After getting ready for the day, Wednesday went down to the war room where Mordin, Victus and Wrex were already waiting for her.
"Excellent timing Shepard, about to brief on genophage cure status," Mordin said, his large eyes briefly catching hers.
"It is ready, right?" Wednesday asked.
"Of course ready, but deployment method key. Most methods too slow, but one option," he said, pressing some buttons on the central console. A hologram came up of a building of obvious salarian design, given the flowing lines and predominantly white colour, set inside what looked like an ancient krogan temple or arena of some kind.
"Of course, the Shroud," Victus murmured.

"Mind giving me a quick history lesson, since I don't recognise the significance," Wednesday said.
"Shroud used to repair Tuchanka's atmosphere as part of salarian uplift, goodwill gesture," Mordin said distractedly, his mind already moving faster than the conversation.
"It's also the facility used to distribute the original genophage," Victus added. Wrex growled deep in his throat and narrowed his eyes, but made no immediately hostile moves.
"Fitting then, that it will also distribute the cure," Wednesday mused.
"Well, I hate to rain on this parade, but I just got some bad news before this started," Wrex said. "One of the smaller Reapers landed on the surface next to the Shroud. My scouts weren't concerned too much, since we don't go there often enough to care, but they say it looks like it's interacting with the damn building."

"Will complicate things," Mordin replied as he typed some more and a Reaper hologram appeared next to the Shroud.
"Alright, what assets do we have in the system?" Wednesday asked.
"Well, Clan Urdnot is there on the ground, along with our allies," Wrex said. "We don't have much in the way of air support though, the turians get frightened about that sort of thing."
"Most of the ships assigned to the military blockade have been reassigned to the defence of Palaven and our other colonies, but I could probably scrounge up a fighter wing," Victus replied. "Anything bigger and the atmospheric drag will cancel their manoeuvrability."
"Alright, so we've got those, and the Normandy-A can probably come in as well, given that it's newer than your ships," Wednesday said. "We can work with this. Victus, you stay here and get those fighters organised. Wrex, get ready to go planet-side. Mordin, you make sure the cure is ready for deployment as fast as possible, we're probably only going to get one shot at this."

"Understood, will prepare Eve," he said, heading to the door.
"Why Eve?" Wednesday asked.
"Need her tissue sample at last stages of preparation. Cure stability will be increased."
"Alright, but you're responsible for her," Wednesday said.
"She's a krogan Shepard, she doesn't need coddling," Wrex grumbled, before he left the room. Wednesday was about to join him when Samantha's voice came over the intercom.
"Commander, I've got an incoming comm request, it's marked urgent."
"Does it come with a name?" Wednesday asked.
"No name, and I can't get any kind of identifying metadata from the signal," Sam replied. "It is using an encryption most commonly used by salarian signals, that's about all I can confirm."
"Be wary Commander, unsolicited calls to a Spectre are never what they seem," Victus warned her, before Wednesday moved to the comm room.

As she closed the door and accepted the incoming transmission, a hologram resolved into the form of Dalatrass Linron.
"Commander Shepard, so pleased you could spare some time to talk. I imagine by now that Professor Solus has suggested using the Shroud facility to cure the genophage."
"You spying on my ship now?" Wednesday asked, resolving to ask Liara to perform a sweep with her Shadow Broker equipment later. She also discreetly turned on her omni-tool behind her back to record this conversation.
"It's the only logical course available to you now," Linron replied, neither confirming nor denying any spying.
"And if he has?" Shepard said, refusing to confirm or deny Mordin's plan.

"Then you should know that STG operatives sabotaged the Shroud facility centuries ago to prevent exactly what you're planning. Without compensating for it, the cure will be destabilised just enough so that it fails and the krogan will be none the wiser. Professor Solus will undoubtedly try and stop it though."
"So let me get this straight, you want me to lie to the krogan, sending them to their deaths. I'll probably have to kill Mordin as well, because you know he won't go along with this. With the genophage cured even partially, I gain a grateful ally in the krogan and the turians. What exactly do you have to offer that will beat that?" Wednesday asked.
"I'm offering the full support of our fleets, intelligence resources and experimental technology," Linron said smugly, as if she had the upper hand in this deal.
"You're also uncooperative, short-sighted and not as intelligent as you claim if you think that offer will sway me. The krogan will be the turning point in this war because they can fight on the ground in ways your people just can't. Against the Reapers, I'd take a single krogan over a dozen STG operatives on the ground. So, care to try again?"
"You are a fool if you ignore me, Commander. You won't live to regret it!" the salarian woman shouted.
"From where I'm standing Dalatrass, the only fool is you. The salarians aren't making allies, and so far the only thing your fleets have done is retreat into the Annos Basin instead of providing any assistance to any race. Think really hard about those actions, because the rest of the galaxy is watching." With that Wednesday shut off the transmission and stormed out of the comm room, ready to put boots on Tuchanka and kill something the good old-fashioned Addams way.


As Wednesday piloted the shuttle down to Tuchanka, she opened a channel to Victus still in the war room.
"You get us that fighter support?" she asked.
"I've found a squadron in the system," the Primarch replied. "They'll be in range when you need."
"Alright, one less problem," Wednesday muttered as she closed the comm channel. She turned her head back to speak to one of the krogan in the back seat. "Wrex, you sure you don't want to go back to Urdnot territory?" she asked the hulking brute.
"I already called ahead, told them that I'm calling a Moot at the Hollows," Wrex replied. "All the clans on this side of the planet are coming, it's the best place for this kind of meeting."
"Didn't you kill your father there the last time you went to a Moot?"
"Yes I did," Wrex rumbled. "Hopefully, things go better this time."

