Date: May 10th, 2357

Time: 15:04 Galactic Standard

Location: Communications and Planning Room, STG-RV "Logical Approach"

"Now that we're all here… shall we get started?"

That's what I hear Nihlus say, as I walk into the room. "Of course. What's our plan?"

"Well before that, I figured we should figure out who's leading this hunting party"

I smirk and raise an eyebrow. "Hunting party definitely fits what we're doing. That said, I think Lieutenant Kirrahe should be the official head. After all, this is a Salarian ship we're borrowing, and we're going to be getting updates from the Special Tasks Group"

Saren nods. "That's true, but we're hunting a pair of Turians, one of them a sibling of mine. I say Nihlus should take mission lead"

"One of which has tortured and killed members from a number of different races. Turians, Humans, Krogan, Quarians, and Batarians. Any of us could be viewed as biased, wanting revenge for these atrocities. It may be true, but we can't let perception block our mission's focus. Another reason why I think Kirrahe should be the official head"

Nihlus nods. "He's got a point Saren. This could be difficult if we're perceived as out for blood"

Saren sighs. "Alright then. Kirrahe, you okay with this?"

The lieutenant nods. "Of course. Now, for our first destination"

Nihlus' mandibles twitch. "Vyrrnus left the black site before the Sergeant and I started the riot. I suspect he went to find more 'subjects' for his experiments… or worse, to test his procedure on. And if I were a sadist looking for subjects to experiment on, I would go to the Terminus Systems"

"That would be… problematic. While I agree, we don't exactly have permission to go into the Terminus"

I shake my head. "One ship, that's equipped with a cloaking module? I think we would be fine"

"One STG ship, with two Spectres, a STG lieutenant, and a Pilot with his Titan. That's almost as bad as an invading fleet, to the denizens of the Terminus Systems" Kirrahe says with a raised finger
I fold my arms. Kirrahe has a point.

"What about the Krogan? We know Vyrrnus had Krogan subjects. Makes sense they would want to know what happened"

Kirrahe shakes his head. "Same issue. Two Turian Spectres, and a Salarian STG operative"

I shrug. "So I go, instead of you three. The Krogan shouldn't have an issue with a human Pilot from the Frontier, yes?"

Kirrahe folds his arms. "… Yes, of course. And since you're a full-fledged Pilot now, they would probably view you as a Warrior of your species"

I grin. "Let's get going then"

[-]

Date: May 11th, 2357

Time: 07:40, Galactic Standard

Location: Aralakh System, in orbit above Tuchanka

I walk into the shuttle bay, where I'm greeted by my Ronin Titan, Nax

"Ready to go make an impression?" I ask, stepping into a Widow transport.

"Any impression I make would not last long in Tuchanka's winds"

I smirk and shake my head. "Not exactly what I meant. The impression we'll be making is on the Krogan clan we're meeting with. Speaking of which, Kirrahe, did we identify the clan the Krogan subjects belonged to?"

'Yes. They belonged to Clan Urdnot, which is currently in the midst of a split, with the two stepbrothers vying for leadership of the clan'

"Who are the two brothers?"

'Urdnot Wrex, and Urdnot Wreav. Wrex is who you'll be meeting with – he's more open-minded than his brother, Wreav'

I sigh. "Great. Landing in the middle of a clan dispute. That's fantastic. Nax, be ready for potential conflict"
Nax steps into the Widow dropship, the door closes, and we launch.
I climb up to the cockpit and take a look at the planet of Tuchanka. It's a tannish brown color, expected of a desert world. I lok at my omni tool, reviewing the summary of Krogan history. Extremely violent, uplifted by Salarians to be used as soldiers against Rachni, rebelled, got stomped by Turian-Salarian bioweapon called the Genophage.
The Widow touches down in one of the more open areas of Urdnot's territory. Nax and I step off the dropship as the hatch we entered through closes.
"You must be Sergeant Anderson. Urdnot Wrex is expecting you"

I nod. "That's me, all right. Have to ask, will my sword-wielding robot friend be able to come with me?"

