A/N: Quite a few people seemed unhappy with the way I handled the flashbacks in the last chapter. I had originally not intended for them to be part of the story but after the first Innocence Lost chapter it was pointed out to me that Liara seemed to go dark side kind of randomly and I wanted to fill in exactly how that occurred. This chapter I'm going to try a different way of handling the flashbacks, your feedback is, as always, greatly appreciated.
Additionally, if anyone complains about the Krogan War being insanely easy, it's meant to be a bit of a roflstomp. The Alliance have warriors trained in tactical thinking, Blue Sun mechs and air support and Wrex, and even if they didn't they still outnumber the counter-Alliance Krogan three to one.
Also, MY BIRTHDAY!
###
The Krogan were preparing for war.
Mordin Solus hummed a tune to himself as he put the final sentence in his report.
War likely to result in high casualties, unpredictable variables complicate matters. Recommend postponing Genophage modification until after war resolved.
- Specialist Mordin Solus, STG (seconded)
He sent the report and promptly banished it from his mind, instead focusing on the events occurring on Tuchanka.
###
Wrex looked over the preparations for the war. The Urdnot Central Hall was an enormous circular space used to overawe potential visitors with the Alliance's might, ringed by thirty metre tall stone statues of ancient Krogan warriors, one for each clan on Tuchanka. The message was clear - this was a place where every clan was welcome. The fact that the Weyrloc statue was frequently used as a urinal spoiled the effect slightly. Now the central space was being used as a troop assembly area. A scarred Drau veteran in Suns armour was schooling a group of Orkalas warriors in the use of Seu'Seun shotguns. Despite being on average four feet shorter than a Seu'Seun the Krogan race possessed the fortitude and brute strength to wield Seu'Seun made weaponry with little difficulty. Three Tomkahs were checked over by their crews even as they bragged about the number of kill flashes painted on the cabins. A pissed off Quarian in a heavily armoured Suns exosuit headbutted a Nakmor warrior who wasn't paying attention as she briefed a group about the operation of Broadsword mechs. Two Urdnot warriors were sparring using the Raik fighting style, something Wrex had once heard a Human describe as 'Krav Maga but with more Krogan'. A group of Drogal warriors chanted a Krogan war hymn as they loaded fat grenades into the cylindrical drums that fed their heavy launchers. The whole scene was, as Pasana would have put it, montage-worthy.
From his position atop his tower Wrex turned away from the preparations and looked out over Tuchanka's bomb and sand blasted landscape.
"Warlord Wrex?"
He glanced round. He hadn't even noticed his second in command coming up behind him.
"Inamorda. Tell me, have you ever seen an ocean before?"
The grey crested warrior shook his head as he joined Wrex in staring out over the ruined planet.
"Just imagine it. From the Mawskull cliffs to the Ravast Mesa, nothing but water. In the distance on the mesa a ship, a Krogan ship, not a weapon of war but a trade vessel taking off from the spaceport. Krogan children playing in the central hall. See, just over there by the Fesquach statue the Shaman would be telling them a story. Maybe the story of the Rachni."
Wrex blinked and glanced over to the man he trusted above all others.
"Ah, forgive an old man his little fantasies. I have some concerns about putting Drogal and Forsel warriors together in the destroyer units ..."
###
Liara sighed and looked at the monitor, news feeds ticking across the screen as she tried to focus on her report. A headline caught her eye.
MATRIARCH BENEZIA T'SONI: 'I HAVEN'T GIVEN UP HOPE' - SIX YEARS SINCE DISAPPEARANCE OF DAUGHTER BENEZIA STILL FUNDING SEARCH
She felt tears prick at her eyes, dashing them away angrily. The sad truth was that Liara T'Soni was dead. Her body was inhabited by the cruel, cold Blue Suns captain Scarlet Ocean. However inside her a tiny traitorous voice spoke up. 'She's your mother', it said, 'she at least deserves to know'. She hadn't run to her mother when she had her ... accident on Yarrow because she had known she would have never made it past Thessia's border security officers. But she supposed the voice had a point. A video message couldn't hurt, could it?
