Amala sat in front of one of the ship's storage bins searching for all the loose heat sinks she had thrown in it from previous missions. She looked up at the sound of boots and found all three turians approaching her. Saren moved to stand in front of the other two.
"Nihlus and Garrus wish to join us when we aid Wrex."
Amala stopped her search to give her attention to them, her arms resting on the sides of the bin. "What do you think?"
"I do not like it, not when we don't know what we will face. However, they do need combat experience."
"Agreed. Alright, we will all go then, just remember," she stated, deliberately catching the eyes of Nihlus and Garrus, "don't follow Wrex's lead, his style of combat is suited for a krogan, not the rest of us. However, if Saren or I tell you to jump, I expect you to say 'how high'."
"Of course. But we need this. To do something to help our people," Nihlus said, Garrus nodding in agreement.
"I get that. But I want you to be able to keep helping your people. So with that said, start searching for more of these," she said, holding up a heatsink, "while I break out my big guns."
"Spirits! You have more weapons than what was in your apartment?" Nihlus asked.
Amala chuckled, "Oh yeah. I keep my biggest ones on the ship. They, uh, aren't suited for close combat, but for this, well, they are perfect."
She moved over to the weapon locker and pulled out her trusty Black Widow. She laid it on the nearby table set up for working on her weapons. Wrex strode into the storage room and headed to Amala with a grin on his face.
"I'll take the Cain."
Amala sighed. "Giving you the Cain sounds like a recipe for you to blow us all up."
He just laughed and held his hand out to her.
"Fine. Try to remember not to use it in an enclosed space."
She pulled the massive weapon out of the locker and handed it to the krogan.
"How much ammo we got for it?"
"Two shots, so yeah, save them for when we really need it," she told him when she handed him the spare shot.
"I assume it does a lot of damage," Saren said as he eyed the device.
"It's nicknamed the 'nuke launcher'. I've only fired it once and well, it took down a geth colossus and all the geth around it."
"Geth?"
"Ah, well, they are AI's built by the quarian race and they rebelled against their makers. They rarely leave the old quarian system, but I've run against them a few times."
Amala's fingers grazed over the stock of her rifle; it had been a while since she had needed it. She glanced up when she heard someone move in close to her. She found Garrus beside her gazing down at the rifle.
"That's an impressive gun."
She grinned. "A gift from my mentor in the Alliance when I became the first human Spectre. She's a heavy gun, but worth the weight, since a single shot will take out most anything and at a great distance. I was an infiltrator in the Alliance, so a sniper rifle was a must."
"Hmm, I wonder if I could try it out sometime."
She opened up the locker and pulled out a different rifle and handed it to him.
"That's my old Viper. It's a good one to start with."
"Are you sure?"
"Might as well take it out, it's just sitting in here gathering dust. Typically I hang back and let Wrex get in their faces and pick them off while he has them on the run."
"Thank you then. Show me how to care for it."
Together they went over the gun until he felt comfortable with it. She watched him as he broke it down and rebuilt it by himself.
"If you don't mind me asking, what did you do to end up in that cell?"
He stopped for a moment and turned to look at her. He cleared his throat while one hand rubbed at the back of his neck.
"My sister. They came for her one day. They didn't say why. She was, no, is two years older than me. I figured I would be next, so I decided to start my own war. I've always had a knack with mechanical things, so I sabotaged anything and everything I could get a hold of that was theirs. At first they chalked it up to routine accidents, but eventually they figured out it had to be one of us doing it. When they confronted us, I confessed. I didn't want anyone else to be punished for what I had done."
"If we win this, I'll do everything I can to help you find your sister."
"You've already done so much for us. I'm sure you have better things to do than help me."
"Well with EDI's help, it shouldn't be that hard."
"Thank you then. I owe you more than I can ever repay."
EDI brought the ship down low, well away from the main part of the base. They had waited until the sun had started to fall below the horizon, the light a murky glow from the haze that obscured the planet. It did, however, give them some measure of cover. Metal debris lay scattered across the landscape - remnants of the ships that had been sent planetside. They quickly dropped down to the surface and the ship lifted away. They took shelter behind some of the larger pieces to regroup. Saren looked around in confusion.
