The Rise of Turok

Turok In The Terminus

Chapter 2

By BigToFu

[ LT. Jane Shepard ]

 

Standing outside of the docking bay, Jane let out a dreamy sigh looking upwards as the Milano left the atmosphere and shot into the far reaches of the stars. With her omni-tool open, Jane activated the program that kept her connected to Turok’s ship even as he made a breakneck run to the edge of the system. From what she was getting before the Turok jumped into what he called hyperspace, the Salarians’ STG wasn't even close to catching up to his ship, and once he got past the third planet, the speeds just kicked up another notch. With a shake of her head, Jane took the sky car back towards the forward operations base. She might as well give her report before her new orders come in, even if her mission wasn't to sleep with him, she still kept her eyes on him.

The job was done and that was all that mattered, and hell, from what she was able to get from him, Turok was more than favorable to the System Alliance, not too much though to the other main Citadel races. Yet, Jane couldn’t blame him for his view of things. The Citadel absolutely dropped the ball on the Quarian situation. For a man hell-bent on saving his species, Turok was very aware of his situation, even his plan to hide in System Alliance space was a lot smarter than one would think. Jane was pulled out of her musings as the sky car touched down and she found a detail already there waiting on her. Well, it was a good thing that she had already finished her after-action report. The security detail said nothing as they walked her directly to the Commander's tent.

 One of the soldiers to her side put a hand to his ear and spoke, nodded, and then held the tent flap open for her.

 Walking into the tent, Jane stood at attention while the Commander spoke on what was clearly System Alliance channels and those of higher ranks. On one of the screens, Jane could clearly read the name Admiral Hackett, along with Admiral Anderson. Yeah, this was about to get really interesting real soon.

 “Well, no use speculating, we might as well ask the Lieutenant,” Admiral Anderson spoke and that was all it took for all eyes to shift to her own location.

 “Sir,” Jane stated, her body ramrod straight.

 “At ease LT, we didn't invite you here to lambast your actions,” Admiral Hackett spoke and that took a very large weight off Jane’s shoulder, but she wasn't out of the woods yet.

 “Yes, sir,” Jane answered, words coming out short and clipped.

 “Well, Shepard, I’m reading over your report and I haven’t noticed anything about the shield that is over the city.

 Jane tried not to show the grimace on her face, “I was informed that putting such information inside of my report would get flagged by the STG that are hanging around the system and monitoring us.”

 This did not go over well with a lot of the high ranking officers on the holo-vid along with the Militia commander in the tent.

 “Yes, I have heard about that, was he able to share anything on that front, also did he leave the shield?” Admiral Hackett asked, leaning forward in his seat.

 “Yes, Turok stated that he made sure to black box the shield projector while also hinting at anything made by Salarian chips-based systems will all have back doors along with any programs purchased,” Jane said even as she flicked over a document from her omni-tool on companies and inventions to be careful of. Then she reached into her carry pack and pulled out the IFF remote before placing it on the desk. “This is also the remote for the shields, which would be good for the next three hundred years.”

 The room went silent for a moment and Jane thought she heard the gears inside of their heads turning.

One of the Admirals on the video call tapped her hand on the desk she was behind before speaking up, “What do you mean by the shields being black-boxed, and what is that on your hip.”

 Hiding a grimace on her face, Jane pulled the Ace of Spades from her hip and placed it on the table before sending over the information on the shield from her omni, “Specialized tools would be needed to even operate on the shield along with various other things that I was not told about. To cover the maintenance, the shield emitter comes with its own self-repair and other systems.” Jane Shepard stated, caught her breath, and then continued a hand pointing at her new service pistol. “The Ace of Spades is an anti-proton energy pistol made for my personal use by Turok and it's biometrically locked.”

 That alone had the ones in the room sit up straight.

 “You said anti-protons?” Admiral Anderson asked very much interested now.

 “Sir, micro containment fields, good up to five hundred feet, even has a plasma shot feature.” Jane answered and then sent along the basics of what she was given.

 “Interesting, and you said it's biometrically locked, correct?” Another Admiral asked, then motioned for someone to pick up her Ace of Spades.

 The Militia commander walked over and picked it up, but had to drop it when the weapon released an electrical shock in retaliation for being grabbed by someone that wasn’t Shepard.

 “Yes, that is correct sir,” Jane replied smoothly even as she tried not to smile at the situation.

 “I see, and has this Turok said anything about selling his creations to the System Alliance?”

 Blinking and thinking about the time she spent with Turok, it didn't take long for Jane to put the clues together along with the verbal hints that were given.

 “From what I could gather, Turok is willing to trade with the System Alliance but only after he has gathered his people.”

 Then another of the Admirals spoke up, “This would be the Quarians, correct?”

 “Yes, sir, from what I gather, Turok will be finding a planet to settle his people on with the cure he invented and securing his new home,” Jane stated and those on the video call blinked, then she could see the gears turn inside of their heads.

 “And in your assessment Shepard, do you think he could make a shield world?” Admiral Hackett asked, leaning forward in his seat a little.

Letting out a slow sigh, Jane tried to push aside the absurdly advanced technology Turok had on display. With her thoughts confirmed, she gave a nod of the head, “Yes sir, and with how quickly he disposed of and created another city shield, I would say that it's entirely likely that Turok would be able to create a shield world.”

“Thank you, Shepard, you may holster your weapon, and you are dismissed for the rest of this meeting. Your orders will be there shortly.” Admiral Hackett spoke and then shared a look with those on the video.

 Jane took her Ace of Spades, placed it in the holster, and walked out of the command tent. She didn’t need to have the Asari mind meld to tell what they were thinking. The System Alliance wanted that shield tech and they would do all within their power to get it, which she had no doubts about. What she did hope was that with Turok being more amenable to them, they would at least ask nicely instead of trying to take because Shepard was certain that Turok would not take kindly to anyone trying to force his hand.

