A/N: A Shepard-less chapter? What is this insanity? :) Also, make note of the two year time skip since the last chapter.
Chapter 28 – Future For The Krogan
Year 2198 CE
Tuchanka, Restoration Zone AC-13Y
"I don't know what you're planning to show us, Wrex, but it better be something impressive," Forsan Hort, chief of the Clan Forsan muttered suspiciously, the leaders of Raik and Gatatog clans nodding along with Hort, all three stuffed tightly into a tomkah together with Wrex, the vehicle speeding away from the Urdnot Clan grounds.
"Oh, it's plenty impressive," Wrex chuckled smugly. As was always the case during such meetings with the other chiefs, things could get a little tense, everyone still suspecting each other, expecting the hidden dagger in the dark. At least it did not seem as if they honestly believed that Wrex would try anything while they were still in the tomkah, but the Gatatog chief was clearly wary of being led into a trap and Wrex could not truly blame the other krogan, aware of the bloody past between their clans.
"He's planning something," the Gatatog clan leader turned his beady red eyes in a glare directed at Wrex. "We shouldn't have agreed to let Wrex just lead us out here blindly!"
"Don't flatter yourself, Gatatog Kozun," Wrex said dismissively. "If I wanted to kill you, I would have already done so without bothering to drive you all the way out here. Now shut your yap and sit tight, because you're about to see something that you could have never even dreamed to see on Tuchanka."
"And what's that?" Kozun challenged, undeterred.
"How far, Shurik?" instead Wrex asked the young krogan in charge of steering the tomkah, receiving a swift reply informing him about their impending arrival, and moments later the tomkah ground to a screeching halt. "Very well, fellow clan chiefs... you are the first ones aside from my clan who will be able to witness this... here, I give you the future of Tuchanka!"
As Wrex spoke, the tomkah's passenger compartment doors began to open, the clan chiefs leaping out one by one to follow the Urdnot leader outside of the vehicle. "What... is this?" the Raik leader, Erkni, grunted in surprise.
"Explain, Wrex... are we even still on Tuchanka?" Forsan Hort demanded, struggling to believe the sight before his eyes.
"We must be, I can see the old temple and the City of the Ancients," Gatatog Kozun pointed in the other direction, before turning back to observe the sight before their eyes, unable to quite comprehend what he was seeing.
Before them lay a small strip of land, no more than five hundred yards across and two miles wide, which had undergone mind-boggling changes over the course of the past two years. Unlike the rest of the Tuchanka, this strip of land had somehow become green, covered with rough, tall grass, thorny bushes and cacti of different shapes and sizes, some of them blooming in white and red blossoms. Tree saplings were stretching from the ground, trying to compete with the cacti and being largely successful.
Raik Erkni fell on his knees and bent down so that his nose was on the same level with the grass, taking a mighty sniff and then letting out a few squeaky sounding sneezes, his tiny eyes beginning to water. "I recognize this scent..." the large krogan looked overwhelmed. "The grass of Tuchanka, as I last smelled it as a small pup! Wrex, how did you accomplish this?"
Forsan Hort was taking big gulps of the strange and unusually fresh air, as if trying to get himself drunk on it. "This is almost better than ryncol!" he exclaimed with gusto, hastily taking more and more breaths, as if fearing that the enriched air might evaporate in the planet's atmosphere.
"Look at that..." Gatatog Kozun pointed further in the distance, having spotted a massive animal moving about, array of spikes along its spine and tail. It looked as if one of the nearby wandering varren was feeling brave, trying to sneak up on the massive creature while it was grazing on a cactus, but just as the varren made his jump, it's roughly fifteen times larger 'prey' swung its spiky tail, catching the varren in the side and throwing it thirty yards through the air and into a spiky bush, where the warren remained, whining as it's broken body slowly bled out. "That's a kakliosaur, isn't it? But they're extinct! What gives, Wrex?"
"I just got bored of all the sand and rubble, figured we have earned something a little better," Wrex grinned, then turning more serious. "I understand that you have questions. Answers will be provided." He pointed a little to the left, where a group of three had appeared, approaching from the rapidly expanding green growth, walking towards Wrex and the other clan chiefs. "There comes someone who will be able to explain just what we are doing here."
"Isn't that Grunt and his female?" Kozun peered at those approaching, spotting Grunt and Kurin.
"Sure looks that way," Hort nodded. "And… they have captured a geth!"
"Excellent!" Erkni cheered. "It has been a while since I've shot one of those synthetic freaks!"