Her mind made up, she locked her door and set up a vid camera on her terminal, sitting down at her desk. She was suddenly aware of her appearance - clad in a cracked and scorched Suns armour set with several bullet holes in the shoulder pad, a fresh cut on her face courtesy of the Omniblade of an Eclipse merc she had killed on the most recent mission, her skin caked in a mix of dirt, stray medigel and the blood of at least six individuals of at least three different species, including her own. She briefly considered going and cleaning up but she knew that if she didn't record her message right now she would never get round to it.
She switched on the camera and leaned back.
"Timelog 16:37 24th April 2171, Terran Standard. Ident Captain Scarlet Ocean, Proteus battallion. Location SSV Little Wing. Content is private personal correspondence. Marial, if you watch beyond this point you're partnered with Grunt during sparring practice for the rest of the patrol and Archer's been teaching him muay thai. Begin message."
She waited ten seconds, ensuring that the ship's obscenely nosy comm officer would have ample time to pull his skinny Salarian skull out of her message. Then she began.
"Hello Mother. I'm not sure if you'll recognise me, after all, in the past six years I've changed a bit. I hope this message finds you in good health. Don't bother replying, I just felt the need to let you know I'm still alive, after a fashion."
Scarlet Ocean faded into the background, letting Liara T'Soni out.
"Mother, I've ... I've done some terrible things with the Blue Suns. Somewhere along the line I stopped regretting them and started enjoying them. I guess I should probably explain why."
She chuckled and the sound had no mirth in it.
"Goddess, I'm probably doing this as much for me as for you. I've found myself wondering how I got like this. Six years ago my only concern was validating my latest harebrained theory on the Prothean extinction. So this is what I've been up to these past years."
SIX YEARS AGO
"What. The fuck. Was that. Ocean!"
Liara cowered before the wrath of her lieutenant.
"I ... I ..."
"Who the fuck made you a bug-fucking elloruru like you a Sergeant!"
"I'm sorry ..."
"Shut your flap, Ocean, I'm not done! Charging into combat with no backup just so you could pick up more of your freaky wind up Krogan pets, sending your squad into battle without leadership, folding to a hostage taker ... You're damn lucky we're not near an airlock."
"I'm sorry, okay! It won't happen again."
"I'm sure as hell it won't, Private."
"Uh ... I thought it was Sergeant ..."
"NOT ANYMORE IT'S NOT!"
"Really? I didn't think it was so bad for a first timer."
The Lieutenant spun on her heel to face the newcomer.
"And who the fuck do you ... General Massani sir!"
She snapped a salute as the scarred general nodded at her.
"At ease, Lieutenant. Secure the perimeter. Ocean, walk with me."
The unspoken criticism that the Lieutenant had failed to secure the perimeter because she was busy laying into Liara sat heavy in the air. Zaeed put his arm around Liara's shoulders and steered her away from the other soldiers.
"You did good, kid. All objectives completed and not a single casualty among your squad."
He offered her an energy bar that she tore into, her earlier biotic charge having really taken it out of her. She spoke around a mouthful of food.
"I made mistakes. When I saw those poor girls I froze up."
Zaeed shook his head.
"The first time I ever led men into battle was on the planet Seu'Tseuma during the bug wars. Our sergeant had been critically wounded and needed medical attention and there were twenty bugs between us and the landing field for the medivac. I panicked and marched my men straight into a goddamn ambush. Twelve of us went in and five came out. So compared to that, you weren't bad at all. You've got potential, Ocean. You made mistakes, yes, but how the hell else are you supposed to learn?"
###
"Daddy! Daddy! Look at me!"
Rael chuckled as Tali and Jack splashed around in the sea. Kleeah had convinced him to take the girls on a holiday and so he had booked a week long stay in a hotel on the Raachok hive world of Klohchan. Raachok hive worlds were unique in the galaxy in that every single one of them had been terraformed beyond recognition. Surrounded by a cloud of shadowy particles in high atmosphere broken only by enormous ring shaped space stations through which ships could transit safely, hive planets received no sunlight, their ecosystems entirely replaced by synthetic organisms. The oceans were filled with luminescent green micro-organisms that took their energy from the motion of the water, meaning their oceans needed to be filled with subsurface power plants that used their exhausts to create hundreds of currents and enormous waves. The continents were laced with glowing green rivers, the remainder of the landmasses being completely covered in cities of sleek black towers. The travel guide Rael had downloaded had stated 'You do not understand the meaning of the word alien until you have visited a Raachok hive planet'.