"Why are we in the middle of a garbage dump?"
Wrex laughed. "Welcome to Korlus."
"This planet specializes in scavenging derelict spacecraft for parts and reselling it. So yeah, most of it looks like this," Amala explained.
Wrex made to move out of cover, but she stopped him with a hand on his arm.
"Where do you think this guy will be in the base?"
"He'll be in some sort of a lab."
"A lab? What? Who is this guy?"
"His name is Okeer. We kicked him off of Tuchanka because his experiments were too extreme even for us to take."
"How is he luring others here then?"
Wrex sighed, clearly uncomfortable with this turn of the conversation. "I intercepted one of the bulletins he targeted to our younger people. He told them that he is close to a genophage cure, but those who left to join him are never heard from again."
Amala sighed. "You know you could have told me that before, instead of lying to get my help."
"Yeah well, I didn't want you going to the Council with that information. People get twitchy when you mention a cure for the genophage and the krogan you are after in the same sentence."
Mordin snorted, "Highly unlikely he would have succeeded. Predict we will find lots of dead bodies."
Wrex growled a bit as he eyed the salarian. "Yes, I know your people are smarter than the rest of us, but can you blame us for trying?"
"Enough you two," Amala said, moving to stand between the two. "So not only do we have to deal with him, but also any of your people he lured here."
"Yeah, and don't forget the Blue Suns."
"How did he get mixed up with them?"
"Don't know, but it ends today. The krogan can't afford to loose any more of us to this monster."
"Agreed. Assume anyone we encounter is hostile."
"Just how I like it," Wrex growled. "No talking, just shooting."
They fell in behind Amala as they began the trek to the building that EDI had identified as the source of the transmissions from Okeer. The path she took lead them around as she tried to keep in cover as much as possible. Wrex grumbled but followed along.
She dropped behind what appeared to be the remnants of some ship's thruster when they finally could see the guards posted at the door nearest to them. One guard leaned lazily against the wall while the other paced in a small circle. She pulled out her rifle and used the scope to get a better look.
"Hey, Garrus, pull out that rifle I gave you and come up here. I think we found someone for you to practice on."
She felt rather than saw him move into position next to her. Her focus was on the roving member of the guards as she pieced together the pattern of his movements.
"See that one nearly asleep against the wall? He's your mark. Aim for high on his chest and be ready to shoot when I say go. If you miss, you may have enough time to get a second shot off, so don't panic. As soon as both guards are down, we all run for the door."
"Got him," Garrus murmured.
"Right," she said, lining up her own target in her scope. A few more breaths and she was ready. "Ready...Go!"
The twin reports from the rifles cracked across the area. Wrex bolted from cover first, leading the group as he sprinted towards the door. Garrus and Amala were the last to cross the space. Garrus stopped at the door and knelt down to check the human that had been his mark.
"Damn. That's not where I was aiming," he said, frustration evident in his tone.
Amala clapped him on the shoulder. "He's down. I call it good shooting. I have a feeling you'll get lots more practice."
His mandibles flared in a grin but his eyes were narrowed in anger. "Yeah, just show me where those bastards are that took my sister and I'll happily practice all day on them."
Mordin already had the door opened and they rushed through, guns at the ready. Luck appeared to be on their side for the moment, as nothing moved in the hallway they entered. Amala winced at the amount of noise they made, but there was nothing that could be done about it - krogan just weren't made for stealth.
"We need to find a terminal so I can link EDI to their system and we can have an idea of where we need to go in here."
They surged down the corridor, methodically checking behind any doors with weapons at the ready. The doors so far had only revealed storage rooms. They came to the first intersection and Amala swore under her breath. Neither direction gave any indication of what lay beyond.
"We should split up. Cover more ground that way," Wrex said.
"We don't know how many of their units are currently located here or where our target is. On top of that, two of us have limited experience in a firefight. No, safer to stay together for now."