Wednesday just shrugged and returned to piloting the shuttle – after all, trying to kill your family members was how you showed affection between Addams.

As the shuttle drew closer to the surface, Wednesday shifted around a little as she got used to the feel of her new boots. They were her first attempt at replicating the jump-boots the Cerberus troopers used, and this was their first field test. As the shuttle came close to the coordinates Wrex had given her for the Hollows, she could see a Reaper transport ship converging on the same coordinates. She gave the signal to Cortez flying formation with her, and his Spearhead peeled away. She gave a smirk a moment later as his nimble fighter-interceptor made a strafing run along the Reaper ship's flank, setting off minor explosions over the entire length of the hull and causing it to jerk and buck before crashing to the ground. She caught a glimpse of ant-like figures running out of the burning wreckage, which was her cue to land and get everyone out and fighting.

As the shuttle closed on the building Wrex claimed to be the Hollows, Wednesday could see the Reaper forces already crawling all over it, clashing with the krogan already there. She shot a few with the shuttle guns, but there were more of them than could be effectively fought that way, so she quickly opened the side hatches so everyone could get their licks in. Wrex forwent the ranged combat and simply fell out of the hatch, his body glowing a biotic purple before he hit the ground hard, his enemies rising as he dissipated the mass effect field. He grabbed his shotgun and ran towards more krogan wearing Urdnot colours, firing as he went. As her team cleared a landing zone, Wednesday finally put down the shuttle then sent it back to Joker and the Normandy remotely.

As the fighting came to an end with the krogan the obvious victors, Wrex just laughed heartily, his armor covered in drying ichor.

"Umph, I've been waiting for a good fight," he said to the assembled hordes.

"Looks to me you brought some more with you," another voice called out. A burly krogan pushed his way to the front, and Wrex just rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"I swear on our father's grave Wreav, I don't have time for your particular brand of varren shit today," Wrex growled.

"You call a Moot, then the Reapers attack. We kill them, only to find you keeping company with the human that interfered with Grunt's Rite of Passage, and with turians and salarians to boot. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to get us all in the one place to kill us."

"If you believe that, then you are an even bigger fool than the rumours spoke of," Eve said as she made her way inside, her ceremonial robes offset by the shotgun in her hands. "For those of you who don't know me, I am the Shaman of Urdknot, and for longer than I care to say, I have watched my children be born and never breathe. Then, I was given hope, a hope that these people have brought home to Tuchanka. Today, we can rise above the petty creatures the galaxy has made us, and prove ourselves worthy of a future worth fighting for. The Reapers mean to kill us all, and make no mistake, they can and they will, unless we put the grudges against the galaxy to rest. I don't know about the rest of you, but today I am here to cure the genophage, and announce to the galaxy that the krogan are back!"

Wednesday looked around the room as Eve spoke, setting the hardened krogan deflate at the reminder of their own mortality and pettiness, before they began to rally as her speech finished.

"So Wreav, are you ready to fight this war, or are you still stuck on fighting one nobody cares about anymore?" Wrex challenged. Wreav held his brother's gaze for a moment, before breaking eye contact and turning away. "Alright then, let's get this party started. Urdnot, Jorgal, I need you to back up Ravenah and get me eyes on what's happening at the Temple of Kalros," Wrex ordered. "The rest of you, I need whatever forces you can get there at short notice. We have a future to win, so let's go!"

Wednesday just waited until the crowds had left before she addressed Wrex again.

"So, how are you planning to get us there?" she asked.

"Urdnot has been working on getting our armored cavalry battle-ready, so we should be able to get a move on if they brought all the ones I asked for."

"Excellent," Wednesday said, with a vicious smile. She turned to the rest of her team and began laying out orders. "Liara, Garrus, you're up with me in the lead. Solana, Vega, Lurch, Malra, you're in the second. Let's move out!"


It turned out that by 'armoured cavalry', Wrex had been talking about mostly tomkahs, with pride of place taken by what could only be called a land vehicle equivalent of a dreadnought. Nothing on Tuchanka was small by any means, but this vehicular monstrosity just screamed impending doom. The thick armor plates were black and suspiciously shiny, with Urdnot colours proudly displayed. Each major facing had what appeared to be either a heavy accelerator cannon or flamethrower, with the main turret hosting a cannon that looked similar to the Thanix cannons on the Normandy.

"Garrus, did you have anything to do with this?" Wednesday asked as they followed Wrex, Eve and Mordin into the behemoth of a tank.

"Would I really leak to Wrex, of all people, instructions on how to construct that, along with a full technical manual and calibration guidelines that account for average krogan finger size and tool quality?" he asked faux-innocently as a reply.

"And to think you were just a cop when I found you, your potential would have been squandered," Wednesday said proudly.

As the hatch closed, Wednesday felt the tell-tale spark of a large mass effect drive powering up, likely to supply power to the weapons as well as reduce the mass in order to allow the thing to move at all. As they moved Wednesday pulled up her omni-tool, sending the shuttle back to the Normandy. As she did she came across the recent recording of Linron attempting to blackmail/coerce her into sabotaging the genophage. Her face must have shown her displeasure, as Eve asked what was on her mind.

"Just considering what would happen if something happened to Dalatrass Linron," Wednesday mused darkly.

"Depends if incident fatal or not," Mordin replied absently.

"Oh?" Eve asked.

"Addams family known to live far longer than their enemies – alternatively, death less permanent. If Linron met fatal 'accident', leadership would change quickly. Likely replacement candidate would be Ealys, possibly Broka, depending on negotiations. Both would be better than Linron in current environment. If forced to step down, result less certain."

