Storyline III

Abduction
The story begins with the Illusive Man aboard his secret space station, orbiting a star that is near the end of its life. The Illusive Man receives a transmission from Kai Leng, Cerberus' top "wet-work" agent. In the transmission, Leng details how he located Paul Grayson, a former Cerberus Operative who betrayed them three years ago during the events of Mass Effect: Ascension, on the lawless Omega space station in the Terminus Systems. The Illusive Man is pleased by the news and tells Leng to capture Grayson alive, for he needs human subjects for his investigation into Reaper technology recovered from the Collector Base.

Grayson is currently working for Aria, the so-called "pirate queen" of Omega. He along with his batarian partner Sanak, and an asari named Liselle, are at a warehouse completing a job given to them by Aria. They take out their turian targets quickly, who are part of a gang on Omega called the Talons, who have recently not been paying Aria her cut from their drug dealing operation. They snatch the large quantity of red sand, a potent drug that gives humans a very large high, from the Talon warehouse and leave. They stash the red sand at Grayson's apartment, since they do not want to bring it into the Afterlife Club. Sanak and Liselle leave his apartment with Grayson staying behind momentarily, stating he will catch up to them soon. He opens up a comm channel with Kahlee Sanders, who is currently at the Jon Grissom Academy for the Ascension Project, and asks her how everything is going with his daughter, which he did about once a month. She is glad to talk to him again but slightly put on edge from his sloppy appearance, since it had changed so much since their last talk. Grayson is also put on edge by the conversation, though it is revealed that he is always on edge after their calls. After their call ended, Grayson is tempted by all the red sand in his apartment, but fought the urge, saying repeatedly to himself that he had been clean for years for his daughter's sake. He leaves his apartment and heads over to Afterlife, where he meets up with Aria as she is scolding the Talons for not paying her and saying that taking out their warehouse was only retribution. She 'negotiated' an increase in the required cut she would receive from their drug dealing. The Talons grudgingly accepted her new terms and left.

The Talons are not the only problem Grayson has to deal with on Omega though, as Kai Leng has been watching him for days, and has planned out his kidnap attempt. Seeing Grayson leave Afterlife alone sets his plan into motion – he and five other Cerberus operatives begin their strike. They manage to get into Grayson's apartment complex under the guise of going to Grayson's birthday party, even bringing presents along. Each of them brings a concealed tranquilliser gun, since killing Grayson was not part of the plan. However, unknown to them, Grayson had invited Liselle over to his apartment since he was too tempted by the red sand, and needs to 'replace one addiction with another' - as he and Liselle have been sleeping together for some time. The Cerberus operatives hack the door, and assault his apartment. After a struggle ensues, leaving one of the Cerberus operatives dead and both Grayson and Liselle knocked out by stun darts, Leng enthusiastically finishes off Liselle with his knife by cutting her throat. They haul Grayson out of his apartment, kill the guards outside the apartment complex, and depart Omega, leaving little evidence behind.

The Experiment
Kahlee soon receives a second message from Grayson marked as urgent. The message has a pre-recording of Grayson saying that if she's listening to this, that he must have been captured by Cerberus. Grayson had sent her this message, along with wiping his computer terminal clean of data, in the few seconds he had before Cerberus knocked him out and dragged him off. The message contains an attachment, which had all of the information Grayson had on Cerberus. Not knowing who she can trust with this data, or if her life was in danger from Cerberus, she turns to David Anderson for help. They put together a meeting on the Citadel, both making sure they weren't followed. They decide they cannot go to the Alliance for help due to undercover Cerberus agents being among the Alliance's ranks. The only viable option they come up with is to ask the turians for help, since Anderson had gotten to know Ambassador Orinia through his recent political negotiations.

