The Red Moon Collection - 2 - Three Phantoms

by TSarr

Five months after the events that drew them together the crew of the MSV Hyperion has found their place in the lawless underbelly of the galaxy. However, they soon find themselves in deeper than they had anticipated after accepting a deal offered by two powerful strangers. /Volume 2 of the Red Moon Collection\

6. Chapter 6

The Red Moon Collection - 2 - Three Phantoms

Chapter 6

City of Rakarn, Tuchanka

The shuttle flight to what the krogan ominously referred to as "the Maw" had only taken a few minutes. Will decided to open the hatch after the Kodiak had reached a respectable distance from Raik forces and stand with his hand secure on the bulkhead to observe more of the landscape with his own eyes. It was clear that the further the shuttle flew west, the more degraded the city became. The culmination of this shift came when the Kodiak crossed over a long, stone gorge that snaked its way through the city from the north to the south. Most of the bridges that stretched across the artificial valley had fallen, leaving only one or two passable routes. Will theorized to himself that they had passed over what had once been a canal, long-dried like the sea it would have eventually led to. Corsin and Vayren stepped up beside Will as they had cleared the canal and stared in silence over the desolate remnants of city that they would be trekking through.

The Maw was almost indescribable in its appearance and expanse. No buildings remained to tower over any others, but the remnants of the superstructures that had once provided the bulk of the city lay twisted and piled among one another. Will thought it resembled an unnaturally dense pile of leaves and sticks, only instead of natural debris, it consisted of inconceivable tons of twisted stone and metal. The Spectres, having apparently seen everything they'd needed to see after a few seconds, turned from the hatch and returned to their places on the troop-bench. Will continued to stare as Kallux spent a good ten or fifteen minutes attempting to locate the best landing zone, the sun whipping harshly at Will's visor all the while.

"We've got an LZ," Shansa finally reported. "Hitting the ground in forty-five seconds."

"Affirmative," Will acknowledged curtly.

The shuttle turned into a wide bank and descended toward the decided location rapidly as Kallux stepped from the cockpit and joined Will by the hatch. Eleena stood and joined them, leaning her back casually against the wall beside the open door.

"What are we expecting in terms of wildlife?" Will raised a brow and looked to the krogan.

Vayren and Corsin had finished preparing and had taken up position beside Kallux as he responded. "I'm expecting the usual: varren, klixen, maybe some irritable pyjaks. They're numerous enough that you'll see them almost anywhere on Tuchanka." The krogan drew his cannon and waited as the weapon mechanically extended to its full state. "But a lot can happen in five hundred years."

Corsin retrieved his rifle from his back. "Good. It's always more fun with some unknowns."

Vayren sighed and shook his head in objection. "You've just exemplified why Spectres don't work well as a group."

The thrusters on the belly of the Kodiak roared to life and stabilized the shuttle a few feet above a long, flat slab of stone. Will and Kallux gave each other a nod and leapt to the ground below them as dirt and dust stormed up around them from the force of the Kodiak's thrusters. Will could have sworn that the surface had shifted an inch or so when they landed, but after taking a few steps forward he turned back and motioned for the others to follow. Eleena, Corsin and Vayren jumped down to join Will and Kallux, their weapons raised and at the ready.

"We're clear," Will reported to the Kodiak.

"Understood. So far I'm not seeing any instability where you are," Tul'Sorrin informed them.

The dropship's drive thrusters roared and pushed the Kodiak into the sky once again, its hatch slamming shut as it ascended. Will waited patiently for the dust that swirled around him to settle to the ground before drawing his rifle and looking around their landing zone. The uneven landscape made it hard to see more than a few dozen meters in any direction as enormous shards of debris rose up toward the sky to block his view.

"Well, Kallux, I hope you know where we're going," Eleena said with a sigh. "Because all I see is a bunch of rocks."

The krogan remained silent for a few moments before nodding. "Follow me."

