A/N: Okay, so now we have Art actually on Tuchanka.

Yeah, the game returns with a major vengeance now. You see how it is, amirite?

Fun times are had for all. Oh, and in case you don't get to check it out, I got another commission done for Mass Vexations, this time throwing Madison and Garrus into the mix. http:/gamergal. deviantart . com/#/d37u2lt Take out the spaces and it's all hunky-dory from there.

Oh, and we passed the 500 review mark with the last chapter. Let's see if we can keep up this roll, shall we?

Anyhow, last time, we had a character return to Mass Vexations. Now... let's see a bit character from MV1 also make his grand return.


Chapter 28: Doctor Caligari

The land rover comes to a stop as we ride out over the deserts of Tuchanka. Okay... looks like we're here. Well, not really, but still. The krogan driver is visible from where I sit... and seriously, these things are actually pretty spacious. I guess it comes from the fact that we're all relatively thin people here; must be more than adequate room for a krogan, anyhow. Or just enough. I never really can tell with the krogan.

Especially when it comes to the very thing I introduced Wrex to. Yeah, thanks for that, Wrex. Now I'll never be able to look at a krogan without losing the game for the rest of my life. Thanks, Wrex.

I shake my head then, watching as the driver turns to us.

"This is as far as I can go," he says. "The Weyrloc camp isn't far from here. If there aren't any scouts, you should be inside in less than two minutes."

Shepard nods, going out to the opening where the land rover is. "That's great," says the commander. "Thanks."

"Anything for Urdnot Wrex," says the driver. "Also, don't die out there. I'd hate to have nobody to play the game with."

"Stop reminding me!" I shout, rushing for the hole. It's a few seconds later when I literally swan dive out of there, landing on my feet. Seriously. I shake my head, grumbling to myself as Tali clambers out herself.

"I swear, that's the fastest I've ever seen you vacate something," she says.

I shake my head. "No," I comment. "It's just the fastest I've ever come to regret making someone lose the game. I seriously didn't think Wrex would teach it to the entire Urdnot Clan! It was something fun between best friends, you know?"

"Something fun that got a little out of hand, it seems," says Shepard.

"Not in any way I was expecting, that's for sure!" I shoot back.

"Oh, you'll get over it," Tali says, laying a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Trust me on that."

I shrug. "Yeah, I guess it will," I comment. "But still, I'd like to get that over with sooner than later."

The quarian nods, rubbing my shoulder slightly. "Well, until then, we get to find something. So let's hope for the best."

I nod as Mordin and Thane both get out of the land rover. Yeah, it's all I can do, isn't it? The drell looks around him, his eyes nictating as he looks around. "It is... unsettling how much destruction there is in the surface of Tuchanka," he says. "I must confess, I never could see myself here of all places."

I shrug, shaking my head as I lightly grab Tali's hand. The five of us walk a short ways, Mordin coming up front. "Not important to mission," says the salarian. "Weyrloc camp close. Maelon should be there. Should get going soon. Do not know risks once we get inside."

Shepard simply nods, grabbing her pistol from her holster. "Well, you heard the scientist," she says. "We need to get moving, and soon. Let's go."

I simply nod, taking out my assault rifle as Thane, Tali, and Mordin all pull their respective weapons. Hey, can't hurt to be armed in a Weyrloc camp, right? I wonder what we're going to run into now that all this is going around. Hm... I better keep my eyes peeled. Don't look at Tali's shotgun...

We eventually come to the first of the chest-high walls in the area. Jesus Christ, why is it that the chest high walls always telegraph the location of the next fight? Well... except on the Collector ship, but hey, there was a reason for that. I just don't know... Maybe it has something to do with the vorcha that are nearby. I dunno.

I slowly move against cover as Shepard does the same. Slowly, the squad follows her example, and then I peer out at the small group of vorcha that look like they're milling about. Patroling, no doubt. I shake my head, noticing suddenly that they've got red armor on them.

"Blood Pack..." I whisper.

"Makes sense," adds Mordin, bringing up his submachine gun. "Blood Pack active in Tuchanka."

"And here I thought I'd seen the last of these buggers," I add, shaking my head.

Shepard, who's right next to me, nods her agreement. "Good thing we didn't bring Garrus," she says. "That wouldn't have ended well..."

"Indeed," I say. "I'll bet they're working for Weyrloc."

"If that's the case, we might as well get moving," says Shepard. "And we'll get moving the best way we can... with force!"

And with this, she comes out of cover, and then I see her unleash something after glowing blue for the slightest fraction of a second. I then see the biotic shockwave cross the threshhold towards the vorcha. It takes a little to get there, and when it finally does, vorcha are suddenly catapaulted every which way.

Look ma, they're flying!

I bring up my assault rifle, taking aim at a vorcha as he flies through the air. I nod, and then shoot a short burst of rifle fire at him. He goes down without too much ceremony, not getting up when he goes back up. The others seem to be pretty quick about the shockwaved vorcha, and almost all of them are down by the time they've all hit the ground.

All right! Score one for us!

Shepard then gets out of cover, rushing away. I nod. Yeah, probably best to push our advantage. I nod to Shepard as we move forward.

And then I hear an electronic buzzing as I vault over cover. And before long, I see the glowing purple sphere by Tali. She glances at me as we both slam our backs into a piece of cover.

"So I see you repaired Chikktika," I comment. "Or... rebuilt her, anyhow."

"I had to rebuild her from scratch," she says as the drone moves past us. Tali cocks her shotgun briefly. "Hopefully, this time it won't get left behind."

I shake my head. "If I'm thinking right, I don't think we'll have to worry about that."

And with this, I pop out of cover, shooting at a vorcha that's heading straight for Shepard's position. It seems like it's already weakened, but my assault fire takes it down.

I look off to the side to see Chikktika floating over to a vorcha, an electric shock emanating from the combat drone as the vorcha is hit. It seems to stumble, and then a far-off round kills it. Okay... judging by the fall, that was Thane's bullet. And he cleared a piece of cover. Hm... It's probably better suited for Tali, what with her wielding a shotgun.

I look to her and nod. "Go!" I say. "I'll cover you!"

The quarian nods, and very quickly gets out of cover. She looks off to see a vorcha heading towards Chikktika, and she grabs her shotgun and fires at said vorcha. It flies back a little bit, a little submachine gun fire from Mordin finishing it off. I see another vorcha come out, and then immediately after a krogan comes out.

Uh... someone, this would be a really good time to use biotics. I mean really good time.

Fortunately, someone takes the hint, as then the krogan is sent flying back by a throw. Okay... that's probably Thane... Yeah. I fire some assault rifle bursts at the vorcha, and then Chikktika finishes that particular vorcha off with an electric shock. As soon as that vorcha falls, another one gets in on the action. A single shot booms out in the area around us, so that's probably Thane... and the krogan gets up, despite some pistol shots from Shepard.

Right... Time to finish that bastard! Tali acts first, coming out of cover and getting a shotgun hit on the krogan. Something falters, and then I see an explosion of flame on the krogan. Mordin, perhaps. I level some assault rifle fire even as the krogan continues charging right at Shepard. Quickly, she brings out her hands, though, and no sooner does the krogan realize what she's doing than the krogan is flying in the air, floating harmlessly above the commander. She even flies right over the barrier of the decrepit road we're fighting on! Mordin shoots a few more rounds in its direction with his submachine gun, and then it falls unceremoniously with a rather loud cry.

I nod then, and then the five of us continue on, shooting out more vorcha than we can count. They just keep coming, along with the relatively few krogan that we do come across too. Hm... There sure are a lot of Blood Pack people here. Maybe it's a conspiracy?

Well... I know it's definitely so with Maelon. But what about the Blood Pack? Although... Eh, may just be me. Conspiracy theories are full of shit anyhow.

