Chapter 15: Recovery
"There will be war!" exclaimed Grunt as he sauntered by other Krogans. Rumors were running rampant on Tuchanka as the news spread quickly of the Batarian demand for the Systems Alliance to turn over Commander Shepard.
Listening to Emily Wong, who was reporting on the story from the Citadel, no formal response had yet been returned by the human. However, multiple sources had indicated the fleet was mobilizing in response to any Batarian incursion.
Grunt was ready to fight, as ever, and wanted to get quickly back to Shepard lest he miss anything. His battle master would need him now for certain. He needed to get the quickest transport possible, and so he went looking for Wrex, leader of Clan Urdnot, and current ruler of the Krogan in as much as there was one.
When he found Wrex, he shouted, "Urdnot Wrex, have you heard the news?"
Wrex had been meeting with members from a distant clan, negotiating for their inclusion into the Urdnot group, so he held up his hand for a moment. As the grizzled veteran looked up and saw the impatience of the younger Krogan who looked practically ready to jump at something, he asked for a moment to excuse himself.
Truth was, Wrex missed the days where being a warrior was enough. Too much of his time was spent on politics, but he followed the same vision he had since before even his father's betrayal. He would unite the Krogan and bring them into the future.
"Grunt," he said, "What is it?"
"War!" said Grunt as he pounded his chest. "The Batarians are pushing the Humans into war over what happened with Shepard."
Wrex stroked his chin as he considered this development. Knowing what had happened to the Alpha Relay, he wasn't altogether surprised of this outcome, but his first thought was how it would impact the Krogan. While they had not involved themselves in a war in many years, nothing brought together his people like a good fight.
"Urdnot Wrex, I am asking leave to return to Commander Shepard to fight alongside him in this battle."
Looking at how eager his young friend was, he saw the future of his race with real potential. But, he also knew this was a request he couldn't grant.
"No," Wrex continued, "I will not let you leave Tuchanka, Grunt."
Getting right up in Wrex's face, Grunt demanded, "Why won't you?"
Wrex banged his head into the other Krogan sending him flying, "You don't question the Clan Leader, Grunt. You have too much to learn about being a Krogan, and you will learn that here."
As Grunt picked himself up, humbled slightly, and clearly crestfallen, Wrex explained further, "Shepard knows how to handle himself in a fight. If he gets in trouble, he may need us to pull his quads out of the fire."
"So this is what we do," spat Grunt. "We sit and we talk while others fight!"
His anger rising, the leader said, "I will do what is best for our clan. Right now, that means finishing this negotiation, and then I will speak with you later."
As Grunt stomped off cursing and angry, Wrex couldn't help but smile. The kid had fire, but he had the sense of a whelp.
Returning to the people with whom he had been speaking, Wrex reiterated the advantages of locating themselves in Urdnot, and spoke of his belief of a strong Krogan future. While he sensed their skepticism, he knew their position was weak and they would ultimately submit. But, he had learned also how to respect their pride, talking about their great lineage, and how it would only add to their own.
Wrex dismissed them to consider his proposal and told one of his retainers to find Dr. Solus. He wanted to talk with him about certain issues, and he needed an outside perspective. While he was proud to be Krogan, the belief of his people was problems were to be solved through smashing them. There was a time for this as power ultimately decided most things in the end, but not everything. Years of experience had taught Wrex this lesson.
"Urdnot Wrex, you wished to speak with me," offered Dr. Solus.
Having a Salarian on Tuchanka was a rare sight indeed since it was well known they were the architects of the hated genophage that had crippled the Krogan population. While the Turians were hated as well for their deployment of the genetic strain, they at least received some respect as warriors. Krogan looked upon Salarians with disdain as they avoided open battle, preferring indirect attacks rather than honorable combat.
Of course, there were exceptions. When two Krogan in from the hinterlands challenged the Salarian to a fight, Dr. Solus surprised them by accepting. He shot them both, leaving them unconscious before they had time to react, and said to everyone, "Salarians can fight also." After that, he didn't face anymore problems, and he had been spending most of his time with Fortack, the Lord High Researcher.
"How is your research progressing?" said Wrex. Even in his own base, he was hesitant to speak publicly about just what Solus had been studying.