 Even before they started to fight back to back, Jane had noted that glint of steel in Turok's eyes. From what she knew, all Turok wanted was some time to set up and that was what he got in System Alliance space, but now he was under no one’s rule of law and would do all and everything within his power to see his people rise back to glory.

 Jane just hoped he would be an ally in the future instead of an enemy.

[ Turok ]

Smiling at the 6 hours timetable on the dash, I got up with a spring in my step as I headed towards the med bay. I was going to build myself a mister stud gene mod that gave me a quad pair in my pants with an anaconda that would slay all those who dared to lay in my bed. With the implant already in my head, I would need a neural lattice so my reflexes could fire and react far faster than the standard, I would also need to coat my bones. Hell, even my armor would need a full revamp to combine the best of both titan armor and hunter armor.

 Walking into the med bay, I sat down in the cyber chair and hooked up, with my mind linked to the entire medical bay. The facility around me unfolded not only to my eyes but also to my mind. With a hologram before me, I got to work, using some of the parts from the Krogan genetic material that I was able to get while on Elysium, I got to work on stripping it all down which also allowed me to strip the genophage from its structure. Once that was done, I pulled up my own genome and then compared them one-to-one until I isolated the reproductive organs and how they functioned. It was another hour before I was able to get something that would work with Quarian biology, then sent that to the computers to crunch the numbers to make sure that it didn’t kill me. I was going to get a quad and then ramp that up so I could splatter my baby batter. If I was going to live my best life, then I was going to give myself that hentai protagonist weapon in my pants.

 Leaving that project alone, I turned my attention to the neural lattice and combined both the knowledge from TitanFall that their pilots get and the other from Halo and the procedures that Spartans went through. There was so much and with the connection to my chair, I was able to chew through all of the data before melding it all for my own purpose, then with a dash of cyberpunk and the cyber-wear, I finally got something that would increase my reflexes by five-times. Hell, from the way things were looking, I just might have created a sandevistan without needing a spinal replacement. The tech was purely busted and just the way that I liked it.

 Once I was finished with everything, I also gave that to the computer to crunch and I could only grimace at it. Shit, I would need another companion to watch my back. My hope was to pick up some Quarians from Omega once I made my sale to Aria, but I would also need someone to watch my back that wasn’t Quarian or anyone else. While I leaned back in my chair and thought about what I should spend my charges on, I was scrolling through what I had already bought when my eyes fell on the charges I used for martial arts, Panzer Kunst.

 Alita waifu, hell to the fuck yeah, tapping the recline switch, the chair leaned me all the way back. Holograms flared to life and I got to work on a petite robot frame with everything I could think of. While I was doing that, I added another five charges to Panzer Kunst, which brought my total for that martial art up to seven. Even as my muscles twitched as new reflexes, balance and a multitude of things filled my mind and body, I was simultaneously copying all of that knowledge into a data shard. Out of all her forms, I wanted the nekoto version that had the kitty cat tail with the badass featured trench coat and combat pants from the Space Karate ARC.

 Working as a man possessed, I never even noticed when the four-hour mark alarm went by. Hell, I never even noticed the one-hour mark as I finished designing a fully encased and protected eezo core so Alita could make gravity her bitch. From there I worked on her outer coating, full kissable pouty lips, bright expressive anime eyes, silky raven hair, and an advanced coolant pump for a heart. Then I paired that with a set of heat-sink bellows for lungs along with some cryogenic technology to keep all of her temps nominal. Cyberwear for eyes so advanced that she could look directly into space from the surface of any planet. Super sensors for her nasal cavity with bio-synthetic tastebuds for food along with some of the best audio receivers I could build with all the technology at hand. Taking a look at the list, I made sure to include a way to either limit or toggle the levels of input, no need to have her die from sensory overload.

 After her body was finished it was time to work on her elbow blades and armor which would be on call from the transmat system. The digi-struc was relegated to any type of weapon that might be needed along with storage. Once I was happy with everything, I started on a crystalline quantum matrix for her brain with one of the AI's that I had been working on before Ent joined the team. The AI core didn't have a solid personality yet, but from what I knew of Alita. Empathy would be a great start along with the data shard on Panzer Kunst, a dash of sass, some love for exploring, and of course purring for when I hit the sweet spot. What, you didn't think I was not about to take the robussy for a full ride? Well, if that's the case you must be crazy.

Pulling my mind from the gutter, I made sure to double-check the sexual program and that her artificial stomach would have no issues digesting all nutrients to power the body while also creating super glide vanilla flavored lubricants. Alita would have modest breasts so there was no need to try any lactation play, that would be for Asari matriarch’s because this barbaric Quarian was going to plant his flag poles in a lot of fertile soils if he could help it. Once I was finished with everything I leaned back in my seat and looked over my creation.

 

Smiling at the hologram form of Alita, I was interrupted from hitting the fabricate button because this time when the alerts went off, I noticed. With a groan, I made the command choice to stop where we were and get all the work done. Alita would take four hours to complete and my own operations would take just as long. And I wanted my new gear which would only take about two hours along with one hour to create the pallet of ship-grade eezo. The same eezo that I was going to turn around and sell to Aria so I could get some heavy credits.

 The little that I had made from working in the old man's mechanic shop had all gone into creating my first set of replicators and fabricators. Standing up from the cyber-chair, I walked over to the medical-med, double-checking the data, and found that all my upgrades were feasible. I got over my weakness and laid down once more to get an overhaul. For some reason, I had the thought in the back of my mind that this might be what people in cyberpunk and Warhammer 40K go through. The moment you feel weak in the flesh that you were born in, I would need to take very good care of that damn feeling because I refuse to borg out like some monster. With my own medical bed set and ready for my upgrades, I walked over to the other pod, with a swipe of my hand. I sent off the specs for Alita and gave the computer the command code to start her build.

