"Hellfire" from Final Fantasy XV

LXXXV. Tuchanka – Satan, Sin of Wrath

(Shepard)

These precious few moments before the mission gave me time to reflect. Only a short time. The shortest of times as my team made their way down to the armory with me. We had agreed to meet Wrex's brood brother Wreav at the Hollows—a sacred meeting ground for the krogan. And one of the few areas of Tuchanka not actively on fire. Mordin and Eve would accompany us the whole way to the Shroud.

All hands on deck—each one of our combat-ready members made up this ground force for Tuchanka. We needed everyone to protect our guests on the way to the Shroud. I watched everyone gearing up: Tali grabbed her new Wraith shotgun from me. Jack felt stronger already with her new biotic amp. Legion and Garrus readied their sniper rifles, planning to join me on the backline. EDI prepared her shotgun to act as our scout, cloaking and zipping around as we needed her to. Kaidan and Wrex suited up for the frontlines—and Solheim would join them shortly. Samara and Liara would stay at the core of our group, protecting us from any Reaper beams, and raining down artillery strikes when they could.

I had already geared up in my N7 armor. With the added shadow of my Black Widow, I'd blend in with the smoke and soot on the field. Anything to make up for my many disadvantages in a firefight like this.

Liara kept my attention as she observed her new Paladin pistol. A pistol so powerful, in the right hands, a single shot could've acted as a mini-sniper fire. I had every confidence Liara would put this weapon to good use. The white and gray of that gun gleamed against the backdrop of her black lab coat. From the blue of her skin, I sensed her barely-contained rage. Her thoughtfulness, her planning. Liara knew this all could've gone awry—her broiling animosity toward Solheim could've derailed the entire mission. I felt her awareness, her self-control. She understood what could've happened if she took this too far again.

Liara's understanding freed me up to not worry about her as much. My concerns pulsed within me anyway. Pulsing and throbbing like a terrible headache I couldn't get away from. The only distraction I had was the mission—focusing on everyone on the team. I had this responsibility to get them safely to the other side. I carried this responsibility as I made my way to the shuttle first, preparing for takeoff.

Setting the tone, I guided the team to board the shuttle before me. I watched as each of them headed inside, the clunk and clanking of their footsteps sounding over the metallic floor. EDI, then Legion, Jack, Samara, Garrus, Kaidan, Wrex, Mordin, Eve. Everyone looked to me, and I looked to them, conveying this security, this stability. We had no idea what would happen down on Tuchanka. My team at least had the reassurance of me looking out for them. And everyone accepted my reassurance—some needing it more than others—nodding to me or expressing their thanks as they boarded the shuttle. I gave a bit more to Tali as she took her turn. I knew she was still angry with me about the party last week. She may have made up with Liara, and joined us for New Year's Eve, but she needed more time for anything else.

Nevertheless, I set my hand along her shoulder, guiding her aboard. A gentle touch from me.

Tali briefly turned her head in my direction. In-time and in-tune with my gesture. She wouldn't say anything. Yet the brights of her eyes behind her mask slanted in a veiled gratitude. That was enough.

Liara boarded the shuttle last with me. Together we stood near the center of the group, acting as this heart, this unity for the others. The rest of the team had taken their seats, resigning themselves to a focused silence. No sounds except the general clatter of the shuttle as Cortez took us to our destination.

As I glanced at Mordin and Eve, the sheer weight of our objective suddenly hit me.

I had known before. On an intellectual level, I understood the importance of our mission. Getting the two of them, Eve and Mordin, safely to the Shroud. The defining moment of krogan history in curing the genophage once and for all. Wrex needed this. His people needed this. I saw the trouble brewing in his expression, mangling with the many scars over his face. I needed to minimize any risks where I could.

Liara noticed my revelations.

She asked as but a whisper, "Commander? Is something bothering you?"

My executive officer. My second-in-command. My everything.

I could count on her for this.

Minimizing our conversation from the others, I leaned closer to her. "Do me a favor, Liara. Guard Mordin and Eve at all times. Samara can shield the group whenever we need it. Your main focus should be staying with our high-priority guests. Without them, this cure won't get anywhere."

"But…what if something happens to you? What if you need me?"

"Everyone else is with us. Let them handle it. I need you to do this."

Liara didn't want to, yet she knew not to refuse an order from me.

"Very well, Shepard. I will stay close to them. Here's hoping you won't need my protection today."

Thankful for Liara's commitment, I turned my attention to the nearby monitors. The surrounding blue of the shuttle's interior couldn't cool down the sheer wrath blazing through the krogan homeworld. Staring at these moving images, I couldn't imagine the odds. Barely any free spots to move through these walls of flames—with Reaper ground forces and destroyers and capital ships alike emerging from those flames unscathed, raining down Satan's rage on the krogan. For all their strength, Wrex's people could barely defend themselves. Scores of scorched krogan corpses littered what little free spots remained atop the war-torn earth. Those bodies soon turned to ash, fanning the hellscape even harder for miles around.

How the hell was I supposed to get my team through this?

Despite everyone's focused silence, I felt their questions brimming. Their own doubts, their own worries about how we would make it out of this alive. They leaned on me now more than ever.

Cortez announced, "Commander, incoming message from…an unidentified vessel? I think it's Cerberus!"

"Should be Solheim," I said, heading forward to the vid screen. "Put her through."

Liara made such a strange point not to follow me for this.

There on the screen next to the shuttle's controls, I found Miranda staring up at me. Not a shred of doubt showed in her face. Only the familiar fire I had somehow inspired in her before. Those same motivations had found their way back to her. Just for this mission. Just for her joining us as our guest.

"Solheim. What's your status?"

"Shepard, I'm near the Hollows. There's only one place to land safely. I was thinking of letting you touch down first with your team. Then I'll follow afterward once your shuttle departs. Will that work for you?"

"That's fine," I approved. "We're landing soon. See you in a bit."

"Right. See you then."

Solheim lingered for a short while. Staring at me. Just staring. She knew we didn't have time to discuss anything else. Yet she couldn't make herself disconnect the call right away. Even Cortez gave a sideways glance, wondering about this energy she gave off. Then, like clockwork, I felt the rest of the team looking this way. One by one, their curiosities spread over here, distracting them from the mission at-hand.

Something told me she wouldn't have made herself this vulnerable if Liara was in her view.

"Miranda," I stated. "We'll talk after the mission. There's too much going on right now."

Something else brimmed about her this time.

The sheer dedication in Solheim's eyes. How the dark tint of her irises glowed and glowed, absorbing my essence through this vid call. All I could think about was my responsibility to her. The duty I had to Miranda to get her safely through this operation—just like with the rest of my team. Maybe she felt my honor through the screen, and she felt some type of way about it. That I would choose to look out for her, still, even after everything. As she witnessed this for herself, I realized the real reason why she decided to come along to Tuchanka. Why she asked to join us as my way of 'paying her back' for Apollo.

Miranda didn't have this anymore. Not in her day-to-day. Cerberus was her lifeline, but it could never give her this feeling. This old fire from me as her leader again. As strong as the flames on Tuchanka.

Almost as if she'd never left us in the first place.

Solheim resisted the urge to salute me, her right arm tensing as she said, "Understood, Commander."

She abruptly ended the call.

A separate message blasted through the shuttle, from a krogan's grunting voice I didn't recognize:

"Wrex, it's Wreav! The Reapers are already at the Hollows! Come out with guns blazing!"

"Figures," grumbled Wrex. "Better get ready! I'm not letting anything stop us from curing the genophage!"

On this descent through Tuchanka, landing at the Hollows, everyone prepared their weapons. Standing up now, tense and more focused than ever before, my team synergized with one another. Already, Liara had made her way to Mordin and Eve. She waited for my inevitable order.

"Liara, stay back with them. Here on the shuttle. Just hold on until we clear the Hollows. We'll bring Mordin and Eve with us to the armored convoy once it's safe."

From this look in her eyes, she didn't want to, yet she knew she had to.

"Ah, designated protector," noted Mordin. "Can protect self and Eve, but against overwhelming odds… STG training insufficient against massive scope of Reapers. Best to secure weaknesses with Liara."

Eve expressed her gratitude, "Thank you, Dr. T'Soni. I'm sure we'll make it with you looking out for us."

Liara set aside her grievances, smiling a bit. "Of course." Then she looked to me. "I'll see you soon."

I clapped my hand over Liara's shoulder. I wanted her to feel my resolve. Regardless of anything else, she had my dedication. I needed her to know that without a word. And she did, smiling even more now.

Trusting her to handle the rest, I made my way to the shuttle's exit.

"Wrex, Kaidan, out front! I need you to take point! Kaidan on the left, Wrex on the right!"

Kaidan boosted his kinetic barriers. "I'm on it, Shepard!"

