Disclaimer: The Mass Effect universe is the property of Bioware/Electronic Arts. No infringement of these copyrights is intended as this is a not for profit fan fiction work.
Rewrite Notes: Still inspired by the Beyonce song "Save the Hero," from the album I am…Sasha Fierce.
Author's Notes: How Jack wound up on Purgatory is related in the comic Mass Effect: Foundation #7. Also, Merry Christmas!
Revision History: 12/24/2017
Part 1: Ch 11::8 Days Post-Awakening: Korlus
It felt like a race Shepard thought as she made her way at a jog alongside the broken hull of some long derelict merchant ship, albeit one that thankfully the Blood Pack didn't yet realize they were running, to reach Warlord Okeer first. They would soon have to slow down again however, as they were drawing near to where they would start needing to slip their way in between the areas where the two mercenary groups were currently battling against one another to reach the site of Okeer's laboratory. That would be easier said than done she knew, especially since every successive glance at her tactical map, which EDI was keeping updated in real time, showed that the Ragar Kalo forces were being steadily pushed back towards the derelict freighter in question by the attacking Blood Pack.
That developing situation was exactly why they were currently jogging through this area instead of moving at a more cautious pace. Thankfully EDI's suggested route was proving to be just as deserted as the AI had calculated, or they would not dare move though here so openly. Shepard knew they had to keep moving toward their objective, and given the current tactical environment that essentially meant they needed to remain undetected for as long as possible. She hadn't exactly planned for this scenario, but the greatest risk she saw now was for them to be discovered by one or both groups and be pinned down by a much larger attacking force. They would probably have to retreat in that case to break contact, and that might cost them any chance of making contact with Okeer as she didn't know what the Blood Pack's plans were for him…provided he or his research was indeed their objective in the first place.
Due to the increasing risk of discovery, Shepard had asked EDI earlier to change her probe's observation post to different location almost opposite of where it had been located. As each minute passed the possible routes they could take to slip between the different groups of mercenaries all steadily converging on their target steadily decreased and the amount of risk in making such an attempt steadily increased. She was hoping that with EDI's help, and a new look on the matter - literally - she could find a different option for the team to enter the freighter than the original ground route. "EDI, how close are you to being in position?" she inquired of the AI as she slowed to a walk and the halted near the bow of the merchant ship currently providing she and Jack cover.
"I will be in position in one minute and forty-five seconds Shepard," EDI replied.
"Alright we'll just wait here then," Shepard decided and dropped to a kneeling position to take a breather and suck down a mouthful or two of energy-gel. She had switched out the lemon-lime for berry-mix this time around and was finding the berry tasting sweet gooey gel marginally easier to tolerate.
Jack came up behind her and crouched down on one knee and Shepard turned her head when she felt the lack of something only to be interrupted in her lecture by the convict, "Yea, yea I know no barrier. I was getting a headache from holding it. How in the hell are you keeping yours up all this time?"
"Regular hits on the energy-gel, you should probably take a mouthful every thirty minutes or so when maintaining a combat barrier," Shepard replied. Mind you she was currently being full of shit, Shepard thought to herself mirthfully, this was all of her second mission actually managing to maintain a barrier for the complete ops period and here she was sounding like a pro at it. Thalion's lecturing in the back of her mind about irresponsibility and shirking of duty, he was really as bad as any turian about it she mused, as well as the knowledge that she would be giving Jack an excuse not to maintain her own barrier, both did a naggingly good job at reminding her to maintain her own.
"If you usually wore something more than a strap for armor, you might already know about this Jack," Miranda chimed in with a saccharine sweet tone, "the dispenser is the second tube to the left."
"Says the woman who usually walks around in a suit that's so tight it's giving you a wedgie, or do you just like how that feels?" Jack immediately snarled back.
Miranda snarled back, "How…"
"Enough you two," Shepard interrupted the incipient argument even as her brow rose over the fact that apparently Jack had looked closely enough to notice. "Keep your focus on the mission," she sternly reminded them even as she could swear she heard a choked back laugh from Jacob.
"Shepard," EDI thankfully broke into the conversation, "the probe is now in position. I am scanning the surrounding area and updating your tactical map with the desired information."
"Thank you, EDI," Shepard responded and then said to the others, "alright let's see if we can find a backdoor into this place since the front yard has gotten so unexpectedly busy."
