This chapter is a little more serious due to the nature of it, but still laced with some humour so enjoy. It's also a bit shorter than the first.
Act 2: Black Holes & Revelations
The shuttle was nearing the prodigious vessel which according to all sources including the extranet didn't even exist. Something was clearly amiss here and the crew sensed it. There was an overwhelming feeling that something big was about to happen, something which they had no real control over, only the illusion of it which was all they really had.
"...It's only just crossed my mind but how did these Krogan come by this ship any ways? I mean it's of Turian design right?" Val questioned scratching his head and shooting a glance at Garrick who quickly shook his head.
"Good question...I mean we can assume there pirates right? So they probably seized it, but still a vessel of this size? It's not like anything I've ever seen and let me tell I thought I had seen everything...but this..." he sighed as he glanced at Ahlek who remained stone-faced.
"...It truly is a marvel of Turian ingenuity which makes me wonder how this...cretinous band of Krogan even managed it. That is the real mystery here." Ahlek replied with a slight hint of vexation in his tone as he stared up at the vessel through the cockpit windows.
They were nearing the ship's docking bays as Jacke turned off the auto-pilot and started to manoeuvre it carefully, trying to avoid colliding with it as the vessel was slowing accelerating. It's sheer length and scale made it rather difficult to get around it.
"What still doesn't add up is that if this is a Turian dreadnought of some kind why is there absolutely no record of it both on the extranet and the Cerberus network? Was it purposely constructed in secret or something? What would they have to hide?" Jacke was now surprisingly inquisitive having kept relatively quiet but now even he was asking questions.
"The Hierarchy are known for there transparency when it comes to there military arm since they keep in close contact with the Salarian Union, Human Alliance and the Asari Republics. They make up the Council after all so there would be no reason to keep this hidden. They just love to flex there military prowess so this doesn't really make sense to me why they would keep this under such tight wraps." said Garrick.
"...There is a lot you don't know about the Hierarchy." stated Ahlek rather ambiguously as he gave Garrick a look. "Take it from me. I used to live and breathe the Hierarchy...long ago of course. Times changed, a lot happened...and that's why I'm here." This was the first time Ahlek had opened up to them regarding his rather shady and chequered past, something which he hardly spoke of.
"What happened anyway?" questioned Garrick who had always been curious but never thought of bringing up the issue.
"...Suffice it to say, I did a lot of bad things...I don't really want to say much more than that. The Illusive Man had thrown me a lifeline in exchange for my...brand of expertise and he would keep the Hierarchy off my back. After all where is the last place there gunna look right?" Ahlek smirked as he cracked his neck, clearly he was feeling some tension which the others sensed.
"What would this brand of expertise be?" Garrick replied, his curiosity still not sated. This was a better time than any to pick his brains if they were heading into the lion's den. Ahlek paused for a moment as he slowly turned his head to face Garrick.
"...Infiltration. Among other things." he gave him a look and a slight smile.
The shuttle then started to slow down as it pulled carefully into the docking bay. They then immediately spotted three Krogan who were waiting for them at the end of the bay. The 'welcome' committee no doubt.
"Oh goody, I knew they'd roll out the red carpet for us. Maybe when we get off they'll grow some kind of a conscience and shoot us with pistols instead of the usual typical Krogan greeting of a shotgun to the head. We can only hope." Val sighed, not wanting to go through with it.
"Drop it, Val. Look, let's just try and play it cool here and not piss these guys off alright? We've got this far so let's just stick to our knitting and try and appease them, after all it's on there terms so were at a disadvantage here." Garrick again stamping his authority to try and quell the concerns that were no doubt apparent to them now.
The shuttle then descended and landed safely on the pad. The crew all shared looks, no doubt they were out of the frying pan and now into the fire. This could go either way, it was all up in the air and all they had to push them forward was the fleeting thought of getting out of there with there faces still intact. The Krogan were never prided on there civility, particularly towards Turians though it didn't seem to phase Ahlek, at least he didn't seem to show it.
"Let's go face the music huh guys?" Val took a deep breath and stood by the shuttle door along with Garrick and Ahlek. Garrick stood in the center with Val on the left and Ahlek on the right.
"Stay here Jacke." Garrick said glancing back at him which he had no problem with, not surprising really.
Garrick then took a deep breath himself, no doubt praying in his mind that it would run smoothly. He paused for a moment before tapping the panel which swung the door open. One of the Krogan, at the sight of seeing Ahlek immediately rushed up to trio with a shotgun drawn, oh dear.
"A Turian? I should shoot you where you stand!" he bellowed, he had a look of utter disgust on his face.
"Nask! Stand down now!" The other Krogan shouted as the other two rushed up to him, Ahlek didn't flinch though it caught Garrick and Val by surprise. "Mareck will decide on what to do with them got it? You may even get your wish, but stand down that's an order!"