"You certainly seem to have put some thought into it," Eve said shrewdly.

"Simply familiar with salarians politics, though find it distasteful. Also familiar with Addams Family, STG was particularly concerned during my debrief when they received intel that Garrus and Tali'Zorah had performed initiation rites. Suspect Shepard has something on Linron, contemplating releasing it. Would prefer to cut out middleman, just assassinate her." The look on his usually stoic face have weight to his words. Wednesday just nodded at his wise advice.

All too soon the convoy stopped, and Wrex frowned.

"We can't have reached the Temple yet. Something's wrong." He jumped up and out the turret hatch, followed quickly by the rest of them except Eve and Mordin. As their eyes adjusted for the change in brightness, they quickly saw two things. Firstly, the Reaper near the Shroud was using it, the white building now spewing forth clouds a poisonous green. The second was that the lead tomkah had stopped, and one of the pathfinder was inspecting the road.

"What's the holdup?" Wrex asked gruffly.

"The bridge has been damaged, looks recent too. Not sure it'll stand up to more than a couple tomkah, let alone your personal tank." Wrex just growled.

"We don't have time to wait around for a repair crew when there's Reapers to kill," the old krogan grumbled. Before he could say anything else though, they all felt the ground beneath then quake, and a plume of dust billowed away from them towards the Reaper. The mechanical being, small by Reaper standards but still plenty big enough, noticed and turned to face it, and coincidentally Wednesday's position. A lance of super-accelerated molten metal stabbed from what liked a central cyclopic eye, scouring the walls of the Temple and finishing off the bridge.

Fortunately, most of them had already been heading back into their dedicated transports, and were inside by the time the beam reached them.

Unfortunately for Wednesday, she was the only one still on foot as the beam hit, the heat and pressure wave from the vaporizing stones knocking her off the tank as it turned around with speed.

She grunted as she hit the ground, watching with annoyance as the convoy left her behind.

"Shepard, you alright?" Wrex's voice sounded in her ear.

"I'm fine, though watching you literally leave me in the dust," Wednesday muttered.

"Not even this thing can take a hit like that, we couldn't stay in the firing line," Wrex replied. "Unfortunately, that thing also just took out the most direct route, so we need to go around. If you're fast, you can probably meet us by cutting through the Temple itself."

"Alright, but if I find out Kalros is some ancient krogan word for doom, you and I are going to have words," Wednesday replied with a half smirk.

She turned to face the blasted edifice of the Temple, finding that by some weird coincidence, there was an undamaged entrance to the building just a few meters above the road, some kind of balcony.

First time for everything, she thought as she positioned herself underneath the platform. She shuffled her feet and then activated the thrusters. Since she hadn't had time to test them properly beyond simple function test, she had no idea if she would fly or merely hop. As it turned out, she had not in fact calibrated the thrust for her reduced weight, and thus flew double the height she had planned. When the thrusters cut out there was a brief moment of flailing before she regained her balance and angled herself towards the balcony.

She'd had better landings, but she didn't have time to waste. All she could do was work on the boots later. She got to her feet and pressed into the darkened temple. Turning on the flashlight on her chestplate, she advanced.

"Which way should I be going, Wrex?" she asked into her comm unit.

"Head to the northeast, there should be a spot we can rendezvous there."

"Right," Wednesday acknowledged, activating the compass on her helmet display and taking the appropriate passages.

As she went along it was impossible to miss the statues of imposing krogan, as well as the art on the walls depicting worship, or krogan riding into battle on steeds as imposing as their riders. She had to backtrack as she came to a caved in corridor, but not before seeing the wall depicting some kind of giant thresher maw. As she ran down the next tunnel, Wednesday began to put the pieces into place of what the Temple was dedicated to, and what the Reaper had fired at earlier. Unbidden, her lips curled into a smile of anticipation.

"Wrex, who or what exactly is Kalros?"

"Wondered when you'd ask, Shepard," Wrex replied. "According to legend, Kalros is the mother of all thresher maws."

"If a planet could be said to have a temper, then Tuchanka has Kalros," Eve added.

"Reason Shroud was placed here, few krogan brave enough to face Kalros," Mordin interjected.

Wednesday's next question cut off in her throat as she finally found an exit, the red Arahlak sunlight shining on the corpse of a Reaper-modified monstrosity. It had been a victim of another cave in, but it was the face that Wednesday could see, and the massive cannon grafted to its carapace, which gave her pause. There was no mistaking it was some kind of horrible variant of a rachni, which meant either Dal Segno was in more trouble, or her species was less extinct than previously assumed. It also probably meant that Wednesday had company up ahead.

She came out into the Temple plaza, and saw something she'd never thought she'd see on Tuchanka.

"Did you know there are plants in here, actual living ones?" she asked over the comm.

"The Temple stands at the end of the Kelphic Valley, and it's been mostly undisturbed by krogan hands," Eve replied. "For most of our people, it's just a sad reminder of what we used to have. For me, it's a symbol of hope, of what we could be again."

"Fair enough, now if you'll excuse me, I have some gate crashers I have to deal with," she said as she pulled out her sword and pistol.

Wednesday sighted along the ranks of various Reaper forces and picked the marauder as her target. Clapping her hands together and activating her biotics, the world moved in a purple blur as she sped the distance between them. An instant before she would have collided, she broke the charge, the shockwave sending the brainless minions around it flying as she separated the head from the shoulders with one clean swipe of Vengeance. She didn't have long to savor the victory, as she saw a targeting laser beam hone in on her position. As the beam found her body, she heard the sound of what could only be a large-bore cannon firing.

