Note: This is a Wrex flashback, after he comforts Liara after the death of Matriarch Benezia. Occurs during First Life, Ch 17. 'Kruban' is the Krogan mythological paradise where honorable warriors feast for eternity.

Ghosts of Tuchanka

2183 - Normandy, Horse Head Nebula, Post-Noveria

Urdnot Wrex wasn't one to normally attend 'social functions' but no Krogan in their right mind would turn down free drinks, so once the commander announced that the promotion party for Williams included alcohol, Wrex decided to be there. As he rolled up to the celebration, he was approvingly surprised to see the Asari, seeing as Liara had just lost her mother. Shows strength of spirit! Wrex plopped himself down next to her. Having a similar long life span, he was a kindred soul and ever since he originally carried her to the med bay when they fetched her off Therum, he had taken it upon himself to watch out for her. He didn't really need to do anything; he just made it known that he liked her and it would be unwise for anyone to hurt one of his friends. Once people understood his level of attachment, they pretty much left her alone. She was a good kid, sweet and endearing, but had an underlying spine of steel not often seen in squishy types. She had taken her first blood much better than many Wrex had been forced to work with in his mercenary days. She had been a bit shaken, but she didn't run off into a corner and lose her breakfast like so many he'd seen. He nodded to himself in approval. She is strong. A suitable mate for Shepard.

They sat in amicable silence for bit, Wrex quietly drinking his Ryncol, thinking Liara might say something once she was done eating. It didn't happen, so Wrex gave her a sidelong glance and started speaking. "One of the reasons I left Tuchanka...main reason, really. My father was clan leader and we had a disagreement on how things should be run. He felt I was challenging his leadership, so he decided to eliminate the competition. He tried to kill me, so I killed him instead and left Tuchanka to become a mercenary. Never wanted to be clan leader to begin with, stupid old Krogan." When Wrex reached a huge hand over and patted Liara 'gently' on the back, he realized she wasn't really paying attention to her surroundings because the pat almost knocked her out of her chair. "Hell of a thing to have to kill your own parent. Sorry, kid. I know it's tough, but if you wanna, you know...talk...you can talk to me anytime. I'll understand." Surprisingly, Liara took the comment well. He'd expected her to cry like most squishies, but she was definitely tougher than most. She'd make a good Krogan.

He didn't really expect any kind of answer, so was somewhat surprised when she laid her tiny hand atop his and spoke. "Thank you, Wrex. I really do appreciate it, but I'm afraid I...I don't truly know yet what I could even possibly say. I...I am sorry to hear about your father."

As the Asari fell silent, Wrex glanced over at Shepard, who was looking at him like she'd never seen a Krogan before... well, maybe it was because she'd never seen a Krogan who actually cared about anything but their next paycheck and next bottle of Ryncol. Wrex looked back down at Liara, and as gentle as a Krogan could be, said, "Don't worry about it, kid. When you're ready, the words will come." Suddenly self-conscious about being stared at by the commander like he was some freak of nature, he stood up and rumbled away from the table, "I'm gonna go clean my shotgun," and wandered to the weapons bench. There weren't many in the galaxy who could make Wrex uncomfortable with a glance but the respect he held for Shepard, especially since Virmire, certainly made the commander one of them. While his hands worked on autopilot at the familiar task of disassembling his gun, his mind took him to another place and another time...

1211 - Aralakh System, Tuchanka

Wrex had been one of the lucky ones. He actually lived. It was a rare enough thing because of the Genophage and it was made even more so when it was discovered that Wrex was born a biotic; destined to become a Battlemaster should he survive his youth and all the Tuchanka trials. Natural born biotics happened on occasion within the Krogan and it was genetic, but always skipped several generations; for Wrex, the last had been his great-great-grandfather. Because of Wrex's potential, his sire requested and completed the Rite of Parentage, allowing Urdnot Jarrod, father and clan leader, to claim Wrex as his son and heir. It also meant that an exceptionally young Wrex was immediately removed from his mother and the female camp, to live and train with the clan's male warriors. Wrex was bigger and stronger than many Krogan, maybe stronger than them all, and growing up he never lost a fight. At the top of his youthful accomplishments, Wrex and his Krantt killed the Thresher Maw during the final challenge of his Rite of Passage... something that hadn't been accomplished in the last 1200 years. Upon his successful completion of the Rite, Wrex was accepted into Clan Urdnot and quickly rose through the ranks.

