POV: Aedonbearer
Waking up on my bed with Tali in my arms was nice even if it was already our third day on Tuchanka. After Grunts Rite of Passage the Krogans spent the rest of the day and into the next partying. Celebrated like there was no tomorrow as Grunt had been the first since Wrex to kill a Maw during the Rite. Apparently Wrex had done it 300 years ago so it's been quite a long time.
That wasn't it though, Grunt has had a lot of breeding requests from the females. Shepard kept him well clear of the females for now but to see him look to where they were like a dog in heat was hilarious. Well, it would've been if both Shepard and I didn't get a couple of Breeding requests as well. That was an interesting couple of minutes where it ended with both of us making a tactical retreat back to the Normany. Everyone else thought it was hilarious.
As for yesterday after the party ended in the early hours of the morning and they were all up Wrex asked me to go out with the scouts. I agreed but only if Garrus could come with me which Wrex agreed to. Having a Turian with me did create some tensions with the scouts but when Wrex vouched for him they simmered down. They didn't outright accept it but they were will to work with him if Wrex himself was vouching for him.
The outing went about as well as you could ask it to on Tuchanka. We got chased by a Maw, shot at by a rival clan while we driving through a mine field, and ran into a pack of wild varren; but no one died. So yeah, about as well as it could on Tuchanka. Plus we found an abandoned Krogan outpost with ancient artifacts from the Krogan Rebellions. They weren't anything special to me but the scouts were hyped as hell to find it.
Plus while we were out I picked up radio chatter from the Blood Pack outpost Mordin wanted to find. I was able to triangulate the position of the base from the chatter so it was a win-win overall. Though, we didn't go after it as we didn't have Mordin and I suggested we not attack as we didn't exactly know what we were walking into.
When we got back I informed Mordin and told him of the base's location. He gave me a grateful nod and said that he would inform Shepard of it later and we would go out. Mordin would pick the team for this as it was personal and we were more than likely going to do some questionable things there.
So with that I checked my messages and saw that Mordin had called for me to come to the briefing room in about 30 minutes. I sent a confirmation message back and got dressed in my gear; full kit for this mission. By the time I was done getting dressed and left the room Tali was still passed out on the bed. I made sure that the covers were pulled up over her before leaving though.
Getting to the briefing room Shepard was already there sipping on a cup of coffee while Mordin went over data on his omni-tool. Taking a seat I patiently waited for the rest of the group to show up, all of them sprinkling into the room as the meeting got closer to starting. Zaeed was the first to show up with Jack only a few steps behind him. After them was Garrus and Thane who walked into the room together. Once they showed Mordin closed his omni-tool and started the meeting.
"Former apprentice, Maleon," his omni-tool opened up and showed a picture of the Salarian. "Been kidnapped by Blood Pack working for Clan Weyrloc. Not 100% on why kidnapped but want to get him out of there. Good apprentice, good soldier, repaying old favor with this rescue."
"We know anything about who from the Blood Pack we'll be up against?" Garrus asked from his seat next to me.
"Krogan and Varren. Bloodpack doesn't allow Vorcha or other species to operate on Tuchanka. Very territorial that way," Mordin answered getting a nod of the head from everyone. "Any other questions?" No one said anything.
"We leave in an hour. Wrex has agreed to give us one of his scouting trucks for this so we're expected to bring it back working," Shepard stated taking the stage. "Otherwise, you're all dismissed. Meet at the truck then."
Leaving the room I made my way to where Tali was as she wasn't in the room and had probably gone to the engine compartment. I was proven right and she was going over notes on the engine when I arrived. I didn't tell her where I was going or why but that I would be back and that it was for Mordin. She didn't push on why I wasn't giving her more than that and just told me to be safe.
Leaving the engine compartment I left the Normandy with Garrus, meeting him at the airlock before walking out. We made idle chat on the way to the Truck and the Krogan's we passed left us alone. They knew that messing with anyone from the Normandy was off limits as long as we didn't do anything first. Still, we knew the rules of their Neutral Ground; no killing or maiming unless attacked first.
Arriving at the truck we sat outside of the truck waiting for the others to get here. We didn't have to wait long as apparently everyone was raring to go and all arrived early. With that being the case Shepard gave the word and we all jumped into the truck but then there was a problem. All of us realized that absolutely none of us knew how to drive this thing.
