HOLOCAUST

CHAPTER NINETEEN:

SONGS OF VIRTUE PART TWO

June 18, 2186

1406 hours.

Heart of the Rachni Hive, Unknown Underground Cave Network, Southern Hemisphere, Utukku.

The Reaper War, Operation: Quarantine.

Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Military Advisor Garrus Vakarian, EDI, Soldier Javik, Shadow Broker Liara T'Soni, Chieftain Urdnot Wrex, Master Thief Kasumi Goto, Second Lieutenant Imogen Keeling, Second Lieutenant James Vega, Platoon Sergeant Opold.

The first thing Marcus took note of was that it was dark. Not pitch black, as there was still enough light to see the immensity of the cavern they had just entered, but dark all the same, and hard to see where one stepped. The walls seemed to loom over them, with a vaulted ceiling at least 20 meters above them. Overall, it was a massive complex. The very cavern itself could fit an alliance frigate, and the walls were covered in slimy substances...

...and hundreds upon hundreds of dragon's teeth.

Reaper bastards. They'll pay for this. He moved ahead, his Revenant bared and ready with his squad following suit, all armed with similiar armaments. Their steps seemed to echo on the rock floor, and he felt awkward as his unprotected foot slipped and slided across the sticky floor. Eventually, however, they came to the middle of the complex, and they all heard a low, familiar growl.

They looked up, in awe and in shock at what they saw. She had barely changed since they last saw her. She was big three years ago, but she had clearly grown alot since then; she had gone from the size of a kodiak shuttle to three times the size of an Atlas mech. She had black chitin all over her body, a large crest on her forehead, and glowing blue eyes. Overall, she looked just as big and intimidating as she had back then, and her powerful legs did nothing to hide her strength.

The rachni queen. But there was one thing he failed to notice first off, that he only noticed a second later, as did the rest of his squad.

She was in chains. Literally.

As Wrex put the nuke down on the hardened ground, they noticed her arms and legs were bound up by massive shackles that pulsed a glowing red; Reaper technology. She screeched as she tried to break free, but each struggle ended in her screaming, likely out of pain if the electricity around her wrists was any indication, and the shake of the ground as she moved. Suddenly however, she stopped all movement all together as her eyes found them, and then...him. Suddenly, she calmed down and her form shrunk slightly, as if her presence calmed her.

She...she doesn't look indoctrinated. Is she...is she...no, why would she be bound up like that? What's going on here?

Sensing there was no threat, he lowered his weapon, motioning for his squad to do so as well. They looked at him skeptically, but quickly followed suit, looking up in a mixture of shock and awe at the huge alien. He remembered how the queen used to speak, and how it needed a host to speak through, having used a dead asari commando when it spoke to him three years ago. But he saw noone, so how was he going to-

A gravelly voice spoke, this one sounding more powerful than her one from three years ago; raspy, more intimidating, more growl-like. And it boomed with a massive intensity that almost matched Harbinger's voice, "Si...lence..."

He turned to the source to find a dead krogan, likely from the survey team, wrapped around one of the rock inclines in slime, his dead eyes looking blankly at them as his maw moved to the queen's wims. But as he looked around, more krogan were to be found, all wrapped around rock inclines in the same slime, all dead, and all blankly looking at them, their mouths moving to the queen's words...

...the final remnants of the survey team.

The corpse next to him, lying on the ground, was bloodied and covered in wounds, most of his form not even recognizable. Only his jaw remained the only recognizable feature on him, and it moved just like the rest to the queen's words, "The...maddening...sour note...has ceased," the queen turned to look at him, as if her eyes were pleading with him, "We...remember you. Three symphonies have...passed...and we have...rebuilt. But the sour notes found...my children...they are silent...I cannot...hear them. They are silent...hollow. Their notes resonate with the same sour notes of the dark ones. The machines!" It said the last two words with a thunderous roar, as if the very words angered it beyond imagining.