"Don't want to crash their party?" Jack snarked.
Shepard pulled up the newly updated tactical map, "Not until the party-goers ranks get thinned quite a bit more," she responded with a wry smile which of course Jack couldn't see due to the polarization of her helmet. She panned the map around taking a look at the route toward the rear of the crashed freighter. She knew what she was hoping to find, an entrance that wasn't the target of the Blood Pack, wasn't heavily guarded, and wasn't in the line of sight of any of the remaining Ragar Kalo lookouts still in place. Her grey eyes narrowed on the map and she zoomed in on a promising looking opening, then panned out adding in commands that drew line of sight arcs for the lookouts.
"Looks good," Jacob commented as they could see what she was doing, "if we swing out we might even be able to get there quicker than going the most direct route which would bring us closer to the fighting."
"Exactly what I was thinking," Shepard commented as she started to map out the possible route she had identified and Jacob had commented upon. Ten minutes later, having taken the longer route, but able to move quicker due to the lowered risk of encountering either mercenary group, the two teams were drawing near their new objective which was an opening near the upper part of the freighter that was out of the way of the current fighting taking place around the other side of the crashed ship. "Miranda, Jacob," she said as she highlighted an elevated location atop a crashed transport close by on the holographic tactical map, "move to this position and take up watch there while Jack and I make our ascent."
"Understood, Commander," Miranda acknowledged, "making our way there now."
Shepard pulled her binoculars from her utility belt and began examine the side of the freighter closer, planning out the ascent as she waited for the other team to get into position. She knew this would be a multi-pitch climb to make it to nearly the top of the fifteen-deck high ship. Shepard lowered her binoculars and re-attached them to her belt once she was satisfied she had the ascent planned out. Miranda and Jacob had informed her they were in place a few minutes ago, "Alright, getting ready to begin our ascent now." She reached over her shoulder and pulled the grappling gun free, checked that it was still synced and then targeted a spot on the hull about thirty meters up just above a walkway. This would be the first pitch on the ascent, from there they would use the walkway to make their way along to where they could make the second.
The higher they climbed the more Shepard had to fight against the instinct to tense up. She didn't even dare maintain more than the slightest of barriers out of fear of betraying their presence, especially as it was now tending toward nightfall and the sun was setting though the hazy murk lighting the sky afire with reds and oranges. Finally, they made it to their objective. Shepard carefully pulled herself alongside the opening they were going to enter and carefully glanced inside the empty oval opening where there had once been a pressurized lock. EDI had already verified that the small room beyond, which had probably once been a maintenance airlock, appeared to be empty, but it never hurt to double check before just blithely stepping inside. Once she was inside she immediately moved to the next opening which led to another larger room with two doorways. "Jack, I'm going to keep watch here while you keep watch over the outer door as Miranda and Jack make the ascent."
"Fine," Jack sounded irritated, but at least didn't argue with her.
"Starting our ascent now," Miranda informed them, "Should we remove the lines as we come up or leave them?"
"Remove them," Shepard responded after a moment of weighing the two options. Figuring the chances of them needing them was actually less than the possibility they would alert someone to their presence. Doubly so since everyone had their own emergency use personal rappel line with a magnetic lock they could use to descend up to 100 meters if needed, enough to just get them back to the ground.
Once all four of them were present, the two teams proceeded further into the freighter, winding their way to the midships stairwell and then cautiously heading down. Unfortunately, now that they were here, they had no intel at all on where exactly Okeer's laboratory might be located within the freighter. Therefore, Shepard was passively scanning for any sign of electrical usage, reasoning that where there was a laboratory there was probably a noticeable electrical draw on the otherwise stripped ship. She first noticed a signal on her scanner when they descended to the seventh deck then on the sixth deck they came upon the source, a bundle of thick electrical cables snaking up the stairwell from below.
"Finally," Jack commented, "follow these and we'll probably find this krogan."
"Shepard?" Miranda questioned over the comm channel.
"We found a bundle of electrical cables on the sixth deck, come on down," Shepard said as the other team was one deck up from them, "and we'll see where they lead." The thick bundle of electrical cables disappeared underneath a gaping space in the floor plates next to a wall and one of the few remaining intact doorways which also happened to be locked. Shepard lifted her omni-tool and scanned it then smirked, the locking mechanism and firmware must be as old as this decommissioned freighter. A minute later and she had it open, revealing a long rectangular room with a door at the other end and a large viewing window to the right. Various pieces of laboratory equipment were arrayed along the left-hand wall.