Now if only I could say that to David Icke's face. Because that would be epic.

I continue firing at various people, the five of us making ground...

... Jesus Christ, they were just sending the vorcha out like... well... cannon fodder!

I mean, now we have a whole cluster of about five, seven krogan. Actually... Yes! Seven krogan! Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, seven krogan! Great... They had to save all of this for last! Yeah... vorcha make good cannon fodder, but apparently the krogan were waiting for us. Let's hope Shepard and Thane's biotics are enough in this situation.

I come out of cover then, firing my assault rifle at one of the krogan. I see him attempt to rush us, but fortunately, a biotic shove from Thane takes care of that. Shepard fires her pistol at the krogan, but another one rushes towards us. Chikktika shocks it, but even that combined with an incinerate from Mordin isn't enough to get it off of its trajectory.

And it's right around that point that I realize that the krogan is bum-rushing my position! Ah, Jesus Christ on a pikestaff! I stumble back, hoping to get out of his way. But just before I can do so, he glows biotically blue, and then he flies right over me. Okay, phew, thanks Shepard! He flies right over Mordin and Thane, both of whom divert their fire to shoot at the floating krogan. So... that one goes down pretty quickly.

Now, to go back to-

Holy shit on a shit sandwich! They're all charging us! Shepard is holding her ground, though, preparing a biotic attack even as Chikktika backpedals like crazy-

And then, I suddenly see some kind of black hole thing come up right in the center of a krogan. Hey, wait a minute... That's a singularity! Before I can register anything else, though, the krogan start flying around in a kind of cyclone, taken up by the wierd gravity of the tiny black hole in the center of the cluster. Uh... Wait... I glance to Shepard, but her hands are still firmly on her pistol.

Wait... Could it be?

Hey! We've got back-up!

"Miracle!" I shout. "Let's shoot these fucking bastards while they're up!"

And with this, we go absolutely nuts. I fire my assault rifle into the crowd of swirling krogan as fire from somewhere to the side joins in. Shepard switches her pistol out for her shotgun, cocking it and firing it into the crowd. Thane, Mordin, and Tali all contribute, and from there... it's a slaughter house. Chikktika shocks, Mordin incinerates, and we all keep firing as they swirl around. Eventually, the singularity stops working, but by the time the krogan fall, we've already managed to kill quite a few of them. One can't seem to get up, and a single shotgun blast from Tali makes sure he stays down.

Thus, we get the two remaining krogan. The one seems pretty much finished anyhow, but a burst of rifle fire from the side makes sure of that. The other manages to do extremely well, even standing up.

And... that won't last too long, because then Shepard lifts him into the air biotically, and then he floats over me. I nod, shooting at it with my assault rifle. A sniper shot cuts off my shooting as then the krogan floats above me dead.

And... the Weyrloc building is right there. Okay. So that's the last of the enemies we'll run into while we're out here. I nod, holstering my assault rifle as the rest of us get up. Tali immediately walks over to Chikktika, but the combat drone is already heading towards Tali. She picks it up gently, and then we all look to the side as Thane, Shepard, and Mordin all join us.

I nod, and then we see a pair of people come out from the side of the road we were just fighting on. Okay... one of them looks like an asari, and the other looks like a salarian. I nod, Shepard and I coming forward as they move. Okay... the asari is in wierd armor that's colored blue and a slightly colored shade of blue. So yeah, blue all around. The other is in more... appropriate armor. Yellow-ish brown like the sands of Tuchanka. Visual thing with Tuchanka. Hm. Leave it to the salarians to be purely logical.

I look to the two of them. "Looks like you two have impeccable timing," I comment, crossing my arms.

"He said it best," says Shepard, indicating me with a quick tilt of her head in my direction. "Glad you two are on our side."

The salarian's head faces me, and as he moves his head towards his right shoulder he crosses his arms. I raise my eyebrow in reply as the rest of the group comes forward. The salarian has a pistol out, and upon bringing his head back in an upright position, he nods, holstering the pistol as he brings his hand up in a pensive position.

"You know, I thought there was something familiar about your armor," says the salarian.

Hey, wait... That voice...

I frown, raising an eyebrow. "It sounds like I know you from somewhere..." I say. Hold on... the only salarians I would know would be... "You didn't happen to be at Virmire when Saren's facility was nuked straight to hell, did you?"

The salarian nods, going straight to his helmet. He slowly unfastens it, and a few seconds later the thing comes off of his head. And then, green, frog-like eyes are looking at me.

"I led team Orzammar when you split us up after we lost Kirrahe," he replies.

... Holy shit. He's... it's the reddish brown salarian from Virmire! Yeah, the one named after the Dwarf Commoner! Brosca, right?

"Jarel!" I say, letting off a bright smile as the salarian makes his reddish-brown complexion known. "Son of a bitch! Of all the places...!" I throw my hands up, and then see he's trying to give me a handshake. I take his hand and shake it very vigorously, then. "How've you been, man?"

"Excellent," says Jarel, a similar smile across his face. "I'll admit, I was not expecting to see you or the Commander on Tuchanka."

I shrug, gesturing to Shepard. "Well, here we are," I comment, looking to the woman in armor standing next to him. "And you are...?"

"Someone you shouldn't be talking to," she says, her voice seeming to spew venom. Hm... it sounds a little similar to Jack's for some reason... Huh. "You're getting in the way."

But still, really? I shake my head, crossing my arms. "Ahem, it's called 'old friends reconnecting'," I reply. "The mission can wait for a few minutes." I shake my head looking to Jarel. "Seriously, do all your commanding officers have to be impolite?"

"You're getting in the way of a mission," replies the asari.

"In a manner of speaking, you are doing something that is not dissimilar."

Oh, snap, bitch! Thane just totally burned you! I wink at her at this, and I think I see her hand tense. Ooh, got under your skin, didn't I? That's alright, honey, I wasn't gonna embrace eternity with you anyway. But she looks right at the drell. Jeez, things are getting off to a bad start already... So yeah.

"To be fair, this time they saved our asses," adds Shepard.

I nod. "Point taken," I say, looking back at the asari. "Let's try this again. You are...?"

The asari lets out a groan. Hm... she's obviously not amused about something. But she doesn't go with the rude gesture again, this time simply shaking her head before moving to take her own helmet off. It comes off after a few seconds, and then I'm looking at an asari with a harsh face and purple face paint all over herself. Her mouth looks set in a scowl, and she looks over at me.

"Tela Vasir," she says.

"Tela Vasir," says Mordin. "Have heard of you. Special tactics and reconaissance. Former asari commando."

I blink. Oh, Jesus. Did I just badmouth the wrong bitch? "Wait, so you're a Spectre?" I ask.

"Yes," says Tela. Oh, fuck, yeah, I just badmouthed the wrong bitch. Well... at least she kind of deserved it. "I am a Spectre. Jarel is my... pupil, so to speak."

I glance back at the younger salarian. "Wait, so you're a Spectre candidate?" I ask.

"Oh, yes," says Jarel. "Happened fairly recently. I was offered the candidacy after everything I did on Virmire and with other STG operations. I'm on my fourth mission as Spectre candidate. The evaluation is coming after this, so we'll see what happens."

I nod, smiling. "I see," I comment. "Looks like life treated you fairly well! And what of the rest of the STG regiment on Virmire?"

"Still together," he says. "They had to get a new captain, but they're still together. We have you to thank for that."

"Glad I was able to help you out," I comment, giving him a smile.

It's then that I look to Tela as she glances at the rest of us. "I think I recognize one of you, too." She places her gaze on Shepard. "Strange seeing a fellow Spectre in the area. Did the Council assign you to help out here too?"

Shepard shakes her head. "I've got a bigger mission at the moment," she says. "I'm here as a favor to my crew. Mordin Solus, if you must know."

