Drew Karpyshyn - Retribution

Sitting behind the table of a large private booth on an elevated platform near the back was Aria T’Loak herself. From this vantage point Omega’s infamous Pirate Queen could look out across the entire club, taking it all in like a god looking down from above.

Like all asari, she was beautiful by human standards. Unlike Liselle, however, Aria’s complexion was more violet than blue. Grayson had often wondered if this had something to do with her age. He didn’t know how old she was exactly — he doubted anyone did — but he wouldn’t have been surprised to learn she was over a thousand years old. Despite this, she retained the youthful appearance and raw sexuality that was a hallmark of her species.

A familiar entourage surrounded her: a pair of asari handmaidens, a krogan bodyguard, and several batarians, including Sanak. However, the three turians standing at the table opposite Aria caught Grayson by surprise.

He had known the Talons would come to see her about the attack eventually; he just hadn’t expected them to arrive so soon. He hadn’t noticed an inordinately high percentage of turians in the crowd gathered outside the club, but if these three were in here to parley with Aria, it was a safe bet a dozen more were lurking in the streets and alleys outside.

His decision not to bring the red sand directly to the club was looking a lot less paranoid. He resisted the urge to say “I told you so” as he climbed the platform and took a spot beside Sanak next to the booth, close enough so his translator could pick up the conversation between Aria and her rivals.

Nobody paid any real attention to him; he was known to Aria and her associates, and the turians were focused only on her. There were private rooms on the VIP level, but Aria preferred to conduct most of her business in the booth, where others could see … especially when she was asserting her dominance over a potential challenger to her throne.

“I’m not denying what happened,” Aria answered calmly in reply to part of the conversation Grayson had just missed.

The turians waited for her to continue, but she was content to let her words hang in the air as she took a sip from the tall glass elegantly cradled in her left hand.

Eventually overcome by the pressing silence, one of the turians — probably the leader — took up the dialogue.

“We’re not looking to start a war—”

“Good,” Aria cut him off. “Because you’d lose.”

Momentarily thrown by the interruption, the turian was forced to start again.

“We’re not looking to start a war. We came to parley in good faith. We want to come to an agreement.”

“We already had an agreement,” Aria reminded him. “Two percent off the top. Then you started moving product without giving me my cut.”

“That was a mistake,” one of the other turians admitted. “We came to apologize. You’ll get your cut from now on.”

“No apology necessary,” Aria said, flashing a dangerous smile. “But you violated the terms of the contract. Now we need to renegotiate.”

The turians exchanged a few quick glances, and Grayson could see them weighing their next words carefully. The Talons were an up-and-coming gang on Omega, but they weren’t on par with the Blue

Suns or Bloodpack yet. And they had no illusions about where they stood in the grand scheme. If Aria truly wanted to, she could wipe them out.

“A reasonable request, given what happened,” the first turian conceded. “We’ll increase your cut to three percent.”

“Five,” Aria stated, her voice making it clear the number wasn’t open for negotiation.

“Nobody pays five percent!” the third turian objected, taking an angry step forward as his hand dropped to the pistol clipped to his hip.

In a flash the krogan was beside him, his mammoth eight-foot frame looming over the smaller man.

Slowly, the turian’s hand fell away from his weapon. Everybody else remained frozen until Aria gave a slight nod. The turian took a careful step back. A second later the krogan grunted, then did the same.

“You crossed me,” Aria said coolly. “There are consequences.”

“Five percent,” the leader agreed.

He hesitated before continuing, choosing his words carefully to avoid further provocation.

“There is still the matter of the attack itself. Several of our people were killed. A large sum of product was stolen.”

“Consider it the cost of doing business,” Aria said, calmly taking another sip of her drink.

The turians collectively bristled. Grayson knew they weren’t stupid enough to attack Aria here in the club; in addition to the highly visible bodyguards and biotics surrounding her, there were dozens of less obvious security personnel scattered around the VIP level. They’d be dead before they even got a shot off.

He did expect them to turn and storm out, however. Their friends had been gunned down, and the value of the sand was far more than what they had cheated Aria out of. She was adding insult to injury, making a point about who was in charge. She had backed them into a corner, and there was a chance they’d retaliate out of sheer desperation. The Talons couldn’t win a war against Aria, but they could make it hurt before she broke them.

But Aria had a knack for knowing exactly how far she could push her rivals before they pushed back.

For hundreds of years, she’d played various factions off against one another while keeping them under her thumb; no one was better at ensuring that the anarchy of Omega never got out of control.

In the end the turian leader nodded, accepting her terms.

“I’ll inform our people,” he said.

“I knew you’d see reason,” she replied, dismissing them with a wave of her hand.

The turians turned and left without another word, the eyes of Aria’s krogan bodyguard following them until they descended the ramp to the level below and disappeared from view.

“It didn’t take them long to figure out what happened,” Grayson commented once they were gone.

“The Talons are smart,” Aria replied. “They’re growing fast. A little too fast. They needed to be knocked down a notch.”

“Glad we could do our part,” Sanak chimed in.

You four-eyed ass-kisser , Grayson couldn’t help but think.

“Sanak informs me the sand is secured at your place,” Aria continued. “I’ll send a crew over to pick it up in the morning.”

Grayson nodded.

“I won’t send them too early,” Aria added with a sly smile. “I’d hate for you and Liselle to have to cut your evening short. You’ve earned the right to celebrate. Everything at the club is on me tonight.”

“Thanks,” he said, taking the compliment in stride.

Aria was hard on those who failed her, but she was generous with those who came through.

“Liselle mentioned she’d be on level two,” Aria added, giving Grayson his cue to leave. He was smart enough to take the hint.

He went and got himself a drink at the VIP bar before making his way down to the second floor. He took his time, letting the atmosphere of Afterlife wash over him. In the end, it took him nearly twenty minutes to find Liselle. As he’d expected, she was on the dance floor, surrounded by a crowd of fawning young men and women.

Grayson had come to terms with Liselle’s penchant for humans: she liked them, and they liked her. He knew the asari preferred to partner with those outside their own species; their unique biology allowed them to take genetic traits from alien partners and incorporate them into the DNA of their offspring. But Liselle was still young; it would be decades — or maybe even centuries — before she passed from the maiden stage of the asari life cycle into the childbearing years of matronhood. Whether she would still be attracted to humans, or if this was just an experimental phase of her youth, he couldn’t say. And in the end, it didn’t matter. All Grayson knew was that she was interested in him right now, and he planned to enjoy the relationship as long as it lasted.