Chapter 40

Shepard, Tali, and Garrus hopped out of the Mako practically as soon as the vehicle stopped. Together, they walked over to where a group of salarians, presumably the infiltration team, had set up several tents. As Shepard approached, one of the salarians took a few steps towards the Normandy group.

"Halt!" The salarian called out. "Who are you?"

"Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy. Are you in charge here? What's the situation?"

"I'm Captain Kirrahe, of the Third Infiltration Regiment."

"STG." Garrus muttered to the commander.

"Thanks." Shepard whispered back. "Righty-ho then Kirrahe. Sitrep?"

Kirrahe hesitated for a moment, working through the human's military jargon. "Ah yes, situational report. Very clever. Congratulations Commander, you've alerted every enemy gun within 20 miles, including AA batteries, to our location."

If the little lizard man wants to play with sarcasm, I'm game. "Well shit. And technically, it's 'situation report.' Just fyi. Any ideas for how to rectify our current condition?"

"Yes." The salarian answered, ignoring the first half of Shepard's answer. "We wait for the Council to send the reinforcements I requested."

"Right. So since we're obviously already here, I'm kinda hoping that you've got a bit more than that."

The salarian looked incredulously at the three-person team. "You? They sent three people? I asked them for a fleet!"

"Hey now." Shepard said, sending the salarian a mild glare. "You're lucky the Council sent you jack shit. Next time you send a message requesting assistance, try making sure the people on the other end can actually understand what you're trying to say." Asshole. Shepard tacked on mentally. "They sent us to figure out what your problem is."

"That, Commander, is a repetition of our task." Kirrahe said snidely.

No fucking shit, Sherlock. But what do you expect from the dipshit and dingleberries? If it doesn't have to do with feeding people shit, spewing shit, or eating shit, they're pretty fucking useless. "Whatever, Captain. So did you have a plan in place for hitting this place or not? Speaking of which, what exactly is Saren doing here anyway?"

The salarian appeared to be upset with Shepard's irreverent reply, until his innate professionalism pushed the irritation aside. "We believe that this is a breeding facility."

"For?" Shepard asked. Christ. Getting information outta this guy is like pulling teeth. Which I'm gonna start doing to him, if he doesn't quit his grandstanding post-haste.

"Krogan. Saren appears to have found a way around the genophage, and is creating an army of krogan. Most likely via some sort of cloning technology."

Oh that's just fucking great. An army of goddamn krogan. Like having the geth at his every beck and call wasn't enough. Greedy, annoying, self-righteous bastard. Gods I can't wait to nail his ass to the wall. "Well that's just wonderful. I presume you came up with a plan to deal with the problem, if the Council took too long to respond?"

The salarian nodded. "We were able to piece together a rudimentary thermonuclear device. Its payload is more than sufficient to eliminate this corner of the continent. Our planned method of insertion was to attack the facility from at least two fronts, and once a path had been cleared, to transport the bomb to the center of the facility and then get as far away from it as we could. Ideally, a small team would navigate through the ravine to the rear of the facility while the majority of our force would distract the enemy from the front. Perhaps your team could help with that?"

"Yeah, we should have no problem clearing out the ravine and ramming our way into the backdoor." Heh. Been too long since I've rammed my way into somebody's backdoor. Bad Spike! "Do you have anybody on your team who's familiar with Alliance radio protocols?"

"No. Ideally, you could loan us one of your squadmates. Although I was unaware that there were any turian or quarian soldiers in the Alliance."

"Yeah, well, these two aren't Alliance. They're serving on my ship at my pleasure. Spectre's privilege, I guess you could say. Look, let me think it over real quick and see if I can come up with anything better. I'll let you know when we're ready to go." With that, Shepard turned and walked away, quickly being flanked by Tali and Garrus. "Well that was fun." Shepard snarked. Typical Council bullshit. Send someone to investigate the investigators. God damn morons.

"I agree, Commander." Garrus smirked at Shepard's obvious distaste for the galaxy's ruling body.

"Me too." Tali piped up. "What are you going to do now?"

"Well, the first thing I'm gonna do is get Wrex and Ashley down here." Shepard then limited his comm channel to only Joker's frequency. "Joker, you there?"

"Of course, Commander. It's not like I could wander off for takeout up here."

