It was difficult to leave Thane in the morning. Every time was harder, because Shepard knew one of these times would be the last one. She tried not to linger, tried not to say everything she felt every time she left, because she could only imagine how tiring that would be for him—but it wasn't easy.

Back on the Normandy, she checked in with Mordin, who said he was ready to synthesize the cure, much to Wrex's delight and Eve's evident relief, and set a course for Tuchanka.

Word traveled fast, apparently, because they had barely cleared the Widow Relay when a call came through from the dalatrass.

Shepard went into the communications center prepared for an argument, but the tired figure that stood before her didn't seem to be offering one.

"We know you are en route to Tuchanka. And I need to—Commander, you cannot allow your misguided sympathy for the krogan to cloud your judgment. Can you honestly tell me you believe curing the genophage will end in lasting peace?"

"No one can know the future, dalatrass, but I know the past, and the pain the krogan have endured. We have to give them this chance. An entire race cannot be condemned to extinction based on what might happen."

"What will happen is that the krogan will reproduce out of control!" the dalatrass snapped. "We uplifted them specifically for their violent nature, not their diplomatic skills. Another war is inevitable."

Shepard didn't have time for old hatreds. There was too much at stake. "What do you want, Dalatrass?"

"Years ago, our operatives sabotaged the Shroud facility to ensure that what you're planning couldn't be done."

"You what?!"

The dalatrass ignored her outburst. "Mordin will likely detect this sabotage and repair it. But if you ensure that he does not, then the cure's viability will be altered just enough so that it fails. No one will notice the change."

"You mean trick the krogan?"

"They need not be any the wiser. Let Urdnot Wrex believe you fulfilled your promise."

"Mordin would never stand for that," Shepard argued.

The dalatrass shrugged. "How you deal with him is up to you, Commander. We can provide you our very best scientists to build the Crucible … and the full support of our fleets."

"But only if I sabotage the cure."

"You will know what to do. What is right." The image of the dalatrass disappeared.

Shepard watched the empty space where it had been with a sigh. Just what she needed, another decision weighing heavily on her hands. Not that it was much of a choice—she couldn't look Wrex in the eye if she intended to sabotage the cure, or Eve, either, if she intended to consign her and her sisters to more pain, more childbirths ending with silent children. But to have the support of the salarians, right now, at her fingertips, to not have to wait and jump through more hoops in order to get the Crucible built and go on the attack against the Reapers … She was so tired. She wanted this finished. She wanted everyone on board the same train, pulling into the same station.

Getting on the shuttle, Shepard was glad for Wrex's boisterous joy covering her own silence. She was always quiet before a mission anyway, getting her head straight, preparing for what was to come, but this … she wanted to think about this, wanted time to make the decision right in her head, and there was no time.

"We'll land at our sacred ground and take an armored convoy against the Reaper," Wrex was saying. He pounded his massive fists together. "This will be the defining moment of krogan history!"

"Krogan history filled with defining moments," Mordin observed. "Most bloody. Hope this one better."

There was silence in the shuttle in response to his comment—even Wrex couldn't argue with the truth of it. Shepard hesitated. She should speak, she told herself.

Eve's eyes were on her. "Commander, you seem troubled."

"I got a message from the—" Shepard began. But she didn't get to finish because the shuttle groaned and shuddered beneath her, Cortez cursing under his breath as he held on to the controls.

Wrex was listening closely to something on his comm. "Reaper forces waiting for us. It's gonna be a bumpy landing."

"Now he tells us," Cortez muttered.

The krogan were putting up a hell of a fight as the shuttle landed. Shepard's team spilled out, guns already blazing, forming up around Eve and Mordin to protect them from the fray. It took some doing, but they managed to clear the area, only to find themselves surrounded by angry krogan who were unhappy with everything about the situation, but mostly with the presence on their planet of a salarian scientist.

Eve let them have their say, blow off their steam, then she held up her hand for silence. "You males have two choices," she told them. "You can stay here and let old wounds fester as krogan have always done, or you can fight the enemy we were born to destroy and win a new future for our children." Slowly, deliberately, she looked around at all of them. "I choose to fight. Who will fight with me?"

Shepard stepped forward. "I will."

Wrex grunted his approval. "And so will I."

The other krogan subsided, most convinced by Eve's eloquence and the sheer force of her personality. Shepard wondered if the other krogan females were as formidable, and if so, she wished they would take over the planet from now on.

They climbed into a line of transports that would take them to the Shroud, where the Reaper hovered. The turian air strike had been called off due to heavy interference from the Reapers, so they would be alone, but Wrex was determined to see this through, and certain that his people could clear the Reaper out of the way with no help.

The view out the narrow slits in the transport was of a wasteland, but Shepard was surprised to see occasional hints of green. She mentioned as much to Eve, who nodded. "This was once a world full of beauty. Given a chance, it can be one again."

"Or we can negotiate for other worlds," Wrex said. "We'll need room to expand anyway—recapture the glory of the ancients."

"'Glory of ancients' led to Krogan Rebellions. Countless deaths. Creation of genophage. Expansion plan … problematic." Mordin sighed. Shepard knew how he had wrestled with his conscience and what a deep conviction of his true duty had led him here—but, like her, he wasn't without some concerns about the future they were creating.

"What were the ancient krogan like?" Shepard asked, wanting to know more of the history of the people she was buying a future for.

"In the old times the krogan were a proud people," Eve told her. "We had dreams … a future to look forward to."

"Until salarian interference," Mordin added.

But Eve shook her head. "We destroyed Tuchanka ourselves. Technology changed us. It made life too easy. So we looked for new challenges—and found them in each other. Nuclear war was inevitable."

Wrex leaned forward intently. "And now our planet is rubble. We'll need a better place to live."

Shepard nodded. "I'd say helping to defeat the Reapers would be worth a new planet."

"Or ten." Wrex grinned. "You haven't seen how fast we can pop them out."

"Wrex …" Eve cautioned.

"What? With the genophage cured we'll have a lot of catching up to do."

Shepard hesitated again, and again Eve caught it, her keen eyes on Shepard's face. "Commander, in the shuttle—was there something you were going to say?"

"The dalatrass tried to cut a secret deal with me."

"What kind of deal?" Wrex demanded.

"She told me they sabotaged the Shroud years ago. The cure won't work unless we fix it." She called up her omni-tool and showed them a recording of the conversation.

The transport was silent afterward—much to Shepard's relief. She had half-expected Wrex to tear the place apart.

But his voice was controlled, the anger in it tightly leashed, when he spoke. "She thought we wouldn't know better?"

"Correctly," Mordin told him. "Woiuld likely have fooled tests. But familiar with STG work. Can adjust." He nodded firmly. "Did not come this far for nothing."

Eve looked up at Shepard. In her measured, deliberate way, she said, "You have just saved our race another genocide, Commander. We won't forget it."

Wrex grunted his approval. "I told you we could count on her."

"Let's not count our chickens," Shepard said. "We still have to deal with the Reaper."

"Ah, what's a Reaper? Didn't we already kill one? We can do it again," Wrex boasted.

Shepard wished she felt as confident.