Wrex swiftly stepped up to his fellow chief and painfully head-butted Erkni across the brow. "There will be no shooting of the geth... much as those creepy little buggers annoy me, they are here as our guests. In fact... the geth are responsible for what you see before your eyes."
"What?" Kozun blinked. "Have you gone mad, inviting the geth on Tuchanka and giving them free reign to mess around with our planet?"
"They don't have a free reign, Kozun, and have you been living under a rock for the past twelve years?" Wrex growled dangerously, facing the Gatatog chief. "No, don't answer that, because I know that you have been living under a rock... so allow me to explain. The geth are advisors on the same Galactic Council where we hold a seat. We're supposed to be allies these days."
Forsan Hort shook his head disapprovingly. "Still don't like it..." he muttered. "They just... smell wrong..."
"They smell better than your repugnant body odor, Hort," Wrex glared at the other clan leader. "And before you say any more, I want you to know that this entire project was Shepard's idea."
"Shepard's idea?" Erkni grunted, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Well... that is surprising. We trust Shepard, but why would she want us to work with the geth?"
"She wanted to see Tuchanka restored," Wrex explained as Grunt, Kurin and the geth had almost reached them by now. "And Shepard said that only the geth can do it in a reasonable amount of time. The geth listen to Shepard, her word is their command. She has ordered them to help us, and they will not disobey her."
"Yes, disobeying the Shepard is most unwise," Hort nodded, remembering some of his diplomatic talks with the small but energetic and pleasantly violent Hero of the Krogan. "I suppose there is a... merit to Shepard's idea."
"I don't know," Kozun shrugged. "I still want to hear what the geth has to say for itself before I make up my mind about this..."
"Well, you're about to get your answers, because this particular geth is very interesting and also annoyingly talkative," Wrex chuckled, nodding to Grunt and Kurin as they stood next to him, then pointing at the synthetic standing between them and looking positively tiny when surrounded by all the krogan. "Let me introduce Legion, the geth who fought alongside Shepard when she took the fight to the Collectors. This little bugger served on the Normandy when they went through the Omega-4 relay to destroy the Collector base."
"Hmm, if Shepard trusted this geth so much to include it on her legendary team of specialists..." Raik Erkni looked ponderous, the other two chiefs nodding along slowly. "We are tentatively impressed!" he then exclaimed, pointing a stubbly finger at Legion, the geth passively observing the krogan antics. "You! Explain what is it that you are attempting here!"
"Shepard-Commander first turned to us with the plan of Tuchanka planetary restoration two years, three months and seventeen days ago," Legion replied in its metallic, chirpy voice, the krogan exchanging curious glances, not having heard a geth speak before. "It took the geth one minute and twenty-two seconds to reach consensus that aiding in this project would be beneficial to stabilizing the galactic peace."
"What's it saying?" Hort scratched his chin, puzzled.
"I think it's saying that Shepard asked them to come here and they agreed," Kozun spoke thoughtfully.
"Silly machine should just speak plainly," Erkni grunted, giving Legion an evil glare.
"Before you is a testing ground, where we are experimenting with the way different plant and animal specimens react when exposed to these controlled conditions, and to each other," Legion continued its explanation, doing its best to keep it as simple as it could for the benefit of the krogan chiefs. "The majority of the specimens are being brought in from the krogan seized garden worlds in Kite's Nest. The conditions on Khar'shan, Erszbat, Adek and Camala are similar to the historical data of Tuchanka before the nuclear winter."
"Hmm, that makes sense," Kozun nodded, looking approving, making Wrex exchange a slightly relieved look with Grunt and Kurin, having previously feared that the Gatatog chief might be impossible to convince.
"Looks like that varren reacted poorly to your 'controlled conditions'," Hort laughed, pointing at the now dead varren, hanging from the thorny bush. A small black bird had already perched down on its muzzle and was busy pecking out the varren's eye, while a fuzzy long-tailed creature had scaled the lover branches of the bush and was now tearing out pieces of varren meat from the dead creatures soft underbelly.
"But wait, kakliosaurs are not from Kite's Nest!" Erkni exclaimed. "In fact, I'm sure they all died out."
"This is correct," Legion nodded. "We have been gathering DNA samples of various extinct specimens from Tuchankan fauna and flora. While kakliosaurs are not originally from Tuchanka, their importance in krogan culture and society made them an obvious selection for this project. They are only one of several hundreds of different test subjects being cloned at the facilities on Sur'Kesh."
"Sur'Kesh?" Hort grunted angrily. "Haven't the salarians helped enough already?"