Kallux stepped forward and toward the end of the slab with the others quickly falling into position behind him. The krogan peered over the edge as he slid his weapon onto his back before casually leaping down off the slab and disappearing from the sight of the squad. A deep thud rang out accompanied by a small plume of dust. Will and the others quickened their pace and looked down over the edge to where Kallux stood a good ten feet down looking back up at them.

"It's a bit of a fall," he informed them. "You might wanna ease yourselves down. I doubt the joints in your knees and ankles are as strong as a krogan's."

Will slid his rifle onto his back while looking to the others. "See you all down there."

Without a moment of hesitation he turned and stepped off the ledge backwards. His hands grabbed hold of the slab as he fell to stop his fall, leaving him dangling a few feet from the ground where Kallux stood watching. Will glanced over his shoulder to get a feel for the distance of the rest of the fall and let go. He landed and caught his balance quickly with Kallux smirking in approval.

"Easy." Will clapped his hands together to rid his gloves of the dust they had gathered and stepped up beside Kallux.

The pair looked up where Eleena, Corsin and Vayren stood. Vayren shook his head and knelt down, easing himself into the same position Will had been in without the over-the-top jump. The salarian dropped to the ground with surprising poise and walked over to Will and Kallux to watch the next member of the squad descend. Corsin gave Eleena a glance and the asari waved her hand to show him that he could go next. The turian stowed his rifle and leapt from the edge, rolling as he hit the ground to disperse the force of his fall. He grunted as he sprung to his feet and shook the dust from his armor.

"Points for style," Will mused as Corsin lined up by the others.

"Presentation is important," the turian replied.

"That so?" Eleena inquired from the ledge.

"It's not a bad fall," Corsin informed her. "I can give you a hand if you'd like."

Will and Kallux exchanged an amused look.

"Thanks for the offer," the asari answered. "But I'll handle it."

Eleena stowed her SMG and held her arms out on either side of her body as biotic energy began swirling around her hands. She placed her feet together and jumped forward, clearing the ledge significantly as a biotic bubble wrapped around her. Eleena's momentum seemed to drop to nearly nothing as she gently floated toward them in her tightly controlled mass effect field. The blue energy disappeared in the blink of an eye as her feet touched the ground.

"Well," Vayren began. "I see Captain Hume wasn't exaggerating about your biotic potency."

Corsin cleared his throat sheepishly. "Indeed."

Eleena retrieved her weapon and looked to the others. "We ready to go, or what?"

Will looked to Kallux and nodded. "Lead the way, my strong-legged friend."

The krogan smirked and started off into the shadow cast by the huge slab of stone they had landed on. The squad fell into position beside and around Kallux as he led them to the entrance a debris-ridden tunnel that slowly descended below the surface. The tunnel, which seemed more like a cave than anything, was cramped and could only fit the group single-file. The jagged and uneven floor consisted of loose boulders and metal beams from centuries past, making their descent slow and difficult. Adding to the uneven floor was the lighting and confusing shadows it cast. Sunlight shone from the opening they had entered from as well as dozens of small holes that spotted the ceiling where gaps in the ruins above them allowed thin beams of light to sneak their way into the depths of the tunnel.

"Where does this tunnel take us?" Eleena asked as she carefully chose her steps.

"Down," Kallux replied with a grin that the others could not see.

"Fuck you," Eleena regarded with a small laugh.

Kallux chuckled at the asari's disapproval. "This should take us to the old sewers, and from there we have a small walk to a ladder up to the transit tunnels. Once we're in the transit tunnels it's an easy walk to the library."

"Why do I get the feeling it won't be as easy as it sounds?" Will inquired.

"Oh, I assure you, the route is that easy," Kallux replied. "Its the journey that might be tough."

Vayren scoffed slightly. "I'll believe it when I see it. So far this 'Maw' has been no more dangerous than the Warehouse District on the Citadel."

