Chapter 62: A Krogan's Wrath

Jack had never experienced being at the receiving end of a Krogan's charge, even during the Blitz, Kal had taken the honor of that job because of his speed. Today though, they didn't have that luxury since multiple Krogan were running through the hole they just created intent on killing everyone. With his ears still ringing from the explosives, Jack struggled to roll out of the way of the Krogan coming at him. He was just a second too slow and the 8' tall behemoth was able to grab his arms and toss him into one of the stone pillars supporting the building. The Krogan was on top of him a moment later pinning him to the wall. Mordin was far more lucky, getting up to his feet faster and throwing a cryo grenade down in front of the other five Krogan coming into the room. They slipped along the ice making for a comical sight if the situation wasn't so serious.

Mordin took the opportunity to take cover behind another pillar and was shooting around it. At first, Jack just assumed he had wildly bad aim because of the combination of the fall and the explosion since he was missing all of the Krogan on their back. Then, he realized Mordin was shooting at the ceiling hole they fell through trying to kill the mysterious Turian who shot Maelon between the eyes. While Jack felt like they had much bigger problems right now with the Krogan literally breathing down their necks, he understood the anger. Maelon had been one of Mordin's top students judging by their conversation. So, even though he had seemingly lost his way from what Mordin preached, the doctor would've wanted to teach him why he was wrong, not kill him. The Turian avoided the shots but, still lingered at the hole watching this play out.

The main Krogan held Jack to the pillar with one large hand while pointing a claymore shotgun barrel to his chin with the other, "Surrender Human, I might just let you live that way."

Jack was pushing his own assault rifle into the Krogan's stomach, "I could say the same thing to you. I want to talk to whoever's in charge."

The Krogan with orange hide and a dark blue crest laughed, "Good thing for you then that I'm in charge now. Talk, why are you here?"

Another familiar Krogan voice came booming from the door, "You can keep dreaming about being in charge Wreav but that doesn't make it so. The Human wanted to talk with who's actually the leader. Go check on the Salarian, he looks hurt."

Wreav growled in his face before kneeing him in the gut and marching towards Maelon's body. Jack was trying to come up with a story for Maelon's death that wouldn't get him killed in the next few seconds only to see Wrex staring at him. The Krogan looked no different from the day he last saw him on the beach of Virmire except he was surrounded by other Krogan. He didn't seem like the type to want to be leader of a Krogan clan but, he probably didn't have a choice when he brought the cure for the Genophage back to Tuchanka. A cure that Jack helped ensure would now never see the true light of day unfortunately. Jack wondered how many Krogan children could've been born in the short time between Virmire and Mordin's modifications. No matter what happened, Mordin had to make it out of here, the Collectors still had to be dealt with.

Wrex marched towards him with his own shotgun in hand, "I always said you'd make a fine Krogan Shepard. Surviving getting launched into space only proves me right. What are you doing here?"

Before he could answer, Wreav snarled, "Killing our Doctor apparently. The one you promised would fix your cure!"

Wrex surprised him by giving him an expression of hurt and betrayal, "Why would you do that Shepard? We have absolutely NOTHING to do with your Reapers! NOTHING!"

Jack kept his gun low thinking that they could maybe talk about this, "I can explain everything to you if you just let me-"

A biotic blast through the pillar he was pinned to cut him off, "We were having children again for six months! SIX MONTHS! And did we take advantage of you? Did we declare war on you? Have we done anything but try to survive?! NO! The Salarian was just fixing a wrong."

Jack stumbled to his feet only to get blasted with the shotgun. Thank God for palladium armor but, it wasn't going to be able to take too many direct hits like that. He let the momentum of the hit knock him through another wall so he could use a corner for cover, maybe try and copy what Kal did with the other Krogan earlier. When they landed on Tuchanka he had hoped that his team could've avoided Wrex and just save Maelon, too bad that wasn't an option anymore. Wrex had been an important part of his crew, without him they wouldn't have found Liara in time. It was clear now though that only one of them was getting out of here.

The Krogan yelled from the other side of the wall, "Your not even going to say anything?! You are a COWARD just like the rest of the Citadel population."