When Grayson wakes up, he is strapped hopelessly to an operating chair, with even his mouth bolted down to prevent him from speaking. The Illusive Man is standing near him, and explains what he is about to endure. He reveals that the Reaper technology involves self-replicating nanites and particle entanglement. The nanites would multiply exponentially, quickly taking over his nervous system and eventually spread throughout his entire body. The Illusive Man gave the signal to start, and Grayson's body goes completely limp from electrocution, a way to reduce any attempt from Grayson to move. Cerberus injects tubes directly into his skull and release the nanites, prompting the Illusive Man to say that Grayson should no longer be considered human. Grayson wakes up some time later in what resembles a jail cell, only to quickly feel hungry and thirsty from what could have been days of sleep. He rapidly drinks the water that had been placed in his cell, and then promptly ate the food that was also supplied to him. During the course of time, Grayson started to experience the beginning phases of the indoctrination, starting with subtle whispers he couldn't understand. The Illusive Man is standing in a room above his cell, watching him through a one-way window. He comments to the scientists that Grayson must be resisting the Reapers' influence and that they needed to sap his willpower. Leng brings up that he had recovered red sand from Grayson's apartment, and that he could inject him with it so the Reapers could control him more easily. The Illusive Man agrees, and sends Leng to carry out his proposal. Leng opens the jail cell door, quickly overpowers Grayson, and injects him with liquid red sand, a more concentrated dosage than dust form. Sometime after this a red sand dispenser was placed into Grayson himself as a means to continually regulate amounts of the drug inside him. When Grayson awakens, the Reapers start controlling his body for him, leaving Grayson hardly able to move his own leg. The Illusive Man inspects the progress and tells his staff to put Grayson down in 3 days, as he may become too dangerous afterwards.

Rather ironically, not long after this, the turian squad sent to take out the space station arrived. They, along with several other teams, were sent to take out all the listed facilities that Grayson had sent Kahlee in his final message. Anderson and Kahlee had convinced the turians to help them take out Cerberus, since neither party liked having them around. The three turian frigates docked with the station, allowing the infiltration teams to enter. The Illusive Man awoke to the alarms and put on his combat suit, cursing how he had not been engaged in active combat for around thirty years. He, along with two of his guards, tried to terminate Grayson, but ran into six turian soldiers in the hallway. They managed to kill one of the turians, but a grenade exploded near their position killing the two guards. Alone, the Illusive Man was determined not to be taken alive and braced for combat, only to realize the other five turians lay dead. They had been surprised by Leng from behind and swiftly killed at point blank range by his superior combat capabilities. The Illusive Man and Leng abandoned the station, with the Illusive Man on edge over letting the Reaper controlled Grayson live.

As soon as the turians secured the station, they began looking for prisoners, as requested by Kahlee. They only found one. The Reapers, using Grayson as a puppet, persuaded the turians that he had been experimented on with red sand and that they should help him. They agreed, and brought him aboard their shuttle. As per their reputation, the Reapers attacked and killed all the turians aboard the shuttle. Although the Reapers had enhanced Grayson's body to better suit their purposes, he still sustained damage from the attack. Grayson felt like a prisoner in his own mind as he watched the Reapers use him to pile all the bodies and eject them into space through the airlock. The Reapers then changed the shuttles destination and forced Grayson to sleep so that they could repair his body's various injuries.

The Hunt
Anderson and Kahlee became worried about not only their safety, since they had hit Cerberus hard, but also for Grayson. The turian shuttle had reported rescuing a prisoner, and sent in the retina scan, revealing that Grayson had indeed been on board. However, that shuttle never reported back. Orinia saw Grayson as a traitor, prompting Kahlee to defend him. Kahlee persuaded her to let her go to the station and find out what happened. Kahlee, along with Anderson and turian escorts, departed to the former Cerberus station. They found various heavily encrypted files detailing their research into Reaper technology and their experiments on Grayson. However, the Illusive Man had not thrown in the towel. He persuaded Aria to help him take out Grayson, which was only possible since Aria believed Grayson betrayed her when he left Omega. Aria swiftly sent her forces to the former Cerberus station. They quickly took about all resistance posed by the turians aboard, and took Kahlee and Anderson alive. The plan was simple, use Kahlee as bait to lure Grayson. After sending a fake distress call from Kahlee, they set up their trap. The Reapers took the bait, much to the dismay of Grayson who did not want to see Kahlee harmed. Soon after arriving, the Reapers began to sort through Grayson's memories of Kahlee for anything useful they could find. They took interest in the Ascension project, seeing potential in the biotic capabilities of the students. After finding Kahlee, the Reapers quickly figured out it was a trap, and amazingly killed many of the would-be assassins. They promptly made Grayson escape Omega after dealing with Aria's reinforcements. The Reapers' avatar had survived the trap, and without delay, had him plot a course to Grissom Academy.