"The machines come and take them to war!" It continued, "They die alone, silent, far away." At the end, the anger almost dissipated, replaced with a sort of sadness, "The sour note of the machines is everywhere."

Marcus finally moved in to speak, looking up at it, feeling so very small in that instant, "I let you go on Noveria. I fought your children then because you said they had been seperated from you. You promised to rebuild your people in secrecy and never harm us again. You said the Rachni Wars were not your fault. Yet here you are, with us fighting your 'children.' The ones the Reapers enslaved, transformed, corrupted."

The rachni queen examined him before speaking, her voice coming from all around them, "We...remember. We kept our promise, retreated back through the relay, and we thought to build a new home on this world. Ours had been destroyed during the wars," the queen explained, "We started a new home. Gave birth to beautiful children. Harmony."

Suddenly, its voice filled with anger once more, almost screaming to the stars, "But...then came the machines! They found us! Heard our songs! Their shriek of sour notes drowned us out!" It looked across the room before looking back down at him, shuffling, causing bits of rock to roll down the incline, "But now their sour notes no longer...invade our thoughts. Our song begins anew! But the children are silent...they sing a new song. The song of the machines!"

"I think what she's saying is that she's the only one left, Shepard," Wrex stated, waving a hand up at her, "All her 'children' belong to the Reapers now." Marcus nodded, turning to look back up at the queen.

And just like on Noveria, I'm going to have to rescue her and kill all the rest.

She spoke again, as if sensing his troubled thoughts, "We hear the machines, but they cannot control us. Our song has drowned theirs out. We resisted it," the queen stated, "Your minds are weak, unable to fight it. But ours is stronger. We are...rachni. They cannot control us anymore," the queen looked to Wrex, "The wars were not our doing, angry one. We were manipulated...forced into action by the same sour notes that influence my children now."

Wrex growled, "The Reapers were influencing us thousands of years ago and we didn't even know it," he looked at Marcus, "The rachni must have been indoctrinated and then, under Sovereign's orders, sent to weaken the galaxy. Then noone would trust the rachni if they survived, and therefore wouldn't think of an alliance; it intended to rid of us of our greatest ally. It makes sense."

"But they failed," Garrus added, turning to Marcus, "I...I say we set her free, Marcus."

He whorled to face the turian, wanting to say yes, but suddenly a voice infiltrated his mind, a familiar one that he dreaded.

Serve us.

You will know pain, Shepard.

Submit, end your torment and embrace salvation, Shepard.

SERVE US.

Get out of my head!

You cannot escape us. You are ours. You belong to us.

Serve us.

Serve us.

Serve us!

The voice was persistent, the same two words ringing in his mind, over and over. The same ones that had stuck with him since Illium. He closed his eyes and shook his head, and he could vaguely hear voices trying to penetrate his ears, but all he heard was Harbinger's taunts.

You cannot ignore us forever, Shepard. Your end is our continuation. End your suffering and become one with us. Embrace the salvation we offer.

Fuck...you! I'll...send...you all...straight to...HELL! NOW FUCK OFF!

You cannot ignore us, forever.

Your end is coming.

Embrace it, or suffer it...

The voices finally fled, but he knew they'd be back. They always did come back, ever since Illium. That was intense. What the fuck is going on with that damn voice? Its like its been following me...He turned back to Garrus, and saw his entire team gazing at him in worry, and finally made out Garrus' words, "Shepard? Hello? What's wrong? Shepard!?"

He nodded, "I'm okay, Garrus. I was just thinking," he looked up at the rachni queen, sighing as he crossed his arms, looking back down at the ground. Do I condemn her to death, or give her a second chance? If rachni queens reproduce as quickly as I'm led to believe, she could give us a formidable rachni force in the next month; probably half a million. But she also made it clear that these rachni are lost...and she doesn't seem indoctrinated, otherwise the Reapers wouldn't have chained her up. Why imprison the willing? No, she seems like she genuinely wants to help...out of vengeance of course, but she wants to help, nonetheless...

