Chapter 22: Words and Deeds
For all that's been said about the power of words, their ability to encapsulate ideas and concepts, the significance that they can bear, it sometimes seems so… inadequate.
Words can convey information, stimulate ideas, inspire great deeds and actions. How would we know how to bake a cake, build a skyscraper, make scientific discoveries and a gazillion other things without words? How would we be able to direct people from one point to another without words? How could we bring hope or comfort without a few simple words? How could we motivate people to work harder, fight harder or stand up when all seems lost without a speech of words?
But they can also be used to deceive. To seduce people to accept and buy something else. To justify or rationalize the unthinkable. To brainwash and manipulate the vulnerable or the unwary into committing horrific atrocities.
Sometimes, what you do matters just as much as what you say. Your actions, the choices you've made. Sometimes, that matters more. Sometimes, it's your deeds that define who you are and how you will be remembered.
Things were going reasonably well. At some point, Dr. Chakwas had forced Mordin to let her help. Between the two of them, they'd taken the cure as far as possible. Apparently, the only thing they needed was a sample of the genophage to use as a vector to deliver the cure. Unfortunately, the only places that might have said sample was Sur'Kesh—good luck getting clearance to pick that up—and Tuchanka.
A turian cruiser had recently joined us to pick up the Ninth Platoon—or what was left of it. Wrex wasn't happy to hear about that, particularly after the recent revelation of turian chicanery, and made his displeasure known. Victus told him that they needed more care than Dr. Chakwas could provide. Wrex suggested spacing them out the airlock. I told him that either he allow the turian frigate into krogan space to pick up their wounded or I would have to order the Normandy—with Mordin and Eve—out of krogan space. After a staring contest that lasted forever, Wrex finally backed down. (1)
Meanwhile, the Normandy had entered an orbiting pattern around Tuchanka and was making its way towards the Shroud—the tower of engineering that had stabilized Tuchanka's atmosphere when the salarians first made contact with the krogan and the key to our strategy of curing the genophage. I wanted to do some orbital reconnaissance so we knew what we were getting ourselves into.
"All hands, full stop! Hostiles detected at the landing coordinates!"
Naturally, we were getting into all sorts of trouble. I hurried back to the cockpit. "Joker, what've you got?"
Joker turned to face me, his eyes wide with astonishment. "Sensors show a Reaper parked at the Shroud facility, and I don't mean hovering in orbit overhead. It's actually on the ground. Right next to the Shroud. No way you can land a shuttle there."
Aw, crap. "Transfer all telemetry from the shuttle and the Normandy to the War Room and get everyone assembled there ASAP," I ordered. "Keep scanning the LZ: I want eyes on the Shroud at all times."
"Aye aye, sir."
By the time everyone—that being me, Miranda, Wrex, Victus and Mordin—arrived, we had a holographic map of the target site in full resolution. Along with a Reaper that was almost as tall as the Shroud itself. "New form of Reaper, Shepard," Mordin told me. "Using Shroud to poison Tuchanka's atmosphere."
"Probably a Destroyer-class, based on the size," Miranda guessed.
"I don't suppose we could take it out from orbit?" I suggested.
Miranda shook her head. "The chances of destroying the Shroud are too high. Even if we had someone on the ground that could direct our orbital attacks, the chances of successfully destroying the Reaper while sparing the Shroud would only be about 23%."
"21.82 percent," EDI corrected.
"Problematic," Mordin frowned.
"They want a fight? Well, they just got one!" Wrex growled.
"Glad to hear it, Wrex," I said, "because we're gonna need some of that krogan muscle to deal with that thing."
"You'll have as many warriors from Clan Urdnot as I can muster," he promised, "as well as the other clans. And as many tomkahs as we can muster."
Ah, tomkahs. Six-wheeled infantry fighting vehicles. Blunt, rugged and ugly—just like the krogan. "Good," I approved. "What do you have in the way of air support?"
Wrex hesitated. "Well… we can probably scrounge up a couple… shuttles…"
Shuttles. Great. "Primarch, tell me you can do better."
"Hey!"
Ignoring Wrex, I looked at Victus. Now it was his turn to hesitate. "That could be difficult. Our losses on Palaven have been catastrophic. I'm not sure if I can pull more resources away. Certainly none that could get here in time."
"We're doing this for Palaven, remember?" I reminded him. "No one said it would be easy."
"The cruiser that picked up the Ninth Platoon does have some fighters," he finally admitted, casting a wary eye at Wrex. "Most of them are down for maintenance or repair, but if I tell the crews to double their efforts, they might be able to deploy a squadron or two. Assuming they can get clearance to enter Tuchanka's atmosphere?"
Wrex curled his lip at that, but grudgingly nodded. "What did you have in mind?" Victus asked.
What I did best: make shit up on the fly. "A combined attack," I replied. It took me a few seconds to figure out the controls, but I managed to whip up a halfway-presentable simulation. "Your people hit the Reaper with an air strike." Turian fighters appeared next to the Reaper, which endured a barrage of miniature explosions. "Wrex, at the same time, your soldiers will be attacking from the ground." Now a trio of tomkahs rolled up. More explosions. "Together, you can draw it away from the tower."
The Reaper, fighters and tomkahs disappeared and the Shroud moved to the centre of the holo-table. "Yes, distraction," Mordin nodded. "Small team can reach Shroud facility, finish synthesizing cure." He looked at Wrex. "Will need Eve to come with us."
Wrex nodded.
"We've never faced a Reaper up close like this," I said. "Everyone on board?"
"There's even a doubt?" Wrex asked rhetorically. He walked around the table and clapped Mordin on the shoulder. "Let's move, pyjak. It's time to cure to the genophage."
Mordin followed as soon as he recovered his balance. Victus was next, already contacting the cruiser. Miranda said something about mobilizing the squad. I was about to leave as well when Traynor contacted me. "Commander, incoming message marked urgent. I'll put it in the Comm Room for you."
"Thanks," I replied.
As I headed for the Comm Room, I wondered who this person was. Could it be Anderson? Hackett? The Council? Maybe TIMmy?
Turned out, it was none of the above. "Dalatrass… Linron?" I said in disbelief, barely managing to keep the words 'Crankypants' from leaving my lips. Believe it or not, I do know the meaning of tact. Occasionally.
Dalatrass Crankypants got straight to the point. "Commander Shepard, I know you've reached Tuchanka. And by now, I imagine Mordin Solus has proposed using the Shroud."
How the… "Are you been spying on us?" (2)
"Hardly," she sniffed. "The Shroud is the only viable course of action open to you, given the resources at hand. Commander, you can't allow the diplomatic pressures of this war to cloud your judgement. Do you honestly believe curing the genophage will end in lasting peace?"
"We have to give the krogan that chance," I replied. "You can't condemn an entire race to extinction based on what happen."
"What will happen is that the krogan will reproduce out of control. Even if all of our predictive models didn't say as much, history tells the same tale. We uplifted them specifically for their violent nature, not their diplomatic skills or peaceful beliefs. Another war is inevitable."
My hands clenched. "That's why you leaked the STG base to Cerberus and gave them the access codes to bypass Sur'Kesh's security screens. They were your proxy. If they took out the krogan females, well, it wasn't your fault that I was too slow to stop them. Hell, you didn't even want to hand them over in the first place."
"Our psychographic profile suggested you weren't completely devoid of intelligence. It's good to see you don't need me to spell things out for you."
Well, I didn't exactly have any proof. Before, all I had was a theory. Now I had confirmation. One mystery down… Well, I do need you to spell things out as far as this talk is concerned. What do you want, Dalatrass?"
"Years ago, our operatives sabotaged the Shroud facility to ensure what you're planning couldn't be done. Mordin will likely detect this malfunction and repair it." Dalatrass Crankypants leaned towards me. "But if you ensure that he doesn't, then the cure's viability will be altered just enough that it fails. No one will notice the change. Not in time, anyway."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "You want me to trick the krogan?"
"They need not be any the wiser," she shrugged. "Let Urdnot Wrex believe you fulfilled your promise."
"Mordin would never stand for that," I frowned.
"How you deal with him is up to you, Commander," she said coolly.
Translation: if you want to kill him, go right ahead. "And in exchange for this masquerade…" I prompted.
"We can provide you our very best scientists to build the Crucible… and the full support of our fleets, both in combating the Reapers and in your eventual campaign to retake Earth."