After a few more minutes of careful descent, the group reached the end of the tunnel as it spilled into a huge, cylindrical tube at least twenty feet in diameter. Kallux turned on his flashlight and stepped into the sewer first to make sure it was clear before motioning for the rest of the squad to follow. They turned on their flashlights and jumped into the much more spacious tunnel one-by-one. The floor was littered with debris just as the smaller tunnel had been, but width of the cylindrical tunnel gave them ample room to move.

Will activated his comm to the Kodiak as Kallux attempted to find his bearings. "Tul, can you hear me?"

The quarian's voice crackled with static as he responded. "You're a little rough, but yes."

"Good," the captain replied. "How are the readings looking?"

"No signs of instability. You're nearly a hundred feet below the surface, though. It might be hard to get accurate data."

Will looked to the squad as they stood waiting. "Alright, understood. I think we'll be heading upward soon, so hopefully that'll help clear things up. Hume, out."

Kallux, having determined their course, stepped up to the front of the group and waved them all forward. Corsin shone his flashlight slowly down one side of the wall as Will hurried to keep up the others as they moved behind Kallux's lead. The squad watched as the turian revealed at least a half-dozen holes like the one they had entered the tunnel from.

"Any idea where these go?" Corsin peered into one of the crevices as they passed by.

"Most of them are dead ends," Kallux explained, his eyes carefully looking for any movement.

Eleena looked into one of the openings on their left that led downward and out of sight. "And the ones that aren't?"

Kallux reached to his back to retrieve his cannon. "Nests."

"So how'd you know where to find a tunnel that led to the sewers?" Will moved up to Kallux's side, his rifle at ease.

"Tul'Sorrin used the geo-scanner to look for cave formations." Kallux grinned in approval. "Worked like a charm."

The squad continued in silence for at least five minutes before Will finally decided to speak. "So, Kallux, mind if I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead," the krogan replied calmly.

"You've never told us about your life before you left Tuchanka," Will stated.

Eleena grinned and raised a finger in objection. "That's not true. He's told us plenty about how much he hated it."

"That I have," Kallux admitted reluctantly. "I suppose now is as good a time as ever to answer any of your questions. What did you want to know?"

"Anything, really. It's hard to know what to ask about when I only know so little." Will could see the Spectres subtly turn their attention to the conversation at hand.

The krogan chuckled deeply and shook his head. "Alright, Hume. How about I just tell you everything relevant to our situation?" He glanced down to the human with a grin. "We could walk through every inch of this tunnel and I wouldn't have time to finish telling you about my youth."

"Anytime you wanna start, I'm listening." Will grinned in return but held his light straight ahead as they walked. "Time's a wastin', old man."

"Where to start," Kallux muttered to himself. "As I'm sure you can tell, Vartin and I have an extensive history. He's my half-brother."

"Half?" Will inquired.

"It's rare for krogan siblings to share both parents," Kallux explained. "Raik's fertile females mother children from as many males as possible to keep our genetics diverse. Vartin was the child my mother birthed immediately before me, and by that circumstance we were raised together. We spent most of our youth learning and growing along side one another."

"So you two were close?" Eleena asked as she gave Kallux a quick glance.

The krogan chuckled. "It depends on how you define 'close.' Obviously we spent a lot of time together, but krogan typically don't like to assign feelings to their brothers or friends that don't directly concern competition." Kallux smiled softly in what Will assumed was nostalgia. "We certainly relied on each other from time to time, but from the moment we could understand the concept of winning we were pushed by those around us to excel at what krogan and Raik do best."

"Fight?" Vayren asked curiously.

"Persevere," Kallux replied. "At least that's what they like to tell themselves. In truth, Raik was no more powerful than any other clan on Tuchanka. At least not until Taxalur's weapons caught the eye of the clan leader."

A high-pitched yelp caused the squad to jerk to a stop and whip their flashlights in every which direction in an attempt to locate the origin of the sound.

"Varren," Kallux informed them as he slowly scanned the expanse of tunnel before them.

"It sounded like it was dying," Corsin mentioned offhandedly.