"Very funny, Moreau." Shepard rolled his eyes. "Have Ashley and Wrex prep for a drop. There's a nice little spit of land I'd like you to put them down on. Sending you the information now." He activated his omni-tool and sent Joker the necessary information.

"Coordinates received, Commander." Joker confirmed. "Dropping in 90 seconds."

"Perfect." Shepard walked slowly over to the sandbar where he expected his reinforcements to appear in short order. Then he had an idea. "Hey Tali!"

"Yes?"

"You ever seen a helljump before?"

"No, Shepard." Tali responded, beginning to walk over to him.

"Then come on over here and watch this one." Since she's already on her way to me, that probably didn't need to be said. Sometimes we're so in tune it's scary. And by scary, I mean kind of a turn on. "Should be a doozy, what with Wrex being like 12 tons of muscle and armor."

Tali giggled at his wild over-exaggeration. A few seconds later, he pointed up to the sky. "What am I looking for, Shepard?" She asked him.

"Those two little dots with contrails coming out the back. See them?"

Tali peered closer into the pearly blue sky. I don't see anything. There's nothing – oh wait, I see something! "I think I see them, Shepard."

"It's kinda neat to think that those two little dots are moving at upwards of 75 meters per second, and it's just Ashley and Wrex. And then, when they get close to the ground, they're gonna decelerate to a standstill in just under three meters."

"How does that work, Commander?" Tali asked, intrigued.

"Obviously, the first thing that happens is that the helljumper dives out of their ship and assumes a streamlined shape, with their head facing the ground and their legs and arms pressed together. This decreases their wind resistance, thereby increasing their speed, and thus reduces the time the enemy has to shoot them out of the sky. Then, at between twenty and ten meters off the ground, the armor rotates to assume its 'landing position.' That has the jumper's back parallel to the ground, and sets up five points of impact with the ground: each fist, the sole of the left foot, the right knee, and the top of the right foot. If you have the tech skills, or you know somebody who does, you can change which knee is up and which one is down; but the Alliance teaches that 'left up, right down' position, and all Alliance armor suppliers have that set up as the default. Once you have 'assumed the position,' as the saying goes, the armor locks up in order to prevent damage to the jumper.

After that comes the deceleration stage. In order to decelerate, the armor's kinetic barriers are pushed out as far away from the jumper's body as possible, usually about two or three meters, depending on the armor. The jumper's terminal velocity is high enough that the ground will activate the shields. Then, instead of just breaking like shields normally do, the shield itself collapses in on itself as it gets closer to the armor. In doing so, the shields get progressively stronger and slow the jumper more and more as the shields get to their normal location. The jumper will still hit the ground hard enough to leave a crater in most domestic materials, but that's about the worst of the damage. In addition, some biotic users are able to add a mass-lowering field to their landing, making it softer than normal, but it takes a lot of strength and concentration to be able to do that. I'd expect Wrex could probably do it, if he cared about softening his landing at all. Knowing that big sonuva bitch though, I'm guessing that he's gonna 'announce his presence with authority.'"

Tali laughed again, and watched as the dots flying through the air grew into recognizably bipedal shapes. This is really exciting. I wonder what it would be like to do something like helljumping? Ooh, I saw the armor rotate! I wonder if all the internal programming is the same, or if - Before Tali could further ponder the minutiae of helljumping, the two jumpers hit the ground with a heavy thud that sent a cloud of sand in every direction, hiding them from view.

When the debris cloud cleared, Ashley and Wrex were visible in their own small craters. Both were standing up, clearly none the worse for the wear. As they walked closer, Ashley called out to Shepard.

"Thanks for having us drop, Skipper. That never gets old!" She sounded practically gleeful, as though she couldn't wait to get back up to the Normandy and do it again.

"I know the feeling, Ash." Shepard responded with a bright smile of his own.

Upon seeing Shepard smile so widely at Ashley, a small part of Tali was immediately inundated with a sharp wave of anger and possessiveness. What was that? The quarian wondered to herself. Was that jealousy? But why would I be jealous of Ashley? I clearly have no claim on Spike, despite how much I want one. And she is a vibrant, attractive woman; clearly, she a viable choice for his romantic attentions. Much more viable than me. Unfortunately. So it can't have been jealousy. Maybe it was just a twinge of fear mixed with excitement at the idea of ever helljumping. Yes, that must have been it.

