Here we go everyone. Enjoy and review. Little early I know but it is what it is.

POV: Aedon Wynne

We'd just dropped of David and Chief Archer at Grissom Academy when I finally got the message I was waiting for from Jacob. Now, what I was going to try and do was a bit of a long shot but I wanted to take the shot. Jack's attitude has improved a lot since we had our little encounter. She's better with everyone, bar Miranda, and has been trying to be a part of the team. I was proud too see it but I also wanted to improve her.

She was an astoundingly powerful biotic and viscous in a fight but she had some rather obvious drawbacks. I noticed them when I had Sam pull up the mission and I started going over all the video. First and foremost was that, biotically, she tired quickly; she didn't get the meaning of pacing. Then there was the fact that she only used a Shotgun, not exactly ideal for anything beyond short range engagements. She also wasn't the best at hand to hand but I could work on that with her.

Now, as for what I was going to do I had several ideas but there was something that I just had to try out first. I set up a target with an active shield generator in the middle of the cargo hold yesterday and spent a few hours getting down throwing my knife at it. It wasn't the hardest thing I'd ever learned to do but it sure as shit wasn't the easiest. I blame that mostly on the fact my knife isn't meant to be thrown.

Either way I requisitioned Jacob to make me throwing knives. I figured that with him in the armory he would either have them or have something that could make them. Turns out, I was right on both counts and the message he just sent me proved that. So I left and when to the armory and picked up six throwing knives.

"You planning on adding to your arsenal Wynne?" Jacob asked as I picked up the knives.

"No. I don't think I could carry anything more to be honest," I stated as I absently held the knives and checked their balance. I admittedly didn't really know what to look for in balance for throwing knives. I just assumed it was like a baseball bat, the closer the balance point to the center the easier it'll be to use.

"Then why the knives?" he asked becoming curious.

"Jack needs more than just a shotgun and biotics if she wants to live through this with us," I stated simply as I piled the knives into my hand and prepared to leave.

"Good luck."

I left him and made my way to the cargo hold. There I set up the target again with the shield generator on and started throwin the knives at it. Yesterday my theory was proven correct and this little session reinforced it. Because of the slow speed of the knives the shield generator wouldn't activate and block it. Meaning that even if someone was fully shielded a solid throwing knife would kill them. Perfect.

Opening up my omni-tool I sent a message to Jack, simply telling her to get to the cargo hold now. I sat down on a cargo crate and displayed the knives next to me on the crate as I waited. It was only a couple of minutes later when she exited the elevator and strode up to me with a confident gate. She stopped in front of me for a few seconds, her stance hesitant and ready for a fight. Neither of us said anything.

It was here that I remembered that since the last mission I hadn't talked to her at all. So me sitting on a crate in the cargo hold with six knives next to me waiting for her wasn't the best look. Sighing I stood up from the crate and and stared down at her; she is the first person of the the ground crews so far I was actually taller than. Neither of us did anything for a few moments before I finally spoke.

"Remember our conversation?" Neither of us looked away, though she probably couldn't tell with my helmet still on.

"Yes," she responded in a clipped down having her right foot slide back just a hair, she was getting ready for a confrontation. I stopped that real quick with my next words.

"I wasn't lying when I said I was once you. Do you know how I fixed myself?" she stayed in her slightly prepared stance, good, she was paranoid still, but otherwise didn't react beyond shaking her head in the negative.

I let that hang in the air for a moment before reaching behind me and grabbing one of the knives and bringing it up between us. She tensed again but I turned from her and through it at the target and it embedded itself in the far left side, barely touching the target. Still it hit and penetrated.

Looking back to Jack her eyes were still glued to where the knife had embedded itself. The gears in her head working for a few moments before her eyes lit up in both surprise and delight. She then looked to me in a questioning way to make sure that she was right in her assumption. I nodded my head before turning around and handing her a knife while I kept the other four in my hand.

She looked at it in mild fascination before turning to the target and throwing the knife only for it to saild over the target and hit the couple of boxes I had behind it. She furrowed her eyebrows before looking to me and hled out her hand silently asking for another one. I gave her it and she tried again. This was was even worse than the last as it hit the top of the boxes behind the target. I could see the frustration start to build but said nothing to her and instead handed her another knife.

