New Worlds

Io...

Flying through the alien atmosphere, Saint-10's stolen Skiff glided over what looked like a circular stone city. As he looked at the display screens, showing what appeared to be vast areas of lush greenery dispersed with areas of white sand or angular stone, he suspected Vex.

"I believe we are going to encounter Vex again." He said, looking behind him to see Sotel strapped into her chair.

Sotel shuddered. "Ugh. I hate Vex."

"More than the Hive?" The Exo asked, knowing her dislike for the creepy monsters.

"No. I... Keelah, there are so many horrid creatures in this system aren't there?" She replied.

"Sure are. I'm positive there are other good species out there though." He comforted.

Sotel nodded. "I know. And we found you, didn't we?"

Saint-10's Ghost bleeped over the radio. "I'm picking up a signal. It's Ikora!"

"Transmat us out as soon as we're in range." The Warlock told his Ghost. "You ready?" He asked as he looked back at Sotel.

The quarian respected the Warlock Vanguard a great deal. She was always there to help guide the young Guardian down her path when she needed wisdom. "I'm ready."

Io Surface...

Standing upon a edge of a precipice, the Warlock Vanguard gazed out across the vastness to look upon the distant, ancient stone city.

Transmatting down next to her, Saint-10 and Sotel looked around before slowly approaching. "In all the places I have been, in all the years since my rebirth; this is where I return. The last place the Traveler touched. I came for answers, and still I stand here with nothing."

Sotel moved closer, trying to sound comforting. "Ikora, Zavala's created a resistance, those on Eden Prime are..."

Ikora turned her head slightly to regard the young quarian, sensing her Light. "What good is a resistance when you two are the only ones who would survive?"

The Vanguard turned back to the distant city and her tone became harsh. "I believe this Ghaul creature, understands the Traveler blessed this place. I believe he sent his Legion here to try and control something they could never possibly understand. And I believe they will continue to desecrate all we hold sacred."

Ikora turned back to the pair, almost pleading. "Save this place Guardians. Do not squander this second chance."

Saint-10 nodded. "We will; but you need to know that we're not the only powered Guardians."

Ikora looked taken aback. "What?"

"It's true." Sotel interjected. "You need to talk with Zavala. He will make sure that you get your Light back."

Ikora contemplated this for several long seconds. "I can't. Not until you find out what the Cabal are doing on this planet and stop them."

"Alright." Saint-10 nodded. "We'll stop the Cabal."

Ikora gave a gentle smile. "Ophiuchus, give them the lay of the land."

As she requested, her Ghost sent an up to date layout of the surrounding area to both Saint-10 and Sotel.

After bidding the Vanguard farewell, the two Guardians moved off towards an area of Cabal activity.

Summoning his sparrow, Arecibo Answer, and getting on, he looked at Sotel. "All this time I didn't think to ask; do you have a sparrow?"

She smiled from underneath her mask and nodded. Holding out her Ghost, she summoned her S-34 Ravensteel and hopped on. "Ready to go?"

Powering the thrusters on the sparrow, the Warlock followed the nav point on his HUD.

Sotel smiled and gave chase.

Ikora's voice entered their helmets over the radio. "Red Legion ships have been in and out non-stop in recent days. Get to their base of operations."

As if on cue, several large Cabal ships rumbled overhead. Above them, a large ripple of energy, like an iridescent ocean current flowed through the atmosphere. "What's that?" Sotel's Ghost asked.

"That..." Ikora replied, "is energy. The Travelers energy! What have the Red Legion done?!"

"It's alright Ikora. We'll fix this." Sotel tried to calm the distressed Vanguard. In truth, she didn't now how to fix this. She didn't even understand it. But she did have Saint on her side, he'd understand.

"This is my fault... I could have stopped this." Ikora berated herself.

"There's no way one Guardian could stop this on their own and without their Light. This isn't your fault." Sotel pressed.

"I am more than just my Light! I could have tried! I should have tried." The Warlock yelled, clearly at patients end. "But after all these years, with all these lives... the Traveler has left me with but one... and I'm afraid to lose it."

"I've been there Ikora, on my last life and afraid of dying. I'm still afraid of dying even with my Light." Sotel turned a corner, going through a canyon of white and yellow stone, observing giant fossilised remains. "I've got my Light back, and so will you. We'll kick the Cabal out and will rescue the Traveler. First we've got to get the Vanguard back together, then we need to stop Ghaul's star killing weapon."

