The Kodiak shuttle flew over the barren wasteland that was the krogan homeworld. Tuchanka endured years of nuclear war before the salarians uplifted the krogan to fight in the Rachni War. Any efforts to restore Tuchanka to its pre-war state were halted after the genophage was released and the krogan descended into a life of selling themselves out as mercenaries. Tuchanka had become nothing but a radioactive pile of rubble. Lately however, that was no longer the case.
Ever since the genophage was cured and the Reaper War ended, the krogan clan chief, and former squadmate of Shepard's, Urdnot Wrex was able to convince the clans to forget about wanting revenge on the salarians and turians for the genophage and focus on rebuilding. As Shepard sat in the co-pilot's seat looking out towards the horizon, he could already see signs of improvement since the last time he was on Tuchanka. There were some construction cranes working on the remodels. Also the color green was more abundant since last time due to the increased amount of plant life that had sprouted on Tuchanka. Shepard just couldn't help but wonder if the Dalatrass could see all this improvement and new life that was growing, would she still think that the krogan would rebel.
In the passenger compartment behind him, Ashley and Zaeed were doing a last minute weapons check. Shepard and Zaeed knew that Vido would never surrender so there was no doubt a gun fight was going to ensue when they arrived. There was no room for any weapon malfunctions.
Zaeed was especially taking a thorough time on his beloved assault rifle "Jessie". During the Reaper War, he purchased materials to help him restore the rifle to working condition. It served him well during the final battle on Earth. He told Shepard before they left the Normandy that he had no doubts that he was going to get Vido this time because instead of a sniper rifle, "Jessie" was going to be on the job.
"Captain," said the shuttle pilot Lieutenant Steve Cortez, "I've got the landing zone on sensors, ETA five minutes."
"Copy that Lieutenant," Shepard said as he turned back towards Zaeed and Ashley, "all right people let's go through the plan once more before we land."
Before Shepard could continue, an alarm started beeping on the Kodiak's dashboard. A transmission was coming in. Shepard pushed a button to answer the call and was greeted by the sound of gunfire. Something was wrong.
A voice soon emerged over the sound of the gunfire, "Shepard, this is Wrex. It's a mess down here! That Blue Suns commander you warned me about figured out that I've been trying to keep them here until you arrived. His men have opened fire. They're trying to get him and the Dalatrass back to their Hammerhead ground vehicle. Aralakh Company is trying to slow their retreat but I don't know if you'll get here in time."
"Hang in there Wrex," said Shepard, "we'll be there soon. When we get there we'll try to land the shuttle between them and the Hammerhead and cut them off. It is imperative that we don't let them leave with that bio-toxin."
"You don't need to tell me twice. Just get here soon."
"Copy that, Shepard out. Change of plans people! Our LZ is hot and our targets are on the retreat. Once we touchdown, get to cover and start picking them off. No one gets past us."
"Got it skipper," said Ashley.
"What are the rules of engagement Shepard?" asked Zaeed.
"The Dalatrass is not to be harmed under any circumstances. As for Vido and the Blue Suns, if you have a shot, take it."
Zaeed smiled, "those are the best damn orders I think you've ever given Shepard. Let's do this."
Shepard got up from the co-pilots seat and joined Ashley and Zaeed in the passenger compartment. The shuttle was beginning to make its descent. As they waited for the doors to open, Shepard could already hear bullets hitting the shuttle. He figured they must have gotten to the LZ just in time to cut off the retreat. They still had a chance.
The doors opened and Shepard was greeted to the sight of a war zone. It was nowhere near as bad a war zone as the battlefields on Earth during the Reaper War but it was still a brutal sight. The good news was it was only brutal for the Blue Suns. It's not easy to put down a krogan and the Blues Suns were finding that out the hard way. There were a few Blue Sun bodies down on the ground but there was no sign of any krogan casualties. But there was one thing that didn't make sense to Shepard. The Blues Suns were still quite a distance away from their Hammerhead. From what Wrex told him, he thought they would have been cutting it close intercepting their escape. They may have been taken fire from the krogan but it wouldn't have slowed them down that much. What were they waiting for?
Off in the distance, Shepard spotted a two story structure next to where the Hammerhead was parked. The structure had definitely seen better days but it seemed sturdy enough for an idea he had. He ordered Cortez to take an out of the way route to get to the structure. Doing so would allow them to land on the roof without being detected by the Blue Suns troops below. From there, they would set up sniper positions and flank the Blue Suns from behind with minimal risk to themselves.