Going to ground was an option, but not the best one she had if she wanted to see her assailant. So instead, she hit the emergency button for her thrusters that she'd installed on her glove. She rocketed into the air microseconds before the round would have caught her. She instinctively looked down at the impact, and assessed that she might have been able to take the shot with her shields, barely. Any ideas of being able to charge conventionally at whatever had fired that were dashed as the more shots were fired in quick succession, following her flight path but not able to correct fast enough to connect. Wednesday saw the undead rachni-thing as the source of the shots, and biotically charged at it.

The impact shockwave shook the thing, but it managed to stop her blade mostly by accident with one of its cannons. It tried to backtrack while Wednesday fired into its armoured head, not giving it room to move. Suddenly, the fleshy sacs Wednesday just assumed were a byproduct of the transformation processes ruptured violently, spilling its highly caustic blood at the same time as releasing almost a dozen cat-sized metallic worker drones, their normal mandible replaced with razor-sharp blades. They wasted no time jumping all over her, pointed legs and bladed mouths looking for weak points in her armor. Wednesday stabbed and shot as quickly she she could, before giving up and activating a crude but effective biotic nova to get the things off her.

Only to find herself literally looking down the barrel of the rachni cannon several meters away.

Cursing at the situation, she tried once again to charge the beast, now oozing poisonous ichor from its open and exposed corrupted organs as it opened fire. The first shot connected just as her body began to phase out, depleting her barrier and heating her armor until she was sure it left burns on the skin underneath. The next two shots missed as she rapidly accelerated. She pulled out her pistol as she gripped the cannon so it couldn't manoeuvre away again, pressing it to it's eye and firing until the thermal clip overheated and automatically discharged, the glowing heat sink sizzling and dissolving as it fell into the pool of acidic fluids that the rachni once used for blood.

Wednesday applied some medi-gel from her armour tank straight onto her burns, because there was no quicker route to infection. While she was no stranger to her own burned skin, she preferred to leave the fascination for burns to Uncle Fester – although dear Pugsley's specialty rather favoured such injuries as well. She quickly made a locator beacon with her omni-tool, set the frequency and then left it next to the corpse, deciding to call it a ravager, after the nicknames such as husk, cannibal and marauder. She wanted Anacrusis to inspect it, see what the young queen could tell her, and double check that her mother was still okay. But that would have to wait, There was still plenty of work left to do. She jogged through the Temple, keeping an eye out for more Reapers, but fortunately, or unfortunately from a certain point of view, there were no more enemies.

She came out of the Temple at the first exit she could find, finding a tomkah waiting and Wrex's tank just making the corner. There was a stone bridge that spanned a churned passage of dust and rubble she began to run across, only to have it collapse as the armored shell of a thresher maw ploughed through it, only narrowly avoiding the tomkah. She ran forward and leapt into the nearest vehicle, feeling slightly reassured when Lurch's grey-skinned face peered through the top hatch.

"Always had to be dramatic with you, doesn't it Shepard"? Wrex asked tightly.

"Makes it fun!" Wednesday shouted back as she surfed the vehicle as it began racing forward.

"Should make haste, Kalros likely sees us as excellent mineral supplement!" Mordin said in a slight panic. Almost as if it was a prophecy, Wednesday watched with fascination as Kalros emerged from the desert sand in all her glory, shrieking as only a thresher maw older than human civilization can, before opening her gigantic mouth and slamming it down into the ground, swallowing the final tomkah like a metallic amuse bouche.

Thankfully, the effort to properly swallow and digest her mouthful let the surviving vehicles put enough distance between them to consider themselves momentarily safe, until the Reaper decided to deal with them.

"Anyone important in that tomkah?" Wednesday asked.

"Only if you count Wreav, which I don't. It'll be nice not to have to deal with that idiot anymore," Wrex said with a chuckle.

"If only we could harness that," Wednesday mused.

"Actually, there might be a way," Eve put forward. "Krogan being what we are, we built a set of maw hammers in the heart of the stadium where the shroud now stands. Thresher hate the sound it makes, and always come to fight whatever is nearby until it stops. Kalros would not be immune to its affect, no matter her age."

"Well then, I think we have ourselves a plan," Wednesday said with a smirk as the convoy rounded the last corner of the Temple, to see the Reaper and the Shroud once more.

"Artimec Wing, Cortez, do you copy?" Shepard asked into her comm.

"Loud and clear Commander," replied the turian wing leader.

"Good, I need air support at the Shroud in ten minutes while we prepare some unconventional warfare."

"Understood Commander, locking in our approach vector. ETA ten minutes."

"Step on it, Wrex!" Wednesday shouted gleefully.

As if driven by a whip, the entire convoy shifted up a gear. Wednesday took the opportunity to down an emergency energy drink of her own concoction to top off her bodily reserves as the convoy neared the Reaper. At they came in range, one of the more enthusiastic krogan turned the tomkah guns and fired, the large rounds barely scratched the armour of the massive machine. It did, however, get the Reaper's attention, distracting it from whatever it was doing to the Shroud to focus on them, as if annoyed by insects.

As it turned ponderously to face them, staring them down with its cyclopic red eye in preparation to fire, there came a barrage of incoming fire from the side as Artimec Wing and Cortez arrived to the party. The graceful turian fighters danced around the Reaper, their shots peppering its hull and occasionally biting into exposed joints, but even Wednesday could see that it would be little more than superficial damage. Their advantage of surprise and numbers would only buy them time, not victory.