We went at it for about half an hour and she didn't hit the target a single time. Each time becoming increasingly frustrated. At the end of the half an hour she shouted out FUCK and through a Warp at the target. The shields abosbed the biotic attack and she made to attack again but I grabbed with my augmetic stopping her.

She whirled to stare at me, teeth bared and angry. I simply stared back not backing down in the slightest and eventually she relented. Looking at her for a few moments I went and grabbed the knife and brought it back to her. Holding it out to her she went to grab it but I pulled it away at the last moment. Again, she looked at me with eyes set on murder but I didn't budge.

"Do you want to know how I fixed myself?" I asked again.

"How?" she growled out looking at me and in a stance that screamed she wanted to fight.

"I asked for help," that singular statement hung in the air between us for a few moments and neither us said anything before she growled again and turned away from me.

"I don't need help," she spoke as she stomped away from me to the elevator.

I let her go for a moment before throwing a dagger over her head. She whirled on me and instantly threw a Warp at me. I caught it with my augmetic before gesturing to the sparring ring a few feet from us. She looked to it and then to me before nodding her head. We would spend the next hour in the sparring ring and it was an absolute clinic put on by me. Powerful as she may be with her biotics she was nothing without them. So much raw power with no finess.

At the end of it she was growing increasingly frustrated. Eventually she just got up and left without a word. I let her go this time and didn't try to bring her back. Which really just about ended my day.

"You see yourself in her huh?" Kasumi's voice asked from outside the ring as Jack left. I turned to where the voice came from but saw nothing. I just responded out loud knowing she would hear me either way.

"Too much of me."

Kasumi didn't respond and I left the ring making my way to my room with the knives. There I did maintenance on my weapons and made sure my armor was in perfect order. After that I went to the bar and shared a few drinks with Garrus and surprisingly Zaeed. Man had plenty of stories that he loved telling and I would be a liar if I said they weren't entertaining.

Either way that ended my day and the next day went about the same for me but without almost no interaction from Jack. The little interaction we did have was when I went to the firing range. She was there using her shotgun and I offered her a pistol I picked up from the assortment we had. She scoffed at the pistol but after I took her shotgun and put the target beyond 15 yards and didn't hit shit she reluctantly took the pistol and started practicing with it. Whether she would like it or not I would help her.

After that I went back to my room and went through my katas with my knife and ax before showing. Once I was showered and looked relatively presentable I called Tali. She was able to talk this time but couldn't tell me where she was. I was happy with that regardless and we talked for almost two hours. After I was done talking with Tali I called Frank and talked to him for a few minutes before I asked to talk to Iris. Iris and I talked for almost as long; I miss my little girl but she was safer away from me at the moment.

After I finished talking with Iris I went to bed, early as it was, and woke up early. Around four o'clock to be exact was the time I woke up and immediately went into my stretching routine but put in some extra time today. Knowing that we would be getting Grunt today I spent an exorbitant amount of time stretching. Little piece of advice, if you know you're going on a mission stretch like there's no tomorrow; it'll save your life.

Once done stretching I went to the range and practiced for about an hour before going back to my room and checking over my equipment. It was really just to buy time while I waited for Shepard to call the ground team for the mission. It wouldn't take long for him to either, it was only about nine o'clock when he did.

"Today we'll be getting Warlord Okeer today. Old, old Krogan and a scientist to boot. From what we've been able to find his work is rather radical but radical is something we need right now," Shepard started with everyone in the room. I, as usual, had a seat next to Garrus. Zaeed sat to my left with Kasumi next to him, arm all healed from the liberal application of medi-gel. Everyone else was standing around the room except for Jack who was leaning on the wall next to the door.

"Any idea on the forces we'll inevitably have to fight before picking him up?" Garrus asked and I made the subtle gesture of pointing at him when he said it, silently agreeing with his question.

"It's a Blue Suns training facility so expect a good amount of mercs but they won't even be anywhere up to snuff for mercenaries. Do not get cocky people," I could tell he almost said the forbidden words but avoided it and that was definitely a good thing.

"Do they have mechs?" Jack asked.

"Some but not many. Stick together, follow orders and be smart. We get there in an hour. Get your gear and be ready we'll be inserting with the Hammerhead," there were nods all around and we left to get our gear and be ready.