So in exchange for stabbing the krogan in the back, I could get the brightest minds in the galaxy to help unlock the secrets of how the Crucible worked, the most skilled hands to build it, and the most advanced ships in the galaxy to take on the Reapers. Those were thirty pieces of very shiny silver. (3)"If I sabotage the cure," I said.
"Think about it, Commander. The choice is yours."
With that, Dalatrass Crankypants cut the comm signal. I waited until her image vanished before unclenching my fists and checking my omni-tool.
**FILE SAVED** it read.
Within a few hours, Victus told me that the cruiser had managed to prep an entire wing of fighters for launch. "I've sent them you and the Normandy their comm protocols. They'll be answering to the call-sign 'Artimec'."
"Thank you," I said sincerely.
"Just make it count," he replied.
With that, I joined my squad in the hangar. Wrex, Eve and Mordin were there too. We all squeezed aboard the shuttle, Cortez got clearance to depart and we flew out and down to the dust ball known as Tuchanka. "I've ordered the clans to assemble at the Hollows," Wrex told me. "It's our sacred meeting ground."
"Didn't you tell me that was the ancestral burial grounds of your people," I frowned.
"Good memory," Wrex approved. It's been a neutral site for generations. And it's close to the Shroud. It's the best spot to begin our assault. We'll land there and take an armoured convoy against the Reaper." A dreamy expression swept over his face. "This will be the defining moment of krogan history."
"Krogan history filled with defining moments," Mordin reminded him. "Most bloody. Hope this one better."
Wrex just grunted before walking away.
"Commander," Eve said quietly. "You seem troubled."
Believe it or not, I kinda was. I was currently enduring the bane of all commanding officers, that horrible affliction known as Second Thoughts. You know, where you second-guess your thoughts, beliefs, choices and actions ad nauseum. I'd already set things in motion. I knew what I was doing was right. And yet some part still wondered if Dalatrass Crankypants was right. If all her fears and predictions would come to pass. If so, then I had a very slim window of opportunity to change things.
In the end, I had to fall back to all the lessons I'd learned at OCS. Specifically, the lesson that David Anderson, then a Lieutenant Commander, had taught me after my graduation ceremony. "Son, a leader listens to the men and women around him—or her. Sees what they have to say. Invites them to speak their mind. And decide what to do. Believe it or not, that's the easy part. The hard part comes after. When you have time to think about it. When all those doubts and second-guessing bubble to the surface. It isn't easy knowing the difference between the times when your gut's trying to tell you something and the times where you have to push on through. You'll stumble from time to time. But I have a feeling that you'll make the right choice more often than not."
It was with those wise words in mind that I took a deep breath and looked her in the eye. "I got a message from the—"
That was when the shuttle shook.
"Wrex, it's Wreav," a deep voice came out from the speakers. "The Reapers are already at the Hollows! Come out with guns blazing!"
So much for a peaceful, neutral site without violence. "Hang on tight," Cortez warned. "We're heading in!"
We felt the shuttle slow down and slowly descend. Everyone prepped their weapons. I nodded to Wrex, who opened the hatch.
A husk shrieked at us.
Wrex responded with his shotgun. After the gory remains of the husk collapsed, he hopped out. Shepard, keep them away from the female. I'll sort out what's happening with the other clans!"
"Mordin, stay here with Eve," I ordered. "Team Two, I need you to protect them. Team Three with me."
"Watch yourself," Miranda warned.
"Always," I nodded.
The Hollows was a large stone structure. Not exactly an architectural marvel, what with all its square, geometric lines, but it had weight. You could feel a heaviness, a presence in the walls you passed, in the floor you walked on. I could see how, once upon a time, it might be a sacred place.
Then we entered the central chamber and everything descended into a chaotic bloodbath.
Every level was crawling with krogan and husks. As we watched, a blood-soaked krogan howled as he pounded a husk into pulp. On the other side, husks were piling on top of a poor krogan one after another until they all tumbled over the side and plummeted to the ground below.
Thankfully, there was only one way to the doors we'd passed through: a wide stairway that went up from a foyer down below. We could afford to ignore everything else and focus on the stairs in front of us. "Everyone pick your targets and keep an eye on our six!" I barked. "Now move!"
"Here they come!" Liara warned as I set a husk on fire.
Garrus blew the thing up with a concussive round. "Team One; push forward!" I exhorted. "Team Three; don't let them get up here!"
With that, I dropped a husk with a sniper shot and ran down the stairs. Liara grabbed two husks and yanked them into a singularity. EDI and I set both of them on fire, then I dropped to my knee and fired a shot. As the husk I'd targeted collapsed, Wrex contacted me. "Shepard, it's ugly over here!"
"Not much better over here," I said, panning to my right.
"Whatever you do, keep them away from the female!"
I dropped two more husks before replying: "You already said that, Wrex. Must be getting senile in your old age. Shepard out."
While I'd been busy chatting and sniping, EDI and Liara were using biotics and plasma to take out husks one by one. "This is as bad as Palaven," the latter shouted.
"Pull yourself together, asari," Javik shouted back.
Reloading, I zoomed in on another husk, waited for it to move slightly to the left—my left, its right—and fired a bullet right between the eyes.
"We're not done yet," Garrus warned over the comm. "More hostiles on the way!"
I calmly began sniping said hostiles one by one. Husk number four I missed, so I just set him on fire (ha!) and let Liara biotically ignite the plasma. Then I dropped another husk with my sniper rifle. And another.
"We almost got 'em all," Garrus reported.
Checking my HUD, I saw he was right. Just a couple more husks to go. EDI and I sent some plasma arcing up, over and onto their heads. Then Javik detonated the plasma and blew them to smithereens.
Meanwhile, Wrex and the other krogan had cleaned up the rest of the Hollows. "They'll sing battle-songs about this someday," he said happily, marching through the doors behind me. Blood and guts were running down his hardsuit. Hopefully, not his own, though he was probably pleased as punch either way. "Reaper blood has finally soaked our soil," he continued, walking down the stairs with his entourage. The krogan on the other levels began hooting and growling in agreement.
"Team Two, this is Team One. Hollows are clear. You better get Eve and Mordin over here."
"Team One, Mordin already left," Miranda replied. "He joined up with Wrex and several other krogan. We'll escort Eve now."
"Better get a move on it," I urged. "Clock's ticking." I reiterated that to Wrex: "We have to get to the Shroud. By now, the airstrike's on its way."
That was when Mordin appeared. "Female safe, Shepard," he said as he descended the stairs, sensing the other concern I had. "Vitals are strong."
"What's a salarian doing here?"
Turning to my left, I saw seven krogan approach, two of whom were sporting Blood Pack colours. Their leader looked vaguely familiar. "Nobody said anything about this!"
"Multiple krogan," Mordin observed. "Problematic."
Yeah. There were lots of krogan all right. And they were all clustering together. I could feel the tension rising, along with all that testosterone—or the krogan equivalent, anyway. This could get ugly. Fast. "Who are you?" I asked.
"Urdnot Wreav," the other krogan replied. So that's why he looked familiar. Family resemblance and all that. "Brood brother to our…" he paused and gave Wrex a contemptuous look. "…illustrious leader," he finished sarcastically.
More growling from the other krogan. "Wreav and I share the same mother," Wrex explained. "And nothing else."
"For which I'm thankful," Wreav sneered. "I remember what it means to be a true krogan." There was another round of grunting, as the tension and testosterone reached critical levels. "We flay our enemies alive and drown them in a geyser of their own blood. We don't invite them into our home."
"And can I say I love what you've done with the place?" I piped up. Someone had to defuse the situation. As luck would have It, I got stuck with the job. And somehow, I didn't think throwing my weight around would help. "Very earthy. Great to hear what you do with your enemies. But this salarian? He's not one of them. He's here to help cure the genophage."
"His kind gave us the genophage!" Wreav hissed. "Why should we trust him?" He stomped towards me. Being the suicidal idiot that I am, I stepped in front of Mordin. He took a step closer, then another…
…then Wrex lunged forward and head butted him, to the approval of most of the other krogan. More hooting and growling. "'Cuz I do," he declared. "So will you, Wreav."
The hooting and growling only continued. Fists were clenched. The tension and testosterone was reaching critical mass now. Based on the almost rhythmic nature of the rumbling, it sounded like they were working themselves up for a fight. Wreav pulled out a shotgun…
"ENOUGH!"
Everyone whipped their heads towards the stairway. Miranda and James were standing there. No one paid much attention to them, though. They were too busy staring at Eve, who was standing tall and proud with an authority borne of wisdom and suffering. The krogan down on the foyer slowly shuffled back. Wreav holstered his weapon. The krogan on the other levels rushed to the rails and leaned over to watch—and hear—what would happen next.
