**Author note** Only spoilers for the rachni mission. Also, other people's missions may differ as this is greatly effected by past choices.

Battle Master

Shepard stood lightly on the balls of her feet, feeling the shuttle buck slight beneath her. She was so used to the way ships and shuttles behaved that she barely noticed the motion. She glanced at her team. Garrus met her gaze steadily and she gave him a slight smile. Javik was seated, looking half way between mediation and nausea. He wasn't as used to the shuttle's little rocks and rolls.

"Any updates?" Garrus asked.

The mission was sketchy at best. Still, strange reports from the planet could not be ignored. They were even supposed to get backup. Krogan commandos. She would never complain, having a deep connection with the brutish race thanks to her deep friendship (which bordered on a familial bond) with Urdnot Wrex, the leader of Tuchanka. Still, Shepard was not used to needing backup. She and her team made a name for themselves doing with three people what it normally took entire squads to accomplish. This mission was fishy, and Shepard knew it. Rachni. A team of krogan had disappeared after going through the relay towards a rachni world, and now she was brought in to check it out. You knew it was bad when she was called in.

"No rachni activity has been reported," Shepard told to her team after Javik had mentioned having known the rachni in his own time.

Garrus knew the reports didn't jive, "It doesn't make sense. We let that last rachni queen go on the condition she disappear forever. She wouldn't risk everything to start a war."

"Just be ready for anything," Shepard instructed firmly, stepping towards the middle of the shuttle, already prepared to disembark.

The engines gave a hum as they cooled, the shuttle door opening to reveal rocky, unfriendly terrain. Still, more inviting than the Krogan home world, Shepard thought wryly. She saw the krogan commando unit waiting nearby. Almost all had their helmets on, which made them look a little like strange, bipedal turtles. She spotted their commanding officer. His armor was white instead of black. She strode towards the unit, ready to have to prove herself to yet another krogan who didn't think she, a human, could cut it on this mission. Even as she squared her shoulders and prepared for the possibility of a headbutt in her neat future, she realized she knew the commander and her heart did an excited little flip in her chest. "Grunt?"

"Shepard?" Grunt shoved his men out of the way as he rushed to greet her, his laugh echoing off the canyon walls around them. She knew that laugh well. He'd gotten more practiced, but his laugh had always been a bit awkward. As a tank-born there were a lot of seemingly natural things the krogan had never practiced, laughing being high on the list. "Shepard!" he shouted again and slapped her arm.

She'd anticipated the friendly blow, so it only moved her an inch to the left instead of knocking her off balance. She beamed, meeting the young krogan's blue eyes. They were so bright and full of life, and she knew they grew brighter whenever he saw her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, eager to hear news of the friend she had rescued from a tank what seemed an age ago.

He questioned her about where she had been and she explained that she had been sort of retired. Still, that could never keep her out of the fight for long, and they both knew it. Grunt explained how he had be instructed to lead the honored company of krogan by Wrex himself. Shepard knew it was in no small part thanks to her helping him in his proving, especially when they had taken down the thresher maw together. Still, she could not help but feeling extremely proud of Grunt. He seemed to take such delight in relating his rise to success. Like a student telling a long absent teacher of his accomplishments.

"Hard to believe this might be rachni. Seems crazy," Grunt said once the topic had come back around to the mission at hand. He stepped away from Shepard to scan the terrain with narrowed eyes. "A chance to face the old enemy? Impossible to resist."

Shepard could feel Grunt's powerful energy radiating from him. She knew why he made such a good leader. You only had to stand beside him to bask in the feeling of his raw strength, his clear prowess. Not to mention he wasn't lacking in the brain department, for a krogan. Shepard couldn't stop shooting proud glances in his direction. She recalled the creature that had stepped from the tank and flattened her against a bulkhead until she had half talked, half threatened, him down. Then she had sensed a different very energy from Grunt. Fear. Confusion. He'd been tough, he'd been wild, but he'd been a child in reality. Not unlike a huge, stray dog she had befriended growing up on the streets of earth. It had looked like an adult, but really it was still a puppy in it's mind. Grunt had been the same, and she had played no small part in helping him become the leader that now stood before her.

Grunt hesitated and tilted his head towards Javik. Shepard raised a hand, "ask me later," she said, not eager to get into the whole 'this is my friend, the last of a long dead race' speech, though she was getting practiced at it. There was work to be done here.

"Whatever you say," Grunt shrugged. Still willing to trust her, she knew. It wouldn't matter who she had brought with her, if she said they were alright, Grunt would believe her. Loyalty like that didn't come along every day and Shepard knew it.