Shepard strengthened her barrier then cautiously glanced inside the room. "Asari," rumbled a deep voice and she whipped her gaze over towards the source, "then you are not here with the Blood Pack." The voice belonged to a massive krogan, fully as large as Wrex at over two meters tall and holding an krogan made Ruzad in his hands. Shepard eyed the evil-looking shotgun with its vicious looking underslung curved bayonet. Between her barriers, shields and armor she should survive the first shot from the powerful weapon, but she probably didn't want to give him time to fire twice. Thankfully it was a slow firing weapon so if he did fire she had a chance of flash stepping either away or closer. Closer though would mean she would have to deal with that bayonet on the end of the shotgun, not really the most appealing option. All of these thoughts went through Shepard's mind in a flash, "No, we aren't here with the Blood Pack," she activated her external speakers to respond, "we're here for information on the Collectors."
The krogan's eyes narrowed on her, "The Collectors…" he murmured thoughtfully, "so reclusive, and yet if you have what they desire so available. I traded many krogan to them for the technology I needed to finish my life's work."
She looked at the cloning tank next to him, recognizing it from those she had seen on Virmire, and at the young looking krogan male asleep inside it. "A krogan that's immune to the genophage?"
He took two quick steps forward to stand between her and the cloning tank. His weight vibrated the decking underneath her feet as he did so and his unexpected movement caused her to focus her thoughts on not only strengthening her barrier, but also making sure its energy field was perfectly formed to withstand the first blast from his Ruzad. "No, asari though both you and Garm seem to think so, this one soldier inflicts upon the genophage the greatest insult an enemy can suffer…to be ignored."
"Huh," Jack commented though their comm channel, "guess these asari helmets along with the blacked-out visors are actually working. He has no idea we're humans instead of asari."
"Even aliens see what they expect to see," responded Jacob, "and there are a lot more asari out here than humans, especially biotic humans. He'll just assume I'm one of the more muscular asari if he sees me."
"That's wild," responded Jack, "so all you Alliance types did this all the time out here? Pretending to be asari? Didn't the asari realize you weren't asari?"
"Yea we did," Jacob replied, "and yea they did, but mostly they didn't blow our cover."
"That's because they wanted to get in your pants," Jack remarked knowingly.
"Well…yea usually," Jacob agreed with a sigh that made the convict cackle with laugher.
Shepard ignored the banter behind her, as none of them had activated their external speakers everything was only broadcast though their comm channel so Okeer heard none of it. She glanced beyond Okeer to the long window behind him which revealed another room, one lined with more tanks. "So, you're creating a clone army for the Ragar Kalo?" She grimaced, this was looking more and more like what Saren had attempted on Virmire.
"No," Okeer responded to her surprise, "I have only given them my rejects. They are strong and healthy and that was all the mercenaries desired in trade for assisting me with my research." Before she could ask anything else he continued, "You may wish to continue this conversation asari, but Garm and his Blood Pack will be here very soon. They were in the process of killing off the last of the Ragar Kalo as you hacked your way through the door. If you are here for information about the Collectors, then I will tell you all that I know if you will stand beside me against him."
Shepard shut off her external speakers before asking, "EDI how thinned are their numbers?" She wasn't about to take on the Blood Pack without knowing their odds, even with the promise of gaining some information on how the Collectors operated.
"Seventeen krogan, including Warlord Garm remain as well as twenty-two of the vorcha, five of which are armed with flamethrowers," the AI promptly replied. "And he is correct they are in the process of eliminating the remaining Ragar Kalo. I estimate they will complete doing so within the next eight minutes, then they will likely enter the freighter to seek out Warlord Okeer."
"Not good odds," Miranda remarked, "we need to survive to get his information."
Shepard switched on her external speakers again, "The odds are against any of us surviving for you to give us that information against seventeen krogan and over twenty vorcha. A better idea might be to wake up your life's work here and we will call for an evac from the upper deck of the ship. Our scout estimates we have at least eight minutes before they enter the ship, the shuttles close enough to reach us in that timeframe."