Eve did not disappoint. "You can stay here and let old wounds fester as krogan have always done," she said, striding down towards us, or you can fight the enemy you were born to destroy. You can stay here and wallow in the depths of your despair and loathing, or you can fight and rise to claim the hope that has been denied you for too long. You can stay here like cowards, trapped in the past, or you can fight like warriors, and win a new future for our children.
"I choose to fight," Eve announced, climbing up another set of stairs, her voice booming through the halls. "Who will join me?"
"I will," I said, taking a step forward.
"And so will I," Wrex said immediately. Unlike me, his announcement got everyone's attention. Taking advantage of the moment, he backed towards the stairs and pointed to the doors. "Now hold your heads high like true krogan! There's a Reaper that needs killing!" (4)
All the krogan began howling and grunting in excitement. Mordin looked around in bemusement. I looked at Wreav. He stared at Wrex for a moment. Then he nodded. The howling and grunting rose to a deafening crescendo.
You could still hear echoes of those grunts as we piled into the tomkahs and drove out.
"Krogan ground convoy, this is turian wing Artimec. Our flight vector to the Shroud is locked. We're ten minutes out and counting."
"Copy that, Artimec," I replied. "We're on our way, trying to make up lost time. Shepard out."
The entire squad, along with Wrex, Eve and Mordin, were riding in the same tomkah. Unlike an Alliance vehicle, there was plenty of room. Made sense, considering the tomkah was usually packed with krogan.
"Wreav isn't the only krogan who wants revenge for the genophage, Wrex," Eve warned. "You'll have to placate them somehow."
Wrex had already thought of that. "I'll demand that the Council return some of our old territory. We'll need room to expand—to recapture the glory of the ancients."
"'Glory of ancients' led to Krogan Rebellions," Mordin reminded him. "Countless deaths. Creation of genophage. Expansion plan… problematic."
True enough. But my concerns were drowned by another question. "What were the ancient krogan like?"
"Tuchanka wasn't always a wasteland," Eve said. "In the old times, the krogan were a proud people. We had dreams… a future to look forward to."
"Until salarian interference," Mordin guessed.
"No, salarian," Javik shook his head. "Tuchanka once had jungles and forests. Cities and monuments of enormous scope and size. But your records say it was all swept away. The krogan didn't need the Reapers to destroy their world. They did it on their own. Such a foolish race."
"You speak truth," Eve acknowledged. "We destroyed Tuchanka ourselves. Technology changed us. It made life too easy. So we looked for new challenges—and found them in each other. Nuclear war was inevitable."
"And now our planet is rubble," Wrex rumbled. "We'll need a better place to live."
"Well as nostalgic as you were about this 'pile of smouldering, radioactive rubble,' I'd say helping defeat the Reapers would be worth a new planet," I said.
"Or ten," Wrex grinned. "You haven't seen how fast we can pop them out."
"Wrex…" Eve chided reprovingly.
"What?" Wrex asked innocently. "With the genophage cured, we'll have a lot of catching up to do." (5)
Eve shook her head. Then she looked at me. "Commander, on the shuttle—was there something you were going to say?"
I took a deep breath. "Yeah," I admitted. "Dalatrass Linron tried to cut a secret deal with me."
"What kind of deal?" Wrex asked immediately, his eyes narrowing.
"Listen for yourself," I suggested. Activating my omni-tool, I played the audio file that I'd surreptitiously recorded midway through our earlier conversation. We listened as Dalatrass Crankypants admitted that she'd let Cerberus all the way to the STG base where the krogan females were kept, revealed that the Shroud had been sabotaged to the point that any cure wouldn't work unless it was repaired first and offered salarian scientific and military aid if I made sure that cure failed.
"And she thought we wouldn't know better?" Wrex snorted.
"You would undoubtedly figure it out in time, when your attempts at procreation failed," Miranda said. "In the short term, though, it would undoubtedly succeed."
Wrex shot her a sly look. "You're assuming Mordin's my only contact with the salarians."
Heh.
"Regardless of contacts, Dalatrass assumed correctly," Mordin admitted. "Would likely have fooled tests. But familiar with STG work. Can adjust now that I am aware. Did not come this far for nothing."
"You just spared our race another genocide, Commander," Eve said gratefully. "Thank you."
"I told you we could count on him," Wrex grinned.
That grin faded. I realized why shortly after, as I could feel the tomkah slowing down. Within a few seconds, it had come to a halt. "Why are we stopping?" Wrex asked aloud.
Shrugging helplessly, I opened the door and hopped out of the tomkah. EDI, Liara, Miranda and James followed me. To my left, I saw Garrus and Javik hop out along with several other krogan. We looked over a wasteland of rubble, ruins and smoke. In the distance, gleaming in the stray beams of light that coaxed their way through the clouds of soot and pollution, was the Shroud. My eyes traced its smooth lines to the top, where particles flowed up in glowing, ethereal trails to touch and spread through Tuchanka's atmosphere like branches of a tree spreading out in the light.
I got on the comm. "Wrex, you and Mordin stay with Eve. I've got a bad feeling about this." Receiving confirmation, I headed to the lead tomkah, casually scanning various weapon and armour upgrades from random krogan along the way.
"This combustion manifold isn't going to last long," a krogan told his buddies. "We'd better get moving." I sidestepped them and scooped up a med-kit.
"What's happening, Shepard?" Wrex asked. "We can't sit around like this!"
"Hang on," I replied.
"Look at that Reaper," Garrus whistled. "It's the end of the world out there."
Following his gaze, I spotted it. Unlike its representation in the War Room, it wasn't as tall as the Shroud. Maybe half its height, at most. But that was still tall enough for us to see at a distance. Which didn't bode well. Instead of making a comment, I swiped another med-kit and scanned a particularly ugly-looking shotgun. Then I continued to the lead tomkah.
"Not good. Not good at all."
"How are we supposed to fight a war without a road?"
Aw, crap.
"I bet the salarians don't have this kind of problem."
"Yeah. They could uplift us, but they couldn't fix the highway while they were at it?"
I stared at the enormous gap in front of me. "Road's out," a random krogan needlessly told me. "The convoy can't make it through."
Gee, ya think? We definitely couldn't make it in time to join the… oh shit. Raising my hand up, I opened the comm. "Turian wing Artimec, this is Shepard," I said urgently. "We've been delayed—hold off your attack. Repeat: hold off your attack."
"Negative, Commander. Our approach is locked. The Reaper already knows we're here!"
Shit! Shit, shit, shit! My head whipped up as I saw the turian fighters fly by overhead and begin their attack run on the Reaper. Garrus shook his head. "An airstrike alone won't do it. We have to get in that fight."
I watched the turian fighters buzz around the Reaper. "Damn it!" I cursed, before walking to the other krogan. "I don't care if we have to build a new road," I told them. "We're going! Figure out a way to—"
"Shepard!" Liara cried out.
Whipping my head back, I saw the Reaper hit one of the fighters with its energy beam. The fighter quickly spiralled out of control, a plume of flame and smoke trailing behind it. "I've lost control! I can't pull up!" we heard the pilot announce.
The back of my neck began tingling as I watched the fighter spin and corkscrew... right towards us. "Move!" I yelled.
The fighter crashed into the highway and exploded. The lead tomkah flew up, somersaulting in mid-air before landing with a thunderous crash. "Shepard, what's happening?" Wrex asked.
I coughed as the smoke got in my lungs. "Wrex, the turians are attacking the Reaper solo. Get Eve out of here now! Go!"
The tomkahs rumbled forward, passing us one by one. Somehow, they managed to make it over the gap. It was only after the last tomkah rumbled away that I realized that the krogan had somehow managed to clamber back aboard. My squadmates were the only ones left behind. Too slow, I guess. (6) "Artimec, do you copy?" I shouted.
"We have to abort, Commander!" one of the fighter pilots yelled. "That Reaper's tearing us to pieces!"
"Understood," I sighed. "Get out—we'll find another way!"
"Shepard!" Miranda waved to get my attention. "We can't traverse that gap, but there's a tunnel over here. Could be a way out!"
Nodding in agreement, I led the squad over to join Miranda. It wasn't long before we had to turn our flashlights on. "Wrex, are you receiving this?" I asked, opening another comm channel. "Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah, just scratches. Nothing the salarian can't patch up. Wreav's truck made it out, too."
"The turians had to call off the airstrike," I reported. "We'll need a new plan for dealing with the Reaper."