He looked back up at her, the voice in his head getting thicker, making it feel like his head weighed tonnes, but he ignored it, grimacing as he blinked, "If I let you-"

The walls seemed to shake around them as the room quaked, his team standing still and holding out their hands to keep their balance. As soon as the quake started, it stilled, but Grunt's voice quickly entered his comm, "Shepard! What's your status!? Why isn't the nuke primed by now!?"

He commed back, voice hurried, "We've found the rachni queen, but she isn't as compromised as we thought," he looked back up at her, still not having reached a decision, "Did you feel that quake?"

"Yes, the enemy are on the move," Grunt pondered, "Their numbers are building, and the swarm seems to be pushing harder; they're getting desperate."

The Reapers must know we're reaching a resolution with the queen and the weapon we have. They must have connected the dots and are launching a last ditch attempt to stop us. They'll be sending everything they have. He commed back, knowing Aralakh Company couldn't possibly hold against a force like that, "Grunt, get in here! EDI, close the door behind them!"

"We're not-"

"They're sending everything they have. You won't even be able to delay them," he barked, "Get you and your company in here now, and that's an order!"

The queen seemed to shake with fear, "The children return! They will destroy us all!" he looked down at them, "Release us!"

He looked up at her, pointing a finger, "Are you capable of fighting the Reapers? Will you help us? Join forces with us?"

"Captain, you cannot be considering-" Javik began, but was cut off by the queen's response.

"We hate the machines!" the queen boomed, "We will fight for our unborn children! For the promise of a new rachni species! Our numbers will swarm through the stars, silencing the sour notes! RELEASE US, AND THE SOUR NOTES SHALL TREMBLE!"

Marcus turned to his squad, having made his decision, "What do you guys think?"

"I think it is foolish," Javik piped up, "I told you the rachni are untrustworthy."

"Because you treated them like animals!" Liara shouted at him, turning back to Marcus, "Shepard, we've learnt the rachni weren't responsible for the Rachni Wars. The queen deserves a chance! Besides, you remember what you said about the advantage the Reapers would have? What if we utilized it ourselves! The full power of the rachni people! Shepard, please, do not condemn to death!"

"I agree," Garrus added, "The rachni possess forces we can't afford to pass up."

"But how would she get out?" Keeling piped up, shrugging, "We still have a nuke to detonate. How would she escape?"

"Rachni burrow," Marcus pointed out, smiling, "She'll burrow under ground. Further she burrows, the more the nuke won't harm her."

"Once detonated, she can rise and we can send a pick up," Wrex added, all eyes on him, and he shrugged, "Rachni are immune to nuclear radiation. Council found that out when they tried nuking Suen. Didn't do a thing to the rachni, and they simply soked up the radiation."

"Then that solves it," he whorled around just in time to see Grunt and his men erupt through the door, finishing with the door closing behind them. That long after, Grunt marched up to him, growling as he tossed away his broken, twisted heavy machine gun.

"Rachni have flooded that area," Grunt informed them, "No way we can head back that way."

"Wasn't the plan," Marcus replied back simply, looking up at the queen, "I'm going to let you go, but only if you join the UGC and help us fight the Reapers." And Cerberus, if need be.

"We will crush the machines!" the queen declared, shouting her anger to the enemy above, "We will scatter their dust among the stars! They will know the wrath wrought by our sweeter notes! Ours will drown theirs out!"

"Then we free the queen," he readied his Revenant, pointing to the shackles, "Grunt, your claymore. Aim at the shackles."

Grunt growled, reloading his shotgun, "I'm telling you, I don't think this is a good idea."

He took aim, ignoring the krogan's objections, "That's an order! She's too valuable an asset to lose! Now take aim and fire!"

