This is a Mass Effect Fan Fiction Only.
I didn't even wait to hear the garbage the human ambassador had to say, to me it is the same gas no matter from which end of him it came out of, it's not like I am human anyways. I told the stuck-up jerks at the council if they named me, they would be naming the first Krogan to that position, because I am a Krogan and damn proud of being part of Clan Urdnot.
As we walked through Citadel Security I was itching, hoping, wishing for some of the idiots in this place to pick a fight, after what I went through with the narcissists of the Citadel Council, ungrateful jerks, I am ready to go full blood rage on a drop of a hat, so a few dozen kills would be a wonderful way for me to feel better.
I looked at the officers and they quickly looked away from me or gave me a lot of personal space, stinking cowards, don't have the backbone to pick a fight, well here is hoping that Jane will provide me with something to kill and soon. I sometimes wish I could just blast that idiot Udina and call it my charitable act for this century.
"Maul, would you mind telling me why you hate the Council so much? I mean the way they treat me and my fellow Quarians is one thing, why do you hate them so much?" Seriously Tali is both pretty, or at least he got a nice figure, and I think she is smart, but clearly, history is not one of her favorite subjects to study, or maybe she is making small talk.
"Oh nothing much, my people fought to defend them against a race of insects that could have killed every one of their races, and what do they do? Say thank you and reward my people for a job well done? Not bloody likely, they release a biological weapon upon us, that is basically neutering my entire species. It's a miracle we aren't extinct but we are damn close to being considered an endangered species, and do they feel remorse, not one bit."
Jane didn't even bother looking at me before she faked a cough to get my attention, "Well Krogans did try to conquer and take possession of several planets." I was not going to take this from her, I told her that so did every member of the so-called Council races, we had back then a high birth rate and so my people needed more space to grow and to have enough food. It was not like we were picking the best planets either, they were going to waste anyways.
"When we were growing up Jane, did you ever consider the fact that humanity was doing exactly what you just said the Krogans did? Humanity also takeover worlds to improve their resources, and provide a better living condition for their kind. The founders of that colony did not go around looking for any sentient life, it could also be the introduction of diseases that the natives had no immunities or defenses cause them to go extinct."
As we got off the lift Jane was staring at me with this weird grin on her face, I mean for crying out loud, she is the only girl I ever slept with and she is looking at me like she is still trying to figure out if I am still the same person, true, I don't consider myself human, but my father and clan have been there for me, even in some rather rough spots in my life, of course, I am loyal.
Tali, however, was sort of relaxed after my explanation, I know from personal experience that the so-called Council races do in fact do AI research. This could explain why Tali looks like she is more relaxed with me, sort of found a kindred spirit as it were, her people were also treated badly by the Council, maybe one-day Tali will be the one that finally helps her people achieve peace.
The sight I was not expecting was of the two humans waiting for us, I hate Udina there is no mistake about that, but there are very few people that are in my profession that don't know about Anderson, the man was a legend. The things he accomplished in his life were things I always regard him with great respect.
As we walked towards them I got the feeling Udina would rather be some other place than where he was, and for once I agree with him, I too wish he as somewhere as far away from me as possible, say a strong enough wind blew him off the landing platform we were standing and he fell head first to his demise, but I am not that lucky to have that happen.
"Shepard you remember Captain Anderson, he is stepping down from commanding the Normandy, the ship has been assigned to you." Stepping down my foot, Udina the bastard probably threatened to have Jane travel around in what could be considered a garbage freighter if he could not get the Alliance's newest ship to her.
"As a specter, you need a ship of your own, you can not have any ties with Alliance military, and you need your operational independence. You served about her, you know the ship and the crew, you know as well as I do, they would follow you through the gates of Hell on your orders."
I was not about to let this situation go on anymore, I simply respected the man too much to let that bastard Udina put him through this, "How about you dump the script that the idiot next to you gave you and tell us why are you really stepping down? I know you, Captain Anderson, I know for a fact you would want to come with her to hunt down Saren, especially after what happened in that mining colony."