His light brown eyes narrowed on her, "A generous offer," he responded as he finally lowered his shotgun. He turned toward the observation window, "But we have numbers equal to their own," he commented as he walked over to a control terminal inset into the wall. "Thirty of my failed krogan remain," he began punching in instructions, "their training is not complete, but it will suffice to allow them to defend themselves against Garm's followers."
That changed things Shepard decided, "Alright, in exchange for everything you know about the Collectors we'll help you out against the Blood Pack."
"He may seek to betray us afterward," Miranda warned her.
Shepard switched off her helmet's external speaker, "Some random asari mercenary group?" she pointed out. "Maybe, keep an eye out for it." The other three team members joined her as Shepard observed Okeer releasing the krogan in the other room from their tanks and then give them instructions to meet him below. They would go out to meet Garm instead of waiting for him.
"No reason to let him destroy my laboratory," he commented when he returned and she inquired about his choice of battleground. Finally, he turned to the cloning tank with the lone krogan within it, "This one, my prototype, is perfect, the cumulation of all my research." He turned to look at her, "The genophage kills thousands, but too many weaklings are allowed to survive because everyone is regarded as precious. But the genophage does not select for the strong, only for those capable of surviving it."
Shepard inclined her head in the asari way of indicating agreement, "So is he joining us in this battle?" After all his talk of the krogan needing to prove their strength she wondered if he were willing to risk his perfect soldier.
Okeer frowned at her, but then turned toward the tank and gazed at the armored figure within, "Strength is proven by defeating your enemies." He walked over to it and began typing in a sequence, then turned back toward her as the tank began rising to an upright position, "Let us see if you can do the same." Like the other cloning tanks, the clear bottom panel slid down while the top swing up releasing the krogan who fell forward onto his knees, coughing and expelling fluid from his mouth. It took the krogan a few seconds to recover enough to rise to his feet. Shepard wasn't certain how aware the young krogan was of his surroundings yet so she watched him closely. The others had simply waited for Okeer to give them orders. Sky blue eyes opened, that was startling. She didn't think she'd ever seen a blue eyed krogan before. She could see him focus first on her, then on the three asari-like figures behind her before shifting over to Okeer. His blue eyes narrowed on the older krogan in a look that made Shepard suspect the relationship between them was not exactly a father son one.
The Warlord chuckled at seeing it, "You want to prove yourself in battle," he challenged the younger krogan. "Warlord Garm comes with his Blood Pack seeking a cure for the genophage and to kill me. He won't be pleased when he finds out that you are my answer to the genophage."
Shepard crossed her arms, "Why does he want to kill you?" she broke into the conversation. This was starting to sound like it was more than just Garm seeking out Okeer because he had heard the other krogan was possibly working on a cure.
Okeer's swung his head around toward her, "We've both lived a long time, fought against one another more than once. We both have many reasons to want to kill one another." He turned back to the younger krogan, "The only thing you need to know is that if he succeeds he'll also destroy everything that I've created, that includes this lab, and you my prototype." Shepard noticed the younger krogan's blue eyes narrow briefly at being referred to as a prototype, and took note of it.
"I'll fight, but not for you, your clan or your enemies," the younger krogan responded, causing Okeer's light brown eyes to narrow into slits of anger. "I am trained," he continued, apparently either not noticing or not caring about the older krogan's anger, "I know things, but your imprints have failed they mean nothing to me. I feel no connection to them. I will do what I am bred to do, fight and determine the strongest. This Garm seeks to kill you," he waved one arm dismissively at the older krogan, "I care nothing about that, but I will fight him and determine who is the strongest between us," with that the younger krogan turned and stomped out after his fellow tank-bred.
"Shit," remarked Jack staring after him, "I don't know if he's just stupid or brave."
"Or stupidly brave," Miranda added, and for once Jack didn't anything more than grunt in response to her comment.
"Congratulations, Okeer, you have a…" Shepard just stopped herself from saying teenager, "young maiden, would you like us to go make sure he remains alive long enough to develop some wisdom to go along with his attitude?" Jack barked out a laugh at her comment.
"Insolent pup," Okeer growled, then looked over at the tube, "I must re-examine my conditioning program."
"Brainwash him you mean," snarled Jack.
Shepard ignored her even thought she was a bit disturbed by the idea as well, "Perhaps we should deal with Warlord Garm first," she suggested to the older krogan.
