Thirty-Fifth Assignment

The SSV Normandy SR-1

They watched the small creature as one would a dangerous animal - still, silent and trying to not break eye contact. The smallest of slip-ups could result in loud crying, and then tears and both of those together were worse than a vorcha singing.

None of them was willing to take the risk, too afraid of the reaction and of the unknown to risk upsetting the blue-eyed baby on the bed. If it had been a human baby Seraphina could have handled it, even Garrus could handle a turian baby, but a krogan child?

Not even Wrex knew how to handle a child of his own species, so how the hell was Seraphina and Garrus supposed to handle it? Wrex guessed the child to be somewhere around the human equivalent of eleven months, which means in krogan terms he was no older than a month and a half.

Krogan age at a rate much faster than humans and turians, something to even rival salarians if the latter had a longer life span. In comparison to a human who needs several years to fully develop verbal skills, the ability to walk and coherently think and express thoughts a krogan child needs half that time, reaching a fair rate of maturity at only three years and then eventually hitting puberty some years later, which lasts somewhat longer than a human as krogan crests take some time to fully connect.

This fast development is what allows krogan to be so huge at so young an age, the child before them was so young yet bigger than any human child could ever be. He sat up with ease with large blue eyes and the faintest trace of almost silver crests; he stared back at them as intently as they stared at him.

"Tell me again, Seraph," Wrex asked, "what made you think bringing this kid on-board was a good idea?"

"What choice did I have?" she returned. "If I left him he would have died."

"Or Giriko may have come back for him," Garrus added. "There's no guarantee he didn't know about him, and then what? Could you live with the fact you left a child in Giriko's hands?"

Wrex bared his teeth, not in anger, but annoyance. Garrus was right, after all the mutated krogan they had to put down there was only one life they could save, and if Seraphina hadn't the heart to hear Okeer out then an innocent life would have been left to defend itself.

And on Korlus an innocent life didn't last very long when left on its own.

"What did Okeer tell you, exactly?" Wrex asked her.

"It had something to do with his research," she replied. "He said everything he had done up to this point had been worth the life of one child..."

...

Korlus, An Hour Earlier

Seraphina stared at the cot, hearing the faint rustle of fabric as the thing inside moved. Okeer tried to move his head, to see her reaction, but he was still bound by her biotic hold. She released him and grabbed him, turning him to face her.

"What is that?" she demanded. "What have you done?"

"If you're insinuating I stole that child and have done terrible things to him I am offended," he replied. "That child is my own. I created him."

"How?" she asked.

"I genetically engineered him," he answered. "His DNA is the very definition of a true krogan, with the best of my race inside of him. He has DNA from leaders and battle masters, soldiers and politicians, there's even a little bit of Urdnot Wrex in him."

"All those dead krogan..." she said, "the ones with no meaning to life and accept it... they were just for one child?"

"You don't understand, do you?" Okeer said. "His purpose is to exemplify the best traits of the krogan. He was bred and taught in a tank, but as you can see he is still very small. His teachings will manifest themselves when he becomes much older."

"The perfect soldier and he's just a baby?" she said. "I see some flawed logic there."

"I couldn't grow an adult krogan in a tank without alerting Giriko to my intentions," Okeer explained. "He wanted the spare parts from my failed soldiers, those creatures with 'no meaning to life', as you put it. He was suspicious of those creatures, if he discovered Grunt-"

"Grunt?" she said. "What kind of name is that for a child?"

"He's not a child," he insisted. "He's a soldier... or will be, one day, with your guidance."

Seraphina furrowed her brows and took a step back; she walked over to the cot and looked down at the krogan child who lay asleep. He seemed so peaceful, how could something so small and sweet be someone's tool? Okeer wanted 'Grunt' to be the best of the krogan, but why?

"Did you make him because you thought the krogan race was weak?" she asked. "Or was there some other reason? I know you have no children of your own, so why risk weak genes in breeding when you could just make your own child?"

"Don't think me to have sentimental feelings," he avoided her questions. "Grunt is my tool, nothing more."

"Right..." she smirked slightly. "If I took... Grunt... wouldn't it contradict your reason for creating him? He's supposed to serve krogan, if I take him in - a human -"

"This is what I want," Okeer assured her. "If I didn't... I wouldn't have told Krona where to find Giriko."

"You..." she didn't finish, she saw no reason to.

Okeer wanted Grunt to be safe from Giriko and he could longer care for him, he chose who he thought would be best to care for his legacy. He must have had a high opinion of Seraphina and her men to want to take the risk of handing Grunt over to her.

"You can rest easy," she said. "I'll take care of Grunt."

"Good," he smiled. "Good... now I can rest."