He fired, his weapon's heavy rounds easily tearing the shackles apart on the queen's left hand, Grunt's claymore blasting the one on her right asunder. The queen roared in freedom, shaking her hands, as if unbelieving of her salvation. She swiped her hand across one incline, the rock collapsing from the top and spreading over the area in a thick avalanche. They backed away as one of its feet crashed to the ground infront of them, shaking the entire cavern, followed by its second, shaking it so hard that more rocks came loose. It looked down at him with what he swore would have been a smile.

"Our children will know of your constant forgiveness," the queen bellowed, "And they will know this as they fight beside your songs, helping them silence the sour notes." And with that, the queen whorled around and charged, breaking through another wall of rock with a thunderous explosion, rocks showering around it as it charged down the makeshift tunnel to freedom.

Marcus turned around, putting his hand in his pocket as he pulled out the detonator, turning to Keeling, who had been working on the nuke the entire time, "Is it primed?"

A loud beep was his answer as the N7 stood up, unholstering her rifle, "Now it is. Ready for remote detonation."

"Captain," EDI spoke, "The Reapers are overriding my hacks."

"I think I've found an exit!" Grunt barked at them, the squad and the hanar platoon turning to see Aralakh Company and Grunt waiting at the end, where a massive tunnel seemed to lead out. Grunt motioned to it with his arm, rushing forward, "Come on! I can hear them coming!"

"Double time it people! MOVE!" As one they moved at his command, the entire squad running for their lives as they made a mad dash for freedom.

They rushed up the incline, the tunnel seeming to edge towards the exit; a perputual exit route straight to the surface. Their breaths became more laboured, but they continued to twist and turn around every corner, up every ramp, and every incline. They did not stop for breath, and did not stop to turn to face the many screeches sounding behind them.

Just as they reached an area seperating into two (on the right a ramp up to the surface and the left more caves) they all came to a stop, all backing up against a wall. Marcus pushed through, eager to find out what the hold up was. We don't have time for this. We have the ravagers breathing down our backs, and a primed nuke ready to blow. We need to leave or become atomic dust...literally!

He finally reached the front, where he found Grunt, back pressed against the wall with a grimace on his face. Seeing Marcus arrived, he twisted his head and their eyes. Seeing the curiosity in them, he silently motioned his head to the right, and into the caves. The spectre did as told, tilting his head to look inside, and widened his eyes at what he saw.

The cave was swarming with ravagers and workers, but most of them looked to be preparing an ambush for them, not knowing they were looking at them. Marcus brought his head away from the crevice, meeting Grunt's words as he mouthed the words 'fucking hell.'

But when he saw the change in Grunt's eyes, something stopped. He saw regret in them, yet there was a fierce determination, a fury. Grunt loosened his grip on his claymore as let it hang in one hand, turning to his company. Sighing, he pointed up the path, a growl in his voice, "The exit is just up that path," he turned back to the ravagers, pumping a shell into his shotgun, "I'll hold them off."

No...

Marcus moved to place a hand on his shoulder, but Grunt whorled on him, face coming inches from his own, teeth bared in a thin line, trying to whisper his words as best as possible, "Now, Shepard!"

Marcus answered with his own, "You don't get to-"

Grunt shoved him back, waving at him to leave, "Leave now, Shepard! You don't have long! GO!" He shouted the last bit, running into the cave, roaring as he fired his shotgun into the enemy horde, knocking a few aside in the event of his sudden assault; even the ravagers seemed surprised by it. Marcus felt the compulsion to go back and get him, but he stopped himself in his tracks.

He wouldn't want his sacrifice to be for nothing...

He watched the krogan fighting, the supersoldier looking content with his death. He felt Aralakh Company rush past him, followed by the hanar platoon, all readily following Grunt's orders. The krogan just continued fighting, never seeming to tire, fighting on relentlessly, even as the ravagers closed around him.

He turned in that moment, and rushed after the platoon, his squad following behind him. Give them hell, Grunt.

Suddenly, the light up above wasn't so alleviating after all, even when he saw it two minutes later.