Hoping it was just like a regular truck in my life before I walked up to the cockpit and jumped in the drivers seat. I was extremely thankful to see that for the most part it was the same but I couldn't read Krogan or their symbols. There was no arrows pointing forward or backwards and what I guessed were gears looked like hieroglyphs to me. I didn't know how to drive stick though.
Looking back at Shepard as I realized I would absolutely no idea how to drive this thing I gave him a confident nod and a thumbs up. This resulted in everyone buckling themselves in and Jack grabbing onto the 'oh shit' handle. Probably a good choice.
Turning it over I got the humm of the engine going before putting the gear into one of the symbols and letting off the gas. Slowly the truck started to roll backwards and I pressed back onto the brake making the car jerk to a stop. Shaking my head I put the gear into the opposite direction and let off the brake and this time the truck started going forward.
With that discovery I coasted out of the Neutral zone before finding a strip to take off down and pressed the gas all the way down. From there it wasn't too bad but there were definitely a couple of times where I stalled out the truck forgetting about the clutch. Still, I got the hang of it after a couple of minutes and we were well on our way to getting to the location I had found from their radio chatter.
It took about half an hour and we were chased by the same Thresher Maw as yesterday on the scouting mission. Though while we were driving away from it I couldn't help myself and looked back at everyone. "Would now be a bad time to mention this is my first time driving a manual transmission?"
That got a scream out of Jack: "Yes it FUCKING would!" I only laughed and continued to drive.
We outran it like yesterday as well so it didn't end up being any type of problem. However, when we did arrive to the location and I looked back at everyone after parking the truck they were all giving me glares except for Thane.
"So, that's how it feels when I drive," Shepard stated as he opened the back of the truck and hopped out. I let out a chuckle at hearing that but otherwise didn't say anything back to him. He finally got a taste of how he drove and that was as much a win as anything for me.
Jumping out as the last one Mordin took over in command with a nod from Shepard. Once he did he sent myself, Shepard and Jack as the point men with Zaeed, himself and Thane behind us and Garrus in the back to provide sniper support. Nodding to this we stalked forward down the road broken road that led to the facility.
It took barely a minute before we stumbled upon a pack of Varren gnawing on the dead body of some other animal. Since they were out of Jack's Shotgun's range both Shepard and I opened fire on the varren dropping four of the six before they even knew what was going on. Of the last two Garrus took out one and Zaeed took out the other.
With the varren taken care of we kept going forward until there was a piercing whistle and a bunch of varren came out of the rubble. Their three Krogan handlers weren't far behind them and both Shepard and Jack biotically charged the handlers while the rest of us took care of the Varren. Unshielded and with no real protection a simple headshot was enough to put them down no matter their numbers.
By the time we had finished the new group of Varren Shepard and Jack had taken care of the handlers. All taken care of by close range shotgun blasts and then double taps with the exception of the last. He was taken care of dual Warps from both of them and was atomized while burning from an Incinerate from Mordin.
Continuing to push forward we got to the exit of the broken road and we're immediately greeted by a group of eight Krogan. All firing a volley of Carnage rounds at us with everyone diving out of the way to avoid the rounds but not me. I caught two of them in my wall and sent it straight back to the one that looked like the commander of the squad. The Carnage rounds literally exploded him on impact gore and viscera flying everywhere.
The Krogan looked shocked at what had happened but none us were and we were already moving. Shepard sent Singularity into their midst catching three of them in its radius and Zaeed followed that up by throwing an incendiary grenade into the singularity burning them alive. It was compounded when Mordin fired an Incinerate into the Singularity as well; they never had a chance.
It was capped off when both Thane and Jack his a Krogan with Warps atomizing him as Garrus hit another one with a concussive round. As the one that had been hit by the concussive round went sprawled to the ground I threw one of my grenades and it landed right between his legs and exploded ripping the Krogan in half. So in the span of about two seconds after their initial volley of Carnage rounds we had killed six of them.
The last two went straight into a Blood Rage and pulled out and hit and hit an inhaler. Knowing exactly what that meant Garrus and I exchanged looks before we yelled out to fire with everything that we had. Not knowing exactly what was going on but knowing not to question it when we say it the rest did as we asked and let it rip.