"First we'll have to find you," Wrex said. "Where did you end up?"
"Underground, in a tunnel off the highway just before the gap. I slowly turned around, letting the flashlight built into my sniper rifle illuminate the walls—and cobwebs—around me. "I see ruins of some kind."
"Commander, that's the city of the ancients," Eve told me.
Ooh! Wait. Damn it, no time for sightseeing! "How do we get out?"
"No maps exist," Eve admitted. "It's been abandoned for thousands of years."
"You're a trailblazer, Shepard," Wrex said encouragingly. "Get through there and we'll find a place to meet up. Nothing will stop this cure."
"So… any ideas, Commander?" James asked.
"Go forward, never left or right?" I shrugged.
"Huh?"
Of course, Miranda knew what I meant. "A quote from Greek mythology, from the advice that the architect Daedalus gave to the princess of Crete, Ariadne. That advice was given to the hero Theseus to help him navigate the Labyrinth. Though I believe the exact phrase is 'always forward or down, never left or right."
My flashlight shone on a set of stairs going down, then another set going up. "Somehow, I'm not sure about the 'down' part. But let's get moving. We've got to meet up with Wrex and the others."
"What was that?" Liara asked nervously.
We'd only been traipsing through these catacombs for a couple minutes, with nothing but our breathing and footsteps for company. Then the ground shook. And the walls and ceiling. A brief shower of gravel fell on us. "Felt like a tremor," Garrus whispered.
"Not exactly," Miranda said uneasily. "I think the shaking was caused by something moving. Something big."
With that in mind, we slowly began moving again. Most of the tunnels and rooms we went through were plain rock, with nothing but cobwebs, rubble and the occasional shaking to break up the monotony. Though there was one room with statues of krogan standing proudly in the corner, their names lost to time.
We stopped by one room, which had some kind of pictograph on the wall. Dark black stampings of what looked like a trio of krogan, kneeling before another krogan with a headdress and a staff. "Fascinating," Liara breathed. "This painting suggests the ancient krogan had an artistic side."
"'Had' being the operative word," Garrus said dryly. "Now they have rubble."
"Radioactive rubble," James added.
I scanned the pictograph with my omni-tool and continued on my way, double-checking that my hardsuit's microframe was mapping our progress. If we hit a dead-end, we'd be able to backtrack and find a new route to—
"There it is again!" Javik cried, as the tunnel shook violently.
"According to the data received by my sensor array, this activity is not typical of a seismic fault line," EDI said.
"Wrex, this is Shepard," I said. "Are you guys feeling these tremors?"
"Not up here," he replied.
"It could be something else, Commander," Eve piped up. "It is said that Kalros, the mother of all thresher maws, lives in this region."
Mother of—oh for crying out loud! Really?
"Which is another reason to get your ass out of there, Shepard," Wrex urged. "Step on it!"
"Did I hear that right?" Liara asked.
"'Kalros, the mother of all thresher maws'?" Miranda quoted. "Marvelous."
"When the krogan name a thresher maw, you know you're in trouble," Garrus said dryly. "They don't think anyone's ever going to kill it.
James stared at me. "Loco," he declared. "I knew it fit you."
With that in mind, we made our way into another room. More debris. Another krogan standing in a corner. And another pictograph—one of a long, sinuous creature. "Wild guess says that's Kalros," Garrus murmured as I scanned it.
"If that is what we've been hearing down here, perhaps we should hasten our efforts to leave," Miranda suggested.
We definitely picked up the pace, barely stopping long for me to scan another pictograph. Arbitrarily, we took a left…
…and immediately screeched to a halt. "More rachni," Javik hissed.
"Not exactly," I realized, a chill running down my spine. "The Reapers got to this one. It's… what did the Alliance classify it? A Ravager. There were bound to be more than just the ones we killed on Utukku. Remember: the Reapers had enslaved the rachni queen long before we came along." I quickly got on the comm again. "Wrex, we've got Ravagers here."
"What?"
"Reaperfied rachni," I clarified. "Keep an eye out."
"Oh. Yeah, we already know that. A few of them just attacked us. Don't worry: we're all fine. All that matters is getting to that Shroud.Find us fast."
Gingerly stepping around the Ravager corpse, we headed up a flight of stairs. A very steep, very long flight of stairs. As we climbed, we saw something more significant. "Excellent," EDI said. "I detect light up ahead."
Sure enough, we emerged on a balcony, several hundred metres above an enormous courtyard. We could see another building on the other side. Both buildings were under an outcrop of rock, propped up by giant pillars. Liara's jaw dropped as she took it all in. "In my younger days, I would've loved to spent time here studying these ruins."
"Makes you wonder what the krogan might have done if they hadn't blown up the planet," James said.
"Well, if we get this cure out to the krogan," I said, as I led the squad up the stairs, "maybe we'll… find… oh my God."
Reaching the top of the stairs, I came to a sudden stop and looked around. My jaw dropped.
We had reached another balcony. There was significant wear and tear, but the architectural patterns I saw, the care that was taken in the carvings, was leaps and bounds beyond anything I had ever seen. Below the balcony lay a long, wide road. Beyond it was some kind of… pyramid? Ziggurat? Whatever it was, it was amazing. And to think: krogan built this marvel. If only Wrex could see—oh, right. "Wrex, we made it back outside," I reported.
"Well, if you can see sunlight, that's progress."
"We can also see some kind of ziggurat or palace," Miranda added. "I didn't expect any of those to remain intact. And fauna—I thought plants were extinct around here."
"You're looking at hope," Eve said. "All that's left of it on Tuchanka. This was once a world full of beauty. Given a chance, it can be again."
I could believe it. If the rest of the galaxy could see this, there was no way they could ever dismiss the krogan as nothing more than mindless, bloodthirsty savages.
Wrex burst my bubble. "Shepard, that Reaper is still up to no good at the Shroud. Find a way out of there, and we'll pick you up."
"We're on it. Send your NavPoint to me and we'll head your way."
"He makes things sound so simple," EDI observed as Wrex sent the coordinates.
"Well, getting to him is simple," James snorted. "Dealing with that Reaper? Yeah, that's a whole 'nother story."
We slowly made our way through the ruins. I'll admit, I couldn't resist the urge to take pictures with my omni-tool . A lot of pictures. I know time was of the essence, but this was so amazing! Besides, who knew when—or if—I'd get the chance to return here. (7)
Thankfully, I wasn't the only one who felt this way. "I never knew the krogan had this in them," Garrus admitted.
"Maybe Eve is right," Liara said. "Curing the genophage might lead to a krogan renaissance."
"Seeing all this does make you wonder," Garrus agreed.
And then the Reapers attacked and all that awe and tranquility was promptly obliterated. "There is movement ahead!" Javik shouted, as at least two drop pods crashed down in front of us.
"Nothing stays quiet here for long," Liara sighed. I was too busy dropping a Cannibal under cloak to reply. I wounded another Cannibal with my next shot, but the damn thing was still moving. Before I could fire again, I was forced to duck behind cover by a Ravager. "Team One on the Ravager," I ordered, taking advantage of the fact that EDI and I could whip off some fireballs and Liara had her biotics. Between the three of us, it didn't take long to finish it off. I sniped another Cannibal before joining Team One in killing a second Ravager.
Meanwhile, the other teams were calmly picking off Cannibals one by one using biotics to soften them up, concussive rounds to send them flying and bullets to finish the job. I entertained myself by making frequent use of my sniper rifle, mixing things up ever so often with a fireball. EDI alternated between her submachine gun and fireball attacks while Liara stayed on the alert to ignite either of our plasma attacks with her biotics, passing the time with short bursts of gunfire.
Just as I finished off the last Cannibal, the ground shook. "Another quake!" EDI announced, somewhat unnecessarily.
"That has to be Kalros!" Miranda shouted.
"Stay sharp!" I warned.
Pulling up the NavPoint of Wrex's location, I began making my way over, pausing only to replenish the thermal clips I'd spent. Of course, then we ran into more hostiles. Cannibals, to be exact. I dropped two of them with my sniper rifle and sent another one staggering—which just meant it became the latest hostile to go up in flames. Team Three had already taken cover next to a wall with an excellent line of sight. Using Garrus's high-tech visor, he was directing Javik's biotics to do the most damage before his sniper rifle and his concussive rounds finished the job. Team Two was covering anything within close range, with a combination of biotics, plasma and concussive rounds. EDI and Liara were busy picking off the wounded Cannibals before any of them could munch on their fallen brethren.