He swung toward her, "Indeed, then you shall have the information you sought from me."
They stepped outside into pure chaos, clusters of krogan and vorcha struggled and fought in close quarters combat with one another while others took shelter behind whatever piles of scrap they could to exchange weapons fire. The bodies of several vorcha and a few krogan in Blood Pack marked armor lying upon the muddy ground indicated that Garm's force had not been expecting any further resistance after they dealt with the Ragar Kalo. Unfortunately, it was equally obvious from the number of dead tank-bred krogan surrounding the remaining Blood Pack forces that once they had regrouped, Garm's remaining forces were more than a match for Okeer's cloned forces. Time to even those odds then, decided Shepard, "Stay in your teams," she instructed, "pick your first targets on the edges and let's kill some Blood Pack slavers." She turned toward Jack, "Chose your target and I'll back you up," she knew the tattooed woman had been itching for some combat so this seemed the easiest way to let the other woman work out her aggressions.
"Shit, no kidding?" at her quick nod the convict took little time in choosing a target to attack, "fine, him." Jack quickly chose a Blood Pack krogan about to kill a tank-bred with his shotgun and let lose a strong biotic push in the krogan's direction. The biotic attack knocked the krogan back, spoiling his aim and sparing the young clone. Shepard followed up Jack's initial attack with a lift, leaving the Blood Pack krogan flailing helplessly in the air until another biotic attack by Jack de-stabilized it, causing a biotic explosion. Drawing her rifle, Shepard flash stepped forward and put a few rounds into the now heavily bleeding krogan's head, killing him.
The billowing of a reddish orange rush of flame over to her right drew Shepard's attention, "We need to take out that flamethrower," she said to Jack, "you have two grenades?"
"Yea," the tattooed woman said as she handed them over. The vorcha flamethrower unit was completely focused on the tank-bred they were fighting, so Shepard didn't even bother to be stealthy. She flash stepped to a position close enough behind group of five and tossed the two grenades, one set to fragmentation and the other to incendiary. Between the two of them, not even the vorcha's famed regenerative powers should keep them alive. The first grenade exploded shredding though the vorcha and setting off the flamethrower tank whose fiery explosion blended in with the explosion of the incendiary grenade. Nothing moved after and when Shepard saw the tank-bred they had been attacking moving in and putting rounds into each of the vorcha's bodies she decided to just let him deal with it. The two of them continued like that for another few minutes, Jack proving that she had a good eye for picking out targets of opportunity: A Blood Pack krogan too focused on a tank-bred he was fighting got treated to another lift push de-stabilization combo from Shepard and Jack, and a group of vorcha found themselves lifted into a singularity followed up by a warp to de-stabilize it. Miranda and Jacob seemed to be just as successful, and from what Shepard could tell the numbers of the remaining Blood Pack were now once again even with Okeer's tank-bred clones. Their odds of surviving this battle seemed to be getting better.
Unfortunately, their success also meant that the Blood Pack had taken notice of them now that they had killed four of their seventeen remaining krogan in the past ten or so minutes. She and Jack ducked into cover behind a piece of broken off hull driven deep into the ground as they came under suppressive fire from Garm's main group of krogan. She looked to the side trying to decide if she could perhaps charge to a better supportive position and noticed Okeer in the process of finishing off another of the Blood Pack krogan. "EDI can you give me a sitrep, how is everyone doing?"
"Ten krogan and twelve vorcha remain…ten vorcha remain," the AI corrected, "of the Blood Pack forces. Sixteen of Okeer's krogan clones and his prototype remain as well as Warlord Okeer himself. Miranda and Jacob are 22.5 meters away from you at your ten o'clock and are also in cover and fixed in place by Blood Pack forces." They were losing their momentum and with it their initiative, realized Shepard, she eyed again a position about fifteen meters away that would allow her to make her way out of sight to a position on top of a pile of rubble. The last bit would be rough going but once up there she would be in an excellent position to drop a few surprises right in the middle of Garm's position.
"Jack give me all but six of your remaining grenades," Shepard said, and then accepted the eight hockey-puck sized grenades the other biotic handed over.
"What are you planning on doing?" the convict asked her.
Shepard pulled up the tactical map, "I'm going to charge here," she marked it, "then here and here," she marked each successive charge, "then make my way to this location and drop a few party favors on Garm's position. Do your best to make it seem like I'm still here, with any luck they won't notice one of us is missing until its too late."