"No, Hort, and that's exactly the point, they haven't done enough to make amends," Wrex replied. "Sure, we could always bomb a few salarian worlds and we would feel better for a little while, but then what? We'd still come back to this barren old rock, and drag out pathetic existence fighting each other amongst the rubble. But if together with the geth they really can help make Tuchanka alive again? Well... for me, that would go some way to remedy the insult of the genophage."
"Hmm… Wrex actually has a point," Kozun grudgingly admitted. "But why show us this little strip of green land, Wrex? Are you offering to share? What's your game?"
"I said that the plan included restoration of the entire planet, which also includes your territories," Wrex shrugged. "I'm not forcing you into accepting. But you would be seriously stupid to refuse."
"That depends on what you want in return," Erkni challenged, giving Wrex a firm stare.
"My demands are very simple and easy to comply with," Wrex casually returned the stare. "First, don't be bloody idiots. Second, do not ever challenge my rule over Tuchanka. Third, promise to protect the geth when they arrive to work at your clan grounds."
"And that's it?" Kozun asked, a little disbelieving. Wrex simply shrugged his shoulders and nodded again. "Well... this is very unexpected... I might need to think on this..."
"How long is the project supposed to take?" Hort gave Legion another piercing stare. "Has to take a while even for the geth!"
"We have estimated that it will require us 775 galactic years for the restoration project to cover the entire planet," Legion happily elaborated.
"775 years... well, I might not see the entire planet being green again, but my children surely will!" Erkni exclaimed, looking as if he had made a decision. "Alright, Wrex! The Raik are in! We'll do as you say!"
"The Forsan are in as well!" Hort proudly declared, not wanting to miss out on something that the other clans would receive, especially considering that he was not even asked to surrender much in return.
Kozun growled, angrily glaring at the other clan chiefs whose passionate declarations had forced his hand, knowing that his clan could not afford to stand aside all by themselves. "Fine, Wrex... the Gatatog will join you on this venture as well... on one condition."
"Speak, Kozun," Wrex urged the other krogan impatiently.
"Umm..." Kozun pointed at the kakliosaur wandering around lazily in the distance. "Has it been broken in already?"
"It has not been broken in, Gatatog Kozun," Legion explained helpfully.
"Well... if I can have a go at it, then you'll have the alliance of Clan Gatatog for the centuries to come," Kozun said, staring at the kakliosaur with a hopeful expression on his face.
"Hey... if he can try to tackle the kakliosaur, I want in on that as well!" Hort protested.
"Yeah, me too, let me at it!" Erkni roared.
"Certainly," Legion nodded approvingly. "But we should warn you that-" there the geth was interrupted rudely as the three excited krogan barged past him and charged towards the kakliosaur, roaring excitedly.
"Ha! I can't believe it would work, but you were right, old man," Grunt laughed, looking at the three krogan bounding towards their target.
"Yeah, I figured that the kakliosaur would distract them," Wrex said, watching Raik Erkni charging his prey, the large animal almost looking bored as it stuck out its leg and kicked the krogan aside, the kakliosaur possessing remarkable agility for its size. "Though it does look like a lot of fun…"
"Sure does," Grunt nodded. "Want to go show those guys how it's done?"
"Absolutely!" Wrex roared. "Let's go!" And then they both charged ahead across the lush field towards where the kakliosaur now seemed to be thoroughly enjoying tossing the excitedly roaring krogan chiefs back and forth.
Legion and Kurin simply remained standing by the tomkah, mutely watching the proceedings. "We trust you have brought adequate supplies of medi-gel?" Legion asked eventually.
"Yes," Kurin replied simply, grin forming on her lips as she saw Grunt finally managing to climb on the kakliosaur's back... and remaining there for all but three seconds, getting violently shaken off. "Yes, I have. And I believe that we will require the entire crate..."
The Citadel, Serpent Nebula
"How are you?" Miranda asked, having hugged her old friend before they both sat down at a table in 'The Winking Batarian', a small, sleazy and consequentially almost nearly empty establishment near the bottom of the Bachjret Ward.
"Fine, I guess?" Kasumi shrugged, her face remaining cautiously impassive as her eyes quickly scanned the establishment, nodding in satisfaction when she detected no threats. "This isn't going to be one of those tedious talks where you try to subtly push me towards seeking a new relationship, is it? I still think that's pretty rich coming from you, miss solitary badass."
"Hey, you're the one who's used to being in a relationship," Miranda raised her hands defensively. "I'm perfectly fine being all alone by myself. I just... well, need to know that you're alright, Kasumi."