"Watch it!" Garrus warned, having spotted something from his vantage point. "We've got one of the big ones!"
"And he brought friends," Miranda added.
A second later, I saw what they were referring to: a Brute and a whole whack load of husks. "Liara, James, Garrus: crowd control," I ordered, deciding that singularities and concussive rounds would be best for keeping the husks occupied and, more importantly, off our backs. "Everyone else target the Brute!"
Miranda and I hit it with a biotic-plasma combo. I hit it square in the head with a sniper round before taking out a husk that was milling around. Then EDI and Javik followed up with a plasma-biotic tango, thankfully without any grumblings about working with synthetics. I shot the Brute again before killing it with hot, hot plasma.
"Clear," James reported.
"For now," Javik amended.
To my delight, they were right: all the husks were down for the count. We scrounged up some more thermal clips, reloaded and began moving again. We'd only gone a few steps before everything started shaking again. "Wrex, you're right about Kalros!" I said over the comm. "She's on the move!"
"Yeah, we've got some ideas on that—what?"
"Not now, Wrex," Eve admonished. "The commander has enough to worry about."
"What's happening?" I asked suspiciously.
"Well—"
"Wrex."
"Uh… never mind. Some crazy idea we can talk about later. Just, um, worry about getting out of there right now."
"Why do I not like the sound of that?" Miranda asked.
"Probably because you're not crazy or stupid," Garrus replied.
"Is it just me or is Eve starting to wear the pants in their relationship?" James asked.
"I don't understand," Liara frowned.
"It is obvious," Javik scoffed. "The human is mistaken. Clearly the male krogan, the one you call Wrex, is wearing the pants. Stupid asari." (8)
"More hostiles on approach!" EDI warned.
"Oh good," Garrus said. "Looks like another shooting gallery!"
As overconfident as that might sound, he was correct. There were about eight Cannibals, all tightly clustered together, and seven of us. They didn't stand a chance. "Shepard, looks like we've got a bridge up ahead," Wrex said. It was a sheer coincidence that he contacted me just as the last Cannibal blew up. "Try to find it and we'll pick you up there."
Of course, that's when a bunch of husks charged us. "We're a little preoccupied right now!" I said as we began pummelling them with fireballs and biotic blasts.
"I didn't say it would be easy!"
It wasn't. Just as we were taking down the last couple husks, my HUD picked up another hostile. Wound up being a pair of Ravagers. "I'm really starting to hate this place!" Garrus cursed as they fired a barrage our way. Thankfully, we all found cover in time.
"Target the lead one first," I ordered. "Make every other attack a biotic one." That way, not only would we stagger our biotic hits, but the following attack could catalyze the previous biotic assault into a secondary explosion. "On three, two, one—GO!"
The plan worked out beautifully. Those Reaperfied rachni didn't know what hit them. We were done and moving past their misshapen, unnatural bodies in no time. Best of all, the bridge Wrex had mentioned lay just beyond their corpses. "Shepard, we're coming under the bridge! Get down here and we can get to the Shroud!"
"Will do, W—"
"Wait… Kalros!"
What? I suddenly felt a tingling—no, more like a buzzing on the back of my neck. Or maybe that was just the entire bridge shaking like mad. I caught a glimpse of something moving to my left. It was…
…
…holy shit. Looked like a giant, segmented serpentine… something. Just cruising above the ground like a shark fin darting above water. It smashed through the bridge like it wasn't even there. If we had arrived a few seconds earlier, it would have taken us out too. "Wrex?"
"Break off! We're getting out of here!"
"Kalros' territorial instinct confirmed!" Mordin shouted.
"She's not gonna get us!" Wrex vowed.
We watched as Kalros rumbled along. In the distance, we could see the convoy of tomkahs frantically speeding away. I waited until I was sure the mother of all thresher maws was gone before gingerly approaching the gap. To my surprise, it wasn't that large. We'd have to take a running jump, but we could easily clear it. Phew!
After we all practised our long jumping, we made it off the other side of the bridge and continued on. "Wrex, Kalros broke up part of the bridge on her way through, but we were able to get across anyway."
"Go on ahead, Shepard!" Wrex told us. "Head for the Shroud. We'll try to shake her and find you!"
"Thresher maw getting closer!" Mordin warned.
"Tell me something I don't know!"
Mordin didn't miss a beat. "Metal in truck an excellent iron supplement for maw's diet!"
"That's true," Miranda confirmed. "Based on the few autopsies and post-mortem physiological tests run on thresher maw corpses, anyway."
"This planet is one giant deathtrap," Liara breathed.
"And the thing is, I bet Wrex is enjoying this," Garrus chuckled.
Javik shook his head. "These krogan seem to have only one talent: destruction. Even of their own home. Perhaps the genophage was a necessity."
"Maybe they'll pick up some more talents after we cure it," I suggested. "Come on."
The next are we entered was some kind of amphitheatre. It was large and open-aired, covered by a flat rock roof supported by giant rock columns. Statues of krogan stood at regular intervals.
"Where the hell are we now?" James asked.
"Maybe a memorial site of some kind," Liara suggested.
Maybe. Now that I looked at it more closely, it didn't strike me as the kind of place where krogan would gather for sport or fun. Too many statues, too many plaques and inscriptions, not enough space for a large crowd to sit or hang out. And the expression on the statues looked more… resolute and resigned than joyous and triumphant.
"Watch it!" Garrus said sharply. "More hostiles up ahead!"
Shoot now. Analyze later. I tried to snipe one Cannibal in the head, but evidently missed. So I set it on fire. James ignited the plasma with his concussive round while Miranda hit another Cannibal with her biotics. Meanwhile, Liara had grabbed a couple Cannibals in a singularity. Garrus and I entertained ourselves—and tested our skill in shooting moving targets at relatively long range—for a couple seconds before I got bored and launched another fireball.
"Shepard—Wrex busy driving truck!" Mordin broke in. "Are you still alive?"
"Doing what we can!" I shouted back. My talking spoiled my shot, so I ducked down and concentrated on talking. "What about you?"
Then I popped up and saw a pair of Marauders approaching. I signalled Miranda and Garrus while hitting one of them with my sniper rifle. Miranda managed to hit them first with her EMP, so Garrus switched to a concussive round.
"Alarmed, yet entertained. Kalros is quite persistent."
I popped the head of a husk like a ripe melon, then aimed for another one. My first shot missed, but the second landed right on target.
"Wreav, stick close!"
"Drive faster!" Wreav growled. "I can smell the damn thing's breath!"
By that point, most of the nearby hostiles were eliminated. Spotting a few distant hostiles up ahead, I moved closer to investigate. As soon as I realized they were Marauders, I had Miranda drop another EMP on them. My fireball finished them off.
Then it was time to reload our guns, restock on thermal clips and scan a weapon mod that hadn't been completely covered by blood and gore.
"Shepard, we've almost lost Kalros!" Wrex reported. "Get down from there and we'll find you!"
"Understood," I replied. "Try to get to the following NavPoint. We'll meet you there." I sent him a location about a hundred metres ahead of us. Looked like we should be able to get there, assuming we didn't run into any more trouble.
As it turned out, there wasn't any trouble. In fact, there wasn't anything except another weapon mod.
"Shepard, get over here! Wreav, keep an eye out for that maw! I don't want it sneaking up on us!"
Wrex's tomkah sped towards us while Wreav's stopped on a small hill. "Make it quick, Wrex!" the latter snapped. "We're exposed!"
The tension in their voices prompted us to sprint for Wrex's tomkah even before it screeched to a halt. "Move it!" I urged, waiting outside as my squadmates began jumping in one by one.
Our concern was well-warranted. The ground began shaking again. Bursts of rock and gravel sprayed into the air. "It's Kalros!" Wreav identified, somewhat unnecessarily.
"Move, Shepard!" Wrex roared.
Wreav's tomkah disappeared in an explosion of rock and… well, Kalros. At that point, the last squadmate jumped inside. "We're in!" I yelled, joining them. "Go, go, go!"
Wrex hit the accelerator and the tomkah sped away. I did a quick headcount. Yep, everyone had made it. Eve and Mordin were there as well—figured Wrex would want to keep them close by. "What about Wreav?" Eve asked.
"No way he survived that," Wrex replied from the cab. "And he was a pain in the ass, anyway."
Oh yeah. No love lost there.
"Now let's finish this. There's a Reaper waiting for us."