She watched as he turned to face his desk and he looked at some work, though his shoulders sagged and his breath slowed he kept that calm smile on his intelligent face as the last of his life was whisked away. He was holding on for the very last moment, fighting death until Grunt had someone to watch over him.

...

Seraphina finished her story and they all had a lingering image of the krogan they had met, the ones with the dead eyes who had accepted his fate. When they went outside to retrieve him and try to help him they found he was already gone. He had stayed there, as if waiting for him, and just passed away.

Wrex wondered what would happen to Grunt if he had been left alone, would Giriko had come for him and turned him into something like Tungel? Or would he have been left to fade away, to rot into something not quite krogan and remain outside in the cold with the rest of the damned?

He would rather not think of all the terrible possibilites, not when Grunt was safe.

"We can't tell anyone about him yet," Wrex ordered. "Every science committee and medical journey will want to get their hands on him, and who knows how the krogan will react to what Okeer did to create him."

"I'll take him to Mordin then," she said. "He can run a scan or something, make sure he's okay."

"Then I'm going to try and track down Giriko," Garrus said. "He can't have gotten too far."

He left the room, giving a short wave, and dissapeared as the door closed. Wrex looked back at the child, who throughout the whole thing had sat there silently and calmly, as if listening to the whole thing. Okeer did mention he taught the child, but what kind of things did he teach him?

"Do you think he knows what we're saying?" he asked her.

"I guess," she shrugged. "Kids pick up things fast, right?"

"That's not what I meant," he said. "What if he knows everything that's going on... but can't talk back yet?"

He watched Grunt carefully, the child's staring vacantly back, and then his small face burst into a wide smile as he beamed at him. Wrex took a step back, trying not to consider how he and this child were related if he truly did contain some of Wrex's DNA.

"Just... take him to Mordin," he said.

"Okay," she said and carefully picked the child. "He's... heavy," she grunted.

"He's a krogan," Wrex said, "of course he's heavy!"

She kissed him goodbye and left with the small child, who clung to her like a koala bear. He noticed the child raise his hand, as if to wave, and he waved back.

...

Mordin ran a few scans and did a blood test, he mumbled away as he examined the results and would occasionally rub the child's head when he passed back. Seraphina watched all of this patiently, while Grunt just sat there, chewing on his hand.

Eventually Mordin settled and put down his data pad.

"Good news," he said, "child is healthy and stable. Growth hormone still in system, but will go."

"Growth hormone?" she repeated. "I didn't know about that."

"Common ingredient in growing specimens," he explained. "Hormone speeds up tank born development, traces still remain, should wear off soon. Keep an eye on him, may change."

"So he may get... bigger?" she said.

"Yes," he confirmed. "Brain will change too, learns quickly."

Mordin picked up Grunt and held the baby in his arms.

Grunt chewed on the salarians arm, thankfully his teeth were yet to develop and so Mordin was more than happy to allow him to continue. Seraphina was surprised at how good Mordin was with the child, she wasn't sure why but she never thought of him to be the type to even like children.

"You're very good with him," she said.

"Surprised?" he smirked.

"Uh... yeah," she said. "Don't take it the wrong way, it's just that... never mind."

"Have a soft spot for children," Mordin told her. "Especially krogan."

"Why?" she asked.

Mordin glanced down at the child, Grunt stared back with his large blue eyes, innocent and smiling. Mordin sighed heavily and looked at her, a dark look in his eyes like a man about to confess something terrible.

"I... cured the Genophage," he announced.

"You did?" she said. "But... that's great! You gave the krogan back the ability to have children. If not for you... I would never have known Wrex."

Despite her praise he still looked terribly sad, with the darkest of moods hanging over him. There was more to his story, so much more that he had not been able to tell a single soul, but now with Grunt in his arms he couldn't stop the truth from pouring out of him.

"Original mission was to strengthen Genophage," Mordin confessed. "Krogan were growing immune, Dalatrass didn't want krogan to breed. But I... changed it. No one in team knew, when krogan found out thought it was a peace treaty, no representative could say differently."

"You helped the krogan..." she said. "You shouldn't be ashamed of what you could have done. You did what you thought was right and you changed the universe, you should be praised for what you did."

He smiled weakly, "Perhaps..." he said. "Happy Wrex is here. Happy for you."

She smiled at him, and a small part of her wondered what else she didn't know about her crew. They had so much potential she hadn't yet taken into consideration, so much heart, were they ready to face Cerberus? They had the ability, and the power, so what was stopping them?

...

While Grunt was analysed and Garrus continued his search forr Giriko, Wrex remained in Seraphina's room and stared at a picture of the three Spectre's. It had been taken some time ago, perhaps around the time the team was renamed as Heracles Company, it couldn't have been too long ago as Mordin and Liara could be seen in the background.