"Very close now," replied the doctor. "We will need to test the treatment, but computer models say the risk is negligible."
To be able to increase the birthrate of his people tenfold would be amazing. While it wouldn't be what it once was, it would make a huge difference, and give a reason for hope and optimism.
"Excellent, Doctor," said Wrex. "Your work will really help our people."
"Yes, I know," said the Salarian. "Correcting what was done before is more just, and I am happy to help make things better." With his typical impatience, he added, "Is that all? More research must be done and time is short."
Wrex shook his head. "Doctor, I wanted to ask you a more political question, if I could."
"Ask."
"Are you aware of the situation regarding the Humans and the Batarians?" asked the clan leader.
When Solus said he did not know, the Krogan brought him up to date on the broad details of the situation.
"What do you think will happen?" he asked.
"The Batarians cannot back down now. Their pride is at stake, but the Council races must support humanity. They understand the nature of the threat and why the relay was destroyed."
He considered how it would play out. "The Batarians will probably fight a little bit but back down quickly once the other races get involved. They don't have the firepower to match the Systems Alliance."
Wrex had his own thought, "What would happen if the Krogan jumped in to support the Alliance."
"Interesting," responded Solus. "The Turians and Salarians might have fears, but the Batarians might back down then. Not really sure. Is this your plan?"
"I'm considering it," said Wrex. For too long the Krogan had been outsiders to the political process, and he felt they needed to get involved once more. Unlike the other Council races, humanity had no historic grudge against the Krogan, and besides that, Shepard was a personal friend.
Mordin said, "Some danger, but benefits seem to outweigh risks."
"Thanks, Doctor," responded Wrex as he prepared for his next meeting.
While he was ready to face any challenge head on, there was never any meeting more difficult than when seeing the female clan chiefs. Wrex knew he owed his throne to their support, as many of the females from multiple clans had willingly moved to Urdnot. Knowing the difficulty of having young Krogan thanks to the genophage, this kept actions against his capital to a minimum.
Though smaller than their male counterparts, the females were just as deadly as the men, having the honed skills of a predator used to the hostile environment of Tuchanka. As the six women joined Wrex, each nodded in turn to the head of Clan Urdnot, and they waited until their own leader entered. Coming in last, Varla of Clan Marwal, was the seventh woman to enter and appeared to be slightly over two hundred years in age. She had seen much since her youth, but still retained the energy of a younger woman.
"Urdnot Wrex," she said as she nodded her head in appreciation.
"Marwal Varla," he responded with the same degree of honor, "and fellow clan leaders, I am honored to provide service to you."
As was custom for these meetings, held once per week, he would talk about his plans to bring the Krogan people together, to protect their youth, and to end the curse.
"Clan leaders, I have good news. The research of Fortack shows great promise to solve the genophage issue. Thanks to some additional research provided by Commander Shepard, we believe we can reduce the impact of the plague."
He noticed the excitement in their eyes as the women began whispering amongst themselves. Any effort that increased their fertility would be most welcome as the birth rate of Krogan was now lesser than the death rate, a profound malaise having settled over the entire species.
"This would be most welcome news," began Varla, "but forgive me when I am skeptical. It is a miracle the Lord High Researcher has not blown himself up. I have my doubts he could counter the work of the Salarians who designed this menace."
She was a smart one, Wrex noted, but it had been decided between Solus and himself that it would be better if the solution came independent of any outside involvement. Were Mordin's involvement to become public, it would cause an outrage on both sides, so politics demanded this remain secret.
"As I said, Marwal Varla, he had much assistance from some of our friends."
She nodded and accepted the answer, looking Wrex straight in the eyes, letting him know there would be a conversation coming about this topic later.
"The computers suggest a tenfold improvement in fertility," said Wrex, "if the treatment is applied properly. It is a hormone regulation drug that minimizes the impact of the genophage. I intend for it to be available to all males living here in Urdnot as well as all females."
While the younger clan chief women were simply happy at the thought of having a better chance to have children again, Varla saw the bigger picture, "So there will be ten Urdnot for every one Weyrloc, Urdnot Wrex."
He growled as he said, "It will be the opportunity we have needed to bring our people together. We cannot continue to fight amongst ourselves, or we will die. The galaxy is a bigger place."
