A Krogan misplaced: Chapter 11
"X-compound " -Australian Outback - 19 Days after landing
When Urdnot Wrex had said that he would only help a "United Humanity", he hadn't expected the humans to come back within nineteen of their cycles and claim they'd done it. It took a fair amount to get an old krogan to double take, but when the Secretary-General of their United Nations had said "we fulfilled your condition of aid" like it was an everyday occurrence Wrex had done just that, to the female's seeming amusement.
Wrex had thought it might take decades, pit below it could have taken centuries and he would have been happy. But the humans had managed to get a very basic accord drawn up (In secret, as the majority of their population was being kept unawares.) in less time than it took some sapients Wrex knew to even start negotiations. Aleema was, despite all her ruthlessness, something of a showoff.
It was...strange, to see a young species cooperating in such a manner. It'd taken his grandsire almost three centuries to fully unite the clans in even a vague sense under Urdnot. Three centuries of fighting and negotiations and talks which had resulted in what could be loosely termed a "confederation". Oh the salarian arrival may have secured his position and solidified his unofficial role of emperor, but the groundwork had taken thirty generations of krogan to even begin. Then again, the humans seemed to be listening to his advice when he'd been talking about krogan history. Wrex was relived that they weren't going to do this quickly, who knew what could go wrong with that after all.
The accord itself, or its outline at any rate, called for a gradual unification of the various already present coalitions humanity was divided into. Solidifying the structures until such time as they actually ruled the nations which comprised them. At that point, the coalitions would merge into a loosely controlled unified human state. The timeframe for the plan was something like 50 human solar cycles, almost half of the average humans lifespan. That, above almost everything else, indicated to Wrex that the humans were serious about the idea.
Which was good for the little pyjaks, he wasn't going to help them otherwise.
As his thoughts drifted to other topics and old memories, Wrex was jolted from his thoughts by the sudden stopping of the truck he was in. The massive vehicle was similar in design to a Tomkah, all wheels and armour plating. It even had had a decent cannon unlike most vehicles the humans produced, and while Wrex thought that making a vehicle without at least keeping the capability to place a weapon on it was stupid, the humans were apparently used to such things so he'd have to accept it.
As the trucks engine cut off, the massive loading door, which had been necessary to fit the omni-forge through, opened to a sudden rush of heat. It felt like a wave of hot air rushing past as Wrex stepped outside, glancing around the barren wasteland he found himself in. Theres wasn't a plant to be seen, nor a cloud in the sky to shield Wrex or the humans from the oppressive waves of heat. The only sign of civilisation was a squat compound which the truck had pulled up in front of.
Wrex hadn't been to Tuchanka in almost a hundred years, but he could still remember what it felt like to stride over the holy ground of Kalros. This? This felt just like home. Of course it lacked the radioactive dust storms and the air wasn't attempting to constantly corrode his lungs, but Wrex would have to make do.
The aforementioned squat compound on the other hand...well, if Wrex hadn't been asked about where the humans wanted to set up their little "Extraterrestrial Research Institute", and then been given a overview of what the buildings would look like? He might have assumed it was just some bunker. But the humans seemed to be trying to impress him, because under his feet was no mere bunker. No the humans had made what was quite possibly the single most paranoid security system Wrex had seen since that one time he broke into an STG lab. Even then, some of the traps the humans had listed as being used were just vicious.
A shame they'd had to disarm most of them since Wrex was going to be essentially living at the base, and some of the objects about to be stored there were quite literally irreplaceable to the humans, but it was the thought that counted.
The squat top level of the base was just the entrance, the real stuff was dozens of levels lower in the labyrinth of tunnels, rooms and passageways. As for who would be manning the base, the humans had assembled a number of great scientists, or what passed for a scientist on the dirtball of a planet. The scientists and engineers were, as a part of the little treaty Wrex had argued for them to get going, from just about every one of the numerous nations that spanned the planet. The same could be said for the security forces, including the apparent air base he could see being constructed in the distance.
What interested Wrex the most though, was the "PR" team. The human Secretary General, had been refreshingly straight forward for a politician. Though Wrex supposed her role was closer to that of a non violent Warlord, what with uniting the clans and all. The female had stated that they wanted Wrex to be the face of non humans on the planet, and that was most easily accomplished by...politics and speeches. There were several arrangements for meetings with numerous human leaders, including their religious ones. Which Wrex was sure would go completely fine. Not. He just hoped the humans weren't to preachy.
