58AN: A happy new year to you all. Let 2024 be kind.
Chapter 20
General Oleg marvelled at the creature beside him. Aria T'Loak was magnificent.
He didn't know what he expected to learn when he met the Pirate Queen of Omega. His work with Cerberus rarely took him to Omega. He knew the Illusive Man was interested in her hold over the asteroid and what had brought her to power.
It wasn't tyranny. Not anymore, at least.
But people feared her. Even the mercenaries. Oleg had always considered her a good negotiator and thought her charm alone had put her into power. After seeing her ferocity in disposing of the adjuvants, he had to reconsider his position. She was a tactical genius and a very powerful biotic. The ease with which she had helped them on the Elbrus's systems during the attack alarmed him.
And impressed him.
Clearly, she wasn't just good at dancing and talking.
He wondered what was going on in her mind as the Elbrus loaded up the base survivors from Section 38. They had to save the Cerberus staff from an onslaught of adjuvants. The creatures had found their way to the outpost and were trying to overwhelm them. Unlike humans, these creatures walked in the void of space free of any protection. The atmosphere around the black hole was filled with dangerous radiation that could eventually penetrate the most advanced environmental suit if exposed too long.
Oleg watched Aria study the Cerberus personnel as they piled into the airlock. He knew she was counting them. She was always assessing their numbers, weighing them. The Illusive Man once let slip that she was very strict with how many people they allowed on Omega, even after she relaxed her boundaries a little.
She knows how to control a population. Revealing how many of us were on her doorstep was a mistake.
"I need to speak to the survivors," Oleg said, pushing himself up. "You can stay here and…" He trailed off when he saw the look on her face.
"I'm coming with you," she said. "I want to understand how it all went wrong." She didn't allow space for objection.
"I suspect a containment breach," Oleg said dryly. "What I want to know is how much we've lost. You can come with me if you wish."
"I do." Aria's tone was cold, and she fell in step next to him as he went to the ship's engineering deck. "I hope your people are scanning them for any signs of…" She faltered a little, considering her words. "Infection. The last thing we need is one of those creatures on this ship."
Oleg agreed with her. He had ordered extra security to the airlock and insisted everyone be scanned. They had no incidents yet, but every available biotic on the Elbrus was on this level. Aria's asari bodyguard had also joined them. Her presence made some of the soldiers uneasy, but the truth was, she was worth two or three of them.
"General!" Oleg turned to see one of the newcomers break away from the cluster where they were standing. "General, it is so good to see you!"
It took him a second to place the man before revelation struck.
"Captain Roy Matthews," he said and held out his hand. "Head of security. It's good to see you." An ex-alliance soldier, Matthews had also joined Cerberus after the attack on the Citadel. They shook hands. Matthews glanced at Aria with suspicion, but Oleg made eye contact, silently telling him that he had to ignore the alien for the time being.
"And you, sir," Matthews said. "You saved us; we were about to be overrun. Thank you."
Oleg waved away his gratitude.
"What is the status of Avernus station?" He asked instead. "We discovered the ruins of Octavian. Are you aware that it self-destructed?"
Matthews nodded, regret clear on his features. "When we started to evacuate Avernus, our first pods went there. We didn't realise that a few personnel had been affected until it was too late."
Oleg had suspected something of that nature.
"What happened on Avernus…" When Matthews glanced at Aria again, Oleg shook his head. "You can speak in front of her, Captain. Aria and her people have been invaluable in stopping the adjuvants' spread."
Matthews didn't like this; Oleg could tell, but he was also good at following orders.
"We lost control of the colony in Lab Seven," he said. "At first, we tried to contain them on the base. We didn't realise that the moment they started assimilating personnel, they also started assimilating knowledge. They were able to breach our containment and began to head towards transport. We disengaged the part of the station not affected, but we could not stop the spread."
Aria shifted, crossing her arms under her breasts.
"How did those creatures get into a transportation shuttle headed for Omega?" she said. "Surely you stopped all shipments the moment there was a breach."
Oleg wished Matthews wouldn't glare at Aria in such a manner, but the asari seemed to be used to it.
"That I can't say… Ma'am," he drawled. "Those shipments were inspected and approved. If I must venture a guess…" He sighed and glanced at him. "We underestimated how fast their infiltration happened. Some might have escaped Lab 7 before we realised what was happening."
"That's sloppy," Aria said immediately, and Matthews glared at her again.
"I know. It's cost us." He turned to him. "What are we going to do now?"
Oleg had his orders.