"Hell yea I can make enough noise for two," Jack assured her, sounding rather enthusiastic about the idea.
Shepard nodded then took a calming breath, carefully focused on what she needed to do, formed the beginning of the tunnel, reduced her mass and then charged across the fifteen-meter distance. She came out exactly where she had planned, her barrier tightly wreathed around her body as she took a few running steps before slowing down as she planned out her next move. In the meantime, she sucked out a mouthful of energy gel, she didn't want to wind up low on energy at the end of these charges. Alright, she focused on the next position she needed to reach, formed the tunnel, reduced her mass, and charged again. Five minutes and one more charge later and she was now almost across from Jack on the other side of the Blood Packs entrenched position. Jack was indeed keeping their attention, keeping up a series of rather noisy shockwaves though she had to duck back into cover in between each one to let her shields fully regenerate. Shepard started climbing up the rubble, picking her away up the pile of wires, struts and deck plating while testing each step to make sure she wasn't about to send some piece noisily sliding down to give away her location.
She was a bit over midway to the top of the pile when Jacob shouted over the comm channel, "Grenades! Hit the deck!" Shepard swore as she heard the sound of explosions, though the volume was safely muted by the VI in her helmet so as not to deafen her and gave up all pretense at stealthiness in favor of speed. Besides the krogan wouldn't hear her anyway as she couldn't even hear herself moving over the sound of the explosions. Apparently the krogan had been holding their grenades in reserve and for whatever reason decided that now was the perfect time to use all of them at once. Just as she pulled herself up to the piece of plating she had spotted from the other side the sound of explosions ceased though the sound of weapons fire did not. Shepard was concerned, but she hadn't yet gotten any alerts about anyone's vital signs so they were obviously still alive and at least relatively unhurt.
"Krogan charging!" that was Jack.
Shepard scowled as she crawled forward, "EDI sitrep what's happening?" she wanted to hurry, but drawing attention to herself at this point was not a good idea at all.
"Warlord Garm as well as six other krogan have rushed out of their position to directly engage Warlord Okeer and his remaining clone forces as well as Jack, Miranda and Jacob. The remaining four krogan and ten vorcha are providing supporting fire for them," the AI immediately responded. That meant all of the Blood Pack forces were fully engaged with the battle in front of them realized Shepard. Deciding to take a chance, she rose to one knee so she could see what was happening below. She took one encompassing glance, processing the entire scene. Jack was being pressed by one krogan while Miranda and Jacob had their own to deal with, and in the center the two Warlords were engaged in close quarters combat, Okeer with his Ruzad and Gram with a Claymore that also had a bayonet attached, viciously dueling it out with one another. She couldn't see where Okeer's prototype was currently, hopefully the young krogan was still alive otherwise their bargain with the Warlord might be in jeopardy.
She leaned forward, looking almost straight down at the Blood Pack forces remaining in their defensive positions firing upon her team members. She noted the enemy's arrangement and more significantly, the fact that though the defensive position the Blood Pack had chosen provided excellent cover along the outer sides, it was also completely clear in the middle, meaning there was nothing to protect them from the grenades she was about to drop on them. Shepard didn't take the time to setup the grenades with her omni-tool instead pulling one stack of four from their container on her belt, hand setting two of them and then promptly tossing them into the densest cluster of vorcha below. She didn't bother to check the result of the dual explosions, having primed two more grenades and lobbed them over the edge toward where two of the Blood Pack krogan were standing almost back to back firing from the same cover. By now the Blood Pack below were very aware they were under attack and from where, but Shepard didn't move, only strengthened her barrier as she grabbed the second stack of four grenades and continued her attack. As she tossed the last of those four grenades she paused a moment waiting for the explosion, then rose to her feet and reached over her shoulder for her rifle as took a step forward. She looked down to see the results of her attack. Carnage…eight fragmentation grenades all dropped in the same five by four-meter area did a lot of damage to everything within their radius. Blood, mud and body parts were splattered everywhere, making for a very gruesome display that Shepard did her best to ignore out of long practice, instead searching for any sign of remaining movement.