With that said, Amala decided to head right and the others followed behind her. She could still hear Wrex grumbling a bit, but he would fall in line. One of the doors further down the hallway opened up and a merc stepped out. He appeared to have been sleeping as he was in loose clothing and too busy rubbing his eyes to notice at first who had woken him.
"Janders, I swear," he began. Surprise crossed his features before he attempted to dive back into his room.
Saren and Amala were the first to pull their pistols and he went down under their shots. They quickly dragged the body back into the room he had just left only a moment ago.
"Shepard, they are going to know we are here now," Wrex growled.
"I know. Come on, we need to find a terminal, now more than ever."
They continued on, finding a few more mercs off shift, asleep in their rooms. They were executed quickly before they moved along. Saren moved up to walk beside Amala.
"Are these mercenaries always so poorly disciplined?" The disdain in his voice carried well across the translator.
"No, but I bet they weren't expecting an assault on one of their bases and that made them lax on security. I don't expect that to hold for long though; eventually someone is going to hear our shots."
Two doors down they finally found a room with a terminal. They ducked inside, Saren and Wrex guarding the door while Amala linked the base's system to EDI.
"Schematics are downloading to the omni-tools. There are two labs most likely to be where Okeer is located. Also, there is only a skeleton crew currently on site. Most of the units are out on missions; however, they are expected to return by the morning."
"Thanks, EDI. Any idea on why the Blue Suns would work with Okeer?"
"From the notes I have accessed, Okeer promised them the support of all krogan he cured. He also believed he would be able to bring the krogan of Tuchanka under his rule by holding the cure over their heads. To date, none have survived the process."
"Okay, we'll hit the closest lab and then if he isn't there, go to the next one."
They moved a little quicker now that they knew where they were going. The door to the area that EDI had indicated displayed the red locked icon. Amala opened the panel and began the process of bypassing the lock. Wrex stood beside her, shotgun in hand, a feral grin on his face as he waited to open the door. Saren and Mordin took up spots to watch the hall for any sign of movement.
"Got it."
The panel turned green and Wrex hit it and was already moving into the room as soon as the door opened enough for him to get through. Amala followed behind him, but they all came to a halt mid-stride. This might have been classified as a lab, but it was obvious it had since been turned into a morgue. Dead krogan lay on gurneys stacked all over the room. Mordin already had his omni-tool busy, scanning those closest to him.
Wrex snarled as he surveyed the bodies of his people. Dead on this world at the hand of one of their own.
"We have to stop him, Shepard. Look at what he did! He killed them and left them here to rot."
"We will, Wrex. Come on."
Wrex strode down the hall, the others following behind him. They arrived at the other designated lab without incident. The panel indicated the door was unlocked and Wrex slapped his hand over the plate. The door slid open to find a large krogan, his hands deep inside another krogan strapped to a table. The one on the table was still alive if the roll of his eyes was any indication.
Wrex roared and slammed the butt of his shotgun into the side of Okeer's head. Okeer staggered, but with a snarl of his own he turned to face his enemy. Now that Okeer was away from the krogan he had been working on, Wrex blasted him with his shotgun. Amala joined Wrex in unloading her weapon into Okeer. He snarled and attempted to charge her, but Wrex blocked him and with a crash of his head sent him reeling back once more. Her pistol whined when it overheated, but the krogan had finally fallen by then. She popped out the heatsink and put in a fresh one, just in case.
Mordin moved up to view the victim on the table. A few scans showed the krogan in question had expired.
"He was awake the whole time?" Garrus asked with a shudder.
"Redundant aspects of nervous system make krogan difficult to anesthetize," Mordin told him.
With one foot, Wrex prodded the dead body on the floor. Amala placed one hand on his arm.
"Come on, let's get out of here before the rest of the base returns."
"He wasted my people's lives. Did he even learn anything?"
"Unsure. Will analyze data when we are back on the ship," Mordin said softly.
The mood on the way back out was somber.
~Thanks to Mordinette for all her help! And thank you to all the readers for your support!~