Wrex followed suit, his biotics glowing around him. "Let's get going! Wreav's waiting for us!"

Out of an abundance of caution: "Jack, keep right behind them on their blind spots."

"You got it, Commander!"

"Everyone else follow after Jack! Circle around me! I'm opening the door now—be ready for anything!"

As soon as the shuttle's door slid open, the sudden heat roared at me like an oversized furnace.

These bursting embers blew to the inside of the shuttle. Like a gust of winds constantly scratching as a heated match—igniting, igniting, igniting. Somewhere through those flaming reds and oranges, the mangled cries from a few husks and marauders sounded. I couldn't see them anywhere through the fire. Not as I backpedaled away from this temperature nearly brushing at my armor. Enforcing my momentum—a handful of my team grabbed at me, pulling me away as they encircled me. Immediately I felt Tali as the first one pulling at me, her instinct to protect me overriding anything and everything else.

"Shepard, watch out!"

I barely remembered in time—"EDI, put this fire out!"

"I will!" she complied, hurrying to my last position.

A burst of frozen mist from her omni-tool: EDI blew out a large Snap Freeze, fogging over the flames. The forced freeze did enough to suppress the embers in our path. Enough to freeze the ground, too, discouraging the surrounding flames from kicking back up in this free space. Enough for Kaidan and Wrex to jump down from the shuttle, pushing forward into the Hollows. As they pushed forward, downing the husks in our way, their boots crunched over the glacial spread over the ground. Soon everyone else's followed. I stuck to the center of the group, following Jack just in front of me. Everyone else formed this circle around me, all the more motivated to keep formation after what just happened.

We rushed through a door to a sturdy indoor complex—the Hollows, the krogan's sacred burial ground. The same site where Wrex had faced his own father several years ago, killing him out of necessity. Now Wrex charged ahead into this swarm of enemy ground forces—husks and marauders and cannibals overwhelming his fellow warriors from Clan Urdnot. The fires from outside fanned in from a breach near the ceiling, but didn't manage to creep any farther than that. Those embers acted as our sun and light in here. As clan chief, Wrex refused to let his people die a senseless death like this. Just the sound of his rage did enough to spur the other krogan across the Hollows. They stopped, and saw him in action—grabbing a husk's skull and tearing it off with his bare hands—and felt this boost from his presence. Every single krogan around us fought harder, refusing to let the Reapers get the better of them.

With my team packed this close to me, I couldn't get any sniper fire off.

Just shooting with my pistol wouldn't have done much.

Scanning around the piles of rubble and blast zones everywhere, I looked for an angle. Some way to speed this up.

With Clan Urdnot fighting harder thanks to Wrex, the krogan had wiped out most of the marauders. These husks flocking everywhere still posed a problem. They jumped on the krogan, throwing them off and making them break position. They crawled on the walls, getting to the warriors upstairs on those balconies trying to shoot at range, throwing them off, too. We needed to get these husks out of here!

"Samara, Jack," I said. "Can you send off a shockwave to deal with this fodder everywhere?"

"Yes, we can," replied Samara. "We will need the other krogan to take a defensive position."

Jack added, "Yeah, as long as they duck down or whatever, we should be good."

Wrex heard them loud and clear, giving the warning—"Clan Urdnot, get down! We're setting the biotics loose on these husks! They're wasting our time!" As the krogan bent down, covering their heads, they waited for us. "Let's kick off the fireworks!"

Jack's sadistic glee and Samara's purposeful focus: they combined their energies as a flashbang of biotic power. An expanding dome of pulsing blue fired off from their bared hands, lighting up the entirety of the Hollows. Hollowing out the place, every single husk melted and blasted away, ceasing to exist.

Only the crackling from the flames echoed from up above.

"Wow," breathed Kaidan. "That sure did the trick."

"Good work, you two," I praised.

Wrex swaggered around the area, taking up more space in his pride and ego. He boasted to his people, "They'll sing battle songs about this someday. Reaper blood has finally soaked our soil!" The krogan on the upper balconies grunted and growled in unison; they flexed their muscles and smashed their fists together, pumping themselves up. "It's time for Clan Urdnot to do what we do best! Let's kick these Reapers off of our world! Once we cure the genophage, nothing will stand in our way!"

As his people rallied and cheered, Wrex soaked up the pomp and circumstance.

I gave him this moment he needed, turning my attention to the door behind us.

Liara came through with Eve and Mordin. Paladin pistol drawn for safety, she escorted the pair to our position downstairs. I met her halfway, glad to see the three of them doing well so far.

"All clear, Shepard," said Liara. "We didn't run into any issues leaving the shuttle. Cortez is on his way back to the Normandy now. Solheim should follow along shortly."

"Good to know."

Mordin informed me, "Eve safe, Shepard. Vitals are strong."

That krogan's voice from earlier growled in fury—"What's a salarian doing here?" Wreav and his Blood Pack cohort trudged over to us. "Nobody said anything about this! Wrex, what the hell's going on?!"

"Are you Wreav?" I asked him.

"I sure am," he sneered. "Urdnot Wreav! Brood brother to our…illustrious leader."

Wrex went over to him with another cohort of krogan, their separate groups facing each other down. "Wreav and I share the same mother. And nothing else."

Wreav shot back, "For which I'm thankful. I remember what it means to be a true krogan. We flay our enemies alive and drown them in a geyser of their own blood! We don't invite them into our home!"

"Funny," I sneered back. "You weren't doing a ton of flaying or drowning before we got here. In fact, the Reapers were doing that to you—not the other way around. If you need a reminder, take a look around us, Wreav. Look at these krogan corpses. They're your people."

Faced with these undeniable facts, all Wreav could do was snarl at me.

Mordin muttered under his breath. "Typical krogan. Bravado supersedes logic. Should proceed with caution, Shepard. High possibility of retaliation."

"We're here to cure the genophage," I went on. "By all means, if you don't need us, just say so."

Wreav made the mistake of marching over to me. "His kind gave us the genophage! Why should we trust him? And why the hell should we trust you, human? Let the salarian speak for himself—!"

Sticking up for me, Wrex wound himself back before striking his head against Wreav's. His brother staggered back, gripping his face in agony.

"I trust them. And so will you, Wreav. Fall in line! If you don't, I've got no problem making you pay."

The two groups grunted and growled at each other again, gesturing threateningly.

More than done with their bullshit, Eve grumbled, "This is getting out of hand."

I was about to agree with her—until the door to the Hollows opened one more time.

Solheim passed through the entrance. Heels clicking through the Hollows, she made her way down these steps. I went up to her, taking in the novelty of this moment. How surreal it felt, seeing her on the ground like this again. She had set aside her emotions for the time being, focused on the mission.

"Miranda. You good to go?"

"Ready and able, Commander," she replied, readying her submachine gun. "Looks like you've started the party without me. What's with those krogan? They look like they're about to tear each other apart."

"It's Wrex's brother, Wreav," I explained, bringing her to the group downstairs. "They're going at it."

"Hmm. This could get ugly. Don't you think we should intervene?"

"The brother won't listen. Way too stubborn."

"Yes, I suppose he is a krogan, after all."

Jack noticed our guest's arrival. "Well, if it isn't the Cerberus cheerleader! She's back again after the Citadel. Got that fancy promotion to head cheerleader, huh? How's it going, Illusive Woman?"

Solheim balked at the moniker. "Jack, please. You know damn well that isn't my name."

"Hey, I haven't called you by your name since we used to be friends. I still owe you an ass-kicking, by the way. For what you did before. You ever gonna admit Pragia was Cerberus? Not just rogue or whatever?"

Glancing away in grief, she admitted, "I know what you were trying to tell me. I've dealt with the issue. Nothing like that hellhole is happening within our organization anymore. I'm sorry, Jack. I really am."

Not expecting that level of sincerity, Jack muttered, "Yeah, okay. Fine by me. That's all I wanted. I'll try not to shoot you in the back today. No promises."

Solheim actually smiled. "That's more than I can ask for. I look forward to working with you again."

Definitely unexpected for these two.

Off to the side with Mordin and Eve, Liara watched the exchange in curiosity.

Kaidan noticed as well, too intimidated to speak up. Garrus was the same, not knowing what to say to Solheim after seeing her again. They both hovered away, not wanting to draw attention to themselves. Meanwhile, Samara maintained a stony silence. I felt some animosity seeping through—as if she had never forgiven Miranda for hurting me last year. EDI and Legion made more pointed efforts to not even face Solheim at all. Not that she noticed, still busy chatting with Jack while we had this time. And Wrex had yet to spot our newest guest directly, too busy shouting down his brother to spare any attention.

As for Tali, she walked right up to Solheim, addressing her—"Look who it is. You're back."

Solheim thinned her lips in a barely-veiled unease. "Tali. Your tone seems very pointed right now."

