Wrex surveyed the battlefield. Corpses of krogans, humans, and other aliens littered the grounds everywhere and light haze of dust covered the field. He walked among the bodies checking for survivors among the mercs. Or soon not to be suvivors.. He continued his stroll, checking each corpse in his wake. He turned his head to the left. A human Blue Suns trooper lay with a large knife stuck through his heart; his eyes bulging out and his mouth wide open. He must have been screaming in pain before he passed. He turned to the right. A Blood pack Krogan with several shots to the face lie slumped over on his chest.
"Nice shot Turian..." he thought to himself, remembering the kill Garrus had scored less than an hour earlier. He halted when his ears caught the sound of a garbled, ragged cough. He looked straight ahead to see a Vorcha lying on his back; a gunshot wound to his lower abdomen. His hands clamped over it desperately trying to stop the bleeding. He calmly walked over to the dying Vorcha and stood up straight staring down into its eyes as it breathed its last breaths.
"Agh!" The Vorcha strained to speak. "B...Blood P-Pack...a-and Blue...Suns...crush you!" Wrex smiled slyly and lifted his foot.
"I'll be sure to tell them the something similar..." Wrex stomped down on the Vorcha's head with all the strength his leg would allow causing the Vorcha's head to cave in and blood to gush out like a squashed grape.
"Vermin..." Wrex mumbled. He twisted his foot in both directions, wiping the ground with the Vorcha's brain matter. He lifted his foot off the corpse and stared at it for a moment.
"Wish I could do that every time I get bored..." He chuckled. He heard large footsteps behind him and spun around. The shadow of a Krogan could be seen through the haze. When the figure came closer, he immediately recognized the green head-plate of his brother, Wreav. He didn't seem very pleased to say the least. He glared at Wrex the entire time. Wreav stopped in front of his brother and threw his arms out.
"Do you have any clue as to what you have done, brother?" Wreav grumbled. Wrex rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, I killed a lot of squishy, quad-sucking mercs." He replied sarcastically. Wreav grew angrier.
"Your interference in the duel will not go unnoticed! You will lose your standing with every clan that has come to respect you! You have undone all you have accomplished in one day!" Wrex turned back around to look down at the bloody cranium of the Vorcha he had crushed.
"Let them think what they want. I still have the strongest clan on Tuchanka. Urdnot follows me and if they don't, I'll show them know the meaning of 'aggressive negotiations.'
Wreav took a step forward and pointed at Wrex. "Fool! Your warriors will abandon you just as you abandoned every Krogan tradition! Gatatog Uvenk was right about you!" Wrex clenched his fist tightly and spun around letting it connect with his brothers face. Wreav fell backward and tried to lift himself up but Wrex grabbed him by the collar and proceeded to drag his brother over to the body of the krogan that Garrus had killed. Wreav struggled but his brother's grip was too strong. Wrex then placed his brother in a headlock and leaned forward so that Wreav's face was staring straight down at the orange pool of blood that had oozed from the dead krogan's head.
"Is this the future you want for our people!" exclaimed Wrex. Wreav continued to struggle. Wrex loosened the headlock and then tossed his brother aside. "Look at our world brother! Look at the smoldering ruins of our once glorified Tuchanka! What has tradition ever done for us! Nuclear war, the Genophage..." Wreav took the opportunity to speak while his brother paused.
"It is who and what we are Wrex!" retorted Wreav.
"We are who we chose to be! And I chose to unite our people under one banner! We will be one again! And I'll drag each and every one of you into the future I'm building for us! Dead or alive! The mistakes of our forefathers will not be repeated!" Wreav was finally on his two feet again. His knuckles cracked as he stretched his hand, preparing to teach his brother a lesson. Wrex noticed this and clenched his fist letting it glow with biotic energy. Wreav decided that taking on his superior would be suicide and relaxed his fist. Wrex too contained his anger and his fist stopped glowing. Wreav then turned around, giving one last spiteful glare at Wrex, and then began to walk away.
Wrex turned back to the corpse of the dead krogan, "Wreav!" Wrex yelled out. "Fuck with me like that again and you'll look a lot worse than him!" He said referring to the bloody corpse. Wreav grunted and disappeared into the haze.
Wrex became lost in thought. "Too bad humans don't have a redundant nervous system eh Shepard?" Wrex chuckled at the thought, wondering if Shepard would pull through the beating he had received earlier. The pain Shepard was feeling must be unbearable. That is, if he was still alive. But somehow Wrex knew Shepard's hard ass could take it.
...
Tali sat down at the table in the mess hall with Garrus was right beside her, patting her on the back gently for comfort. Her sobbing had lightened up but the tears still flowed endlessly. Waiting for an update on Shepard's condition was tearing her heart to shreds. She sat leaned over the table clenching her fists tightly. She still had passing thoughts of running down to engineering to put a scatter-shot slug into that bosh'tet tank-bred Krogan's face. As much as Shepard wouldn't want her to do that, she still could barely contain her hatred. Garrus could see pool of tears building up at the base of her visor. Occasionally her suit would evaporate them when the build up became too much. He was almost glad it hid the painful expression on her face. He wasn't sure he could bear to see her like that. It had been hours since Doctor Chakwas and Professor Solus had started the surgery. They had polarized the windows of the med bay to hide the gruesome operation. Tali wished she could be in there to hold his hand but the Doctor needed room to work. The survival of her love depended on it.