Jarel nods. "I thought I recognized the great Mordin Solus!" he says. "I never thought I'd meet him in my life!"

"Mission far too valuable," says the doctor. "Human colonies dissapearing." he takes a sharp inhale here. "Must stop disappearances. Still, here on business. Old student held by Weyrloc clan. Maelon."

At this, Tela's eyebrow-things rise slightly. "Maelon?" she asks. "He was specified in the dossier for our mission."

"Really?" I ask.

"Yes," she says. "It seems this detour may not have been wasted time after all."

The rest of us nod, and then I see Jarel thinking about something. Tela glances over to him, wondering what he's going to say next. The Spectre candidate then nods, looking to us. "Then I suppose you know something about what he's doing, right?" he asks.

All of us shake our head. "No," says Mordin. "Only heard that he had been captured. Nothing about what he is doing."

Jarel nods. "Then I guess we'll have to divulge it," he says. "The Council thinks he's creating a genophage cure for Weyrloc."

I rear back slightly, looking at the salarian. Yeah, I saw this coming, but hearing someone else say it? Yeah. "He's curing the genophage?" asks Shepard.

"It's what the Council suspects, anyhow," replies the asari Spectre. "He was... scientifically brilliant. In a manner of speaking."

Shepard shakes her head. "Mordin told me about the modified genophage," she comments. "You don't have to hide anything from me."

Tela looks at us suspiciously, but shakes her head. "Very well, then," she says. "It would make sense to get someone who was working on that project. They would know the genophage inside-out, no questions asked. That's why we think they're trying to cure the genophage. As for whether he went there willingly or not, I can't say for certain. But... my suspicions are leaning towards him going willingly."

"Impossible!" says Mordin. "Maelon knows risk of krogan populations rising. Could have resulted in new krogan rebellions. Knew it had to be done! Was abducted! Must have been!"

Oh, Mordin, you silly scientist salarian you. "Maybe he wisened up," replies Shepard, crossing her arms. "Paint it how you want, Mordin, but the genophage was a mistake."

"Genophage best option," says Mordin. "Genocide not an option, but neither is letting them go free. Population stable, but no rebellion. Other possibilities led to disaster."

I shake my head. "It's not that clear-cut, Mordin," I comment. "I think it was a bad idea, personally. And so do some of my friends back on the Citadel."

"Depends on who you're talking to," says Tela with a shrug. "It's a hot issue, really. There are just as many people for the genophage as there are against it. And that's why the modified genophage is classified. We don't know what would happen if it got out to the public." Okay, then I'll write a poem about it just to spite the turian councillor for all his fucking air quotes. "But we don't know about Maelon's involvement being willing for sure. That's not the point of our mission, anyhow. Our mission is to find Maelon and take whatever data he had. Once we have the data, we can do with it as we please."

"They hope to destroy it," says Jarel. "But we'll see what happens when we find the data."

I nod, looking at them. "Well..." I say. "You're looking for Maelon, and we're looking for Maelon. Maybe we should join forces."

Jarel nods. "Well, we were going to go in stealthily and retrieve Maelon," says the salarian. "But... now that the Blood Pack here knows you're here, they may send people after us. So it may be beneficial to partner up."

"Our objectives are more or less the same," says Tela. "That'll be enough, I think."

Shepard nods. "Yeah, this looks like it would be a good time to team up," says Shepard. "Very well, Tela and Jarel. We'll work together to get this done."

I nod, looking at the rest of the group. Okay, we get to work with Jarel again! I look to the salarian with a smile, giving him a small thumbs-up. "Yeah, looks like it's back to working together," I comment.

"Indeed, Serviceman," says Jarel. "By the way... I thought Shepard was dead."

I shrug, taking out my pistol as the rest of us draw our weapons. "It's a long story," I comment. "I'll tell you when we don't have to retrieve data on a potential genophage cure."

The salarian nods in reply. "Still, this will be great," he says. "Let's hope nothing outrageous happens like it did on Virmire."

I give him a smile. Well, since Virmire ended with at least one casualty, and Mordin's loyalty mission doesn't...

"I really doubt it, Jarel. I really do."


The five-sorry, did I say five? The seven of us now are in the Weyrloc base. Okay... good thing the area didn't have to load. It's... dingy as all hell. But then, any bombed-out hospital will do that to us, I think. It's all brown and decaying and full of the Red Death at the moment.

... The Red Death? Really?

Good thing I'm on Tuchanka. I'd almost say I need to go outside more if it wasn't for that.

Right... Hey, there's the fuel tank there... Isn't this where we run into that krogan who won't shut up?

Oh, wait, no, there's the subject of the human body that shows up first!

We see this body laying down, and then Mordin bends down, scanning it with his omni-tool. Hm... I think I know how this conversation goes. Yep, we find out a human was a test subject, we're all really sad... and Shepard goes off to poke at Cerberus. Good thing Miranda wasn't here; I'm sure her report would mention that.

Anyhow, fun times are had for the galaxy all around. Well, except for the dead guy.

Let's move.

With this, we venture further into the base, climbing down a ramp as we go along. We then come over to a door, stepping over old material as we do so. We then pass the door in relative silence, looking up at a rather wide room as we do so. Yeah... it's grand... spacious... the perfect place for a firefight.

And we're getting one soon, judging by the fact that three krogan suddenly enter the room from a higher place.

"I am the speaker for Clan Weyrloc, offworlders!" says the krogan in white-ish armor. "You have shed our blood. By rights, you should be dead already. But Weyrloc Guld, the chief of chiefs, has ordered that you be given leave to flee and spread the message of our coming."

Oh, God... I've only heard one of the lines from the game and already I wish she would do something about that shit! Dude, you're fighting against Shepard. I think we all know how this is gonna end.

"If I flee, I might trip over the dozen krogan I killed to get here," says Shepard, pointing behind her. "I think I'll take my chances."

The speaker isn't amused by this. "You killed our youngest and weakest, human," he says. "They were not worthy of remaining near our glorious work." You're just saying that because you know we're a threat. And that's how insane people work. Trust me, I've been in Youtube flame wars, I would know this stuff. "Inside, you will find only hardened Blood Pack veterans, tempered by savagery and war and dedicated to one goal." Oh, you were still talking? I'm sorry. "The salarian will cure the genophage, and Clan Weyrloc will spread across the galaxy in a sea of blood!"

"Appears they discovered Maelon's work," says Mordin.

"That isn't a good sign," adds Tela as she shifts uneasily.

Yeah, it isn't a good sign when this krogan son of a bitch won't shut up for two seconds! I mean, for real!

Shepard lifts a hand up. "It doesn't have to happen like this," she says. "I could understand wanting to cure the genophage."

"No, human, you understand nothing!" shouts the Weyrloc speaker. Jesus Christ, you're starting to sound like Fred Figglehorn! "You have not seen the piles of children that have never lived! The krogan were wronged! We will make it right, and then we will have our revenge!"

"That depends on how you look at it," comments Jarel from behind Tela as he comes forward. "Half of this galaxy sees you as victims!"

"If you go to war with the galaxy, you'll lose their support!" adds Shepard.

The Weyrloc speaker looks at us with a look of incredulity all over his face. "We have the Blood Pack, and we have the salarian!" he says. "When our clan numbers in the millions, we will not need support."

Well, it's your loss. The krogan starts to pace all over the upper platform.

Oh, God, here we go...

"When we cure the genophage, Weyrloc Guld will rule all krogan!" he says. Oh, Jesus... "The Krogan Rebellions will become the Krogan Empire!" Okay... she hasn't taken the renegade interrupt yet. Don't worry... she'll have an entire rant to take on it... "The surviving races will frighten their children with tales of what the Blood Pack did to the turians! The asari will scream as their Citadel plunges into their sun! We will keep salarians as slaves, and eat their eggs as a delicacy!" Okay, seriously, Shepard. Any time now, please? I'm starting to get annoyed! "If you lack the wisdom to flee, then you-!"