"Is it? This is just my normal speaking voice today. Besides, we didn't get the chance to speak before on the Citadel. You were in and out rather quickly."

"Yes, I was… I didn't want to make a fuss. I understand my presence wasn't popular with your team."

"Really?" asked Tali. "If you knew we didn't want you here, why did you volunteer yourself this time?"

A sudden red glare sharpened behind Solheim's eyes. Yet she knew she couldn't say what she wanted to say. Not to Tali. Not with me standing right here to witness everything. Tali knew the same, too, taking advantage of the situation by speaking her mind this way. She knew Solheim wouldn't fight back.

Diffusing the tension, Jack draped her arm around Tali's shoulders. "Hey-hey! Cut out the catfight, Tali. The krogan are already about to throw down over there. Don't make shit worse for the commander."

Tali narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Since when were you the jolly cooperator with Cerberus?"

"Since I noticed Shepard lets you get away with murder. She's way too fucking easy on you."

Rolling her eyes, Miranda muttered, "You don't say."

Holding my hands up in defeat, I announced, "Okay, I'll let you talk some more. Let me try and resolve this issue with Wreav. We need to get to the tanks soon. The Shroud can't wait for much longer."

As I circled around to Wrex and the other krogan blowing up steam, something didn't feel right.

Still preoccupied with their bravado and back-and-forth, the men didn't notice anything.

Then I heard some kind of stomping from behind the wall. Trembling tremors from something coming this way. Something large, something imposing. Like there was a tunnel or some other vulnerable opening through there. And some kind of creature overheard the fighting, barreling its way toward us.

"Wrex, get back!"

Moving away from the wall, I dragged Wrex with me by his arm. My momentum kept him going, staggering, and stumbling away from Wreav's group nearest to the wall.

A massive spiked beast broke through the concrete. That force sent Wreav's Blood Pack mercs flying in all directions. Bloodied on impact; scattered on the ground. Wreav managed to turn around, but it didn't matter. The brute impaled him with its sharp fist, lifted him to the air, and threw him down for dead.

A turian's tiny head imposed over a krogan's hulking body.

Those tiny, beady eyes of light locked on to me next.

Miranda's heels clicked in my direction in a hurry. "Shepard, stay back!"

Right as that thing charged at me, she stopped it somehow. Glowing blood-red from her omni-tool, Solheim sent a deadly, paralyzing shock at the brute. Neural Shock. A move I didn't recognize from her.

Wrex smashed the brute back into the broken wall, shooting it for good measure.

"So this is what the Reapers turn us into," he mumbled. "Messed up. All the more reason to get them out of here." Wrex glared at Solheim in a mix of gratitude and distrust. "Good to see you're still useful."

Solheim just stared at him. She didn't know how to respond to that.

"Whatever. Let's get moving, Commander. Wreav's trucks are waiting for us outside."

I looked to Wreav bleeding out on the ground. "What about…?"

"Leave him," said Wrex, already walking away from the sight. "He was a pain in the ass, anyway. Died at our burial ground. That makes things convenient. I'll come back and deal with him later…if I feel like it."

Leaving the Hollows as one large group, we split off into separate tanks. Our armored convoy treaded across the concrete bridge headed for the Shroud. This bridge stayed raised over the ground, where the flames continued razing Tuchanka's blasted wastelands. As our highway, the stability of this platform left me wondering. Cracks and breaks and folded concrete—our tanks constantly churned up and down, as if taking us through the depths and zeniths of a valley or a hillside. Tuchanka's crumbling infrastructure needed to hold on for a while longer. Because the Shroud awaited us out there—just as Satan did, seemingly guarding the building as Lucifer had done with the Kingsglaive on Palaven.

Up above, an endless fleet of destroyers and capital-class ships darkened the skies. They had bolstered their numbers since we touched down on the krogan homeworld. The few Alliance ships soaring above soon suffered damage, spinning out and flaming as they fell down from the sky. Scattered wreckage from those ships cascaded down from the skies as a meteor shower, all the way down to the battlefields far below us. Boots on the ground: the krogan had found some measure of morale, knowing that Wrex was here, making this push back on their homeworld. Bolstered armies and better tactics kept them from burning in the flames as they'd done before. Standing their ground in what few safe spots remained on the fields, the patterns of repetition of armored krogan filled the lands, steadily outnumbering the Reaper ground forces out in the distance. They held on for us as best as they could.

Within the confines of this tank, I had only a few people with me. Liara, Miranda, Mordin, and Eve, with one of Wrex's people driving the vehicle for us. Our tank tailed at the end of our convoy, following the rest of our team. Liara had followed me automatically, keeping our escorts with us. Solheim had volunteered herself to stay with me, leading to this tense atmosphere inside the vehicle. She'd tried to engage with Liara. To maybe say something, asking about the mission. Liara had said nothing in response. Getting the hint well enough, Miranda had shifted to her self-defense mode. Walls of ice.

During this bumpy ride, Eve kept looking to Liara and Solheim. She seemed to want to say something; to diffuse this tension between them. Mordin had removed himself from the situation, sitting in the back, though not at all inconspicuous. His anxiety had only rattled this tension in the tank, making it worse.

Fracturing my focus, I weighed the pros and cons of speaking up.

But only one answer remained most obvious to me right now:

We didn't have time to deal with this.

But then Eve decided to speak up: "Dr. T'Soni, I can't take this much longer. What exactly is going on?"

"Nothing, Eve," fibbed Liara, weirdly pleasant in her tone. "There is nothing going on. We are waiting for the tanks to bring us to our destination. Or as close as possible, considering the Reaper out there."

Solheim snapped back, "Don't give us that nonsense, Liara. You clearly have an issue with me."

"I'm not the only one. There is no point in singling me out. Just stay quiet so we can get this over with."

"Bullshit. I don't take orders from you. If we can't cooperate, this mission won't go anywhere."

Liara leered at her, laser-sharp. "That is rich, considering you're the one who invited yourself along with us, knowing several of the team would object. Did you honestly expect us to get along again? Like the old days? Shepard may have forgiven you for before, but I certainly haven't. You have no right to expect me to be over it. Don't you dare demand any decorum from me. I won't stand for your insolence today!"

Flabbergasted, Solheim had nothing to say to that.

Mordin made his gentle plea: "Miranda, please. Situation awkward. Unfair to assume Liara has forgotten past. Traumatic situation with Mars and suicide mission. Shouldn't need reminders of harmful legacy."

"There is no harmful legacy, Mordin," justified Miranda. "I made a mistake. Someone took advantage of me and we all suffered for it. You're acting as if I was a knowing collaborator in that scheme. I wasn't!"

"Diminishing role in trauma not helping."

"Goddamnit, what's not helping is you accusing me of something I didn't do! The only one I owe an apology to is Shepard. We've buried that hatchet, otherwise I wouldn't be here! Your interpretation or Liara's interpretation of events are simply irrelevant. We need to move forward now. That's that."

Understanding enough now, Eve shook her head. "Oh, dear… I see what's going on."

"No one asked you to chime in. You're uninvolved. I suggest you keep it that way."

Defense mechanisms, defense mechanisms. More ice walls, more ice walls.

Even so, Eve glared at her from behind that garb. I sensed her thinking: if she was in better health right now, she would've made Solheim pay for this. Limited by her situation, she stayed in a stony silence.

Before Liara could explode, sending those walls shattering as icicles everywhere, I stepped in.

"Miranda. Leave it alone. The rest of you—drop it. I don't want to hear another word about this."

Falling quiet now, everyone returned to this tension.

I couldn't help feeling surprised that Solheim listened to me. I assumed her ego would've gotten in the way—as it had with everyone else during that confrontation. Yet another confirmation about her real reasons for joining us today. Or really only joining me. She must've viewed the others as irrelevant, too.

As a terrible omen, I felt our tank gradually come to a stop.

This collective sense of stillness. I couldn't hear the other tanks in our convoy ahead of us.

Stepping outside to the bridge, I found that our entire convoy had stopped on the road. Liara, Solheim, Eve, and Mordin followed after me. I took a look around, finding Wrex and the others exiting from their tanks, still in one piece. Looking out in the distance, I spotted the Shroud still standing. The tallest structure on Tuchanka, those ethereal environmental mechanisms billowed as translucent silvers and whites up to the noxious smog of the skies.

Nearer to us, the road had gone out. Piles of rubble smattered along the bridge, cutting off our access.

I went up to a krogan scout nearby, asking him, "Can we get this fixed? We need to keep moving!"

"Not any time soon," he said. "Road's out. Better find another way."

Like it was that easy with all these damned tanks.

More crumbling infrastructure—I looked up to the sounds of the overhead structure shaking from a sudden seismic movement. Rocks and rubble falling to the ground, unsettled from the ships flying overhead. Actual Reaper ships headed for the Shroud. Their obnoxious blaring shattered the stone and skies alike. They completely ignored us down here. But that could've changed at any moment.