Leng witnessed Grayson's escape and knew that he would need help in order to bring him down. He overheard Kahlee and Anderson, who had both survived the encounter, and offered them a ride off of Omega. He claimed they had mutual goals, yet both of them refused to help Cerberus, and a fight ensued. Leng easily defeated both of them, and offered them a ride a second time, tempting them with a lie that Cerberus could reverse what happened to Grayson. Taking the bait, they both agree and go with him. However, when confronted with the guards at the shuttle bay, Anderson quickly threw Kahlee into one of them, then stole his taser. He used the taser on Leng, then surrendered to the guards. He persuaded the guards to let him take Leng's limp body, stating that Leng was with Cerberus and would be interrogated accordingly. Anderson and Kahlee entered Leng's shuttle and took off. They bound Leng's body to the copilot chair with rope from the shuttle's medkit as a precaution, as they set off to the Citadel. Sanders and Anderson are in a discussion when Anderson states that he noticed Kai Leng has awoken, during their discussions they realize where Grayson is heading, to the Jon Grissom Academy where the Ascension Project is being carried out, they quickly change their course and head straight there.

The End of the Chase
Grayson arrived at Grissom Academy, convincing the docking officials that he was there on invitation from Kahlee. Now docked with the station, the only obstacle left was Grayson's Reaper-altered body, which would have alarmed the guards and prevented him from getting past the airlock. Using a blanket as a cloak, Grayson boarded the station and immediately killed the guards, then made his way towards the lab. Once there, Grayson hacked the terminal and started transmitting Academy data to the Reaper fleet.

Meanwhile, Anderson and Sanders entered the Academy, leaving Kai Leng aboard the ship. The team split up, with Sanders going to find the guards and evacuate all of her students while Anderson headed straight for the labs. Unattended Kai Leng managed to set himself free and followed his captors into Academy. Inside the Academy, he found one of Sanders' students, Nick Donahue, who knew very little about the current situation. With a bit of deceit, Leng managed to secure Nick's biotic help 'to take kidnappers out'.

While wandering through Academy halls, they all faced their common foe in turns, none of them managing to get the upper hand. Reaper-Grayson once again proved hard to kill, as he severely crippled Anderson, tried to indoctrinate Sanders, and critically wounded Nick. It was the combined effort that finally took the avatar down, with Anderson landing a couple of shotgun shots and Leng finishing the job with a pistol.

Nick's severe wounds prevented Anderson from simply taking Kai Leng as a prisoner; Leng refused to apply pressure to Nick's wounds stating that Anderson must choose between imprisoning him and saving Nick. Ever the soldier, Anderson chose the third option and the inevitable shootout between Anderson and Kai Leng was resolved when Anderson decided to help Sanders, but not before immobilizing Leng with a pistol shot to each leg. Although crippled, Leng still managed to escape the Academy and contact the Illusive Man, the Cerberus leader grudgingly accepting the resolution of this catastrophe.

Eventually, everyone in Grissom Academy recovered, including Nick and Anderson. Anderson declared his intent to study Grayson's remains, and asked Sanders to join his research team. Finally, Sanders and Anderson shared a kiss.

Epilogue
The Illusive Man decided that Cerberus may yet profit from Anderson's independent research into Reapers. But he was not about to give up his own research efforts. To secure a deal with Aria he payed her a hefty sum for databanks she recovered from his overrun station, at the same time allowing her to keep her own copies.

For he knew that the Reapers will be coming – the more groups to study them, the better.

Mass Effect: Inquisition
Mass Effect: Inquisition takes place in 2186 on the Citadel. Captain Bailey of Citadel Security Services talks with his child, reassuring him that he will be back on Earth in time for the Salmon Run. After the call, Bailey receives a message from Councilor Udina asking him to come by his office as soon as possible. At Udina's office in the Presidium, Udina informs Bailey that C-Sec has been compromised and is working to undermine the Citadel Council. Udina charges Bailey with personally investigating the involvement of Executor Pallin, who has been spotted at a building in Bailey's precinct.

At the building, Bailey discovers two dead C-Sec officers. One holds a datapad with an image of Pallin's face displayed on it. Pallin appears and demands at gunpoint that Bailey hand over the datapad. Bailey confronts Pallin with Udina's accusations, but Pallin denies them and warns that Udina cannot be trusted. Bailey notes that Udina said the same of Pallin, and that it is Pallin's picture on the datapad the dead officer was holding. When Bailey tells Pallin to give his story to the officers who will arrest him, Pallin becomes enraged and shoots at Bailey, hitting him in the shoulder. Bailey returns fire and wounds Pallin in the chest. Pallin then tackles Bailey, but is fatally shot.