 Ent would watch the ship for me, even if he was enjoying the spot in the cradle a little too much. The only thing that the computer would not be able to do without me is to activate Alita, I wanted to be present for that.  Once everything was in place, I hopped into my own medical pod and fell asleep while watching the medical drones buzz around Alita’s own pod.

 

Before I knew it, my optics were booting up as I awoke feeling refreshed, sitting up, I found Ent hovering over my vital signs on the monitor.

“Welcome back Guardian,” Ent stated with a little twist and bend of his optical sensor.

 “Hey, Ent, how's everything looking?” I asked even as I took a cup of water from one of the medical drones.

 “Everything looks good Guardian, all implants were accepted with no rejection,” Ent replied, the hologram going through data points for me to follow. “Subdermal weave and bone reinforcement, along with neural lattice have all been successfully implanted, Guardian.”

 “Then what's the verdict?” I asked now that I had finished my water and stretched out like a lazy cat.

 “My own scans concur with that of the projected estimates, a multiple of five all across the board, also might I suggest some hand-eye coordination exercises before disembarking the Milano,” Ent said and I had to pause at the figures the computer was showing.

 “Okay, what about my other gene-mods?” I asked as I stood up and got used to the new balance and was more than amazed at the new ambidextrous feel of my limbs. After a few quick jabs and kicks, everything felt dialed in, but Ent was right, I would need to hit the holodeck for some quick training.

 Ent gave me one of those U-smiles with his singular optic, then spoke, “Gene-mods were successful, also had the medical drones administer the caloric requirements to boost growth.”

 Blinking, I grabbed my medical pants and pulled them down, and failed to find a quad. Hell, all I could find were the two balls that I was born with. Immediately I panicked even if I was swinging around a thirteen-inch monster between my legs, I did not want to suddenly discover two testes growing like tumors. Then I noticed the hologram and the x-ray of my lower abdomen. The rest of the data was speaking about optimal placement due to space in the abdominal cavity. The ring of fatty tissue would work as an insulator and cooling to keep my testes from cooking due to body temperatures.

 Ent and I went through a few more body checks along with the data from the computer on the procedures. Once I was happy with everything, I walked over to the other medical pod and peered inside. And there she was, laying down like sleeping beauty with those supple pouty lips of hers. The bio-synth skin held a creamy texture and when the medical pod opened for me to run my thumb across her cheek, her skin felt divine. Taking a moment to drink it all in, I moved to hit the activation, but something else unexpected happened.

 With the thought of activation, I felt the light thrum deep within my bones as the ARC welled up forcing its way out of my body. Panic overtook me as I thought about what would happen to my med bay at such a discharge, but as the ARC energy exploded outwards, Ent was right there to catch it. No, scratch that, Ent not only caught the ARC energy, but it was all redirected downwards underneath him. The traveler must have had a hand in this because the ARC energy that burst out of me was redirected by Ent and right into Alita’s dormant form.

 Gritting my teeth, I held on for dear life even if I noticed the power chart spiking on Alita’s body. This was when I knew that the Traveler was a bastard with a sense of humor because the hologram flashed, it's over 9000!!! Then the medical bed Alita was laying on popped from the overcharge as I was blasted backward, and the flow of ARC energy stopped.

 Sitting up again in the damn medical bay with a groan, I looked into the bright expressive eyes of Alita as she pouted in the mess that was the destroyed medical bed.

 

With a groan, I stood up and held out a hand for her, “Welcome to the waking world sleeping beauty.”

 Her cheeks puffed but she took my hand all the same, I took a step back and marveled at her graceful movements. It was clear how she moved with the grace of a ballerina while also containing the explosive force of a gymnast. I was instantly smitten even as I directed Alita over to my own medical bed so that we could get a quick diagnostic check. Behind me the repair drones with their little construction hats flowed into the room, my own medical bot at the side waiting to offer assistance.

 

 

"Alright Alita, follow this light, eyes only," I stated before holding a pen light up and bringing it left to right above and a little ways from her head. The medical scans showed the neck, optics, and various other sensors working. "Now touch the light, index finger right hand then left."

 We did a few more checks that took another thirty minutes but when we were finished, Alita came out with a clean bill of health. Another thing I put in her file was that she now carried the light. That meant either I was a conduit for the traveler or the little ghost Ent. Pushing that aside, for now, I turned to Alita and gave her a smirk.

 "So want to go test out some moves in the holodeck?" I asked with a raised brow.

 "Finally, I thought you would never ask," Alita responded before hopping off the medical bed and starting to tug on my arm towards a certain section of the ship. Letting her pull me, my arm flew out and snatched Ent from where he was floating, I had a few questions for him after all.

 

Standing across from Alita in a neutral stance, I ignored the wind as it swept up a bit of red dirt. Our battlefield was easily fifty feet in diameter and up at least a hundred feet off the ground. It really was hard to not think of this reality as the holodeck recreated the Grand Canyon from the earth for me to do epic battle upon. Taking the moment to look around, I noticed that we were standing on top of a giant cliff with water around the base. And even from high up, I could tell that the water was infested with not only sharks but also piranhas. The battleground was fucking glorious and I was ready.

 

 

Getting into my stance, I finally gave her all of my attention even as Ent floated above us to be the ref for this little training bout. Since this was just a training bout, there would be no vibrational attacks or sonic strikes, everything else was fine as long as there were no debilitating blows. Across from me, Alita settled into her own stance, tail waving in the air, eyes tracking my shift of weight and motions.

 

Kra-thoom!!!

 

And she moved, Alita broke the ground as she sprinted forward, both of her hands pulling back before shooting forward in a double fist strike. One leg came up to block the lower strike while my left shifted forward to block the top strike, and that was when the battle really started. With a flex of my leg, I threw Alita back as I went for the leg extension kick, but the wild cat was just too quick as she flipped backward, then used my leg as a plant and springboard.