My armor was already on myself so all I had to do was grab my weapons. I was bringing the whole arsenal with me today, I wasn't about to not bring everything. Leaving my room I went to the cargo hold and jumped into the Hammerhead immediately grabbing the gunner spot. If Shepard wanted to drive then I would get here early to be on the gun.

Over the next 15 or so minutes everyone else would show up and be subsequently disappointed upon seeing me in the gunner spot. No way I was giving it up either, even with the promise of credits from Miranda. I wasn't going through his driving again if I could help it.

Either way Shepard was the last to show up and when he saw the defeated looks of some of the crew he was completely unapologetic. He gave a little laugh before getting into the front of the Hammerhead. With him in the drivers seat we began to wait for the go ahead from Joker. It wouldn't take much longer and just about 12 minutes later we were shooting through the opened cargo door down to the ground.

Touchdown was a little rough but it wasn't bad at all. When we did land though Shepard immediately took off towards the Blue Suns base. Almost immediately after starting our trek to the base we came under artillery fire. We couldn't see where they were shooting from but the shots were so inaccurate that we barely even had to worry about anything.

It was only after a few minutes of our drive and avoiding the shells did I realize they weren't even firing at us. They were firing at predetermined targets on the open area we were on. Guess it really was a training base but for them not to at least attempt to target us was both impressive at the discipline and unimpressed that they weren't taking an opportunity. That or they were too far away to actually notice us. It was no hair off my back anyway, less to worry about.

A few minutes after the artillery started we were through the field and looked to be getting close to the actual base. As we approached I saw flashes of gunfire within the base and that must've been the Krogan and Blue Suns going at it. Another few minutes later and we were at the entrance of the base.

We could have gone through with the Hammerhead but from what we could see it wouldn't be worth it. To tight of ways for us to go for the thing to actually be useful. It was all about maneuverability and without it we would be sitting ducks. So instead, we parked it right outside of the entrance and abandoned the Hammerhead.

Shepard gave the signal and I took point with Jack at my side. We were barely a few feet in before we came upon the injured Blue Suns initiate. He was slumped against the wall and holding his hand near his side. Motioning to Jack she cocked her head in confusion and I sighed, she hadn't memorized all of the signals yet.

"Cover me while I check him out," I stated through the radio in my headset so that no one outside of those who had our radio signal could hear me. At my words she nodded and let me go about my business.

Walking up to the man he looked at me weakly and upon recognizing me tried to crawl away from me. Grabbing the man at his shoulder I shoved him into the wall so he could face me and pointed towards my first aid bag. He looked to it in mild shock before looking back to me, believing he was a gone from the pain he gave me a nod. At that I started to look over his wound but didn't do anything. Then I looked back to Shepard.

"I can treat it and it'll be survivable. What are your orders?" He was silent for a few seconds before approaching the merc. He then kneeled down next to him.

"He can save you but I need you do something for me," he stated looking at the merc. The merc looked between Shepard and myself before nodding his head in the affirmative.

"Good. I need you to tell me everything that's going on here and if anyone asks for your report over the radio to tell them it's all clear but you lost your squad. Do that and you'll live through this this," he stated and the merc nodded his head before talking.

"Okeer was making Krogan for the boss. Cloning them, they all went rampant in the last couple of hours though. They're a difficult bunch but if they're put in an area they stay there, they don't moe and only follow orders," each breath seemed hard for him and I had to contain my disappointment. This wound wasn't that bad, I'd had worse.

"Any idea on numbers?" Shepard asked.

"No more than 100 now and most aren't even around here. They're scattered mostly on the other side of the base," the merc responded starting to look pleadingly at me and my med pack. Looking to Shepard for what he wanted me to do he gave me a nod and I went to work on the merc.

It wasn't all that hard and within a couple of minutes he was a okay. Before he could celebrate at all though I punched him across the face and knocked the man out. At that I stood up and gave a nod to Shepard. He gave me one in return and gestured with his head for me to continue. I didn't bother responding at all and went back to the front of the squad with Jack again at my side

Following the path it wasn't long before we ran into a squad of Blue Suns on a balcony above us. Even with their high ground they were eviscerated in a singular minute. We had multiple biotics with us and they had none. I barely even got any shots off shooting at the mercs before the biotics had finished the squad. Once that was done we continued on with our way to the next checkpoint.