The incensed Krogan reluctantly but eventually withdrew his weapon as Ahlek merely smirked.
"Good to see the Krogan hospitality hasn't changed then." remarked Ahlek insouciantly. The alpha Krogan gave him a hateful and disdainful look.
"If it were up to me Turian, I would have let him blow your head off. Unfortunately it's not up to me, remember that."
Garrick cleared his throat, trying to break the tension. "I'm Garrick Trevathan of the Alliance. I see you've already met Ahlek here, a former C-Sec operative who has volunteered to aid us on the mission and the other is Valen Jezierski."
The alpha Krogan still had his beady eyes fixed on Ahlek. "Finally grew a conscience then Turian, all that slaughter must make you question your own morals...and you thought we were barbaric...you should take a good long look at yourselves. I only hope Mareck gives me the pleasure of greasing you up cause I'll grease you up real nice." he said it with such venom. Ahlek remained completely poker-faced and silent, not giving the Krogan the satisfaction of any kind of reaction.
"Well, ain't you popular." Val joked. Garrick gave him a glare, in other words to shut his mouth.
"Were here-"
"Tell it to Mareck." The Krogan interjected as he gave Garrick a cold stare. He then put a finger to his ear. "Mareck it's Skeav, we've got them down here along with...a Turian." he had to clear his throat since the very word Turian made him want to gag.
There was a long pause. "...Bring them up. I want to speak with this Turian alone. I'll be in my quarters." the voice appeared to belong to the Krogan they were speaking to via the intercom on the shuttle, though most Krogans sounded alike.
"Got it." Skeav nodded as he gestured for the group to follow him. The other two Krogans kept a firm gaze on the trio, particularly Ahlek as they watched them walk behind Skeav. "If you even think of trying to escape, Nask and Darz here will kill you. Don't think they won't. That's if you want to make it easier for us, I don't care either way."
Val gulped at the prospect of that as he glanced back and saw the other two Krogan come up behind them.
The docking bay was massive in itself and looked like it could hold four or five shuttles of that size. Compared to the immaculate exterior of the ship the interior looked worn and run-down in places, like it had endured a large scale firefight in a previous life. There were chunks of the walls damaged, some extensively to the point that there were massive holes, some were nearly seven meters in diameter. Ahlek paid particular attention to these holes, eying them up rather intently.
"What happened here?" questioned Garrick curiously. He couldn't help but notice how extensive the damage was in some places.
"What do you think?" Skeav said in a hostile manner as they made there way through the doors and into the engineering deck.
The saw several other Krogan who gave the group equally contemptuous looks, particularly Ahlek which wasn't at all surprising to him. "You got some nerve Turian." one of them said as Ahlek simply blanked them keeping his gaze focused forward.
Again the engineering level was damaged in places as the group made there way to the elevator. Skeav pushed the button for the Commander's Quarters which was presumably where Mareck was.
"Mareck wants to speak with the Turian alone first so you two will stay with us." Skeav said looking at Val and Garrick who both nodded. Garrick didn't really like it since he would rather Mareck speak to him, but again it wasn't on there terms so they had to comply.
Ahlek remained silent and impassive, whatever he was feeling he was hiding it rather well. The elevator then reached the level as the door opened. Skeav stepped aside to allow Ahlek through, giving him another glare as he brushed past him. Garrick gave Ahlek a nod as the elevator door then shut, leaving him at the mercy of there leader. Ahlek slowly made his way through the automatic doors and was immediately struck by how familiar everything seemed to him. It was like he was stepping back in time and retracing his footsteps, everything about this ship felt like home, perhaps because it was a Turian vessel. He looked around and saw that compared to the docking bay and other parts of the ship this room looked untouched, apart from a few things out of place which was natural. Ahlek then saw Mareck standing at the end of the room, glancing out of the window. He approached him quietly before Mareck turned his head to face him.
"...You want to hear a story Turian? I've got many, not the bedtime sort, though this one does have a happy ending." Mareck said calmly which was odd compared to the hostility and anger he received from his men.
"...Sure.." he said coolly, watching the Krogan as he approached him. Mareck paused for what seemed like an eternity.
"About fifteen years ago, the Turian Hierarchy commissioned the construction of an advanced prototype dreadnought. This was strictly off the books of course, it was built in secret and that it would be capable of causing unprecedented scales of destruction and devastation. It could reduce small planets to dust in a matter of minutes, large planets in only hours. I have it on good authority that this project even received the backing of Councilor Girellus Vorton who was and still IS the Turian representative on the Citadel Council." He paused for a moment as Ahlek watched him, he had a malicious glint in his eye.