 Rolling backward, the swipe that Alita did towards my face whiffed as I then planted my hands on the ground and kicked upwards. That didn't really work out the way that I wanted as she used my legs as a stripper pole, spinning around and then trying to boot me in the face. Taking the boot and rolling with it, I latched a hand onto Alita’s ankle, finished my roll, and got into the mount position. My blows rained down, but all I was about to pound was the ground as Alita wiggled her way out from underneath me. With a snort, I dodged out of the way and then repositioned myself, just in time to catch the flying knee that came directly at my face.

 Catching the knee, I didn’t let her get away this time without trying to at least make her pay in a pound of flesh. My fist was swift and struck true as I gave her two to the liver, but the one that was aimed at the little gap at her ribs never made it. I found my fist grabbed and then got a double boot to the face as Alita jumped away. Allowing her to recover, I steadied my breathing and tried not to marvel at the speeds we were going. Flexing my hand a little, I was taken aback as Alita started to spark with arc energy. Eyes wide, I watched as she did a flip routine before springing herself high into the air.

 Eyes wide as I watched her sparking with power, I was seriously turned on as she came down hard with a Kaman Rider Kick. I wasn’t stupid enough to stay there and get kicked in the face by a super-powered blow, but it would seem that the holodeck had other plans for me. The cliff that we were battling on cracked, then broke, and then we were free-falling anime-style with hundreds of boulders. So pats reached my ears and I barely rolled out of the way to dodge the striking Alita. That little minx was using the falling rocks as a distraction, visual diffusion, and stepping stones to get to me even as the environment shifted.

 Tak!

Tak!

Tak!

Pow!

 I turned and she was right there, arm folded, elbow extended outwards. If I wasn't built differently, my jaw would be removed and on the floor right about now.

 Tak!

Tak!

Pow!

 This time I rolled with the blow, twisted around and planted my feet firmly on a falling boulder, pulling into a stance. I pushed forward, left hand going forwards to intercept the rising strike from Alita. Turns out it was a trap because she wasn’t aiming for me, no, she was aiming for my platform and put me back on my ass falling through the air.

 

Pow!

Tok!

Tok!

Tok!

Tok!

Pow!

 Urgh, this sucked and I now think that I might have added a little too much cat into her programming. It was clear Alita was playing with her food. Well, if she wanted to eat this dish then she was about to learn how spicy I could be. Firming myself for the actions to follow, I drew on the burning heat in my gut that was solar energy. Astral hammers solidify in both of my hands before I brought them together in a resounding thunderclap.

 With a resounding clang, everything was blasted outwards as the shockwave took over the area and then pushed beyond. Checking my position, I landed lightly on one of the boulders sticking out of the water. While on my perch, a shark decided that I might be an easy snack as he lunged out of the water trying to take a bite of my ass. With a wind-up, I let my fist fire free as I smacked the shark a good one and made him run away with a very bruised nose.

 Settling back down but keeping my defenses high, I looked around for Alita only to find her curled up on a boulder on the other side of the lake. With a sigh I stood up straight and called out, command in my voice, “Ent, deactivate the holodeck please, and thanks.”

 “Right away Guardian.”

 With a shake of my head, I walked over and went to collect my lazy cat.

 

When I arrived on the other side of the lake, I found Alita with a large rock stuck to her behind. I shook my head as she shook her ass. With a little wiggle of her tail she was able to wiggle out and the rock was split apart before vanishing into motes of light. When I reached her, Alita jumped upwards and placed herself on my shoulder as if I was the anime badass and she was my shoulder loli.

 Once she was in place and comfortable, she poked my cheek, “That was fun.”

 With a sigh, I rolled my eyes and made my way out of the holodeck and into the cockpit. The view outside was just breathtaking and even Alita enjoyed the scenery.

 

My pilot's chair pulled outwards and back allowing me to sit down and transition Alita from my shoulder and onto my lap since she didn’t want to take the co-pilot seat. Checking and finding that my stealth was still activated, I turned it off and then hit the hyperdrives and took us on the final stretch to omega.

 

Standing in the CIC, I was looking over the scans of Omega even as Alita lazed in the window because she was more than ready to roll.

 

“Why don’t we just go in and kick all of their asses.” Alita sighed before rolling onto her back. Looking at her, and then looking back at the scans of Omega. I shrugged with a fuck it, before checking the teleport systems, finding those in good standing. I took us in for docking and Alita cheered. Rolling my eyes at her antics, I smirked as we floated into Omega's docking Bay. Getting up from my captain's seat, I walked to the armory and got dressed in my titan, hunter hybrid gear.

 

Looking in the mirror, I could say that I looked damn good. Throwing a badass trench coat over my shoulders, I strolled through the ship like a monster on the prowl, then Alita had to ruin it all by dropping down from above and onto my shoulders. I could only chuckle as her five-foot frame couldn't even touch the ground. Walking into the cargo bay, I hit the button and lowered the back ramp, Omega awaits.

 Stepping off my ship, I left the eezo to hang out on a floating cargo carrier even as I locked my ship back up and made a show of using my key phone, chirp* chirp*. Turning around, I had the sudden urge to shoot every fucking Batarian before me, damn the consequences. Instead, I had to crush that sudden fury and hate as the Quarian in me tried to take over. With a frustrated growl, I forced down the gut instinct as I walked through, got my docking ticket, and headed into Omega. All the while, Alita was on my shoulder making faces at people.

 Walking out into the complex, I summoned a sky car and directed it toward After-Life.  Laying across my lap with one of my hands underneath her shirt and rubbing at her belly, Alita rolled over and looked at me with a lazy look, "So do we have a plan?"

 "A simple one but it's still a plan," I replied as the sky car flew.

 "Sounds like half a plan, what is it?" Alita asked even as she purred.

 "Walk up, show the bouncer an image of the eezo, and request a meeting with Aria," I answered, a finger curling around a nipple.

 "Hmm, sounds boring, why not shoot our way in and demand she buy the eezo?" Alita questioned, a sigh escaping her lips from my ministrations.