In sharp contrast to the practically-bouncing human female, Wrex was clearly one pissed off pile of centuries-old battlemaster. With a snarl on his lips, the krogan went pounding off towards the salarian captain. Each one of the krogan's footfalls forced a small cloud of sand and/or water to erupt into the air. Sensing the massive warrior's hostility, Shepard turned away from Ashley and quick-stepped over to the krogan's side. "Easy there, Wrex."

The only reply given by the large reptile was a guttural growl that would have cowed almost any other living creature, and probably a great many non-living ones. Unluckily for Wrex, however, Shepard was not a man who had ever been cowed, and he had no plans to start now.

"Damn it Wrex, slow down and let's talk this out." Shepard attempted to put a conciliatory hand on the krogan's shoulder, but Wrex only increased his speed and covered the remaining three meters to Kirrahe in a blur of movement. With a roar of anger and frustration, the hulking brute picked up the diminutive salarian by his lapels and brought their faces together until they were separated by mere centimeters.

As soon as Wrex laid hands on their captain, the other members of the salarian infiltration team pulled out their weapons and trained them on the krogan. Shit. Shepard thought to himself as he ran to Wrex's side. Things just keep getting better and better on this mission, don't they? Without needing to be told, Garrus, Tali, and Ashley drew their own weapons and took up position to cover Shepard. Noticing their movement, Shepard couldn't help but smile internally. They're really starting to work together. Too bad their current "enemies" are our allies. "Everybody stand down!" Shepard yelled out, channeling every ounce of authority he had into the command. His team immediately shipped their weapons, and most of the weapons held by the salarians were lowered as well.

Shepard then put his hand on one of Wrex's arms that were holding Kirrahe in the air. "That means you too, Wrex." He said, sacrificing volume for the sake of overwhelming intensity.

His eyes burning with barely contained fury, Wrex turned his head to look at the commander. "Why, Shepard? Why should I, when these - things - want to eliminate the best hope for my people? The krogan have suffered under the genophage for centuries! Saren found a cure, and you want to destroy it? You want me to allow you to destroy it? Maybe I'm fighting for the wrong side, Shepard!"

Well damn. Wrex is a scary motherfucker when he gets pissed off. Also surprisingly loquacious. But seriously, note to self: don't piss him off. Shepard did his best to prevent his internal levity from showing on his face. "Wrex, I can, and will, answer your questions. But I'm not gonna do it in the middle of a squad of salarian soldiers while you hold their CO hostage. Put Kirrahe down, and we can talk about this man to man. You know me, Wrex; we'll get this sorted, but not like this."

Fierce red eyes and defiant gray ones bored into each other as Wrex continued to glare at Shepard. It was the proverbial clash between the unstoppable force and the immovable object. After an interminable period of time, the krogan battlemaster lowered Kirrahe to the ground. Without a word, Wrex turned and marched away. With a tilt of his head, Shepard asked if the salarian was okay. Rubbing his chest, Kirrahe nodded. Shepard then turned towards Garrus, Tali, and Ashley and motioned for them to stay put. After that, he turned and strode after Wrex.

Well that was intense. Shepard thought to himself as he followed the krogan over towards the edge of the lagoon. Thank god Wrex decided not to hurt Kirrahe. I didn't really relish the idea of having to murder an entire salarian infiltration squad just because Wrex decided to throw a tantrum. Although to be fair, he does have a damn good reason for said hissy fit. At that point, he arrived at Wrex's side. "Thanks for standing down over there, Wrex. We're gonna need every fighter we've got to smash our way into this facility."

"Tell me why, Shepard." Wrex growled out in response.

Alrighty then. Straight to the point. As usual. "I believe I just told you why you had to stand down. We couldn't afford to eliminate the salarian infiltration team. If nothing else, they'll be useful cannon fodder later. Remember: teamwork is important, because it gives the enemy somebody else to shoot at. As far as why we need to destroy this facility, we have no choice. Saren is powerful enough with just the geth. Give him an army of krogan, and he'll be unstoppable."

"Saren's cured the genophage, Shepard. Something my people have needed for a millennia. Why should I let you destroy it?"

"Well for starters, it's not a real cure. The salarians think this is a cloning facility. Saren didn't cure shit, Wrex. He just took a live krogan and started pumping out copies." Probably. Shepard hedged internally. "Is that the future of the krogan race? A single individual, repeated over and over again? I know you're intelligent enough to realize that that isn't a recipe for a successful rehabilitation of your species." Wrex remained silent, so Shepard decided to follow through and go for the argument's jugular.

