, just as a gunship came into view and opened fire with its heavy cannons. Chunks of metal were torn from the floor, and Nok was sent flying when one of those shots clipped him.

"That's Pax!" Tetros shouted. "I can see him through the canopy!"

"Can you take him out?" Alanna asked.

"Negative, I know those gunships, and the cockpits are bulletproof." Tetros raised his sniper rifle. "But the engines aren't!"

"Good enough for me." Alanna took careful aim with her Tsunami. "Open fire!"

The squad put as much fire as they could into one engine; at first, it looked like the gunship's armor would hold, but when Nok recovered and landed a direct hit with his rocket launcher that nearly tore the engine from its housing. The gunship bucked like a wounded animal as its remaining engine struggled to keep it airborne.

Alanna and Haley wore down the gunship's armor with the shredder and incendiary mods between them, which opened it up to a barrage of tech attacks from Korim. A final rocket from Nok sent the gunship spiraling out of the sky, where it crashed close to the squad's location.

"Confirm the kill," Alanna ordered. "I'm not taking any chances."

Nok, already pissed off from all the injuries he'd taken so far, stormed over to the wreck and tore the canopy away. He dragged a body from the cockpit and tossed it at Alanna's feet; to her surprise, Pax was still alive, if barely, and all the medi-gel in the galaxy couldn't save him. She knelt in front of him, ignoring the pain in her leg, and pressed her SMG to the Turian's head.

"Tell me who you're working for, and I'll make it quick," she said, her voice low and threatening.

Pax looked up at her through his remaining eye and spat on her helmet. "You want answers? Someone on Ilium wants Aria out of power. That's all I know."

"Good enough for me." Alanna ended his suffering with a single shot to his head, and turned to her squad. "Everyone alive?"

She got a series of groans and weak affirmatives.

"Okay, I'm gonna let Aria know that we did her dirty work for her. Haley, Tetros, you two are with me; the rest of you, get back to the ship and get patched up."

"What about you, Commander?" Nok pointed to her leg.

"I stopped the bleeding, and Aria might not honor our deal if I show weakness," Alanna said tiredly. "Just make sure there's a spot in sickbay for me."

"I don't know, Nok takes up a lot of space," Korim chuckled.

"You callin' me fat, Quarian?"

"If I say no, will you let me live?"

"Will you two shut up and get to the ship?" Alanna said, exasperated. "And Korim, see if you can help fix Mantle, his leg is about to fall off."

After the wounded half of the squad was gone, Alanna led the others to the skycar that would take them back to Aria. For a few minutes, there was silence, and then Haley started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Tetros asked.

"I just realized," Haley said. "Those two lieutenants we killed—Shiver and Ring."

"What about them?"

Haley grinned. "Put their names together."

Alanna blinked. "No. No, that's awful. There's no way that was on purpose." Tetros was laughing hysterically, and Alanna reached back to hit him. "I can't be the only one with a sense of humor that doesn't suck."

"Apparently, you are," Haley said, and winked at her. "At least you've got your looks going for you."

Alanna groaned; her meeting with Aria couldn't come soon enough.

…

"Hail the conquering hero," Aria said with an arrogant smile. "It seems you're as good at killing mercs as your father."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Alanna brought up her omni-tool. "We got some data from Pax's computers, but it wasn't much. He was pretty careful about not naming names, though some files suggest he was trying to bribe some of your low-level people. Other than that, the only thing we got from him was that he was working for someone on Ilium."

Aria frowned. "That's Athamean League territory now, and not something I'm willing to go to war with."

"Don't tell me you support them," Alanna said.

"Hell no." Aria scoffed. "I'm a practical person, and zealots are anything but practical. Still, if they're involved and trying to take my territory, I'll make things very unpleasant for them. Thanks for letting me know, and for cleaning up the mess; I'll even give you a bonus for the trouble."

Alanna glanced at her omni-tool; she had just received ten thousand credits, and if the quiet gasp from behind her was any indication, Haley and Tetros had gotten some money as well.

"I appreciate it, but what about passage through the Omega-4 Relay?"

Aria lazily waved her hand. "You have free access through that thing for as long as you need. Oh, but before you go, I should warn you." She leaned forward, her expression unusually serious. "Five days ago, a Reaper passed through the Relay. I don't know why, and I'm not stupid enough to try and stop those things. Since it hasn't come back, there's a good chance it's still on the other side. Watch your back."

"I appreciate the warning." Alanna then returned two thousand of the credits she'd received. "I'd hate to have to owe you later."

Aria grinned. "Smart girl. If you ever get tired of working for the Alliance, come find me. I could use someone like you in my business."

Alanna turned to leave. "No thanks; besides, if I took you up on that, I'd probably take over in a week."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Aria waved them off. "Good luck. You're going to need it."

Sorry it took so long for me to update this story. My health has taken a bad turn over the last few weeks, culminating in a brief hospital stay. I'm starting to get better, which means I have more drive to write.

Anyway, Alanna pays a visit to Omega, and has to do a thing for a person in order for her to do the next thing. Classic video game progression. Meanwhile, more pieces fall into place.

And yes, I deliberately made that joke about Shiver and Ring. I have no shame.

As always, please consider buying my book, Alpha Sanction, by Josh Gottlieb. You can find it on my website (link in my profile), or on Amazon, in both eBook and physical format. Now that my health is starting to improve, I'm going to work as hard as I can to finish the sequel.

If you want to support me in other ways, I have a P-atreon (link in my profile). Any and all support is appreciated, though higher tiers get chapters early, and even a PDF of my book, so you get even more stuff to read!

Thanks to the following patrons, because they are awesome:

Serious Muffins: Nimrod009, Aaron Meek, Matthias Matanovic, Lokthar, Hakuryuken, Anders Lyngbye, Kristen Tyler, JackSlap23

Incredible Muffins: RaptorusMaximus, Crazyman844, CherryGoesBoom, michaelb958, TBF3979

Ultra Muffins: RangersRoll

Next Chapter: Alanna goes to find answers. What she finds will shake her to her core…

I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite Muffin on the Citadel.