With a short shift of stuff, Shepard unholsters her pistol, and points it right at the fuel tank under the speaker's feet.

"You talk too much," she says.

With this, she fires a shot into the fire tank, the sound making a harsh impact as the clan speaker draws his weapon.

Thank you, Shepard! Jesus Christ, he was annoying!

Upon missing that she missed him on purpose, the clan speaker continues. "See?" he asks. "The human cannot hit a simple target!"

And then he's aware of the fact that there's some noise coming from the tank. Wait for it... wait for it...

Shepard fires another shot into the tank. And in this shot, the tank bursts, sending a jet of flames up at the Weyrloc speaker. The krogan then catches fire incredibly quickly, and before long, he's screaming at the top of his lungs as he burns to death. He collapses soon after, leaving the two krogan next to him in a brief state of shock.

And that's all most of us need. Almost instantly, Thane and Tela draw their weapons, and while Tela sends some assault rifle rounds into the krogan on the right, Thane sends a sniper bullet right in the head of the other one. I quickly bring up my pistol, finishing the krogan that Thane got started on as the others all fire at the other krogan. And then, more krogan start to file into the room. With this in mind, we all duck into cover very quickly. It just so happens that I'm next to Shepard as Jarel moves forward, sending a cryo blast into the krogan that are entering the room.

"Thank you, Shepard!" I shout as I glance at the krogan flowing into the room. "I thought that son of a bitch would never shut up!"

"Neither did I," says Shepard, shaking her head. "Seriously, I think he deserves much more than that."

Oh, trust me, that's one of the few Renegade interrupts I'll support. Apart from punching the reporter, of course. Fucking al-Jilani. I nod, looking over at the krogan that are coming in.

"Well, they know we mean business," I comment. "So let's get this show on the road!"

And with this, I peer out of cover, holding up my pistol and firing into the advancing krogan.


"Seriously, though. You'd think they would shut up with the fact that we've got two Spectres, a Spectre candidate, and four other people. But no, he just had to go on that rant!"

"I know, Art. They probably would have succeeded if they said something, though."

"Still, he was annoying, you have to admit."

"There is no doubt about that."

Jarel, Tali, Thane, and I are off to the side, following everyone else as they lead. Yeah... that krogan fight was fucking crazy... One almost made it down the stairs with his shotgun. Jeez, my arm still stings a little from when that stray shell grazed it. Well... it could've been much worse, all things considered. All those krogan are a little harder than they should've been. But... we kept it under control. Good thing we've got Tela Vasir with us. I'd hate for her to be on the wrong side of the equation. That would suck if we had to fight her later.

I nod, looking over to Tali as we advance into what is apparently the labs. Okay... the tables are over there... And then there's a terminal somewhere over that way. Okay... everything is as it should be here. Tela and Shepard go with Mordin as he goes around, looking at the data there. "You all right, Tali?"

"I'm fine," replies the quarian. "Chiktikka did what she could, though."

"You named your combat drone?" asks Jarel, crossing his arms.

"Chiktikka vas Paus," I comment, shrugging. "Sure, why not?"

"I'll admit... I didn't think I'd ever meet anyone who would name their combat drone..." comments Jarel.

"Sometimes we quarians can get sentimental," comments Tali.

"But still... why Chiktikka vas Paus?" asks Jarel.

Ah, Jarel, if only I could explain the Baldur's Gate 2 reference inherent in the name of Tali's drone. My life would suck so much less if that were the case. The quarian shrugs. "It just seemed right," she says. "She's a fast combat drone, though. I guess that might have had something to do with that."

I nod, smiling. Well, that's as close as we're going to get to Fastpaws, anyhow. "Indeed," observes Thane.

"Either way, it's useful," I comment. "It's been extremely helpful as of late."

"That it has," agrees Jarel.

I nod. "Shame that we just had to kill those krogan, though," I comment. "It's troubling that the Weyrloc clan is going to such lengths..."

Jarel shrugs. "The genophage defines them as a species," he says. "It's changed everything for them. It's a weight I'm sure none of them would want now, and I don't know about why they modified it."

"There's no doubt about that," I comment.

"But think about it for a moment," says Jarel. "How would you react when your species is suddenly hit with a virus that essentially causes miscarriages across an entire species?"

... Hm... How would I react to that? I... I don't know. But...

I think back. Yeah... I had a friend who's first wife suffered a miscarriage. I didn't find out about it until later... but I know it really affected him. That marriage ended soon after, I think, and then he had two sons, one of them out of wedlock. But... I can tell that the loss of his baby was something that really changed him. For better or for worse, I don't really know, but it must have hurt him a lot.

And the turians are doing that to the krogan across an entire species. With a manufactured virus, no less...

"I would be pissed," I reply. "I'd be angry at the people who asked for it made. I would be angry at the people who made it. But I think I'd also be lost..."

"Exactly," comments Jarel.

I raise my eyebrows. "So you're one of the ones who thinks the genophage was a bad idea," I comment.

"Yes," he says. "The people who made the genophage were too logical, I think. The problem is, I don't think they'd understand how the krogan would react to it on an emotional level. It may have made krogan even more dangerous than before. And if they had fully adapted to the genophage, it might have made them even angrier."

"So it would have resulted in a diplomatic gaffe in your eyes," I comment.

"Don't tell it to the people I served with at Virmire, though," replies the former STG member. "I feel outnumbered sometimes with genophage supporters amongst the salarians. If you want to cure the genophage, you can't go anywhere without hearing how it's for the good of the galaxy. They give that same justification to the modified genophage too, about how it's the best outcome."

"You don't buy it," I comment.

"No," says Jarel. "You'd think you know how species can react, but you don't. The krogan are dying, and the genophage isn't helping anything." Neither is xenophobia, but hey, that's another discussion for another day. He rubs his chin, thinking. "If we cured them, maybe it would give them hope. Also... maybe it would give them a reason to trust us." He shakes his head. "If Maelon went here willingly, I won't be surprised. It would be impossible to get any kind of ground for a genophage cure if he had approached any salarian government for it."

"It's a shame that clan Weyrloc would be the people he'd have to turn to in that case, then," I comment.

"Indeed," says Jarel. "But if Maelon went here willingly, I could understand why he would do so."

Yep, that you won't. And I won't either. "Like minds think the same way, right?" I ask.

"More or less," replies the salarian. "We'll see what he says when we get there."

"Indeed," I comment.

"In the meantime, I find that your Commander has a very strange penchant for squadmates," says Jarel. "There is you, of course... and then there is the quarian, the drell, and Dr. Solus. I'd think a human would surround herself with more humans."

I snort, shaking my head with an odd smile as we watch the three people discussing something over the terminal. "Shepard has a distinct knack for recruiting a team that by all accounts should not be able to work together," comments Thane. "And yet, we work in mysterious ways."

"I notice," says Jarel, pointing to me. "If she can turn a musician with no military experience into a reasonably good soldier, then she must have a certain amount of charisma to her."

I shake my head. "That was a lot of effort on my part, trust me," I comment. "I broke my back way back when trying to help out with everything. And now, here I am, doing it all over again."

"Exactly," points out the salarian. "You are following her when you could be composing all day at the Citadel, yes? She inspires that kind of loyalty from anyone."

Tali nods. "That she does," she says. We then all look over to the group that is just now walking away from the terminal. Hm... They're not too happy about something. What about, I think I have a good idea. Bloody Genophage. Why can't you ever make anything simple for us?

"Did you get anything from the terminal?" asks Jarel as Tela, Shepard, and Mordin appear.