"No," Kallux quickly corrected. "They use those yelps to call fo-"

"Contact!" Vayren shouted from the rear of the formation.

By the time Will had spun around, Vayren had already fired off two rounds from his rifle at a varren that had tumbled from one of the gaping holes in the wall. Another came scrambling after it, and another, before a forth climbed from a hole in the floor on the opposite side of the sewer. Will dropped to his knee and trained his crosshairs on the closest charging beast before pulling the trigger and laying a few bursts into its neck and chest. Vayren's rifle sent a shot into its head, dropping the varren to the floor, limp. Out of the corner of his eye Will could see Corsin step up and begin firing as well, his armor now bolstered by orange, seemingly holographic panels. Will guessed that the boon could only be Tech Armor, something he rarely saw in the Terminus Systems.

"Watch your heads!" Kallux yelled.

The deep thumps of his cannon erupted and echoed furiously off of the stone walls around them. The rounds, however, continued straight and true into one of the varren as it closed the gap between the hole it had emerged from and Vayren. The salarian quickly identified Kallux's advantage and rolled to the side in hopes of giving the krogan a better shot. The varren dropped as two shots from Kallux's weapon ripped through its legs and torso, leaving it a bloody heap on the dusty floor. Will watched the salarian as he dove to the side and was about to turn his attention back to the remaining varren as movement behind the group caught his eye.

"Behind us!" Will shouted as he turned to face the new threat.

A varren had already charged from its nesting hole to the group's flank and was jumping at full strength toward Corsin's back. The turian was spinning to meet the attack as the varren leapt through the air, only to have biotic energy burst around the beast and suspend it a few feet from contact. Eleena's SMG ripped through the vulnerable varren, killing it long before the biotic sphere that caught it in stasis had dissipated. A final varren came scrambling from one of the tunnels, but was met with an efficient burst from Will and Corsin's assault rifles. With no immediate threats the squad scanned the wide sewer pipe meticulously, the only sounds being that of armor plating shifting and the hum of the heavy-duty power source inside Kallux's cannon.

"Looks clear," Will stated as he looked back over his shoulder.

"Affirmative," Corsin agreed as he lowered his rifle. The turian glanced to Eleena and nodded. "Thanks for that catch."

The asari let her off-hand fall from the SMG as she lowered her arms to her side. "Sure."

Will shifted his view to the salarian and krogan. "Vayren, Kallux?"

"Ready to move," Vayren replied curtly as he rose to his feet.

Kallux briefly stared down the path they had taken to be sure they would have no more company. "As am I."

The squad fell into position around Kallux as he started off down the sewer line once again. With the recent contact the group was far more cautious in their procedure, moving in silence for a few minutes as they passed the first major intersection in their path. Kallux led them past the four-way tunnel connection, assuring them that they would be out of the sewers in just a few minutes. As he felt the sense of danger slacken, Will looked over to the Kallux.

"So, you were saying?"

Kallux smirked lightly. "Guess it was too much to hope that your curiosity would be satiated. Where was I?"

"You were starting to talk about Taxalur," Eleena reminded him.

The krogan nodded. "Ah yes, Taxalur. He's a rarity among krogan: a creator. He has a mind for engineering and building where most of my people only want to destroy. Not that it's entirely their fault, of course. Would you care about the future of the world or galaxy knowing that your race would cease to exist in a few centuries?"

Will watched the Spectres out of the corner of his eyes. Their faces remained stoic to the point where they seemed to be intentionally hiding their feelings.

"Couldn't say," Eleena answered. "It's hard to imagine without that perspective."

"And that's where the problem lies. It's difficult for others or even ourselves to understand how or why the majority of krogan think the way they do. Most don't feel that they should have to consider the ramifications of their actions. But why?" Kallux shook his head slightly. "I couldn't say. Krogan don't produce great scientists and engineers like, for instance, the salarians do, but I wouldn't call us unintelligent by any means. Perhaps it's to painful to think so far ahead knowing your people will not be there to experience it."