As soon as Cortez touched the shuttle down, Shepard and the squad hopped out and laid down flat on the edge of the roof. Each person pulled out their sniper rifles and zeroed their sights and the still retreating Blues Suns troops. Shepard's plan had worked as the Blue Suns had no idea they had landed behind them. Shepard told everyone to hold until the Blue Suns got closer. When they all had clear shots on the troops, Shepard started counting down "three…two…one…FIRE!"
Three shots were fired and three Blue Suns troopers went down. Sensing what happened to their comrades, the Blue Suns realized they were being flanked by Shepard's squad. It didn't matter because they couldn't see where Shepard's squad was firing from. They started panicking as the situation for them went from bad to hopeless. Between the fire from Shepard's squad and the krogan's fire, they were getting decimated. Within the course of a few minutes, the battle was over and the last of the Blue Suns troops fell dead.
When the gunfire was silenced, Shepard and his squad holstered their sniper rifles and pulled out their assault rifles. They then proceed down to the base of the structure and exited out onto the battlefield. Keeping their weapons raised, they scanned the field looking for stragglers. Convinced there weren't any, Shepard and his squad holstered their weapons and Shepard ordered them to start checking the bodies to see if Vido or the Dalatrass were among them. He then headed towards where he last saw the krogan troops. He nearly jumped when a loud voice called out to him from near the end of the battlefield.
"SHEPARD! It seems we keep running into each other in combat zones."
Shepard couldn't help but smile when he saw who the voice belonged to. It was Urdnot Grunt, the leader of Aralakh Company. Grunt was a tank bred krogan that Shepard released when he was recruiting for the Collector suicide mission. Despite being initially hostile, Shepard was able to recruit him to join the mission. Later Shepard helped him complete his rite of passage and become a full adult krogan and a member of Clan Urdnot. When the suicide mission was over, Grunt returned to Tuchanka and was later chosen by Wrex to be the head of Aralakh Company.
Shepard later crossed paths again with Grunt during the Reaper War. Wrex had asked Shepard to help Grunt and Aralakh Company investigate reports of trouble in the rachni system. They eventually discovered that the Reapers had captured the Rachni Queen and were using her to breed an army of indoctrinated rachni workers. They were able to rescue the queen but at the expense of the rest of the Aralakh Company. Grunt even stayed behind to hold the rachni back so that Shepard and his squad could escape. Fortunately Grunt survived but was out of action for several days. Once he was back on his feet, he got back in the fight in time for the final battle on Earth.
"It's good to see you again too Grunt," said Shepard as he reached to shake Grunt's hand, "we thought we'd stop by and help but it looks like you were doing fine on your own."
"We sure were," said Grunt with a chuckle, "these pyjaks were shaking in their boots once they saw who they were up against. Even so it was fun fighting with you again. By the way, we've got a present for you."
Grunt turned to face his men who were gathered behind him. He waved one of them over and the soldier stepped out from the crowd and he had the Dalatrass with him.
"We caught the Dalatrass when she took a tumble running to the Hammerhead. My men were on her before she had a chance to get up. Some of my men wanted to tear her head off but I told them that you and Wrex wanted her alive and that's how we were going to give her to you."
"Nice work Grunt. We'll take her back with us and send her back to her people. Once they find out what she's been up to I'm sure they will finally strip her of her title and lock her up for attempting mass genocide."
"They should be thanking me," said the Dalatrass, "they were all too weak to do what needs to be done to ensure our protection from these brutish monsters."
Shepard turned to face the Dalatrass. His face was crossed with anger as he walked toward her. He stopped just inches from her face.
"The only monster I see right now Dalatrass is you," he growled, "Williams!"
"Sir!" Ashley said snapping to attention.
"Get the Dalatrass out of here."
"It will be my pleasure sir."
Ashley took the Dalatrass from the krogan soldier and escorted her to the shuttle. Shepard then joined Zaeed who was scanning the faces of the casualties. As he scanned each face, he started to get nervous. He looked over to Zaeed who was getting angrier the more faces he scanned. Something told Shepard that he and Zaeed were coming to the same conclusion. When Ashley returned, she noticed the looks on their faces and realized what was wrong as well.
"Shepard," said Zaeed, "where the hell is Vido?!"
Zaeed's question was answered the Hammerhead's engines started and the vehicle began to lift into the air. Soon afterwards, the door opened and Vido stepped into the doorway. Shepard instantly figured out why the Blue Suns weren't trying to get to the Hammerhead faster. They were holding the krogan back so Vido could reach the Hammerhead safely. To make matters worse, Shepard noticed that the bio-toxin case was sitting on the floor next to Vido and he was holing a small cylinder in his hand. Shepard figured it must have been the detonator. He then glanced over to see that Zaeed was starting to raise his rifle and was pointing it at Vido.