"Maelon used a lot of test subjects," says Shepard. "I don't like how the terminal mentioned test subjects."

I bite my lip, looking to the side. "I dunno about you, Shepard, but I think that might've been moot," I comment, pointing to around the point where the dead female krogan is supposed to be. "It doesn't smell all that good now that I think about it..."

All eyes turned straight to the little room where the dead female krogan should be lying. Yeah... there's the little L-shaped hallway with the little areas where there are hospital beds. And... yeah, there's a kind of nasty sound emanating from one of them. Tela moves forward slightly, recoiling a little to hold her nose.

"He might be right," she says. "The smell!"

The group of us glance at each other, and then we all shrug. We take a few steps-

Ah, Jesus Christ, the smell! Yep, this is definitely the smell of decay! Ah, Jesus... I take a deep breath in, visibly grimacing as I clench my fists. I'm now gnawing on my lower lip, feeling my eyes begin to water. Oh, dear... Gotta soldier the smell.

I move forward, keeping my mouth tight as we all advance forward. I don't know how everyone reacts... but I imagine some of us are rather disgusted by the smell. Me? I'm just trying to soften the blow of such a... well, stench, really. The only thing that could possibly be worse about this whole set-up is if someone farted.

...

Huh. Murphy apparently doesn't want to fuck with me today.

"Sometimes, I'm really glad I can turn off my suit's olfactory sensors," mentions Tali.

"For once, consider me jealous of your suit," I reply.

"Make that all of us, I think," comments Tela.

Tali blinks at all of us, simply shaking her head. Yeah, I can understand some of her frustrations with her suit. But now's not the time for that, methinks.

Right. We move forward, and... yep, there's the blanket over the dead female krogan. Mordin walks up to it, not seeming to mind the stench as he looks over the blanket. He studies it intently, before shaking his head. He sees the datapad laying next to the body, picking it up and looking it over. He seems to scan the thing very briefly. Not like I can fault him for that; it's a good thing salarian brain processes are faster than usual.

"Dead krogan," he begins. "Female. Tumors indicate experimentation. No restraint marks. Volunteer."

... It's always unsettled me that he spoke that line really fast. No emotion whatsoever. And now that I hear it here... yeah, that's... almost heartbreaking, how he's attaching almost no emotion to it. Mordin sets down the datapad, walking around the dead krogan as slowly, we brave the smell and gather around the dead test subject. Mordin shakes his head, and for the briefest second I can sense some form of regret in his eyes.

"Sterile Weyrloc female willing to risk procedure," he begins. "Hoped for cure. Pointless. Pointless waste of life."

Shepard shakes her head, shifting on her feet slightly. "I didn't expect you to be disturbed by the sight of a dead krogan."

Mordin looks up, and suddenly I see something in his eyes I've never seen before. Something... is that shock? "Why?" he asks, his voice slightly raised above its normal volume. "Because of genophage work? Irrelevant. No causative." He points at Shepard shortly after, his finger quivering slightly from the tension. Is... is he angry? "Never experimented on live krogan. Never killed with medicine. Her death not my work, only reaction to it." He shakes his head dejectedly and walks back to where he stood. "Goal was to stabilize population. Never wanted this. Can see it logically... but still unnecessary. Foolish waste of life. Hate to see it."

"I figured you'd be used to sights like this," says Shepard. "Were you ever dropped in Tuchanka after your plague?"

Mordin nods, but it's not a full nod. It's like... one motion of his head, and then nothing. "Yearly recon mission," he says. "Water, tissue samples. Ensure no mistakes. Superiors offered to carry it on. Refused. Need to see it in person." He glances down at the covered body again. "Need to see. Need to look. Accept as necessary. See small picture." He inhales sharply, taking pause as he ponders. "Remind myself why I run a clinic on Omega."

I shrug, shaking my head as he leans against the hospital berth. A slight frown sets itself on my face, and I gesture to the krogan. "Still, you had to have expected something like this," I comment.

"No no no," replies Mordin quickly. "All possible outcomes validated modified genophage. But... never validated this." His voice is laced with regret as his hands grip the berth. "Outcomes never stated this as possible outcome..."

I bite my lower lip then, looking at the dead krogan. I hear a slight shift to my side, and I see Thane look at us and nod. "The measure of an individual is difficult to measure by actions alone," says Thane, his second set of eyelids nictating as he says this. Oh, dear, his recruitment mission's line is back! "Perhaps that applies to an entire species as well. Particularly the krogan."

I nod at this. Amen to that, brother. I look back at the dead krogan, and then my attention goes back to Mordin as he stands there. Slowly, he raises his hand, looking at the dead body.

"Rest, young mother," he says. "Find your gods. Find someplace better."

I raise one of my eyebrows, and I think everyone else is doing exaclty the same. Yes, even Tali, what with her race not exactly having a religion in the strictest sense of it. I see Jarel lean forward out of the corner of my eye.

"I never would have expected Dr. Mordin Solus to have a spiritual side," comments Jarel.

He looks directly at the Spectre candidate, seeming to have swung back to a neutral emotion. "Genophage modification project affected millions," he begins. "Then saw results. Ego, humility, juxtaposition. Frailty of life, size of universe. Explored religions after work. Different races. No answers. Many questions."

"It seems you feel guilty about what you've done," comments Tali from where she stands next to me.

"I've gotta say, the quarian has a point," says Tela, looking on the salarian doctor herself with a surprised expression.

"The doctor who killed millions," adds Shepard.

Mordin simply looks at all of us, a pensive expression on his face. "Modified genophage project great in scope. Scientifically brilliant. But ethically difficult. Krogan reaction visceral, tragic. Not guilty... but responsible. Trained as doctor. Genophage affects fertility. Doesn't kill." He looks back at the dead krogan that's covered by the black sheep. "Still, caused this," he continues, his voice laced with sadness. "Hard to see big picture behind pile of corpses."

"I'd be hard-pressed to rationalize it," I comment. "How do you do it?"

"Wheel of life," replies Mordin, seeming a little less dejected as he paces around. "Popular salarian concept. Similar to human Hinduism in focus on reincarnation. Appealing to see life as endless. Fix mistakes in next life. Learn, adapt, improve." He then looks yet again at the body on the berth. "Refuse to believe life ends here. Too wasteful. Have much more to offer. Mistakes to fix. Cannot end here. Could do so much more..."

"If you need this much soul-searching to get over it, maybe the genophage was wrong," comments Shepard.

"Had to be done," says Mordin. But this time, I catch a slight edge of... regret? There's something slightly hesitant about how he said that sentence. "Rachni Wars. Krogan Rebellions. All pointed to krogan aggression. So many simulations. Effects of krogan population increase. All pointed to war. Extinction. Genophage or genocide. Save galaxy from krogan. Save krogan from galaxy."

I frown, shaking my head and stepping back from the berth. God damn it, even after all that, he's still trying to justify the genophage? Bah, humbug.

"You could have cured the genophage," offers Shepard.

"It would have offered them some form of hope," adds Jarel. "They would've rejoiced. That was a logical outcome too."

Mordin looks at Shepard. "Assumes human reaction," continues the doctor. "Krogan stimulus responses different. Harsh environment, take chance to fight, flee. Would have caused chaos on Tuchanka. Victor would have economy, bloodthirsty army. Ga-"

Fuck it. "And that's different from what the Weyrloc clan is doing here, how exactly?" I ask, crossing my arms as my eyebrows furrow. "And you're just pointing to simulations as proof that this modified genophage really was the answer?"

The older salarian throws his arms out. "Yes!" he says. "Millions of data points! Years of arguments! Countless scenarios! All noted krogan fragmentation as dangerous. No unified culture to support repopulation. Would have been war. Turians and humans destroying krogan utterly. Genophage was better. Saved lives."