"Wrex, where are those hammers?" Wednesday shouted into her comm over the sound of a turian fighter, clipped by the Reaper's main weapon, flying out of control and crashing into the Temple.

"Here and here," he replied, adding beacon points to her helmet display. "You take the east one, I'll go for the west. With any luck, Kalros will take care of our Reaper problem."

The convoy came up to the lee of the arena walls, out of sight of the Reaper, and everyone piled out. Eve and Mordin stayed near the tank, not willing to leave a relatively safe position.

As they quickly organised themselves, a horde of Reaper creatures spilled over the walls to attack them. Wrex meet them with a shotgun in his hands and a war cry on his tongue.

"I AM URDNOT WREX! AND THIS IS MY PLANET!" With that he counter-charged the incoming undead, his shotgun blasting apart smaller husks into chunks, and his biotics bringing a krogan-turian brute to its knees long enough for the old yet dangerous krogan to grab its grafted-on head and tear it, spine and all, messily from the beast, bellowing as he did. His fellow krogan roared and followed his example, falling into the Reapers as a fleshy tide.

"Well, with an example like that, it's hard not to follow," Wednesday said, heading into the arena at the head of her own battle group.

"With the krogan on Palaven, we might even stand a chance," Garrus mused as he shouldered his assault rifle and swept forward while Wednesday covered him.

"Then the dominoes will begin to fall," Wednesday replied.

Her team pushed through the arena quickly, dealing as swiftly as they could with the Reaper forces on the ground while avoiding the randomly stomping legs of the Reaper itself. They had mostly avoided serious injuries until one of the Reaper's legs moved quickly to turn the massive machine and Lurch was caught under it.

"Lurch!" Solana cried out. She liked the big zombie.

"He'll be fine, keep moving," Garrus shouted back. True enough, as Solana risked a look back she saw the dust cloud dissipate and Lurch on one knee like the cover of a romance novel, his expression grimmer than usual as he shouldered a weight to make Atlas wince. By the time Solana turned back, the rest of them had cleared the hammer and Wednesday was on the comm.

"Wrex, are there any silly heroic requirements like having to activate them at the same time?" she asked, hand over the large button.

"We're on Tuchanka Shepard, not in some kind of asari romance vid," Wrex growled, his shotgun heard over the comm. "We don't do heroic when we can do explosions."

"I'm really not sure why I expected anything else " Wednesday answered as she hit the button. The massive metal head was raised by ancient mechanisms designed to withstand time and krogan until it reached the end of its journey, whereupon it fell down to the anvil-like base, creating a sound they all felt more than heard. As the hammer began rising again, the felt the echo of the other hammer falling.

It took only until the third strike before they heard the shriek of Kalros in response. The Reaper turned to face the oncoming sound before everyone had a moment of contemplation of their place in the galaxy. There really was no other response when confronted by the sheer enormity of Kalros rising from the ground like an angry, avenging deity before slamming into the Reaper, which seemed dwarfed beneath it. The Reaper was more agile than it looked though, sidestepping the lunging thresher maw and spinning it into the Shroud, the building dented and shaken by the impact. The Reaper attempted to use its main weapon, but Kalros was faster and retreated underground, safely away from the reach of the beam. The ground shook as Kalros burrowed quickly through the substrate, the Reaper firing randomly, almost panicked. The state of caution was warranted, but ultimately futile as Kalros came in for a second pass, this time erupting from underneath the Reaper and sending it sprawling to the ground. Before it could activate its engines and escape, Kalros encircled it like a python around its victim before dragging it beneath the surface. The sound of grinding engines and attempts to use its weapon followed as it sank beneath the dunes.

"Alright Mordin, you're clear," Wednesday said as she sheathed her sword. She ordered her team to sweep the area for any more Reaper forces while she met with Mordin. She could already hear the krogan bellowing their victory to the sky before Wrex got them doing something productive. It was difficult going, picking her way through the rubble, but eventually she got to the base of the Shroud and the laboratory within. She was met by Mordin supporting Eve to the tank, the shaman weak but alive.

"If you wanted to kill me today, now is the time," Eve managed to croak out. "Not even sure I'd mind at this point."

"If I wanted to kill you any time, I would want you at your best. Otherwise, where is the fun or the glory?" Wednesday asked in reply. Eve just grunted in agreement before she got into the tank. Mordin turned to face Wednesday with a grim expression as an explosion rang out above them. She looked up, seeing that the battle had obviously damaged the Shroud more than she had originally thought.

"Need to go up, insert cure vector, correct for likely sabotage and damage," Mordin said matter of factly. He had a small coughing fit after it as well, reminding Wednesday of his impending death.

"You realise it's going to be a one way trip, right?" Wednesday asked. She liked Mordin, but was a realist, not an idealist. Everyone had to die, but few every got to choose the time or method, and fewer still to die for something they believed in.

"Yes." It was a sign of his conviction that the single word summed up everything.

He strode towards the external elevator solemnly, and Wednesday did not cheapen his act by trying to heroically stop or plead with him. As the glass doors closed, he turned around, an expression of peace on his face mixed with sadness of all the things he didn't have time to test.

"What do you want your Record in the Black Tome to say your last words were?" Wednesday asked. Mordin tilted his head to think for a second before he replied

"Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong." And with that the elevator began to quickly ascend. Wednesday just walked back to the tank to find Eve looking at her expectantly.

"He isn't coming back, is he?" the krogan asked.

"No."

"I will miss him."