Considering the krogan company and hanar platoon with them, Marcus had figured calling in the Normandy itself for pickup was the better option, and so he watched as Aralakh and the hanar marines moved up the ramp into the stealth frigate's shuttle bay. He turned to the cave exit, thinking about how Grunt died within those caves to make sure they lived. Did he die for nothing? Was saving us even worth it? What are we in the grand scheme of the galaxy? Garrus joined his side, solemnly looking at the ground as Marcus turned to him.

"I never got along with Grunt. Too many death threats. He threatened to rip my mandibles off once," Garrus spoke lowly, almost mumbling his words. When he finished his first sentence he looked up, facing Marcus fully, "But he was a damn good soldier, and I'm sure Wrex would be calling him the best damn krogan in history right now. He died to make sure we got out okay and, right now, that's the greatest sacrifice there is. I couldn't think of a better one."

Marcus nodded, turning back to the entrance with a sigh as he prepared to walk up the ramp, holstering his Revenant in the backpack on his back, "Yeah, you're right. Come on Garrus, the Reapers will probably be here soon, and I want to make sure the queen will have survived the blast once we're through with it. Then we'll head for the Citadel, get Aralakh over to UGC HQ and give Opold and his platoon back to the Primacy. Then I'll inform Hackett of Dadmagan's desertion; he can inform Balak if he wishes. I'm not in the mood to talk to that scumbag."

"You just lost a friend," Garrus responded grimly, "We both-" Suddenly, the turian's voice stopped and Marcus halted, frowning.

"We both what, Garrus?"

"You son of a bitch!"

"Excuse me?" Marcus questioned, whorling to face the turian, "I am not-" Then he saw something out of the corner of his eye, and as he looked up, he swore his eyes widened in amazement, and shock.

There stood Grunt, covered head-to-toe in black ichor, hissing as it bit into his armor, the krogan gritting his teeth as it melted his skin and then said skin regenerated, the krogan looking about to collapse from the numerous wounds on his body, also missing his trademark claymore.

"Anybody..." he groaned, "...got something to eat?" He then collapsed onto his knees, Garrus and Marcus rushing over to his side as Wrex erupted from the shuttle bay, followed by laughter from said chieftain.

Marcus could only smile as he hefted one hand under Grunt's shoulder, and Garrus under his other one and they both, with some effort, moved the krogan supersoldier onto the Normandy and towards the medical bay. Then, the mess hall. Grunt was hungry, afterall.

In the end, the day ended much better than he thought it would.

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June 18, 2186

1417 hours.

1 kilometer from Underground Cave Network, Anunnaki Planes, Southern Hemisphere, Utukku.

The Reaper War.

Sergeant Kechi Dadmagan.

He dry heaved as he left his other leg, bringing it onto one of the rocks in front of him, dropping his rifle in the process, the weight becoming just too much to bear. The batarian fell forward, but managed to catch himself, pushing himself up and back to standing as he turned to his squad, watching one of his men collapse to the ground in a heap, dying from heat stroke while the rest sweated in the fury of Mulla Xul, Utukku's sun.

The red sky was pale and boring to one's eyes, but to Dadmagan, it reminded him of Khar'Shan, of home. The sky was almost identical in color, and he could imagine one of the cities of said planet infront of him. Instead, all he got was a thunderous boom entering his ears, and as he looked up, watched the sleek, flawlessly polished form of a Normandy-Class Alliance Stealth Frigate shoot off into the atmosphere, the noise of its engines echoing across Utukku's planes for kilometers as its large form eventually got smaller and smaller as it crawled through the atmosphere, and towards the Nimmah Cluster's relay, located in the Maskim Xul System.

He spat in the face of the escaping Shepard, but instantly regretted his decision of desertion. I thought the rachni would overwhelm and kill all of them...maybe I should have-

A short second later, he fell forwards, the ground quaking uncontrollably and causing his face to slam into the rock, smashing his nose and causing him to howl in pain as he fell face first into the dust. He spat it out as it tried to find entrance in his mouth, and he forced his arms to roll him onto his back, feeling liquid pour across his face, realizing it was his own blood. But that wasn't nearly as terrifying as what he saw before him.