Shepard soldiered on with the perimeters of the mission. Grunt made it clear that he didn't like the situation and she knew to trust his instinct. "This place smells wrong," he growled, "like a bad wound. Our scans show that the tunnels down there lead to a large, central point. If we're lucky, it's a nest."

"Sounds like fun. Just like old times, Grunt," Garrus stepped forward.

Grunt's unpracticed and distinctive laugh echoed again off the surrounding rocks. Shepard smiled. She couldn't help it. He looked to her again and she gave him the slightest of nods. That was all he needed. "Aralakh company, move out!" he roared at his men.

Shepard and her team hurriedly grabbed any other necessary supplies from the shuttle and moved to meet the kogan team at the scout camp ahead. She suspected that the missing scout party might still be there, but in how many pieces?

The camp was indeed as she expected. A few bodies, curled in positions of agony on the ground. Still, it didn't feel right. She knew she'd have to investigate further. She walked over to Grunt who gave her an uncertain look. Playing detective had never been his gift. Or hers, now that she thought about it. But Garrus still had that investigative streak in him and she could see he was already starting to put the pieces together in his head.

"You ready to go?" Grunt asked, eying the abandoned buildings that stood a little too near a rather large chasm for Shepard's liking. She gave her krogan friend a nod. "Finally," he said, moving to follow her. "Right behind you Shepard."

She and her team moved into the first building to check it out. Moments later the whole structure listed dangerously to the side. She heard Garrus shout in alarm and the small building teetered, then fell into the chasm, becoming lodged against some rocks part way down. Shepard was thrown free and landed heavily in the dusty ground at the bottom on the ravine. She struggled to catch her breath, which had been knocked from her by her none-too-gentle landing. Steadying herself she stood up, coughing dirt out of her lungs, but otherwise unharmed. Her armor had taken most of the blow. Garrus and Javik, who had managed to stay in the building, hurried down to join her. The turian checked her over with concern and she had to take hold of his hands to stop him fussing. Ever since their reunion had gone so well for him, Garrus had been very protective of her. This was at times very nice, and at others a little annoying. Still, she smiled at her lover's scarred face, it was worth it.

"Shepard? You in one piece?" Grunt shouted from above. She could hear the deep concern in his voice, though he tried to sound gruff.

"Looks like we're all okay," she shouted back, after giving her team a quick once over for injuries. "Keep in radio contact," she switched on her comm.

"On our way!" Grunt was still yelling and Shepard flinched as he voice also boomed through her earpiece. Still, she knew that the young krogan would stop at nothing to meet back up with her.

Carefully, Shepard and her team made their way through the tunnels, keeping in contact with Grunt all the while. It became clear quite quickly that the rachni were back, and once again brainwashed by the reapers. Many had even been fully indoctrinated, taking on half organic, half mechanical forms that were neither dead, nor yet quite alive. It was disgusting and at the same time, painfully sad to see.

Even as the group made their way through the tunnels Shepard's mind kept drifting to memories of Grunt. Seeing him again brought so many past moments freshly to her mind. How he had become restless and trusted no one but she to ascertain why. He had insisted she be the one to stand with him during his trials as he struggled to prove himself as a true krogan. More than that she recalled how, after they had battled the thresher maw, they had been on their way back to the Normandy and Grunt had cornered her in a quiet part of the shuttle, away from the rest of the team.

"Battle Master," he had begun, still testing the new title on his tongue as he looked at her.

"What is it, Grunt?" she'd asked, looking up from her helmet, which she had propped between her knees, and setting aside the small tool she had been using to clean stubborn grit from the small crevices. The krogan home world was one dusty place.

Grunt hesitated, then thrust his arm towards her. At first she didn't realize why, but she took his wrist and pulled his arm gently towards her. A long, ragged cut ran from his elbow to his wrist. She breathed in through her teeth, "Ouch. This is nasty, Grunt. You should get Mordin to have a look."

"No, Battle Master," Grunt said, simply. He still held his arm firmly towards her, expectation in his blue eyes. "I am a friend to the salarian because you are, but I trust no one but you."

She was about to tell him that this was silly, and that he had to trust the rest of his team with his life, or their missions would never get anywhere, but then she understood. His eyes spoke what he truly meant. He would show anyone his strength, but only she would see his weakness. She stood up, taking his arm in both her hands and examining the wound without saying more. Silently she reached into her belt pouch and pulled free some medigel, gently spreading it on the wound. The gel went to work, already healing the tattered flesh. She looked back at his face. He was staring at her so intensely that she almost couldn't hold his gaze. She knew the medigel could hurt when it healed a more severe wound, but you would never know Grunt was in pain to look at him. Still, she knew, only because she knew him.