"He has a what?!" Ikora asked, clearly surprised. "Why would he destroy what he's worked so hard to gain?."

Suddenly, a new voice broke over the radio. "I may be able to answer that."

"Identify yourself." Ikora stated, in no mood for games.

"You have friends Guardians, even out here." the voice continued. "Major Saelen Varn, STG. Me and my team have been tracking Cabal ship movements and this seems to be a hot zone. However, it would appear you're catching them just as they're shipping out."

"Shipping out? To where?" Sotel asked.

"Unknown." Major Varn replied. "Although I believe we know what they're shipping. You should be approaching their mining operation now."

Upon seeing Cabal structures, Saint-10 and Sotel jumped off their sparrows and pulled out their weapons. Rounding a corner, they saw a red Harvester haul several large containers away, observed by a cluster of Cabal and Psions. A firefight soon erupted.

As they fought, Major Varn continued to talk. "The blue substance you see in the ground around you is leftover energy from your Traveler. The Cabal are mining it and shipping it off world."

"For what purpose?" Ikora asked. "It's not Light. It can't give the Traveler's blessing. Not to me, not to Ghaul… or could it?"

"We were hoping you might be able to tell us." Major Varn said hopefully.

Finishing off the last few Cabal with a well placed Void grenade, the two Guardians descended into what looked like a mine. After wandering for a short while, they entered into a cavern, strewn with pieces of Cabal tech and crates. A large drill had burst through the roof of the cave and was now hanging there unpowered.

"Well, we found their drill." Saint's Ghost quipped.

Something however caught the Warlock's eye. "Ikora, we've got a problem."

"What is it Warlock?" she asked, concerned.

Saint-10 and Sotel looked at a cave wall, covered in Taken rifts. "We've got Taken here; somewhere."

"The Taken?" Major Varn interrupted. "We've only seen limited Taken presence on Io since our arrival. What's their interest in a Cabal base?"

"I don't know." Saint-10 replied. "But they have defensive wards here. They're trying to protect something."

Moving thorough the cave system, they encountered several proximity detonating explosives and either avoided them entirely or got close enough to set them off and moved away before the explosion.

Further on, the two entered into a small widening, heavily corrupted with Taken influence. A large Taken blight had imbedded itself into the ceiling along with clusters of smaller spheres dotted around the room. A thick fog cloyed the Light users, if only slightly, and for those without protection would have made it impossible to breath.

With an unnatural tear, Taken clawed their way into reality. A cluster of Taken thralls scuttled around the cave system before standing and twitching their way towards the Guardians.

Close behind them, two Taken phalanxes turned their gaze upon their enemies and spun their shields round.

Sotel hadn't fought the Taken all that often, but knew how to deal with them from study. Shepard had insisted that she learnt how to take on all possible enemies, no matter how unlikely it would be that she would face them.

Throwing her grenade, she watched as the thralls fell in a blaze of purple fire.

Hearing a chittering close to her, she glanced to her right in time to see a thrall lunge at her. Throwing her left hand out towards the corrupted creature, she summoned a disintegrating force of Light. As it struck the monster, it was broken down with a screech.

Listening to the thrall cry out, Saint-10 was focusing the fire of his assault rifle to catch the slightly exposed limbs of the phalanxes. As they staggered, he moved his aim up to their glowing faces. Sotel finished with the thralls in time to watch the second phalanx being dragged back into the Darkness whence it came.

Turning, Saint-10 nodded to Sotel and both reloaded.

"Guardian, I'm reading something unusual from up there." Saint-10's Ghost informed her Guardian.

Looking above, there seemed to be a long ledge set back into the wall near the top of the cave. Looking around, the Exo plotted the best route up and with several bursts of his glide and clambering on rocky outcroppings, the Warlock made it up.

Before him, a small Taken orb floated around two feet off the ground. It looked different from the others however, with a unique deathly pale glow. Pulling out his Ghost, the Warlock let her scan it.

His Ghost turned and dematerialised. "I'm reading something, three syllables repeating over and over; Sa, Va, Thun..."

Ikora repeated the words, voice full of concern. "Sa, va, thun. Guardians, this is troubling. It would appear that another may have claimed Oryx's throne."

Major Varn also sounded alarmed. "This is concerning news. I will have to report this as soon as possible you understand. Preparations and contingencies must be made."

