55 Tevos 437 Forty years later, one of the last things Thaia had ever expected was to see Aria T’Loak and her most trusted lieutenant, Soraya T’Perro, again. On Omega. On friendly terms. With Thaia being assigned a job by Aria. And Thaia accepting it because she had no choice if she wanted to stay on Omega while waiting for the Omega-4 Relay to be cleared of sabotage from the human terrorist group, Cerberus. All she wanted to do was study it and continue her work with designing and building a prototype relay for the asari, yet here she was, about to be working for Aria T’Loak. “—and I can’t have you idling on my station,” Aria was saying while standing across from Thaia, the large operations table between them. A technical model of Omega’s structure slowly rotated above it, two sections near the mine highlighted, and a third highlighted section at the opposite end. “You’ll be pulling some guard duty.” Please not any of the clubs. Aria signaled to Soraya, who lifted a bag from the floor and set it on the table in front of Thaia. Then she unzipped it, revealing a full kit of low-profile body armor, clothing manufactured from ballistic cloth, and other sundries commandos on personal bodyguard details often used. “I had my people pick up your weapons. Your pistol is in the bag. Your other weapons and belongings are currently being moved to more secure and far better lodgings,” Soraya said, and then studied her for a moment. “Bit of a shithole you were living in.”

55 Tevos 437 Forty years later, one of the last things Thaia had ever expected was to see Aria T’Loak and her most trusted lieutenant, Soraya T’Perro, again. On Omega. On friendly terms. With Thaia being assigned a job by Aria. And Thaia accepting it because she had no choice if she wanted to stay on Omega while waiting for the Omega-4 Relay to be cleared of sabotage from the human terrorist group, Cerberus. All she wanted to do was study it and continue her work with designing and building a prototype relay for the asari, yet here she was, about to be working for Aria T’Loak. “—and I can’t have you idling on my station,” Aria was saying while standing across from Thaia, the large operations table between them. A technical model of Omega’s structure slowly rotated above it, two sections near the mine highlighted, and a third highlighted section at the opposite end. “You’ll be pulling some guard duty.” Please not any of the clubs. Aria signaled to Soraya, who lifted a bag from the floor and set it on the table in front of Thaia. Then she unzipped it, revealing a full kit of low-profile body armor, clothing manufactured from ballistic cloth, and other sundries commandos on personal bodyguard details often used. “I had my people pick up your weapons. Your pistol is in the bag. Your other weapons and belongings are currently being moved to more secure and far better lodgings,” Soraya said, and then studied her for a moment. “Bit of a shithole you were living in.”

55 Tevos 437 Forty years later, one of the last things Thaia had ever expected was to see Aria T’Loak and her most trusted lieutenant, Soraya T’Perro, again. On Omega. On friendly terms. With Thaia being assigned a job by Aria. And Thaia accepting it because she had no choice if she wanted to stay on Omega while waiting for the Omega-4 Relay to be cleared of sabotage from the human terrorist group, Cerberus. All she wanted to do was study it and continue her work with designing and building a prototype relay for the asari, yet here she was, about to be working for Aria T’Loak. “—and I can’t have you idling on my station,” Aria was saying while standing across from Thaia, the large operations table between them. A technical model of Omega’s structure slowly rotated above it, two sections near the mine highlighted, and a third highlighted section at the opposite end. “You’ll be pulling some guard duty.” Please not any of the clubs. Aria signaled to Soraya, who lifted a bag from the floor and set it on the table in front of Thaia. Then she unzipped it, revealing a full kit of low-profile body armor, clothing manufactured from ballistic cloth, and other sundries commandos on personal bodyguard details often used. “I had my people pick up your weapons. Your pistol is in the bag. Your other weapons and belongings are currently being moved to more secure and far better lodgings,” Soraya said, and then studied her for a moment. “Bit of a shithole you were living in.”

55 Tevos 437 Forty years later, one of the last things Thaia had ever expected was to see Aria T’Loak and her most trusted lieutenant, Soraya T’Perro, again. On Omega. On friendly terms. With Thaia being assigned a job by Aria. And Thaia accepting it because she had no choice if she wanted to stay on Omega while waiting for the Omega-4 Relay to be cleared of sabotage from the human terrorist group, Cerberus. All she wanted to do was study it and continue her work with designing and building a prototype relay for the asari, yet here she was, about to be working for Aria T’Loak. “—and I can’t have you idling on my station,” Aria was saying while standing across from Thaia, the large operations table between them. A technical model of Omega’s structure slowly rotated above it, two sections near the mine highlighted, and a third highlighted section at the opposite end. “You’ll be pulling some guard duty.” Please not any of the clubs. Aria signaled to Soraya, who lifted a bag from the floor and set it on the table in front of Thaia. Then she unzipped it, revealing a full kit of low-profile body armor, clothing manufactured from ballistic cloth, and other sundries commandos on personal bodyguard details often used. “I had my people pick up your weapons. Your pistol is in the bag. Your other weapons and belongings are currently being moved to more secure and far better lodgings,” Soraya said, and then studied her for a moment. “Bit of a shithole you were living in.”