"We have to retake Avernus station," he said. "As quickly as possible. Clearing the base is our top priority because we cannot lose the research there. Even losing the Octavian is a blow. We cannot afford any more."
Matthews clearly agreed and brought up a holoprojection of the base on his omnitool.
"I changed the codes on a few hangers," he said. "With any luck, the creatures aren't there. We can use that as entrance, but…" He looked ashamed. "Those creatures overwhelmed us in minutes. They are very tough to take down."
Oleg smiled and glanced at Aria, who wore a small smile.
"We're aware of that, Captain," Oleg said. "But we have extensive experience with it." He looked at Aria. "Are you willing to meet me on the beach once more?"
The Pirate Queen of Omega snorted. "I don't know why your species is so obsessed with sand," she said. "But if it's an invitation to end this, I'm all for it."
Colonel Ashe could take a beating. He also had a feeling that the krogan was pulling his punches. Their intention wasn't to kill him. They were just bored. This suited him because it meant they weren't concentrating.
Hunched on the floor, his wrists bound by slaver's shackles, Ashe watched the tall turian lingering around. The alien had a knife out and was playing with it as he studied Ashe.
"You think they'll notice if we cut an ear off?" He stated. Ashe made sure to flinch when he said this. "I don't know how those things work. We can say it got caught in a door or something."
The krogan chuckled heartily. "He might squeal," he said. "Let's not put the boss in a bad mood." Ashe wondered who the boss was, whether it was Aria or Anto, her second-in-command. If she had such a thing. Information suggested her reporting structure wasn't so formal. And she trusted very few people.
"I don't know," the turian said, stepping closer to Ashe. "I kind of like the sound of that. What does Anto say? Do now, ask forgiveness later."
Ashe looked up at him challengingly. "Yeah?" he said. "See, I think none of you have the guts to face her. You're all just her bitches. Nobody around here takes a piss without her permission."
The turian's pupils narrowed. When he was younger, Ashe had a parrot, which got that same expression when it was about to strike. That fucking bird drew blood every time till he showed him…
"I'll show you what we can do without her permission," the turian sneered and stepped right up to him. The krogan moved as he did, holding up a hand to stop the turian. It wasn't necessary because Ashe did it himself. He moved fast, ignoring the pain in his bruised muscles. He grabbed the turian's knife and pulled the alien in front of him as the krogan yelled in alarm and raised his rifle. He fired and hit the turian, whose shield took the first few bullets and disappeared. Ashe sneered up at the alien as his mouth went wide with a gasp for air.
"Thanks for this!" Ashe sneered and wrenched the knife from the crumbling alien's hands. The krogan was still shouting in protest when Ashe leapt at him, slicing his knife through the soft and vulnerable skin underneath his chin. Krogan took a long time to get up to speed, and Ashe wouldn't give this one the chance.
The Cerberus agent activated a function on his omnitool, and his wrist shackles fell off.
As the krogan instinctively reached for his neck, Ashe ripped the rifle from his hands and hit him in the face with it. Repeatedly until he fell over. Still trying to stem the dark blood flow from its neck, the beast went down. As he clawed at his neck, Ashe tightened his grip on the knife and plunged it into the krogan's eye. Its body shuddered but he didn't wait to see it die as he turned back to the turian. The creature had crumbled to the floor and was lying in a pool of its own blood. One of his hands, a claw, was trying to reach his pistol while the other was fumbling with a communication device.
"Thank you," Ashe said, pulling the piece from the turian's fingers. "Seems I was wrong about you after all. I know one thing you can do without Aria." He leaned in closer as he brought the knife to the turian's mouth. It looked at him with wide eyes, and he could tell it knew its fate.
"You can make mistakes," Ashe said and pushed the knife home, severing the turian's spinal cord through the soft palate of its mouth. It felt so good.
Satisfied with the carnage, he exited the room and hacked the communications device. There was a satisfying beep from his omnitool as it established a clear line.
He put it to his ear and kept on walking.
"I'm out," he said to the silence on the other side. "Where do I go from here?"
Aria looked at the carnage around her and decided she had made a mistake. Several, in fact, and they all lead her here. The first mistake was never paying the collectors any mind. They had always been lurking around Omega, doing deals on anomalies. Collecting species and strange creatures. She remembered the first human onboard Omega, a raving soldier captured by the turians. Thinking back, she realised it was probably his first exposure to so many aliens. Rumour was they sold this strange hairy creature for over a million credits to the Collectors and several more of his species until they became a regular sight in the galaxy. Aria didn't care what they did; she didn't even care what they were. They existed in the space beyond the Omega-4-Relay. +
One would have thought she would learn her lesson upon discovering they had harvested dozens of planets of all their citizens, but no. She kept ignoring the mystery behind the Omega-4-Relay even when Shepard and her crew returned. And she kept on letting Cerberus through. She kept giving them access to her asteroid, dealing with them and accepting their credits.
