Chapter Twenty-One: Tank Brother
Tuchanka, Urdnot City, 2187
Walking through the small patch of green, a tiny krogan could be seen running freely through the grass and chasing the pyjacks up the trees. A varren followed him, barking and yapping happily, overjoyed to be beside its master. An old krogan watched the child go; smiling to himself as he remembered what had been there only two years ago.
How things had changed.
It was no longer a rocky pit, full of waste and varren fights. There were no roaming gang of mercenarys. There was no rusted debris looming over like the maw of a great thresher maw. What had once been a place for mercs to come and drink and fight was now a place for children to run and play.
A krogan and a human followed the child. The krogan seeming to panic every time the child fell or got too close to a pyjack, and the human would roll her eyes at her companions worry. The krogan wasn't even the child's parent, but they cared enough to worry like one.
"Mordin, don't run so far ahead!" Shay'kera ordered.
"Okay!" he called back.
He was growing well, as krogan children did. He was almost two, almost as old as the new krogan empire, but he was taller than any other two-year-old, smarter too. His crests were still orange, the darker grey patches more prominent, and his eyes were much darker too.
His varren, barely a pup much like himself, was one of Hati's own offspring as she had bred last summer with some stray. The other pups had not fared as well, perhaps due to the father's poor genes, but Little Hati fared better than her siblings.
"Look at you," Faust teased. "You've got the mother gene in you. Perhaps one day you'll be a mother to some troublesome brats."
"Can you really blame me?" she asked. "Don't tell me you look at him and feel no affection, no drive to protect?"
Faust watched the child, who stumbled over his feet and landed in a flower bed. He laughed at his fall and Little Hati jumped on him, licking his face. Shay watched Faust's face carefully, in hope of finding any kind of smile or trace of happiness.
There was nothing but a subtle hint of sadness. Shay did not know much about Faust, other than she had lived on Omega all her life and it had been a rough childhood. Perhaps because she never had a very good childhood she could not relate to the child or feared being as terrible a parent as her own were.
Who knew for sure? Faust was a mystery, even to Shay, who thought of Faust as her best friend.
"So where is Bakara today that she couldn't have Mordin with her?" Faust asked.
"It was an important meeting at the Shaman's Guild," Shay replied. "Wrex is there too, it's some kind of joint meeting - concerning what, I don't know."
"I see..." Faust trailed off in thought.
"Are you... okay?" Shay asked. "You seem a little off."
"I was just thinking about something I found the other day..." she replied. "It's probably of no consequence to us."
...
In the Shaman's Guild, Bakara and Wrex sat at the empty table. It was indeed a meeting, just not between the members of the guild and the councillors. Wrex and Bakara had called the Okeer Trio in for a talk, concerning a strange package they had received that same morning. There was no name or return address, just a curious expression:
Vi veri veniversum vivus vici.
They had already inspected the package and it had called for the Trio's immediate attention. They arrived sometime after being called in, coming to sit at the oval table in the small conference room. It wasn't the original guild hall, but rather a smaller room for smaller business matters.
They immediately noticed the package, but neither of them said anything and sat down. Wrex pushed the package forwards and they examined the markings. Giger frowned and seemed to fidget with his wrist. Grunt noticed, and let it drop for the moment.
"What is this?" Grunt asked.
"It arrived this morning," Bakara arrived. "It was addressed to us but was not meant for us. It was meant for you. Open it up."
Grunt did so and inside he found several data pads and some data for a holovid, a quick examination of each of these items revealed they belonged to Okeer and concerned something known as 'Subject 316'. None of them were generally surprised by this knowledge, having known each of their own subject numbers, but why was it sent to Wrex and Bakara?
"I believe it was sent to us so we could decide what to do with it," Wrex said. "There's a lot about this subject that's worrying - you'll get what we meant once you've read the data - but we decided the best thing to do would be to give them to you three."
"But who sent them?" Steel asked.
Grunt glanced at Giger, who decided it was best to speak to up, less Grunt point him out.
"I think Faust sent them," he said.
"How can you tell?" Wrex asked.
"That marking, it's Latin," Giger replied. "It means, 'By the power of truth, I while living have conquered the universe'. Faust gave me a bracelet with that saying just after we met."
"So Faust finds this potentially dangerous experiment and not sure what to do with him, she gives the data to our leaders," Grunt said. "It's smart thinking, but why can't she be more direct about who sent them?"
"It depends on how she received the information," Steel replied. "Perhaps being indirect would help keep her identity secret. After all, Aria is still after you two, right?"