We ran into a squad of biotics who were fighting a few Krogans. We could have just jumped in and caused general chaos in the fight but Shepard had everyon stand down and let them fight it out. Watching the two groups fight I took the time to analyze how the cloned Krogan fought.

Boiling it down simply they fought erratically. Nothing they in the fight made any type of sense or should've worked. Krogan charge and are aggressive but they aren't stupid, these Krogan were definitely stupid but even with their stupidness it worked. A group of three Krogan against eight biotics, for the most part not using cover at all, and they still killed the biotics. Just watching it was an experience in and of itself.

Either way when the Krogan had killed off the last of the biotics only two of the three Krogan remained alive. We fixed that rather quickly with a Singularity from Shepard followed by Warps from both Miranda and Jack hitting the Singularity at the same time exploding it. Both the Krogan got flung at the wall and connected with a wet slap. Just in case though I tossed a grenade at the bodies and it permenantly ended them if they weren't already.

With that done we left and made our way up the stairs. We got about five flights up before it finally ended and we all went through the door. Only to be immediately greeted with a hail of gunfire. Pointing out the soldiers firing at us I fired off a few rounds before I was able to get into cover; I got one with a shot through the head as they didn't have shields.

Getting into cover I hit a pulse and made sure everyone could see the results on their HUDs. There was a total of around 30 soldiers in front of us and tactically we weren't in the best spot.

We had the high ground in the middle but enemies were on both the opposing sides so if we pushed through the middle we'd get shot at from the sides the whole time and they would surround us quickly. Pushing all sides at the same time is probably our best option but we'd have to be almost perfect with it and we'd have to split up. If one group gets too far ahead of another then they'll be subject for attack from the sides. Still, it's better than pushing up the middle and being surrounded or going to one side or the other as a group and give up the high ground.

Either way we stayed in cover and took shots when we could. I was able to get off a grenade but they had been waiting on that and hit it with a biotic Throw. Grenade exploded 10 feet above me but almost shredded my shields but they held firm. It was easy to not use my grenades after that and I just took pot shots getting 2 more unshielded soldiers and absorbed biotic attacks when they were sent at me.

About two minutes into us being in cover Shepard gave out the orders. He would take myself and Jack up the middle; Garrus and Zaeed would have the left which left Miranda, Jacob and Kasumi to handle the right side. We accepted his orders and at his signal broke cover and pushed our assigned zones.

Shepard and I pushed the middle relentlessly for the first couple of feet and the men there had absolutely no chance to stop us. That's not to mention Jack who charged at them initially and caved in the helmet of the first soldier she found with a biotically infused punch. The other three with that soldier tried to fight back but they ran into Shepard and I. It took us only a couple shots to drop all three, less than half a second.

Getting into cover I hit another pulse and saw that another eight soldiers were in the middle with us. We pushed forward together with Jack on point but decided to take it slow so we push too far ahead of the other groups. Jack argued against this plan and for the first time I agreed with her. We needed the violence of agression to fight them, not wait it out; voicing my opinion to Shepard after Jack had shared hers he was quiet for a few moments before he gave Jack a nod and she gave him a feral grin in turn before taking off.

From there it was just keeping up with her so she herself wouldn't get surrounded. That being said these guys weren't the best out there and most were unshielded. Of the singular one I found that wasn't unshielded he tackled me to the ground as he came barreling from behind cover into my side taking a three shots in the process. Preventing him from mounting I punched him across the face with my right hand dazing him before flipping us over so I was on top.

Punching him again to daze him even more I grabbed my ax from my side and brought it down on the mans collar bone. It bit deep into his body and I violently ripped it out causing blood to go spraying everywhere while he screamed in pain. Pushing myself off of him I raised a boot and brought it down on his face ending his screams. After that I picked up my rifle and gave a nod to Shepard and Jack and we continued on.

About a minute later we had finished killing the last of the soldiers with the last one having the worst end possible. Shepard hit the man with a lift and Jack him him with a throw afterwards. Man flew off into the distance like he was a part of Team Rocket. Couldn't even see where he landed, that's how far he went.