"We understand." Ikora acknowledged. "As soon as we disrupt our enemies here, we will be preparing to retake the First City. Do you have your own ship?"

"Indeed. We will observe your actions and will make our own way off world." Major Varn informed.

Pressing further into the labyrinth of tunnels, the two Guardians continued fighting the Taken which seemed to flow in an almost endless stream.

Breaking through a cluster, they both caught a glimpse of the source. Three Taken Wizards floated together, arms raised. In-between the three that formed a close triangle, they focused their efforts in summoning a tide of shadow thralls.

"Go after the Wizards, I'll handle the thralls." Saint-10 said to Sotel.

Nodding, she circled around the room while Saint-10 threw down a damaging rift.

Bringing up his rifle, the Warlock began to mow down the thralls, forcing the Wizards to focus on creating more.

While distracted, Sotel jumped in close and with her shotgun quickly dispatched two of the dark monsters. The third, as if broken from some trance threw her arm out and screeched. A fog of black poison began choking out Sotel's Light and she was forced back.

Looking to the side with a twitching flick of her head, the Wizard was just in time to see a Void grenade slam into her face, breaking her shields and tearing small chunks from her already smoking bone armour.

A burst from his assault rifle saw the Wizard protect her face with her crumbling arms and kept her off balance long enough for Sotel to close the gap again and unload her clip.

With the Wizards no more, the tide of shadow thralls ceased.

"They're not that bad if you get them on their own." Sotel commented.

The Warlock nodded. "That's why when Oryx took them, he gave them the shape of 'Call forth the numberless', I think it was. It helps them protect themselves."

"Wait..." Ikora said, an idea forming. "that's what Ghaul's after. He want's to do the same as Oryx but with the Light. He want's to remake himself and his chosen with the Traveler's energy. Guardians, if he does this he will become immortal, unopposable. Get back to the surface, I'll meet you there."

"As will we." Major Varn informed. "We'll be packed up in just a moment."

"Alright, let's get out of here." Saint-10 said to Sotel as he broke into a sprint.

Retracing their steps was made simple with the Ghosts creating waypoints for them to follow. As the Warlock passed the cave where he'd found that orb, he made a mental note to brush up on the Hive Pantheon and to make sure that the information was made readily available to those who requested it.

Nearing the ramp which would lead the way back and out of this Taken infested cave, the radio lit up. "All channels! This is a skyshock alert! Someone or something has drawn the Taken here!"

"Asher Mir?" Ikora asked questioningly. "What are you doing here?"

"Irrelevant!" he shouted with anger lacing his voice. "The Taken are sapping the moon's energy. I hypothesize that Io will implode or else be dragged into some alternate Taken dimension!"

"Guardian, we cannot lose this sacred place to the Taken. As a Warlock I know you understand." Ikora said almost pleadingly.

Coming out through the exit of the cave, the two Guardians saw a small horde of Taken creatures surrounding a large Taken blight.

"Stay together." Saint-10 ordered, and where he went, Sotel was close behind, her shotgun at the ready.

Enemies fell as the two advanced, falling at range to the Exo and at close to the quarian. Slowly but surely, they made their way to the large blight at the centre of a roughly circular decline.

Throwing down a healing rift, the two Guardians stood back to back, breaking any Taken who dared enter their sightlines.

Firing a blast from her shotgun, Sotel broke the shields of a charging Taken Centurion. With the last shot spent, she pulled out one of her omni-tools and activated the flamethrower while throwing a mechanical turret out with her free hand.

The Centurion burned quickly with her being so close and she turned slightly, allowing the flames to lick at a cluster of Taken thralls before it sputtered out.

Something clipped against her shoulder, throwing her off balance for a moment. Looking up and to her left, a Taken hobgoblin stood on a ledge and aimed its long, glowing rifle towards the quarian.

"M-5!" The quarian yelled quickly, raising her hand and watching as a slightly modified M-5 Phalanx heavy pistol materialised in her hand from her inventory. Pulling the trigger, Sotel enjoyed the sight of the hobgoblin staggering. Another two shots saw that it broke completely and was dragged back into it's hellish realm. 'Good against armour, bad against shields.' Sotel reminded herself.

Quickly replacing the thermal clip, she took aim at the next target.

Soon enough, the Taken were removed form the area. Firing a shot from his rifle, Saint-10 found the blight immune to ballistics. "Ikora, any suggestions?"

Major Varn spoke before the Vanguard could answer. "Guardians, I'm getting some troubling readings! Paracausal energies are off the scale!"