Wednesday took a few false starts but managed to get the tank moving. She tried not to look back as a massive explosion wracked the top of the tower, but saw it anyway through the rear camera feed. But instead of sadness, she felt merely a sense of vindication as instead of toxic green, the cloud now issuing from the Shroud was a sparkling gold. When she reached where her team and Wrex had congregated, she and Eve got out in time for the first of the flakes to fall on them, the snowflake-like structure quickly melting through armour into skin. While she felt nothing due to her incompatible biology, she could see the eyes of all the krogan light up in wonder.

Wrex took a deep breath, and then turned to his clansmen and allies.

"Spread the word, the genophage is over, and the Reaper's days are numbered. The old feuds are over, we are free. From this day forward, all krogan will remember that it was not our strength that beat the genophage, but our allies, and it was our strength and theirs combined that freed the galaxy."

"We have won our future, one where Shepard and Mordin will be the names of our heroes," Eve added. "Now, we must fight to secure it!"

With a bellowed roar, the krogan moved out, while Wrex and Eve approached where Wednesday and her team were preparing to leave.

"Just so you know Garrus, it'll probably take us a week or so to get ready for deployment on Palaven."

"I'm sure the Primarch will welcome the news," Garrus replied.

"Oh and Shepard, I'm calling in that favour you owe me. Arahlak Company went on assignment a few weeks ago, but I haven't heard from them. They are the best of the best Tuchanka has to offer. You want krogan boots of the ground, they have the most spikes on them. You get them back in play, we'll call it good for now."

"Alright Wrex, but only because you're my friend. Its a big galaxy and I can't be everywhere."

"You won't regret this detour, I guarantee it," Wrex said cryptically.

"Before you go Commander, know that you go with the thanks of the krogan, and that Urdknot Bakara considers you a friend."

"And I you," Wednesday replied.


Aria could have cursed, but she held her tongue. It had been a miserable trip, made all the more so because she couldn't kill anyone on the ship. It had been trivial to call Tevos and speed through her application to reside, however temporarily, on the Citadel. But now the best place she could find was called Purgatory. The food was bad, the drinks weren't properly watered down and the music sucked. The only barely redeeming factor was the quality of the staff and their barely-there uniforms. Even the couch she had appropriated felt wrong.

But now she was here, she could actually think instead of just stewing on her rage. If she wanted to take back Omega, she needed an army, and at the moment she was fresh out. That meant mercenaries. She also, if was going to be brutally honest with herself, needed a better strategist than she was. Over her centuries of ruling that rock, she had honed a cunning, yet brutal, political skill. Unfortunately, that had come at the cost of her huntress training, as her recent defeat had shown. She needed someone who could plan on the move, yet who wasn't afraid to get their hands dirty.

She needed Wednesday Addams.

The problem of an army suddenly became the solution not only to get back Omega, but to get Wednesday onside as well. The gift of an army in a time of galactic war would probably be received well. Now she just had to get that army. She pulled up a datapad and began typing away, seeing what had happened to some of the galaxy's larger mercenary operations.


"Councillor Udina, this is unexpected," the receptionist said.

"Yes, quite. Now, could you direct me to the rooms of Major Alenko and Lieutenant-Commander Williams?" he asked in reply.

"Given the current situation, we've had to put then in the same room, 367 up on the third floor."

"Thank you," Udina said as he made his way towards the elevator.

As he entered the room, he was at least a little relieved that both of them were awake, as it would make the next part easier.

"Councillor Udina, I'd salute, but I was told to minimise movement for the next few days," Alenko said as he saw their visitor. Doctor's orders didn't stop Williams from pulling off a salute, though she really hurt after.

"At ease you two," Udina said in his best charming voice. "I hear your recovery is progressing well."

"About as well as can be expected," Williams replied.

"Thankfully the doctors said there wasn't any damage to the spinal cord itself, so once the observational period is over, we should be able to get back to active service soon."

"That's good to hear," Udina replied with a slick smile. "It was about the nature of your return to active duty that I wished to talk to you about, if you're feeling up to it of course." He trailed off to make it sound like he was concerned for their health, but really, it was a tactic calculated to get their interest.

"Please, we're dying of boredom here, something else to think about would be a relief!" Williams exclaimed.

"Maybe don't try to scare the councillor with your enthusiasm," Alenko added with a chuckle. Udina chucked inside, this might be easier than he'd been planning.

"Well, as you are aware, Wednesday Shepard is now a privateer for the Alliance. While it still gives humanity a veneer of legitimacy regarding our first Spectre operative, there are some who view it as... distasteful." His pause let both of the wounded soldiers shudder as they recalled how distasteful Wednesday could be.

"Nevertheless, there are some people who believe that the time has certainly come for the next candidates for Spectre operatives to be put forward. I, and several others agree, that the two of you fit the bill."

"Really, Sir?" Williams asked.

"But of course,"Udina replied smoothly. "You have first hand experience with how a Spectre can operate, you both have had exceptional careers and good standing with the Alliance, I can hardly think of more qualified candidates."

"It's an honour Councillor, but I know I'm not in the right shape to just agree to that," Alenko replied cautiously. His look to Williams curtailed her initial reaction to accept it out of hand, but then he had always been the shrewd one of the two of them.

"We've got at least another week in bed here, let us think it over," Williams added. Udina frowned a little at the mild setback, but then this was too important to overplay his hands.

"Of course, I realise this a big decision. I'll let you two think about it for a few days, see how you're feeling then." With a bow of his head to both of them, he left the room, his mind already working out the easiest way to block them from speaking with Admiral Anderson.

Udina knew that Anderson would consider his ploy a political move, not a strategic one. He had the support of several other officers including Admiral Singh, and he was reasonably confident of convincing Hackett of the necessity. But Anderson, and the Addams Clan, would be able to see right through the ruse to the heart of the matter, and that he didn't need right now. Because if all went well soon, neither Anderson or the Addams would be able to stop him.