Bailey retrieves the datapad but wonders why Pallin didn't kill him when he had the chance, and why Pallin's actions were so uncharacteristically sloppy. Bailey reports his findings and suspicions to Udina, who dismisses Pallin's behavior as another indication of his guilt, a detail for the investigators to look into. Udina promotes Bailey to Commander, telling him to get some rest and to report his findings to the Council. Bailey gazes over the Presidium, dismayed that his new duties would mean canceling his return to Earth.

Mass Effect: Conviction
Days after the events of Arrival, the galaxy is in turmoil over Commander Shepard's actions. While the Citadel Council denounces the Commander and Councilor Udina deflects blame from the Systems Alliance, the Batarian Hegemony calls for retribution for the apparent terrorist acts.

On Omega, Alliance soldier James Vega plays cards in a bar as he watches a newscast about the uproar. Without warning, he rips the screen from the wall, offering to pay the krogan bartender for the damages. The batarians Vega was playing cards with become confrontational and accuse him of being a "Shepard Lover". Vega tries to calm them down, but they charge him. He bashes one batarian over the head with the screen, then rushes the leader of another group, both of them crashing through a window. The rest of the batarians surround Vega and attack.

The fight is interrupted by the arrival of Admiral Anderson and a contingent of soldiers. Anderson informs Vega that he is being brought in for more training. As they board an aircar, Anderson tells Vega that he must get past "the incident on Fehl" and "be the soldier we expect of you". Vega argues, demanding that Anderson throw him in the brig as they approach the Normandy SR-2. Anderson then explains that Vega will actually be guarding the brig, and one special prisoner: Commander Shepard.

Mass Effect: Deception
Cerberus assassin Kai Leng journeys to the ancient city of Thondu on the batarian homeworld of Khar'shan to retrieve an item in an auction of rare goods and artifacts. The item in question is the design for a DNA-specific bio-weapon tailored to target the Illusive Man, the leader of Cerberus, and which could potentially affect thousands of people distantly related to him. Leng snatches the design and makes his escape.

On the Citadel, David Anderson, Kahlee Sanders, and Nick Donahue prepare to speak to the Citadel Council about Paul Grayson's attack on the Grissom Academy. At the Citadel Tower, Anderson and Sanders inform the Council of the Reapers' involvement, but the Councilors are unconvinced and prefer to argue that Grayson was acting on behalf of Cerberus, even after they are shown Grayson's Reaper-mutated corpse. Anderson and Sanders are told to continue their investigation. After the presentation, they find that Nick has disappeared. They go to The Cube, a gym for biotics, to see if he had gone there early, but no luck. A volus attendant at The Cube directs them to Ocosta Lem and Arrius Sallus, a salarian and a turian that Nick had been seen with on earlier visits. Lem and Sallus's address turns out to be fake, and Anderson and Sanders come to conclusion that Nick is missing.

Kai Leng meets with the Illusive Man on an abandoned mining world in the Crescent Nebula. The Illusive Man orders Leng to steal Paul Grayson's body and begin observing Anderson and Sanders; their recent activities on the Citadel have drawn unwelcome attention to Cerberus.

Elsewhere in the galaxy, the batarian slave ship Glory of Khar'shan attacks the quarian ship Idenna, carrying Gillian Grayson and Hendel Mitra, who are part of the ship's security team. When the batarians disable the Idenna's drives and board it, Gillian and Mitra help defend the ship. With Gillian's help, the quarians gain the upper hand and charge onto the Glory of Khar'shan. One of the ship's freed slaves is Hal McCann, a former Cerberus operative who worked on the space station where Paul Grayson had been experimented on with Reaper technology. McCann keeps this fact to himself, but does tell Gillian that her father had been killed and persuades her that information on who killed her father could be found on the Citadel. Deciding to track down her father's killer, Gillian commandeers the Glory of Khar'shan and brings Mitra and McCann with her.