She simply nodded, and said, "When we agreed to support you, we did so because you had a vision where our children could be safe and would be born again. You are fulfilling your promising, Urdnot Wrex, and we will support you."
She motioned to the other clan chiefs who left leaving her alone with Wrex. Her yellow body standing erect, she looked critically at Wrex and said, "How did you find the cure? The Salarian?"
"Yes," said Wrex. "Shepard helped with that. The Salarian doesn't want anyone to know since he was the one who helped design the genophage."
Varla thought of everyone who would want to see Mordin Solus dead if it was understood just how deep his involvement ran, but also thought of what he was doing now. She saw the wisdom in Wrex's approach and said, "Will it work?"
Wrex shrugged and said, "He thinks it will. I don't know, but I know we have to try something."
"And what of Shepard?" she asked. "I hear the Humans are going to war."
"I think we must join them," said the Urdnot Chief. "For too long, we have sat on this rock living past glories, being either forgotten or feared while the rest of the galaxy moves on. From what Shepard says, we only have a few months before the fight will come here anyway, so we need to get out there now and make some friends."
"You will make enemies," she noted. "You move too fast for many of the traditionalists."
"Where did those traditions get us?" he replied. "Childless, hated, and unable to even work amongst ourselves. We've become cheap mercenaries and guns for hire."
"Being a warrior had always been enough for the Krogan before…" she began.
Wrex interrupted, "And what future does it have? Our people need something better. I will give it to them."
Coming close to him, Varla said, "Urdnot Wrex, I believe in you." Running a hand over his scales, she said, "After you provide the treatment for me and the other chiefs, come see me and I will show you my appreciation more fully." As she strutted away, Wrex could only shake his head.
There was still one more thing to do. He sent out a call to every member of Clan Urdnot who was available to attend him immediately. As they came in, he saw many faces who had been with him from the beginning, and a good number of new faces who had recently been added to the tribe. They were one now.
He couldn't help but notice cameras as well, as a crew from one of the galactic news networks were here. It brought a smile to his face as he had nothing to hide. In fact, he tailored his speech to make sure it was understood very clearly.
"We Krogan fight," began Wrex. "We defeated the Rachni threat, and are the most powerful warriors in the galaxy." Standing tall, he showed his own strength as he once took down the thresher maw alone also.
"A war is coming. A threat larger than the Rachni will be here shortly. The galaxy will need us once more," he said. "I have faced these Reapers, and they are a worthy opponent. But they too will fall."
"But we Krogan do not wait for the fight. We begin the fight, and we win the fight!" The crowd was starting to build with anticipation.
"I have fought alongside the humans, and they are tough warriors like Shepard. They will fight and bleed against the Reapers, but now the Batarian scum are trying to attack them."
Wrex looked over the crowd and spotted Grunt in that moment, looking ready for what would come next. "It is time Clan Urdnot showed we can fight. It is time the Krogans showed we still have fight in us. Let us join these Humans and bloody the Batarians to get our weapons ready for the next battle."
The enthusiasm began to spread as the members of the crowd took up a chant, "Krogan, Krogan, Krogan."
"Yes," said Wrex, "We will all be Krogan, and we may live, or we may die, but we will do it together." He stopped talking and looked out over the hundreds of warriors there. While they didn't have the numbers of other species, any Krogan was worth ten of another species' warriors.
"If they do not run, they will bleed. If they choose to fight, they will die. And we will regain our honor, and be recognized once again for what we are." Wrex inhaled deeply before saying the line he had many times before, "WE…ARE…KROGAN!"
With gun shots firing in the air, it was quite the scene. "We march to war now," said Wrex. "Report to the docks and we will have vessels prepared. Bring your armor and be ready."
As Grunt jumped up and down with bloodlust, Wrex thought about what he was doing, and wondered just where he was leading his people. The reporters were scribbling furiously on their datapads as the crowds began to disperse.
Wrex knew war was coming, but it would be a good day to fight. As he marched toward his own vessel, he found Grunt and clasped him on the shoulders.
"Did you really think we would miss out on a good war?"
Author's Note: Thanks for the corrections on the earlier chapters. I probably should have someone read my stuff before I post, but the price of moving quickly are these little mistakes.
Writing this story makes me realize how much I miss Wrex as a character.