"Why did you ask me to come along?" Cass asked, shuffling along at her mother's side.
"Because." Shepard stated simply along with a shrug; sitting down on the sparse seating the shuttle had to offer.
"Because why?" Cass frowned, settling in alongside the commander across form Garrus and Liara.
"I thought we could use an extra pair of hands in case anything goes wrong; god forbid."
"What could go wrong?" Cass snorted. "Everything goes wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"Have you not noticed by now that everything that is ever supposed to be a routine mission always gets fucked- " The teen paused at the scolding glare. "sorry- up anyways."
"It doesn't go wrong every time."
"It does."
"It doesn't." The commander argued.
"It does too."
"I'm not going to argue. You'll see; this will be so routine, that you'll probably be bored. We're going to drop down on Surkesh, get the female and be off once more; simple as that."
"Doubt it." Cass rolled her eyes.
Cass wandered around the lab; her mother was speaking to some major Kirahe, leaving her to her own devices. For how boring the Salarians seemed to her, this place was pretty cool; the view was nice, overlooking water and foliage and everything was super high tech. Shuffling along the back, the girl frowned, turning to an odd looking machine.
Stretching out her gloved hand, the girl tentatively placed her hand on the keypad like surface.
"Please don't touch that." A Salarian soldier appeared next to her, startling her causing her hand to recoil.
"Why?" Cass asked curiously.
"It's not a toy."
Cass rolled her eyes; placing her hand on inches away.
"As I said, please don't touch that." The Salarian droned.
Inching closer, the girl smiled slyly.
"Again, I'm going to ask you to refrain from touching that."
Closer.
"Perhaps 'don't touch that' means something different in your language."
Closer.
"I would rather not refer this matter to the human embassy."
Cass grinned, dropping her hand on the pad, manipulating the screen.
"Fine." The soldier exasperated. "Touch it all you want, you'll never find out what it does-"
"Is there a problem?" Shepard peered over the girl's shoulder.
"No!" Cass exclaimed, dropping her hand and nearly sprinting away from her mother.
Shepard shook her head and nodded in apology toward the Salarian before following after her daughter.
"This is Routine?!" Cass growled; "The fucking alarms going off!"
Shepard glared at her daughter. "I'm sure it's fine!" The mother yelled over the alarms. "We just need to get the females and leave!"
"Yeah right! It's going to be a lot more complicated than that!"
"It's fine!" Shepard yelled adamantly.
"I'm with Cass on this, Shepard." Garrus spoke. "Something fishy is going on."
"It'll be fine!" Shepard repeated.
Cass just rolled her eyes, following after the team into the elevator.
"Mordin?" Shepard exclaimed, visibly surprised.
"Eye site sharp; surprise understandable. Hadn't expected to return to work." Mordin replied.
"You're back with STG?" Liara frowned, arms crossing over her chest.
"Special consultant. Had to be me, someone else might've gotten it wrong." Mordin paused, glancing around sparingly. "Helped female Krogan; fed information to clan Urdnot, encourage political pressure to free females."
"You must have been Wrex's inside source." Cass offered.
"Yes." Mordin smiled. "Can explain later. Security readings not normal, need to get off world for sake of Krogan."
Shepard nodded, she and the team following Mordin down the hall.
"The females had weakened immune systems; side effect of Malon's cure." Mordin spoke, motioning the glass barrier to his left. "These did not survive; couldn't save them."
"I'm sure you did everything you could, Mordin." Shepard said sympathetically.
"Arrived too late; cannot delay now." Mordin lowered. "One survivor, immune to Genophage, can synthesize cure from tissue."
"And she's still here?" Shepard questioned.
"Yes. Last hope for Krogan. If she's dies, Genophage cure… problematic." Mordin paused, "Please be careful. Krogan slow to trust."
Shepard nodded, turning to the Krogan behind the glowing barrier. Cass gaped slightly, now realizing that she had never been around a female Krogan.
"I'm Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy." Shepard introduced herself.
"Are you here to kill me?" The female spoke lowly, voice somewhat muffled.
"Goddess." Liara breathed; looking over the female's vitals on her omni-tool. "What's she been through."
"Urdnot Wrex and I are here to take you home." Shepard spoke softly.
"Why are you here, Commander Shepard?"
"You're the future of the Krogan race; I'm fighting for that." Shepard spoke with conviction.
"Then I hope you brought and army."
Cass swallowed thickly; so much for routine.
"Fucking Cerberus, mother-fucking-" Cass grumbled.
"Cassandra!" Liara and Shepard shrieked simultaneously; falling into step with the girl.
"What?" Cass sneered. "You're thinking it too! You just won't say it."
They should have seen this coming; every time something bad happens, Cerberus is behind it. It was pissing her off! They had basically destroyed her home. Hurrying down the hall in front of her mother and the rest of the team, Cass continued to rage.
"That doesn't mean-" Shepard started, stopping as a shadow fell to their left. "What was that-"
Cass came to a halt, as a Yahg leapt through the opening on their left side, tumbling past the flames; a bloodied Varren carcass in its hand.
"There goes the next shadow broker." Shepard laughed.
"I swear it was whispering T'soni the whole time." Garrus added.
"Not funny." Liara scowled.
Cass laughed, "You better watch out Liara!"
"It's not funny!" Liara huffed as they continued down the hall.