 I could only chuckle as I shook my head. "Would be foolish with all the guns, even if we would win."

 "Boring," Alita stated.

 "We are hoping to make an ally while also establishing a reputation," I replied even as I had my implant send her my plans. "I want a tab on all Quarians that run through here along with a few notable pirate clans."

 The ship landed and Alita hit me with a crazy one. "And where in those plans do you breed Aria?"

 Chuckling, I stayed silent as we exited the sky car and out in front of the massive night club that also doubled as the main brain and control point of this mining facility. It was time to meet Aria and take her measure.

[ ALITA ]

Eyes closed with a lazy smile upon her lips, Alita enjoyed her position on her master's shoulders even as she peered at the people they passed as they walked to the front of the line into the club. When they approached the bouncer, he looked up and down at her Commander, then let him in with a few words that Aria was waiting for them. Alita watched as her Commander just shook his head with a chuckle and walked them both into the club. The music made her tail flick back and forth even as the beat of the music made her heart go thump, thump.

 From her perch on his shoulder, Alita allowed herself to be immersed in the atmosphere even as her Commander walked them to the bar at the far side of the club. Near the middle and with a massive pyramid with a couch on top sat the Asari named Aria, Alita could already tell from her mannerisms that this Aria was a warrior, but only time would tell. Turning back around, Alita noticed the shift in bodies and used that slight opening to ghost her way from the Commander's back and onto the open bar stool.

 “Bitch, that was my seat,” A very angry Turian snarled at her, but Alita didn’t care. The Turian was stopped in his tracks from reaching out as the Commander leaned down to look at him. It was also not planned as the Commander’s hand cannon rematerialized but was clear for the Turian to see that he would not survive escalation.

 Well, that was unfortunate, the Commander gave her a raised brow and Alita sent the very long and monomolecularly sharp blade that stretched from her forearm to a foot past her elbow back to her digi-space. It was too bad because all that Turian had to do was lean forward a little more and he would have impaled himself. With a pout, Alita turned around and ignored the very few that had even been able to tell what she had done. If they wanted to play stupid games, they couldn’t be mad at her when they won stupid prizes.

 Ignoring them and pointing out two of the nice fruity drinks Alita kicked her legs on her chair even as she perched on the edge and took in her surroundings. At three separate locations around the club, Alita took in the sight of the dancers. Two were purple and one was blue and they all had facial markings that depicted their lineage. Ignoring that since she really didn’t want to know what Asari was getting into bed with, Alita took in their motions, then rolled her eyes. Of course, the dancers would be commandos in disguise, because Aria would want her own set of Asari killers within quick reach.

Turning back around and putting her hand over the drink, with a quick motion that the bartender missed, the drinks swapped out and Alita took hers while her Commander took his. Ignoring the bartender, Alita sipped at her drink even as the person next to them fell over collapsing from the poison within his drink. Those standing around them jumped in exclamation, but Alita just maneuvered herself and the Commander out of the issue while throwing the bartender a little smirk on her lips.

The Commander shook his head but Alita paid that no mind as she maneuvered them onto the dance floor. She listened to the beat in her bones as Alita and the Commander danced back and forth, their bodies entwined to the synth sounds, the dancing lights, and the press of their bodies. Bodies embraced, breathing heavily, her back to his front as they moved with the music.

 She pulled his hand up dismissing the glove and trailed it down from her lips to her chin, then down her body to rest on her hips then played his large hand between her legs. Ignoring the Turian dancing with the Asari, Alita stretched out an arm and pulled the very pretty maiden towards them.

 “Aye, what the…”

The Turian was ignored as she spun, the Commander's very large and wide back pushed the Turian to the side as they took his dancing partner. Ignoring the Turian, Alita took the Asari and brought her in close, the Commander was right there to make a very nice sandwich, and maybe, if he was lucky, he would be able to eat his fill later. They danced one song, then two, then on the third, Aria finally was ready to see them.

 Pulling the maiden towards her, Alita pressed her lips to the plump and very kissable lips of the maiden, then her Commander was there as their tongues entwined along with his own. The kiss was deep, captivating, and very invigorating; when they pulled away, the maiden had a blueish tint to her cheeks and a stunned look on her face.

 Pecking her on the lips before parting, Alita brushed the lips of the maiden with the tips of her fingers. Then as they turned around and walked over to Aria’s area of the club, they sent the maiden their contact details.

 

[ Turok ]

Walking up the steps to Aria’s little queen's dias, I ignored the guards as I walked right up and took a seat right across from Aria. Alita the little minx smirked at me then took the seat to my left then threw her legs across my lap even as she put my arm behind her head. Aria watched me with a raised brow even as she raised a hand to send away some of the guards that were looking at me as if I should care about their feelings.

 “So, you’re the big bad hero that everyone has been talking about,” Aria stated with a raised brow even as she looked me over, along with Alita. I gave a tilt of my head. “So what are you, humans don't come in that shade or color.”

 Allowing a smirk to play across my features, I released the hologram around my features, then shook my hair out, “I am Quarian.”

 This caused a shift in Aria as she really looked at me now and I could feel multiple eyes on my features now that I no longer looked like any bog-standard human.

 “Fascinating,” Aria stated, now she was really interested in me. I could already see all the wheels turning inside that Asari head of hers. “So what is it you want from me, sanctuary?”

 With a chuckle, I shook my head, “Ohh no, not even close, I have two one-tonne crates full of ship-grade eezo that I would like to get off my hands. I would also like the information on all of the Quarians on the Omega.”

 It was easy to see the slight shift in Aria’s eyes even as I pulled out my phone, brought up the information, and then levitated it over to Aria with a little mass effect field. Her face was stoic, but I could feel the greed rolling off of her. Omi-tools were fun, but sometimes, you just needed secured data instead of floating hovering bright holograms.

 

“So what do you want for this, market price?” Aria asked with a raised brow even as she held onto my phone.