Tali and Jack were illuminated by the bioluminescent organisms in the sea they were playing in as Rael and Kleeah relaxed on the black sand beach. To his understanding beaches on hive worlds weren't actually sand but the deactivated nanobots that violently terraformed the planet to its current state. Despite initially being weirded out by sitting on dormant nanomachines Rael quickly stopped thinking about it, instead focusing on his family.
"Look at that, Daddy."
Eight year old Jack clambered up onto his lap and pointed at two Human men in the water with long wooden boards.
"What are they doing?"
He absent-mindedly stroked her head as he peered at them.
"I don't know, sweetie."
"A big wave's coming Daddy. They'll get wet."
"Yes, I suppose they ... Ancestors!"
The Humans were somehow being propelled by the wave, standing up on their wooden boards. Rael gaped in sheer amazement. He had never seen anything quite like it. As he watched, they rode the wave right the way into shore, sending up huge slashing sprays of water every time they turned.
"Can I play Daddy?"
###
Forsel Shiirk leaned over and muttered a question to Kellar Fokarn.
"What are we doing here?"
"Planning the attack."
The Forsel clan leader rumbled his irritation.
"Planning?"
Fokarn turned to look at his counterpart. Like most of the mountain clans Kellar tended to be smaller than other Krogan, with dull dirty brown crests, but Shiirk knew not to underestimate them. They had a reputation for making up with their physical disadvantage by using their brains.
"Wrex does it all the time. He's a bit of a thinker."
Shiirk just humphed as the clan leaders filed into the meeting hall, taking their seats at the circular table cut from an enormous slab of granite and intricately carved with depictions of ancient Krogan civilisation and battles. Rumour was that Wrex had done some of the carving himself. In this instance, however, the table was covered in maps and paper documents.
Shiirk walked round the table to the seat with the Forsel banner draped over it, dropping into it with a heavy sigh as either side of him the Quash and Drau chieftains leaned across him to discuss the deployment of their troops on the western flank of the battle line.
Shiirk recognised the value of a thinker - just because he had a crest and a quad didn't mean he was stupid - but his sense of Kroganness rebelled against the spirit of co-operation. He groaned again as Quash and Drau shook hands. This could take some getting used to.
###
Liara sat down heavily at her desk. Her gut still ached from being slugged by a Blood Pack Krogan and she had nasty burns all over her left leg from a pyromaniac Vorcha, but she had promised herself she would record more of her message and she wasn't going to put it off.
"Resume recording. Before I keep going, I should probably tell you about exactly what happened to me on Yarrow ..."
SIX YEARS AGO
The Raachok surgeon switched off the scanner as Liara gratefully pulled her shirt back on.
"I have the preliminary results here. From what I can tell you still possess a fully Asari set of organs but they're all half the size they should be. The extra space is being used for a whole bunch of other organs I can only guess at the purpose of. This really is fascinating ... Two separate sets of lungs, circulatory system, digestive system, even two distinct layers to your dermis. Really the only thing shared between your Asari and Prothean physiology is your brain."
She pushed herself up off the table and pulled a pair of shorts on, bending down to scratch at the join between Asari and Prothean skin midway down her thigh.
"What about my hands and feet, Doctor?"
"Ah yes." The surgeon bent down to peer at her hands. Her thumb, index and middle fingers were Prothean, segmented, longer and with an extra joint compared to her Asari ring and little fingers, which were steadfastly refusing to respond to her nerves, remaining frozen loosely curled beneath her palm.
"It seems Protheans were a three fingered species. Your central nervous system has been split, like most of your organs, with alternating Asari and Prothean vertebrae in your spine, but that's not the point, sorry. Your hands and feet are linked to the Prothean section of your nervous system and the nerves in your remaining Asari digits have been disconnected. I would recommend surgically altering your hands to correspond to the Prothean enervation."
"You mean, remove my fingers?"
"Yes, and make your hands narrower to compensate. You should be able to adapt sections of Atavira armour for your purposes."
"What about my biotics?"