When the gel had finished the cut was still there, but now the flesh merely looked pink and slightly irritated. She pulled a long, white bandage from her pouch and wound it gently around his arm. Then, without him having to ask her to, she took his gauntlet, which he was holding in his other hand, and gently slid it back on, so no one could see the white of the bandage unless they looked directly at the long scar that now marred the armor's surface. When she had done this she looked back up at her young student. He smiled, flexing his hand and laughing in that same, awkward way he always did. "Thank you M—Master," he caught himself. Had he been about to say a different word? Shepard dismissed this as he walked happily away from her.

Now, in the dark of the caverns filled with danger and death, his voice on the radio kept bringing her back to that time, and to many others. How he had been courageous behind belief when they had gone on the suicide mission. He had refused to be left behind, or to leave her side, even though she knew he was afraid.

Now he was so confident. A leader, an adult, and she felt proud of him at every turn. What teacher could ask for more?

And then they found the rachni queen. She used the bodies of the fallen that surrounded her to tell a tale that Shepard knew well. One of indoctrination. Even as the injured queen begged to be led to safety, Shepard received word from Grunt that the enemy was closing in, and in huge numbers. She had to leave and she had to choose: lose Grunt's team, or say goodbye to the rachni queen. Her battle-hardened, tactical mind went to work. This was the second time that the rachni had been indoctrinated and endangered them all. She knew that the risk was too great of this happening again. "Grunt, get your team out!" she shouted into her comm, even as indoctrinated creatures began closing in.

As Shepard Garrus and Javik began to head for the exit, which was already swarming with the vile creatures, a wall nearby exploded. Shepard swung her weapon around, ready for a fresh attack, but instead of seeing her foes pouring through the new hole in the cave wall, she saw, "Grunt!" He'd come to save them.

He said nothing, merely motioning with his head that she and her team should follow him. This they did, with all speed, racing through the tunnels with the enemy hot on their heels. As they rounded a corner Shepard heard something to her left and skidded to a halt, once again bringing her weapon around, unable to hide her dismay at what she saw. Hundreds of rachni swarmed towards them, almost cutting them off. She knew this battle would not be an easy one. Even as she set the stock of her weapon against her shoulder, ready to fight, Grunt moved to stand in front of her. "The shuttles down that path," he gestured towards another tunnel. "I'll hold them off."

Shepard lowered her gun, about to protest. Grunt gave her a fierce look, which was half snarl, half grimace, "Get out of here, Shepard!" he ordered.

They stood for a moment, neither speaking. She looked into his eyes and knew, as she always did, what he wanted. He had once shown her his weakness, now he meant to show her his strength. She reached up and grabbed his armor, giving it a firm shake, never taking her eyes from his. Then she forced her gaze away. As she lead her team down the path to escape, she did not look back. She knew that to do so would be considered a sign of weakness in the krogan culture and she wanted to do this right. To make Grunt proud of her. She charged on, hearing the sound of battle, gunfire, and Grunt's battle cries following her, like her memories of him.

Outside the shuttle was ready, the engines hummed eagerly. "Cortez," she said into her comm, unable to hide the pain in her voice, "we're the last ones out."

As her team climbed into the shuttle Shepard hung back. She couldn't stop herself. Krogan culture be damned. Slowly she turned, looking back in the direction of the exit tunnel.

At first she thought she was seeing things. A smudge of blood on her helmet must have been messing with her vision. No. No! It was him! She rushed forward to meet him as he limped slowly from the cave. "Grunt!" she gasped.

"Anybody got something to eat," he choked, even as he collapsed. Shepard caught him, supporting her much larger student as best she could. He was covered head to foot in blood. She had no idea how much of it was his, but she guess that it was a fair amount. She threw his arm over her shoulder, turning them towards the shuttle, where Garrus was already rushing to their aid.

Before the turian could reach them Grunt mumbled weakly into her ear. "Did I do good, Mother?"

Her breath almost stopped as she turned towards the young krogan who slumped heavily against her. "Yes, son, you did good," she whispered in response, feeling tears threaten in her eyes.

He said nothing more as Garrus reached them and helped her get Grunt to the shuttle, but when Shepard looked at him out of the corner of her eye, she could see that the krogan was smiling.