The Taken blight began to drift lazily towards the ground.

"I concur with the amphibian. I anticipate a heavy Taken presence momentarily." Asher Mir interjected.

As the blight touched the ground, it began to dissolve, infecting the area around it.

Saint-10 and Sotel took a tentative step back.

After a moment of tense quiet, an explosion shook the two, with a flash of blinding light staggering the two Guardians.

"Keelah!" Sotel yelled, bringing her arm up to shield her face.

After blinking away the blindness, she looked around her. Everything seemed... cloaked in shadows, and she could see leering, demonic faces in every one.

Next to her, the Warlock looked up, and Sotel followed his gaze.

There were no stars in that sky above them, nor clouds, or planets. The sky above was a roiling sea of Taken energies.

"Saint... what's going on?" Sotel asked quietly.

"I surmise this planet's being dragged into the realm of the Taken, with this as it's focal point. If we don't stop it here, we'll get dragged down with it, eventually becoming Taken." Saint-10 answered honestly.

"Keelah! How do we stop it?" the quarian asked, on the edge of panic.

"Magic like this needs to be channelled through a living, or semi living host. And with the immensity of this one it would need to be strong..." the Exo began before being interrupted.

Where the blight had first touched the ground, something began to shunt its way into this semi-reality the Guardians found themselves in.

Before the two Guardians, a large Taken Centurion shuddered and twitched. Their Ghosts displayed the creatures title.

Irausk, Herald of Savathûn.

"Traveler… bring it down!" Saint-10 yelled.

Bringing up his assault rifle, he began chipping away at the monstrous creature.

Jogging backwards, Sotel readied her heavy pistol, noticing that the Herald had no shields and knowing that she'd want to be at distance for this.

Throwing a grenade, Saint-10 created a Void well that halted the advance of the Centurion.

"STG moving to assist." Major Varn said as he hurried onto his shuttle with the last of the teams gear.

Seeking cover behind a large rock pillar, Saint-10 and Sotel intermittently left cover to take shots at the monster raining down Ark projectiles at them.

They both knew the strength of those explosives, and neither wanted to be downed in this place; the Darkness was beginning to smother their Light.

"If I could get out of cover without dying, I could use Nova Bomb." Saint-10 said while reloading.

"Same! We need a distraction!" Sotel replied as she crouched behind the rock spire as its top half was blown to rubble by the Taken Centurion's constant bombardment.

"Distraction arranged." Major Varn said over the coms.

Flying over the Guardians, an unmarked shuttle glided.

Quickly observing it, Saint-10 noticed, while he hadn't seen the design before, it wasn't flashy and wouldn't scream 'Secret Spy Organisation!'. It was fairly bulky with silver and brown being the dominant colours. Two circular stabilisers that almost looked like rotary blades extended from either side close to the back, and behind them were four engine vents protruding from the rear.

Banking behind the Guardians, Saint-10 saw the side door on its flank open.

The snapping sound of sniper rifle fire sounded along with the whoosh of a rocket being fired. Watching, the two Guardians below saw the precision shots land on the Taken beast, causing it to stumble and drop to one knee.

"That's our cue!" Saint-10 yelled.

Running from cover, both Guardians focused their Light and directed it towards the quickly recuperating Taken.

Focusing the Void, Saint-10 guided the destructive energies of a Nova Bomb towards his enemy. He watched in satisfaction as it struck home, driving the brute to its knee even as it tried to stand.

Sotel also readied herself, focusing the Void around her, she puled her arms close to her chest and began to float. Clenching her hands as she took a grip on reality, she then pulled her arms apart so they were fully extended either side of her. As she pulled, reality tore around her, cutting rents in the air through which Void fire poured like miniature waterfalls.

With three of these rents appearing above the Centurion, Sotel grinned as her enemy burned, struggling to maintain her hold on reality, halting it from closing and blocking the flow of purple flames.

The constant bombardment of Void energies, coupled with the continuing impacts from the Warlocks gun along with the salarian weapons proved to be too much for the Taken.

With a deep below, the Taken Herald fell apart in a spray of purple motes.

After a moment had passed, the salarians shuttle drifted down to land. Touching down, two salarians exited the shuttle, looking up. They froze in place.

Following their gaze up, the two Guardians caught a glimpse of something before it vanished in the turbulent skies. Something vast, intelligent, with three hate filled eyes, and an uncountable number of teeth.