I spotted what looked like a tunnel nearby. The darkness there would keep us away from any exposure.

"Everyone, get inside! Abandon the tanks! Get the hell away from these Reapers!"

Scrambling to follow orders, my team hurried to safety inside that structure. Mordin and Liara both helped Eve along as she needed. I purposely stayed near the back of the group, making sure everyone got inside before me. All just as the structure above caved in on itself, crashing down in our wake.

A strangely symmetrical stone hallway led us underground.

Strangely unlike anything outside on Tuchanka's war-torn surface.

My people ahead of me turned on their flashlights, searching around. Apprehension, uncertainty. Kaidan and Jack at the fore looked to me, requesting permission to keep going. I nodded to them, my face shadowed in this selective light they pointed at me.

"Everyone okay?" I asked, my voice echoing through these unknown depths.

Kaidan confirmed, "Yeah, no scratches or anything. Pretty close call back there."

"All right. Let's keep moving and look for a way out."

As if making some bizarre point, Solheim stayed right next to me, walking at my side.

Liara stayed at my other side, stubbornly so.

Not saying a word to each other, not looking at one another. Still shooting these metaphorical daggers.

I took begrudging note of their malicious compliance to my orders.

EDI commended me as we all kept walking ahead: "Your reaction times are impeccable, Shepard. With the disturbance from the Reapers overhead, I could not adequately calculate the damage to the structure around us. It appears I underestimated the overall weakness of Tuchanka's infrastructure."

"Yes," agreed Legion. "The krogan homeworld lacks critical defenses against airborne enemies."

Eve informed us, "It wasn't always this way. Our home used to be far more durable than what you've witnessed. In ancient times, the krogan were a proud people, and Tuchanka's structures reflected that. We had dreams—a future to look forward to. Under Wrex's leadership, I've started to see some of those sentiments returning. I have hope we can not only return to our past glory, but also surpass it."

Wrex chuckled in humility. "You make me sound like some kind of mythical leader, Eve."

"Well, as much as I hate to admit it, it's true. Long ago, after the salarians uplifted us, we destroyed Tuchanka ourselves. Technology changed us. It made life too easy. So we looked to new challenges, and found them in each other. Nuclear war was inevitable. Tuchanka became the wasteland it is today. You're doing what you can to undo the damage."

"Because our planet is rubble. We'll need a better place to live. Or at least some Council funding to get this hellscape back in shape. The nuclear war did a number on us. These fires sure aren't helping."

Garrus chimed in, "I'd say helping defeat the Reapers would be worth a new planet."

"Or ten!" said Wrex. "You haven't seen how fast we can pop them out. With the genophage cured, we'll have a lot of catching up to do!"

As they kept talking, I kept my focus on our surroundings. Keeping an eye on our six at the tail-end of the group, I had this belated understanding of these ruins. Ruins, as I began to see now, well after the others ahead of me. Broken slabs of stone, cobwebs along the wall, and a few geysers of sand cascading through the cracks above our heads. The occasional rumble from overhead shook us all the way down here. Nothing nearly as dangerous as what we'd just escaped from. We had our relative safety for now.

Realizing we'd stumbled onto these catacombs, Liara relaxed a good deal. Her natural curiosities as an archaeologist helped to ease this edge about her. As she walked, holding her pistol down in front of her, Liara maintained her perfect posture. Straight torso, straight back. Geometric lines of her legs from her stance. Her own constant decorum on full-display. Never one to hunch over or do anything halfway—these perfect manners and pleasantries had ingrained themselves into her body.

As much as these showings of Tuchanka's past had pacified her, I wanted to help a little more.

I reached out to Liara's hand in the dark. No flashlights in our direction; no one looking back here. Solheim had even taken a few paces ahead, needing some space for the time being. Liara soon felt my fingers searching, hoping for her touch. Definitely pacified, Liara sighed in contentment, letting me hold her hand. We kept on like this, with me leading Liara forward, keeping her hand at my hip. Liara trailed just behind me. Locked like this, we wandered through the dark in our quiet understanding.

Eventually, I spotted some kind of artwork along the stone walls. Frescoes? I even noticed some old krogan statues in the corners. Where did these come from?

Up ahead, Samara mentioned, "Eve, earlier you spoke of the krogan's ancient times. Are these ruins from that very era?"

"It would seem so," replied Eve. "This must be the city of the ancients. What's left of it, anyway. There's bound to be more outside. This is an underground pathway that existed between districts."

Tali spoke in apprehension, "That's fascinating…but how do we get out?"

"No maps exist. This place has been abandoned for thousands of years. As long as we keep going, we should find an exit. The pathway has two ends, after all. We'll need to locate the other one."

"What did the ancient krogan need these underground pathways for?"

Mordin took an educated guess. "Probably escaping thresher maws out in sand."

"Thresher maws," repeated Garrus. "You mean those giant armored creatures that burrow underground, then suddenly appear out of nowhere and kill people? And if they don't kill you that way, they'll burn you to death with their acidic spit? Those thresher maws?"

Wrex said, "Oh, yeah. The Tuchanka classic, Garrus. Bet you anything we'll see at least one today."

"Great. Just what we all needed."

Suddenly anxious, Solheim drew her gun, as if that would be enough to repel one of those things.

"It's true," added Eve. "Rumor has it that Kalros, the mother of all thresher maws, lives in this region."

"Then we need to hurry," I reasoned.

Hurrying could only do so much in this pitch-dark maze of stone and cobwebs. The group at the front kept running into dead ends: more piles of rubble blocked off by thickened webs. Though I noticed the stone walls grew more and more sophisticated the farther we went. Tints and slabs of gold decorated the area, giving a bit more life to the dreary monotone around us. Along the way, we passed by a few more pieces of artwork along the walls—including a large, long, serpentine-like creature that must've been a thresher maw. Most likely Kalros herself. The same creature causing these intermittent tremors.

After a while, I heard Kaidan's uncertain tones near the front of the group: "Uh, Commander? We found something up here! Could you come take a look?"

Everyone gathered around the discovery, making sounds of awe and disgust.

I brought Liara with me, making sure Solheim followed us.

In the brilliance of the team's gathered flashlights, they created this focus on the ground. A very specific spot on the ground where something had fallen. Some kind of creature. I recognized those blue lights near its head. The same lights from the brutes and cannibals and marauders and husks we'd come across. The rest of this thing's body looked like a large spider. A giant spider with sacs for flesh, connected by its dark blue carcass as a thin frame. This almost looked familiar to me.

More worrying were the rounded barrels along its face. As if capable of firing projectile weapons.

Wrex observed, "Looks like rachni. Reapers must've brought them along from somewhere."

Hating spiders of any kind, Tali quickly backed away from the creature.

"It's dead now," I reminded her. "We'd better expect more of them up top." Spotting a set of stairs nearby, I led the way forward. "Come on, let's keep moving. Looks like a way out up ahead."

As the team cut off their flashlights, the glowing pearl white from my N7 armor paved the way behind me. Everyone followed as we took this large, narrow set of steps up to the sandy fog of Tuchanka's surface.

At the top, we found a clear path forward, the light bringing us where we needed to go.

The stone of the ceiling reflected some other light. Refractions from a body of water nearby. Well below our elevation, I spotted that water down on the ground, just before a section of pillars opening this space up to the greater atmosphere. Just a hint of what awaited beyond the next path we took.

Liara mused out loud, "I would love to return here someday to go exploring. At a better time, of course."

Wrex poked fun at her, "The archaeologist always has archaeology on her mind, even in the middle of a Reaper attack. Who knew."

"Well, these are the type of ruins I spent a lot of time in during my younger days. You could say it brings back memories. But I do get your point, Wrex. I am focused on our mission. The rest can certainly wait."

At this initial view of what awaited ahead, Satan overlooked all.

The sheer anger of that Reaper's form towered over Tuchanka's fiery wasteland.

All of its ground forces no doubt prepared to give us a tough fight on the way to the Shroud.

Preparing myself mentally—as much as I could—I led the way forward, closer to these flames, and off to this once-great city of ancient krogan civilization. My team followed behind me, unquestioning through this peril. Energized and inspired, they would always follow me until the end. The end and beyond.

Emerging to Tuchanka's surface, the city of the ancients welcomed us in near-ruins. This antiquity boasted the strength I'd always associated the krogan with: firm geometric shapes and imposing structures, all still holding on after all this time. Faint traces of plant life and other foliage had somehow persisted in this place: spots of grass, and tree trunks vining through the stone. Even after falling into disuse, this location had a clear path forward, with the Shroud clouded in the distance. Mindful of the broken structures and drops into the shallow river below us, I led the team through this visible path.

The clouds and the smog ahead betrayed the inevitable flames I'd expected us to find. Already I heard those embers fanning as we neared.

