Karla started them off.
"The two of us (me and Velik) spent most of the war as couriers. The Alliance was suddenly buying up Prothean artefacts like there was no tomorrow, we never did find out why. We managed to stay clear of the worst the war had to offer, only occasionally running into Reaper scouting forces or other treasure hunters. Luckily by the time it got bad we'd hooked up with Kel here."
"So you didn't fight in any giant battles then." Said Jrell with an almost comically crestfallen expression. Karla punched him playfully on the arm.
"Easy, don't jump the gun little man, I'm just getting to that part. Brek do you remember the Krogan who used to run Omega? He goes by Patriarch now."
Brek nodded.
"Well the Eclipse band that I ran with back then did a few jobs for him. He was the one who helped me cover my tracks after I… left."
"So you owed him a favour." Said Brek, helping her along.
"Yeah so when he asks me to fill the ranks of Aria T'loak's fleet and help her reclaim Omega I basically can't say no."
"Why would Patriarch want to help the usurper reclaim her throne?" Asked Curthor.
Karla shrugged. "I guess he must think that T'loak is a softer target than Cerberus. She might know what she's doing as a crime boss but she is easily the lousiest commander I've ever seen. Her grand strategy involved throwing us at the stations guns and seeing what happened, all the credits we earned from artefact delivery barely covered repair costs. Long story short the ship got shot to shit, we landed and killed some Cerberus goons before their leader surrendered. I assume Aria killed him. If we are still doing boasts then I did shoot a guy through the eye slot in his riot shield."
Brek chewed his cheek, lost in thought, he seemed to be weighing up Karla's contribution to the Telling.
"A good tale: a debt honoured, a battle won. You Quarian tell us a story of blood and battle."
Karla knew that Kelron really was not the boasting type but she hoped that he wasn't tactless enough to offend the Krogan by refusing. She gave him what she thought was an encouraging look.
"I was a marine in the migrant fleet for many years. I fought Batarian slavers, terminus pirates and the occasional Geth patrol. Life was routine until the admirals finally decided to try and retake the home world. I had only lived aboard ships and never really been enthralled by the legends of Rannoch but wiping out the Geth? If I had to die in combat I could think of no better way than helping to correct the greatest mistake of my people."
"But that's not how it went is it?" Asked Claire remembering the conversation they'd had on the first day of their voyage from Omega.
"No" Kelron stared off into the middle distance and the adults sat patiently wondering if he was going to continue. Jrell wasn't so patient.
"So if you didn't kill all the bad guys then what happened?" The young Krogan seemed like he would use Kelron's next few words to decide whether or not to transfer his wide eyed admiration from Karla to him.
"My unit was dropped outside a Geth base along with a dozen or so others to provide a distraction while admiral Zorah struck at its heart. I lost four men but at the time I did not care, I felt right, complete. Maybe that was how the Krogan felt while fighting the Rachni. Then the news came through that they'd called a truce. Can you believe that? Rael'zorah's daughter's solution was to make peace with the Geth, apparently the last three hundred years were one giant misunderstanding." A great sigh rattled through his mask. He seemed reluctant to continue.
"I didn't believe it, I kept fighting. At my court martial my captain used post traumatic stress as an excuse, she said I couldn't get over losing my comrades, but deep down I think it was just my hatred of the Geth."
Brek shook his head. "Clear the shame from your voice Quarian. Continuing a just fight when your superiors have proven themselves incompetent isn't shameful, it is righteous."
"The admiralty board disagreed, they said they could not risk me jeopardising the truce. I was exiled." Kelron stood suddenly and stalked over to check the bags, signalling that his story was over.
Karla rubbed the back of her scalp crests awkwardly.
"Then we met him in a bar on the citadel and hired him, the end. Does that count as a good tale? I mean the Krogan like cause for a good grudge almost as much as honouring debts right?"
"I suppose, though the tone was lacking a certain passion." Said Curthor sniffily.
"The Salarian next." Commanded Brek.
"Um pass?"
"You can't pass Shrub." Karla said with surprising gentleness.
Shrub glanced from Karla to Brek like a cornered animal.
"I mean no disrespect to you or your traditions Ravenor Brek, I just don't think I have any 'tales of blood and battle' to share."
Brek huffed dismissively but Karla cut him off.
"Don't be silly. Remember the time you pushed that treasure hunter down the stairs or when you hacked that YMIR mech and it blasted a whole marauder patrol?"
"That one! Tell that one." Yelled Jrell excitedly.
As Shrub began talking tentatively Claire excused herself and walked over to check on Kelron. He was bent over the bags looking over their stock of thermal clips.
"Are you alright?" It seemed an inadequate question to ask someone who had been told that they could never see their family again but she couldn't think what else to say.
"I am fine." He turned his head so his glowing eyes met hers from behind his visor. Claire crossed her arms, unconvinced. "Really."
Kel straightened up and slung his rifle over his shoulder.
"I just had to stop talking. Anything else I could have said would only have made me sound like a bitter old man and I can't have that. I have to let it go."
"That is a pretty big thing to forgive." She left the rest ('I don't know if I could') unsaid.
"I met a human on my pilgrimage, I confessed how daunting I was finding the task ahead of me. Do you know what he told me?"
"Tell me."
"He said that a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. I never forgot that: I'll find it in me to forgive the admirals one day and thanks to my exile I don't have to try and co-exist with the Geth."
"Wow." Said Claire. "Karla was right you are rock solid."