"What was that about?" Ashley asked as they were left alone.

"I'm not sure Ash, but knowing Udina I'm sure there's an ulterior motive behind it," Kaidan replied. "The man doesn't know how to do anything without one."

"Surely he can't be like that all the time, right?"

"Ash, for all that you're a good soldier, you still haven't really learned the political game. It goes without saying there was something he wasn't telling us, our challenge is to find out what. That's how the game is played."

"Sounds like a stupid game to me," Ash replied.

"I hear that," Kaidan chucked. "But like it or not, being a Spectre will be all about politics. It may not have seemed like it, but Commander Shepard is pretty savvy when it comes to this. She may not play by the same rules as the rest of us, but she still knows how to play the game."

"How do you mean?" Ash asked, morbidly curious despite herself.

"I know you probably want to forget about her, but I keep an eye on the Alliance Intel reports on her, at least the ones I can access. She's got the turians and the krogan to the table to talk, but what isn't widely known is that she's been working on this for months now. I'd be surprised if there wasn't a whole lot more she has done that we just didn't know about, and probably never will."

"I guess I never saw it like that," Ash admitted. "Looks like I've still got a lot to learn."

"Just hope you get the chance to. This war is going to get a whole lot worse worse before it gets better."


"He knew he wasn't coming back," Malra said without emotion as Wednesday came into the infirmary.

"How do you figure?" she asked in reply.

"He packed up all his things, and left this for me," the salarian replied, waving a datapad. "He left one for you as well," she added, pointing to another one next to his packed kit.

"He was dying, and he knew it. It takes a brave person to face their death like that."

"I knew he was dying too, I was just too polite to bring it up," Malra said, finally making eye contact. "There's a reason we don't live long, and he was well over the average."

"You don't seen as shaken up about it as you'd like me to think," Wednesday noted.

"We live, we die, so does everyone sooner or later. At least I got to spend time with him doing something important."

"Mordin was a brave man, he stood up for what he believed in. Follow his example, and you'll leave the galaxy a better place, just like he did."

"I'd like to stay, if you'll have me," Malra asked. "I may not be as experienced as he is... was, but I like to think I'm at least of a similar potential."

"Good idea," Wednesday replied. "If you read your uncle's reports of his time with me, you know what to expect. It'll be hard, sometimes nearly impossible, but it might just be what keeps us all alive."

"I'll do it for him," Malra said with conviction.

"Do it for you as well," Wednesday cautioned, before heading up to the war room.


In the hangar bay, Wednesday joined Anacrusis as the two of them looked down at the corpse of the ravage Wednesday had killed on the surface of Tuchanka.

"What can you tell me Ana?" Wednesday asked.

"It feels… wrong," Ana said tentatively, as if looking for the right word. "I can smell that it used to be what mother and her kind were. But I can hear the echoes of their songs in mother's memories, and these are nothing like them."

"I've seen what they used to be, trust me," Wednesday answered.

"No, you haven't," Ana answered sadly. "We used to be so different, before the yellow note. The things mother had to birth on the cold planet; they were as different to what we were as this thing is now. Even dead, I can feel the echoes of the yellowness, taste the sour control that had guided this thing."

"Is your mother alright?" Wednesday asked.

"Yes, I have spoken to her many times, even an hour ago. She is fine, and the yellow note has not found her, yet. I do not know where this thing has come from, but it did not come from the Coda Planet, nor any we have begun to burrow for the metal-skins."

"I had to ask Ana, this thing was a rachni once, before the Reapers did… whatever they have done to it. I would hate to see this happen to your kind before they had their chance."

"We would die before we submitted to the King in Yellow!" Ana shouted.

"The King in Yellow?" Wednesday asked.

"We can hear the echoes of the galaxy, even hidden underground, even among the stars. Mother and I can hear the source of the yellow note, the strongest voice singing it. You have called it Harbinger." Wednesday just nodded, wondering not for the first time if HP Lovecraft hadn't found a Reaper device in his journeys, which gave him the mad inspiration for Cthulu and his kind.

"If you can take a look and see if you can learn anything else about where it might have come from, I would appreciate it," Wednesday said. Mostly so she could know where to bomb from orbit.

"The yellow note destroyed my ancestors, it will not be allowed to destroy me," Ana replied strongly, probing deeper into the corpse with one of her tentacles.


"So you've got the support of the krogan, Fedorian, unless there are some other Rebellion-era contingencies you'd like to enlighten me about," Wednesday said as she entered the war room.

"None that I'm aware of that pose a threat at the moment," the Primarch replied. Wednesday took note of the unusual wording for later. "The only problem now is getting them moving. Krogan aren't known for their fleets, and I simply don't have the capacity at the moment to divert enough transports. I've been in contact with the rachni queen who calls herself Dal Segno, which was a disturbing experience let me tell you, and I've got her and her kin creating new civilian fallback points not registered on any database. If nothing else, it will give them all a chance to hide if none of this works."

"None of that Primarch, or the Reapers have already beaten us. You say you don't have the ships, that's fine, I know someone who probably does," Wednesday answered.

"Unless you've got the entire Migrant Fleet up your sleeve, I doubt it'll make a difference," Fedorian replied with a grim chuckle.

"Funny you should mention," Wednesday answered with a smirk, pressing a button on her Addams QEC. Her smirk changed to a frown as instead of the crisp hologram of Tali'Zorah, Admiral of the Fleet, she was met with static. That, more than anything, caused her some concern. She pushed the intercom .