"Or they're just bitter about being neutered," Eleena added.

The krogan shrugged. "That too."

"I wouldn't say you don't think about others," Will objected. "Hell, you're the member of the RMC, after all."

Kallux nodded, his lips holding a bittersweet smile. "I fear that I am an anomaly among my people and the numbers certainly agree. When I was young I would often ask why our soldiers were marching off to challenge Urdnot, Weyrloc or whoever it was at the time. The answer I always got was that it was our nature; it's what we do. But that answer never satisfied me. Then I met Taxalur."

The krogan came to a sudden stop that took the rest of the squad by surprise. Kallux nodded to the wall where a ladder carved into the stone rose up to the ceiling and out of sight.

"We're going up," Kallux informed them as he stowed his cannon.

The squad followed his lead and secured their weapons as Kallux stepped up to the ladder and gripped a high rung with his hands. He pulled himself up with ease and began scaling the wall up into a small tunnel above them. Will began to climb after him, only to stop about halfway up as the krogan let out a grunt and pushed aside a heavy sounding hatch. Kallux pulled himself up out of the tube, allowing Will to hurry up behind him. Will pulled himself to his feet and looked around to see they had been deposited into another cylindrical tunnel, this one twice the size of the sewer. From the center of the tunnel where he stood Will realized that they had entered an underground railway. About five feet off the ground to either side of him were thick, metal beams that ran as far as he could see in either direction. Monorails. The metal was clearly degraded, but still surprisingly intact for how old it must have been. As the rest of the squad climbed up from the sewer, Kallux drew his cannon once again and began marching onward.

"Only a little further," the krogan assured them as they fell in behind him.

Will quickened his pace to reach Kallux's side. "So when did you meet Taxalur?"

"It was around my first centennial. I had been with my unit for a few years by then doing mostly uninteresting things... patrols and such. One day Taxalur showed up at our armory while we were preparing to head out and told us that he needed volunteers to test a new weapon he had been working on. The others jumped at the opprotunity to put his new killing device to the test, a shotgun in this case, and our squad leader was selected to carry the weapon. The patrol was uneventful, of course, but the shotgun was put to use on a large collection of local wildlife." Kallux let out a small laugh. "It was an early iteration of the gun, but it still packed a punch."

Will chuckled. "If the same guy built your cannon, I can imagine so."

Kallux nodded in agreement. "After we had returned from our patrol I waited until the others had left and watched as Taxalur worked on breaking down the shotgun. I was curious about the fact that he had built it, so I asked him why and he told me that he enjoyed the process of creation. Sensing the irony, I asked him why he would create something used to destroy." The krogan grinned. "He was silent for a moment before answering that there wasn't much else he could build on Tuchanka... I could hear the disappointment in his tone. I told him that if he ever needed any help testing weapons I would be glad to help."

"I soon became what you might call his apprentice, though I didn't do much construction or engineering. I never had the eye or mind for it. I would help him with testing, brainstorm with him and act as his bodyguard whenever we ventured to places such as this. I looked up to him much in the way most krogan of Raik looked up to the clan leader."

"Sounds like he was a father to you," Corsin suggested.

Kallux looked over to his shoulder to the Spectres and nodded. "The role of the father to a krogan is different than that of a turian or human, but you're correct. Taxalur and I discussed our disagreements with the attitude of Raik more over time. I had been apprehensive about my opinions after a hundred years of being given impression that they were abnormal. Taxalur, I soon discovered, thought the same way as I did. But he was an older krogan, nine-hundred years or so when we met, and he felt he was far past his time in life to make a difference or convince the clan that they needed to change."

A faint hiss caused the krogan to freeze in place and raise a hand to silently order the others to a stop. The squad halted on a dime and brought their weapons to the ready as Kallux slowly scanned the dim tunnel with his flashlight.

"I think I heard something," Kallux stated quietly.