I killed Liselle. I killed Liselle with my apathy.
Aria realised she was staring at the corpse of a dark-haired woman and knelt beside her. She checked for a pulse and found nothing. She then checked for any signs that the woman had been exposed to the adjuvants, but her face was swollen and dark. Lifeless eyes stared at her, and she was drawn back to a single image of her daughter lying naked on the bed, her legs spread crudely as her eyes stared up at nothing.
Tears burned, but Aria held them back and reached out to close the woman's eyes.
"This disturbs you?" It was Oleg. They had entered the station and split up into two teams. Aria had been reluctant to let Teslin go with the other group, but splitting the two strongest biotics made more sense. They needed to kill all these things.
Aria sighed at Oleg's words and held her arm out to Klorus. The krogan pulled her up and subtly stepped between her and the general.
"Mistakes were made," Aria said. "And this…" She motioned to the dead woman. "Is the result. I hate unnecessary waste of resources."
The human nodded slowly. "There was a Roman general who said, "Victory in war does not depend entirely upon numbers or mere courage; only skill and discipline will ensure it." He looked around them. They were in one of the labs where the corpses of adjuvants and humans littered the floor. "The system suggests when they realised they were overwhelmed, they cut life support. As we've seen, these adjuvants can't convert dead flesh. It needs something with a pulse. They died valiantly and with the discipline I respect."
Aria rolled her eyes. "They still died, Oleg," she said. "We need to get to the next section."
She was getting tired. They had fought nonstop the first hour they moved through the base. They had lost two Cerberus agents with them, and Klorus had come very close to an adjuvant before Oleg managed to kill it.
They had all saved each other's lives several times, and if they were anybody else, Aria would have felt repour with them.
I must find a way to get them out of the Terminus System. I have allowed Cerberus too much freedom. Another mistake.
She could fix this one. They just needed to clear this station.
Oleg motioned to the party to move forward as they marked the section as clear on their maps. Outside the Elbrus was patrolling to search for stray adjuvants that might have fled out of the airlocks. They had given Oleg an all-clear several minutes ago, but the old warrior demanded they make another sweep.
Klorus handed Aria a flask and she drank gratefully. Oleg glanced at her as he walked past to the next security door.
"Are you still up to this?"
She was the only biotic left on their team. They had been overwhelmed in the initial push to get into the base, and Cerberus lost two of their biotics. There weren't many on the Elbrus because they had never planned to make a ground attack.
Another mistake? Did we leap too quickly?
"You'll find that my stamina is extensive," Aria said, smirking. The man wasn't bad-looking except when he frowned, as he was doing now.
"I'll open the door," he said, moving past them.
Aria motioned to Klorus. "Cover him," she said and stepped back to the other soldiers, preparing her biotics. She began to focus on the dark energy inside her when there was a crackle of static from her coms.
"Aria!" Teslin's voice was panicked as her image sprang up above Aria's wrist. "Aria… you have to… get the fuck out of here! We've been… overrun." Aria went cold when she realised that Teslin's eyes were glowing an unnatural blue, and she gagged several times as they spoke. "There is… They are coming for you! We couldn't stop them! Klorus! Get her out of here!"
The world slowed down.
Aria looked up to see Oleg turn to her in surprise, his hand on the door switch. The door opened as Klorus turned to her. The krogan, so good at following orders, wanted to get to her immediately. He never got the chance because a wave of adjuvants fell through the door. Oleg turned to fire, but Klorus, bless him, pushed the officer out of the way even as a tendril of light enfolded his head and pulled him back into the throng of bodies pushing towards them.
Aria breathed in as her power flared up around her. One of the human soldiers behind her stepped forward and started firing at the hoard, pushing towards them. The other cried out in fear and ran. Oleg scrambled up before he could be reached and moved towards them, also firing. Aria breathed out and flung her arms towards the horde. The first adjuvant her wave of power hit was incinerated immediately. She seized the next two and held them as Oleg, and his remaining soldier fired. They crumbled, revealing that those behind them had stood back. There were only a handful, but they were only three left to fight them.
Aria breathed in again and heard a scream behind her. She turned and saw the fleeing soldier stumble in haste to turn around. Another horde was coming towards them.
No, Aria thought. Not here. Not this way.