Slowly, the Taken energies dissipated like smoke upon the wind and a brightly lit star filled sky prevailed once more.

"Tell me you got that..." Major Varn managed to whisper, causing the STG agent next to him with a holographic headset recording everything to nod slowly.

The Major let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

Composing himself, the salarian Major walked over to the two Guardians, extending a hand which they both took in turn and shook. "Pleasure to meet you both. Major Varn, STG."

"Pleasure." Saint-10 responded. "So... was that your first encounter with a God level being."

Pausing, the salarian gave a quick glance to the sky. "I'll be direct. Was that one of the Hive pantheon?"

The Warlock nodded slowly. "I believe we were just witness to Savathûn."

"Keelah… when she was looking at us; that hate, that rage. I could feel it." Sotel said, unconsciously gripping her pistol tighter.

"Well, I was one of the six to kill her brother; and nephew; and nieces; and son. I've done my fair share of Hive killing." Saint-10 stated, trying to hide the near panic taking over.

Major Varn looked shocked. "You are one of the Guardians that assassinated Oryx? Impressive work."

"Thank you." Saint-10 said.

"Sir?" one of the STG agent said, approaching their Major. "The shuttle is ready and we have orders to return to Sur'Kesh."

Major Varn nodded to her and looked back to the Guardians. "Well Guardians, it's been a learning experience. You have my thanks."

Saluting, he turned and made his way to the shuttle.

As it lifted off, Ikora returned on the coms. "Guardians, I will re-join my firteam on Titan. If I do lose my final life, I would gladly lose it to stop Ghaul. I will leave now."

Before Ikora could leave however, Asher Mir interrupted. "Not so fast Ikora; or you, meddling Guardians. I take offence at the thought that something so delicately intertwined with our Sun can be so easily untangled. Meet with me. Now."

Normandy...

Up in his somewhat spacious room, Shepard was watching a playback of Council space news on a datapad. He liked to keep up to date with the wider galaxy when he could.

As he watched the asari reporter, he idly picked out pieces of information.

Transmat tech would soon be used in civilian transport stations across Council space.

Something about a popular sport, biotiball or something akin.

There was report of a shady looking Guardian in the Traverse with a dark metal and glowing green Hand Cannon...

Shepard rewound the feed and was about to play again.

"We're getting a transmission, Commander." Joker announced over the Normandy's com system.

Placing the datapad down on the seating next to him, he pushed himself up, thinking he must return to it later. "Who's calling?"

"It's from the Council commander." the pilot replied.

"I'll take in in the coms room. Ghost, would you?" Shepard asked.

"Sure thing." his Ghost replied.

Utilizing the transmat system integrated into the ship, the Titan's Ghost transported him from his cabin down into the coms room.

Clearing his throat with a cough, he righted himself. "Alright Joker, put them through."

Within a moment, the sight of the three Councillors appeared before him.

"Commander." Tevos said calmly in greeting.

Shepard wondered if the asari was still angry that he'd rebuffed the offer to become one of their agents.

"Council." Shepard acknowledged with a nod.

"It's good to see you well, given the loss of your Light." Valern said, and the Titan detected the slightest hint of smugness in the salarians voice.

"Thank you. You also." Shepard replied with an even voice.

"Commander, we've some information that may be relevant to your investigation into the rouge Spectre." Sparatus said.

This raised the eyebrow of the Titan.

Valern nodded. "One of our scout teams has gone silent while following a lead on Saren. The last thing we received was a heavily corrupted transmission. It could be a request for aid, or a warning to stay clear. With your interest in this subject, and given your capable nature, we'd like to enquire if you'd be interested in investigating this."

"What's the location?" Shepard asked.

"We received transmission from Vermire." Tevos answered. "Be cautious Commander, we don't know what Saren may have planned."

Vermire...

Waves crashed heavily against the rock strewn beach while strange alien crabs scuttled across the sand. The wind blew gently, carrying the soft spray only a short distance.

Everything was quite peaceful.

That was until a Mako crashed into the sand with a loud mechanical thud and skid inland.

Shepard grunted. "Ugh, good landing."

Garrus coughed and Wrex rumbled in his throat. "Yeah," Wrex said, "let's go with that."

Smiling, Shepard powered the Mako across the sand into the rocky beach. Their objective were a pair of AA towers that prevented the Normandy from landing and were guarding some sort of stronghold.