I frown, coming right up to the doctor as I glance back at the dead krogan. "Then maybe you can tell that dead woman over there about how you managed to 'save' her life." I frown, looking at the dead woman. "You had all that data to save lives. And look at where that got her."

He does as he's told, and I shake my head. "Pretty it up however the fuck you want, Mordin," I comment, raising my hands to emphasize my point. "No amount of scientific data can justify this."

And with this, I walk past the salarian, with some of the others following my lead. I shake my head in dismay as I move along. God damn it, he's done so much soul-searching, and yet he's still trying to justify his genophage work as being the right thing to do. God damn it, Mordin, you're making me frustrated at you!

Shortly after, I hear the clanking of combat shoes against the ground as we all move on. I don't care enough to look back, so we go out of the labs, seeing more hospital corridors. And there's a door to our right.

Hey, wait a minute... doesn't that door lead to the room where the Urdnot scout usually is? Yes... Yes it is.

I wonder how that's going to turn out...


"Just so I know, how long can I expect to be hearing about that?"

"Weeks, Art."

I bite my lower lip, nervously shovelling along as I glance at Tali. Yep... she wasn't too happy about the quarian with the tummy ache thing to the Urdnot Scout. Even more so when I stepped in with that instead of Shepard. Yeah... I kind of deserved that.

It really doesn't help that we're falling in love I guess. Still... if I could only come up with a proper hanar analogy, that would've been better. Fucking Blasto the Hanar Spectre.

God... that was a bad vid. I really, really hated it in absolutely every sense of the word. Thanks, I think I'll stick to James Bond for my superspies and my one-liners, thanks. Even Schwarzenneger had better oneliners than that stupid jellyfish did. Never mind that it was all fairly offensive for a second, actually: what the fuck was with half those one-liners and how they didn't mesh with the scenario at hand? I don't know, but those one liners sucked. Maybe I should've used that instead of... well, quarians with tummy aches.

Well... too late to wonder about hanar analogies now, I guess.

But... she simply shakes her head, and I can tell from the way her eyes are lit that she's taking it with a grain of salt. She simply shrugs, and then I can see the twinkle in her eyes as she moves close to Shepard. I nod, releasing my lips from my teeth and smiling at the back of her head. Yep, she may not have liked that, but she still loves me. So nothing is lost.

I shake my head, walking behind most of the rest of the group. We all draw our weapons again, fully expecting clan Weyrloc to be around the door again. I shake my head as I see Jarel move closer to where I am. The salarian is drawing his pistol of course, and then we advance towards the next doorway.

Okay, yeah, good times will be had with that. Well... there's more krogan to be fought on the other side...

As Mario would no doubt say, 'here we go'!

Shepard opens the door, and then we all go through it to see a small group of krogan. Okay... we're across this giant room from them, and there are several ramps leading them to us. And it sort of spirals down. Yeah... this is how I remember it from the game. The krogan are on the far side, but it's nothing we can't handle, I don't think. Yeah... we got this, Shepard.

I see the krogan look at us one after another, but before they do much I see them suddenly get surrounded by a biotic field. And before long, they're floating to us. Okay... I glance to the side, seeing Tela shining blue a little bit as she then manipulates her arms a little bit. I glance back at the krogan, suddenly seeing them get slammed down into the empty space between the two parts of the room. A short while later, we hear a rather loud grunt, and then the force of something being slammed into the ground is heard. Before long, we hear a bunch of krogan cry out, along with some rather loud hissing.

Oh, Christ, there's vorcha in here too! I shake my head, watching as the first of the krogan come running out of cover. Okay, here we go! I come out of cover then, firing my assault rifle at the advancing krogan. The rounds seem to hit... or do they? I'm sure they are. I can see Chiktikka out of the corner of my eye as it advances towards the many krogan, and it zaps the one I'm firing my assault rifle at. I hear the crack of a sniper shot go off right next to me, and then I blink suddenly as I turn my head to see Thane kneeling to my right, rifle in hand.

Oh. Well... that's awfully convenient, Mr. Krios. Right...

I'll just pretend I didn't see you, then. I bring up my assault rifle again, and then see another krogan get downed by something. Okay... I think it's time we advance.

I rush to the closest ramp, seeing Shepard rise and use some biotics. As soon as she does this, I see some krogan flying towards us, but not being slammed into anything. Right. I train my assault rifle on the raised krogan, and fire several shots until just before my gun overheats. This is enough to take down the krogan, and then I very quickly resume cover, ending up next to Tela as she sends out another biotic attack.

Okay... these krogan are slowly starting to come at us. And now the vorcha have joined the mix. I come up, looking at the vorcha as they all bum-rush our position. Of course, though, Tali is at the head of the ramp, taking down most of the vorcha with well-placed shotgun blasts. Chiktikka is also helpful, and every so often Mordin manages to completely incinerate a random vorcha as he takes down some of them with his submachine gun. I decide to add some fire in there, and so I lean past Tela, moving to a different cover as the vorcha attempt to rush us.

And it works reasonably well. Tali knocks the vorcha back with her shotgun, and when she's occupied Mordin and I are providing quite a lot of supressing fire. Well... when I don't have to reload, that is. The result is quite a large helping of vorcha death.

Until the krogan comes along anyway. And gets close to Tali. I see the quarian stumble back, nearly tripping over herself. Oh, no, krogan, no you don't!

Before I can do much else, though, I see someone biotically throw the krogan back, sending it flying into a small group of vorcha that are right there. Yep, those vorcha aren't getting up any time soon. Especially if the loud crunch of bones breaking is any indication. The krogan looks wildly, but before he can say much else, Mordin incinerates the motherfucker. I look to the side then, glancing over to see Tela Vasir smirking in my direction as she returns to firing her guns at the krogan as they funnel in to that ramp we're on.

"Thanks!" I shout.

She doesn't seem to acknowledge that I've said anything. Well... I didn't get anything out of her, but whatever. I need to get moving here, because it seems like we're moving along.

I end up getting close to Tali, firing at a vorcha just before a single pistol shot from Jarel takes it down. I see the entire group rushing forward, and I then look across the way to see that Chiktikka is just blazing a trail for us. Okay, follow the combat drone then! Shepard takes point, with Tali also following close behind as we see krogan coming from various places. Tela tosses a singularity in there somewhere, and a large crowd is very suddenly sent levitating around it like it's nobody's business. I raise my assault rifle then, helping Jarel to finish off some of the krogan that are flying around. Sometimes he throws an incinerate, and then they sort of float lifelessly in the air like they're in some zero gravity room. But I add in some assault rifle rounds, and soon enough most of them are dead.

And it only makes it more satisfying when the ones that aren't fall to the ground once the singularity dies out. Some fall with a rather triumphant crunch, but others... oh, they go down with a scream and a crunch. And that's actually really nice to hear. Well... when you can stop thinking about the Saw franchise long enough to look at it as such, anyway.

So we sort of go through, mowing down many krogan.

Well... until I end up trying to take point. Yeah... the shotgun blast to my shields nearly got me killed. It's a good thing Thane was fast on the biotics, I think; the throw that occurred when he did this helped Tali take it out rather quickly. Somehow, I get the feeling I'm going to get berated for that.

But at least I'm still alive to be berated. That's always a good thing for both of us, I think.

And then... as we're going down the spiral... I catch sight of him.

There's the warlord of the Weyrloc clan... This... is gonna be a doozy.

I see Thane land a sniper shot on him first, quickly following it up with another. Good thing he's got the Viper: not having to reload after every shot helps sometimes. Yeah... he would have barriers first. Tela takes care of the rest with a well-fired warp. Okay... down to the armor now. I see Mordin launch an incinerate, but he just keeps charging as some vorcha come up from behind him.