Ark Paarchero, 2820. It was easy to forget—at least for Ryder—the sheer size of the Initiative’s arks. Without trams and elevators, it was a slow, unsettling slog through a ship sixteen football fields long containing two arkholds that were almost three football fields tall apiece. Plus each of those arkholds held thirty decks apiece. Ryder got tired just thinking about it. The dim standby lighting and the kett equipment scattered through the eerily empty corridors didn’t help it be less creepy, either. Another thing that didn’t help was the unease building up in her gut at not having heard from Thaia and Cora for the entire trip from arkhold to arkhold. Ryder and her team had finished their morning PT-like group run and drawn to a collective halt at the entrance to the cryobay containing the pods for Jeks Arlan and Vadim Escondar and still nothing. “We should’ve heard from Armali by now,” Ryder said as they walked through the doorway into the sterile, empty medical bay lit only by emergency lights. “What if they’re dead?” Drack shrugged. “Archon would’ve been bragging already. They’re fine.” “That doesn’t help me feel better.” “I dunno,” Peebee said, checking over equipment covered like it would have been during transit, labels and seals indicating an intact stasis state. “I think he has a pretty good point. Whenever the Archon gets one over on us, he doesn’t really keep it to himself.”

Ark Paarchero, 2820. It was easy to forget—at least for Ryder—the sheer size of the Initiative’s arks. Without trams and elevators, it was a slow, unsettling slog through a ship sixteen football fields long containing two arkholds that were almost three football fields tall apiece. Plus each of those arkholds held thirty decks apiece. Ryder got tired just thinking about it. The dim standby lighting and the kett equipment scattered through the eerily empty corridors didn’t help it be less creepy, either. Another thing that didn’t help was the unease building up in her gut at not having heard from Thaia and Cora for the entire trip from arkhold to arkhold. Ryder and her team had finished their morning PT-like group run and drawn to a collective halt at the entrance to the cryobay containing the pods for Jeks Arlan and Vadim Escondar and still nothing. “We should’ve heard from Armali by now,” Ryder said as they walked through the doorway into the sterile, empty medical bay lit only by emergency lights. “What if they’re dead?” Drack shrugged. “Archon would’ve been bragging already. They’re fine.” “That doesn’t help me feel better.” “I dunno,” Peebee said, checking over equipment covered like it would have been during transit, labels and seals indicating an intact stasis state. “I think he has a pretty good point. Whenever the Archon gets one over on us, he doesn’t really keep it to himself.”

Ark Paarchero, 2820. It was easy to forget—at least for Ryder—the sheer size of the Initiative’s arks. Without trams and elevators, it was a slow, unsettling slog through a ship sixteen football fields long containing two arkholds that were almost three football fields tall apiece. Plus each of those arkholds held thirty decks apiece. Ryder got tired just thinking about it. The dim standby lighting and the kett equipment scattered through the eerily empty corridors didn’t help it be less creepy, either. Another thing that didn’t help was the unease building up in her gut at not having heard from Thaia and Cora for the entire trip from arkhold to arkhold. Ryder and her team had finished their morning PT-like group run and drawn to a collective halt at the entrance to the cryobay containing the pods for Jeks Arlan and Vadim Escondar and still nothing. “We should’ve heard from Armali by now,” Ryder said as they walked through the doorway into the sterile, empty medical bay lit only by emergency lights. “What if they’re dead?” Drack shrugged. “Archon would’ve been bragging already. They’re fine.” “That doesn’t help me feel better.” “I dunno,” Peebee said, checking over equipment covered like it would have been during transit, labels and seals indicating an intact stasis state. “I think he has a pretty good point. Whenever the Archon gets one over on us, he doesn’t really keep it to himself.”

Ark Paarchero, 2820. It was easy to forget—at least for Ryder—the sheer size of the Initiative’s arks. Without trams and elevators, it was a slow, unsettling slog through a ship sixteen football fields long containing two arkholds that were almost three football fields tall apiece. Plus each of those arkholds held thirty decks apiece. Ryder got tired just thinking about it. The dim standby lighting and the kett equipment scattered through the eerily empty corridors didn’t help it be less creepy, either. Another thing that didn’t help was the unease building up in her gut at not having heard from Thaia and Cora for the entire trip from arkhold to arkhold. Ryder and her team had finished their morning PT-like group run and drawn to a collective halt at the entrance to the cryobay containing the pods for Jeks Arlan and Vadim Escondar and still nothing. “We should’ve heard from Armali by now,” Ryder said as they walked through the doorway into the sterile, empty medical bay lit only by emergency lights. “What if they’re dead?” Drack shrugged. “Archon would’ve been bragging already. They’re fine.” “That doesn’t help me feel better.” “I dunno,” Peebee said, checking over equipment covered like it would have been during transit, labels and seals indicating an intact stasis state. “I think he has a pretty good point. Whenever the Archon gets one over on us, he doesn’t really keep it to himself.”