 “Seventy percent of market value, an updated star chart from your own personal files, and for you to pass me along the information on any Quarians that pass through here once I leave,” I answered her, nice and evenly.

 Aria gave me a flat look in return, “That's all?”

 My shrug was an easy answer but I figured that words would work best, “I’m not in this to screw you over and I could care less about who rules Omega. You’re not my enemy, so when I flip the board, you’re not going to be in the sights of my guns.”

 “Good, 'cause I only have one rule,” Aria spoke, her gaze flat and even. “And that rule is Not to fuck with Aria.”

 Alita snorted at my side and Aria’s head snapped towards her giggling. Alita covered her mouth but we all could hear her speak, “The Commander is a lot more interested in breeding you.”

 Ignoring Alita and the twitch in Aria’s left eye, I coughed into my hand to break the silence. Ignoring Alita, Aria held my gaze for a time, I honestly didn't even feel the pressure, even if the music was muted by the audio screen, the beat was still on point.

 Time passed along slowly before Aria finally gave me her decision. “Sixty percent of market value along with up-to-date star charts, leave your contact information.”

Then before I could reply, my omni-tool pinged with the information and location of the few Quarians that were on Omega. I tried not to grimace at the fact that there were only ten of my people here, but beggars and choosers.

 “Alright,” I replied, then raised my hand, hit the omni-tool to let the cargo bay ramp down, and had my drones drop the two pallets of eezo before standing guard over them. “Have one of your people receive the pallets. They are waiting for pickup at the docking bay.”

 “Good,” Aria started, then zeroed in on me with a shark-like gaze, “Now let's talk about what you can do for me.”

 Okay, this was different, but I can’t say that I didn’t see it coming, “And what is that?”

 Aria didn’t even say anything, but what she did next made me very aware of her reach. There was a hand motion and then my omni-tool chirped from receiving a picture and looking it over, I noticed the Ace of Spades on Shepard's hip. Hell, somehow Aria was able to get video footage of Jane using the weapon along with a damage profile, and I could tell that this had STG written all over it. Shit, the STG was even able to get a damage profile on the Ace of Spades and it was compared to their own weapons. It was clear that theirs did not match up and they were most definitely out to steal my tech. Making eye contact with Aria, it didn't take long for her to say exactly what I was expecting.

 “I want what you gave her.”

 Shaking my head at her, I might as well pop this bubble, “That's not possible.”

 There was a sudden chill in the air and it was clear that little miss Queen wasn’t very used to being told no.

 “Is that a no that I hear,” Aria asked, her tone going deadly serious.

 “Yeah, that's a no,” I replied with a shrug. “The piece that I gave Shepard is custom, part of a set and I don’t plan on creating another.”

“Then make me something that isn't part of the set,” Aria spoke, her voice cold as ice. 

 Nodding my head, I kept the slow smirk from rising to my lips, “I can, but I don’t see anything in this for me.”

 This time Aria raised a brow, then gave me a very shark-like smile, “I know the location of the missing Quarian on that list that I gave you, and I can also disabuse the STG from acting on OMEGA.”

 “Deal”

[ Sub-Level 8, Location OMEGA Station. ]

Standing outside of the apartments, I grimaced at the smells and pushed that from my mind as I hit the buzzer. I could hear shuffling on the other side then heavy footfalls right before the door was yanked open. On the other side was a Quarian that was clearly female from her body size and shape. With the way her shoulders drooped, it was clear that I wasn’t the person she was expecting.

 “Hello,” I spoke in greeting with a tilt of the head.

 “Hello,” The Quarian female squeaked, cleared her throat, and then made a motion that I knew was for calling the others.

 “May, I” I made a motion towards the apartment, “May I come in.”

 “Ohh, yes, where are my manners?” She stated, then allowed me to enter the apartment, When I did, one of the things that my scanners picked up was the number of people living in there and I was not fucking happy. Again, I had to force down the gut instinct to rage over the bullshit that my people had to suffer through.

 Walking into the living room and finding the other occupants of the house, I made a motion for Alita to hop off the gravity sled before I had it come towards me and I banged my hand on the top.

 “My name is Turok and there is a good chance most of you have heard about me,” I began and noticed three out of the 8 stiffened. “And for those wondering, yes, I only use the name Turok because I’m a Maverick, a visionary that the flotilla wasn’t happy with me because my ideas did not match up with the nice little box the Admiralty wanted me to fit into.”

 “I heard you died,” Whispered a male Quarian standing off to the side and leaning up against the apartment wall.

 Flashing him a grin, I placed my hands on the side of my helm, “Something like that.” Then I hit the release, twisted, and pulled the helmet straight off.

 The room was ghostly silent for half a beat before one of the females started to scream. Two of the guys ran for a medical kit along with a suit patch, but I needed neither. They were absolutely freaking the fuck out and no one stopped fussing about until I started to laugh, with a sigh and wiping the tears from my eyes, I held up both of my hands and motioned for them to settle down.

 "It's, okay," I stated even as I chuckled some more.

 "Here commander," Alita spoke up, interjecting herself into the moment as she gave me a large pyramid-shaped device. Accepting it with a smile, I placed it down in the center of the room, then activated it.

 The tip shot upwards to hover a hologram interface waiting for any to control. Ordering it to scan, adapt and project, I took a step back as the pyramid expanded to the size of a football. Once the device was finished shifting, the four corners shot outwards and anchored themselves into each corner of the room. What followed next was a sheet of projected sterilization as the room was cleaned and cleared of all particulates. With that out of the way, I turned back to my fellow Quarian’s standing on the far side of the room away from the pulse of the cleaning light.

 "Now, before I made you all worried, where was I?" I fake questioned as if I didn't know what I was doing.

 One of the ladies, a lot braver than the others, spoke up, "you said your name was Turok.”

 “Yeah, I know him, he’s the pariah of the flotilla.”