"Hmm. They seem to be a hybrid between Asari and Prothean biotics. A truly fascinating study. Another interesting thing is your muscle structure. Despite your Asari muscles having been reduced in diameter they are much denser, meaning that they still possess the strength of a normal Asari. On top of that your Prothean muscles are composed of a number of interlocking rotating fibres packed in a simple fractal pattern. If the trend holds you should have the strength of an Asari and a Prothean combined, which I suppose makes sense. Considering the Prothean muscles seem to be three times as powerful as Asari muscles, you should find you're four times as strong as you used to be. If you don't object I'd like to run some more detailed scans of your Prothean organs, if I have to stick you back together every time you go play with the Blood Pack I'd like to know what I'm doing."
Liara sighed.
"Am I going to have to get naked again?"
The Raachok just looked at her. She sighed and pulled off her shirt.
###
Aquamarine. Largely overlooked by the rest of the galaxy, Aquamarine was 99 per cent covered in turquoise ocean, the remaining one per cent consisting of an archipelago of rocky islands that formed a rough ring one hundred kilometres wide around the planet's magnetic north pole. The planet was situated in a sparsely populated backwater of the Terminus systems, first charted by Raachok explorers in 2141 and with little of note. The occasional Terminus warlord sometimes tried to set up a base on one of the planet's many islands. These ventures were usually derailed by the Kepp.
The Kepp were the planet's native sentient life forms. An aquatic species, the Kepp had very unusual physiology. They had long, swept back teardrop shaped heads devoid of any adornment save a scattering of fourteen diamond shaped sensory pods in the forehead and a wickedly sharp toothed mouth from which can flick four highly toxic barbed tongue stingers. The deep blue-grey bodies also possess four manipulative limbs that can tuck into the body until they fit flush with the Kepp's thick waxy exoskeleton, much like the head. Along with these limbs tucked two by two into the belly the Kepp possess four fins, twin dorsals and two pectorals, reminiscent of Earth sharks. Their tails narrow, then split into four long tentacles covered in tiny fins that can propel a Kepp through water at up to fifty kilometres an hour. In the oceans of Aquamarine the Kepp are the alpha predators.
The initial Raachok study on the Kepp was largely dismissive of the aquatic species, noting that despite their aggressive imperialistic tendencies the Kepp were unlikely to ever become a threat due to their pathological fear of leaving the oceans they live in. Despite their advanced material sciences and weapon technology the psychological barriers of the species against space exploration were far too great to ever be overcome.
Naturally, the Raachok survey team hadn't counted on Nīūt-Nå. The Prophet, ensconced in the command ship of one of the most prominent shoals in the guise of Warrior KM1489, had already turned most of the shoal and was preparing to infiltrate their main contender. When the time came, the Kepp would make an excellent addition to their army.
###
"Sure I'll work for you. I'll kill kids, rob charities and shoot up hobo soup kitchens but there is NO FUCKING VERSION OF THIS in which I agree to wear ... whatever the hell that is."
With visible disappointment Kai Leng put away the tight white catsuit he had been offering to her and brought out a set of white and gold light armour.
"Good boy. Have a chocolate drop."
Miranda ignored his bristling at her dismissive tone and changed into the proffered armour, rotating her joints to ensure the plates locked into place. She had never worn a full armour set before but during her time with the Jacks, and later the Sliders, she had used a breastplate here, a gauntlet there and had more or less figured it out.
The Illusive Man sat with his back to a star, looking at the holoprojection of the young woman before him. He had to admit, he was disappointed in her choice of attire. Quite apart from its aesthetic value the catsuit accentuated her lithe form, making her appear even deadlier than she did encased in metal plate.
"So you're the Illusive Man. Bit of a mouthful, really. I'll call you Timmy."
She met his gaze evenly, seemingly unaffected by his cybernetic eyes.
"Miss Lawson."
"How do you know that name?"
"I worked with your father. Are you interested in a job with our organisation? Cerberus is the guardian of humanity in the ..."
"Cut the spiel, Timmy. You keep me in cred, I'll take out your trash."
The Illusive Man leaned back in his seat and took a drag on his cigarette.
"Very well. Your first operation is a simple extraction. The Hanar have a space station upon which they store large numbers of Prothean relics. We need you to infiltrate the station and recover a specific item. You'll be partnered with Mr. Leng for this operation. Good luck ... Operative Zero."