The krogan's brow rises slightly. "Yes. It'll be a little tight on someone of… that size… but we can fit it in"

"I understand Urdnot's leadership is in dispute right now. Know anything about that?"

The Krogan grunts. "Yah. Wrex is trying to unite the clans, and the only way to do that is to convince everyone to stop butchering each other. Wreav wants to conquer the other clans, but we don't have the equipment or numbers for that. And so, we're split. Wrex has more supporters this time around – "

"Wait. This has happened before?"

The Krogan nods. "About once every few years. Wreav's been the leader for a while, but never undisputed"

We arrive at one of the larger rooms of the complex. Nax and I walk in, and we're greeted by a large, scarred Krogan with a red browplate.
"You Wrex?"

The Krogan nods. "That's me. You must be the human I'm meeting. Pretty ballsy to walk in here with your pet robot"

"Nax isn't a pet. He's a friend"

"You name your robots?"

"They are people, after all. Be weird to refer to him by Unit-4170"

Wrex raises an eyebrow. "Way I understand these things, you have to earn the right to walk around in one of these. Am I correct?"

I nod, grinning. I'd been expecting this. "You're right. I earned that right, just like every other Pilot. And it's not easy, lemme tell ya. You gotta be a real badass to earn it too. Takes a… what was the word? Oh right…" I grin as I look at the crowd of krogan
"It takes a real quad to make Pilot grade"

Wrex raises an eyebrow again, and grins. "So, human, what did you do to earn this?"

My grin turns vicious. "Oh, I only dropped into a black site on Gothis. Raised some hell. Killed a bunch of Turian Separatists and started a prison riot"

Wrex grins with respect. "Way I heard it, Gothis is so heavily defended that it'd be suicide to run a mission there"

I nod again, a cocksure expression on my face. "You bet it was. Mind you, this was before I found Nax there"

Wrex turns to the other Krogan in the room. "You hear that? This human dropped onto one of the most heavily defended Turian worlds, raised some hell down there, and got out! If that doesn't prove humankind has as many quads as we do, then I don't know what will!"

I grin. "Oh, and the Titan I'm paired with? We don't use a gun. No, we take an electrified broadsword and charge into battle"

Wrex laughs. "That's even better! Hey, this guy doesn't wait for the battle to reach him. He charges into battle without a gun! Just a giant broadsword!"

The crowd of Krogan cheer. Wrex laughs. "Well, if they aren't impressed by that, I don't know what will. So, human, what did you want to meet with me for? I get the feeling you came here for something, and that something wasn't impressing a large crowd of Krogan"

I breath in and nod. "We're hunting a pair of Turians. Separatist leadership. Given the fact that we found some Krogan in the black site, we figured we would come to Tuchanka first"

Wrex nods. "Good thinking, human. What clan did your Krogan belong to?"

"Urdnot"

Wrex sighs. "So that's what happened to them…"

"What?"

"Wreav sent out a couple of scouts to Weyrloc territory a few months back. Weyrloc has been engaging in trade with some outside parties, earning credits and building up their Blood Pack, and we wanted to know with who. Now we know"

"One of them was dead when we found them"

Wrex frowns. "Damned turians"

I rub my chin, thinking. "Could it be possible that the Separatists and Weyrloc have joined forces?"

Wrex sighs. "If they have, then we'd be in a heck of a lot more trouble than we are right now"

"Since they're trading with the Separatists, I have to go there"

"You're gonna need some more backup than your robot friend if you're planning on assaulting the Weyrloc base – they won't just let you in like we did here"

I nod. "I got a squad waiting for me back on our ship. I can have them transported here, and we can head out soon after"

"How good are they?"

I smirk. "They can hold their own. On Shanxi, they repelled a number of Separatist assaults"

Wrex grunts. "That's good and all, but Krogan fight fiercer than Turians. And Weyrloc are vicious"

"You offering to help, Wrex?"