"Aww, you know I appreciate it, but I'll be fine, Miri," Kasumi grinned, gently patting Miranda's hand. "Work is keeping me pretty busy, as well. You know that my previous relationship worked out only because Bau was a Spectre too, it would have been too hard to manage otherwise. And it's not like I've gone through the profiles of all the currently employed Spectres, searching for someone who might make a good boyfriend material."
"Uh huh, I'm sure you haven't," Miranda rolled her eyes.
"Indeed, what do you take me for?" Kasumi huffed, but her mirthful eyes told a different story. "Half of them being asari sure cuts down the playing field, too," she added quietly, making Miranda chuckle.
"So, how is the work, Kasumi?" the ex-Cerberus operative asked. "Humor a fellow Spectre and share some juicy gossip, hmm? Still involved in that whole Shadow Broker controversy?"
"Yeah," Kasumi nodded. "It's a strange case, that's for sure. I trust Liara and Shep when they say that the old Broker has been replaced, even if they haven't been stirring trouble anymore like two years ago with the asari."
"I see that the asari have began to repopulate the station again after that little near-exile," Miranda remarked. "I guess that things have calmed down over the past few years."
"Thankfully. I've been spending a lot of time wondering just what the Broker wanted to achieve with that bout of craziness. They got Councilor Tevos replaced with Irissa, but she has more or less continued to hold the same line as Tevos. They got the asari to pay huge reparations to turians and humans, and that set their economy back quite noticeably, but other than that... it felt more like personal vendetta against the asari. But I'm also hearing that the Broker lost some good agents because of this, mostly asari who were perplexed with the sudden change in the operations."
"I'm not surprised, it was a very strange MO for the Shadow Broker," Miranda agreed. "But we have already discussed this before. And now they've gone silent again, you say?"
"Back to the standard Broker operations," Kasumi started to speak, then falling silent for a moment as an elcor waiter shuffled up to them to ask whether they wanted anything, receiving orders for two cups of coffee. "It's like that entire episode had been a momentarily lapse of sanity," she added as the elcor slowly wandered off to retrieve their likely disgusting coffee. "But there's more to it, or else I would have probably abandoned my investigations long time ago."
"What do you mean?" Miranda gave her friend a worried stare.
"Well... I've spent some time watching several of the Broker agents here on the Citadel," Kasumi began to explain. "As soon as they became aware of being watched... they began to act very oddly."
"Oddly in what way?"
"You'd expect them to disappear and try to cover their tracks once someone started poking into their activities, right?" Kasumi asked, Miranda giving a quick nod of the head. "But they never did that, they continued with whatever they had been doing. More strangely, they became even sloppier and started to leave behind more and more obvious tracks."
"Hmm, I would say that they are trying to string you along for some reason," Miranda said, rubbing her brow thoughtfully. "These tracks, they tend to lead somewhere?"
"Into too obvious traps, I think," Kasumi grumbled. "It's like they're trying to lure me, but the bait they are laying down is just too obvious. Again, this is a strange MO for them. If they know that I'm watching them, and they must know that, why not just order a hit? Sure, it's as likely to succeed as is luring me into one of their traps. But we've been dancing around each other like this for over a year and I think that at some point I'll just have to spring one of those traps if I want to learn more."
"That could be dangerous," Miranda warned, looking a little worried. "You should bring someone along as a backup. Preferably me."
"Nah, Miri, that would just scare them off for good, they're not completely incompetent, you know," Kasumi smiled, feeling touched by her friend's concern. "Besides, there's literally no way they could succeed in outsmarting me, you should have more trust in your old friend, really."
"Oh, but I do have trust in your abilities, Kasumi," Miranda smiled, then falling silent again as the elcor approached anew and dropped a tray with two foul smelling mugs on their table, grumbling as it shuffled off. "I meant to ask, have you been assigned to this task by one of the councilors?" Miranda asked, not daring to touch the 'coffee' and Kasumi agreeing with that sentiment.
"Nope, I'm with Shep and Liara on this one. It's better that all the governments don't know about this change at the head of the Shadow Broker network, if it indeed has happened. It could cause a lot of instability in certain circles. So I'm just conducting this investigation during what little spare time I have. I'm now primarily assigned to Hackett and he doesn't usually have all that much for me to do. Heck, my last job was to find the miscreant who stole the purse of Councilor Ngagong's favorite asari mistress. At least it resulted in a really fun skycar chase across all four wards!"