###
Wrex lowered the spyglass and nodded to himself.
"Weyrloc attempting to ambush our force's leading elements."
Beside him, Inamorda and Pasana both chuckled. The colossal Seu'Seun turned to him.
"It appears this strange subtlety of thought is not matched by their subtlety of action."
Inamorda gestured to the surrounding mountainside.
"If we send scouts up to the mountainside we could spring the ambush then snipe them as they emerge."
Pasana shook her head.
"You do know we loaned you some air support? I'd like to see those Counters ambush an air strike."
Wrex weighed the advice from the two people he trusted most of all in his life and came to a decision.
"We'll infiltrate our scouts into the mountains, then flush them out with an airstrike. The snipers can pick off anyone who survives."
The hum of gunship engines filled the air with the promise of death.
###
Liara sat on the sofa in her cabin wrapped in a thin silk robe, enjoying the cool air blowing across her body as she signed off on the latest batch of requisition reports for her ship. The SSV Little Wing was a converted Singapore class bulk hauler, retrofitted with proton shielding, more powerful engines, heavy armour plate, a reinforced superstructure to withstand high-G manoeuvres and artfully concealed weapon batteries. While not a true warship the Little Wing was the next best thing. Liara had heard several Human crew members refer to her as a Q-ship. After doing some research Liara conceded the description was accurate.
Turning away from the reports, she looked across at the bed where two lithe forms writhed together beneath the sheets. Her body doubles, affectionately referred to as the Twins, had been two out of work actresses when Liara had picked them up two years ago. They had both become quickly infatuated with the mysterious Asari-Prothean hybrid, an infatuation Liara had manipulated using a combination of subtly employed Prothean touch-transmission and good old fashioned seduction to convince both of them to go under the knife for the cosmetic surgery necessary to become perfect doubles of Liara. The most drastic surgeries had been the hands and feet - other than that all there was to it was a couple of simple skin grafts using cloned tissue from Liara's Prothean skin. The illusion was so complete that the twins even had subdermal implants that coloured their blood turquoise. The only readily observable differences were that the eyes remained unchanged and the twins's nipples and genitals were still blue as opposed to the dark green of Liara's, but these problems were rectified by coloured contact lenses and clothing respectively.
Noticing Liara had finished her reports, the twins sat up in the bed, rubbing each other's bare torsos and smiling suggestively at their lover cum employer. There was always something slightly eerie about seeing two carbon copies of herself in her bed, however the illusion was largely broken by their eyes and lack of clothing. The one on the left, Shylene, ran her tongue over Mesara's neck as she rubbed her counterpart's inner thigh, stirring a familiar heat in Liara.
"Come play with us, Scarlet."
Liara let the robe fall open, both twins focusing their gazes on her displayed body as she slowly walked over to the bed, swaying sensually. By the time she got to the edge of the bed both Shylene and Mesara were eagerly pumping their fingers in and out of their azures, such was her ability to effortlessly drive them into an orgiastic frenzy.
Liara clambered up on top of Mesara, who lay back and licked her juices off her finger as Shylene, hand still working between her legs, performed some sort of three limbed crawl to position herself behind Liara and used her teeth to flip the hem of the robe up, exposing half Asari, half Prothean hindquarters to her questing tongue. Liara shuddered in pleasure as Shylene's skilled tongue got to work before gripping Mesara's wrists, pinning them to the bed and making her double squirm in pleasure as she slowly kissed along her neck and shoulder, then down. A wave of ecstasy surged through her as Mesara arched her back, bringing her chest up to rub slow circles on Liara's. She surrendered.
Even for the three insatiable women it was a long session, but not even Liara's preternaturally boosted stamina could last forever. At some point during the night the whips and chains had come out, which had led to Shylene tied spread-eagled to the bedposts, her eyes half closed and her chest heaving as she tried to force oxygen through her utterly spent body while Mesana lay face down on the sofa, a cushion under her hips making her private parts available as her wrists and ankles were bound together. She purred contentedly as Liara rubbed medigel into the wounds the cat-o-nine-tails had inflicted on her back and buttocks.
"Ah! That feels so - ah - good!"