 With a cringe, I placed a hand over my heart, “Ouch, that hurts right here in the feels.” Those in the room turned towards the Quarian that spoke up, but I ignored him as I kept right on pushing forward. Clapping my hands together, I dropped the bomb because why not, “Now that you all know who I am, even if I don't know who you are, I got good news and bad news what would you like first.”

 They shared a look, then that one brave chick spoke up for them, “Bad news first.”

 Okay, I could work with that, it was time to rip the bandage right off. “When I leave here, you all won't be able to stay.”

 “What why?”

“This is all we have…”

 There were a variety of phrases and statements that were unleashed and I had to send out a blast of sound from my omni-tool to get them to calm down.

 Again, it was the stern Quarian lady who was clearly calm under pressure to question me. “Why do we need to leave because we met you, what is it that you know that you haven’t told us yet.” She asked me with narrowed eyes. Ohh, I like her, I really like her a lot.

 Chuckling, I took two steps closer to her, “Ohhh, but you already figured it out haven’t you sweetheart? Everyone was panicking when I took my helmet off, but you were the only one to run a scan while keeping calm.”

 Her eyes widened as her bottom lip quivered, even as her voice came out softly. “You, you, no that's not possible.”

 "Ohh but it is,” I replied, my voice calm even as I reached out and brought her hand to my face. “It is and I did, it took me months on a human colony, but I cracked the code.”

 Now, she grabbed the front hold of my armor and tried to pull me close, but I was a big boy standing at seven feet four inches and well over two hundred pounds, I didn’t budge one inch, not even a centimeter.

 “How long does it last, how many do you have, why did you come here instead of going to the flotilla?” She asked questions unleashed in rapid fire.

 “Sorry, but do you mind explaining?” One of the male Quarians standing to the side asked, and I noticed it was the one that called me a pariah.

 

“You Bosh’tet, how can you be so blind, he clearly has a cure for our immune system, and that’s why we won't be safe after meeting him.” The very hot and very much in charge Quarian female ranted and I could see that she was also working herself up a little.

 With a chuckle, I made a hand motion toward Alita and had her stop being a damn cat laying on top of the medical pod that I brought with me. “I brought enough for everyone and I got space on my ship the Milano.”

 

Again, this made the room go quiet as I dropped that bit of information on them, then I showed the information from my omni-tool and stunned them with my amazing ship design. Again, that same Quarian female showed her strong will and no-nonsense attitude. “Okay, we have a way off Omega, but what then?”

 With a raised brow, I scratched at my chin, thought about it, then answered, “I made a deal with Aria which got me access to some limited information, so I plan to go planet hunting before heading back to the flotilla.”

 She nodded her head at my plans even if she complained a little, “That's bare, but it's workable.”

 In response, I shrugged, “Not going to share all of my objectives, you’re all my people and I will do right by you, yes. Even with that said, I have no obligations to you after I have cured you and fixed your housing situation that I have caused just by being here.”

 They panicked a little bit, but the chick I was talking to nodded her head and I could see the respect in her eyes.  She nodded her head at me, then spoke up even as she brought up her omni-tool to call someone, “We are missing one, and he hasn’t come home in a few days.”

 Yeah, I cut right through that, “I know, got the info from Aria, the kid’s being held by the Blue Suns two levels below this location.” I stated then stretched, “That's why I came ready for war, the plan is to get the kid while you all pack then get out before the STG comes with their war party.”

 “Just like that?” The bold Quarian female asked with a raised brow.

 “Yeah, just like that,” I answered before going into the more important information on how to use the cure properly. They would be using the more updated Gen1 cure that would need a lot of calorie intake for the body to fill out properly since the Gen1 cure would force a second puberty onto the body. The second puberty would help by correcting the growth issues that all Quarians had from selective breeding and being so short on food throughout their lives.

 The second puberty worked in conjunction with the more advanced hyper healing to correct all of the issues, but if you didn't have enough body fat to convert, then you're just not going to survive for long as your body cannibalizes itself. With everything explained, even the transponders allowing them to have the teleporter bring them back to the ship, I turned around to head out. I only made it to the door though as the strong female Quarian that I was most definitely checking out stopped me from leaving. She stopped me at the door and I turned around to find her packing a heavy arc pistol. Hell, she was even packing one on each hip. I could only shake my head at her though.

 “You’re only going to slow us down,” I stated as I shook my head no at her. “Take the cure, eat the rations and I’ll meet you back at my ship.”

 She shook her head, “That's my brother, and I’m going with you.”

 Looking her over, I shook my head, pulled a shield emitter from my belt, the motes of light from the digi-struc vanishing quickly. The shield was a round device with blue and yellow markings and the readings on my optical implant marked it as an overshield. Giving the top a quick twist, the new boosted shield was activated, then I gave it to her and directed her on how to install it with the mag clamps. Reaching down to my holster, I pulled out the Hawkmoon, checked the safety, then handed it over.

  

It was clear that my hand cannon was way too much for her, but she held it all the same with a very determined look. Even if I couldn’t see her face, I could feel the serious air just push outwards from her frame.

 Still, I stood in the way blocking the door as I looked at her, “Mind sharing your name?”

 She stared at me hard, then when she noticed that I was not moving, a sigh escaped her lips, “ Sheena'Fenar nar Taetalir.”

 Tipping my head at her, I unblocked the door and walked out, Alita and the feisty little Sheena right behind her.

[ Location Level 10, OMEGA Station. ]

[Blue Suns Territory. ]

Standing on the roof of a building right across the street from the one the Blue Suns were hold up in, I had my drone fly around and do recon while Alita scaled the building on the other side. The plan was to have her go in from the roof once we had all the floors mapped, but from the way Sheena was pacing behind me. It was clear that she was not going to wait until the operation was a full go. With that in mind, I waited until Alita was in position on the roof before pulling my staff from my back and activating its mecha shift functions.