"If Aria's after you then you need to get that sorted," Wrex ordered. "I don't know what it's about, I couldn't really care either, but you need to get her off your back."
"You make it sound easy," Giger grumbled.
"Enough," Bakara interjected. "You have the data, now it's time to decide what you're going to do with it and this experiment."
"We'll take it home and examine it all," Grunt replied. "Once we've read it all we can come to a discussion."
"Alright then," Wrex said. "Go and do it. I've still got things to do."
They took the box and left and Wrex smiled.
"You don't have anything to do today," Bakara said.
"I know," he said. "But it's my day off. I want to spend it with the kid and you."
...
Faust and Shay'kera returned Mordin Junior to his parents and went to meet the Okeer Trio at Grunt's apartment. They found the Trio sat at the table in the living room, examining a box of data pads left scattered on the small table. Giger was the first to look up and Faust grimaced under his steely stare.
"Having fun?" she asked.
"Probably not as much fun you had finding all of this," Steel remarked.
"Just so you know, I wasn't the one who found all this," she said. "An old contact on Omega found it during an assignment and passed it along. That's why the inscription was on the box, to let me know it was from her."
Giger frowned, "So where did this contact find all this?" he asked.
"I don't know," Faust said. "She wouldn't tell me. She maybe an old friend but I don't work with her anymore, she can't share that information."
"That doesn't matter," Grunt said. "There is a location hidden within the data to where we can find the experiment, so it's likely the experiment and data were kept separate, probably Okeer trying to hide his notes."
Shay'kera took a step forwards, raising her hand like a lost student. "Uh... what's going on here?" she asked. "What is all this stuff?"
"The long and short of it is that there is another experiment, but he may be dangerous," Steel explained.
"How dangerous?" Shay asked.
"Some of the data is corrupted, but it seems that this experiment was given to the previous Shadow Broker in exchange for some information and the promise the Broker would leave Grunt alone," Steel answered. "The Broker never got the chance to activate his project because he died. The experiment is being held in an old facility on Illium."
"How does that make him dangerous?" she asked.
"Okeer mentions a 'personality flaw' in his notes," Giger replied. "Like Steel said, the data is corrupted so we're missing some lines, but Okeer gave this one away solely because of this personality flaw. It has to be pretty bad for Okeer just to give this guy away."
"A personality flaw could mean anything," Faust said. "He could be a little cold or a little happy, it depends on whatever Okeer was trying to accomplish. I mean, Giger and Steel are 'failures' because they're not biotic and don't have krogan longevity, but they serve me and Ryö just fine."
"She's right," Steel said. "Okeer's needs are what defined a failure and a success, there could be anything wrong with this guy and it's unfair of us to keep him locked away without knowing the truth."
Grunt put down one of the data pads and stood. "I guess it's decided then," he said. "Someone call Viv so she can get the ship ready. You coming too, Faust?"
She considered it for a second, then declined his offer. "Talking about my contact has got me thinking... I should probably get this thing with Aria sorted," she said. "I can't let it keep dragging on."
"Then I'm going too," Giger said. "It's my fault, anyway."
"You are going to find your long lost brother, I'm going to Omega," she said. "If when you come back I'm still there, then you come. Okay?"
He wanted to argue, it was obvious, but he knew there was no point in arguing with someone who had an answer to everything. "Fine," he said. "Just call, okay?"
"I'll try," she said. "I may need to keep communication to a minimum though."
Steel saw this as his moment to step in. During their chat he had called Viv and everything had been arranged, she had given them clearance and the ship was ready. They just needed to head out quickly, not knowing who else knew about this Experiment 316 could prove to be disastrous if someone captured him for whatever nefarious purpose.
"We're ready to leave straight away," he said. "Just waiting on you, Giger."
"I'm ready," he said. "Let's get this over with."
...
Illium, Nos Astra
The trip to Illium was short, Viv had plotted the fastest course and within two hours they had arrived to the stunning asari capital. Shay was reminded of her last trip to this beautiful place, where Steel was kidnapped and Adria's life was in danger. It had not been a good trip.
They parked the ship at a small docking bay and followed the directions into the city, renting a cab as they flew over the bright neon lights of the bustling city. They passed the business district and entered a darker part of the city, the industrial district. They came to Warehouse 4-D and landed.
This part of the city was quiet, it was late in the evening but they still expected some workers. This particular warehouse was abandoned, so perhaps that accounted for the lack of life. The warehouse was locked with a complicated code, thankfully it had been contained within the notes, and so they easily got in.