Still none of the proposed meetings could be as bad as the conference he'd had to do. That had been so boring, with humans asking dumb questions about obvious things. The number of times he'd had to explain a basic concept like eezo was astounding. It was worse than the Citadel. Or not. Actually the hanar were more annoying than even the dumbest humans he'd seen so far when it came to unimportant questions, so the Citadel was definitely worse.
One of the things the humans had insisted on that Wrex had thought was ridiculous on the other hand was the need to put bodyguards with him. Never mind the fact that if something this planet had could kill him then humans guards would be pointless. Wrex had eventually acquiesced so as to avoid the humans going into another cycle long talk about why they were right. He supposed it couldnt hurt after all, but if Wrex was going to have the human version of a Krantt around him for all the foreseeable future, then he'd have to get to know them. Now that, that was going to be awkward.
But as Wrex strode towards the squat building which was the entrance to the base, the two humans, one fairly large and another who seemed oddly twitchy behind...her? gas mask. Wrex could only tell because of the slight twitches his eyes were picking up in their reflections. Compared to the otherwise stoic beings he'd previously seen amongst the soldiers the humans could offer it was good to see one who was at the very least, constantly alert. A good trait when forming a Krantt actually...
After a short walk into the building proper, Wrex allowed the larger of the two humans to show him to the elevator. That was something Wrex was surprised the humans had, he'd initially pegged them as to primitive to have yet reached space, though upon seeing some of their absolutely wonderful tanks, that opinion had changed. Unfortunately for Wrex, the elevators were exactly, as slow as the ones on the Citadel. But as the clunky piece of tech slowly made its way down the shaft, Wrex glanced from side to side. Giving a small huff of exasperation, he decided it was better now than never.
"So uh, do you two have names? Or am I supposed to call you by those aliases given earlier?
Wrex could hear the slight creaks the pairs armour made as two heads turned to face him, they remained silent for a moment, Wrex continued to stare at the elevator door away from them, awaiting a response. Finally, the larger one opened his mouth behind the mask, his tone of voice soft like velvet as he began to speak.
"My name is Edouard Levy."
The twitchy female just gave a small sniff as she started to play with the hilt of her...well Wrex supposed it might be called a sword to the humans, but really it wasn't big enough to be anything other than a dagger. She spoke up just after "Edouard" stopped talking, bowing slightly as she spoke.
"Fatima Santos, at your service!"
Wrex suspected that high tones of voice were meant to be something positive amongst humans, he thought they sounded far to much like a bunch of young asari playing mercenary for the first time. On the bright side they didnt think a high tone of voice was intimidating, he couldn't take negotiations with volus seriously whenever the whiny little gasbags attempted to bribe their way out of something like it was a vid.
Noticing something else more interesting, Wrex turned his head over his shoulder, addressing the small human.
"Whats with the sword? Haven't seen any other humans with one."
Fatima turned her head to the sword before looking back at Wrex and giving a small shrug.
"I'm from a Gurkha regiment , we're always issued a kukri, part of our traditions. Don't get to use it much though. Why? Any of your people use melee weapons with regularity?"
Wrex gave a small chuckle at the concept of a sapient asking if the krogan used melee weapons. These humans were going to have a lot to learn.
"Human, if you don't have something for close quarters in the modern galaxy then your species is doing something wrong. You know about the things we use to shield our ships, the kinetic barriers right? Well imagine one of those scaled down for an individual soldier. Expensive, means most ground forces are kinda small, but also makes you real tough to kill. Fortunately for my kind, barriers only work against high velocity objects, and krogan have always liked fighting with primitive weapons. We aren't the only ones either."
It was the big human, Edouard, who spoke next, his heavily accented voice having a curious tone to it.
"What kind of weapons? Swords?"
Wrex gave a throaty laugh that went for about en seconds. A deep "Hur hur her" that echoed through the enclosed space.
"Human, krogan don't use swords.-"
Wrex felt the smile appear on his face as he remembered one of the items he had crafted with the omni forge. Reaching into his armour, he pulled out something he'd wanted to own for almost three centuries, if it hadn't been looked upon as a symbol of the Krogan Empire, thus being banned.
The object was as long as the humans forearm, with a single three pointed spike on one end and a rounded surface to give off more force on the other.
"-We use hammers."
Wrex held out the first Claw Hammer to see the light of day since the krogan rebellions, and it was all his.
Authors Note
( wow this took longer than I thought it would to get out, I mean I'm not the fastest writer but damn.)