"What happened to your people after they chased the rachni away, Wrex? Did the krogan get a parade? Did they get a big fancy medal from the galaxy saying 'Thanks for hauling our asses outta the fire?' Oh wait, that's right, they didn't. Instead, the Council neutered your entire fucking species. Probably because they feared the krogan, and rightly so. Y'all are some badass motherfuckers. So here's the critical question for this situation: do you think Saren will be any better? Do you really believe that any krogan who serves Saren is walking away if Saren wins?"

Shepard paused, letting the impact of his statement settle in. Actually, I should probably make sure I've hammered my point through Wrex's thick skull. Damn bastard's almost as stubborn and pig-headed as I am. "Your instincts told you to get away from Saren once before, even at the cost of missing out on a well-earned payday. Apply those instincts to this situation, Wrex. Use your damn head and think about what you would do in Saren's place! Because I can tell you what I'd do: I'd put a little something extra in the genetic code I was creating my army from. Maybe a weakness to a certain type of radiation, maybe some sort of enzyme deficiency, or maybe just a genetic killswitch. And as soon as I got what I wanted, I'd end them all. The Council hamstrung the krogan as payment for their service; Saren will exterminate them."

After Shepard finished speaking, the two stood in silence for a long minute. Finally, Wrex spoke. "Genetic killswitch. Krogan are too strong for anything else. That's how I'd do it."

"Me too, Wrex." Shepard said, patting the krogan on the shoulder. "So, you ready to go hear the plan?" The krogan mercenary nodded, and together the two prideful warriors walked over to the salarians' command tent.

"Alright everybody, gather 'round!" Shepard called out. Once the salarians and the crew of the Normandy were gathered together, he began to lay out the plan. "So here's what we're gonna do. Kirrahe, you're gonna split your men up into three teams and take them around to the front of the facility and create a diversion, just like we talked about. Hitting the bastards from multiple points should help destabilize their defenses more than just a single concentrated attack, and it looks like three teams is probably the most you can afford. You asked for one of my team to facilitate communications? Take Ashley. My squad will sneak in the back and work forward, killing anything in our way as we go. Wrex, in the Mako, is gonna be the backup team. After all, he's about a squad's worth of firepower all by himself. After we clear to the center of the base and deactivate the AA guns, Joker'll bring the Normandy in to here, pick up Wrex, the Mako, and the nuke, and then go drop off our housewarming gift for Saren. My guy Kaidan will be in charge of babysitting the bomb the whole time, and making sure it doesn't go off prematurely. After that, we'll pick up the salarian teams and bug outta here like a bat outta hell, before blowing this facility skyhigh. Any questions?" When no one moved or spoke, Shepard turned and walked off towards where his team was clustered. With a nod, he commanded them to follow him away from the salarians.

Once they were far enough away to avoid being overheard, Shepard turned and looked at the four members of his team. "Anybody have any questions now?" He asked with a smug smirk.

Ashley was the first to speak. "Why am I going with the salarians, Skipper?"

Gee, how'd I know that that would be the first thing out of her mouth? "Easy. Tali and Garrus are with me, so that eliminates them. And after Wrex's little tete-a-tete with Kirrahe, I don't want to put him under the Captain's command. Therefore, by process of elimination, you're it. I know you've had some problems with aliens in the past, but you gotta put it aside for now. The mission depends on you, Ash. Can I rely on you to get it done?"

The subtle ego-boosting did its job, and Ashley straightened up a little and gave a sharp salute. "Yes sir!"

Shepard smiled and looked around. When no one else spoke up, he smiled. I figured Garrus and Tali would be good to go, and I had a feeling Wrex would understand. Plus, putting him in a vehicle with a 155mm cannon and a mounted machine gun gives him a great way to blow the everlasting shit outta something. For some reason, I feel like he'll be getting in some target practice while he waits for us to require his assistance. "And Wrex?" Shepard leveled his gaze on the krogan. "You don't roll into the firefight unless I, and I alone, call for you. You read me?" A single nod was the only response Shepard received. "Right then. We all know the plan, we're all BAMFs, and we're all gonna kick Saren's ass. Now let's do it!"