He looked at me and began to smile, "I was told that information was classified, then again working for the Shadow Broker must have some benefits. You are partially correct, I would love to hunt down Saren, but I am no longer as young as I used to be. If I was aboard the Council would use me as an excuse to say the entire capture was solely for me to get revenge on the man, we can't have that."
"Revenge? What are you talking about sir?" It seems Jane can't take a hint.
He stepped closer to her and placed her hand on her right shoulder, "I was in the same situation as you were Shepard, I too was nominated to be the first human Specter. It was some years ago, and Saren was the one they assigned to evaluate me like they assigned one to you. The mission was simple, fight through a mining colony and capture a slaver, Saren and went on our own half way to cover more ground."
"That is when he set the mining facility's reactor to overload, I still don't know if it was intentional or he simply did it as a diversion, the result was that the guards were taken care off, the slaver was captured, or should I say his dead body was taken, but there was a small settlement for the miners and their families, when the fumes ended over three thousand people died, mostly children."
"When Saren gave his report he said that he had to do that because I had failed to draw away the guards. I could have screamed my head off and told them my report, but without proof, they would never believe the testimony of a human over their best agent. Well, that is in the past, and if what you showed the council is true, we need to stop Saren before he finds this conduit of yours."
Udina probably wanted to get this trip down memory lane done and over with since he stepped closer to the group, closer than what I call an invasion of my personal space. "We have the information the council has decided to share with us, we got three possible leads, Feros a human colony that has gone dark, Therum, a protean dig site, and Noveria, while you do have Specter authority do not expect to have them respect your authority, they only respect the authority of the corporations and do not even listen to the Council."
"You may not be a part of the Alliance Military anymore but you do represent Humanity, keep that in mind when you do things out there." Basically, don't screw up or you will make him actually work to earn his lousy paycheck and pension. You have no idea how much I wanted to tell him to shove those last words where the sun doesn't shine.
We are dealing with possibly something that could end all life on the entire galaxy and this idiot is actually worried about us ruffling a few feathers? I swear if he tells me to contact dear old dad, and ask him to volunteer some resources to his favorite charity, meaning himself, I will throw caution out the airlock and just put the idiot Udina in a hurt locker!
As Udina finally left, I looked at Anderson and I could tell his job is going to be just as bad as mine, guess it wouldn't be too much to wish the man some good luck, with idiots like the Council and the ever self-loving idiots like Udina we will need some luck.
As we got in the ship airlock the ship started doing a basic scan and cleaning of us never happened to me before, then again I always traveled as cargo before so I often was alone. The ship's decontamination routine, however, was taking longer than I think it should, if this thing was alive I probably think the ship considered me pollution or worse.
"Well, it will be rather interesting traveling on this ship Jane, for what I can tell your ship wants to decontaminate me to death, guess it is not the only one that hates my guts." She flat out said that since I had never gone through decontamination I clearly had so many things to cleanse and sterilize that is why the ship was taking longer on me.
As soon as I enter the ship the first thing I see is this blonde woman pointing an automatic weapon at me. Honestly, put a smile on that face, a little compassion and kindness and she would be about as attractive as Jane and that is coming from the guy that knew her before she started to wear a bra. Her figure told me she works out regularly and she more into strength training rather than stamina or agility.
She did have some rather nice muscles and considering the size of the weapon she was not that weak in the upper body either, I usually with my biotics I didn't need much else other than my shotgun. I rarely used it, only when I used my powers too much or needed to take care of a large crowd of enemies, which is pretty rare as a bounty.
Surprisingly enough the older gentleman told me where exactly was the cargo bay rather quickly, I don't need to cause a scene, I mean, it's not the first time I had to travel in the cargo hold. As I walked towards the lift, I felt someone touch my arm. I knew who it was, how in the world could I ever forget it. She was the only girl that I have ever kissed in my entire life.
