Illium, a week earlier “Are you sure about this? What if it’s a setup?” “Shit, Laira, you’re my best friend, not my mother. Besides, this meet is on Omega. Everything there is a goddamn setup. I’ll keep you updated as often as I can.” “Ashei…” Laira sighed. She leaned back onto the couch, throwing her feet onto its clearly expensive leather. “I worry about you, you know. You couldn’t have picked a safer line of work?” Ashei laughed. She stood up from the couch, picking up her rifle case in the process. “Girl, then I would never have saved your sorry ass. You should be thanking me eternally,” Ashei shot with a feisty smirk. “Saving me doesn’t really count if you only killed my attacker for a job, asshole,” Laira shot back with an equally feisty smirk. Hell, if being an assassin wasn’t so damn dangerous, Ashei might have taken this asari and married her years ago. But that opportunity had come and gone, and both Laira and Ashei understood that they were better off setting their feelings aside, especially given Ashei’s occupation. So here they were, content being friends and nothing more. “Whatever you say. Take care of the apartment while I’m gone, yeah?” “Yeah. Don’t die.” Ashei grinned. “Hasn’t happened yet, right?” With that, she left Laira alone in the apartment and stepped out into the afternoon sun. “Famous last words, hotshot,” Laira whispered to herself, as the door hissed shut. -- Omega, present “Damn, I’ll probably have to take three showers after I get out of this pisshole,” Ashei muttered as she stepped out of her cab. It was the first time she’d been on Omega for almost a year, and she remembered why she’d stayed so far from the asteroid. She sported her rifle on her back and her SMG on her leg, definitely catching the eye of several passers by. The cab pulled away, and Ashei took in her surroundings, quickly locating Hergon’s Dive. Instead of immediately walking in, Ashei turned and began a walk around the block. She kept an eye out for possible escape routes, exits, the like. Anything that could prove beneficial should shit hit the fan. In an ideal world, Ashei would have had more time to scout the area, but the world she lived in was imperfect and she was late already. She would have scouted several days in advance, but the dancing and sexual appeal of Afterlife caught Ashei in its hooks. No regrets, right? About ten minutes later, Ashei finished her expedited scouting trip and found herself in front of the Dive once more. She arrived just in time to watch two men step into the building. She checked the time on her omnitool; way too early to be drinking for Ashei’s standards, but hell, what do you expect from Omega? Ashei walked into the bar, standing at the threshold for a moment as she looked around. Everything seemed in order. For the most part, it was easy to tell who she was working with; they were the armed ones that almost looked like a ragtag commando team scattered around the room. The Mattock and Scimitar in particular caught Ashei’s eye, which led her eye to the asari and human that owned each weapon. It was as if a switch flipped in her head; the witty, sarcastic Ashei found in the comfort of her apartment and the presence of her friend was gone, replaced by the silent but confident Ashei typically found at the right end of a sniper rifle’s barrel. Ashei took a seat at the bar and ordered a drink. She spun on her seat to face the human and asari in the booth directly. She leaned back, stretched her arm out onto the bar, and crossed her legs, flashing a smug grin at the pair.