A/N: Just a tad bit of shmexy. Really...just a skimpy little touch :)
Stepping on to Grunt's command ship felt odd, in a way- like coming home. Eír had always been fond of Tuchanka, though after the genophage had been cured she had rarely returned there. The last time she'd been there had been twenty years ago, and it hardly seemed like the Tuchanka she remembered.
After the war, for their help with Palaven and the effort at Earth that had turned the tide, the krogan had their demilitarized status lifted, and had been granted twenty colony worlds. Under Clan Urdnot, with Eve and Wrex at the helm, the krogan had turned their attention away from pointless vengeance on the salarians and turians for what had been done to them, and instead focused on rebuilding their society and making it work. As their numbers increased (within careful planning guidelines set down by Urdnot) and their apathy lifted, they were finally able to rebuild a good portion of their home world, and help it almost fully recover from the nuclear destruction wrought upon it over a millennia before.
Tuchanka had always been a very warm planet, and much of it remained desert. Now, however, you could find quite a lot of green- plants and trees and returning wildlife. Some areas were becoming downright tropical.
What remained of the destroyed Shroud tower was a monument, the old arena to Kalros rebuilt. Atop the stump of the former tower, the krogan had erected a statue of Mordin Solus being held up by krogan warriors- an eternal honor for the salarian that had given his life to save their kind, and those who had died in the push to get him into the tower.
Eír had been there as well, on that hot and bloody day centuries ago. It had been a victory, it was true…a battle that was still sung about and would be long after she herself was dust. Still, she could not bring herself to see that memorial in person. That day when the tower was destroyed was filled with strong and very mixed feelings for her, even now. They had won, but she had very nearly killed Shepard on that field, an act that would have doomed them all. She had lost two clan brothers there, and on hoping to return home to Shrive's family, had instead found herself viciously cast out by her love's mother.
Still, that was a very long time ago, and stepping onto the ship- smelling the rich leather scent of krogan in its corridors-only filled her with joy, and a sense of anticipation.
Zyara was on her heels as they stepped on board, then headed up to the helm. Grunt was on the com, speaking to the holographic form of his daughter Nessa, who captained the Patogg- one of the stocky cruisers under Grunt's command. Seeing Eír enter he grinned.
"We'll signal you soon, Nessa. Butcher out."
As the image switched off he reached out, hugging Eír and nearly lifting her off her feet, before landing a friendly punch to the Wolf's shoulder. "My friends! You are just in time. I was afraid we were going to have to leave without your faces to pretty up my helm."
"They have successfully accessed the relay network in dark space, then?" Eír asked, lifting her brows. "I was expecting even verifying it was a relay network would take a few more days, or we would have been here sooner."
"Council's had their eggheads working triple time on it. This whole mess with these 'brasa' and jabberwockies really has them spooked. At least now being scared makes them actually accomplish something, instead of staring like helpless pyjak caught in tomkah lights like the old Council. We're getting the ships in line, should be getting a final depart signal any time now. Might wanna take a picture for posterity- our ugly mugs will be the very first ever to leave the galaxy and head into the unknown."
"And chances are, no one will ever know about it," Eír told him. "They're still doing their best to keep this extragalactic threat from being known. Though how they'll hide an entire krogan battle fleet- not to mention about twenty salarian ships- going through the supposedly unusable Citadel relay in the middle of the Sol system-
"That's for their PR people to spin," Grunt said with a shrug. "Our concern is solely what lies on the other side. Your ship in our dock?"
"Fully secured."
"Good. When we get to the other side my ships are going to deploy into a full security grid while the salarians figure out how to hit the other relays surrounding the galaxy, and see if they do actually connect to Andromeda or one of the local dwarfs."
"Our ship is small and fast. I suspect you want us to be among the scouts?"
"No. I want you to stick close to the salarians. We've only got two priorities in this mission- locate and identify any hostiles that may be coming at us through dark space, and keep the salarians safe to do their work. My ships have got the scanners and the muscle to form an outer line of defense and locate any incoming hostiles. You and two others are going to stay close to the salarian ships. On the laughable chance that anything gets through us, I need you there to take care of the problem before they can be touched."
"Understood. We're at your disposal Grunt."
"I know you don't like being kept back, but here's something you will like," he said. "When and if the salarians are able to connect to an additional relay out there, you're gonna be the first ship through it to clear it for the rest of us until we're fully deployed."