Cass breathed deeply out of relief watching as the heavy-mech fell. It was close, the barrier nearly failed; if it had, well, she didn't even want to think about it.
Stretching, the girl watched as the shuttle appeared on the landing zone across the space. Shuffling over to where her mother and the rest of the team stood, Cass returned a half smile to the one of relief her mother was giving her.
As Wrex jumped from the shuttle door, and pounded over the where the female was being released; she suppressed a laugh as Wrex shoved Mordin out of the way only to have his helping hand rejected.
"Let's go!" A Cerberus officer bellowed, appearing from the upper level, setting in with their jet boots.
Cass scowled, rage bubbling in her chest. More of them! Pulling out her pistol and sprinting toward the incoming soldiers, the girl was pulled back by her mother as two gun shots went off behind them; the soldiers fell, blood splattering; the heavy shotgun smoking in the female Krogan's hands.
Shaking away her mother's hands, the girl stomped over to the sputtering Cerberus officer. Kneel down over him, one leg on each side the girl grabbed the front of the dying man's chest piece.
"Why the fuck are you here?!" Cass yelled with furry; shaking the man; his blood splattering onto her face as he went limp.
"Cass." Shepard said quietly, placing a hand on the teen's back.
"What?!" The girl growled; glaring at her mother out of the corner of her eye; still half holding the now dead soldier.
"He's dead." Shepard's eyes followed her daughters.
"Oh." Cass scowled, dropping the man's torso to the ground roughly; the girl simply turned on her heel and strode to the shuttle without a word.
After a long, hot shower and a change of clothes, Cass was unenthused to find her mother waiting for her at her desk.
"What's up?" Cass frowned, squeezing her hair dry into a white towel.
"What happened back there?" Shepard asked.
"What do you mean?" Cass' brow furrowed.
"At the end there; you seemed… upset."
Cass scowled. "Weren't you?"
Shepard frowned, "Cass, that, well, you seemed a little hysterical- I was worried."
"Hysterical." Cass snorted. "I was not hysterical."
"Cass." Spoke in an almost scolding tone.
"I was pissed." Cass growled. "I was real fucking angry, okay?"
"Cassandra." The commander warned.
"Fine- sorry. I was mad."
Shepard's eye brows rose questioningly; forcing the girl to explain further.
"Cerberus fu- screws everything up. They took my home; Omega was home. And everything that happened before that; it's like we were doing something good, but- you know what I'm saying, I just let it get the best of me- sorry."
"Cass, you don't have to apologize for being mad, I just want to know that you're okay."
"Okay." Cass sighed. "I'm fine, really."
Shepard smiled half-heartedly. "Okay."
"You must be the Commander's daughter." The female Krogan commented as Cass shuffled into the medical bay.
"Uh, yeah. Hey." Cass greeted shyly; still slightly awed by the female Krogan.
"You seem to hold your own in battle for one so young."
"I'm not that young." Cass replied, slightly indignant.
The female chuckled ever so slightly. "I meant no offense."
"Sorry-"
"There's no need to apologize."
Cass frowned, scraping the heel of her boot over the other foot. "I should probably go- um, I didn't get your name."
"I surrendered my name long ago when I became a shaman of the female clan; I belong to my sisters now."
"Oh. I didn't know the Krogans had female shamans." Cass replied.
"Wisdom comes from pain- the Genophage has made us very wise. Rather than give into to despair, a few of us chose to preserve the ancient ways.
Cass frowned, pausing in thought. "What will you do when its cured then?"
"The culture and knowledge that I have gained in my time is something I will spread- when our children our born, the Krogan will be able to flourish."
Cass nodded. "Wrex says you're going to get a new planet."
The Krogan laughed. "Of course he did. These things will take time. There's much to do."
"He is kind of overzealous, huh?" Cass tapped her chin before smiling. "I mean, he did just perform a Krogan air drop- literally."
The female laughed once more; "You are a very interesting child."
"I wonder if I could do an air drop- It'd probably hurt; maybe if Cortez lowered the shuttle a little more-" Cass began to rant slightly, more to herself than the Krogan.
"I'm going to vote for no more air drops." Shepard spoke dryly, appearing in the doorway with Mordin.
"You always show up at the worse times." Cass sighed exasperatedly.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Shepard's hands rested on her hips.
"Nothing; I'm going to go bother Liara. It was nice to meet you." Cass nodded toward the female Krogan before slipping out of the medbay before her mother could stop her.
"How're you feeling?" Shepard asked, placing her hand atop her daughter's back and rubbing gently; the girl was stretched out on the bed hugging a pillow between her arms and head.
"Fine." Cass mumbled sleepily.
"It was an eventful day."
Cass grunted, "You're kidding right."
"What do you mean?" Shepard's nose scrunched up.
"We're in a war, the reapers, curing the genophage- All of our days are going to be eventful."
Shepard's hand paused. "Let's just take it day by day then."
Cass frowned into the pillow as her eyes began to close as her mother's soothing motion began to lull her to sleep.
"Well, you get some sleep, kiddo. I'll see you in the morning." Shepard stood and walked toward the cabin's door. "I love you."
Shepard's statement was met with silence, the teen already asleep.
AN: Not much to say, other than that we're steadily progressing in this story. Please Review! Thanks!