"Remember!" Wrex bellowed as the krogan surged towards the beam. "You land, then you get out of the way fast or risk someone else landing on top of you!"
Assaults like this were always tricky. In this case, they were heading blindly to their objective without knowing anything about where they would come out. Wrex hit the beam first, gritting his teeth as it snatched him up, pushing the flesh of his face back until he half expected it to stick behind his headplate.
Then came the sudden stop. He grunted as he hit the ground, then rolled as well as a krogan could.
Grunt arrived a moment later carrying his stupid varren, then more of Aralakh Company.
"Alright, where the hell's our asset?" Wrex demanded loudly. All around him were bodies, stacked up according to species, being moved about by Keepers. Without thinking, he raised his shotgun as one of them came near him. It paid him no attention, except to fuss silently when it had to deviate in its course to get around him. He unloaded a few shots into its head just to be safe. He didn't trust those creepy things, and he trusted them even less knowing they were Reaper creations. You never knew when or if they might turn on you.
His radio coughed politely. "Welcome to the Citadel, Clan Chief Urdnot. I am Horatio—"
"Garrus' buddy?" Wrex asked immediately, tone suspicious. Now that they were here, 'suspicious' was a good idea.
"Tali'Zorah's co-ambassador," the mechanical voice corrected.
He'd known about the geth 'advisor' Tali kept in her closet-like Embassy. "That's right," Wrex agreed out loud, listening to the heavy plops of krogan bodies still falling at semi-regular intervals. So far no one had gotten squished, so that was good. "If you see one of those Keepers, pop it," he commanded. "We don't need them sneaking up on us."
This was met with agreement, and several weapons firing.
"Now that you have authenticated me, perhaps we may discuss the krogan objective?"
"That'd be good."
"The Crucible will be arriving in T minus twenty minutes. In the meantime, there is a…synthetic intelligence…based on the Citadel. It is trying to prevent me from accessing systems. I believe it would be more concerned about imminent threats to its hardware."
"We're here to blow up a computer?" Grunt scowled.
"A very intelligent, malignant computer. Yes."
"That's the best kind," Wrex grinned. "For blowing up, anyway. Where is it?" It wasn't quite what he expected, but it interested him. Some weird AI thing hiding out on the Citadel? What was it? Why? How did it pertain to the Reapers?
"Unknown. I am still attempting to isolate its actual location. The first crew of geth have arrived and are proceeding to C-Sec hubs within the wards. C-Sec networks afford the best opportunities for geth to…introduce difficulties. For instance, three and myself are already holding the controls for the Beam so it cannot be turned off arbitrarily."
"So this Intelligence. What's it got to do with the Reapers?"
"Unknown."
"Then guess," Wrex said flatly.
Horatio was silent for a moment. "There are two hypotheses. Hypothesis A: it is an extension of the Reapers responsible for function of the Citadel and the Keepers. Hypothesis B: the Reapers are an extension of this Intelligence."
That got everyone's attention. "So we kill this machine…" Grunt began. "…and maybe we don't even need the Crucible?" His eyes shone with the idea of such a victory thanks to the krogan.
It'd certainly cement for the galaxy that when shit jumped off, it was the krogan who invariably fixed it. But Wrex tried not to think along those lines; like that stuffy Primarch said, grateful allies, not resentful enemies. And it was time for the krogan to move forward.
"Unknown," Horatio answered, causing Wrex to roll his eyes, even though he knew that 'unknown' was a better answer than it normally would be. It suggested uncertainty, rather than the drawing of a total blank. "The Crucible is likely necessary to destroy the Reapers, as there is no evidence that destroying this Intelligence would have the same outcome. If Hypothesis B is correct, then without a guiding force, the Reapers may become even more dangerous."
By now, the plop, rattle and roll of krogan bodies arriving had stopped. Wrex glanced back at the assembled company, many of whom looked a little pale and shaky. Judging from the condition of the floor, you wouldn't see too many krogan on a roller coaster, even if they could have fit on such attractions.
He pitied whoever had to clean this mess up, but not much. Pity wasn't really a krogan thing, so he considered it a step in the right direction for dealing with other species. And it would probably be the Keepers…he wondered if the Keepers would be allowed to continue operating once the Reapers were dead and gone.
He wondered how hard he'd have to wheedle—or what he'd have to endure—to get Shepard to take a walk with him later so they could literally piss on the Reapers' graves. Shepard and Javik. They'd get the most out of it. Maybe he'd even invite the stuffy Primarch. They were all soldiers. They could appreciate the bonding experience that would be.
"So, we've got twenty minutes to kill. Let's find something to kill," Wrex announced, patting his shotgun fondly, to the agreement of the other krogan. He could tell which ones had been sick from the trip: they were the ones who looked guilty.
Ah, well. They were young. They'd get over it. The only person who would bring any of this up was a fellow krogan.
"I will begin walking you in the general direction I have isolated. Plotting the course is difficult, owing to krogan mass and volume. Please, be patient."
"…that means small spaces, doesn't it?" Grunt asked, shivering.
"Why are you worried, pipsqueak?" Wrex returned casually, regarding the smaller krogan.
Grunt grimaced, but didn't argue.