As they charged at us one of them was hit by an Incinerate from Mordin and a incindiary grenade from Zaeed. Charging at us completely covered in flames I'd be lying if it wasn't cool as hell if a bit intimidating. Still, none of us stopped as they charged us and they ran right through two of my grenades while one tanked a concussive round and the other two Warps. They kept coming and we're getting closer to us.
Backing away as all us fired on them we unanimous and unspokenly focused fire on the one that had been hit by Mordin's Incinerate. It took us almost another three seconds of combined focus fire to drop the Krogan and by that time the other one was already upon us.
He backhanded Zaeed and sent him flying 10 feet backwards before being smacked upwards by a Shockwave from Jack. As he was in the air he was hit by a Warp from Shepard and Thane and another Incinerate program from Mordin. In the time they pulled that off I was able to rip my helmet off and biotically Scream at the krogan sending him into the railing of broken roads exit. I kept up the scream for a couple of seconds until the Krogan stopped trying to get back up.
When I was finally done screaming the Krogan slowly tried to push himself up but got a barrage of everything we had. An Incinierate, a Concussive Round, three Warps and a grenade and at the end of that the Krogan finally slumped down against the back of the railing dead and slowly being atomized.
"What the fuck?" Zaeed's gruff voice rang out as I slipped my mask back on. My voice was gone for the moment so I looked to Garrus and he nodded before he began talking.
"It's a drug we saw on Omega. We've been able to mostly get rid of it but it's dangerous; especially in the hands of the Krogan. Super rare so don't expect a lot of them to have it; only a few at best."
"And if it's not just a few then we may be dead," Jack answered.
"They still burn and they still die. Just don't let them get close," I rasped out as I started walking towards the entrance of the facility that we could all see now.
There was a bead of silence from behind me but they quickly started to follow. As we got to the entrance and stacked up on the door I looked to Mordin and got a nod. Once he gave me the go ahead I began to hack the door open and within a matter of moments the door was open and we were all through the door.
As we all piled into the room on the balcony in front of was three Krogan. The lead one went straight into his monologue and I couldn't be bothered to pay attention to him. It was just Krogan prattling about how we would die and how they were better. If you've heard one of those speeches you've heard them all.
I just waited until he wasn't looking at me and I fired my Mattock over his head at the pipe the gas flowing out. As per usual with Krogan he was blinded by something, either hubris or idiocy, and didn't notice the gas. Shepard did though and activated the incendiary rounds on his gun before firing at the pipe as well. It ignited the gas and burned all three of the Krogan to charred lizard within a few moments.
"See, they still burn," were my only words. Voice still a little raspy but nothing to worry about for now.
"Everyone, activate incendiary round's if you havent already," Shepard barked out. I didn't have that mod on my gun but now that I didn't that was a glaring weakness and something I would need to correct in the future. As for everyone else though they all had the mod and activated it on their guns.
Only problem with getting the incindiary ammo mod would be that I would have to switch guns. This Mattock wasn't compatible with them but it didn't have to reload and that was better than anything. Plus if I switched to the new Mattock it would be like shooting with the SCAR* from home from what I've heard. Massive firepower, but a short mag and regular jams. I'll stay with this Mattock thank you; it's my AK, a little less power than the SCAR but always reliable and with good power if less range.
Either way once everyone activated their mods we went up the stairs and Mordin sent a Cryo Blast into the torn open pipe freezing it. From there we pas the pipe and went into the room with myself at the head. With that I was instantly greeted by a Varren jumping up at me; I smacked it out of the way with my Mattock and put two holes in it's head before it could get back up.
At the sound of the gunshots and door opening the 15 krogan and 10 varren in the Hall on various levels of the balcony and all looked at us. Instantly it turned to chaos as shots erupted from every which angle but I reveled in this and took off to the right with Thane, Zaeed and Mordin hot on my heels.
We made contact with Varren first being unleashed by their handler at us. A quick combination of a grenade, an incendiary grenade, a Cryo blast and a Warp killed all four of the Varren that he had unleashed. At seeing his 'dogs' being killed so easily charged us and in the confined space I had no time to dodge.