Eír smiled. "I think we can handle that."
"I had no doubt," he said, then gave a wry grin and offered his hand to Zyara, who shook it. "Always love our chats, Wolf," he joked.
Zyara, who hadn't said a word the entire exchange, only smirked back at him.
"Sir, we have communication from the Citadel," another krogan suddenly called out.
"That our green light?" Grunt asked, heading back over to his station.
"Yes sir, they are sending transmit coordinates now."
"Plug 'em in and signal the fleet. Nessa!"
{Here.}
"I'll take the Butcher through first. Once we're clear, the Hearts' Blood, Ugat, and Maw Hammer go. Then the salarians. I want you through last, watching our flank."
{Understood. We're set for your command.}
"These alien bastards haven't met the krogan yet," Grunt said, smiling at his viewscreen. "Let's go and introduce ourselves."
The human man had been watching Red for the last hour, and it was starting to get irritating.
They had gotten most of the Oasis facility back online, though one of Irie's first priorities was to make sure no other archways could be even accidentally 'on purpose' constructed without at least six different clearance codes, including her own. Knowing that the aliens could activate even a nonpowered archway from the other side meant they could not be too cautious. If they did not desperately need it, and it were not so incredibly small, she would have activated the automatic processes to disassemble the original anchor out in dark space.
As it was, while there was risk associated with it, they needed it for recognizance and information. Even if the aliens could get a tiny device of some kind through it, they should be able to detect it long before it reached them, or even the galactic rim. The moment Irie even suspected the megascope anchor had been compromised, or was powering on out of their direct control, she would destroy it without hesitation.
The way she was acting, double checking everything even after the Alliance and asari researchers had gone over it, Red suspected that Irie might just destroy it anyway.
Red was finishing up some work with one of the techs in the secondary lab when she noticed that fellow, Gerty Pradesh, standing near the doorway, staring at her. Closing off the panel and stowing her tools, her irritation finally grew enough that she called out to him.
"Trust me, honey, I ain't your type, and I bite."
"Excuse me?" he said with what seemed genuine surprise. She glared at him.
"I know that look. You're trying to figure out how to get me alone in a dark corner. You're either trying to decide a good place to stick your lips, or a knife. Either way, it's going to end in sorrow for you."
"I was thinking no such thing!"
"Uh huh." She folded her arms and regarded him as the tech she'd been working with beat a discreet and hasty retreat. "Then why don't you spill what's on your mind and save us both some grief?"
"Very well, to the point then. I don't trust you."
"No shit."
"Listen, we're both civilized adults," he said, his irritation finally showing in the tightening of his jaw. "We can have a rational and reasonable discourse. I simply wanted to address some concerns I have."
"Then address, m'lordship."
He glared. "I know your reputation, that of your…friend, Athena. She has caused Irie's family no small measure of grief, and her motivations remain…hard to discern. I know your history as well. I have a personal motto, Miss….uh…Red. I judge people on their actions, not on their past or on stories and rumors. However only a fool trusts immediately. I need to know that you and Athena are on the up and up, that you are not here for your own agenda, or to hurt Irie and her family."
"And you approached me instead of Athena. I'm guessing I seemed a bit more friendly, is that it? Or is it that I can't tear you apart molecule by molecule with a single thought?"
His face colored a little but he said nothing. It didn't matter- that was enough to give her the answer she was seeking. "Well, let me blunt, Mr. Pradesh. I run questionable and sometimes outright stolen items just for money. I lie. I cheat. I steal. I frequently indulge in petty acts of pain for pain's sake. In short, I am not a very nice person. If there is one thing you can trust me on, it's that I will do what I need to do to serve my own interests, no matter what that is or how much agony it causes. Right now, that's a good thing for you and your lovely Miss Irie, because it very much serves my own interests to stay alive in a galaxy that is not being torn apart by high-tech alien Nasties in Technicolor. So, it very much serves my interests to keep you all alive and kicking, and in making sure you get what you need."
His eyes narrowed a bit. "Thank you for your honesty," he said. "Now let me be equally as honest. It would take your friend very little time and effort to look up my history, hidden as it may be. I have done quite a lot to rectify some of the injustice that I have inflicted on this galaxy in my younger days, but when it comes to Irie…when it comes to my family…well. Let's just say I would take great exception to a self-serving quarian who whimsically decided it was in her own 'best interests' to cause her or her family any measure of pain."