A mushroom cloud, looming over him, only a kilometer away, numerous rings surrounding it. He stood up, ignoring the flaring pain in his nose as he saw the source; what had been the mountain housing the cave complex had been totally obliterated, the area where it had been now a crater where the mushroom cloud housed itself; the ground around it for at least half a kilometer and caved in, creating one of the biggest craters he had ever seen. Every single one of those ravagers is now just gone...obliterated. But as he was about to find out, the nuke hadn't finished claiming victims.

He screamed as he felt his skin heat up to unbearable temperatures slowly before beginning to blister and boil, some of it peeling off as he watched. Finally, his entire body combusted into flames, and he could only scream his voice out as he watched the explosive wave reach towards him.

In the end, he didn't even feel it hit him as everything went dark, the pain ending in a heartbeat.

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June 18, 2186

1425 hours.

Mess Hall, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate SSV Normandy SR-2, In FTL inbound for the Citadel.

The Reaper War.

Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Chieftain Urdnot Wrex, Lord Companier Urdnot Grunt.

Grunt wanted something to eat.

Marcus could only watch on, calmly drinking his cup of steaming hot coffee, having just had Chakwas patch up his burns on his foot, as Grunt tore apart an entire chicken, devouring it with his huge, carnivorous teeth; flesh, bones and all.

Actually, make that five whole chickens. Roasted, of course.

"I put alot of effort into cooking those chickens you know," Rupert scolded, shaking his head, "Shame to see them treated so poorly."

"What can I say?" Wrex responded, chortling, slapping an overly focused Grunt on the back, "The runt is starving, and I say he deserves it. Anything's better than the old varren meat."

"I thought you liked that stuff?" Marcus asked, still enraptured by Grunt's eating. The chicken bones stood no chance as the krogan bit right through them, snapping them almost effortlessly without any pain.

"Its alright, but wouldn't keep this pyjak satisfied for very long," Wrex grinned, "Would it?"

"Probably not," Marcus replied, shaking his head as he took another sip of his coffee, reaching over to his procured plate of donuts, picking out a cinnamon one and taking a decent-sized bite.

"I hope you don't devour those as...efficiently, as Mr. Grunt does," Gardner pleads from his kitchen, Marcus smiling in his direction.

"Have no fear, Rupert," he shouted back, tossing a datapad onto the table and scrolling through the recent reports, "I'm not that hungry." But as he worked through the reports, he slowly lost his smile, until it was non-existent. Damn it, the losses were getting astoundingly ridiculous.

Another 600,000 had taken to the country side on Earth according to Anderson, who had managed to procure a QEC to coordinate with the UGC, 200,000 of which hadn't made it and were either captured by the Reapers to concentration camps or slaughtered wholesale; they hadn't even bothered to send troops to do it, instead opting to incinerate them with sweeps of their thanix cannons. The United North American States had been completely shattered, with thousands of refugees fleeing, while the entire continent effectively became one giant Reaper husk factory. Vancouver had been completely razed, Washington D.C fallen, and the Reapers had swept through Central America like it was nothing and assaulted South America. Within days, that continent fell as well.

Europe and Asia faired no better. The European Union was totally decimated, with Britain, Germany, Belgium, France and Sweden the ones holding out the longest before the fall. The Russians, just like their predecessors in the Napoleonic Wars and Second World War, had attempted to use their old time best general, Winter, against the Reapers, but when you were a machine that could feel no temperature, it mattered little. For the best time in Russian history, Russia fell to an outside power; and not just fell, but completely annihilated. China fell quickly as well and while Japan put up a valiant effort, they barely stood a chance. India was given no quarter, and Australia called upon New Zealand for help, but the latter surrendered to the Reapers, only for their country to turn into another husk factory. Australia's defenses were totally unprepared, and it fell in a week.