With that done I sent out a pulse and saw that there were still about 10 soldiers still up, six on the right and four on the left. Shepard pointed me towards Garrus' side, I took off without looking back and as soon as I saw the group of four soldiers unaware of me and all behind the same cover I took out a grenade and tossed it into the middle of them. It turned the two closest ones into chunky salsa and killed the one closest to me.

The last one though was a biotic and had noticed the grenade right before it went off and they were able to survive by putting a barrier over themselves. Didn't stop them from stumbling back a foot or two from the blast and dazed they never saw me as I tackled them. Grabbing their face with my augmetic I drained them; I was disappointed it didn't live up to Morinth's but it was still good. I need to be careful I don't start chasing the high.

A moment or two later Shepard announced over the radio that it was clear. We regrouped at the door near where I was and took stock of our ammo and checked to see if everyone was good. Once making sure everyone was all set to go we went through the door. We were greeted with a cavern in front of us with only a few places to walk and three Krogan who noticed us right away and charged all on the same path at us.

A singular Shockwave from Jack sent all the Krogan flying up and straight down into the cavern, all three dying from the fall. With that done we went across the walkway and made it to the other side and went out the door over there. Where we were met with another group of Blue Suns mercenaries.

This time it was even playing field for us and all we had to do was go right through them. Every time we pushed it was as a well oiled machine like we had been working together for years and not weeks. Hell, Jack was even listening to Shepards orders. As we continued to really wasn't much of a fight.

That being said Jack did get tackled to the ground by another biotic who ambushed her by waiting around the corner where no one had a visual. The Asari got on top of Jack and was in a stalemate with her trying to bring her knife down into Jack's chest. Being the closest one to her I charged the Asari and kicked her in the face sending her off of Jack.

Springing back up the Asari charged me and took a few swipes at me with the knife before I dropped my Mattock as she stabbed at me again. Once I did that I grabbed her wrist with my augmetic and spun flipping her over my shoulder. Grabbing my pistol I raised it to the Asari and was about to blow her head off but Jack interrupted me. She biotically stomped on the Asari's head popping it like a grape.

We each exchanged respectful nods, she might finally be getting the whole team concept, and continued to push forward at the point. From there we didn't really run into any more trouble. There were a couple of times that we couldn't just steamroll through the mercs but it didn't slow us down that much.

Within ten minutes we had run roughshot through the entirety of the mercs in the area and found where we were supposed to go. We all stacked up on the door with myself and Shepard being the closest. I began to get ready to breach the door when he held up his hand for me to stop. Doing so he reached out and grabbed the door handle and opened the door slowly and went in with me following him.

There was no soldiers in here but a singular Asari in a lab coat facing the opposite direction from us. Sneaking behind her I never got the opportunity to do anything as she turned around and got to see all of us looking at her with guns raised. Her eyes went wide as saucers before she raised her hands in surrender.

"I thought you died Shepard," she said looking at him and then it clicked who she was. She was the Asari from Virmire, can't remember her name.

"What are you doing here Rana?" he asked as he relaxed his stance and everyone but me did the same.

"I'm helping Okeer with his cloning. He was trying to make the perfect Krogan."

"Was?" I asked catching the wording.

"He succeeded. It's not been let out of its incubation yet but he succeeded. He's on the other side of the door. I can open it for you if you let me go," there was a definite change in her stance and voice than last time we met. It made my paranoia run haywire and my trigger finger was itching.

"Open the door Rana," Shepard commanded and she did so without preamble and Shepard raised his gun to her head. "Do you remember my words last time we met Rana?"

"Which ones Shepard?" she asked turning around to face him after opening the door only to see Shepard's gun in her face "N-"before Shepard could pull the trigger I did so and blew her away. He shot me a glance after the fact but I wasn't going to apologize; besides he needed to stay clean in this respect and I wouldn't let him go down this path if I could help it.

None of us said anything to that and instead followed him through the now open door. Okeer was working at a terminal as we entered and barely even acknowledged us beyond a singular grunt when he turned his head and saw us.

"Commander. To what do I owe the pleasure?" he spoke never turning away from the terminal.

"I'm putting a team together to fight the Collectors. I'm here to recruit you."

"Hmm, straight to the point. Admiral but I cannot, my work here is too important to waste time with the Collectors any more than I already have."