Eleena's fists began to glow softly. "Yeah, I heard it too."

A small thud sounded from around the turn that curved ahead of them followed by the pitter-patter of footsteps on metal.

"Get behind something and turn off your lights," Kallux ordered.

Will and Eleena hurried to a pile of rubble on the right side of the tunnel while Kallux darted behind the support column of one of the monorail beams. Corsin did the same as Kallux and took cover behind the support column of the parallel track while Vayren simply tapped a button on his omnitool and vanished into thin air. With their flashlights off the only light came from a hole in the ceiling which allowed a faint sliver of sunlight to shine onto the floor a few meters ahead. Will stared toward the clattering on the rail until finally motion in the darkness caught his eye. As the creature scurried down the rail and closer to the light the squad got a full glimpse of the beast.

It looked to be nearly the size of a varren, but resembled a insect or arachnid in its shape and movement. It had a bulky body and six thick legs all covered in a shining material that looked to be more than tough enough to withstand the average trials and tribulations of the Tuchankan environment. Its head darted to the left and right where its two eyes looked about freely like a chameleon's. The creature stopped and looked up to the ceiling briefly before jumping over a dozen feet and digging the claws at the end of its feet into the stone ceiling. Dust sprinkled out from where it had latched onto the ceiling and gently rained down as the squad watched from the shadows.

"Arasik," Kallux whispered into the comms.

The group watched in silence as two more of the creatures appeared from around the bend in the tunnel, one of the monorail and the other on the wall.

"Are they gonna see us?" Will whispered.

"Yes," Kallux answered shortly. "Let's take them by surprise and kill the one of the ceiling first. You'll know when to fire."

The krogan reached to his side and plucked a grenade from his belt. Kallux primed the grenade and knelt to the ground where he chucked the explosive in a side-arm throw down the tunnel. A red light on the grenade began to blink as it stuck to the wall about twenty feet down the hall. The flashing light immediately caught the attention of the trio of arasik which turned to face it and hiss menacingly. The squad raised their weapons and took aim, with the exception of Kallux, who could not ready his weapon without stepping from cover. After three long seconds the grenade exploded in a flash of light that sent the three arasik scurrying from their positions in confusion, but to nowhere in particular.

"Fire!" Will shouted to the others.

Their guns exploded into action and sent a wave of bullets toward the creature on the ceiling. Will winced slightly at the echoing and reverberating sound around him as dozens of gunshots filled the air in just a few seconds. The squad's gunfire peppered the first arasik and the ceiling around him, cutting holes into its head and legs, but failing to penetrate the thick shell on its back. The creature screeched unnervingly as it lost its grip on the stone and fell to the floor of the tunnel. The other two, however, quickly realized the danger and leapt to new positions in the blink of an eye. Kallux had not bothered to fire at the first target and was tracking their second as it fell. The squad's shots became split between the two remaining arasik as they jumped once again to new positions on the walls and floor.

"Watch out for the spit!" Kallux shouted.

Eleena ducked down behind the rubble she and Will had taken cover behind as her SMG overheated. "The what!?"

Before Kallux could clarify, the creature clinging to the wall hissed violently and a stream of jet-black liquid came bursting from an orifice on its neck. The oily substance splashed onto the rail above Kallux, forcing him to dive to the side as a large chunk of metal bubbled and dripped away from the acidic substance. Will blinked in shock as the liquid dripped onto the floor and ate away at the stone as well. Kallux rolled and jumped to his feet with surprising athleticism and brought his cannon to bear on the creature. The heavy shots ripped through the arasik's head and brought it tumbling to the ground with a thud. The Spectres continued to fire on the third creature as it scurried along the wall toward them, hissing angrily as it closed the gap. Vayren had taken up a kneeling position a few meters back from the rest of the group and was firing off shot after shot, only to have each bullet connect with the arasik's seemingly impenetrable carapace. Will and Eleena turned to look for a shot, but could not get a clear line-of-sight with the two large monorail tracks blocking their view.