He was about to say something when a Krogan leg started coming through the hole he was hiding behind. Jack kicked his foot forward to take out Wrex's knee and rolled around the corner expecting him to fall so he could shoot him in the head. However, it was another Krogan that had actual armor on his knees so the kick did nothing. Since the Krogan didn't fall down his assault rifle went off at around the heavily armored waist. The Krogan laughed before grabbing the barrel of the rifle and used his grip to throw Jack back into Maelon's lab. Jack lost his own grip and landed at Wrex's feet. He was in trouble surrounded by five angry Krogan all blaming him for their inability to have children anymore. Mordin wasn't doing any better being held above Wreav's head, it looked like he was going to break the Salarian in half.

Kal's voice was in his ear, "Close your eyes in three...two...one."

The Quarian was sliding across the ice Mordin created earlier with a flashbang in one hand and a dagger in the other. Jack curled up into a ball pretending to try and shield himself from Wrex's foot as the flashbang went off above his head. As soon as the flash exploded, Jack saw Kal was continuing his slide between Wrex's legs only to slice up one of the Krogan's exposed ankles with his dagger. He rolled out from his slide and grabbed Jack's rifle to pass it back to him. Jack immediately started firing at Wreav's arms so he would drop Mordin while presumably Garrus was sniping the other Krogan around him. Wreav howled but, instead of just dropping Mordin, he hurled the Salarian at him and charged. Mordin toppled them both to the ground along the ice, luckily, Kal was still standing to spin around the charge only to stab him across the gut. He seemingly ended the fight by placing his pistol to the back of Wreav's head.

Wrex was breathing heavily on one knee staring at them, "I forgot...your boyfriend...had a quad Shepard."

Jack helped Mordin to his feet with a frown looking back to the Krogan, "It's over Wrex..I'm sorry I can't help your people right now but, I have bigger problems."

Wrex chuckled dangerously low, "It's always the same with you types. We'll wait and see or, it's not convenient for you to want to have kids right now. I am SICK of waiting."

Mordin had a smug tone as he dusted off his lab coat while getting up, "This kind of behavior exactly why we deployed Genophage. Instead of talk, immediately jump to murder."

Jack glared at him, "Now isn't the time, get back to the ship." He kneeled down in front of Wrex, "I truly am sorry for what's happening to your people but, your going to let us go now. When the galaxy is safe, I promise I'll do everything in my power to help you."

Wrex clearly wasn't backing down, getting in his face, "And what happens if I say no?"

Kal clicked off the safety for dramatic purposes, "I'll have to blow your friends head off."

Wrex just laughed at him, "Go ahead, you'd be doing me a favor. My brother has been a pain in my ass for years."

Wreav glared back in his direction, "I kept this clan together while you were doing whatever a mercenary does. Don't throw me out like the trash."

Wrex rolled his eyes sarcastically giving Jack an almost playful expression, "See what I mean?"

Jack was about to shoot him when Wrex used his crest as a battering ram to knock him backwards. At the same time, he used his biotics to try and hurl Kal out the window into Tuchanka's night sky. If this had been two years ago, Jack would've just grabbed him with his own biotics and they wouldn't have a problem. The bad news was this was now and he didn't have biotics. He jumped at Wrex to break his concentration hoping it would be enough to stop Kal from having to fall a few thousand feet. The sound of shattering glass was easily recognizable but, so to was another biotic warp. To his surprise, Kai Leng had caught Kal with the biotics in his sword and brought him safely to the ground. His confusion had to be all over his face, once again the assassin had the opportunity to kill one of them and instead saved his life? Wrex took the moment of distraction to kick him across the room.

Miranda used her own biotics to stop him from getting impaled by a piece of metal, "Glad everything is under control."

Jack rolled his neck around and grabbed his rifle, "It is now, we need to get out of here."

He watched as Leng actually helped Kal back to his feet, "I see you and Shepard have the same definition of under control."

Wrex used his shotgun as a walking stick, "I'm not letting you leave Shepard! Your going to PAY for what you've done to the Krogan!"