Liara playfully bopped her on the back of the neck.
"Down girl. That's all for tonight."
Mesana tilted her head to the side and sighed, lethargically tugging at the chains that held her in place.
"It's not exactly like I'm in a position to initiate anything. Besides, everything between my waist and my knees is completely numb."
Liara chuckled.
"We're all going to have interesting bruises tomorrow. You okay there, Shy?"
The only response was a low groan. Still chortling to herself, Liara picked up Mesara and put her in the bed next to Shylene, pulling the sheets over all three of them.
"Ah, Scarlet? We're still tied up."
"Huh? Oh. Um ... Wait till morning."
Liara waited until the two of them were both asleep and then slipped out of the bed, putting her robe back on and heading to her desk.
"Resume recording. It took me a long time to let go of some of my more childish notions, but in the Terminus Systems it's learn fast or die. I may not have thought so at the time but Grunt's perspective was really something I needed while I was still finding my feet. He has such a simplistic way of looking at things, and at first I thought it was indicative of a lack of intelligence. It took me too long to realise he was usually the smartest person in the room. I didn't get that until after his Rite on Tuchanka. Let me tell you Mother, that was the most terrifying thing I have ever done."
FIVE YEARS AGO
Her four oldest Silvers, Grunt, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades had been acting very unusually the past couple of weeks. Usually masters of the Blood Rage, they had recently shown a disturbing tendency to abandon tactics while in its throes. In the end she had consulted one of her colleagues, Urdnot Hasok, about it. One thing led to another and before she really knew what was happening she was on Tuchanka.
Urdnot Wrex had looked utterly miserable on his throne as the green crested Gatatog clan leader ran his mouth. She supposed that was the only reason she got to see him without blowing somebody's brains out, that he was so desperate for a distraction. He had clearly recognised her, treating her with a toothy grin that was one part recognition, three parts intimidation.
"When that old bastard Massani told me to drag your sorry blue butt to his command ship I never guessed he wanted you to work for him. What are you doing on Tuchanka?"
Remembering her quick lesson in Krogan culture, she touched her forehead with her left hand then threw it out in front of her.
"Chieftain Wrex of Urdnot. My krannt-mates seek name and clan. Will you honour them?"
The warlord's eyes narrowed, but there was nothing in the law that prevented her from petitioning him on behalf of her krannt.
"Bring these children forth to stand before me, so I may judge them worthy of clan and name Urdnot."
The four Silvers stepped forward and onto the dais, each one holding an unloaded weapon out before him to demonstrate non-hostility. The effect was slightly ruined by the other weapons that sat snugly against their armoured backs but the gesture was the important part.
"I am Grunt."
"I am Zeus."
"I am Poseidon."
"I am Hades."
Liara stepped forward again and looked Wrex in the eye - no mean feat, facing down the grim bulk of the Urdnot chieftain.
"They were tank bred by the Warlord Okeer. Their parentage is unknown, but I stand witness to the strength of blood and bone."
Wrex leaned back in his seat, seemingly pleased that he was presented with a chance to derail the proceedings.
"The word of an outsider is worth nothing here. Can none among Urdnot vouch for these whelps?"
"I can."
Wrex's head span around so fast he almost gave himself whiplash.
"I, Urdnot Hasok, son of Urdnot Sakanar, son of Urdnot Vamer, son of Raik Skiran have fought beside these whelps and judge them worthy of Urdnot clan and name. I would stand beside them as krannt."
The enormous red-created warrior in Suns heavy assault armour was almost the size of Wrex, yet the tip of his hump barely reached the chins of the four silver Krogan standing beside him. Wrex humphed in clear annoyance.
"Very well. I accept your petition for the Rite. If you return you will be granted clan and name Urdnot. Fight well, for Tuchanka is a test few ever face, and fewer survive."
Liara couldn't help but feel a little nervous. The words had an air of ominous finality about them. Nevertheless she bowed to Wrex and concluded the official proceedings. Almost immediately the whining pup Uvenk started up again, only his slavish adherence to tradition having kept him from interrupting during the petitioning.
"Why do you let these tankbred stand before you? They are the offspring of a syringe! They aren't true Krogan!"