Anderson and Sanders find a message from Nick at their apartment. Nick explains that he left to join a group known as the Biotic Underground that advocates biotic supremacy over all of the galaxy's races. Anderson uses contacts in C-Sec to dig up info on where Nick had gone. Videos show Nick leaving with Ocosta Lem and Arrius Sallus, members of the Biotic Underground.

Attack on Omega
Following the conclusion of Mass Effect 2, the human-survivalist organization Cerberus began establishing a series of bases beyond the Omega 4 Relay to carry out experiments on the Collectors' technology. Although relations between Cerberus and Aria T'Loak, the Pirate Queen of Omega, were damaged during the events of Mass Effect: Retribution, Aria has continued to permit Cerberus the use of Omega as a supply hub for their operations. Mass Effect: Invasion opens as a group of thugs prepare to raid a Cerberus transport ship that recently landed on the station. Without warning, strange creatures emerge from the ship and attack everyone in sight. The creatures make their way to the Afterlife Club, where Aria's assistant Anto and several mercenaries attempt to fend them off. Just as the creatures overwhelm the mercs and one moves in to kill Anto, Aria arrives. With her help, the mercs drive away the creatures. Aria orders her men to take out the remaining creatures one at a time.

Ships bearing Cerberus identification tags enter the area through another mass relay. At first, fearing more creatures, Aria tells Anto to activate Omega's defenses, but realizes that the new ship is attacking the transports. The ship makes contact with Omega Control and is identified as the Elbrus, commanded by General Oleg Petrovsky on behalf of Cerberus. As the Elbrus continues sweeping up the Cerberus transports, Aria questions how the ship arrived so quickly, confiding in Anto that something felt wrong. Just as she returns to Afterlife to call the Illusive Man, Anto exclaims that the Illusive Man was already calling her.

The Illusive Man shows Aria security footage of the creatures, called Adjutants, escaping captivity within a Cerberus base and escaping on personnel shuttles. He explains that all of Cerberus' research bases have gone silent, which is why he sent the Elbrus to help Aria out. Aria accuses him of tampering with Reaper technology, but he defends the action as necessary to understand the Reapers and reveals that more Adjutants will be on their way once they learn to control Cerberus' better-armed ships. Aria's fight is the Illusive Man's fight, too.

Later, Aria encounters Petrovsky and a Colonel Ashe killing a badly-wounded turian and collecting something from the body. Aria is alarmed, but then notices a salarian corpse transforming into an Adjutants. Aria and Petrovsky take it out; newly-transformed Adjutants are weaker, needing more time to rewrite the genetic code of their bodies. Ashe begins ordering Aria's mercs to finish the cleanup, to "Follow Cerberus' lead - and live!" Aria hits Ashe with a biotic attack, enraged that a Cerberus agent would dare give orders to her men. Ashe retorts that he's only doing his job and humanity's job: saving the galaxy from the aliens. Petrovksy intervenes and says that with more ships on the way to Omega, the Elbrus will do what it can to stave them off, but help from Aria would be appreciated until Cerberus reinforcements arrive.

Aria musters several ships to back up the Elbrus, where she and Petrovsky oversee their makeshift fleet. Petrovsky expresses regret that Colonel Ashe was unavailable to assist him, Aria having locked Ashe up for the duration of the crisis for disrespecting her authority. Aria asks Petrovsky if he plans to make a last stand, like he did against a turian assault while he was a corporal. The general reassures her, explaining that he is student of military history and that the strategies they will use now will be used because their formulators lived. As more ships arrive through a mass relay, Petrovksy vows to lift the siege of Omega.

Back on the space station, a krogan and two turians guard Colonel Ashe and mock him for defying Aria. Ashe tells them that he's right where he needs to be, and without warning attacks the guards and kills them all. Ashe picks up an assault rifle and communication headset and contacts the Illusive Man, revealing that he's ready to start the real battle for Omega.

Betrayals
Aria and General Petrovsky aboard the Elbrus lead Omega's defense forces against the Adjutant ships. At first the battle goes smoothly because the Adjutant ships do not return fire. The Adjutants have yet to master the controls and use the weapons. This doesn't last for long, as one ship manages to fire on Elbrus. Many more quickly follow suit and Elbrus takes considerable damage. Aria points out that losing their ships is an acceptable loss when weighed against the millions of lives aboard Omega. She suggests closing the Omega 4 Relay to prevent any more Adjutants from entering the system. Petrovsky points out the holes in her plan: relays are impenetrable and cannot be disabled, and laying mines around the relay to destroy ships that arrive through it would take far too long. Above all, the Illusive Man would forbid such an action, as Cerberus still has a vested interest in its Reaper research. Aria begins to argue, but the Elbrus takes another hit. Petrovsky realizes that the only place they can retreat to now is the relay, where they can escape to the center of the galaxy and possibly stop the source of the problem. The Adjutants won't follow them because they are intent only on advancing on Omega to transform its population into more Adjutants.