Wrex drove us into the ruins of what looked like a huge arena. Large columns and buttresses conveyed a sense of ceremony, while the rock it was made out of gave a sense of strength and indomitable power. We stopped by a series of stairways that led up to the Shroud, whose clean, sleek metal frame dominated the centre of this site. And yet, it seemed out of place in the midst of this hard, rugged arena.
The alien-looking Reaper that was standing in front of the Shroud, and thus was also in the centre, looked equally out of place. One by one, we climbed out of the tomkah and stared at it. "Shepard, while I am reluctantly accustomed to your charging into danger without a plan, perhaps this could be an exception?" Miranda asked.
"I know we've beaten the odds before…" Garrus chimed in, "but getting to that tower? I don't know."
"We're curing the genophage no matter what it takes!" Wrex said firmly. "Everything my people will ever be depends on it."
"Then I hope this idea you were talking about is a good one," I replied.
"It was hers, actually," Wrex corrected, jabbing a thumb towards Eve. We turned to her and waited.
"Kalros. We summon her to the Reaper."
I blinked. "You've got to be jok—oh. You're not. You're serious. Um… would that even work?"
"Already discussed strategy," Mordin said. "Just need to distract Reaper. Draw it from tower while cure synthesized, released."
"What makes you so sure she'll come?" I asked.
"Legends say she is the mother from which all other thresher maws spawn," Eve explained. "This is as much her home as ours."
"If Tuchanka has a temper, Kalros is it," Wrex added. "Nobody's ever faced her and survived."
"So… no one's ever tried to complete their Rite against Kalros?" I asked.
"A clan once tried that," Wrex admitted. "They were wiped out centuries before the Krogan Rebellions."
Eek.
"We just spent the last hour or so trying to shake her and now you want to summon her," I reiterated. "And sic her on the Reaper. Look, I've taken some stupid risks in my time, but this seems crazy."
Wrex snorted. "And going head-to-head with Sovereign didn't? Besides, I did warn you."
Yeah, he did.
"This is the only way to get to that tower and release the cure. There's no other choice."
"But how would we summon her?" I wanted to know. "We don't exactly have her comm frequency."
"The tower was built in an arena devoted to Kalros' glory," Eve said. "The salarians thought she would scare away intruders."
"Appears to have worked," Mordin commented mildly at the same time I—and several others—emphatically stated "She did!"
"There are two maw hammers here, the largest in existence. If you can activate them, Kalros will come. That should distract the Reaper."
"Meanwhile, laboratory nearby," Mordin added. "Will finish synthesizing cure there."
Well, I didn't have any better ideas. It was either try this nutty scheme or give up, go home and wait for the Reapers to put us out of our misery. "All right, sounds like a plan," I agreed at last. "God, I can't believe I said that. Let's make sure we all get out of here alive." I shook my head before adding: "We're gonna have one hell of a story to tell." I turned towards the Reaper and took a step forward.
"Wait!"
I turned back to Wrex. "I want you to know that no matter what happens," he said, "you've been a champion to the krogan people, a friend of Clan Urdnot and a brother to me."
We shook hands solemnly. "To every krogan born after this day," he declared, "the name 'Shepard' will mean 'hero'!"
You know, I've been called a 'hero' more times than I can count over the years. That word had been over-used, in my opinion, given the various missions I'd performed and the deeds I'd done. Most of those times were hyperbole, exaggeration or empty accolades fuelled by blatant self-interest. This wasn't one of them. This time, I could actually believe it. Wrex and I silently clasped hands, like ancient krogan—and humans—might have done.
Wrex nodded at something behind me. "Now let's show them why!"
Turning around, I saw at least three Ravagers scuttling towards us. Wrex pulled out his shotgun and began running towards them. "Go!" he said over his shoulder. "I've got this!"
Seeing his charge, the lead Ravager reared on its hind legs and shrieked. Wrex returned with a mighty roar of defiance, head butting the creepy horror and shooting it while it was down. "I AM URDNOT WREX," he bellowed, "AND THIS IS MY PLANET!"
We watched him wrestle with the other Ravagers with glee before turning away. "See you on the other side," I said to Eve and Mordin.
"Stay alive, Shepard," Mordin told me as they walked away. "Will have cure ready."
It was as if the Reaper knew we were coming. No sooner had we begun moving into the arena than drop pods crashed in front of us. The debris from the impact impeded our view, but my scope was able to pierce the gloom enough to figure out roughly where the hostiles were. I quickly highlighted their locations for the squad, leaving it up to them to decide who to go for, before firing my sniper rifle. Then I let a fireball fly into another target. EDI, Miranda and Javik deployed plasma and biotics simultaneously. Everyone else launched their attacks a second later, creating a thunderous series of explosions. The echoes were still ringing off the walls when I lifted my sniper rifle and dropped two Cannibals in quick succession, ignoring the ones caught in Liara's singularity.
"Shepard," Wrex said in my ear, "I took care of those rachni! But someone has to raise those maw hammers before you can use them!"
I paused to shoot a couple more Cannibals before replying. "We're kinda busy, Wrex! Ran into some trouble of our own."
"Lucky for you, I'm here—I'll handle it!"
"Hold on," I said, checking my HUD to confirm what my eyes were seeing. "Okay, coast is clear for now. Here's the plan: Team One go left. Teams Two and Three go right. Wrex: watch our six for now. Move in to help either group if they get stuck."
A bit risky, but not as much as you'd think. By now, we were all pretty battle-hardened and could probably handle most things that might come our way. By splitting up, we'd be able to cover more ground, find the two maw hammers and activate them faster than if we wandered around the arena in a full squad. Wrex could join my team so both groups had four people, but he was better off staying where he was and making sure the Reapers didn't send anyone to shoot us in the back. Plus, he could act as a one-man—or one-krogan—mobile reserve to back up either group if they ran into trouble.
So I led EDI and Liara up a long and steep flight of stairs and through a small courtyard, pausing only to quickly scan an M-5 Phalanx. "Shepard, some luck!" Mordin reported. "Original strain in storage. Preparing the cure now."
"Make it quick, Mordin!" I urged. "They're all over us out here."
Mordin acknowledged and quickly got off the comm. Seeing that there were no goodies—and, more importantly, no maw hammer up here—I started to lead Team One across a catwalk. The back of my neck began tingling just before Liara cried out "By the Goddess! To our left!"
The first thing I saw when I looked left was the Reaper. We had a clear view of it. A second later, I realized that meant it had a clear view of us. Just as I leapt over a weakened section of the catwalk, the Reaper fired. I immediately jumped back before it could vaporize me. Unfortunately, my foot landed on the weakened section. The impact of the Reaper's shot did the rest. I briefly saw the horrified looks of my team before I fell.
Thankfully, I hadn't climbed that far up and the hardsuit took the brunt of the fall, so I managed to pick myself up pretty quickly. (9) "Everyone all right?" I asked.
"We are undamaged," EDI reported. "Mostly."
"I think so," Liara replied.
"What happened?" Miranda replied.
"Um, well, I think we just got shot at by a Reaper," I replied. "EDI and Liara are fine, but I took a fall. Don't worry, I'm fine." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the rest of Team One rejoin me. Obviously the catwalk was now impassible. "Consider that a practise round. Team Two, Team Three: how're you guys doing?"
"We haven't found either maw hammer yet," Garrus replied, "though we did tangle with a dozen Cannibals."
"And they didn't invite me," Wrex added. "While you guys were fooling around and wasting time, I went ahead and raised the maw hammers."
He… "Were you waiting for an invitation to summon Kalros, Wrex?"
"Just giving you something to do: you still gotta activate both of them, and the triggers are somewhere else."
Great. So Wrex did half of the work for us, but we still had to run all over the arena. "Any tips on finding those triggers?"
"My advice is to avoid the giant laser!"
We took cover behind an obelisk-like structure as the Reaper fired. "Gee, thanks," I said sarcastically. "You heard Wrex, everyone: 'avoid the giant laser.' Stick to cover in between shots!"
"I'm not sure cover's going to work!" Garrus said tersely. "Especially when that damn thing's tall enough to see all of us."
"I can't believe we're actually doing this!" Liara said.
We ducked behind a fallen pillar as the Reaper fired again. "Believe it," I told her. "I just hope we'll be able to activate the hammers when we find them. That Reaper's doing a damn good job of tracking us."
Then the universe finally decided to take pity on me. "Shepard, do you hear that?" EDI asked. "Is that a Harvester?"
"I hear something too," Miranda said over the comm. "Is it a shuttle?"
"No," I realized, spotting something rapidly approaching in the distance. "It's—"
"Commander, this is Artimec Wing! We'll try to give that Reaper something else to shoot at!"