Leng tapped his sword off of the floor, "I'll handle him, meet you back on the Red Rose. The two Drell were taking the Salarian so they'll be waiting."

With his back turned, Jack considered shooting him in the spine. Even though he had been professional since landing on the Normandy, Jack could feel it was just an act. He hadn't suddenly developed a change of heart or turned over a new leaf. It was obvious to him at least that Leng was just playing the part of 'loyal' operative just long enough to get whatever he wanted. As his finger was just starting to squeeze the trigger, Leng's sword energized with a red glow and he ducked under one of Wreav's messy punches. While he was moving his body downwards at a ninety degree angle, the tip of his sword casually flicked across his neck. The crackling eezo slit Wreav's throat like butter by the time Leng was back to his feet. Jack had to admit that when he wasn't full of hatred and rage, Leng was a skilled fighter.

Miranda grabbed both his and Kal's aimed weapons before whispering, "The longer we try and fight the higher the chance that more Krogan wake up and stop us. If we leave right now there's a chance we can leave him behind."

Jack looked to Kal who was clearly struggling with the decision, "She's right, we can't risk getting trapped here."

He felt a chill run down his spine when a boney Turian finger tapped his shoulder, "Your not going anywhere Shepard, because your all under arrest for starting a war with the Terminus Systems."

Jack was about to swing around for a punch only to see a dozen more Turians deploy out of stealth similar to Kasumi. He had forgotten about the Turian lurking in the upper hole because of his fight with Wrex and Wreav. His mind was racing trying to figure out a way to get out of this but wasn't coming up with anything. They could fight this out if he knew how many Turians were here, as it stood fighting was suicide. The combination of the Krogan and Turian forces practically guaranteed someone would get hurt in the crossfire, he didn't need that right before attacking the Collectors. Jack felt the best chance to get out of this involved convincing the Turian crew to let them go to deal with the Collectors. This was probably the luckiest day the Turian was ever going to have in his military career, not only had he stopped a Salarian from curing the Genophage, he also was going to capture Jack.

Wrex caught Leng with his biotics only to yank him into a closeline on the ground, "I deal with you in a moment Turian, I have to kill the pyjak who just murdered my brother."

Leng let the momentum of the closeline spin his body three hundred and sixty degrees to land back on his feet, "We're not done yet Krogan. But, how about we kill them together?"

Wrex gave him a feral grin, "Don't expect me to carry all the weight...Human."

The Turian sighed and grabbed his radio on his armor, "Contain these idiots please."

Leng and Wrex started charging at them from the other end of the room with the Krogan having a serious limp. Jack would've pulled the main Turian out of the way knowing he was Leng's target for whatever reason but, the man stood perfectly still as the charge was coming at him. Biotic whips shot from the rafters wrapping around the limbs of both men. He realized that the Turian had been so quiet during the battle because he was setting up his squad for a takedown. They were most likely here on an assassination mission to kill Maelon only for Jack Shepard to land in his lap. It was impressive they were able to adapt so quickly to changing mission perameters. Once again, Jack was tempted to push past the Turian in front of him to shoot at a tied up Leng only to think better of it. The Turians were more likely to listen to what he had to say about the Collectors if he wasn't grabbing his gun to kill another prisoner.

Kal leaned in to whisper, "I hope you have a plan because I can't think of one that doesn't get us killed or locked up."

Jack gave him a cocky smirk whispering back, "Well, hopefully we can talk our way out of this. Otherwise, your going to have an orange jump suit as a new fashion choice."

The Turian tapped his radio again, "Take the Human and let's get out of here."

Wrex roared trying to free himself from the ropes, "Those are my prisoners you asshole! They killed one of my people!"

The Turian got very close to Wrex since he was tied up, "You aren't going to tell anyone that we were here. You wanna know why?"

Wrex spat on the black and red armor, "Why?"

The Turian was painfully smug as Leng's whips pulled him towards the ceiling where another Turian was waiting, "Because if you do, we have proof you were trying to find a cure for the Genophage which goes against the Tuchanka Accords. Meaning we could bomb your planet back to the stone age and there wouldn't be a damn thing you could do about it."

