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PROLOGUE

It's been five years. Five, long years since she passed. I miss her...so much.

Veln Reiv had been exploring the galaxy for quite some time now, and in his travels, she'd been the only person the Drell had ever fallen in love with. But he had to put the past behind him. Now it was time for the task at hand to be dealt with.

Omega was a pit for the scum of the Terminus System. And was it full of them. But one in specific had terribly miscalculated what would happen to him if he messed with Veln. Danzo Tellus, a human thug, or king thug, in his case, had recently robbed Veln of virtually everything he owned. His credits, his extra clothes, even the scraps he'd gathered from various other places among the galaxy as souvenirs; Danzo took everything. Veln only had the clothes on his back, but he would make Danzo pay.

The problem was a simple matter of getting past all of his goons, and Veln was no expert at sneaking. The blue, leather jacket he was wearing, along with his bright, lime green skin didn't help him. Fortunately, Omega was nothing but a huge hiding place. Everywhere you looked, there were nooks and crannies. You just had to know which ones to use.

The Afterlife club wasn't far away, and being the person Danzo was, Veln knew he'd most likely be there. He just had to get past all of Danzo's men, and he couldn't just walk right by them. They'd recognize him as the same guy they'd mugged earlier that week, and they'd just beat him again.

Veln thought quickly, and mixed in with a small group of aliens walking down the street. As soon as he could, he stepped out of the group and hid behind one of the large pipes protruding from the wall. Veln scanned the area with his large, black tinted eyes. When one took the time to really look at it, Omega was a hideous place. The ground was covered in rust and muck of sorts, the walls were dirty, stained with browns and grays of various shades. The people all looked like they'd killed at least once in their life, all of them moving in paranoid, jumpy ways.

Yes, this was Omega. Cesspit of the galaxy. Average death and crime rate in the place never declined, but only increased little by little every day.

The Drell took advantage of a split moment when no one was looking and climbed the pipe into a small duct above. It was steamy and humid. Veln would be lucky of he didn't develop a case of Kepral's syndrome. The thought of it made him cringe. Still, he crawled on, the large pipe right above him, and small cracks in the duct below him. The cracks were the perfect size. He could see out of them, and no one would notice him moving above.

It was when the crack grew larger, and the duct busted, spilling Veln out, that he knew he was in trouble. He landed right in the middle of the market district, and much to his dismay, all three of Danzo's thugs spotted him. There was a moment of absolute silence in the place, as everyone in sight stared right at Veln. And then the three men belonging to Danzo began walking towards him.

Veln crawled back, and struggled to get up. He immediately recognized a sharp, throbbing pain in his leg, and let out a grunt.

"Where do you think you're going, lizard face?" The middle man spoke with a devious grin on his face.

Veln looked around. So many people just staring. So many escape routes. So many open areas that he could get shot in. "Away from you."

Veln hopped up and leaped behind the closest person he could see, a Salarian, rolled as he landed, and began running as fast as he could. The pain in his leg faded into the background, as he was filled up with adrenaline. The thugs pulled their guns out and began firing at him. The Salarian he jumped behind was pelted with a spray of ammunition, and fell lifeless to the ground.

Veln was much faster than his armored predators, and as he rounded a corner closing in on one of the Afterlife entrances, he had enough time to hide. Glancing around at his surroundings, he took refuge behind a large stack of crates. He tried to hush his labored breaths, but that didn't matter.

A Batarian, obviously the owner of the crates, or whatever their contents were, pulled him back by the collar and cursed at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! I don't know who the hell you're running from, but if they shoot at you and hit these crates, it'll be my ass as well as yours. Get outta here!" He grunted at Veln one last time before tossing him out into the open.

Enough time had passed for the thugs to catch back up to him, and as soon as he was flung out, they spotted him and began firing. Unfortunately for the Batarian, they managed to peck a few holes into one of his crates.