Urdnot Jarrod used Wrex's strength as a political tool, arranging additional breedings based on the potential strength of his offspring, and Clan Urdnot grew a bit faster than other clans and quickly gained prominence on the Krogan homeworld. In turn, the prominence of Clan Urdnot gained its male Krogan exactly what they lived for... battle. After the Krogan Rebellions ended, most remaining Krogan tribes wanted to continue fighting, and Clan Urdnot's high standing made them the desired opponent. Combining his parentage with his own strength and prowess in battle, Wrex became the youngest Krogan to lead one of the smaller Urdnot tribes in over a thousand years; he was a mere 220 years of age. His victories against the tribes of other clans quickly earned Wrex fame, but Wrex had a different definition of success. He realized if the Krogan kept killing one another, their species as a whole was doomed because of the Genophage and its devastating effect on their ability to reproduce. As a result, his tribe fought only when necessary to defend their territory and chose to focus on breeding instead. When his tribe's growth rate started to far exceed the others, other tribes started to agree with his philosophy and followed his path. This did not sit well with Urdnot Jarrod.

A messenger from Jarrod, Urdnot Gurag, stood before Wrex. "You are Urdnot, yet you ignore the clan leader's wishes!"

Wrex grunted, "His wishes will lead to the extinction of the Krogan and I will not let us commit suicide! The Genophage weakens us, but civil wars will kill us all. All others may battle themselves into dust, yet this Urdnot tribe will grow strong and Urdnot will go on! We will have strength in numbers!"

"There is only glory in battle, not in numbers, you disobedient whelp!" Gurag's hand fell to the hilt of his knife in warning.

Wrex did not fail to notice, and before Gurag could draw the blade, Wrex head-butted him and knocked him back a number of steps. "You dare? You forget where you are! You are in my territory and you will respect me as tribal leader or issue a proper challenge, not look to stab me in secret!"

Gurag growled, "Jarrod will hear of this, Whelp!"

Wrex laughed. "Yes, and it will be you to run home and tell him. I could send my answer back as your head on a spike, but you are not worth killing!"

Gurag bristled at the insult, but dared not attack Wrex. If Wrex didn't kill him, Jarrod would for failing his orders to just deliver the message, nothing more. Being a typical Krogan, Gurag let his emotions rule, instead of reason, and had allowed the conversation to degenerate into an argument. Now he had to return to Jarrod in shame and tell him of Wrex's refusal to join him in battle against Clan Jurdon. When told of the outcome, Jarrod was furious.

"Wrex has split Urdnot and more than a quarter of our tribes follow his lead! They will not fight and the other clans know of it!" Jarrod growled. "He is my blood, but he is a cancer. Krogan are born to fight! Wrex's ideas weaken the clan and this cannot be allowed!"

Gurag glared at the clan leader, "Your orders made me look weak. I was forced to choose between honoring your orders or defending my own honor when he insulted me, but I am not Wrex. I obey my clan leader. To right this wrong, I claim the right to be your battlehand!"

Jarrod nodded. "Agreed. We will arrange a Crush at the Hollows, and I grant you your boon. You will stand with me when we loose their blood to the desert."

Gurag growled, "You would violate the ancestral burial grounds and bleed your own offspring on such holy ground? Violence is forbidden within its confines."

Jarrod sneered. "Wrex's refusal to fight... he is not true Krogan! Bleeding him there is not an act of violence, it is an act of purification of the Urdnot bloodlines!"

Wrex looked at the formal writ, his second by his side. "Ravic. I do not like this 'request' for a Crush. It is to be held at the Hollows, and by definition is supposed to be held on neutral ground, so we should be doubly safe, but I sense a trap."

Ravic nodded. "I sense the truth of what you say, but it does not matter. When the Clan Leader invites you to a Crush... well, there are some laws we all hold sacred. We must attend."

"Hrrumpf. I suppose. Even if we know the request is made with ill intent. But there is nothing that says we must go unarmed." Wrex growled. "We will not take all the warriors. We will leave many to defend the territory, so we'll only take ten. You, me, plus eight of our best."