Corsin's rifle unloaded into the arasik as it rushed toward his location, but cut out from overheating after such a long period of extended fire. The turian threw the rifle aside and raised his left hand as a ball of biotic energy formed in his palm. A biotic throw exploded from Corsin's fist and impacted the arasik as his right hand drew his sidearm fluidly and took aim. Vayren and Corsin's gunshots cut into the creature's underside as it flipped backward off of the wall and landed on the ground, motionless. The squad's flashlights cut on as their eyes darted around in search of movement from the three fallen arasik.

"What the fuck were those?" Eleena asked as she tried to normalize her breathing.

"As I said, arasik." Kallux stepped up to the closest corpse. "I've never seen them in this part of the Maw, though. Not this close to the library."

"We should move quickly," Corsin stated as he retrieved his rifle from the floor. "The noise might have attracted more guests."

Kallux looked back to the turian and nodded. "You're right, let's go. The station is just around the corner."

The krogan turned and took quickened steps down the tunnel. Will stood and held out a hand to Eleena, which was swatted away with a grin as she got to her feet and gave him a push toward Kallux. The squad hurried to fall in behind the krogan as he trotted down the tunnel and around the wide turn. As they rounded the curve Will could see a widening of the tunnel ahead where platforms on either side indicated that they had arrived at a station. Kallux moved to the side of the tunnel as they approached the station and stowed his weapon as they reached the edge of the platform. He jumped up onto what looked like a maintenance or emergency ladder and climbed the few rungs to the top where he turned to offer a hand to whoever was climbing next. Will volunteered and soon found himself on the dusty boarding platform looking around as Kallux helped the others up.

"Looks clear," Will informed them after a quick scan of the area.

"What a shame," Corsin joked as he climbed from the ladder to the platform. "I was looking forward to more of those bugs."

"We've still got plenty of time to find more," Kallux mentioned as he helped Eleena up.

Vayren was the last of the squad on the platform and nodded a thanks to the krogan. "How far are we from the library?"

"We're here, technically," Kallux answered as he drew his weapon once again. "This station is directly below it."

The krogan turned toward a wide set of stairs on the far side of the platform and waved for the others to follow him. The squad crossed to the other side of the station quickly and ascended the stairs with Kallux taking point, his cannon leading each turn as they moved upward through the stairwell. After moving up three flights of stairs they exited into a short hallway that ended at a set of metal doors that looked to have been forced half-open long ago. Will stared at the walls where long-eroded signs still bore the faint outline of letters from a krogan alphabet. He turned his attention back to the doorway ahead and could see, surprisingly enough, beams of light shining from up out of sight to the center of a cavernous room.

Kallux slowed as they reached the doors and stepped through with his eyes wandering. Will followed eagerly and stepped through the door in awe of the sight before him. A room at least five stories tall and just as wide towered around him. Each level included walkways that circled the entire room that allowed access to shelves lining the walls. Thousands of books were scattered across the shelves and floor, most clearly degraded far beyond the point of use. Stone tables and broken metal chairs lay in the center of the room with dirt and debris from the ceiling cluttering the area around them. Will looked to the ceiling where what had once been a domed skylight was covered by portions of the fallen buildings that had once surrounded the library. Through the holes in the debris above them shone the rays of light that illuminated the golden-brown ruins around them.

Kallux looked back to the rest of the squad as they entered from the hallway. "Welcome to the ruins of krogan intellectualism."

A deep, gravelly voice called out from across the chamber. "It's not dead yet."

A grin spread across Kallux's face as he turned back to face the room. "Is that so?"

The squad waited silently as footsteps echoed around them for a few seconds before a krogan appeared from behind a large chunk of a fallen column that lay across the side of the room.

"I thought you were done with Tuchanka," the clearly older krogan stated as he walked toward the group and extended a hand to Kallux. "It's been too long, my friend."

Kallux shook the krogan's hand once. "And it's good to see you're not dead, Taxalur."