Before Wrex could reply Grunt calmly walked up and slammed his head into Uvenk's crest with enough force to knock the Gatatog clan leader to one knee.
"You complain like a Volus who just got ripped off. Speak like a Krogan or don't speak at all."
The change in Wrex's demeanour was very abrupt. One moment he was glowering at the silvers, the next his hearty guffaws filled the camp as Uvenk seethed, seemingly unable to summon words. Eventually the green crested Krogan settled for a lame cliché.
"You ... You dare ..."
Grunt merely sniffed disparagingly.
"You're not worth the bullet."
Complete silence fell over the camp as his words spread. Telling a Krogan he wasn't worth killing ... there was no greater insult. Before the situation could escalate Wrex stepped in.
"Let it go, Uvenk. The whelp will learn respect, one way or the other."
Seemingly mollified, Uvenk stepped aside and allowed the four silver Krogan, along with Liara and Hasok, to leave the dais and head over to the Shaman.
Following the confrontation before the throne, Liara was grateful that Grunt and his brothers managed to control their tempers during the conversation with the Urdnot shaman. The Tomkah ride out to the place of the Rite was silent, each participant mentally preparing themselves for the rite of passage. Liara had done a spot of research and quizzed a couple of Suns Krogan about it. She was not looking forward to the inevitable fight, not even with a Krogan warrior honed by centuries of experience and four genetically engineered supersoldiers laden down with so many guns they looked like ambulatory ammo dumps at her side. Even more so than the regular Suns Krogan, Seu'Seun weapons were prevalent among her silver Krogan. Most weapons used by Krogan were the designs of other races adapted with larger grips and, with only a few notable exceptions, looked comically small in enormous Krogan hands. By comparison Seu'Seun ballistic firearms had the complete package - enormous calibre, deep rumbly noises, belches of smoke, bone crushing recoil and, most importantly, utterly ginormous destructive power, everything needed to get your average Krogan going. A Krogan warrior was scary enough - a Krogan warrior carrying something that looked like it was supposed to be mounted on a frigate was brick-shittingly terrifying.
As the Tomkah slowed to a halt, the Shaman looked back at Liara.
"This is Tuchanka's most recent scar. The last surface city to fall in the Rebellions. Contemplate the Keystone and its trials. Then you will be worthy."
Hades smacked his fists together.
"The beasts will know I'm worthy!"
Grunt shook his heads.
"The beasts will know bullet and blade, nothing more. Let's get it done."
Liara pulled out her TCN5 HSMG. The big bad brother of the TCN4, the bizarrely nicknamed 'Happy Hans' was designed as a pint sized support weapon designed for suppressing enemies but equally effective at putting down varren in large numbers. Humming to herself, she loaded a high explosive ammunition block. The massive overheating problems of the old style HE ammo had been largely overcome, the main limitation of the new style being its prohibitive price. When she had mentioned she was going to Tuchanka for a Rite, General Massani had gone very quiet for a second, then unlocked his personal armoury and told her she could take anything except Jessie. That didn't make her any less nervous.
The Shaman waved them out of the vehicle, then quickly departed, leaving the six of them to pick their way across the arena. She looked up at the keystone as Grunt started ordering the others around, setting up to weather the coming onslaught.
"Zeus, Hades, shift that rubble into a defensive position and prep a Gritspitter behind it. Hasok, lay Claymores on all the ramps. Battlemaster, take the other Gritspitter over there, set up overlapping fields of fire. Poseidon, help me gather up anything of use. Water, medigel, weapons, spare creds, whatever all there or there, accessible from both nests."
Liara opened the large case and assembled the tripod mounted 'Gritspitter' HSW-112A HMG, still humming to herself. She had gotten used to being in charge, but this was Grunt's show more than anyone else's and she had no objection to him taking command. As she racked the last part of the heavy chaingun into place and gave the four thick barrels an experimental twirl, Grunt dumped the last armful of salvaged gear into the pile and ran an eye over the battlefield before slapping a meaty fist on a conspicuously large button.