He ran into me shoulder first knocking me back only a foot, I even felt less power from him. Either he was a weak Krogan or something was going on. Either way with way less space than he expected I reared back and headbutted the Krogan making him stumble back a couple of feet. At the space given to me I activated my Torch construct and jammed it into the Krogan's mouth as it burned through his helmet easily. He screamed for a moment before fell backwards dead.
We jumped over the body continuing on our way, Zaeed putting two more shots through the hole my construct had made just to be sure. Still as we ran along the edge of the hall staying clear of the balcony three Krogan ran to intercept us. We exchanged shots from the across the balcony as we both advanced on each other.
As we got to the corner where we would be within arm fighting range we stayed back just a bit so we didn't get into that position; never underestimate anyone. When they rounded the corner and lost track of us for a moment that's all we needed. Zaeed and I each prepping grenades in our hands as Mordin readied an Incinerate program and Thane a Warp.
Rounding the corner the Krogan all got a nasty surprise as everything that we had readied went up in their faces. My grenade tore the legs off one of them as it exploded right behind their feet. Another got set flame by Zaeed's incendiary grenade and was screaming the whole while and panicking. His panic sending him straight into the last Krogan and the incindiary properties stuck him as well setting his side aflame. This was compounded when Mordin's Incinerate and Thane's Warp hit the last Krogan as well and he dropped.
The other still aflame Krogan was still panicking though and in his panic fell over the edge all way down four stories and landed with a crunch on the ground. Looking over the edge quickly I saw that he had landed on his head and was sticking up from his squished head like a terrible mannequin.
Bringing myself back from looking over the balcony we continued on our way. Nearing the stairs Shepard, Jack and Garrus linked back up with us having finished their side of the level. Going down the next level through the stairs we were greeted by a Krogan running up them trying to get to us. Even in the small hall of the stairs all of us had enough room to maneauver and fire at will at the Krogan; he died in a second from all of our fire.
Continuing down the stairs we exited the stairs and split up the same as before heading to the next stairs on the opposite side of the hall. This level wasn't almost devoid of Krogan with only four on it, two on each side, and none of them stood a chance against us. We were a well oiled machine and absolutely tore through the Krogan. It might've been pathetic if they weren't going up against us.
That turned out to be a little cocked as after we killed the first Krogan on our side the other dropped below cover. Then all of us saw smoke rising up from where the Krogan was. Knowing what that meant we backed up as he came out of cover and all of us unleashed hell on the Krogan.
He got two grenades from me, an Incinerate from Mordin, an Incindiary grenade from Zaeed and a Warp from Thane. From there we still poured it on Krogan keeping up consistent fire shredding him but he kept coming, the wounds visibly healing as he continued towards us. We kept up the fire though and another Warp from Thane finally forced the fucker to his knees.
When he fell to his knees I sprinted towards him and grabbed his face with my augmetic draining the guy. The drain worked and the Krogan dropped dead but it was so nasty that I ripped my helmet off and wretched a couple times before recomposing myself. It was so much worse than the husks had been; like eating 20 day old pizza that had been left out in the open with a hint of muck.
Shrugging that off we continued on our merry way down to the next staircase and got greeted by five more Varren running out. With the small area they could travel they were easy to kill and when we did kill them we went down the stairs. Being greeted by another Krogan running up the stairs and like the last one on the stairs we mowed him down without a problem.
Going down the stairs we ran out over the last balcony and were greeted by the last of the Krogan, three of them. From their we just mowed them down and this time my confidence wasn't misplaced. None of them either had the drug or had the opportunity to bring it out and use it as we fought and killed them. Plus, there was only one of the Krogan on my groups side and we smoked him with combined fire.
After we killed them and I looked over to Shepards side to see the other two Krogan on their last legs and dead within a couple of seconds. Both to point blank shotgun blasts by Jack and Shepard I hit a pulse. I got only two signatures besides our group left in the area. Looking to Mordin I nodded my head and he gave me a grim one in return.
Once that was done and we regrouped we went down the final bit of the stairs. As we made it down the stairs blood was strewn about and on gurneys were the dead bodies of female Krogan. I couldn't really tell if they were or not but Mordin did almost right away. At seeing the bodies too he was horrified. It was evident on his face but he stayed quiet as we continued to push into the area.