When they arrived at the Hollows, only Jarrod and Gurag were waiting for them. Feeling eyes watching, Wrex looked around but saw no one else. He and his nine followers strode in and greeted the Clan Leader.

"Warlord Jarrod. We come in answer to your request for Crush. What is it you need to resolve?"

Jarrod looked over his young progeny. Tribal leadership had weathered Wrex, and he stood tall and strong. "Why is it you come to a Crush with warriors behind you, bearing weapons?"

Wrex didn't blink. He expected this question and had an answer prepared. "It is the burial grounds of our ancestors! It honors them for us to come as we are, as proud Krogan warriors!"

The Warlord was not surprised by the response and hoped to sway the young Krogan from his stubborn refusal to fight by calling those same words back against him. "You speak such honorable words as a warrior, yet you refused your Clan Leader's call to war against the Jurdon as they encroach on our borders! Proud? Ha! You fail in your obligations as a Krogan!"

"You have plenty of tribes on the borders to fight off the paltry attempts of Jurdon. They pose no threat to Urdnot dominance! Our tribal scouts are able to defend our borders. You do not need our warriors... you call on my tribe merely to prove we are under your thumb." Wrex stood confident; his arms hung relaxed at his sides. "We serve Urdnot by growing the numbers within our clan, and it is working. We produced as many living offspring as half of your remaining tribes, combined! Think how strong Urdnot would be if we all focused on such, even if only for a single generation. We would be unstoppable!"

Gurag growled and his feet shifted impatiently as he clenched and unclenched his fists, eager for his revenge. Jarrod spit out, "You naive whelp! You think the rest of Urdnot bleeds so you can make babies? If all Urdnot did that we would not have numbers! We would be turned into meat by Jurdon... and if not them, then by any one of the other fourteen clans would do so as soon as they realized our weapons have lost their edge!"

"So let us continue as we are, or let some other tribe do so... but someone must, or within a few generations we will battle our way straight into extinction and no amount of glory will save the Krogan!" Wrex glowered at the stubbornness of the Warlord and his refusal to see reason.

Ravic started moving uneasily. "Wrex, there is motion in the rocks."

Wrex growled, "I see it. Be prepared. This will not end well, but I will not have our tribe be the first to violate the sanctity of the Hollows."

Warlord Jarrod reached over his back and pulled a shotgun from its hardpoint. "You will dishonor Clan Urdnot no longer!" Rather than shoot at Wrex who immediately pulled up a biotic barrier, he blasted Ravic. As Wrex's second dropped to the ground, his remaining eight warriors turned on their shields and drew their weapons. All around them, Jarrod's men leapt from concealed locations; had Wrex come alone or with just Ravic, he would have been cut down in seconds. Instead, Jarrod's dozen Krogan barely had the upper hand, and that didn't take into account the detail that Wrex was a Battlemaster... young, but a Battlemaster nonetheless. He let loose a warp that sent his father's shotgun flying off, to bust against the rocks.

Gurag charged Wrex, who quickly halted him with a stasis. By the time he recovered, Ravic had regenerated and rose to intercept him, leaving Wrex free to face his father. While the battle raged around them, the two focused only on one another, as if no others existed in the entirety of the Hollows. Jarrod bellowed in anger and drew his Nevembat, a Krogan battle blade designed specifically for melee combat. The leading edge consisted of an eighteen centimeter dagger blade, slightly curved and serrated on the convex edge while smooth on the concave side. The front edge of the mostly enclosed handgrip was in essence an extra large ulu knife style blade that stretched twenty-five centimeters across, extending well past the end of Jarrod's grip and designed for slashing and chopping. An experienced adult Krogan like Warlord Jarrod could chop off a man's head in a single blow with such a blade.

Wrex bared his teeth and drew his own Nevembat, rolling lithely to the side as Jarrod charged, easily avoiding the madly slashing blade of his father. Wrex was still young and amazingly agile for a Krogan, and he surprised Jarrod with his dexterity. As Jarrod passed, Wrex lashed out and left a deep gouge down the backside of Jarrod's armor, using just a hint of biotic power to add strength to his strike. Jarrod's second approach was more measured and the two Krogan locked blades. Forcing the blades downward with his superior strength, Jarrod cleared the way to thrust his plate forward and head-butted Wrex, sending the younger Krogan stumbling backward. As Jarrod dived to press his advantage, Wrex pitched himself off to the side and avoided the Warlord's main thrust, but was still caught by a secondary slash that tore through his gauntlet and drew first blood.