Surprisingly, it was the Middle Eastern Confederacy that held out the longest and, disbelievingly, Anderson had been taken aback to hear rumors that Egyptian and Israeli forces working in tandem had managed to destroy two Reaper Destroyers with nuclear payloads, having smuggled them onboard. It was an idea Anderson wanted to try with the other planets, and had passed on to Hackett. Their defenses fell within a few days, but Israel was holding strong and for some unknown reason, the Reapers were totally ignoring Jerusalem.

As for the rest of the galaxy, no such miracles were to be found. Another million turians on Palaven were slaughtered, the salarians had been forced to evacuate Mannovai in the wake of a possible Reaper invasion, the hanar and volus homeworlds were under siege, with hundreds dying every day or being converted into new, ungodly abominations, and the asari's hit-and-run tactics were starting to wear thin under the fears of a possible Reaper invasion into asari territory. And finally, of course, Illium had finally fallen to the Reapers, the planet being declared a galactic 'no-fly zone' and that any attempt to militarily liberate it had been 'postponed indefinitely.' Overall, the entire effort to save the galaxy was effectively going nowhere. Their fates lay with the UGC, and the Crucible.

We just need to finish it and find the Catalyst in time...and continue building our forces...The rachni queen had survived the blast on Utukku and Hackett, while surprised and shocked, had eventually given into sending a troop ship to pick her up and secretly transport her to UGC HQ, where she would be placed on a nearby world and given room to breed. The rachni people would begin anew, and the UGC would have its rachni troops and, if they get that far, a reborn rachni fleet.

A loud burp interrupted his sombre thoughts as he looked up, Grunt pushing his plate away, leaving no signs that five chickens even existed. As Gardner, as forlornly as possible, recovered the plates, Wrex turned to look at him, "Well Grunt, I think its time to tell him."

"Tell me what?" Marcus asked as he finished his donut, now going for a chocolate one as he deactivated his datapad, slipping into his jacket's breast pocket.

"I'm staying on the Normandy, Shepard," Grunt declared, "Me and my company. You'll need the extra hands, at least until the genophage cure is sorted."

Marcus turned to Wrex, raising an eyebrow, "And Wreav authorized this?"

Wrex rolled his eyes, waving a dismissive hand, "What, the puppet leader? I'm in command, remember? Who cares what the whelp thinks. Grunt wants to stay with you, and I've allowed it for now. That's all that matters."

Marcus could only smile as he held out his hand, Grunt taking it with pride, "Welcome back onboard, Grunt, for however brief it might be."

"Good to be back," the supersoldier replied, grinning, "I'll be in my room, if anyone needs me."

Marcus, remembering who now occupied it, quickly stood up, shaking his head, "No no no no, Grunt. Javik lives in there now."

Grunt looked hurt, "You've replaced me? With a...with a fleshy like him?"

"No!" Marcus replied, "He chose it!"

"Oh..." the krogan scratched the back of his neck, but then continued his path anyway, smiling, "Time to sort somethings out then."

Marcus sighed, facepalming as he held his hand, listening to Wrex's chuckling, "He'll be fine! You worry too much."

Marcus looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "No, last time he smashed a window with his head because he felt the need to kill something. I don't want the window to be replaced by Javik's body."

Wrex only laughed, and Marcus could only grin as he took another bite of his donut.

Oh...those two warriors will sort it out.

"So I'm guessing what occured next was...what?"

- Reia'Inas pav Earth.

"Time on the Citadel, restock, and then...all hands on deck again."

- Marcus Shepard.

"For what?"

- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.

"The first worst day of the war."

- Marcus Shepard.

A/N:

That's right! Next chapter is an interim, and then a major mission; it'll be a two part chapter, so you know shit is serious.

And yes, contrary to many beliefs, I live, and continue to be the fullfillment of your worst nightmares. You are welcome to share your pain. :)

Keelah Se'lai, troopers!