Right. I bring up my assault rifle, hoping to take out the vorcha so they can't overwhelm us too. The warlord can't be a good sign of things to come, after all. Having the vorcha there will make it harder than it really has to be. Cheapskate.

I nod then, shooting at the vorcha. My assault rounds take one of them down, but before I can fire at the other one the warlord is already upon us, shouting something about the glory of clan Weyrloc. I don't really get the whole spiel before he's abruptly knocked back by a biotic blast. Before he can, though, he gets a shotgun blast off. This fries my shields very quickly, and then I suddenly feel a slight burn on my right arm.

Gah, son of a bitch!

I quickly retreat behind the guard buffer I was using as cover, and then look down. I see some blood running down my armor... Hm... Went through my armor. Ah, well, at least the small piece of it only grazed me. That's better than it actually hitting.

The thing stings like a bitch though... Ow.

I quickly bring up some omni-tool, going through some commands. Okay... there! I quickly tap the holographic interface, and before I know it relief floods over the sting of my wound as medigel coats it. Okay, good. That should tide me over for a while. Let's hope there's more where that pack of medigel came from, though. That would really suck if I ran out of medigel mid-mission, especially during Grunt's mission.

I peer over cover to see that the other vorcha has already been taken down. I see the warlord struggling to get up under fire, but he never manages to do so. Funny thing about that, though; he doesn't seem to be dying, even despite all the bullets that have been leveled at him. With the shotgun blasts and everything else we're throwing at him, I'd think he'd be down by now.

Well... better make sure of that with myself!

I bring up my assault rifle, aiming right at the warlord. I squeeze the trigger, and through quite a bit of providence I get a head-shot in. He goes down very soon after, with a final shotgun blast from Shepard sending him reeling back before he falls over.

I blink, and all of us look at the warlord as he lays there, dead. I shake my head, coming out of cover as everyone else holsters their weapons.

"You know, for a warlord who was going on about the glory of his people, you'd think he'd last a bit longer than that," I comment.

"He kind of did," replies Tela.

"Still, the Weyrloc clan won't be troubling anyone else at the moment," says Jarel as he comes up. "That should take care of all the opposition."

"Which leaves objective," says Mordin. "Have not seen Maelon. Should still be in facility."

"Well, we've searched almost the entire compound," says Shepard, looking ahead. "Except for one room."

I nod, my right hand gripping my left elbow as we move forward. "I guess it's time to find out what exactly happened here," Tali mentions as we all walk towards the door.

"Yep," I reply. "Now is the moment of truth."

And I don't think Mordin can handle the truth.

So with this in mind, we all walk the rest of the way to where we know Maelon's gonna be. Down the ramp, past the terminal that Shepard can hack... And there's the door okay, we open the door...

And there's everything in its proper place. The terminal projection is incredibly large with Maelon carefully guiding his hand across the screen. He looks totally absorbed in what he's doing, and so doesn't seem to notice when we've entered. But a short while later, he notices us, and the blueish salarian turns his head. Okay, yep, that's Maelon all right!

"Maelon," says Mordin. "Alive. Unharmed."

The group of us advance as Maelon cancels whatever operation he was doing on the terminal's screen. His attention turns to the keyboard as Jarel comes forward.

"I don't see any signs of restraint," says the Spectre candidate. "There's no evidence of torture, either..."

"Just as you speculated," says Mordin with a disappointed trail in his voice. "Came here willingly."

With this, Maelon turns to us, and I can see a fire in his eyes. "Good to see you figured it out," says the student. "You always did have trouble seeing evidence that disagreed with your preconceptions. I guess I should be surprised that the one time you figured it out you needed help."

Hey, that's no way to address your elder, you son of a bitch! Yeah, he may have supported genocide materials, but seriously! How rude could you get?

I shrug, looking at Mordin. "I guess your projections of evidence supporting the genophage as the best outcome didn't see this coming either," I note, pointing at Mordin's student.

"Don't understand," says the doctor as he turns his attention to his student. "Whole team agreed! Project necessary!"

"How was I supposed to disagree with the great doctor Solus?" asks Maelon. "I was your student! I looked up to you!" Heh, Maelon and I have a lot in common in that case. Except in mine, it led to some of the best things that ever happened to me. Here, it just led him down a dark path. Fucking genophage. It seems it's ruining salarian lives as well as krogan lives.

But Mordin looks absolutely incensed at all this. "Experiments performed here," he begins. "Live subjects! Prisoners! Torture and executions! Your doing?" His voice is raised by the time he gets to asking the question.

"We've already got the blood of millions on our hands, doctor!" replies Maelon, raising his voice in turn. "If it takes a bit more to put things right, I can deal with that!"

I nod, looking off to the side. "See?" I ask. "I figured justifying this new genophage with war and atrocity wasn't enough. Hope, Mordin. Hope."

"Not only that," adds the... ehm... "captive" salarian, pointing an angry finger at the doctor. "Think about everything else! Batarian attacks in the traverse, geth attacks on the Citadel!" And the Reapers, but since the turian councillor dismissed that claim, I won't bring that up. "Is this a more peaceful universe? The assault on Eden Prime might not have happened if the krogan had been allowed to expand!"

I blink, glancing over to Shepard. "And how would that have done anything to stop Saren and the geth?" asks Shepard.

"An increased krogan population would have forced the Council to take steps, likely involving colony rights in the Traverse," replies the younger salarian. "The turian fleets would be vigilant for activity in the area. They might have stopped the geth at Eden Prime."

"Supposition," says Mordin. "Impossible to be certain."

I nod. "And Eden Prime wasn't Saren's ultimate goal anyhow," I comment. "So yeah."

Maelon frowns, looking right at us. "We played god and failed!" he says. "We've only made things worse... But I'm going to make it right."

"With unethical experiments?" asks Jarel. "Using live test subjects? Never taught you that!"

"Do I have to say it again?" asks Maelon. "We killed millions with the genophage! What are a few test subjects compared to that?"

"The fact that we might have killed millions with the genophage does not justify your experiments on live test subjects," replies Shepard.

"But it could save so many more!" replies the "captive" scientist. "Don't blind yourself to the larger picture!"

I shake my head. Jesus christ, he's doing just as much rationalizing as Mordin is for this! Two sides of the same coin indeed. My eyebrows furrow, glancing to Shepard as she looks right at Mordin.

"Well... the rest kind of speaks for itself," she says. "He came here because he wanted to. What do you want to do, Mordin?"

"Have to end this," says Mordin, glancing at Maelon.

The younger salarian instantly draws a Carnifex at Mordin, the firearm unfolding before our eyes. "You can't face the truth, can you?" asks Maelon, wildly pointing the pistol at all of us. "Can't admit that your brilliant mind led you to commit an atrocity!"

The old salarian seems to have enough with this. As Maelon aims at all of us in turn, Mordin walks up to him and punches the other salarian as hard as he can in the chest. This sends Maelon sprawling back, moving past the terminal screen and leaving him laying against the blue light of the stasis pod behind him. The pistol clatters uselessly to the side as his back hits the stasis pod. Mordin coldly walks up to Maelon afterwards, drawing his own pistol and holding it to the other salarian's head.

"Unacceptable experiments," says Mordin. "Unacceptable goals. Won't change. Have to kill you."

I blink in surprise at this, a tense silence filling the air after this. I take a small inhalation of air in surprise. Oh, dear, this is gonna be-

"Wait," says Shepard, stepping forward. "Mordin, you don't need to do this. You're a doctor, not a murderer."

Oh. She took the paragon interrupt. Okay. I can live with that.