Wrex shrugs. "Heh. Despite my open-mindedness, I am a Krogan. Fighting's in my blood, just like everyone else here. And Weyrloc would be a good target"

I grin. "Well then. Lemme call down my team"

[-]

Time: 08:20, Galactic Standard

Location: Clan Urdnot complex, landing area

The Widow dropship touches down on the platform, and the rest of Bravo Squad step outside. "So, this is sunny Tuchanka" I hear Cameron say as he steps off the ship. Burke shrugs. Lyon takes a look around the platform.
"This is your Krantt?"

"My what?"

"Krantt. Your allies willing to fight and die on your behalf? Do you not have a term like this?"

I think about the term's description. Then grin and shake my head. "Do we need a word for something that's already expected between brothers and sisters in arms?"

Wrex raises his brows, squints, then grins. "Heh. Nope, not really. But now you have one"

I grin. "Well, let's get going. Which way to Weyrloc's base?"

Wrex ducks his head toward a large garage. "We'll be driving there. Weyrloc Guld, the clan leader, brought the entire clan into a hospital complex on the surface. If they've fortified it at all, it'll be a hard fight to get inside"

I sigh. "How hard can it be to get inside a Krogan hospital?"

"You have to understand Krogan to know the answer to that question. Krogan hospitals were built to be nigh-unbreakable. Krogans can, when wounded, go into a blood rage that amplifies their strength at the cost of brain activity. Makes them very hard to take down, especially if you're operating on one"

'No wonder the operating room table was so heavily built' I think to myself

"Your thoughts?"

I look at Wrex. "An operating table we found in the Gothis black site. Was rather heavily built. I was wondering why, until you told me what building a Krogan hospital required"

Wrex growls. "Operating table? Explain. Now"

I grit my teeth. "The base commander was running experiments on some of his prisoners"

Wrex growls again. "What kind of experiments? Wasn't the damn genophage enough?"

I shake my head. "Not those kinds of experiments. He was looking to create a biotic supersoldier. It's one of the reasons why I'm here instead of one of my betters"

Wrex's eyes return to their normal state. "One of your betters? Someone older than you? Or more skilled?"

"More skilled" I sigh. "We had uncovered information about an old war criminal operating in Tur- " I shake my head. "In Separatist space. Our plan was to get captured, taken into the Separatists' core, break out, find said war criminal, and bring him in… alive or dead"

Wrex looks pointedly at my hand, which had clenched up. "I'm guessing not all went to plan"

I shake my head. "Not quite. Remember when I said I dropped onto Gothis?"

Wrex nods. "Yah. You mentioned you raised some hell down there. What was the reason?"
I frown.

"I was placed into genpop – apologies, general population – and my friend was taken to be experimented on. I ended up working with a turian Spectre who had infiltrated the Separatists to break out. Hence the hell raising. When we found my friend…"

I recount what happened leading up to the riot – how we snagged the data from Vyrrnus' computer, found Melissa, found Blisk's body and the Titan Nax, started the riot, and escaped. My blood boils as I tell Wrex what happened. My hands are clenched in fury the entire time. Nax informs me of my condition, but I'm too mad to listen. By the time we're done, we've arrived at Weyrloc base.

[-]

Frontier Alliance Codex

Krogan

The krogan evolved in a hostile and vicious environment. Until the invention of gunpowder weapons, "eaten by predators" was still the number one cause of krogan fatalities. Afterwards, it was "death by gunshot."

When the salarians discovered them, the krogan were a brutal, primitive species struggling to survive a self-inflicted nuclear winter. The salarians culturally uplifted them, teaching them to use and build modern technology so they could serve as soldiers in the Rachni War.

Liberated from the harsh conditions of their home world, the quick-breeding krogan experienced an unprecedented population explosion. They began to colonize nearby worlds, even though these worlds were already inhabited. The Krogan Rebellions lasted nearly a century, only ending when the turians unleashed the genophage, a salarian-developed bioweapon that crushed all krogan resistance.

The genophage makes only one in 1,000 pregnancies viable, and today the krogan are a slowly dying breed. Understandably, the krogan harbor a grudge against all other species, especially the turians.

[-]

Sorry this one took so long! Next chapter will be more combat focused, I promise. Hang in there!

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Edwin Watson

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