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As they drew near the elevator, the salarian spoke softly to Shepard. "Commander. You should know that the females were in poor health when we found them on Tuchanka. They were brought here to stabilize their condition."

"I'm not surprised. I saw the experiments that had been done on them. Barbaric."

"I appreciate your understanding."

Shepard nodded. "I need to see them myself, to witness their condition."

"Of course, Commander. The elevator awaits." The salarian cast a nervous glance over his shoulder in the direction of Wrex. "Will he behave himself?"

Garrus turned a chuckle into a cough.

Shepard gave him a swift and unamused look before responding to the salarian. "He will if this doesn't take too long."

"It should go smoothly."

"Where have I heard that before?" Shepard muttered to Garrus as the elevator doors slid closed.

"Too many times to count."

She sighed. "Just once, I'd like it to be a pleasant surprise."

"That'll be the day."

The elevator came to a halt and the doors slid open. The fact that she wasn't facing a line of armed salarians with their weapons drawn was already a pleasant surprise, or, at least, Shepard intended to take it that way.

Then she saw a salarian in a lab coat turn toward her, and a familiar voice said, "Shepard! Excellent timing. Good to have you here."

"Mordin Solus!" To say that his presence was a relief would have been the understatement of the war, thus far. "What are you doing here?"

"Surprise understandable," he replied. "Hadn't expected to return to work."

"But here you are. A far cry from Omega," Garrus put in.

"True. Omega long ago. Work to be done here, now."

"I'm surprised to find you back with STG, though. I thought you were finished with all that."

"Old work. Subject came up again. Special consultant needed. Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong."

Old work? Shepard's eyes widened. The krogan. Suddenly it made sense—Mordin must be the reason they were all here.

No sooner had the realization struck than Mordin leaned in and confirmed her suspicions that he had been the one to help the females, the one to keep Wrex informed, and the one to exert enough political pressure to get the females released into Shepard's custody.

"Thank you, Mordin."

He nodded soberly. "Further explanations later." Looking around, he added, "Security warnings not normal. Need to get offworld for sake of krogan."

"We're not looking for any delays. Take me to the females and let's get them out of here."

"Ah. Female. Singular. Females had weakened immune systems. Did what I could for them. Still, most did not survive."

"One? One female?"

Vega gave a long whistle. "Wrex is going to explode."

"Or make something else explode," Garrus said with concern.

"What about Maelon's research?" Shepard asked. "We saved it—didn't it help?"

"Indeed. Data saved, but not complete. Lacks crucial details, but still useful for synthesizing from living tissue. Only reason this female survived."

"I know you did everything you could, Mordin."

He shook his head. "Arrived too late. No more time. Cannot delay. Survivor immune to genophage, can synthesize general cure from her tissue. Last hope for krogan. If she dies, genophage cure … problematic."

Shepard was very glad Wrex wasn't down here to be hearing all this. He'd have destroyed the whole base by now, if he had been.

Mordin led her to a darkened pod, reaching for the button to turn up the lighting a notch. "Be careful. Krogan slow to trust."

Moving a few steps closer to the pod, Shepard spoke to the still figure within, shrouded in shadows. "Hello? I'm Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy."

A deep, slow voice answered her. "Are you here to kill me?"

"I'm here to take you home. Urdnot Wrex has come to bring you back to Tuchanka, back to your people."

The figure gave a dry chuckle. "Wrex. I should have known. But you— My sisters died in a lot of pain, and now I know I am the only one left. That makes me dangerous to a lot of people. Tell me, Commander Shepard, what am I to you?"

"You're the future of the krogan race. I'm here for that, to end the genophage."

"I suspect there is more to it than that. But I have little choice, it seems."

A klaxon alarm sounded above their heads, the salarians scrambling for battle positions, and that deep, calm voice sounded again from the depths of the pod.

"I hope you brought an army."