There was some movement, but not much, and she took a moment to check on her team. Her attack seemed to have allowed them to regain the initiative. Jack was lit up with her biotics as she went toe to toe with the krogan attacking her, hitting him hard enough to slam him backward with every blow. Even as she watched he slipped and went down to one knee giving Jack an opening which she instantly took; slamming a hand, which glowed white with biotic energy, down upon his head. Given the way the krogan's body jerked and then slumped, Shepard suspected he was dead, and if he wasn't she had faith Jack would fix that in a moment so she shifted her attention to Miranda and Jacob. The krogan that had been attacking them was dead on the ground in front of their position, and they were now focusing their fire on another. As for Okeer and Garm, Shepard's eyes narrowed as she focused on the battle between the two Warlords. It didn't look like Okeer was doing that well against the other krogan, Garm was slightly larger as well as quicker and unless Okeer fought very smartly he wasn't going to win. No sooner had she thought this than it happened, Garm managed to slip in underneath Okeer's guard, driving the bayonet on his shotgun though the older krogan's armor and into his gut. Everything seemed to freeze for a moment, including the two battling krogan then Garm viciously twisted his weapon back and forth inside Okeer. Shepard shuddered a bit at the sight, then began firing at Garm in the hope of maybe saving the older krogan's life as well as the information he was supposed to have for them. Garm's barrier held against her shots however, and then Garm fired the Claymore shotgun point blank into the older krogan before withdrawing the bayoneted end of it and putting the next shot right thought the older krogan's helmet and into his head.
Shepard let out a sound of angry frustration at the sight, all of this and now nothing to show for it.
"Err," Jacob commented, "Okeer's dead."
"Damn it," Miranda cursed.
"Well shit," was Jack's addition.
Something about the commentary caused Shepard to snort with a sense bitter sense of humor, "Kill Garm, and the rest of the Blood Pack and maybe we can get something out of his laboratory computers." She spared a second to double check the charnel pit below, one figure was now moving, a single krogan who had somehow survived was rising to his feet. She shifted her aim, fired, his shield generator had obviously been damaged because nothing stopped her rounds from penetrating his armor and in another few seconds his body joined the others. She looked up, movement out to the left caught her attention. She turned her head and her pale grey eyes widened to seek Okeer's prototype charging straight for Garm who was heading straight for Jack's position evidently having decided she was the easiest target to take out next.
The younger krogan managed to stagger the older as he slammed into the larger krogan, but Garm quickly regained his balance and whirled around to face his new attacker. That stopped him from advancing upon Jack, but now the two krogans were so close that they had to be careful to not hit the younger one while firing upon the older. Okeer's prototype held his own for a while, trading blow for blow, then Garm managed to bat aside the smaller krogan's weapon and promptly whipped his weapon around, slamming the butt end of his shotgun into the younger krogan's helmet. The tank-bred krogan staggered from the blow, and Garm unhesitatingly followed it up with another and another, not letting the younger krogan recover his balance. Garm lifted his Claymore and smashed it down onto the prototype's helmet, knocking the younger krogan to his knees. The Warlord followed up with another hard cross strike to the younger's helmet, this time knocking the tank-bred to his back on the ground in front of the Warlord.
Shepard knew what was going to happen next and this time she wasn't going to let it. Her eyes narrowed as she focused her attention on the Warlord and she charged, coming out of the corridor she already had her arm raised as if bearing a shield and she was, just not one of metal, but one of mass effect fields as she slammed into the massive krogan sending him to his knees beside the younger krogan who was struggling to get back on his feet. Garm roared angrily in response. The first sign that he had turned on his external speakers and had probably been taunting his opponents this entire time, but she had been too far away to hear him over the general din of the battle.
She instantly strengthened her barrier as she let Thalion's memories rush forward in her mind, the dragahîr seemed to almost stretch out within her body as he/she raised a barrier shielded arm to block and repulse the krogan's first attack as he pushed himself backward probably hoping to knock whomever had attacked him off balance. Instead her counterattack sent Garm once again to his knees on the muddy ground. He/she had no intention of letting him rise, therefor he/she stretched out her hand and pushed down upon the krogan, increasing his mass until he was struggling just to not go face down into the mud. Then he/she stepped forward and placed his/her rifle into the joint of the krogan's helmet and pulled the trigger and kept it pulled until the weapon overheated and needed its heat sink replaced. Garm didn't move, but just to be sure he/she drew upon their biotic energies, letting the dark energy flow though and strengthen his/her body and then slammed a powerful strike into the beast's helmet that was powerful enough to not only cave it in, but also drive the helmet into the soft ground underneath. He/she stepped back, his/her barrier wreathed about his/her body and looked again, the krogan did not move, there was no sign of life to it.