Power burned inside her as she breathed out and brought her hands together, throwing a wall of light towards the flanking adjuvants. Three burned to death instantly, but four advanced ahead.
"Formation!" Oleg yelled. He was beside her now, though she had not seen him move. "Protect her!"
Aria ignored them as she breathed in again, ignoring the bodies pressing against her. She turned her body towards the door they opened and found the adjuvants had spread out a little. A sneer formed on her lips.
"I will not die here!" She yelled at them in defiance and changed the flow of her power. A sheave of blue light slashed through the one closest to them. She felt its impact, felt the pain it brought her to push so far beyond her means. The light didn't stop when her power killed the adjuvant but jumped to the next one. Aria enforced her biotics and let her power wash over the adjuvant like a wave. The biotics swept the adjuvant off its feet and carried it up to the ceiling. The body crashed down to the floor and disappeared in the light. Aria gasped as her power faded and the world shifted.
"Give her a moment to breathe!" Oleg yelled. "Keep them back."
Three people were shooting now, holding back the adjuvants trying to leap at them. Aria tried to brace herself as her world turned around her.
Don't go down. Don't go down. If you go down now, you will never go home again.
Aria's anger and frustration brought the world back into focus. The horde was almost upon them.
"Close to me!" She yelled. "As close as you can!"
She gathered the dark energy around her, breathing in as she did so. The appendage the adjuvants used to convert their victims flashed towards her. She didn't move, couldn't, not in that moment. She didn't have to. Oleg brought his rifle up and batted it away before he took out his knife and sliced at it. It didn't hurt it badly, but the adjuvant screamed as metal met hybrid flesh and withdrew.
"I've got you," Oleg breathed hoarsely. "I've got you, Aria."
She believed him.
He had no choice. They were all doomed if she fell in the middle of this hoard. His men, the last remaining two, would be doomed. And Cerberus? The world? No help was coming. Aria moved slowly, spreading her arms wide as she gathered more dark energy. The air around them crackled with her biotics.
More, Aria thought. I need more.
She was being burned from the inside out. There was a sound in the air, a wail. Aria wanted the person to stop screaming and then realised it was her. The pain in her body was so intense that she knew if she tried to control more power, it would destroy her.
The wail became one of defiance.
I will not die here. Not today.
"Aria," Oleg's voice came to her through the pain, through the sound of her screaming. "Aria, you have to let go now." He wasn't scared. It was the voice of a man who had accepted his fate, no matter what happened.
I'm not going to get you killed, Oleg.
She spread her arms wide, as wide as she needed, to make sure the three bodies huddled close to her would be out of the range of the blast. They moved quickly; they had to because Aria couldn't hold on for much longer. She felt them press against her back as tightly as they dared. A hand snaked around her middle and held her up.
Aria caught a glimpse of the adjuvants coming within touching distance of her.
Not today. Not today.
"I will protect my home!"
She didn't mean to say it out loud, but the pain made her self-control slip. Aria took in a sharp breath and then let it all go. Power burst from her in an explosion of energy. It seared tears into her eyes as everything stopped. The adjuvants, her screaming. The only thing she felt as the world went white, then dark, was the arm around her middle, guiding her to the floor.
"You saved us, Aria," Oleg whispered as hands touched her neck, feeling for a pulse.
"You saved us all."
Silence descended on the room as flakes of ash drifted around them. Oleg's eyes burned as he felt for a pulse on the motionless asari. Beside them, he could tell one of his soldiers was crying while the other sat in a shaking heap. The room was destroyed, and scorched marks showed on the walls.
But we are alive.
He could not find a pulse.
Damn you Aria, he thought and took off his glove. Not like this.
Skin met skin, and this time, he felt the faint flicker of a pulse. Oleg, surprised by his own relief, breathed out and rubbed at his brow. He looked up to take in the destruction around him, then bent down and carefully picked her up. She made no sound as he tried to get a comfortable grip on her.
"Call the Elbrus," he said. "They must dock and send in every person they have. I don't care if it is cook or clergy; we need reinforcements now.
"Yes… yes sir," the crying soldier sniffled and got up on shaky legs. He glanced to the side and saw a name on the armour. Bouvier. He remembered her. Lorna Bouvier. She opened her helmet, gasping for air as she did so. The other soldier remained sitting, shaking.
"Soldier!" Oleg barked. "Open your helmet!"
The soldier moved slowly, reluctantly. He removed his helmet and looked at Oleg, his eyes glowing blue.
"She wasn't fast enough," he said with a bitter edge. "Fucking asari."