"You worked with them?" Miranda asked with an edge in her tone. Okeer glanced at her and his face suggested he thought nothing of her.

"For a time. They provided me with some of the equipment I needed and when our agreement was at an end I stopped."

"Then help us, your expertise would be invaluable," Shepard stated getting Okeer to actually turn around at look at him. He didn't say anything before stomping a couple feet over and grabbed the tarp that had to be covering Grunt. He pulled the tarp away and showed Grunt to us.

"He is my ultimate work. The purest of Krogans, until he is ready I will not leave," Shepard opened his mouth to respond but was cut off when the PA system started up.

"OKEER! You shit Krogan, I know it was you. We're coming for you, ya retarted lizard," a females voice shouted. A moment later the doors we could see through the window in Okeers office opened. About 20 Blue Suns poured in with two YMIR mechs right behind them.

"Kill them and I will come with you," Okeer stated. Shepard looked to him, then to Grunt before nodding his head and ordered us all through the door to fight.

Rushing out the door I slid into cover and immediately prepped two grenades. Throwing them at the YMIR mech that was the closest the both hit their target and eviscerated the mechs head. Knowing what was coming next I took cover and the mech exploded taking a couple of Blue Suns with it. I tried to do it again with the other YMIR but they were both sent back with biotics. They never got back to me though as they exploded about halfway there from a Warp, I didn't see who did it though.

Popping out of cover I shot at a Blue Sun that had been rushing to cover and was just able to break his shields before he got into cover but I didn't get him. Didn't need to though as I saw him drop around the other side from a shot from Garrus to the head. Pushing the left side to try and flank them I was supported by Zaeed.

We worked well covering and supporting each other as we pushed the Blue Suns from the side. Shepard had taken Jack and was coming at them from the right side effectively pinching them in the middle while the rest of our group kept them pinned from where they were. Made especially easy as the other YMIR had already been taken care of. I don't know by who but it was out of commission on the ground.

Once we got them pinched in the middle it didn't take long to kill them. The commander had a grenade launcher with her though and that presented a problem and did. Forced us into cover and we couldn't do all that much to her as she kept us pinned. With her being a biotic too I couldn't just grenade her without it being sent back at me.

Eventually I just said fuck it and charged the woman. Shepard had apparently had the same idea as we met with her inbetween us. She put up a decent fight, she really did, but with us against her she didn't last long. Died with my knife going through her throat. When she died the fight was over and we made our way back to Okeer only to see him lying dead.

Shepard walked up to the terminal and turned it on to see Okeers last words. I didn't bother listening and walked up to Grunts tank. Looking at the Krogan I stayed silent as the others began discussing what to do with him. Once it started to turn into an argument on whether or not to take him Shepard put his foot down and said that we would be taking the tank bred with us.

I didn't say anything against or for it, I knew we were going to be taking him anyways. That ended our mission anyways and called in the Normandy to pick us up from the office. It took us a little bit to get the tank hooked up to the tow system on the Normany but we did it and got the tank onto the Normandy into one of the spare rooms near the cargo hold. We left it there for now but I stayed with it and kept observing.

Grunt looked almost the exact same as he did in the game. He wasn't a carbon copy though which was what interested me and kept me observing him. Instead of having a mostly young look for Krogan he looked older. His head plate, for one, was fully formed this time around and colored. It was a deep red like Wrex's. Hell, Gurn looked a lot like Wrex but without the scars and his eyes were different than Wrex's. Still, it felt weird; like I was looking at a younger version of Wrex.

After almost an hour of looking over Grunt I left and went to the mess hall and got some food before heading back to my room. I had barely finished my food when Shepard called and said he wanted me in the Grunt's room in 10 minutes. Accepting the order I made my way back down to the room and Shepard was already there.

"I'm going to wake him up," I gave him a nod and made sure my gun was ready if it turned into a fight.

It went the exact same way as it did in the game and ended with Shepard against the wall by his neck from Grunt while he had his pistol against Grunts belly. I had my gun against Grunts head as they finished but nothing else. When Shepard welcomed Grunt to the team I left and made my way back to my room. Or at least tried to as Jack was waiting outside of it.

"What do you need Jack?"

" I want to train."

"Then lets go," at least she's showing initiative now.

That's all I got folks. Hope you enjoyed.