With no time to admire the sights, Wrex warned us: "There's a long stretch of sand between here and the Shroud. Don't know how we'll make it there on foot, Shepard. Those fires are already in the way."

"We'll figure it out once we get there. Let's clear this area first."

At this wall of flames near a bridge, these Reaper ground forces emerged from the smog.

Already my team took the initiative, firing at the enemy.

Following the swell of shots ahead of me, Jack blasted forward with a biotic charge. She sent the cannibals closest to me scattering, smattering these gilded walls with their insides. She kept going, mindful to always stay ahead of my position. Her way of looking out for me. Protecting Jack's flank from the marauders' rapid-fire guns, Kaidan, Wrex, and Solheim stayed at the fore, taking down those Reaperized turians. Near the center of the group, Tali used her tactical scan to reveal the enemies hiding through the cloak of the flames, keeping them vulnerable for us. Garrus and Legion followed my lead, sniping any faraway foes behind the wall of fire, keeping them from flanking us. EDI followed those same scans, focusing on the ravagers that had shown up: the same rachni monstrosities we'd found back in the underground ruins. She dispatched them, breaking those sacs and spilling out an acidic bile.

A bunch of tiny swarmers spilled out from the ravagers' sacs. EDI quickly froze them with her Snap Freeze, before moving on to the next pack with her shotgun. Between EDI's faint cloak of invisibility shadowing on and off, I kept an eye on any ravagers in the distance—especially behind these flames. The last thing I wanted was those things sniping right back at us.

Samara stayed near Tali in the middle of our group. She kept her focus to the Reaper ships flying up above. Any moment now, they may have spotted us and started shooting. Near the back of the group, Liara remained just as mindful, focusing her protections on Mordin and Eve at her side. Without any air support up above, we needed Liara and Samara to act as our shields. Jack and Miranda stayed wary as well, prepared to support them if necessary. And I hoped it wouldn't be necessary. Not once. Not at all.

A mess of irregular stairs, low benches, and broken edifices—this area had poor cover, and I felt it. Hardly any place to hide away from the enemy's gunfire and grenades. I leaned on my tactical cloak as a crutch to avoid these husks from rushing at me directly. Up ahead, Miranda, Wrex, and Kaidan took the brunt of the gunfire for us. Just as I needed them to do. Slowly but steadily, we pushed out of this area and across a bridge. EDI used her tech to freeze us a path forward, just as she had done before.

We kept pushing back the enemy with our offensive line.

Farther and farther along this broken terrain, we kept going.

My team followed me through these flames. They listened and adapted to my orders, forming this opposing wall against the overwhelming force before us. Overwhelming cut down to acceptable, if only from our purposeful coordination.

"Dig in your heels and push them back!"

Digging in with every step we took, even on this uneven surface of the krogan's ancient civilization.

A special hardness from every single one of my team:

Our three at the front suffered the most so the rest of us didn't have to. Not entirely spared—I counted a few times where EDI had fallen, only to use her Repair Matrix to get right back up as an auto-revive. Tali directed her attention to EDI's scouting directions, assisting from a distance. She used her own tech to outright disable the marauders' mechanized weapons, manipulating them as if they were synthetic enemies at her specialized disposal. In the midst of everything, already a few Reaper scouts spotted us from up above. Taking the full force of this attack, Liara and Samara protected us with their biotic field, joined as one. A gleaming barrier of biotic blue met that piercing infrared, pushing up against it. But then more ships followed, shooting at the same time. Samara and Liara nearly crumbled under this weight.

The only safe spot—farther into this city to take cover. Right in the midst of the flames.

Hurrying Liara and Samara along, I brought my team into this shelter. The krogan's ancient architecture shielded us from that Reaper strike. The hellfire from Satan's unnatural wrath only added to our protections for the moment. The Reaper ships lost track of us. We caught our breath near these ashes.

Taking these few minutes, Mordin gave out medical aid to anyone who needed it.

The circle of krogan statues nearby gave me pause.

This place looked like some type of memorial.

And these tremors again.

Across the vast stretches of this wasteland, I spotted the jagged fins of a thresher maw snaking through the sands. Like a shark's fin hovering just above water as a warning—multiple of them curved in a row over the thresher maw's back, cutting through the sands as a reckless, rusty chainsaw.

Wrex pointed out, "That's Kalros, all right. She's not happy with all these Reapers around. Territorial."

Sitting beside Mordin as he patched her up, Liara muttered, "This planet is one giant deathtrap."

The endless stretches of sand around us billowed in anger, fanning those flames outside. This memorial had turned into a safe haven for us: an untouched island in the middle of Tuchanka's chaos. The shade from this sun protected us from the heat, letting us have this moment of rest.

I glanced at Eve, checking on her. She had preoccupied herself with staring out at the expanse before us. This endless desert between us and the Shroud. A desert up in flames. She wondered the same as I did—how we would manage to traverse these impossible odds, needing to reach our destination.

Eve spoke her mind: "Tuchanka may be a deathtrap, but our odds aren't impossible. Our people have always found ways to adapt to the world around us. Given what's at stake, we'll have to adapt as well."

"If you have a plan to get us to the Shroud, I'm all ears," I told her. "You and Wrex know this terrain better than we do."

"We'll think it over, Commander. I promise to come up with something soon."

"Okay, thanks."

Taking stock of everyone else, the team seemed to be doing all right. As well as we could be in a situation like this. The only exception was Solheim. She still looked like she needed to speak with me. We both knew now wasn't the best time. So she held in her emotions, holding them back for later. I imagined she had fought with her feelings, anyway. On the way here. Using combat as her one outlet.

Speaking with her now would've had more consequences.

Again I spotted Tali and a few others glaring in Solheim's direction. The only reason they hadn't shot her in the back by now was because of me. This lack of synergy set me on-edge. Too many bad vibes.

I couldn't even promise my team this was the last we'd see of her. Or Cerberus in general.

The Alliance had set its sights on uncovering Cerberus' activities. I knew we'd have to follow-up on our leads sometime soon. We couldn't just let this go for the sake of avoiding Solheim from now on.

Probably avoiding us—she took this time to walk off to the side. Away from the group.

Miranda wandered farther down those steps leading to the sand. Still a safe distance away from the flames. And from Kalros roaming around out there, stirring up these near-constant earthquakes.

I was about to go over to her until Wrex got my attention.

"Shepard, there's only one way to go. We've gotta cross the wasteland on foot. If we can get EDI to clear a path for us, the fires should keep us safe from Kalros. And from those Reapers up top. Without the flames, we'd be way too exposed. This is how we adapt."

Staring out at the long trek, I weighed the pros and cons.

Eve promised me, "This is all we have, Commander. We still need to come up with a plan to deal with Satan near the tower. But this gets us to where we're headed. Or do you think it's too risky?"

"It's all we have, like you said," I reasoned. Taking stock of the group one last time, I gave my orders. "Take a few more minutes. Rest up. Drink some water if you have any. Then we'll get moving. I know we don't have a lot of time. I need everyone at full strength once we cross the wasteland. Understood?"

My people gave me their affirmations, mostly in unison with one another.

The only one missing was Solheim.

I didn't want her unfocused as we made this final stretch.

Heading over to her, I expected Liara to watch me the whole time. But really, she only glanced at me, once, before returning her attention to Mordin. I knew it would've been a mistake to assume she didn't care anymore. Liara would always care about this. Maybe she'd decided to ignore it for the time being.

I soon found Miranda at this fire's edge. Marginally elevated above the flames on these grand steps, she stared out at the impossibility before us. Even without hearing my footsteps, she sensed me behind.

"Shepard," she said, folding her arms around herself in defensiveness. "Are we preparing to head out?"

"In a few minutes," I replied. "I wanted to speak with you for a bit. You seem distracted."

"Do I?"

"You do."

"Well, aside from Tali, I suppose I have an issue with Liara. She clearly has a bone to pick with me."

"Really? You thought you had a clean slate with her? A complete tabula rasa after everything?"

"Yes!" exclaimed Miranda, frustrations boiling in this heat. "Her wrath is as bad as Satan's. I'm beginning to rethink my decision to come here. This entire planet is out to get me!" Ruminating for a bit, she sensed the metaphors, the allegory around us. "Feels like she's out there, too. Plotting my demise."

The rage in these ashes billowing in the arid winds.

The same I had witnessed in her eyes that day. That day aboard the Normandy when I'd shot her dead.

Ever a hellfire meant to end Solheim for her past manipulations, for defeating her.

"Miranda. What else is on your mind?"

She balled her fists in the burrows of her arms, grabbing at the stretch-material of her uniform.

The unyielding black of that material, and the length of her finely-groomed hair, had caused her to sweat. Sweating from this heat, from too many frustrations for her to speak about coherently. Her skin seemed paler than before, gleaming with these spots of perspirations over her face and down her neck.