"Zaeed hold your fire!" he shouted.
"You would do well to listen to him Zaeed," said Vido, "one push of this button and you will be dead before you get the chance to pull the trigger."
Zaeed held his position one more second before finally letting out a low growl and lowering his weapon.
Shepard held his hands up as he slowly approached Vido's Hammerhead.
"Vido there's no point in this going on," Shepard said, "we have the Dalatrass in custody. Even if you succeed in releasing the bio-toxin, you're not going to get the rest of your credits."
Vido didn't say anything right away. Then he smiled and laughed.
"You've got to be kidding Shepard," Vido said when he stopped laughing, "did you really think that I was working for her? She's just a whiny salarian having a tantrum because she doesn't want to give up her precious title. I normally wouldn't waste my time with someone like her. But the Dalatrass was my client's representative so I had to do whatever she said. Fortunately I don't need the Dalatrass to finish the job. So long Shepard and you as well Zaeed. I have a city full of krogan to eliminate."
After saying his farewell, Vido closed the Hammerhead's door and the vehicle flew away. Shepard ordered Zaeed, Ashley and the krogan to fire on the Hammerhead in an attempt to disable it. Unfortunately it soon became apparent that the Hammerhead was too far away to get an accurate shot.
"Come on Shepard," said Zaeed, "maybe we can catch the bastard using the shuttle."
"Hold it Shepard," Grunt said, "the city that the Hammerhead is heading for is at the other end of a canyon. It's too narrow for a shuttle to fire accurately from above. Plus if you try to fly through it, you won't have room to maneuver if you come under fire."
"Then what do you suggest Grunt?" asked Shepard.
"We take a Mako and go after him."
"That's your suggestion?!" Zaeed exclaimed, "a Mako is slower than a Hammerhead. How do you expect us to catch him with that?"
"There's a tunnel that we can use as a shortcut. We go through that and we'll actually end up in front of the Hammerhead. Then, if we come under fire, the Mako can maneuver by driving up and down the slopes of the cliffs."
Shepard sighed, "I don't think we have a choice Zaeed. It sounds like the Mako is our only option. All right Grunt, take us to the Mako."
Grunt led the trio to a nearby M35 Mako. Aside from the lack of Alliance logos, it didn't look too different from the Mako Shepard used to drive on the original Normandy SR-1. As they boarded the Mako, Shepard felt into his pocket and realized there was one more problem that they had to deal with.
Dr. Chakwas was right in that the formula for the bio-toxin vaccine was simple. The problem was the process of making it took longer than she had hoped. She was only able to make three vials of the vaccine before the Normandy reached Tuchanka. Now on the Mako with a squad of three people and two spare vaccines, Shepard knew someone was going to have to stay behind and he knew exactly who it was going to be.
"Williams you're not coming with us," he said.
"What are you talking about?" said a confused Ashley.
"There are four of us but I only have three vaccines. You know Zaeed is not going to be willing to miss the chance to take down Vido and I need Grunt to help drive the Mako."
"You're not doing this without me skipper."
"We'll be fine. The vaccines will protect us if we can't stop the bio-toxin from being released. I'm sorry but this is the only way."
Ashley opened her mouth to speak but realized it was pointless. Shepard was right. Before turning to walk off the Mako, Ashley pulled Shepard towards her and kissed him.
"Just promise you won't die on me hero-man," Ashley said when the two of them separated, "you still have to marry me first."
Shepard smiled, "I promise."
"And we promise to ensure he keeps that promise, now can we get going?" said Zaeed destroying the romantic moment.
After one more hug, Ashley stepped off the Mako and the doors closed behind her. She turned around to see the Mako racing off after Vido's Hammerhead. Once it was out of her sight, she turned to head towards the shuttle.
"Cortez," she said on her comm., "have the shuttle ready for takeoff. We're taking the Dalatrass back to the Normandy when I get back."
"What about the Captain?" Cortez's voice replied.
"He's with Zaeed and Grunt. They're taking a Mako after Vido and his Hammerhead. I had to stay behind because we didn't have enough vaccines for all of us."
"Ma'am did you say they were taking a Mako?"
"Yeah why?"
"I don't want to worry you Ma'am but Makos have nothing that gives them an edge against Hammerheads."
"This one does Lieutenant. It has Captain Shepard driving it."