Wrex snarled literally trying to bite his armor, "This isn't over. All of you are going to pay for this!"

The Turian did a circling motion with his hand, "Come on let's go, we're already late enough on the meet up as it is."

Another Turian approached Jack with handcuffs, "Put these on and we won't have any trouble."

Kal looked to him questioningly so he bowed his head, "We don't want to cause you any harm. My crew will cooperate until we can discuss this in a private setting."

Jack couldn't help but look around him and notice Garrus wasn't captured like the rest of them. It wasn't perfect but, he knew Saren, Garrus, Kasumi, Tali, Zero, Rael, and Legion could take down the Collectors. That was the worst case scenario though, especially since the Reapers were still out there gathering strength for a strike. The only person with enough credible information on the Reaper's existence was Saren and The Illusive Man but, due to their reputations it was a poisoned well. His one hope to stay in the fight with the Reapers was to convince the Turian in charge they were real. That had gone so well for him all the other times he thought sarcastically to himself. However, if he would be allowed to communicate with the Normandy, he could order EDI to transfer all the data she grabbed from Sovereign and the Collector dreadnought.

His hopes faded when he saw another Turian dragging Garrus towards the group of them, "Sir, we found another Turian sniper in the rafters... He requested to speak with you personally sir."

The lead Turian stared at Garrus, "Are you going to try and beg for forgiveness because you joined a terrorist? The Ninth Platoon doesn't care about any excuses a random mercenary might have for picking the wrong side."

Garrus gave Jack a worried glance before taking a deep breath, "I'm not just some random mercenary, my name is Garrus Vakarian, son of Castis Vakarian and hero of the Citadel. I'm requesting me and my companions have an audience with your commanding officer before you turn us over to the Alliance."

The leader bit on his lower lip with a glare, "That is your right and I have to accept, but I'm not letting anyone out of restraints."

Garrus gave a fake smile to the man, "Can't blame a guy for trying, right Mr..?"

The Turian's expression didn't change obviously holding some hostility towards Garrus, "Sergeant Victus to you, don't expect any special treatment just because you have a powerful father. Put them in the hold for transport."

As they were getting pushed towards the elevator back to the roof, Jack gazed at Garrus briefly, "Why didn't you leave while you had the chance? The Collectors are more important than I am."

Garrus looked gravely back in his direction, "Because you didn't leave me behind on Omega, you didn't leave my...family...behind either even though you had every right to do so. I owe you, even if that means getting locked up with my best friend in the entire galaxy."

Jack grinned trying to reassure him that everything was going to be alright, "Like I told Kal, we're just going to have to learn to wear orange."

The trip to wherever they were getting taken to was surprisingly long Jack decided. How far had this recon team ventured away from their ship to get to Tuchanka? Why had they even stopped there at all if they were a days Kodiak ride away from their ship? Was Maelon's research truly important enough to make this massive of a detour? Unfortunately, they didn't even know how much longer they had to wait because none of the Turians spoke to them. Garrus explained that they probably weren't physically allowed to until they honored his earlier request. Jack tried to sneak in a call to the Normandy to tell them to go through the Omega-4 Relay without them but, all the comms to the ship were down. After twenty four hours and no change, Jack was starting to grow concerned something happened while he was gone. At the very least, EDI would've answered him if everything was ok, she was always listening.

Jack was stroking Kal's helmeted head in his lap when Sergeant Victus emerged from the cockpit finally, "We're here, I'm going to take you to my commander who's going to throw you to the Varren soon enough."

Kal sat up, "I've actually known some very nice Varren in my time so that might be a good thing."

Victus sneered down at him, "Oh let me assure you, your not dealing with a nice Varren pup."

The ship jolted causing the pilot to say, "Docking clamps deployed, we're home boys."

Judging by the time it took to get to the bridge of the Turian ship, Jack guessed this was a dreadnought. On the one hand, that meant there would be hunteds of Kodiaks and other small ships they could potentially escape on if things go south. On the other hand though, the size of the ship made it impossible to not have to wander for hours to find one of those ships all the while having to avoid capture. The bridge was very similar to the Normandy's CIC since it probably featured the same architects except it was a lot more crowded then the Normandy. If Jack didn't know any better, he would've assumed the Turians were actually helping in the war against the Terminus. Everyone here was on high alert and seemingly ignoring the prisoners arrival, except for the Captain.