Before going to the second signature that had to be Mordin's apprentice, Maleon, we stopped at the first one behind a door. Opening said door there was a Krogan scout bearing the Urdnot symbol on his shoulder. He looked up at us with dejection lining his face and said nothing.
"Get up, soldier. You're going to go home," Shepard spoke as we walked up to the Krogan.
"I am not worthy; I was caught and deserve this fate," Shepard stayed impassive at this before speaking again.
"You are Krogan soldier. Besides, who would you're women rather be with? A soldier or one who escaped an enemy encampment and returned home?" That lit a fire in the Krogan and he brimmed with determination before rising up from the ground.
"I am Krogan!" he shouted before running out of the room and we watched him run up the stairs. Thank god I had the keys for the truck on me otherwise he might've taken it.
Shaking our heads at the interaction we continued on our way and straight to Maleon. We were just about to pass the draped plastic whe-
Over here
I whipped around gun raised and looked around the room for anywhere the voice could have come from. The rest of the group reacted instantly at seeing my actions and too were scanning the room for anything. Hitting a pulse I nothing came up on the readings except for Maleon behind us. I'll worry about it later; looking to Shepard I tapped my ear.
"Thought I heard something move," he gave me a concerned look but held his mouth and nodded his head. He then gave me the signal and I went through the plastic sheets with my gun up ready for anything.
Mordin was right next to me and his reaction was completely impassive as he saw Maleon working on a keyboard. An already dead Krogan female on the table next to him. The rest of the group piled in skirting around the edges of the room leaving just Mordin, myself and Shepard directly behind Maleon.
"Maleon. Alive. Unharmed. No signs of torure… you did this. Willingly?" Maleon turned off the keyboard and terminal before turning around to face us.
"Yes. For such a smart man you never were one for morals; even as a so proclaimed doctor," Maleon sneered out.
"Whole team agreed. Project necessary. Krogan too unstable."
"How were we supposed to disagree with the great Doctor Mordin Solus," he sneered out as he waved his arms in a giant gesture before pointing an accusing finger at Mordin. "We are dooming an entire race to extinction, and a painfully slow one at that."
"TOTURE! EXPERIMENTS! LIVE SUBJECTS! PRISONERS! All your doing," I've never seen Mordin that infuriated but towards the end he deflated closing in on himself finding no one to blame but himself.
"We have the blood of millions if not billions on our hands doctor. If it takes a few more I'm more than happy to pay that price and so were they! They all volunteered," he shouted back at Mordin. "Besides, you taught me this! You taught me to be a monster!"
"I never taught you this Maleon. Inhumane, unjustified, corrupt."
"The end justifies the means. You said that to me once and now I'm using it to save this race. The only way I know how. And a Krogan explosion would've stopped the geth at Eden Prime, Saren never would've been able to do what he did. The Batarians wouldn't be able to do what their doing right now. The Krogans could've prevented all of this."
"Supposition. No way to be certain; justifying atrocities. Failure."
"Why use Weyrloc then? Clan Urdnot has a bigger camp and more people?" Zaeed asked.
"Urdnot Wrex is too weak. He would've never sacrificed his women for this. Weyrloc was willing to do anything."
"You used that against them… You killed an entire clan to achieve to get nothing," I spoke this time taking the words out of Mordin's mouth.
"You're wrong! You're all wrong!" Maleon screamed as he brought out his gun and started pointing it at everyone; whose guns were now all raised in his direction. "You just couldn't admit that your bril-"
Mordin moved the moment Maleon wasn't looking at him and decked him across the face simultaneously disarming the man. It was an incredibly impressive move in my opinion. As Maleon stumbled back into his terminal unarmed Mordin stalked forward anger clenching his whole body as he raised his own pistol and put it a few mere inches from Maleon's face.
"Unaccetable experiments. Unacceptable goals. Won't change. Have to kill you," before he could pull the trigger though as my mouth opened to interject Jack, of all people, beat me to it.
"Don't Mordin. He's not worth it; let it go."
"What he did here… No, have to. Only way to know."
"A doctor takes an oath Mordin," she continued and we all held our breath; she was learning from Shepard on how to kill while talking. "Be a better man than you were."