"This ship was called the Volkirian and would serve as just one of the Hierarchy's primary dreadnoughts. It then mysteriously fell into the hands of a so-called 'radical splinter group' of the Hierarchy known as the League of Vestalis whose sole purpose and intent was the complete annihilation of the Krogan race and securing Turian dominance throughout the galaxy. The Volkirian was under the command of one Ahlek Tyzuris, a veteran of The First Contact War who was awarded numerous medals for his actions at Shanxi. Though I had only ever heard of him and not seen him since his records were kept firmly sealed, again the Hierarchy were covering there asses."
Ahlek remained completely still and impassive as he gave the Krogan a glacial stare.
"Under the command of Tyzuris the Volkirian was responsible for the destruction of Somek in which 24,000 Krogan were killed. My home world of Tiarck which my men are from was also destroyed in which over 149,000 Krogan were slaughtered. We were among the 100 who survived and vowed to find those responsible and fucking kill them." it was clear from his reaction that even though this had happened fifteen years ago it still effected him deeply and Krogan were hardly the sensitive sort.
"...That's...terrible. I hope you got the bastards responsible." Ahlek said showing simulated concern, though the Krogan was unaware who he was dealing with here. Ahlek kept himself firmly composed.
Mareck nodded. "We did. After months and years of trying to find out who had caused the destruction of our home world we received an anonymous tip-off that the Volkirian was currently stationed on the planet Collmark, a small Turian world. This person, whoever it was had given me enough intel since he or she had been tracking the ship since it first hit Tiarck that the Volkirian WAS responsible for the arbitrary annihilation of both Tiarck and Somek and received the approval from Councillor Vorton himself, off the record of course. When word of the destruction of Somek and Tiarck got out and that it was linked to a Turian vessel, Vorton quickly condemned the attacks and even said that the Hierarchy would 'bring those who were responsible to justice'. He even said that this must have been perpetrated by 'extremists who were in no way affiliated with the Hierarchy' but this was just bullshit!"
He exclaimed clenching his fist and growling. Ahlek shook his head, trying to act surprised.
"...It's no wonder I left the Hierarchy. If I had known this was going on...I would have left sooner...I'm truly sorry. I know it doesn't sound like much coming from a Turian but I NEVER did trust any of them. This is barbaric on every level." He sounded convincing and it seemed for the moment the Krogan was buying it. He was after all a master of deception and attempted to sympathize with him for the moment.
"So me and a band of my fellow brothers touched down on Collmark, packing serious fire-power as you can imagine. These vicious, genocidal bastards were about to get there just deserts, and revenge is a dish best served ice cold and we Krogan do ice cold really well. After we had cleaned house of one of the bases, one of the Turians eventually spilled the beans on the location of the Volkirian before I blew his head off."
Clearly they were solely motivated by revenge and the Krogan were among the most vengeful species in the galaxy and were particularly proficient at dealing there own brand of swift justice. If you cross a Krogan or worse attempt to wipe them out, you might as well sign your own death warrant.
"We found the Volkirian at last and me and my brothers, seventy of us in all, knew what had to be done. We weren't about to let any of them get away with there pathetic lives, this was gunna be a massacre, like they had done to Somek and Tiarck. After we had snuck on...well, the rest is history as they say...and rather than destroy the ship as well we instead took it for ourselves so we could use it against the Turian bastards."
Ahlek smirked deviously as he watched the Krogan who sounded triumphant at his victory.
"...So you killed them all then? All of them?" Ahlek questioned folding his arms, just waiting for the opportune moment to break it to him. He would drag this out for as long as he could get away with.
"Yeah. Every last one of em', we lost about fifteen of our guys but we managed to kill all eighty Turians on board except Commander Tyzuris who managed to get away even though Skax had shot him twice in the gut. But he was as good as dead anyway, and besides he deserved to die slowly for what he had done rather than his men who had the good fortune of dieing quickly. Just to be sure though, we took off in the Volkirian and leveled the planet just like they had done to us...poetic justice." Mareck sniggered. Ahlek had changed a lot in fifteen years so it was possible Mareck didn't recognize him but he wasn't dead, he was very much alive.
"...Wow, what a story." said Ahlek impassively as Mareck smirked, completely unaware of who he was in the company of. "I must say, after listening to your story and as good as it was I've come across a major...plot hole."
Mareck's face dropped slightly as he looked a little bewildered by what Ahlek had said. "What do you mean?"
"Well, you know you said that you and your men killed everyone aboard. I think you might have just missed one."
"What are you talking about?" questioned Mareck, becoming even more confused.
Ahlek paused for a moment, fixing his gaze on Mareck, dragging it out for as long as he could. "...Commander Ahlek Tyzuris of the Volkirian and you Krogan are on my ship."
END OF ACT 2. Didn't see that one coming eh? Stay tuned for more folks, it's about to get interesting.