In Omega Control, Anto Korragan learns that Aria's ship has left the system. Knowing that Aria would never abandon Omega, he assumes that she is either dead or an Adjutant, and begins forming plans to take over as Omega's leader. In the shadows, the escaped Colonel Ashe listens in.

The Elbrus arrives at Avernus Station, a Cerberus research base almost overrun by the Adjutants. A handful of surviving Cerberus personnel flee to the station's exterior, hoping the area's intense radiation would deter the attackers, but to no avail. The Elbrus' guns take out the Adjutants just in time, and the ship docks with the station's north spoke, the only wing that hasn't been compromised.

Aria, Petrovsky, and the Cerberus personnel investigate the base and discover a survivor, Gabone, an assistant administrator. Gabone explained that when the scientists had begun studying a live Adjutant specimen, it "whispered" to them. Petrovsky suspects this was a method of indoctrination and prepares to execute Gabone in case he had already been affected, but a group of Adjutants break down the doors into the room. While Aria and the Cerberus operatives are distracted, Gabone transforms into an Adjutant and lunges toward Aria. Petrovsky intervenes and kills it, saying he should never leave his business unfinished. Aria then uses her biotics to obliterate the other Adjutants, but the effort causes her to pass out. Petrovsky orders his men to contact the Illusive Man to inform him that Avernus Station is now secure, but the Illusive Man sends a message to him first.

Back on Omega, Cerberus reinforcements finally arrive and set upon the Adjutant ships. Anto, flanked by guards, heads to Omega Control to find out why he, Omega's soon-to-be new leader, was not informed that Cerberus had arrived. Colonel Ashe appears, shooting Anto's guards and running past him. Anto runs to Omega Control, wondering how Ashe escaped and what he was up to, but when Anto reaches the room he stops, shocked. Everyone in Omega Control is dead.

Aria awakens on the Elbrus, still docked with Avernus Station. Biotic dampeners have been fitted around her hands. Petrovsky explains to her that the strategic situation has changed; Aria will be a "guest" on the Elbrus until further notice. He plays a recording that the Illusive Man had sent earlier. In it, Colonel Ashe speaks to the people of Omega, saying that with the Adjutant crisis over, Cerberus has decided that control of the station is vital to protecting the galaxy from the Reapers. He reveals that to institute an orderly transition of power, he has disabled Omega Control and the station's defenses, and Cerberus has eliminated all of Omega's remaining defenders. Ashe commands everyone to submit to Cerberus immediately or suffer the consequences. Omega belongs to Cerberus now.

Cerberus Strikes
Colonel Ashe leads a squad of Cerberus operatives through Omega to secure landing bays for troop transports. They encounter Blue Suns, Eclipse, and Blood Pack mercenaries battling it out in the streets. Ashe questions a nearby batarian who explains that without Aria to maintain the peace, all of Omega's factions are vying for control of the station. When asked if anyone heard Ashe's announcement, the batarian says that everyone thinks Cerberus is there to clean up the Reaper mess since no one understands why Cerberus would want Omega. Ashe's squad moves on to the landing bays. Ashe notes that the Illusive Man had anticipated only a narrow window for Cerberus to act before Omega's inhabitants organized a resistance, and this gang conflict has given them a little more time. Furthermore, Aria is the only person who could lead such a resistance, and Ashe is confident she won't be coming back.

On the Elbrus, still stationed near Avernus Station, Aria groggily awakens in a restraining device. General Petrovsky, who had been reading a copy of the book "War and Peace", greets her and apologizes for the restraints, saying that they were necessary because Aria kept trying to escape and the design is intended to disorient her. Petrovsky tells her that she has been out long enough for the Adjutants to be mopped up both at Avernus Station and Omega. He explains that center of the galaxy is one of its safest places, and controlling it and protecting humanity necessitates controlling Omega. Aria realizes the Adjutants getting loose wasn't a mistake, that their rampage across Avernus Station and Omega was part of the Illusive Man's plan all along. Their discussion is interrupted and the general is called to the ship's bridge to receive a message from the Illusive Man. Before he goes, Petrovsky orders a mental inhibitor be used on Aria to prevent her from using any biotic powers that don't require her hands.