"Yes, I believe I saw something about that on the Galactic News terminals," Miranda rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"Anyway, enough about me, Miri, how are your own investigations going? What's the situation on Earth?" Kasumi asked then, giving her friend a sympathetic pat on the hand after seeing how Miranda winced immediately.
"You've seen the vids yourself, I'm sure," the raven-haired scientist scowled. "Most of the planet looks like Tuchanka now, and there are not many serious restoration attempts being launched. Those who try, usually end up with too little support, give up frustrated and move to the colonies, Eden Prime or Horizon."
"Typical, after we fought so hard for Earth during the Great War," Kasumi snorted.
"I'm mostly spending my time on New Arc these days, watching the political situation there, observing all the backstabbing and making reports to Hackett so that he knows what sort of interesting 'surprises' to expect from the Parliament," Miranda sighed. "It's a challenge to keep up with all the plots, maintain an eye over what's happening back in Sol, as well as attending to some little research projects on the side. And I think I might actually need to start spending more time back on Earth... or some of our Sol bases, anyway."
"Something stirring?" Kasumi asked worriedly.
"You could say that. I'm not sure what exactly is going on, but some of the branches in our military are acting a little odd. I'm getting stonewalled here and there, people getting evasive or dropping out of contact as soon as I start to push."
"Hey, they can't stonewall a Spectre, you have every right to walk in wherever you please! One of the top perks of the job if you ask me," Kasumi added with a grin.
"Yeah, but it has also made me a bit too recognizable. It's pointless to walk in wherever I please, if they see me coming a mile away and just hide anything that might be incriminating," Miranda sighed. "Anyway, I don't have anything solid just yet, but I do know that someone high in the Alliance might be hatching some plans that they're not sharing with people they should be sharing it with."
"Keep digging, but just be careful, Miri. You're the best, but even you can't take on the entire Alliance military, okay?" Kasumi gave her friend a concerned look.
"I think that they are building some kind of new weapons system or something that might be considered controversial in the Council space," Miranda mused aloud. "It has to be something like that. I learned that they have upped the eezo quotas from the colony worlds, why would they suddenly need twice as much eezo?"
"Weird," Kasumi shrugged. "Who gave the order?"
"It came from the very top of the Alliance military, Rear Admiral McIllis. And the order was ratified by the relevant committee on New Arc," Miranda replied, looking rarely uncertain. "Anyway, Oriana wrote to me that these new regulations are making a lot of folks out in the Traverse very unhappy with the Alliance. Separatist hotheads are once again suggesting a split."
"Ugh, just what humanity needs... how is Oriana, by the way?" Kasumi asked.
Miranda's face darkened just minutely, the woman knitting her lips tightly before finally replying. "Fine, I suppose. She is still based in Discovery, working at the governor's office as a head of both science and health departments."
"That sounds great, but... you're not happy for her?"
Miranda let out a deep and unhappy sigh. "I... don't know what to think. Ever since Ori hooked up with that hussy commando leader of House T'Soni, she's been like crazy about the asari. Literally every few months she brings home another new blue slattern. It's just... I didn't expect this from someone like her!"
"Miri... I don't even know Ori all that well, but I think there's more than your sister just discovering some kind of promiscuous streak," Kasumi shook her head. "I... need to ask you something personal, Miranda."
"Since when have you asked for permission about that?" Miranda snorted, slightly amused.
"Does Oriana share the same... problem than you? You know, because of the whole being cloned thing?" Kasumi asked, deep sadness reflecting in her eyes, sympathy for her friend who had been denied a chance to bring new life into this world.
"Yes," Miranda ground out, not raising her eyes from the surface of the table.
"Have you considered that... well, an asari partner... would get rid of that problem?" Kasumi suggested, Miranda raising her head and giving the ex-thief a completely stunned and surprised stare. "Perhaps that is what she is looking for? Searching for a suitable asari partner to have a child with?"
"I... no, I... had not considered that," Miranda confessed, suddenly looking deeply embarrassed. "Ah, damn it... that must be it, Kasumi... I would have expected her to tell me, though! Maybe... maybe she felt a little ashamed or something? I think... I could accept this explanation much better. I will try to broach the topic with her when we next meet... thanks, Kasumi. You're a real friend."
"Well, I try my best," Kasumi winked at her. "By the way, Miri... you know, you could find a nice asari lady for yourself... I even promise to mind your beautiful blue babies when you two want to go for a night out or just have a little sexy romp at the back of the skycar..."
"...one more word about me getting involved with an asari, and I'm going to have to shoot you, friend or no," Miranda growled.
"What? Why?" Kasumi broke out in a wide, innocent grin. "What did I say?"