For a second I thought Mordin was still going to pull the trigger but he didn't. He lowered his weapon and pointed away and out the plastic hangings. Maleon took his chance and ran and as he did Mordin bowed his head in either shame or sorrow. I couldn't tell and it was weird to see the doctor like that.
"Sorry Commander. No kidnapping. Misunderstood mission parameters… Thank you Jack."
"You okay buddy?" Garrus asked showing concern towards our friend. Mordin spared a glance back at us and nodding before looking at the data before him.
"Maleon's research. Only loose end. Could destroy it, should destroy it… but still valuable."
"Keep it," I spoke gaining the attention of everyone in the room. I don't remember the consequences anymore to keeping or destroying the data but one thing I do know is that the only way the Krogan come to the table when the Reapers get here is with a cure to the genophage.
"Why?" was Mordin's only question.
"When the Reapers come it'll be the only way the Krogan come to the table to help everyone. We will need them, like it or not."
"Logic sound. Will keep data; perverse as it is," and that was that.
He downloaded the data and then we all left the room together as a group and not one person said anything. We made our way back to the truck walking past all the dead females along the way. Getting back to the truck we all piled in and I went to the drivers seat and took command driving us a lot smoother back to the base. Again we passed that fucking Threshar Maw and it chased us but against we outran it. Annoying.
As we got back to the base we were headed straight back to the Normandy but Shepard broke off from us going over to Wrex. He told us that we were going to be leaving and that he was just saying goodbye to Wrex. I sent a wave to Wrex but otherwise didn't join him as I headed straight back to the Normandy.
Getting onto the Normandy I went straight to my room. My augmetic was long overdue for some maintenance. Getting undressed in my room I set my helmet down on the desk next to me as I worked on my arm. It was somewhat therapeutic like when I worked on my weapons but it felt different this time. Like I was being watched.
They all burn huh?
That same voice from before I shot up from my chair in only my underwear preparing to fight looking frantically around the room. I saw nothing though and there was no one else in my room. Pushing my paranoia down I settled my racing heartbeat before I began to work on my arm again. It wasn't as therapeutic anymore.
Even you burn.
At hearing the voice again the welding tool I was working with to work on my arm slipped and burned a piece of my forearm. Ignoring the pain I grabbed my pistol and jumped up looking around the room heartbeat racing. Who the fuck could be in here but there was no one. Scanning around the room one more time my eyes landed on my helmet and it seemed to be staring deep into my soul with its eyes shining a dull red.
Everything Burns Aedon. Tell me, can you even remember your real name? My helmet seemed to say to me and for the life of me I couldn't remember my real name anymore. Hell I couldn't remember jack shit from my first life anymore. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. My old life is over. I am now Aedon Wynne, Torchbearer, Red Eyes. I am all three and more.
Good. Remember that; it'll save you and then it was gone the eyes of my helmet glowing a dim red before going completely dark. Fu- just then there was a knock on my door and I took a couple deep breaths before telling them to come in. Miranda opened the door, to my surprise, and looked at my body for a quick second before coming in and shutting the door.
"Wynne… I know we aren't the best of friends here but I have a favor to ask," I was silent for a few moments trying to remember what she had going on during this game but I couldn't remember… Was this even part of the game?
"Yes?"
"My little sister is-" I didn't need her to finish. We may not be the best of buddies on this ship with our constant needling of each other, 12-10 my favor, but I still remember what it means to be an older simbling. I know it.
"Say no more Miranda. I'll help," she looked shocked for a few seconds before recomposing herself.
"You will?"
"I know what being an older sibling is like. If your sister is in trouble I will help."
"Thank you Wynne. Thank you."
"Don't mention it Miranda," she gave me a nod then left the room. As she left Tali came into the room and even behind her mask I could tell she was sending me a raised eyebrow curious of what had just happened. I waved it off silently telling her it was nothing to worry about.
"You burned yourself Aedon. Let me work on your arm, you're aren't the best here," were her only words and I sat down at my chair as she brought over hers and started working on her arm. The whole time I could only stare at the unblinking eyes of my helmet as they stared back into me.
POV: Eschucivi Dashi
I sat there sharpening my blade on Illium waiting. I knew the boy would be here within the next couple of days at the very least but I had to wait just a little longer. For the perfect opportunity to strike; to send a message to him and to teach him a lesson. He needed lessons and I will be the one to teach him. No one can but me; especially with my daughter neglecting that part of his training.