The younger krogan finally managed to struggle to his feet and then unexpectedly charged him/her. Annoyed Thalion/Shepard braced himself/herself and raised one arm just in time to repulse the attack sending the tank-born krogan reeling back. He/she followed it up by stepping forward and snapping a dark energy wreathed fist into the young krogan's body which sent the clone to his knees. Recalling that the krogan was not a biotic, Thalion/Shepard reached out her hand and lifted the helpless tank-bred krogan into the air. He/she then reversed the mass effect field and sent beast slamming into the ground. He/she held the krogan there, steadily increasing the dark energy field upon the creature to press the life from the foolish thing's body.
Amanda struggled back into control of her own body, keeping the memories of Thalion from outright killing Okeer's prototype. Finally feeling that she was once again in full control of herself, Shepard released the mass increasing field upon the clone before she actually did kill him. "I would strongly advise you not to attack me again," she informed Okeer's prototype as he finally struggled to his feet. Shepard kept a wary eye on him as she stepped back and glanced around the battlefield, with the Blood Pack leader's death it looked as if they were about done with the battle. "EDI, sitrep please."
"Only two of the Blood Pack krogan remain alive and they are attempting to retreat toward their transport ships," the AI informed the team, "they are being pursued by the remainder of Okeer's forces, of which there are only four remaining besides the prototype."
Shepard's eyes narrowed in thought, "EDI can you jam the transport's ships transponders until we can disable them?"
"Yes Commander," the AI promptly replied.
"I want those transports," she announced thinking of the budget Miranda had bewilderedly informed her of just before they left on this mission, "We're not going to let them reach them." As they left, Okeer's prototype followed them, and Shepard kept an eye on him as they tracked down the two remaining Blood Pack members and killed them before they could escape. "EDI jam the transports transponders," she ordered the AI, then turned toward Jacob, "You can pilot right?" she asked him.
"Yes, I can," he responded, "we hiding these until the Blood Pack cruisers leave?"
"That's the idea," Shepard confirmed as she headed toward one of the five Blood Pack transports, "quickly now let's get these somewhere else before they come looking for them." She called in the shuttle pilot, Crewman Mark Smith, and had him land the shuttle inside one of the freighter's cargo bays before helping them move the last of the transports. Even with his help they just managed to get all five of the ships moved before one of the cruisers finally reacted to losing contact with Warlord Garm's forces, but also their transport ships by moving into orbit of the planet to scan for their location.
They were hunkered down inside Okeer's freighter while waiting for the Blood Pack to give up their search when Shepard decided that enough was enough and it was time to confront Okeer's prototype who had been trailing along behind them for all this time. "You," she crossed to where the young tank-bred was standing watching them, "you're lucky I didn't kill you for attacking me," she informed him. Really lucky, Shepard thought to herself, thinking warily of how demeaningly Thalion had thought of the young krogan, calling him a creature and a beast. "Why are you still following us?"
"You proved your strength against me, yet allowed me to live. Why?" the blue eyed krogan asked her.
Shepard sighed, "Because your young, and I don't make a habit of killing the young."
The clone's blue eyes narrowed, "You think I am unworthy to fight."
She shook her head, "I think that whatever Okeer tried to teach you while you were within that tank is no replacement for experience itself. You're not unworthy, just untested and I don't feel like cutting your life short before you get a chance to actually see what you might be capable of attaining." She shrugged, "Maybe I'm just curious."
The prototype appeared to be considering what she had just told him. "I know things," he finally responded, "but they were not enough for me to defeat Garm or you. Okeer's clan and enemies mean nothing to me. Without a reason that's mine, one fight is as good as any other. Let me join your krantt and I will fight your enemies alongside you."
This…she had wondered if that was what he was after, but hadn't been certain. "What's your name, I won't call you prototype."
The tank-bred didn't reply for a long moment then mumbled to himself, "Warlord, legacy, grunt…." The krogan paused for a second, "Grunt was among the last, it has no meaning, it'll do." His still startlingly blue eyes focused on her, "I am Grunt."