Red laughed, picking up her tool case and walking over toward him, aiming for the door. "Ok, big guy, ok. Whatever you say."
As she reached him, she stretched a hand out and patted him almost affectionately on the chest as she edged past. He slapped her hand away and she laughed again, looking at him.
"I always did like the physical sort."
Giving the obviously angry human man a wink, she blew him a kiss then headed down the hall, shaking her head. "Keelah, humans."
Athena's little ship was docked in the Oasis hangar. Heading on board, Red stowed her tools, muttering under her breath in quarian. As she straightened and started to turn, she suddenly found herself caught in a biotic field.
"Oh, come on!"
"You know better than to let people sneak up on you, Red," Athena said firmly, letting the biotics die. "Had I been an enemy-"
"Had you been an enemy you'd already be a fine mist in the air because you would have had to fight through Alliance security, asari security, two different closed off and limited access corridors, one ship's highly encrypted door lock with an enforcement drone, then snuck past one of the strongest and most paranoid biotics in the history of ever, who would have rendered you with a hand-wave down to your constituent atoms."
"I am not paranoid," Athena said indignantly.
"Please. You scan for bugs in your sleep," Red told her.
"You should still be more careful," Athena said with irritation. "You should have heard me coming."
"You assume I did not, just because I didn't whirl around with a knife out," Red said to her. Athena glowered a little, then leaned on the wall, eyeing her.
"That Pradesh means what he said," she said a moment later. Red could hardly be surprised that Athena already knew of her conversation. She shook her head.
"You leave bugs around and they will find them. T'Soni is going over every millimeter of this base, and she knows the Broker's tricks."
"I didn't bug the base, I bugged you."
"What?" Red was instantly angry. "You did what? You swore to me you would never-"
She took off her belt, throwing it aside, then tore off her boots, clearly looking for the listening device.
"Guess I'm not a very nice person either," Athena said tiredly, then walked over. Catching Red's hand, she lifted her sleeve and drew out a thin filament, no thicker than a hair. As she freed it she almost unconsciously deflected a fist heading her way from the other side. "Relax. I didn't do it to spy on you."
"I didn't think you did," Red said furiously. "You wanted to spy on them. You could have told me, not -…that is just incredibly rude!"
"There might be something the Alliance government or the asari aren't telling us," Athena said. "Any information is useful information-"
"And you thought they'd just blab about it around me, is that it?"
"No, I just needed a mobile listening device. That filament can pick up voices two corridors away from you, even if you couldn't hear it."
"But you couldn't tell me what you were going to do?"
Athena's look hardened. "Like it or not, Red, there are a hell of a lot of things I don't tell you. You're a useful tool, like everyone else here. A means to an end. That's all."
Red scoffed. "You don't believe that, not even about them. You keep telling yourself those lies, Theen, expecting that one day you'll actually believe them. How's that working for you?"
Athena's glare only sharpened its edge. Wordlessly, she turned to head for the door, only to whirl as Red grabbed tight hold of her arm. A flare of biotic blue, and Red found the wall at her back, her feet two inches off the floor, pinned by dark energy.
Then, the dark energy faded, and she was pinned instead by Athena's lips.
The moment her arms were free, she grabbed hold of the asari, digging her fingers in to her shoulders and pulling her even closer. Athena pressed tighter, almost crushing a moment, before she abruptly released her hold and took a step back. When Red tried to tighten her grip and halt her, she yanked her hands free and cast them down.
"No. I cannot do this."
"You started it!"
"I made a mistake," Athena told her, turning and heading for the door.
"Theen, stop, would you? Goddamnit…you're not going to hurt me!"
But the asari was gone. With a half-sigh, half-growl of frustration, Red's shoulders smacked into the wall again and she scrubbed her hands over her face. "Fucking brilliant. Stubborn damned asari…Keelah. Now I need a cold shower."
"Irie?"
"Just a few more minutes," the asari said, not even bothering to look up from her console. "I just need to finish scanning this-"
A warm brown hand landed over hers, halting her fingers on her holographic keyboard.
"You said that an hour ago."
"What?" She blinked at him, then looked at her computer display. "It…is that really the time?"
"Yes. You've missed lunch, and I'm betting you didn't even have breakfast this morning. There are asari techs here who can take care of this."