"Don't worry about what that person did Jane, you got tougher situations to worry about, if you want to make it up to me, however, I would appreciate it if we went to Therum first. Somehow I feel like a relative of mine is in trouble there, you decide after you finish reading the dossier that the idiot human ambassador gave you."
She stopped touching my arm and without even a second to let me react she asked me if I had any Asari relatives? I saw no reason to hide it, I indeed had an Asari relative, my brother was an Asari after all, and my niece comes to think of it. That is when it hit me, the voice I heard from the recording, I knew that I had heard it before, damn it, that was my sister in law, she is a Matriarch.
"That voice that was on the recording, and the fact that we need to travel to Therum I think I know who it is that we will find there, I see, that is why I feel like a relative is in danger from that region of space. My niece, last I heard of her had a dig site on Therum, she is a researcher that is studying the proteans, her name is Liara, Liara T'soni."
Why was Jane acting like this? If I didn't know any better I would say I was getting the feeling she was jealous for some odd reason, "And how well do you know your niece? How close are you to her?" I don't know if I should ask her to visit the ship's doctor or feel flattered that she is reacting this way.
"For the record, I barely know my brother and his mate, I stopped seeing them a long time ago. I never even met my niece and was never given a picture of her so I can't very well help you with any personal information about her, I know about the dig site because I like to keep aware of what my family has been doing, I worry about them, they are family after all."
She seemed to relax a little and looked at me, "If that is the case what exactly is your dad up to these days?" I told her he was a warlord, so of course, he is trying to unite all clans under his banner back in the homeworld, but my people aren't known for our diplomatic abilities, so the unification of the clans was a long and bloody affair.
She looked at me and began to look at me with shall we say a critical look on her face. "So mind telling me why did you say naming you a Specter would be naming the first Krogan Specter? As far as I remember you were born a human, the same I was, why would you say that? Why do you consider yourself not human?"
I looked at her and told her we needed some privacy for the answer so she invited me over to her private quarters. As we got it, I made sure the door was locked, don't need someone sneaking a peek now do I?
As I sat down on her bed I removed my top and she gasped as she saw the scars. "I was taken by the slavers, and the things they did to me were too horrible to put a name on it, they used me as a test subject for their twisted experiments, they exposed me to things that should have killed me for their sick enjoyment, that is why the guy who bought me paid the slavers. By the time I was rescued most of my body was a wreck, my genetic structure was falling apart."
I put on my clothes back on and looked at her, "My father and a Krogan scientist saw that the only way for me to be able to survive was to have all the missing parts of my genetic structure replaced and have my entire genetic sequence rebuilt. Over half of my genetic structure came from my father, Urdnot Wrex. I suffer from the genophage, and scales cover all of my body, I have the same number of internal organs, and yes that means I got a quad instead of two like most human men have."
"I came to appreciate my father, his teaching, and training, and my clan as I was born a Krogan, Okeer did the experiment but he hardly did it to be selfless, he felt that the experiment could provide a means to end the genophage, it is truly a horrible thing that my people go through, I seen mothers beat themselves against a wall to death when their children failed to be born, stillborn they call it. I saw females stop eating and let themselves be devoured by thresher maws when they learn they are more than likely never going to be able to be mothers. The Genophage may seem like nothing that bad, but I saw the harm it does, and it is truly a horrible thing."
"Jane you were once my girlfriend, hell, you are the only girl I have ever kissed in my entire life. If you feel repulsed by my appearance, I will do what I can to work on my own while you work with your crew, avoid being seen by you and the others, if you think that I am a traitor to the Alliance, well that is not true, I was never part of it, and after all is said and done, I am a Krogan, and damn proud of my clan. So, Jane, do we have a problem that needs to address?"
She looked at me with an almost look of pity on her face, "No, I just wanted to know why you said what you did, trying to understand the way my long lost ex-boyfriend thinks that is all, and I got no problem with aliens on my ship, the question I got is will you have a problem with working with a Turian? The Salarians may be the ones that developed the Genophage, but it was the Turians who used it."