"I… I don't know. There are no thoughts. Only emotion. I feel myself about to snap."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Don't ask me that. You know what's wrong."

"You meddled to get Liara with me. Are you regretting that, too?"

Instead of answering me with words, Miranda finally turned around.

The intensity in her stare brought me back to the old days. To last year, earlier in the year. Several months ago when she used to look at me like this. When she had the freedom, the permission to give me this energy. All of a sudden, Solheim made me remember this time. More than the time I knew. How she had been in love with me since before we met. One of those faceless fans of mine from my modeling days, coveting me from my runways and magazine covers. From over twenty years ago.

"You don't understand, Shepard. How serious this is for me. I allowed someone and something else to get between us. I let my weaknesses get the better of me. You suffered, I suffered. Reforming Cerberus is the only thing keeping me going these days. Trying to scrub away my past sins from this organization."

"Is that not enough for you?"

"Absolutely not. I always need more. Aside from you, I'm still weighing my options. I can't discuss it."

As curious as that made me, I respected Solheim's silence on the issue.

I was about to give her one last chance to speak. To speak her truth now before we set off.

Miranda glanced somewhere behind me. Presumably at Liara looking over this way. Then this seriousness overtook her expression. A strong bitterness; a powerful envy I didn't recognize in her.

She then spoke under her breath in spite, "Having the right to judge who you speak to… She doesn't deserve it."

Judging who I spoke to…?

Solheim saw this question burning in my face. More than that, too.

All these reasons and resentments came flooding back to me. My resistance to Miranda in general. Her persistent need to control me. Our existent clashes like this—how I would react and get angry, however silent, and how Solheim would overcorrect, apologizing all of a sudden:

"Shepard, wait. I didn't mean it like that! Is it too much for you to give me the benefit of the doubt?"

…

Seeing this seething seeping from my stare, she reconsidered.

Then Solheim had a few revelations of her own. Reminiscing, she remembered our past.

"This reminds me. Way back when during our last mission, I felt this from you earlier. Much earlier. Except it wasn't anger. It was fear. Do you remember when we first went to Omega? We had just recruited Mordin. We were taking the night to rest before going to find Archangel the next day. I had you in my room on the ship. I remember kissing you, touching you in such a…specific way. In a way I never felt free to repeat after that night. I wanted to take you. I wanted to make you mine once and for all. You felt it from me, and you didn't like it. You nearly ran out of my room without your shoes on."

Now wasn't the time for this trip down memory lane.

Considering Solheim's mental state, I let her indulge in this. I let her remind me of that old discomfort.

"Shepard…tell me the truth. Because I want you that way from time to time, is that a deal-breaker? Is that why you find me less attractive than you did so long ago? I can understand you're not the submissive type by any means. I accept that. But specifically with me—why does it make you so angry?"

I took my turn to fold my arms.

Refusing to answer.

"Isn't Liara the same? Even if she doesn't want to dominate you, she needs that mental and emotional control over you. She and I are two sides of the same coin. Why do you tolerate it with her and not with me?"

No more. "This is too fucking personal, Solheim. Drop it. Now."

Suddenly startled by my convictions, Miranda nearly took a step back. Down into the flames.

"All right, all right… I'm sorry. You did ask what was on my mind. I had to bring it up. As taboo as it is."

Burning me up.

Flesh to cinder over this raging headache, seeing red.

As an errant manifestation of my anger, Tuchanka's dry, polluted winds picked up all around us.

Picking up the environment, shaping this score:

The winds kicked up the flames at the base of these steps. Roaring and soaring, this anger rose from Tuchanka's core up to this wasteland. Topmost claws of the flames reaching, encroaching—they came this close to getting at Miranda right in front of me. The scream she let out nearly shattered her throat. From the pain, from the shock, the surprise, the helplessness. These months of wrath sprang up in this unavoidable hell of resentments. The fear in her eyes made my own wrath evaporate.

So many flames around her.

This close to taking Miranda's life right in front of me.

If I reached out to her, the fires would've consumed us both. They would've burned us alive.

Not thinking at all, I reached out to her anyway, grabbing her in my arms.

"Miranda, hold on!"

Shielding her from the elements shouldn't have done anything.

Protecting her from the inevitable…should have been impossible. As impossible as these fires around us.

But as Miranda gripped me for dear life, her wishes came true. For as long as I held her, the flames did nothing. They didn't burn, even as they made contact with me. This temperature should've cut straight through the lightness of my N7 armor. Somehow, I felt Ashley's permission. Her permission to let me do this. Her permission to let me save the day—despite her many resentments toward the one in my arms.

Abnormal and supernatural, I accepted this white flag without a second thought. Or even a first one.

I brought Solheim with me higher up these steps. Higher onto the solid ground of this ancient krogan memorial site. Safely away from the anger that had nearly killed us both seconds ago. The rest of the team had moved closer to us—closer, but not too close. Enough to investigate, and enough to have jumped in to help. With the danger behind us, they all knew to keep their distance. Miranda didn't want them to see her like this: sitting upon the ground with me, barely keeping herself together. Her pride.

"Are you hurt?" I asked her. "You don't have any burns anywhere, do you?"

Solheim shook her head, ginger in her disbelief. Unprepared for that near-death experience.

Disbelief more than anything. Unable to believe we both still lived.

"How did you get me out of there…? Better yet, why didn't you just leave me? Like you did before."

I couldn't answer her like this.

"God, this is too much," she groaned. "Every single problem I'm facing these days is because of you! Because I protected you from a monster—now she wants to kill me from beyond the grave! Because I sided with my damned employer over you, over the one I love—now you're with someone else! Because I failed to rise to the occasion, and I nearly let the Collectors doom you—now your team barely reacts after I almost get killed! And then you have the nerve to save my life? I don't fucking understand…"

I understood her frustrations.

Solheim knew I understood, and she resented me for it all over again.

Standing up on her own now, she declared in abruptness, "Forget it. Let's move on. We need to get to the Shroud, don't we?"

"If you're sure, we'll head out."

"Yes, I'm perfectly sure. I've wasted enough time like this."

I allowed Miranda to wallow in her stubbornness. I made the call for the team to move out.

We set off across this treacherous terrain. No mention of the fires almost ending Solheim's life—everyone kept on as if nothing had happened. Their deafening silence tore at the very fabric of her patience, her tolerances. Even just existing in the same space as my team… I really did feel Miranda about to snap, as she had warned earlier. One more thing could've set her off. Some other ill reminder; another unwanted confrontation. All the while, Liara and Tali both seemed to enjoy this. Their sadistic pettiness. These eternal reminders of the past, reinforcing the present. They hadn't changed not one bit.

They had gotten better at hiding this petty attitude from me. Because they knew I didn't enjoy it. If anything, I'd expected something like this from Jack. But Jack was the only one looking over at Miranda in concern, displaying a decency I hadn't anticipated from her. This pettiness from the others remained.

Never changing, as people were wont to do. As these flames made more evident than ever before.

At this epicenter of the thresher maw's territory, Satan stood tall above these rising flames around us.

The commander of these Reapers, a devil ship having brought its wrath incarnate upon the krogan people. The krogan still fought against that rage, throwing themselves at the enemy across this wasteland, their fear of this hellfire long-gone by now. In that towering state, Satan flamed in a constant red, surrounded by the crimson lightning of its unending power. Looming in intimidation, the devil ship existed as this constant temptation. Tempting us mere mortals away from God; not as the schemer or the plotter or the conspirator, but as this mechanism of fate. Its power spoke for itself, razing Tuchanka in this thoughtless anger, loudened and amplified by the human Satan that continued to haunt us all.

Standing on the outskirts of this next set of ruins, my team congregated around me. We had stopped at this exact location at Eve and Wrex's advice. From this clear determination about them, they'd come up with a plan for our next move. Our direct approach to the Shroud and dealing with Satan in our way.

A greater gathering of flames had visibly unnerved my team.

We had crossed that wasteland with EDI creating a path for us before.

But with the enemy's ground forces in the near-distance, this added another layer of uncertainty.

"Eve, Wrex," I said. "What's the plan? The ship is in our way. We don't have a clear path to the Shroud."

"Kalros is our plan," replied Eve. "We summon her to the Reaper."

A thresher maw taking down a devil ship?

Mordin promised me, "Strategy sound, Shepard. Just need to distract Reaper; draw it from tower while cure synthesized, released. Need to hurry before flames overtake Shroud. Will burn entire facility."

Wrex added, "If Tuchanka has a temper, Kalros is it. Nobody's ever faced her and survived."

"Then how are we supposed to summon her to deal with Satan?"