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Oleg glanced at Lorna's dismayed features before returning to the soldier. The name on his armour was Rutherford. He did not remember him and wondered if he had come from the station.
"Will you deal with it, or must I?"
Rutherford took a deep breath and drew out his pistol. Oleg saw it as his answer and shifted Aria into a more comfortable position.
"What is your name, son?" he asked.
Rutherford checked his gun.
"Elton."
"And do you have any family?" Oleg asked. "I will tell them you had a good death. A valiant one."
Rutherford snorted bitterly. "Orphan," he said. "Cerberus was my family." He sneered as he looked at Aria again.
"Besides, as she said, how you die doesn't matter. You're still dead."
Lorna got up on shaky legs and left the room. Clearly, she didn't have the stomach for what was about to happen.
Oleg stayed.
It was the least he could do to ensure the job was done.
Abby was aware of time passing in the dark and the frightening memories that came with it. She had been manhandled to either a shuttle or a ship, where she had been dumped on the hard floor. There, as memories came to her of her brief time with the slavers, she listened to the soldiers' anxious talks as they waited for an opportunity to leave Omega.
I don't want to die.
The thought made her blink tears; it always did. Sometimes she said those words in relief, sometimes as an affirmation.
I don't want to die.
The metal beneath her hummed as the shuttle's engines fired up.
"We're leaving," she heard a voice over the radio. "A report has come through the relay; the Elbrus secured Avernus."
Avernus, Abby thought and wondered where she had heard the word before. Avernus…
The memory was like a punch in the gut, and she remembered a lake in Italy, where she and her ex-fiancé had gone on holiday.
Before her world exploded.
Before she started dying.
Before she started living.
"They thought this lake was an entrance to the underworld," a voice she will never hear again said. "Apparently, birds died as they flew over it. It had to be the volcanic gas which escaped from the volcano."
Avernus was a lake in the middle of a volcanic crater near Naples in Italy. They had spent a glorious summer there after their engagement. Abby blinked and realised that she was crying softly. Memories of her old life hurt, and she fought hard not to dwell on them. She had moved on.
I am Dr Abigail Gable.
Abby shifted on the floor and tried to find her voice as the shuttle shook.
Please, she wanted to say. Please let me out. I am scared.
She couldn't because her mouth was still taped shut.
The shuttle shook as it took off, and she felt sick as it shook and moved underneath her. She tried to get into a more comfortable position, but it proved to be impossible as a boot rested on her hip and pushed her down. No words were spoken, but she was held in place as the shuttle sped off.
Away from Omega.
Asura, Abby prayed to the universe. Asura, please don't come back home.
"Get her up," a voice snapped. "We're clear. I don't want her on the floor when we jump."
Jump? Abby wondered stupidly. She stopped wondering when light appeared in the dark bag, and the soldier from before looked down on her. He looked at her face, seemed to consider his actions, then reached to the tape on her mouth.
"I will take this off," he said. "And take you out. But if you struggle or try to escape, know I will put you back."
Abby knew he could see the desperation in her eyes as she nodded. Hard armour brushed her cheek as he grabbed the tape and yanked it off. Abby whimpered but tried not to move as they slipped arms underneath her shoulders and pulled her out of the bag. The next thing to go was the handcuffs, and she was sat up in one of the shuttle chairs and strapped in. Her leg restraints remained in place.
Abby gulped in fresh air as she rubbed at her face with shaky hands. She looked around the shuttle to take stock of her situation. She was seated between two Cerberus officers. This tiny shuttle only had room for six people in the passenger area. Abby looked at the man across from her as her body shuddered involuntarily.
"Thank you," she said and immediately hated herself for her politeness.
"Sit back," the man snapped at her. "Hold on if you need to; we're about to jump through the relay."
"Which…" Abby began to ask but was cut short when the shuttle shook as it began to accelerate. Abby grabbed the straps holding her in place and bit her lip as her ankle shook painfully. It had been throbbing steadily, but now the pain became nearly unbearable as the G force on her body became more.
Abby clung to her support as she stared at the soldier's features. Even he showed some discomfort as the world flashed by them. The sensation of extreme acceleration stopped abruptly, but the shuttle shifted violently to the side. Abby looked out the window and felt nauseous when she saw a dark red tint in the sky around them. Debris flashed by, but the pilot manoeuvred expertly, keeping them safe.
As Joker had done when Shepard and her crew travelled through the Omega-4-Relay.
"You shouldn't have brought me here," she breathed in dismay. "Nobody will find me here."
The soldier smirked, then had the grace to school his features to calm.
"Doctor, that's the whole idea."
The End of Chapter 20