Inside was dark but as they went further in the lights switched on automatically and in the centre of the large empty space was a metal tank. It was hooked up to a large terminal and generator, and the whole thing was covered in thick metal plates.
"The Broker took care of his things," Steel observed. "Can anyone get this open?"
"I'll try," Shay said. "But I'm not as skilled as Adria, so it'll take time."
"Adria would have been better," Grunt agreed. "But I don't think she would have been keen to return here after what happened."
"I got over being kidnapped," Steel remarked.
"You didn't discover your father was responsible for setting fire to a vendetta that cost other people their lives," Grunt retorted.
"Nobody's parents are perfect," Steel said. "Look at ours."
Shay glanced back at his little comment, but said nothing and carried on with her work. The security placed over the tank was tight, very sophisticated in fact, and for a novice this would be difficult. Thankfully Adria had taught her a few tricks and so it only took around fifteen minutes to break through the defences.
The terminal's screen turned green.
"I can open it now," she announced. "There are two barriers, though. The first one removes the metal plating's, the second one releases the krogan."
"Best to remove the plating's first," Grunt said. "We need to see what kind of condition he's in and then, maybe, we'll wake him up."
Shay obeyed her commander and, after messing with the terminal for a moment, there was a slight hiss as the plates were pulled back like a dark veil. Grunt felt strange as he looked at the krogan floating in the thick liquid, and he wondered, is this what Shepard saw the first time she ever looked upon him?
The krogan inside was probably the same age as Grunt, if a little older judging by how his crests had started to form and become like spikes. His plates were the same crisp red as autumn leaves with the same dabbles of orange and yellow. He wore a boring black suit, but sleeping in a tank left very little room for fashion.
"Nice crest colour," Giger said. "Did Okeer like unusual crest colouring, or is this purely coincidental?"
"There is an old file of his which mentions the importance of crest colours," Steel replied. "It's something to do about the old myth that crests were equal to power, with average powers being an average krogan and unusual crests-"
"Unusual krogan," Shay finished. "I have to say that I agree."
Steel frowned at Shay, but didn't correct her.
"So what do we do with him?" Giger asked. "Grunt? What do we do with him?"
Grunt looked at his tank-brother for a long, paused breath. This krogan was no different than him, they looked practically the same except for their crests. The only thing that separated them was a 'personality flaw', so if Grunt was the one with this flaw, would he be the one in the tank with his tank-brothers looking on?
"How is he looking?" Grunt asked.
"Heart rate: normal. Blood pressure: normal. Brain waves: normal," Shay read. "He's fine, removing him from the tank will be a bit of a shock to the system but it won't be enough to kill him."
"Then do it," Grunt ordered.
Shay turned to the terminal and opened the tank. The terminal flashed red and the generator groaned, a panel opened up on the tank and the water came gushing out. The water smelt strange and as it washed across the floor and between their feet, they noticed a strange texture that made it resemble some thick goo.
The wires released their hold and the krogan stumbled through the opening and landed on his hands and knees. He coughed and threw up some of the goo. Grunt grimaced in memory of his release; the sudden hot air, the feel of your windpipe being squeezed as you struggled to breathe while puking up the gunk that once lined your lungs.
And if this krogan was anything like Grunt, then they had to be careful. Shay went to take a step forwards, Grunt held his hand up and stopped her. The autumn krogan gasped loudly, his lungs cleared, and he took in deep, sweet breaths. He looked up and now they saw his eyes - grey. It was so strange, his crests were so colourful and then his eyes were so grey and they stuck out so awkwardly.
"How are you feeling, friend?" Steel asked. "How does fresh air taste?"
The krogan looked up at him and replied, "Bitter sweet."
"Other than that?"
"I'm... very... awake," he slowly answered. "This feeling is... new. Most of the time it's just... pictures and words..."
"Is it really?" Shay asked Grunt.
"Yes," he answered. "We're taught through programming contained within the tank. It talks to us and teaches us. It's like watching a weird film."
"You're tank born, too?" the krogan asked.
"All of us, except the lady, are tank born," Steel replied. "So tell us - what do we call you?"
The krogan paused, as he thought back to all the words that had suddenly filled his mind and he felt almost like his head would burst from this pressure. So many words, so much of Okeer's lectures deep inside of him, talking and talking about things that didn't seem important. But amongst them all was one word that found him.
"My name is... Monger."
To Be Continued...
This was a lot longer than I planned and a lot later too, sorry about that :)