"Traynor, are you busy?" she asked

Sam had learned from her time onboard the Normandy-A that if Wednesday asked if you were busy, you weren't.

"Nothing that can't wait till later," she replied in her crisp Oxford accent.

"Good, I need your expertise in the war room."

"Right away ma'am." A minute later, Sam entered the room to see Wednesday looking perplexed by her QEC. "How can I help?"

"Did Granny ever show you how this works?" Wednesday asked.

"Y-yes," Sam replied a little nervously. In fact, she had involved Sam in the design phase of the prototype for the device on Wednesday's wrist.

"Good, because I'm having trouble getting a hold of Tali."

"Oh, well then let me have a look at it," Sam said, holding out her hand expectantly. Wednesday handed the device over and Sam quickly pressed the button again to see the same static cloud.

"Hmm, it looks like there's a quantum misalignment, possibly the result of some recent damage. I'll just need a second or so to fix it." Sam fished for the toolkit she kept on her person now and opened the device, which while toughened for exactly the kind of things Wednesday did on a regular basis, wasn't invincible. She mumbled technical jargon to herself as she delicately realigned the quantum module that was indeed slightly mis-calibrated, checked the others to ensure they were alright as well, then closed the device and handed it back.

"Try it now," Sam suggested. Wednesday did so, and this time the image partially resolved, but turned into a cloud every few seconds.

"Wednesday, is that you?" came the crackly voice of Wednesday's favourite quarian.

"Tali, what's going on?" Wednesday asked. Turning quietly to Sam, she added in a look that asked the same question. Sam just hooked up the QEC to the main console and began frantically typing, trying to boost the signal and clarify the noise.

"Hang on," Tali said, the sound of a shotgun blast unmistakable. "I don't know whether to thank the ancestors for your timing, or curse them for it getting this bad first." The hologram was still flickering, though the sound was less interrupted.

"I'm guessing there's a problem?" Wednesday asked.

"Yes, though probably not a huge one by galactic standards," Tali replied as she fired at something out of view. "The short of it is that the Fleet and the geth are stuck in this system."

"Give me the long version Tali, I need that fleet mobile, and I need it soon."

"Alright, so I've been working with Zaal'Koris and aunty Raan on upgrading the Fleet and getting the geth back on at least non-hostile terms with the quarians," Tali explained, punctuating her statements with blasts from her shotgun. "So far so good, Han'Gerrel and Daro'Xen skulked away like teenagers to practice or whatever, didn't think it was a big deal. Except it turns out that one of them got their hands on a Reaper device of some kind, which now means that a significant portion of the Heavy Fleet and the geth have been subverted. Not enough to kill us in a direct fight, but enough to effectively stop the rest of us leaving. Then for whatever reason, there's a massive solar event we can't quite figure out, screws with all our sensors. When we can finally see past visual range, there's a fucking Little Reaper That Could parked in the middle of Han'Gerrel's formation, and our forward ships are being attacked by Reaper boarding parties."

"So, pretty much situation normal then," Wednesday summarized.

"Well, yeah," Tali agreed.

"Sounds like fun. I'll be able to tell you in person how we killed one of those Reapers with a thresher maw."

"Well, that's certainly one way to do it," Tali muttered. "Though you might want to hurry up if you want to join in the fun, before I tire of this game and bring out the big guns."

"I'll be sure to let Garrus know, you know how he is with large calibers."

"Oh boy do I," Tali agreed, before Wednesday cut the call.

She turned to Primarch Fedorian.

"You have ten seconds to object before I take you on as a hired gun out beyond the Perseus Veil," she said evenly.

"And if I do decide I needed a little R&R from being the Primarch for a few days?" he challenged.

"Then get used to taking orders instead of giving them. You have arms and armour on board?"

"Commander, I'm a turian. I can hardly get to sleep without a gun on my hip."

"I knew there was a reason I liked you," Wednesday said with a smirk as she engaged the ship-wide PA.

"Alright everyone, change of plans, instead of the Citadel to drop off our assorted VIP guests, we're going on another hunting expedition, this time out to quarian territory. So, get your asses in gear and check any prejudices at the airlock, because I hired you, and believe me, you will not like the severance package if you upset me. Now, let's get out there!"

"I'll begin letting the generals know of my whereabouts," Fedorian said as he bent back down. Wednesday nodded and left, throwing Sam an appreciative glance before she headed up to her cabin and shower, to get the dust of Tuchanka off her for a while.


A/N: This chapter has been a long time coming, and I owe you all an explanation for why it's taken over a year between chapters.

Firstly, being unemployed sucks. 15 months of it even moreso. You have little time for creative pursuits because you're constantly looking for work while watching your saving dwindle away and your partner get progressively more stressed about finances. What little time you do find, you can't seem to write because every rejection just cuts a little deeper into the depression that begins to underline your existence.

But then, you finally do get a job and you work extra hard at making sure that they keep you on. You give some of the new free time to taking care of your partner in return for all she has given you. You find time for your friends as well, who have noticed you becoming angry and bitter, and understand why and just give you support rather than platitudes.

Finally, you find the creative spark you thought had died, or had wandered into a different story and left the old, unfinished one just that - unfinished. It took several months of re-reading the previous stories, as well as the original inspirational stories and some others to get back into the old groove. I'm not entirely sure I've captured it again, but I needed to get this down or it was never going to start again. So here it is, I hope it's everything you've come to expect.

I've got a solid workplan now, if not necessarily a schedule. I won't promise anything, just apologise it's taken so long and that I will strive to finish this soon.

Reviews are always appreciated.