The surviving fighters from Artimec Wing swept overhead and began circling around the Reaper, guns blazing. "I knew they wouldn't give up!" Garrus crowed.
"Goddess be with them," Liara prayed.
"Artimec Wing, your timing couldn't be better," I said aloud. "All teams, we've got a small window. Let's make the most of it! Push ahead!"
We quickly raced down a passageway and down into a central courtyard where, to my surprise, we bumped into the other teams. "Shepard," Miranda said, "we came across an inscription. Looks like a map of sorts. Based on the layout and the area we've covered so far, I believe the controls for the maw hammers are located to the left and right of this area. Of course, getting to them is another matter entirely!"
The Reaper—and the galaxy at large—must have heard her, because that's when a Brute dropped down from orbit. Thankfully we greeted it with a barrage of biotics and plasma before it even emerged from its drop pod. Unfortunately, several more drop pods landed, each delivering a Brute. "This is crazy!" Garrus shouted.
There was no way we could drop all of them given how many of them there were and how much damage they could soak up. At least one of them would have time to close the gap and start ripping us apart—literally. We might be able to buy some breathing room by retreating, but that would take us back to square one. "Guys, I have an idea," I started.
"Whatever it is, I love it," James called out.
"Charge forward, dodge the Brutes and get the hell to those triggers!"
"I hate it," James immediately replied. "Let's do it, Loco!"
"Team One goes left!" I yelled. "Go, go, go!"
We immediately split up. I lost track of the other teams, what with all the debris being kicked up and the Brutes running around willy-nilly. Hell, it took a few seconds before EDI and Liara caught up with me. We sprinted up way too many stairs—
"Look out!"
—only to come this close to being—I swear I'm not making this up—stepped on by the Reaper! Eyes wide open; we waited just long enough for the Reaper to lift its leg before sprinting forward again, not even waiting for the dust to clear.
While the Reaper was distracted with Artimec Wing and my team, the others were making some progress. "Mordin," Miranda said over the comm, "we've activated the first hammer! Status report?!"
"Almost have cure! Ran into complication: Eve's vital signs dropping! Trying to compensate!"
Aw, crap.
"Shepard," Wrex yelled, "get that second hammer going!"
"Hang on, will ya?" I yelled back. "There's a Reaper in my way! Damn thing's trying to step on us!"
"I know. You get all the fun!"
Ignoring that, I continued forward, only to see an impossibly large shadow loom overhead. I glimpsed EDI and Liara frantically backpedalling behind me. If I did the same, I'd never get clear in time. So I closed my eyes and dove forward.
I felt as much as heard a thunderous crash behind me as the Reaper's leg stomped down. Picking myself up, I looked back at EDI and Liara, then down at the huge hole between us. No way I'd be going back the way I came. "Go!" I shouted. "Get back to the tomkah! I'll take care of the cure!"
"Good luck!" they called back in unison. Nodding, I wheeled around and sprinted forward. Thankfully, the trigger to the second maw hammer was just ahead and it was fairly idiot-proof. Big button. Push. Well, shove in my case—the damn thing was originally built for krogan, after all.
A dull droning sound rang through the air, and vibrated through my bones, as a giant piston—the maw hammer—dropped down, hammering into the earth below. Somewhere to the right, I heard a second deep chime as the other maw hammer dropped in unison. The Reaper paused, one of its legs partially raised. Then it lowered its leg and shuffled around, repositioning as if sensing the approach of a greater threat.
The rocky path beneath my feet began shaking at about the same time the back of my neck started tingling. No, not tingling—vibrating. Hard. "Artimec Wing and all teams—get out of here! Kalros is coming!" As if she heard me, Kalros let out a thunderous shriek, challenging the interloper who dared stomp around in her domain.
For an instant, I'd forgotten about the Reaper. Then it stomped its foot down right in front of me. With a start, I realized the damn thing was practically right on top of me! I looked up, some part of me clinically noting that I was staring at its underbelly. I clapped my hands over my ears as it sounded a deep, harsh, bone-shaking blare. Then it took a step forward, ignoring me entirely, as it awaited Kalros's arrival.
With another shriek, Kalros burst into view, lunging out of the earth like a dolphin or whale leaping out of water. The Reaper fired, but it was too late—Kalros had already dropped down, burrowing back into the earth.
Then it burst up again, shrieking in fury.
My mouth dropped. She was… huge? Enormous? Gargantuan? All of those descriptors seemed so inadequate to describe Kalros. She was bigger than any thresher maw I'd ever come across—and I'd had the poor luck to run into more than one! The krogan weren't kidding when they named her the mother of all thresher maws.
She clamped her jaws on the Reaper. It tried to shoot her, but it merely twisted its serpentine bulk and the shot went wide. Unfortunately, the beam that was meant for her wound up carving through the arena, cutting through walls and monuments like a hot knife through butter. In fact, the beam was…
…
…coming towards me. Aw, crap.
I narrowly dodged the beam, feeling the intense heat briefly wash over me. Frantically, I found myself running forward. Then I instinctively ducked down behind a wall. A second later, Kalros and the Reaper crashed down in front of me. If I had taken even a few steps further, they might have landed right on top of me. I cowered, quivering in some primal, animalistic fear as these giant creatures that were so far beyond me battled like titans out of ancient mythology.
It took a herculean effort for me to break out of my catatonic stupor and look around. Kalros and the Reaper were still tussling, but their position had shifted. There was now a clear path to the Shroud. Not a great one—I'd have to take a running jump onto an arch of sorts and use it as a narrow bridge across—but the best one I had on hand. So I took a deep breath, taking my life in my hands once again and jumped.
Somehow, I landed where I wanted. Picking myself up, I scrambled across to a wider, proper road. It was smooth sailing from there. I could've run. But somehow, I couldn't help but stop and look back.
The Reaper was turning on the spot, Kalros still determinedly holding on with its mandibles. A deliberate move, I soon realized, as Kalros was yanked clear over my head and into the Shroud itself. The impact tore her free from the Reaper. She shrieked aloud in outrage.
Regaining its footing, the Reaper fired. But Kalros was one step ahead, retreating back under the surface of Tuchanka before the beam could hit her. Confused, the Reaper backed up and turned around, trying to track her.
It was too slow. Kalros exploded out of the ground, striking the Reaper from behind. The Reaper's weapon fired, as if by reflex, but the thresher maw's sheer mass bowed it over, forcing it to discharge the beam harmlessly into the ground. With a blinding speed that seemed impossible for a creature of her immense size, Kalros wrapped her coils around the Reaper like a giant constrictor around its prey. She began turning round and round, squeezing tighter and tighter with each revolution. With an ear-deafening screech of tortured metal and triumphant joy, Kalros descended into the bowels of Tuchanka like some enormous sinkhole or maelstrom, taking her Reaper prize with her.
I stood and watched until the dust began to settle before turning around and moving towards the Shroud, picking up speed with every step I took.
Mordin barely beat me to the Shroud. I watched him run towards a giant computer console and punch in some keys, dodging some rubble along the way. My eyes moved to the base of the tower, noting various piles of debris and pieces of equipment that had burst into flame. There was a large elevator at the bottom, its glass walls marred by a large crack. Looking skyward, I flinched as an explosion rang out. At the top, I could see more explosions, bursting at random intervals amidst a seething storm of electrical discharge. Whether it was the salarians' prior sabotage or an indirect consequence of the battle between Kalros and the Reaper, it was clear that the Shroud was damaged.
Without further ado, I raced towards my friend. "Mordin! Is the cure ready?"
We flinched as more debris came raining down. "Yes. Loaded for dispersal in two minutes. Procedure traumatic for Eve, but not lethal."
"Procedure?" I frowned. "Why did Eve—"
"Immune to genophage, but seriously weakened. Required cure to prevent cascade of organ failure and eventual death while maintaining fertility. Maelon's research invaluable."
Oh. Gotcha. "She's okay?"
"Headed to safety now," he confirmed. "Her survival fortunate. Will stabilize new government should Wrex get any ideas. Good match, promising future for krogan."
Another piece of the Shroud came down like a flaming comet, crashing only metres from us. "Damn!" I cried out.
Mordin glanced at the latest chunk of debris with his usual clinical detachment. "Control room at top of Shroud tower. Must take elevator."
My eyes widened in shock. "You're going up there?"
"Yes," he nodded. "Manual access required. Have to counteract STG sabotage. Ensure cure dispersed properly."