He considered many things while he sat there, he thought of the future, the past and all that had happened in the past twenty-four hours. He felt the climax was approaching, the end of their career as Spectre's would came with the fall of Cerberus.

He knew the Councillors would never keep them around, they had served their purpose and they would either be promoted to some other position that required little effort or would be put in charge of some unit, sending other men to do his work.

He would quit before that time came, and it was fast approaching. Seraphina couldn't keep delaying the inevitable. Cerberus was weakening, with more and more raids on their facilities organized by them and the Shadow Broker and the organization's top men being systematically taken out either the Spectre's or the Illusive Man were going to make a bold move that would decide the fate of the entire battle.

And then what?

Would Seraphina really come with him to Tuchanka? Would Garrus continue to chase Giriko? Where would Mordin and Tungel go? What would become of Grunt? The future was as yet unwritten, there was so much uncertainty that he regretted not having some sort of power over fate.

He set the picture aside and went in search of Seraphina, they were in need of a long talk and get the future sorted. He knew it scared her, whenever he brought it up she would argue he needed to focus on the present, but the fact was she was too scared to think of a future when they could still fail.

After all, she was still human, and everyone had their fears. Even krogan.

He entered the corridor and made his way to the infirmary, when he stopped at the sight of someone in white armour. It didn't take him long to realize something was wrong, one glance and he knew who had gotten on-board the Normandy.

He fired up his biotic powers and charged, smashing his elbow into the Cerberus' operatives face and knocking him to the ground. More operatives turned on him and fired, he knocked them back with a throw technique and ran through the fallen bodies. He heard gun fire and men barking orders, in so short a time everything had fallen into chaos.

"EDI, what the hell is happening?" he demanded. "How did they get on board?"

EDI tried to talk, but her words warped and were replaced by a loud static. At least now he understood how they got on-board, a virus that could put EDI out of commission would turn the whole Normandy's system offline, allowing Cerberus to get on without anyone knowing.

He made his way to the infirmary, passing over fallen Cerberus guards, and found the infirmary's doors scorched and stuck mid-way. He felt panic rise in his stomach, but refused to believe the worst. He squeezed through the doors and spotted Mordin in the corner, his forehead cut and bleeding and he clutched his one arm.

"Solus!" he gasped. "You alive?"

Mordin smiled weakly, "Y-yes..."

Wrex looked around and saw the infirmary was in a state, with dead Cerberus agents on the ground and fallen and broken equipment. But Seraphina and Grunt were nowhere in sight, had they gotten away to safety? He grabbed his salarian friend and helped him onto the patient bed.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Cerberus attacked," Mordin answered. "Shepard hid Grunt, fought them off, but..."

A gunshot could be heard outside and a figure went flying through the air as a biotic blow broke them in two. The crew was holding their own against the opposition and Cerberus was fleeing, this was far too easy. This felt too much like a hit and run attack.

"Where's Seraphina and Grunt?" Wrex asked. "Where did they go?"

Mordin looked down and Wrex felt that cold pit of regret rise up.

"No..." he said. "No! How did they get them?!"

"Operative grabbed Grunt, offered not to hurt him if Shepard went with them," Mordin answered. "I'm sorry, couldn't help her."

"I... you did what you could," Wrex said. "Now it's time for me to do something."

...

Mordin and several others lay in the infirmary, mostly the civilian s on-board not equipped in combat. Garrus and Samara had helped clear most of the ship, while Tali and her drone had helped keep the engine clean with the help of her drone.

The dead operatives were all carted into one room, while a few were kept alive in order to interrogate. They had left the interrogating to Samara, with her skills she would crack them within a few minutes. But it didn't matter - because Wrex already knew where Seraphina was and what Cerberus' plan was.

Garrus left the infirmary after checking on Mordin and came to stand beside his friend.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Pissed off," Wrex said, "but I think everyone else is too."

"EDI's back online so we'll be able to head out soon and extract some revenge," Garrus assured him.

"We can go as soon as Liara gets back," Wrex said.

"Liara? When did you call her?" Garrus asked.

"Just after I heard Seraphina had been taken," Wrex answered. "I know where they took her and why. It's all part of the Illusive Man's plan to destroy us and win this damn war. But I'm not going to let him win."

"Who put you in charge?" Garrus smirked.

"No one did," Wrex said. "But I'm the only one here with any kind of plan."

"You've got a plan?" he laughed.

"Yes," Wrex said seriously. "I've got a plan. And it's going to work, but only if you guys will work with me."

"You honestly think we wouldn't agree to this plan?" Garrus asked. "Just tell us what to do and we'll do it."

"Good," he said, "'cause this maybe a suicide mission."

To Be Continued...

THE END IS NIGH.