As soon as the event unfolded, the **ed off Batarian flew around the corner with a shotgun, pumping out shots at the thugs. At the same time, a Salarian came around the corner that Veln and the thugs ran by, and shouted out at the guards, before firing a small machine pistol, "You killed my brother! He was my hit, and you just screwed me out of a credit chit!"

A full on firefight broke out in the street, and it was a big enough distraction to the thugs chasing Veln, that he could escape with ease.

Finally able to take a few long breaths, he dusted himself off and headed for Afterlife. The club was filled with people, drinks, dancers, heavy music that penetrated you right to the core. It was the perfect place for Danzo, and more of his men unfortunately.

Veln looked around, trying to be as non-conspicuous as possible. That would be hard to do though, what with him being the only Drell in the place and all. He walked over to the bar and ordered a drink, staring at various faces in the place until he recognized Danzo's. Now he just had to get close enough to kill him, and not get caught. And thus, it was the ultimate hole in his plot to carry out his revenge. It would be impossible to kill Danzo in here and not get spotted. Veln would need another distraction of sorts.

For Veln, this distraction came in the form of a female Quarian. The one who was currently speaking with Veln. It was as he turned to order a drink, that she grabbed a small, metallic case from the table, and hurriedly climbed out of the booth to run. When Danzo turned back and saw her running with his case, he yelled out for his men to chase her, and he too, rushed after her.

Veln didn't even take a sip from the glass of alcohol he'd ordered. He was already tailing Danzo as soon as he stood up. Everyone one included in the chase sped out of Afterlife and back into the street...the same street that Veln had run from the firefight on. And to his surprise, the firefight was still alive and young, as none of the five included had died off...although quite a few bystanders did.

The Quarian ran through it all, bumping into one of the thugs on her way by. Danzo and the men with him followed, and then Veln right behind them. It was a long minute before Veln got close enough to tackle Danzo, and when he did, he did so with grace and power.

"Hello, Dan. Bet you weren't expecting to see me again so soon." Veln smiled.

"You! We killed you! You're dead!" Danzo's eyes widened with fear.

"Looks like you're wrong. All that training you put me through payed off." Veln's eyes narrowed. "Too bad being part of your mercenary group just wasn't my style."

"You're style?! You killed three of us back in the Batalla system!" Danzo pleaded.

"You killed an unarmed expedition team searching for Element Zero!" Veln felt the heat of anger fill up his body.

"They were stupid to come into the Terminus Systems without weapons." He chuckled, infuriating Veln even more.

"They were innocent! And you had them executed!" Veln screamed.

"What, so now you're a hero? What about all the people you've killed? What about when you killed her?! When you killed Kira!"

"That's none of your damn business you low life piece of trash!" Veln was struck with a mortifying sense of sadness at the mention of his long lost love. He felt his fist fly forward into Danzo's face. It was almost involuntary, but it felt good.

He only managed to hit him once before the stock of an assault rifle thudded across his face. He couldn't see for a moment, and as his vision came back, it was still blurry. Veln was on the ground now, looking up at the ceiling above the street. The firefight was still on, but the thugs who were chasing the Quarian were all standing above Veln.

He could barely hear them, but he could still make out most of the words.

"That Quarian got away - carrying the transmitter. We'll find - later. Did this jackass hurt you? - can kill him if you want."

"Do it."

And so the barrel of a rifle was shoved in Veln's face. But it was knocked away just as soon as it was put there. A few bursts of fire, a few thuds, a few dropped thugs, and no one was conscious aside from Veln and...who was it? He couldn't make out who she was, just that it was a female figure.

She stuck out her hand for Veln, "I don't know who you are, but your enemies are my enemies, so you're my friend."

She was speaking through a mask, so Veln had to assume that it was the Quarian. He took her hand, and stood up. "Many thanks to you, but how did you manage to knock them all out?"

"What? Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I can't fight."

"I believe you." Veln winced, rubbing his own wound. The rifle left a gash near his left eye. A small stream of blood trickled down his fingers, and he grunted in disapproval.

"C'mon, I'll patch you up. Besides, it's only a matter of time before the other three stop shooting, and come after us too."

"Agreed."