The Illusive Man informs General Petrovsky that capturing Omega was a contingency plan activated after Aria was distracted by the sudden Adjutant threat. Since the source of the Adjutants has been reclaimed, Petrovsky is needed back on Omega to head Cerberus' operation. Petrovsky expresses regrets at the loss of so many loyal Cerberus members and says there has not yet been word about how the Adjutants escaped. When the Illusive Man asserts that the general has doubts about what happened, Petrovsky denies it. He pointedly remarks, however, that he found Aria's suggestion that the disaster was a sham to allow Cerberus to conquer Omega ridiculous, since the Illusive Man would "never endanger so many of our people just for the sake of a diversion..." The Illusive Man responds, "Time and Patience, Oleg", echoing part of a passage of "War and Peace" that the general had been reading to Aria earlier. He tells Petrovsky to transfer Aria to a research station before reaching the mass relay and ends the transmission.

Petrovsky is then called into a corridor by a Cerberus operative. He finds a freed Aria holding the disarmed operative and standing in front of several other incapacitated operatives lying on the floor. She hits the general with a biotic attack and sends him reeling. While Aria flings two crewmen into the air, he grabs a pistol and takes aim, but she counters with kicks to his torso and head. As she grips him by the neck, she says "That's the end of my patience, Petrovsky - and your time."

Gang fighting continues on Omega. Anto complains to a turian that all he wanted to do was get the gangs to listen to him like they did to Aria, but the cease-fire he called for was ignored. The turian points out that Anto isn't Aria. The batarian reluctantly admits that they do need Aria after all. Colonel Ashe appears with more Cerberus troops who open fire on the battling gangs. Anto and the mercenaries retreat to Afterlife, and Ashe orders a team sent after them. An operative informs Ashe that the Elbrus has returned and General Petrovsky wishes to speak with him. Taking a handset, Ashe tells Petrovsky that he is already securing their first sector in Omega and there was no need for the general to come. Petrovsky reminds Ashe that he is command of Cerberus' forces there and confirms that he will arrive shortly to "storm the fortress - just like Anticlus at Troy."

After he cuts the transmission, Aria praises the general for being so willing to follow others' directions. Petrovsky retorts that he is only cooperating because Aria threatened to space the Elbrus' troop compartment and he doesn't want any more people to die needlessly. Aria points out that he isn't concerned about the deaths of her people on Omega. They argue further as the Elbrus docks with Omega and Aria leads Petrovsky at gunpoint through the boarding ramp. As Aria prepares to kill Petrovsky, the doors open to reveal Colonel Ashe and several Cerberus soldiers waiting. Petrovsky knocks Aria out of the way of incoming fire, giving her the chance to escape. The general scolds Ashe for nearly killing him too and asks if Ashe even understood the reference to Anticlus in his message, which meant that the Elbrus had been compromised and he couldn't talk. Ashe dismisses the accusation. The message was the reason why Ashe had a team ready, he couldn't forget Petrovsky's constant historical speeches and recognized his code. Petrovsky orders Ashe to deploy all Cerberus forces on Omega to hunt down Aria T'Loak and secure the station once and for all.

Anto watches the exchange on a monitor and turns to face a room full of mercenaries. He tells them that Cerberus will take over Omega if they don't stop fighting amongst themselves. A krogan responds that Anto can't run a revolution; the only person the mercenaries would willingly follow is Aria, and Cerberus knows that. At that, Aria makes her presence known and announces a "little job" she wants everyone in on. She says that if Cerberus wants Omega, "they'll have to take it over our dead bodies!"