The med bay hatch hissed open with Chakwas and the professor stepping out, their cloths and latex gloves covered in blood. Tali shot up with Garrus following suite and ran over to them. The suspense caused her heart to beat rapidly, so rapidly that she thought it would burst. She stared into the bloodshot eyes of the doctor and prepared to hear the worst.
"We re-constructed his rib cage as best we could... Patched up his lung and stopped the bleeding as well..." Chakwas said trying to keep her gaze on Tali but her eyes only drifted to the floor. Mordin took a step forward.
"Lost much blood. Stable, but critical. Life or death..." Mordin inhaled deeply, "Up to him now..." Chakwas nodded at Mordin and then spoke to Tali with an outstretched hand.
"You may see him now..." Tali pushed past them and sprinted through the door. She halted in front of Shepard's medical bed and gasped when she saw just how pale he was with an oxygen mask still placed over his mouth.
"Shepard..." she whispered. He had been placed in a medically induced coma to aid in the healing. The sight pained her. He had always seemed invincible against any threat. But his true mortality was showing. Her tears began to flow again as she reached for his cold, clammy hand and caressed it softly. Garrus watched her from the med bay door keeping as silent as ever and watched her tend to him for a moment then dropped his head and walked out, sealing the door behind him. Chakwas was talking to Mordin outside.
"We should probably inform the rest of the crew..." She said.
No..." said the turian. "It's bad enough with just Tali grieving. If the worst comes, I'll send them a message myself."
Mordin nodded. "Agreed, maintain morale of crew. No need for unnecessary grief." The professor insisted.
Chakwas turned to Garrus again. "We should at least inform Wrex. I'm sure he's just as worried for his old friend."
Garrus shook his head. "Blood Pack are all over Tuchanka. I don't want to risk this information leaking out. The mercs could take advantage of Shepard's condition and launch another attack."
...
Back inside the med bay, Tali had pulled up a chair next to the medical bed and laid her heard on Shepard's bruised arm. Her crying had stopped and she regained some composure. She wanted to be strong for him when and if he woke up. She was suddenly startled by door of the med bay opening again.
"Creator-Tali'Zorah." A synthesized voice called from behind. Tali peaked over her shoulder at the the Geth platform.
"Legion..." She replied. A series of pulses went through Legion's face plates. She knew he wanted to say something so she remained silent and waited for him to speak.
"We offer our sympathies for Shepard-Commander's current condition." Its face plates pulsed again. Legion was the last person-err thing she expected to find comfort from. She tried to smile under her helmet but the frown remained.
"Thank you..." she whispered turning back to Shepard. Legion walked up behind her and stared at Shepard with its bright circular eye. Even with over 1000 Geth programs inside of it, it could still not feel remorse. At least, not in the way organics feel it.
"We hope to see Shepard-Commander fully functioning soon." It said looking down at Tali. She welcomed its concern even though it wasn't able to express it as well as an organic being. Legion walked past her into the AI core and took its usual spot at the end of the room. It performed an extranet search on "Remorse," trying to understand what it was rather than what it meant. As usual the results came back with dictionary references. Nothing it didn't already know. It stood in the dark and glanced at the piece of Shepard's old N7 armor welded to its shoulder that it had picked up back on Eden Prime. It still didn't understand why of all things, it chose this piece of armor to repair itself with. It thought about it and began to feel an unknown sensation. Could it be that its programs were actually slowly evolving? Learning? Did it... admire Shepard? It tried to justify the feeling with a logical conclusion.
"Consensus... system error..."
...
Garrus had returned to the main battery, trying to ease his mind by running the usual weapons calibrations. It didn't help much as his thoughts kept drifting into worry for his commander. He tried to deny his own thoughts, cursing at himself to try to focus on the console in front of him. He sighed and let his hands rest on the sides of the control panel. He was brought back to reality when Joker called over the comm.
"Garrus, there's a krogan shuttle approaching. Um, Wrex is requesting permission to dock." Garrus felt puzzled for a second.
"Why are telling me this?" He replied.
"Cause at the moment you're in charge ya' big dope." Joker said sarcastically.
"Of course..." Garrus whispered. "Proceed. Tell him I'll meet him at the airlock."
"Copy that." Joker acknowledged.
...
Wrex unlocked the hatch and proceeded into the Normandy's airlock for decontamination. A process he wasn't to fond of but accepted it and waited patiently for the doors to open. When they did, Garrus met his eyes, standing outside the airlock.
"Wrex, good to see you." The Turian said politely. Wrex stepped forward and directed his gaze down the hall.
"How's our boy?" Wrex asked.
"He's hanging in there, but we won't really know for sure till he wakes up." Garrus replied. Wrex turned back to him.
"So... where's our tank-bred friend?"
"He's been in his room in engineering the entire time." The Turians expression turned to anger, "Under different circumstances, I'd probably space him."
Wrex chuckled. "That's what happens when you spend too much time around Shepard, you get soft." Garrus' mandibles stretched outward, the first smile he'd had all day. He nodded at the truth of the krogan battle-master's words and proceeded to lead him to the crew deck.
…
"Shit! What the fuck was that! Since when does a frigate carry that kind of fire power!" Vido was throwing a tantrum on the bridge of his cruiser. It had not been long since they retreated from Tuchanka after the Normandy had put on quite a display after destroying the Blood Pack cruiser with one blast its powerful Thanix cannon.
"Sir, what are your orders?" One of the Blue Suns officers on the bridge asked. Vido calmed himself and sat back down in his chair.
"Set a course for Illium. We're gonna need more than just the Blood Pack to drag Shepard's ass to hell. And I hear Eclipse ain't exactly in good standings with him either..."