Kelron stepped closer. "Thank you. How are you doing, glad to be on solid ground again? I know that you didn't exactly choose this but I meant what I said at your interview. Karla is a powerhouse, I am a better shot than most and Shrub has a head for computers but there is one thing that we are missing if we are going to be an effective mercenary team: tactical brilliance."
Claire tried to wave that off with modesty but he was on a roll.
"I'm serious, shooting someone at random and shooting the right person at right time makes all the difference in the galaxy. You could make that difference."
Claire was unused to such overt flattery and it made her feel uncomfortable so she tried to adjust the flow of the conversation.
"I might not have signed a contract but you don't need to worry, I've got nothing better to do than be a loyal employee of D'mel enterprises."
"Oh goddess just kiss her already!" Shouted Karla from her place by the fire.
Kelron tilted his head in the Quarian approximation of a frown.
"I didn't mean it like that."
"I know." Claire lied.
The human and the Quarian trotted back to the group just as Shrub was rounding off his story. Jrell was sitting cross legged at his feet, practically fawning over him.
"That was great."
"Indeed, you are worthier than I thought. You're last human try not to disappoint." Brek's tone was serious enough to make Claire wonder what happened to outsiders who failed in the Telling. She decided she would rather not know.
"I-" As soon as she opened her mouth a horn sounded from somewhere, a long sonorous note that blotted out the rest of her sentence. She was glad truth be told she had no idea what she would have said to impress them. During her stint as a unit commander for the Australian anti-terrorist taskforce she had only fired her gun once in anger.
Karla and the Krogan jumped to their feet at the noise, the others did the same out of reflex.
Kelron hefted his sniper rifle instinctively.
"That came from the vents leading to the surface. Is that your proximity alarm?"
Karla answered him. "No the horn is a summons from the chief in the stone fort up top. One blast-" Another long report cut her off. As they were waiting for the deafening sound to die down Claire noticed that Jrell's expression had stopped being exited and he was now looking at his father nervously.
"As I was saying one blast summons the chieftain's advisers but two calls the entire clan to hear an announcement, usually the calling of a war party. Can we come?"
It was Curthor who answered. "As a member of my grandson's krantt you have entitled access to our councils Durgar, but the rest must remain behind."
Karla looked at Kelron, Shrub and Claire.
"You heard the man: stay minions." She seemed to have the unfortunate habit of addressing her employees like particularly dim witted pets when giving orders.
It was a long trudge back up through the tunnels to the fort. Karla, Brek, Curthor and Jrell joined the flow of hundreds of Krogan making their way to the surface.
"I thought the clans had been united, what could Dresh hope to gain by calling a war party now?"
Brek looked angry but not at the question.
"Urdnot Wrex hasn't returned from the battle on the human home world yet. When the thresher is away the Vorcha will play." That surprised Karla, the last time she was on Tuchanka chief Dresh had been well respected.
"Vorcha. Is Dresh that unpopular?"
Brek glowered. "Ravenor Dresh is dead, killed by our shaman."
Karla's eyes widened, she had known the shaman before. He had vehemently opposed an alien (let alone an Asari) becoming part of Brek's krantt. He had always been a bastard but she had a hard time picturing him as a traitor.
"Shaman relinquish their names to serve the Krogan people so they can overthrow a chieftain if it is in our best interests but to do so for political gain earns the deepest dishonour. I only wish he had not escaped so the name of Krell could freeze in the void for all eternity." Curthor spat. He definitely seemed more eloquent than most Krogan.
"Dresh's cousin is chief now. To answer your question he probably called a war party because the false shaman Krell has been found. Now we can kill him and restore Dresh's spirit." Rumbled Brek.
The clan meeting spot was a large amphitheatre atop the tower opposite the landing pad. By the time they reached it all the benches were full so they just hovered at the back of the crowd, craning to see over the mass of heads.
A booming Krogan voice started to speak from the centre of the amphitheatre but none of them could make out the source through the press.
"The war is over. The genophage is cured." Said the voice, presumably the chief's. A colossal cheer filled the air.
"Some people say we 'have true peace.' I say that those people are gutless fools. We finally get out from under the Turians boot only to present our necks to the Reapers? No! Urdnot Wrex has shown us why he is clan chief. He took their armistice and told them where to shove it!" Another cheer mixed with raucous laughter.
"But some Krogan fail to understand the message he was trying to send the weaker races. What is the first rule of thresher maw hunting? An impatient hunter winds up dead. I will be the patient hunter, once the Krogan are legion again we will rise up and crush the Reapers. One day but not now.
The Blood Pack does not understand this, they would draw the rage of the Reapers down on themselves. Normally I would dismiss them as idiots and let them destroy themselves but they have made a fatal mistake. The traitor 'shaman' Krell is hiding in their ranks."
The crowd booed and jeered and this news.
"The Blood pack is sheltering a known enemy of clan Ravenor. This is an insult that we cannot ignore, grab your guns, We are going to kill them all!"
The room erupted, there was shouting, howling and singing. Some Krogan even started firing their weapons into the air.
Brek grabbed Karla's arm and pulled her in close so she could hear.
"How many people does the Tears carry?"
"What!" Yelled Karla over the din, cupping her aural vent to hear better.
"Your ship! How many people can fit in your ship?"
"About twenty or so and another twenty in the hold! Why?"
"We already know from the other clans that Krell isn't on Tuchanka and the Krogan don't have any ships. I guess what I'm saying is do you want a job?"