The Battle for Omega
While attacking a Blue Suns hideout on Omega, General Petrovsky's Cerberus soldiers face stiff resistance from an unpredictable enemy. As Blood Pack varren and Eclipse YMIR Mechs stymie the Cerberus troops, they realize the entire hideout has been mined. The mines explode and the squad is lost. Colonel Ashe calls in another team to sweep the area for traps, but is reprimanded by Petrovsky, who asserts that a true soldier would send in medics to aid the wounded first. Ashe retorts that Petrovsky is at fault for the worsening situation because he brought Aria back to Omega. The station's gangs have united under her and Cerberus has been denied an easy victory. As Ashe suggests that the Illusive Man should replace the General, Blue Suns troops emerge from the ventilation tunnels and attack. Ashe and Petrovsky cut them down. Petrovsky surmises that Aria is headquartered somewhere in the station's endless slums, allowing her forces to strike anywhere. She could hold out against the Cerberus invasion indefinitely, but the General knows that as long as the battle rages, no one profits from Omega. To flush her out of hiding, Petrovsky proposes giving her what she wants: victory.

Deep in Omega's slums, Aria and her mercenary allies notice Cerberus forces pulling back. She pounces on one unlucky trooper and interrogates him. It turns out Cerberus isn't retreating: the Adjutants are loose in Cerberus's bases again and all operatives on Omega have been recalled by General Petrovsky to contain them. Petrovsky has declared Omega an open city under Aria's rule once again. Later, Anto confirms that most Cerberus ships have left aside from a few civilians and support ships. Aria suspects a trap and decides to beat Petrovsky at his own game by capturing him and using him as a bargaining chip to force negotiations with the Illusive Man.

Aria's group spies on Petrovsky, Ashe, and several humans, all adorned with armor from Omega's gangs as per the General's "false-flag" scheme. A group of aliens in heavy robes approach the humans claiming that the plague has broken out again in the Gozu District. Without warning they discard their robes and use concealed weapons to open fire on the Cerberus operatives. In the commotion, Aria makes a run for the Afterlife Club, her main stronghold. Believing Petrovsky's plan to have failed, Ashe notifies a standby team to activate option "Omega-Two". The General balks at the idea of using explosives in an area populated with civilians, but Ashe pulls a gun on him and reveals that explosives aren't part of the plan at all. In the battle-damaged Afterlife Club, Aria orders Anto to contact the Illusive Man. When he doesn't respond, she ascends to her booth and finds an Adjutant killing Anto.

Outside, Ashe explains to Petrovsky that they placed an Adjutant in stasis during the earlier mop-up operation. While Petrovsky focused on his false-flag plan, Ashe's own men moved the stasis pod into Afterlife and Ashe remotely freed the Adjutant. Petrovsky is livid that Ashe would put the entire station in danger with such a dangerous plan, but Ashe considers the potential casualties to be acceptable losses. They begin to fight, but the Adjutant is suddenly hurled through Afterlife's front doors and knocks the two men down. An enraged Aria emerges, roaring at them to leave her station. Ashe raises his gun to shoot her, but the Adjutant strikes him first. Aria spears it with a biotic blast. A transforming Ashe asks Petrovsky what he will do. The General responds that he will do what he is sworn to do: protect his troops. He shoots Ashe point-blank in the head. As Aria advances toward him, Petrovsky warns her that his ruse wasn't the only reason he evacuated Cerberus forces from Omega. A Cerberus fleet waits outside the station with enough firepower to destroy it level by level. If Cerberus can't have Omega, Petrovsky won't allow anyone else to use it against Cerberus. He promises to evacuate Omega's civilians before the barrage, but will only spare Omega if Aria surrenders it. Aria concedes and leaves.

Sometime later, General Petrovsky contacts the Illusive Man to inform him that Omega has been secured for Cerberus. He reports that Aria T'Loak is likely dead, possibly one of the Adjutant corpses found in Afterlife, and Colonel Raymond Ashe is missing and presumed dead as well. When Petrovsky expresses his hope that Cerberus's victory over Omega will ultimately result in the loss of fewer of his soldiers' lives, the Illusive Man pauses briefly before smiling and answering, "Of course". A lieutenant informs Petrovsky that there is no sign of Aria on the station and claims she must have run away like a coward. Petrovsky disagrees, pointing out that he had threatened the one thing Aria had cared about, her station, and she had given it up because she knew that Petrovsky would destroy it. The General didn't approve of some of the methods used to win, but with Aria gone, so is "the threat to the station". As he gazes out a window, he predicts that one day, Aria would return. Meanwhile, Aria looks on Omega one more time from a small transport before turning away and flying off.

Mass Effect 3
While Commander Shepard is on Earth to face trial for destroying a batarian system, the Reapers invade.