Jarrod sniggered, "Give it up, Whelp! You are no match for a true Warlord of the Krogan!"

Wrex growled, "I'm trying to not kill you, idiot! The Krogan need you as a leader and a breeder, not a senseless war machine!"

Jarrod circled and sneered at the insolent youth, looking for an opening. "You are hopeless! You still refuse to fight, even when it will cost you your life?" He accompanied the verbal jab with a physical one, which Wrex countered and followed up with a downward stab with the end of the ulu blade side of the Nevembat, punching a deep hole into Jarrod's forearm, making his sire howl in frustration and pain.

"You are overconfident for a slow old man. Your time for fighting is past, Clan Leader. Your beliefs can lead only to the downfall of Urdnot!" Wrex followed his strike with a biotic punch to the side of Jarrod's head, forcing the Krogan to stumble sideways and making it impossible for him to immediately retaliate.

Jarrod couldn't stand it anymore and he charged Wrex in a blind rage. For the first time in the fight, Wrex brought his full biotics to bear and threw Jarrod into a stone column with as much force as he could muster, quickly following his sire to where he crumbled to the ground. As Jarrod started to rise, Wrex punched him in the throat and sent him back to his knees. "Yield, old man! I do not want to kill you on this sacred ground!"

Jarrod's response was weakened by his rasping voice, lucky to be able to speak at all, but he growled at his son in anger and frustration. "That is why you will never beat me, you worthless hump! You don't have what it takes to live as a true Krogan." Even from his knees, he continued the battle and drove his blade deep in to Wrex's thigh.

Wrex howled, both in pain from the stab and in anguish over what his father was forcing him to do, and drove his Nevembat deep into Jarrod's chest. Jarrod's eyes flew wide as he choked on his own blood, pulling his own blade back to flail at Wrex's arm. His strength was waning quickly and he did not have enough force to even penetrate the armor, much less draw any more of Wrex's blood. Wanting to end the fight for good, Wrex twisted his blade inside Jarrod's chest. The Nevembat is a long, curved blade... the hard twist left no lung or heart untouched, and the Warlord's body did not possess enough redundant systems to recover from such a finishing blow. He dropped his blade and clawed weakly at Wrex's hand as his eyes glazed over and he collapsed back against the stone column, never to rise again.

Wrex blinked and stepped back, withdrawing his blade and looking once again out to the Hollows. The fight had been concluded and three of Wrex's tribe still stood. As true Krogan, they had not joined Wrex in the final fight against Jarrod; it had become an honor match, one-on-one with traditional blades and none dared interfere in such a contest. Wrex looked over the three and addressed the senior-ranked Krogan remaining. "Urdnot Chenk. I give you leadership of the tribe. I am leaving."

Chenk nodded in agreement and thought he understood Wrex's intentions. "Of course, Clan Leader. You must take your rightful place as Urdnot Prime. Know you will have the full support of the tribe in your claim."

Wrex shook his head. "No. I am leaving Tuchanka." The three warriors were shocked into silence as Wrex continued. "I am too young. I would be constantly challenged by every tribe leader we have other than you. Even should I win, Urdnot would lose by my killing so many of our best fighters. My ascension would be the end of Urdnot. The majority of the clan would still rather die in battle than try to rebuild our society. They want to engage in pointless violence and I will no longer be a part of it."

Chenk finally found his voice. "But what will you do? Where will you go?"

Wrex shrugged. "I will go to Omega and hire on as a merc. At least for a while. Maybe I will once again find honor in being Krogan. When I do, I will return to Tuchanka and once again try to help our people. Keep the tribe well, Urdnot Chenk."

With that, Wrex picked up Warlord Jarrod's Nevembat and cleaned it in the sand before placing it at his waist next to his own. He glanced a final time at the corpse, "You will not need a blade in the Void. Drink your Ryncol and feast happily on the internal organs of your enemies. I will eventually join you at Kruban, father, but I hope not for at least a thousand years."