I tilted my head up to the top of the Shroud before looking at Mordin again, so quickly I almost gave myself whiplash. "Mordin, this whole thing is coming apart. There's gotta be another way!"
He shook his head. "Remote bypass impossible. STG countermeasures in place. No time to adjust cure for temperature variance."
"You don't know that," I argued. "You can do it from here. The computers still work. I've seen you in action a million times."
"No. No other option. Not coming back. Suggest you get clear. Explosions likely to be problematic."
"Mordin, no!"
"Yes." He started walking towards the elevator.
"You don't have to do this," I pleaded.
"Shepard—"
"Every time we've talked about this before, you've defended the genophage. Defended its reintroduction when the krogan were first adapting to it. Hell, I had to talk you into saving Maelon's data. How could you change your mind now? Why do you have to sacrifice your—"
"I MADE A MISTAKE!" Mordin yelled, turning back in fury.
The cacophony around us seemed to fade away as Mordin's admission, suppressed for far too long, rang out through the courtyard.
"I made a mistake," he repeated quietly, head lowered in shame. "Focused on big picture. Big picture made of little pictures. Too many variables! Can't hide behind statistics. Can't ignore new data. My fault. Need to go, running out of time!
"Shepard, please," he said, raising his head and looking me squarely in the eye. "Need to do this. My project. My work. My cure. My responsibility."
I stared at him helplessly.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Would've liked to run tests on the seashells," he whispered.
I gave a hiccupping sort of laugh as I recalled his tentative plans for retirement all those weeks ago. He'd never get to do that now. Never get to see the krogan cured of the genophage. Never get to see this war through to the end. However it ended.
Damn it, I hated this war. I hated it. I hated it!
"Mordin…" I trailed off. What else was there to say? "I'm sorry," I lamely finished, lacking anything else to say.
He gave me a forgiving smile. "I'm not," he said. "Had to be me." He walked into the elevator. The door slid shut behind him. He opened a comm channel to finish: "Someone else might have gotten it wrong."
Another hiccup escaped my throat as the elevator began moving up. Mordin quickly disappeared from sight, but not before I saw him straighten up. Like he was finally shedding the burden of overwhelming guilt and shame that had weighed him down for so many decades.
Recognizing how perilous it was to stay here, I slowly walked away from the Shroud. But I left the comm channel open. If I couldn't stop Mordin from giving his life for the cure, if I couldn't find another way, the least I could do was stay with him. Even remotely. Just so he wouldn't be alone at the end.
I could hear him take a deep breath, then breath out with a sigh of satisfaction. "Shepard?"
"I'm here, Mordin," I reassured him, feeling my throat start to close. "I'm here."
"Warning!" an automated voice announced. "Temperature malfunction detected."
An explosion rang out. Then another. Then another.
"Warning! Temperature malfunction detected."
Then I heard it. I thought I was mistaken at first, but the more I heard it, the more it began clear. Mordin was… humming. "Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm,hmm… I've studied species turian, asari and batarian…"
Despite the circumstances, I couldn't help but smile as Mordin reprised his version of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance. He always did like the patter songs.
"Temperature now within acceptable range. Viral package detected. Loading into emitters. Dispersal commencing."
I came to a sudden halt and craned my neck up. From the tip of the Shroud, I saw a feathery cloud spread out. "Mordin, you did it!" I called out. "Son of a bitch, you did it!"
"We did it," he corrected me. "Genophage cured. Krogan free. New beginning… for all of us."
The Shroud suddenly got blurry as my eyes welled up.
"My xenoscience studies range from urban to agrarian," Mordin sang, "I am the very model of—"
Another explosion rang out, cutting him off and deafening me in the process. As my eardrums rang in protest, I watched as a plume of flame and smoke billowed from the top of the tower. And then…
…and then…
…it began to snow.
The Shroud had seeded the skies of Tuchanka with Mordin's cure. Now, it was coming down like snow. I guess you could say it was Christmas for the krogan. Or whatever holiday you care to follow.
Wiping the tears from my eyes, I turned away from the Shroud and walked away. I could hear the shrieks, moans and crashes as the whole thing fell apart behind me.
I remember the first time I saw snow. It was such a strange sight. Growing up in space, I'd seen countless stars. Flown alongside comets. Weaved my way through meteor storms. But none of that prepared me for my first snow. It seemed so amazing. Wondrous. Magical. So full of hidden delight and promise and hope.
From the windows of the tomkah that picked me up, I could see Mordin's cure blanketed the soil of Tuchanka like snow. It snowed as we drove away from the remains of the Shroud and Kalros's arena. It snowed as we drove down the rugged highway. And it snowed when we arrived at the spot where I'd arranged to meet the squad, Wrex, Eve and Mor—
—oh. Right.
Everyone—krogan and non-krogan was staring at the sky as Mordin's cure came down around them. Their faces were full of amazement. Wonder. Delight.
Hope.
Miranda was the first to see me. Then Garrus. Then Wrex. We all stared at each other. But no one had anything to say.
Wrex was the first to break the silence. He cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, then motioned for us to follow him. "A long time ago," he said as he walked, "my father betrayed me in this place. His own son. He tried to kill me. So I had to kill him." He stopped and pointed to a flat boulder. "Right over there.
"That's what the genophage reduced us to. Animals. But you changed that today, Shepard."
"Now we'll fight for our children," Eve said, "not against them. It's just a pity Mordin had to die."
"He…" I stopped as my throat clenched. I forced myself to continue. "…he wouldn't have had it any other way. He had to see it through, no matter what. And I'm sure wherever he is…"
I trailed off and looked back at his final resting place. "…he's putting in a good word for us."
"Wish I could've known him a little better," Wrex admitted. "We'll name one of the kids after him."
"He'd like that," I said.
"Maybe a girl."
I laughed. Briefly. So did he.
"But you, Commander—we can thank you in person," Eve said.
"My place is here," Wrex declared. "Gotta organize the clans and all that crap. Tell the turians I'll be deploying troops to Palaven immediately."
"Victus will be relieved to hear that," I nodded.
"And when you're ready to kick the Reapers off Earth, you let me know." A joyous grin spread across Wrex's face. "The krogan are back in business!"
Eve reached forward and shook my hand firmly. "Goodbye, Commander."
"What will you do now?" I asked.
"Spread the hope you've given us," she replied. "Even now there are clans gathering in the Kelphic Valley. I'll go speak to them and make sure this gift isn't squandered. Thank you for all that you've done."
"You're welcome," I returned.
"And know that Urdnot Bakara calls you a friend."
Bakara. Huh. After all this time, I finally found out Eve's real name. (10)
She bowed her head deeply to me. I returned the gesture. Clapped hands with Wrex.
Then I led my squad away.
We returned to the Normandy. No one said a word.
We held a small service that evening on Deck Three. I was there. The squad as well. Joker. Dr. Chakwas. A couple other men and women. Just the people who had gotten to know Mordin. Who had been touched by his work. His deeds. His sacrifice.
Using the Normandy's fabricators, I had forged a name plate. I attached it to the Memorial Wall. 'Mordin Solus,' it said. That's it. Just two words. It didn't seem enough to describe the man I'd known, the struggles he'd endured or the deeds he'd done.
His deeds. His penance. His sacrifice. His legacy.
His triumph.
(1): A human game where the contestants stare at each other. The first one to blink loses.
(2): Dalatrass Linron did try to upload a dozen viruses, ten computer worms and three root kits during her last visit to the Normandy. EDI was able to counteract and delete them, but not without a great deal of difficulty.
(3): A reference to the price for which the human apostle Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus Christ, the central figure of the human religion of Christianity. It is often used in literature and common speech as a reference to selling out or betrayal.
(4): I was very grateful for Eve's arrival and her stirring, albeit short, speech. For all Shepard's eloquence and skill, I am uncertain as to whether he could defuse the situation and unify the krogan factions.
(5): Wrex would soon have cause to reconsider his... enthusiasm.
(6): Shepard didn't realize that we stayed out of loyalty to him.
(7): It truly was one of the most breathtaking architectural marvels I had ever seen.
(8): Wearing the pants is a human expression referring to the person in charge or in control of a relationship.
(9): Actually, the speed at which Shepard recovered cannot be attributed to the hardsuit's armour and internal cushioning alone. The substantive amount of cybernetic, surgical and genetic augmentation he'd undergone played a role as well. The most important factor, though, was his will and determination.
(10): After everything he'd done for her and her people, it was an honour well-deserved. I'm sure she would have extended that same privilege to Mordin, had he survived. Goddess be with him.