"Joker said the AA towers shouldn't be too far. We'll take out their power and give the Normandy a place to land. Hopefully we can rendezvous with the team the Council sent here. Their last known location is close by." Shepard reminded the two passengers.

"Careful what the Council's team says Shepard." Wrex cautioned. "As much as I loved the way you rejected the Council, some might have taken it personally."

"Not all who work for the Council will care, but Wrex is right. Some might hold a grudge." Garrus pitched in.

It didn't take the team long. Soon, they'd rounded a corner to the sight of a pair of giant anti air turrets. At their base was a concrete looking structure built into the rocks they were currently travelling through.

"Those are big guns." Wrex commented.

"Yep, and we're about to turn them off." Shepard said as he powered forwards.

As soon as the engine revved, geth jumped out from behind the balcony overlooking the run up to the structure. Firing their plasma rifles, they rained down punishment on the Mako.

Reaching the wall underneath the balcony, Shepard, Wrex and Garrus hopped out, weapons at the ready.

Moving up a ramp, Shepard threw out a thermite grenade and watched as the line of fire travelled up the walkway and reduced two geth troopers to molten slag.

Crouching, he rounded the corner and held down the trigger on his Spitfire, shredding another.

As he began to take a few hits, he was about to pull back and wait for his Ghost to do its work. When Wrex came up behind and moved in front, he saw no need.

With a roar, the krogan barrelled into a geth trooper and smashed it aside.

As the krogan was now soaking up all the fire, Shepard and Garrus were allowed free reign to pick off targets with their weapons.

Wrex, joyfully tearing an arm off one of the remaining geth failed to see another move in behind him, ready to take a kill shot.

As the krogan turned, he watched the geth's head exploded from a concussive shot fired from Garrus's sniper. With a deadpan expression, Wrex looked to the turian and gave a small nod.

Soon enough, the three had cleared out the geth and were ready to power down the AA turret.

"Garrus, would you mind?" Shepard asked.

"On it." The turian replied, moving to a nearby geth console and stowing his sniper on his back.

Shepard could have asked his Ghost to power down the turrets, but he felt like he had to give his fireteam more to do. It also allowed them to keep practiced in fieldwork, ensuring that should the situation come where he wasn't able to do something himself, they'd be ready.

"Turrets are powered down sir." Garrus said, turning back from the console and grabbing his sniper from his back.

"Good," Shepard replied. "and you might as well call me Shepard, I'm hardly your CO."

This earned a nod from the turian. "Yes si… Shepard."

Shepard smiled. "Joker, power to the AA turrets is down."

"Copy that Commander. On approach to the Council team's last known coordinates." the pilot replied.

"Guess we better get going. Don't want to miss the show." Shepard said as he turned and moved back towards the Mako.

As they drove, Shepard kept an eye out for enemy geth that could be hiding in the rocks, yet none had appeared so far.

"Nice shot, by the way." Wrex said to no one in particular.

"Me?" Garrus said with a quizzical look. "No problem."

Wrex huffed in amusement. "Took that things head clean off."

"Yeah, a shot from a sniper will do that." Garrus said, with a happy tone in his voice.

"We're almost there." Shepard said. "Let's hope they're happy to see us."

"Could get difficult otherwise." Wrex replied. "Which I'm fine with by the way. Difficult is fun."

"Shepard," Joker said over the coms. "Normandy's touched down but it looks like we're grounded. Salarian captain can explain when you get here."

As the mako picked up more sand beneath its wheels, they sped towards what looked like a camp ahead.

Coming to a stop a moment later, they hopped out of the mako where they saw Ashley talking with a salarian.

As they got closer, they could hear the conversation.

"So what do we do now?" Ashley asked.

A green salarian in bone coloured armour answered. "Stay put until we can come up with a plan."

"Are you in charge of the Council's team sent here?" Shepard asked, coming to a stop a few feet away.

"I'm Captain Kirrahe, Third Infiltration Regiment STG. You and your crew have just landed in the middle of a hotzone. Every AA gun within ten miles has been alerted to your presence." The salarian replied.

"Great." Wrex said sarcastically.

"We were given your location by the Council. We're here to investigate Saren and provide aid to you if requested." Shepard said to the captain.

"What? You're all they sent? I told the Council to send a fleet." Kirrahe said with slight anger and shock in his voice.

"Count yourself lucky." Wrex said. "You've got yourself a Guardian."