As I worked on my sword though my eyes drifted to the ax that I had commissioned from a friend who owed me a favor. He was scared shitless when I showed up at his doorstep but he made me the weapon nonetheless. It was made of a meteoric alloy laced with Eezo; the strongest ax in all of creation. Just like the sword I had commissioned for my daughter, the one she thought she killed me with. Also the one she hasn't used since she 'killed' me.
I will gift him this ax when his first lesson has concluded as he is in need of it. He should be able to channel his biotics through it and become absolutely devastating. His ascension to the best of this generation would almost be assured with this this ax and that was the only way I would allow us to fight. The best of us with the best equipment against each other, no other way.
As I worked on my sword my terminal pinged that it had an incoming call. I hit deny and went about my merry way on my sword but then it opened regardless. On the screen was only a black face and nothing else. The Shadow Broker.
"I have heard you're back and that your handlers are running scared. Your services are needed," his modulated voice came through and at least he was polite about it but I wasn't in the mood and I wasn't back. That mercenary shit was just me having fun.
"You can shove it out your ass Shadow Broker," he was silent for a few moments before pictures of my daughter and her surrogate kid (the boy). Along with the grave of my husband.
"I wasn't asking," and neither was I being sarcastic you fuckface.
"You go after them or defile his grave and I will fucking murder you in the most heinous way possible. Those two are mine to kill."
"You have no power over me. I am all reaching and you can't touch me," oh you bet your ass I can you overgrown lizard.
"Hagalaz," was all I said and he immediately shut off the call. Serves you right fucker.
Still, when I saw the picture of my husband's grave it brought back memories. Ones I had thought long since buried and they hurt. They hurt so much to remember the man who had captured my heart. He was so much better than a monster like me ever deserved. Fuck… FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! I couldn't stop the tears.
POV: Juni T'Kari
I sat on the bed that Frank and I shared looking over pictures of my days with the Commandos. On some days I missed them but on most I didn't. No matter what happened they had given me Frank. They had given me a life beyond fighting and killing. A life that I would fight for and a life that they couldn't take away. Still, I did miss my team.
"Hey, can we talk?" I heard Frank ask as he entered the room. I simply nodded my head before tossing the datapad over my shoulder and looking at him.
"I know I've been angry at you recently and I'm sorry about that… It's just I thought we finally killed her and to see her still alive shook me."
"You aren't the only one Frank… You know I'll forgive you right?"
"I know but I still have to apologize for how I acted. It was immature and you don't deserve that. Especially after everything you've given me," I couldn't help but chuckle.
"You mean love? I'll always love you, you silly human," we both chuckled at that before he sat down next to me. We settled into a comfortable silence with me resting my head on his shoulder for a few moments before I spoke.
"I'm going to Illium to visit my fathers grave. It's been too long since I have."
"You want company?"
"No… I'll be fine, thank you though… I'd like a little bit of alone time though if you don't mind. I need to think on some things."
"Of course," he then kissed me chastly on the lips before leaving the room.
I sat still on the edge of the bed for the longest time looking out into space following his movements as he left the room. Frank saved me in so many different ways and I know I did the same to him… I guess that's what love really is. Not being unconquerable, not being unstoppable but always being there for your other half. Apolagizing when it's needed and being better when you need to. That's real love, being willing to work through all the hardships.
But as I returned to the land of the living I looked at my sword in the corner of the room. The sword my mother had gifted me, the sword that I had 'killed' her with. I miss my father, a good Quarian man who was better than all of us combined. I miss the mother that was a gentle creature and not what she has become. I will put a stop to it, she has gone to far.
And there it is folks. Everything has a beginning and everything has an end; you all will soon see. I love you all and you deserve every bit of this story. Almost 1k follows. Y'all are the best.
1*: SCAR: the SCAR was almost unanimously hated by the specops community for the very reasons that I mentioned. I don't know if they have improved upon it since I don't have the clearance (I'm working on that) but they all hated it. Super heavy, unreliable, and a small mag. It hit hard and was a killer but only when it worked, a lot of specops didn't like it. Or at least that's what my spec ops buddies tell me.