"I know, but I am the only one who is familiar enough with this system to-"
Gerty looked at her patiently. "And if you miss something because you are exhausted, you are not any good to anyone."
She looked at the display, shaking her head as she spoke softly. "This is my work, Gerty. This was my dream. They were my coworkers, my friends. Every time I stop to think, or close my eyes, I-"
His hand gently closed on her shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze. "I know."
"Their lives are on my head," she said quietly. "I am responsible."
"Irie…"
The heel of her hand suddenly slammed hard into the desk as tears flooded her eyes, her brows knitting. "And I want to kill every one of those alien creatures for what happened here!"
Immediately she covered her face, and took a deep shuddering breath. Rising to her feet, she made as if to push past him, but he didn't allow her to escape, hugging her close until she buried her face in his shoulder.
"I am so horrible," she said, her voice muffled and miserable.
"You are angry, and understandably. That doesn't make you horrible. You need to get some food and some rest, Irie. You're running yourself ragged and you're already frayed to begin with."
She was silent a moment, then took a breath and lifted her head, looking at him. "Micha tells me you had a short and fairly…unpleasant conversation with Red."
He groaned internally. Micha must have been the tech that was helping Red when he confronted her. "We…talked."
"About how you do not trust her?"
"I can't help it, I don't. She's a sadistic little…cocky merc who is just clever enough to be dangerous. And it doesn't help that she looks at your cousin like a dog looking for a leg to hu—uh…like an overly devoted pet, and your cousin definitely is too clever and incredibly dangerous enough for me to be anywhere near comfortable with-"
She lifted her hands, gently cupping his face. "Gerty, you are a very sweet man for being concerned, but please…we must work together. They have helped us so far, even put their lives on the line. They could have just sent us the information and left us to our own devices. They did not need to come here to help, and they do not need to continue helping."
"They're looking out for their own interests," he said. "So long as what you're trying to do falls in line with those interests they'll play nice. The moment they no longer see it that way-"
"That may not be true-"
"Are you kidding me?" He stepped back from her, gesturing at the door as if the woman in question stood there. "Red all but admitted it to me, less than an hour ago!"
"She said she was looking out for her own interests, just waiting for a chance to stab us in the back?"
"Yes!"
"And you do not think she could be lying?"
He gaped at her. "Why would she lie about that?"
"She would lie about it far more easily than she would tell you the truth, if that was really what they were doing," Irie said. "From what I have seen of her personality, she is incredibly insecure about many things. She covers it with bravado and threats, a distance and control she can maintain. As you yourself just said, she is incredibly clever. Were she truly planning to betray us, she would not brag about it- but if she were not, she might claim so in an act of defensive bravado."
He shook his head. "We cannot afford to take the chance. She could hurt people, and Athena…"
"Could tear everyone here apart to a subatomic level, if she wanted to," Irie said. "If she chose to do so there is very little we could do to stop her."
"As I said, so long as she needs us-"
"Gerty, I appreciate you looking out for me. I really do. I love you for it. I would be lying if I said the same concerns had not crossed my mind. However, when they do, I also remember what my father once said to me."
"What?"
"Sometimes you just have to take a chance on someone, take a risk- even if you have no reason to do so. Grandma Nan took a chance on her- looked at a violent, almost animalistic street kid and saw the hero hiding within. My father herself forged bonds with people she had every reason to distrust, every reason to suspect or hate. Legion, Miranda Lawson, Jack, Grunt…sometimes, you have to extend that hand even to your enemy. Someone has to stand up and try something new, otherwise, nothing ever changes."
He stared at her a moment, then smirked softly. "This from an asari who, not five minutes ago, wanted to kill every alien creature she saw?" he teased gently.
She inclined her head a little, chagrined. "You are correct. I am hurt, and I am angry about these aliens and what they have done here. I am terribly afraid of what they may still do. But even in that anger and fear, I must remember my father's lessons. Hate and anger are too easy to feel, to let consume you. Despite the way I feel, what they did-…if one were to arrive and extend a hand of peace…I…"
He stepped forward, gently taking her shoulders again. "Hey…"
She nodded slightly, and met his eyes. "I just pray that I would have my father's wisdom and strength to take a chance, and accept that offer. To put my personal feelings aside and not blame an entire race or culture of being because of the actions of a few- a few whose motivations we still do not fully understand. We have to be better, Gerty. Even when it comes to Athena and Red, even these alien monsters…we have to try."