Another tense silence fills the air. It only lasts for a few seconds, but the tension draws all of those seconds out. A sharp intake of breath from the doctor means he's convinced. "No," he says. "Not a murderer." He removes the pistol from Maelon's head, taking a step back. The holographic projection once again separates Mordin and Maelon with this step back. "Thank you, Shepard." Maelon wipes his face in relief, and as Mordin holsters his pistol, he speaks again. "Finished, Maelon. Get o-"

And then a single assault rifle shot goes off, sending Maelon stumbling back. This effectively causes everyone in the room to jolt in shock, even Mordin. For once. Maelon looks back at a point behind us, and then he falls over with a single bullet hole in his chest.

All of our eyes follow the source of his last gaze, and there, with her assault rifle out, is Tela Vasir with a frown on her face. "I am," she says simply, holstering her assault rifle.

My eyes close tight, and suddenly a loud smack sounds as my palm connects with my face. God damn it! First it's Enyala with Niket, now it's Tela with fucking Maelon? What is it with asari always stealing kills after we convince someone not to kill them? And especially since this particular instance never actually happened in the game! I can hear a groan of annoyance from Shepard, and then I open my eyes to see her shaking her head and approaching Tela.

"Tela, was that necessary?" asks Shepard.

"He could have spread word about the modified genophage," replies the asari coldly. "Best solution, really."

"No, not best," says Mordin. "STG good at covering tracks. No proof. Can block his access to modified genophage files as well. Needless waste of life."

"Still, someone had to do it," says Tela.

I shake my head, raising one of my eyebrows. "Not exactly," I say. "Look, just because you can do you job however you want doesn't give you the right to abuse your license to kill."

"Exactly," says Shepard. "Just know that if you ever hold an unsuspecting bystander at gunpoint to help you and I am there, I will kill you for putting innocents in danger."

"Then you'll just be seen as reckless," says Tela.

I roll my eyes. Jeez, the stubborn bitch is stubborn as all hell! "Of course," I say. "And we'll have one innocent bystander who'll be more than happy to tell the Council that you held them at gunpoint. They probably won't like that, I'm sure." That was how Councillor Anderson got screwed by Saren, anyway.

"The Council will believe what they want," replies Tela. "Let's not worry about this now. We have more important things to discuss. Such as Maelon's data for the genophage cure."

I nod, looking over at the terminal. Shepard looks over at the holographic projection, crossing her arms. "The experiments may be unethical, but perhaps we can continue them without the use for test subjects," she comments. "I would keep this data. Just in case."

Huh, so she goes the paragon route on this. Great! Now it's just a matter of taking the genophage data and-!

"Frankly, Shepard, that decision is no longer in your hands," says Tela.

...

Or, we can let the asari Spectre do the work for us. Fucking bitch.

And now, she's drawn the ire of everyone in the room. "That is not for you to decide," says Thane almost instantly.

"Frankly, it is not for your commander to decide either," continues the asari Spectre. God, I hate her already. I hope we get to fight this bitch at a later point, because that'll make my fucking day when we can finally kill her. "You were here for Mordin's student. We're here for the data. The genophage data falls outside of your responsibilities."

"Just because it falls outside of our responsiblities doesn't mean we can't help make a decision about this," says Shepard.

"I'm not saying you don't have to help," replies the asari Spectre. "Just that you can't make it. It's in our mission."

Jeez, really? She's denying us the decision because it's not our mission? Bitch, I'll show you what is not my mission right now: kicking your ass! Or... I would, if I didn't know she would instantly kick my ass, what with being an asari and all.

"So you just expect us to shut up and take that logic in the ass?" I ask, frowning.

"Not completely," says Tela, her voice clearly delineating getting annoyed. "This is an evaluation mission for Jarel. So I'm leaving the decision of the data in his hands. He gets to be confronted with an ideologically difficult question, and how he deals with it will play into his evaluation."

... Oh.

Right.

I step back, raising my hands as everyone in the room seems to relax a little.

"Sound logic," comments Mordin. "Still, do not like reasoning used to arrive at this."

I know, right? "Yeah, really. You didn't have to slap us with that whole 'it's not our mission' thing to get that across, you know," I comment. "You could've just said you want to test your candidate and it would've ended there."

"I say it because technically, it's true," says Tela.

Oh, the little-!

"Tela, that's enough," says Jarel, walking over to the terminal. "In a way, they're right. You didn't have to insult them for helping us. I doubt we could have gone this far without them. And for that, I think they do have some pull over the decision about this data."

Ha, even the candidate disagrees with the instructor! Thank you, Jarel Brosca! I smirk, the asari shaking her head as she looks at the yellow light that illuminates the rest of the very dark room. I feel Tali's hand come on my arm, and I nod to her.

"Fine," says the Spectre. "So... what do you think you'll do, Jarel?"

The Spectre candidate looks at the display before him, standing in front of the terminal. Slowly, the rest of us crowd around the young salarian as he looks at the work of Maelon. He shakes his head, looking all around. Oh, dear, Jarel, please don't kiss the Council's ass! It won't be good for the krogan!

"I too think the genophage was a mistake," says Jarel. "We don't really know what the best outcome was for any of that. But Maelon's experiments were just as sick. Two wrongs, don't make a right, I think." The Spectre candidate manipulates the terminal, looking around as he shakes his head. "Still... even if Maelon did the wrong thing, there's no denying that the genophage cure might be a good thing for the krogan."

He opens his omni-tool, manipulating menus. "I'll keep the genophage data," he says. "But I'll have the only copy. And if I don't like what I find upon closer inspection, I'll delete it. Otherwise, I'll make sure the file is encrypted. Nobody but I will be able to access it."

Shepard nods as Jarel held out his hand in front of the display. "I think you've made a good choice, Jarel," she says.

"I can tell you the Council probably won't be happy about it," says Tela. "Still, you did the mission. You have my good word, Jarel."

The salarian doesn't seem to notice, but he acknowledges Tela with a very brief nod when she brings this up. Eventually, the transfer completes, and then he works back to the terminal. "Excellent," he says. "Unfortunately, we have no way of getting off of Tuchanka."

I raise my eyebrow at this. "Really?" I ask.

"Our transport crashed on the way here," says Tela. "We'll need some help getting off this rock. Normally we would call for transport, but I think that would be extremely conspicuous if a Spectre and a Spectre candidate tried to call someone from a krogan camp."

All of us glance at Shepard, who shrugs. "Why not come with us, then?" she asks. "We only have a thing or two to take care of down here before we're done with our business on Tuchanka. When we get to that, we'll be more than happy to take you back to the Citadel so you can report to the Council."

Tela and Jarel both look at the commander. The Spectre's eyes widen slightly as she takes a step back, placing a hand on her hip. "It might get in the way of your mission," she says.

Shepard shakes her head. "I'm sure my boss won't mind," she says. "Just to be warned, it is a Cerberus vessel."

"So the rumors are true," says Jarel. "You are working for Cerberus."

I shrug. "Not technically, no," I reply. "We're using their resources and two of their top operatives are on this mission, but we're not exactly with them. The Commander is running her ship."

"It can't be all that bad, really," comments Tela. "Half the group is not human. If Cerberus' reputation as a xenophobic organization is true, then the fact that they are recruiting other species says this mission is too important." The asari nods. "Very well, Commander Shepard. We'll take you up on your offer."

The other Spectre nods. "All right," says Shepard. "We'll see what we can do for accomodations. In the meantime, we have one more thing to take care of for another of my crew. We should only be here for one more day at the most."

"That's acceptable," says Jarel. "Thank you, Shepard."

"Right," I say, rubbing my hands. "Looks like we're done here. Back to the Urdnot camp?"

Jarel and Tela both give looks of surprise as they glance at Shepard. The human Spectre smirks wickedly, and...

...

Oh no...

"I just lost the game, didn't I?" I ask.

"Yes. Yes you did," she says.

...

"Et tu, Shepard? Then fall, Art!"