Kirrahe eyed Shepard. "Reports suggest that all Guardians have lost their 'Light'."

Shepard nodded and reached up to remove his helm. As it slid off, he moved it down and held it under his right arm. His brown ear length hair fell down as it dethatched itself from his helm. "True; but Guardians don't need Light to fight."

"Indeed?" Kirrahe stated, hopeful that he might be able to salvage this mission.

"Besides, your message was corrupted, the Council couldn't understand it. They wouldn't have know the situation. But we need to know now." The Titan continued.

"This is Saren's base of operations. He's set up a research facility here, heavily fortified and full of geth." Kirrahe informed. "It would appear that he's breeding an army of krogan."

"How's that possible?" Wrex asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Apparently Saren has discovered a cure fo the genophage. My team is looking for a way to reach it and destroy it before the cure can be spread off world." The salarain didn't seem troubled by the krogan.

"Destroy? I don't think so. My people are dying. This cure can save them." Wrex said, eying Kirrahe.

To his credit, Kirrahe didn't back down. "If this cure leaves the planet, the krogan will become unstoppable. We can't and wont make the same mistake again."

Wrex walked up to the captain. "We are not a mistake!"

Holding his stare for a moment longer, Wrex walked away.

"Is he going to be a problem. We can't let anything compromise this mission." Kirrahe asked the Titan.

"I'll talk with him. He'll be fine." Shepard replied, casting his gaze to the krogan still walking away.

"I'd appreciate that. Me and my men need some time to rethink our plan of attack. Meet with me after." Kirrahe said.

"Go ahead captain, I'll talk with you soon." Turning, the salarian walked away.

Shepard let out a long sigh. This wasn't going to be fun.

Moving towards the angry krogan, Shepard watched as he drew his shotgun that the Titan had given him and fired a few shots across the shore.

"This isn't right, Shepard." Wrex said as the Titan approached. "My people are dying, and this cure can save them."

"I understand. If something offered me a way to save my species I'd be tempted to take it too. But this is coming from Saren. What will he ask for in exchange for this cure?" Shepard asked.

"It doesn't matter." Wrex dismissed with a wave of his hand. "He's made a cure, and you want to destroy it."

"I don't actually; weird as that sounds." Shepard said, earning a suspicious look from Wrex.

"My people have been pushed to the brink of extinction. We've had to fight every day to ward if off. I understand what you're people are going through, more than any salarian or turian ever could. I don't hate the krogan, in-fact, I have a great deal of respect for your people." Shepard continued.

"Oh really?" Wrex said, inclining is head in a way that suggested he didn't believe the Titan. "As far as I can see, you only want to protect your own. Help me out here, Shepard. The line between friend and foe is getting a little blurry from where I stand."

"When we came into the wider galaxy, all the Council races wanted was our tech, it was all about what we could do for them. With your people, you showed us a different level of respect because you know what it's like to be us. You respected our strength, not just in combat, but in the struggle to survive. We're more alike than you think."

"And what if you were offered a way to save your species before you found the relay? When it was just your 'Last City'." Wrex asked, still eying the Titan.

"If it was offered to me by our enemies, by the Darkness? I'd spit in it's face. I would never sell the soul of our people. I'm asking you not to sell yours." Shepard replied honestly.

"I've fought allongside you Shepard, but if we're going to do this, I need to know it's for the the right reason." Wrex said as he hefted the gifted shotgun and pointed it at the Guardian.

Shepard felt himself twitch instinctivley for the weapon on his back, but he held firm.

Taking a step towards the Krogan, Shepard didn't even prep a grenade. "Wrex, these krogan inside this facility aren't your people. Saren will take the cure and will demand the krogan race bows down to him in payment for the cure. I'm not going to stand by and watch an entire race fall to death and Darkness."

Thinking on it for a moment, Wrex lowered the shotgun. "Damn. You're right Shepard. I won't let my species be left in the claws of some insane turian. I don't like this, but I trust you enough to follow your lead. Just one thing. When we find Saren, and we will, I want his head."

Shepard smiled. "Wouldn't have it any other way."

Authors Note:

Hello all, I hope you're doing well.

Chapter 29 is here and we're almost at 30, which should be being proofread soon. Thanks again to Carl for helping me with this. Life saver.

I've also gotten through a couple episodes of the new series of Stranger Things. Loving it so far and I hope you all are too.

Anywho I shall disappear back into the darckness for now and will leave you with this.

"You are not Saren."