Eve explained, "Legends say Kalros is the mother from which all other thresher maws spawn. This is as much her home as ours. This place is an arena devoted to her glory. The salarians thought she would scare away intruders—and they were right. In the distance, there are two maw hammers—the largest in existence. If you can activate them, Kalros will come. That should distract the Reaper, giving Dr. Solus enough time to safely enter the Shroud. I'm not sure how you'll be able to board the ship to disable it."

"That's fine. We'll figure out the rest later. For now, let's focus on getting to those maw hammers."

Wrex stopped me. "Wait—" Despite the urgency around us, he needed to get this out. "Commander, I want you to know that no matter what happens… You've been a champion to the krogan people, a friend of Clan Urdnot…and a sibling to me." He shook my hand, built from these years of our experiences. Our earliest days on the Citadel, dealing with Fist in Chora's Den; to our confrontation on Virmire; and him mourning my death before the Lazarus Project—all the way until this very moment. "To every krogan born after this day, the name 'Shepard' will mean 'hero'! Now let's show them why!"

"Thanks, Wrex. That means a lot. Let's get moving! The Shroud's just past those maw hammers!"

Crossing the Rubicon on Tuchanka this time, my team followed me through this hellfire.

Wrex, Kaidan, and Miranda stayed nearest to me on my flanks. I felt everyone else's caution behind me. With the Reaper ships firing from up above, and these ground troops shooting at us directly, I needed to insulate my people.

"Liara, Samara, keep up a biotic field for us! Something to keep these attacks from getting through!"

"Understood, Commander!" obliged Samara.

She and Liara joined their strength to put up this bubble over our heads. Not enough to keep the flames away—the spattering of gunfire from these cannibals and marauders bounced off the shield.

Only Jack charged forward, mopping up those mooks with ease before retreating back to the group. She hesitated once some other flying enemies lowered themselves way too close to us. Harvesters. Those deranged bird-like monsters tearing through the skies, beaming down on the other krogan fighting in the distance. I aimed my Black Widow right at a weak spot at their core, glowing that usual Reaperized blue. Firing once, twice in a row was enough. Enough to detonate those things, sending out a harsh heatwave of an explosion that took out several destroyer ships in the air alongside it. Seeing an opportunity here, I focused my attention on the harvesters around. I took them out, setting off these chain reactions of thinning the Reaper ships above our heads. Fewer and fewer of those beams bore down on us, taking the edge off of Liara and Samara constantly protecting us. I stayed hyperaware of their stamina levels.

Up a set of stairs and past a broken bridge, Satan turned its attention to us directly.

Exposed out in this direct line of fire, I could see the maw hammers on the left and right-hand sides.

Without needing an order from me, Liara and Samara both braced for an incoming attack.

Flaming in its anger, Satan shot at us from this closing distance. Our powerhouse biotics both protected us. But at a terrible cost. These shouts of agony Samara and Liara let out scalded my senses. None of us should have survived something like this. They kept us safe somehow, even as they kept following me.

Desperate for some relief, I had us stick to cover wherever possible.

These fallen pillars and the corners of this arena shielded us from our foe at the fore. Yet as we pressed forward through these flames, the cover around us grew more and more scarce. More open, more exposed, vulnerable. We barely had anywhere to hide as we neared this path to the maw hammers.

Closer and closer to Satan, running up to it head-on—

The constant clashes of its perfect aim against our protections—

Destruction of the ancient environment around us; the tremors from Satan's sheer power—

The soot and smoke and cinders around us, fanning and flaming, forcing this sweat to drench down my brow, obscuring all visibility for me. I had to keep leading. I had to keep pushing us forward. Not one of my people even considered turning back. They stayed on with me, following me into this hell without hesitation, without a single thought for their own safety. Their safety lay with me: with my focus, my attention, my control getting us through this cataclysmic earthquake of crimson, infrared. Our survival hinged on Samara and Liara digging in their heels, digging in their heels and holding on, holding on as they did for us now. Wrex, EDI, Jack, Tali, and Kaidan fought back the ground troops threatening to break our flanks. Legion and Garrus sniped at the ravagers positioned away, stopping those projectiles from piercing our biotic field. Mordin and Eve stayed close to Liara and Samara at the eye of our storm.

In her rebellions, Solheim only focused on me.

She stayed right by my side. Almost as if she sensed this next challenge awaiting us.

Right at the intersection between the two maw hammers, we found this patch of sand between structures. Satan glowered down at us from directly overhead. Its firing chamber from its core glowed in that constant, overbearing red, preparing to shoot at us yet again. Yet I could stand here as the adhesive for my team, staring up at that power without fear. Because even once Satan shot at us another time, Liara and Samara protected our entire group. No outside support. No reinforcements we could count on anywhere on this planet. Our team against the world. All as Satan stood between us and the Shroud.

"We're heading to the left to the first hammer! Stay with me!"

Dropping down in our way, these brutes appeared as contained meteorite strikes.

The beasts hulked toward us, their harsh shadows converging on our location between this fire.

With the rest of the team busy fighting elsewhere beneath our biotic field, I only had Miranda left.

"Miranda, can you deal with these things? They're too close for me to snipe."

"Affirmative, Commander!"

She rushed forward to the forward edge of our biotic field. Conducting her rage from this day—Miranda fired off those blood-red tech attacks at the brutes, one at a time. Shocking their neural pathways; paralyzing them, stopping them in their tracks. Dominating them, she shredded their armor with her warp strikes. Brutalizing them right back, she lifted them into the air before slamming them to the ground. That devastating force sent off a biotic explosion, rippling across this entire arena. Miranda cleared out every brute around us with this single combo. All with a strength I didn't recognize from her.

Any time another brute tried to crash through our defenses, using the soot around us as a smokescreen, Solheim snapped right back. She dispatched the enemy with a quick, chilling effectiveness. And she kept doing this as I made it to the first hammer, lowering the stone into its raised slot. She did this over and over again on our trek to the second hammer across the way. The brutes kept collapsing around us.

Had Miranda held back on our last mission, or did she get ridiculously stronger during our time apart?

Rushing across this blasted arena, and surrounded by more krogan statues and the arachnid immensity of Satan's synthetic structure, we reached the other side.

I activated the second hammer.

The potent gong sounded from somewhere nearby; summoned by our desperation, Kalros approached from the near-distance, again chainsawing her way through Tuchanka's hazardous climate. She snaked through the sands, rising up on her way, shadowing the lands around her from this sun up above, partially eclipsed by the planet's potent pollution. Sensing the impending threat, Satan flew out from over us, and closer to the thresher maw. Away from us and over to meet this confrontation head-on.

Hovering just near to the ground, Satan fired its relentless beam in Kalros' direction. Undeterred and unrelenting, the mother of all thresher maws lunged from the earth, right at the devil ship. Arching above the trajectory of that beam, Kalros charged at Satan's front, toppling it; destroying too much of the structures around us.

I scurried my team immediately beneath the fray above our heads. Instead of protecting us from Reaper fire, Liara and Samara kept their biotic field up to protect us from the falling concrete statues all around. More and more, worse and worse from Satan flinging Kalros from its front, sending the thresher maw collapsing to the ground. She moved out in time from Satan's beam following up. As she retreated, burrowing back underground, I kept my eye to the Shroud. The tower steadily suffocated from the flames tearing across this land. We didn't have much time to get Mordin where he needed to go.

Roaring up from behind the devil ship, Kalros lunged at Satan one more time. Latching onto the Reaper commander, she coiled around its entire form, forcing the enemy underground with her. Trapped with no way out, Satan fell into this forced quicksand, suffocating from that massive grip. Spiraling and suffering as it disappeared beneath the earth, Kalros defeated the devil all on her own. She would slowly devour the Reaper's synthetic form at her own pace, on her own time, burrowed deep in the shadows.

Outside this facility, we had moved far enough away from the remaining danger in the skies.

Those Reaper ranks began to thin anyway, having witnessed their commander's defeat.

This space nearest to the Shroud appeared safe for the time being.

With my whole team exhausted, I ordered them to stay out here, to get some rest. Tali had already taken the initiative to give out medical care—especially to Liara and Samara, who'd suffered the most out of all of us. Meanwhile, I escorted Mordin inside the flaming facility. We didn't have much time left.

Within this crumbling floor space at the Shroud's base, Mordin rushed to the nearest console. The elevator led upward to the tower's highest floors. But even that pinnacle wasn't safe. The flaming tips of the building had already started crashing down here, worsening the embers around us. Flinching from the worst tremors shaking the facility, Mordin worked as quickly as he could. I hoped he didn't need to go all the way to the top of the Shroud, and yet…

"Mordin, do you have everything you need?"

"Yes," he said, still hunched over the console, typing in speed. "Loaded for dispersal in two minutes. Procedure traumatic for Eve, but not lethal. Maelon's research invaluable. Her survival fortunate. Will stabilize new government should Wrex get any ideas. Good match. Promising future for krogan."