  

The two that were standing guard were not prepared for the type of arrow that I was firing infused with the void. The other three on top of the building, though, were also not ready for when Alita made herself known. With the hornet’s nest kicked, I started to shoot at the Blue Suns like they were fish in a barrel. They rushed out of the building to set up a perimeter and that would have worked if I hadn’t shot a damn anchor arrow down there. The only thing they did was become canon fodder as the anchor shot hooked onto them and immobilized more than half.

Pulling out an explosive arrow, I launched it into the group of merc assholes, and connected my grapple to the edge of the roof, grabbed Sheena around the waist, and jumped right over the edge and down to the street below. Checking the HUD to see Alita’s progress, I found her working through a lot of problems at the moment. Even if I had Panzer Kunst for my atrial arts of choice. There was just no way in hell I could pull off that cartwheel helix twist thing she did that mulched an entire hallway of mercs.

With a shake of the head, I walked in, passed all of the bodies, and searched for the stairs that led downwards. There was a roar of a fired hand cannon, I dropped low, twisted, and came up with my bow raised only to find Sheena standing over a Blue Sun merc, a Turian from the looks of the body. Sheena clearly had some issues off her chest from how that body was missing half a torso. The only reason why I could even tell that it was a Turian was because of the still attached arm. The dude was a part of the three-finger gang and looked like he was doing mighty well for himself. Too bad, he ran into Sheena because there was barely anything left of him.

“This way, Commander,” Alita spoke up after moving a steel panel out of the way showing us how to go downwards. With a whistle, I caught Sheena’s attention and stopped her from the mercy killings.

Collapsing my bow, I switched it to lightsaber mode and led us all down the stairs.

 

 

Taking our time, we got to the bottom of the stairs with minimal amounts of trouble. The one altercation came from a Salarian who thought that he was a hot shot. Sheena shot off his legs and Alita sliced his head clean off with her forearm blade. The rest of the stairs were easy to traverse and when we got to the bottom, we found a lot of stacked crates inside of a large room. From the examination, it was some type of drug.

That could only mean Aria had used me to take out her competition, because of course she did. They were on her station but doing business without giving her a cut or without her blessing. Either way, she knew that they had my people with them and used me as an attack dog to get rid of the problem. Fine, I guess I'll play her game for now. With my mind made up, I started to picture and record everything to send to Aria when I was knocked onto my fucking ass.

 Two Krogan came roaring around a crate, the first one knocked me over and into another crate, my lightsaber flying out of my hand because I didn’t activate mag-grips like a fucking noob.

 

 

Alita took the one with the blue paint while I got off my ass and squared up with the one looking like he was hit with the ass end of a rock slide. I ducked low underneath a swing of his arm, grabbed the blade hidden at my back. Then came around hard slamming it twice underneath the Krogans armpit.

All he gave me was a grunt before a big meaty paw slammed into my chest knocking me over once more. Okay, now I was tired of this shit, I caught a breather as the Krogan stalked towards me, even as I sent a stand-down message to Alita. The Krogan went for a kick at my downed form, but I was swift like grease lightning, I rolled and sliced the muscles behind the Krogans heel. He swung again off balance, I took the chance to slice behind the knee, then stood over him as he knelt before me because of the crippled leg. The damn guy just had no quit as he went for a headbutt toward my very priceless set of family jewels.

He went forward, I went left with the classic all-American football spin and jabbed my knife underneath his head plate. With a twist and a jerk, the head plate was removed, then I held out a hand for my lightsaber as the Krogan screamed bloody murder. With a snort, I turned and walked away giving the Krogan the ultimate insult. His crest was ripped from his head, and I refused to kill him. The only way forward for this Krogan now was to just self-terminate because no other Krogan would ever accept him ever again. There was just no going back after someone removed your head-crest in Krogan society, it was one of the ultimate insults.

Walking over to the body of the Krogan Alita killed, I could only shake my head at the state he was in. She had punched his damn spine nearly outside of his entire body. Alita was my little murder kitten and I would have it no other way.

Dropping a transponder on the body, I had it teleported back to my ship and then placed in a stasis field. I might as well get a head start on trying to cure the genophage.

“Filo, where are you!?” Sheena called out and I almost turned and attacked because I was not expecting so much noise. “FILO!!”

Since this was the last place in the building, I did a standard sweep, then sent the information to Aria. Let her come and clean up this mess, I had other things to do. While I was doing that, there was a scream that sent me dashing toward the sound. I found both Alita and Sheena standing next to a little hole in the wall with a workstation. Chained to it had to be Sheena’s little brother but he was in good condition. From what Sheena had told me it had only been two days but it was clear that they had worked the kid over.

His purple and blue suit was all scuffed and from the coloration in his visor, he was either bleeding from a split lip or from internal injuries. Either way, we had to get him back to my ship's medical bay pronto. Lucky for her, I was a cheating bastard who cheats. This meant I had more transponders on my person for teleporting people and things. Once I was happy in knowing that he wouldn’t die right now. I slapped a transponder on him and sent the kid directly to my medical bay. 

“Okay, send me next,” Sheena stated ready for transport, but I had to rain on her parade.

Holding up a hand to stop her, “Can’t, we need to gather your people.”

The look on her face was not a friendly one, but I paid it no mind as we were teleported two levels up and right into the living room. It was time to lay down the law, get this done, and then get the fuck out of dodge. Aria had sent me a little package and I was very impressed that the STG came in force to pick up little ole me. 

The STG came with four cruisers, all very advanced and she had almost missed them on sensors. They also came with twenty-four advanced frigates that were currently set up around the Mass Effect relay point. Then there were eighteen other ships that were also bleeding edge advanced, but it was all for naught. Hell, I didn’t even need to fight my way out of the system, but I was going to do it just because I wanted to piss into someone’s cheerios. 

The STG came forty-six ships deep and I was not about to disappoint them at all, no sir, but for now, it was time to wrangle my people and get this shit show rolling.

Author Notes :

If you are straight with Aria then she will be straight with you, but that doesn't mean she won't take a mile when offered an inch.