Because of their carapace, it was often hard to tell a Turian's age but, Jack started to understand the differences having been around multiple Turians of varying ages. The leathery hide of older Turians was usually more prevelant than younger people practically growing over the plates in a few places. Older Turians eyes were also less sharp and piercing and more watery. This particular Turian Captain had all of these features across his tan carapace. Jack recognized him from the picture he saw on the Red Rose with his mother's team. If this Turian was a part of that mission there was a chance he knew who his father was. If the circumstances were more pleasant, he might've asked out of curiosity.

Victus saluted him, "Sir, the prisoners from Tuchanka requested to speak with you."

Before any of them could say anything, the Captain stared back at him, "What is the meaning of this son...?"

Jack was struck by the sad, serious tone in the Captain's voice and clearly so was Victus, "Sir? I discovered Jack Shepard, Kal'Reegar vas Nedas, Kai Leng, AND Miranda Lawson among others on Tuchanka."

He was once again caught off guard by the Captain's sigh, "I can see that just fine son, I'm not that old yet. I want you to repeat those last two words back to me."

Victus blinked confused, "...On Tuchanka...?"

Miranda caught on before anyone else, "The Council didn't actually authorize you to go into the Krogan DMZ with a Turian warship did they? You came here just to kill Maelon anonymously and now we prove you were there."

The older Victus sat down with a slump, "You have a smarter crew than I do Commander. Adrian Victus, I wish we were meeting in happier times."

Sergeant Victus jumped in, "So they say we were in the Krogan DMZ, they're terrorists dad. No one is going to believe them."

Miranda cut back in, "As part of any trial we'd all be able to request this ships flight plans into the DMZ. The Krogan would have legitimate justification to declare war. We'd all go down together."

Jack took the opportunity to say, "Adrian, I know you don't know me and the stories have been less than kind but, believe me when I tell you I don't want to start another war. I need the galaxy safe for when the Reapers arrive. If you just let me go we can all forget this happened and I can save the galaxy."

Adrian slowly smiled at him, "You remind me of your mother with her endless optimism. She believed she could turn around galactic racism... Do you have any proof these Reapers exist?"

His son stomped towards him, "Are you serious right now? These people are terrorists dad! Lawson destroyed a Quarian liveship, Leng has killed who knows how many of our diplomats, and Shepard literally started a war. We have to turn them in no matter what the cost to us!"

Adrian held up a hand, "Quit lecturing me on things I am already aware of Tarquin. I asked if they had proof."

Jack thanked the spirits he actually went on Sovereign and the Collector dreadnought, "If you allow me to get into communications range of my ship I can order my crew to forward you the data I've obtained during my investigation."

Adrian seemed to grimace, "I'm afraid we've already grabbed the damaged Normandy in one of our patrols while chasing a ship who killed some of my men. It's in the cargo hold now. Give me the evidence you have and I'll think about letting you go."

Kal almost shouted what he was thinking, "Damaged? What happened to it? Is the crew alright?"

Adrian shrugged rubbing his forehead, "The Quarian engineer has been extraordinarily proficient at keeping us out. All I can tell you is the stealth drive appears to have been destroyed from a partially exposed FTL jump. Hopefully your data survived."

Tarquin grabbed Adrian's arm rests, "If we don't turn them over right now, young Turian men and women have to fight in the Alliance's pointless war with the Terminus. I thought you taught me to avoid death whenever you could. This is our last chance!"

Adrian raised his voice despite being in a room full of other crew, "I will not ignore a threat to galactic safety if there's evidence! Go with Shepard to the Normandy and bring whatever data they have back to me. That is an order soldier."

Jack knew he should be focused on getting everything they had on the Reapers together but, he was terrified. What happened to the Normandy to damage the stealth drive? Was anyone hurt? Had anyone died? He had to find out now.