"I'm glad to hear it, Mordin. If you're done, let's get out of here. The place is caving in!"

"Control room at top of Shroud tower. Must take elevator up."

"You're going up there?"

"Manual access required. STG sabotage from dalatrass meddling obstructing permissions. Ensure cure dispersed properly."

I objected, "Mordin, this whole building is coming apart. There has to be another way!"

Mordin stared up to the tower's zenith, the sparks of light up there sparking as lightning bolts.

He reasoned with me, "Remote bypass impossible, Shepard. STG countermeasure in place. May have arrested salarian dalatrass, forced her to pay for crimes. Couldn't account for additional crime here at Shroud. No time to adjust cure for temperature variance." He considered, briefly, giving me hope that maybe there really was another way. That he didn't have to sacrifice himself over this sabotage from STG, from his own government. But then he doubled-down—"No. No other option. Not coming back. Suggest you get clear. Explosions likely problematic. Can't have hero of galaxy die meaningless death."

As he pushed forward toward the elevator, the transparent glass there reflecting all, I saw his truth.

I spotted the determination there in his eyes, in his reflection. Even as Mordin walked away from me.

I remembered my last major decision with Mordin, months ago. At the crux of our suicide mission—after the Collectors had abducted me, nearly everyone on the team was unfocused. Mordin included. I'd had to ask him to stay behind on the ship. So now he had this chance to prove himself, unshackled from my orders and my choices. To finish what he started years ago with the genophage modification project.

Still I followed after him, objecting again, "Mordin, no!"

Mordin boarded the elevator anyway. Single-minded. Resolute. Almost…happy as he smiled. Relieved.

"Shepard, please. Need to do this. My project. My work. My cure. My responsibility." That relief again, so peaceful as he breathed in and out. "Enjoyed spending time on your homeworld during shore leave. Had privilege of running tests on seashells at beach. Lived fulfilling life. Even in death, will always treasure this final year spent at your side, as your science officer. Appreciated time working with Liara on Normandy. Always sensed she would never give up on you. Hope you take care of her from now on."

Hearing his final words like this, I couldn't…

I didn't know what to say.

I had no power. No way to convince him to stop this. My so-called famous diplomacy meant nothing.

Entirely out of my control. Out of my hands.

Just these words of my own, as all I could give right now:

"I'm sorry…"

"I'm not. Had to be me." Farther inside the elevator he went; the door closed, cutting him off from me. Mordin smiled at me one last time from behind that glass. "Someone else might have gotten it wrong."

As the elevator took him up and away from me, I watched Mordin for as long as I could.

I watched him disappear behind the barriers between us. His smile burned itself in my memories. And I hated that I couldn't stay here. I couldn't stay, and delude myself into thinking Mordin would return. Already the fires started ravaging the tower more and more; the web of white lights and energies at that zenith couldn't contain this commotion anymore. I left this area, hurrying back outside while I still could. All while Mordin's purest sense of Nirvana drifted down to me, linking us together in his last moments. I remembered that song of his, too. The one he'd belted out of nowhere, drunk out of his mind on shore leave in the hours before Project Overlord. Right as the cure dispersal commenced, I imagined him singing that song to himself as he worked. Singing that song as the upper floor detonated, taking his life.

As I made it back outside with the team, I stared up at the skies with these knots in my chest. How the topmost tip of the Shroud sent out that dispersal—the culmination of Mordin's work, his sacrifice. The golden rays and patches of powers; this spectacle of light. The cure for the genophage pollinated through Tuchanka's atmosphere, reaching everyone across the krogan homeworld. Everyone still fighting out there. Everyone running and hiding for their lives. And to Wrex and Eve both safe with us.

These golden snowflakes hovered down to the ground. Just as the worst of Satan's flames disappeared. The remaining Reaper forces in the air soon evacuated, taking off from the skies. They made way for this ethereal sunlight shining over the krogan homeworld, unobstructed. The planet had this new sunrise.

So surreal.

I couldn't believe this was real.

How long had we worked toward this, now to finally see it blooming before us?

Reality only sunk in once the conflict returned.

Not the Reapers. Not their ground forces antagonizing us again.

While the team celebrated, gazing up at the sights in awe, I noticed two people missing from the group.

Liara and Solheim.

Fearing the worst, I went searching for them. Only to find they had merely stepped off to the side. Still within the general vicinity of our area. They'd moved off to a shaded corner, speaking privately.

Liara's breezy sense of superiority.

Miranda's gradual deflation, depression.

It didn't take much to guess what they spoke about. The truth of my protections from the Reapers.

Something in Solheim's eyes betrayed her intuition. Her instincts having told her some time ago that she wasn't my protector anymore. Maybe she'd always known. Maybe she'd spent this time denying it.

She couldn't deny it anymore now that Liara told her everything.

Getting close enough, I overheard the tail-end of their conversation.

Aggrieved, Solheim only asked, "How?"

Liara gave her a stone-faced look. "Ashley."

This shattering in her spirit.

I felt it as if it were my own.

Liara clarified more, explaining that I had risen above those past schemes. I'd transcended. Protecting myself; I didn't need anyone else like that. Not anymore.

Completely defeated, Miranda spoke not a word. She only walked away. She walked right past me.

Her unwavering belief in me—deeply-tested, but probably not defeated.

She needed some time to sort this through.

I watched as an unmarked vessel landed not too far away. Solheim went to meet the ship. Stepping out from the airlock was a Cerberus agent. That uniform, undeniable. And a familiar face. A man I'd seen before. Solheim boarded the ship with that Jacob Taylor guy. The one from her dominatrix vids. Her old client from the days of the Lazarus Project. She wasn't attracted to him like that—not now, and not then. Yet Jacob had stayed on with Cerberus. He was her subordinate now. I assumed they only had a work relationship these days. Nothing more than that. I couldn't see Solheim getting directly involved with one of her employees. Not even to blow off steam. I also assumed this Jacob Taylor was her top lieutenant now.

As she had once been to the Illusive Man.

Spotting me in this near-distance, Jacob acknowledged me. He waved his hand in a show of friendliness. All with that unspoken promise to look after his boss. And I needed him to keep an eye on her. Because Miranda wouldn't turn around to look at me. I'd hoped she would want to say goodbye. Not this time.

Missing Miranda and Mordin both, I watched this Cerberus ship set off for the skies.

Once the vessel disappeared past these new horizons, I returned to the team.

Wrex found me in his grinning enthusiasm. "Shepard, I can't thank you enough. This is a glorious day for my people. Only wish I could stay and celebrate. I'm sticking with you on the Normandy. Eve will take over my position as leader of Clan Urdnot while I'm gone. I promised I'd stay on for this mission. After everything you've done for me, the least I can do is keep my word. We'll end the Reapers together."

"I appreciate that, Wrex."

Sensing my many emotions, Liara came over to my side.

She held my arm in both of hers, giving us this closeness again. Learning to lean on her even more, I let Liara bolster me like this. She already knew what had happened to Mordin. Everyone did.

Wrex went over to Garrus next. "I'm keeping my word for you, too, Garrus. Tell the turians I'll be deploying troops to Palaven immediately. The krogan are back in business."

Garrus shook his hand in gratitude. "You're a lifesaver, Wrex. I'll contact General Victus ASAP. My people are in your debt. I'm sure he'll be glad for the help."

"Yeah, he'd better be. We'll make sure Mordin's sacrifice is worth it."

Eve stepped forward this time to shake my hand. "Goodbye, Commander. It's been a pleasure watching you lead your people."

I asked her, "What will you do while you're in charge of Clan Urdnot?"

"Spread the hope you've given us. Even now, there are clans gathering in the Kelphic Valley. I'll go speak to them and make sure this gift isn't squandered. We will do our best to eradicate the remaining Reapers on our world. Thank you for all you've done. And know that Urdnot Bakara calls you a friend. You and Mordin brought a miracle to Tuchanka for our children."

As we wrapped up this operation—getting Eve safely to the Kelphic Valley, and the rest of us returning to the Normandy—our next objective awaited us.

The Alliance still needed us to look into Cerberus.

Even though I had just wished Miranda well, I had a new goal now. To follow her; to find out what she was up to. To discover exactly what she envisioned by rebuilding the organization. Once we made it back aboard the Normandy, we had EDI and Traynor confirm—Solheim's unmarked vessel currently made its way to Noveria. The frozen terrestrial world populated by seedy corporations dodging galactic law. The same place where we'd followed Matriarch Benezia during our mission against Saren and the geth. I had no choice but to follow this lead now. We would mourn Mordin, and I would mourn this never-ending end to my non-friendship with Miranda. All as we followed Cerberus' boss to her next destination.

The turbulent snow would cool us off after these wrathful flames; Noveria awaited as our next stop on this Cerberus Express.