The hammer fell from approximately a third of the way up the tower, making the ground shake alarmingly as the howls of varren filled the air. Liara pulled a Sharp from the pile of guns by her feet and rammed home a heat sink, raising it to her eye and taking potshots at the approaching beasts. On the other side of the raised shelf Hades followed suit, his own Sharp modified to accommodate his absurdly large hands. He wasn't quite as skilled as Liara with the sniper but nevertheless four out of five shots found their marks, rapidly thinning the varren horde. The pack tightened up as they were picked off, constantly working to reform the phalanx of jaw and claw that made wild varren packs such a threat to colonists and frontiersmen across the galaxy. Of course, it all played right into Grunt's paws.
The pack split in an impressive display of co-ordination, ascending each of the three ramps simultaneously as they closed in. Unfortunately for the varren, their famed and feared wall of animal didn't do them much good when Grunt blew the first set of Claymores.
The Claymores had been reputedly invented by Zaeed Massani after he had seen the twenty first century Claymore in an old war vid. They were essentially a one time use gun that shot enormous blasts of incendiary shrapnel when triggered. The blasts tore through the front ranks of each part of the pack, the varren in the forefront sort of ... disintegrating with a nasty sound partway between a splat and a splash as their momentum spread the clouds of gore they had become about four metres in front of where they had been shredded. The second rank got the incendiary part of the incendiary shrapnel, suddenly finding themselves unexpectedly coated in thermite paste that then caught fire, turning the savage predators into flaming balls of panic that jumped around like bizarre marionettes operated by a red sand tripper. The remainder of the pack panicked, some running straight into the enfilading fire of Poseidon and Zeus operating the Gritspitters, others fleeing to be picked off at range by Liara and Hades. One adventurous one somehow managed to leap up onto the platform, only to be flicked almost contemptuously into the air by Grunt's biotics then put down by a blast from Hasok's shotgun. Before long the entire pack was down.
The next time the Keystone fell was from almost two thirds the height of the column.
"Harvesters!"
They proved slightly more problematic. After two groups had fallen victim to more Claymores the Harvesters smartened up, dropping their Klixxen straight onto the platform. Zeus and Poseidon kept spraying them with the HMGs and the rest of them gripped their shotguns and waited grimly for the big one.
The big one came quickly. Not content with dumping their attack bugs in easily gunned down twos and threes, the two Harvesters harassing them dumped no less than seventeen of the fire breathers onto the platform in one wave. Grunt gave a laugh that chilled Liara to the bone.
"Heh heh heh."
Then the two groups charged each other.
The next minute and a half passed in a blur of biotics, point blank shotgun blasts and squirts of fire. Liara and Hasok ended up back to back at one point, each one ducking and rolling with practiced ease around the jets of flame emitted by the warrior bugs, splitting chitin carapace and soft flesh with their Eviscerator and Obliterator shotguns respectively and using biotics or brute Krogan strength to fling the corpses away before they could explode.
When it was over, Liara collapsed onto the ground, panting even as her hands automatically loaded a fresh heat sink into her shotgun. Beside her Hasok dropped to his knees, his mouth open as he gasped for air.
"Let's not do that again."
Hasok shook his head.
"First time a Harvester's ever done that to me."
Grunt paced over to her, fragments of Klixxen carapace crunching beneath her feet.
"Battlemaster, are you wounded?"
"No, just catching my breath. I haven't had that much exercise in a while."
She accepted the silver gauntleted hand, hauling herself to her feet as Poseidon slapped her on the back, mindful to watch his strength.
"Ha! A good fight, Battlemaster."
"There's one more wallop left in the Keystone."
She turned to look at Zeus, standing by the button with a hopeful expression on his face.
"Everyone stock up on weapons, ammo, water and medigel. I have a feeling we'll need to stay mobile for this next one."
It only took a couple of minutes for the whole team to stock up.
"Punch it."
The Keystone slammed into the ground hard enough to open fresh cracks in the masonry surrounding it. There was complete silence for about twenty seconds.
"Well that was anticlimactic."
Spoken too soon. Not a second after the words had left her lips the ground cracked open, revealing the last thing Liara had wanted to see. Hasok glanced at it as he and the rest of the team scurried for cover.
"Uh ... We're fucked, people. That's Antros."
"Who's Antros?"
The giant worm reared up and a painfully familiar blue corona appeared around it.
"That's Antros."
A thresher maw.
A biotic thresher maw.
Well that's just not fair.