Chapter 20: Path of the Krogan

Grunt's Room (The Normandy)

As the Alliance engineering crew was working hard on the Normandy, they heard a frustrated growl coming from the storage room. Despite letting Shepherd's crew stay on the Normandy, they were still wary of some of the members. Grunt was one of them, although many of the crew had said he was harmless. Grunt was pacing in his room, despite his loyalty to Shepherd and the Normandy crew; he was bored out of his mind.

Grunt growled. "What I wouldn't do for a reaper attack…they're taking too long to come" Zaeed was gone, so that meant no more war stories, Shepherd was still in lock down until something happened, so no more missions, he didn't even have the small feisty human, Jack to pick a fight with, and it seemed forever since he killed something. Plus the human homeworld didn't smell right, it was too clean….and the humans were too soft... his omni-tool rang; he ignored it at first, until it annoyed him. He opened it. "What?!"

"Is that anyway to talk to your clan leader?" A familiar voice asked. Grunt stiffened when he heard the voice, it was Urdnot Wrex, the de facto leader of the krogan people.

"Wrex...my apologies, I've been…"

"Bored?"

"Yes…"

Wrex chuckled. "Think nothing of it, I felt the same when I was on the Normandy" he said. "Being on a human ship, was strange"

Grunt huffed. "Tell me about, they don't appreciate a good head-butt or a good story on disemboweling a turian"

Wrex smirked. "Well since you are so bored, why don't you come home?" he said.

"Really?"

"Actually, I'm calling back all krogans to Tuchanka" he said. "We need to prepare…"

"The reapers…but what about Shepherd?" Grunt asked. Wrex gave a huge laugh.

"Don't worry about him; He wouldn't miss that fight for the world"

"I'll make preparation"

"Good" Wrex said. "There was one other reason I called you, I need to speak with that Mordin guy"

Grunt blinked. "The salarian, why him?"

Wrex grew serious. "It has to do with our people"

Mordin's Lab (The Normandy)

Mordin was in his lab as usual, hard at work, his latest mission figuring out how a Varren STD spread across some of the crew members. It wasn't the ground-breaking work of modifying the Genophage, but it at least kept his already hyper mind busy. Earth was a beautiful planet, of no doubt, possibly rivaling his homeworld of Sur'kesh, but it was deathly boring. His omni-tool rang.

"Yes, yes what is it? I'm quite busy" Mordin said working.

"Too busy to be talking me?" The salarian looked back, and was met with Wrex, the clan chief of the krogan, one the few krogan he had respect for. He was intelligent, rare among krogan he thought, charismatic and seem to be a capable leader….if the krogan were to unite under him, he would have no problem creating a cure for the Krogan people especially with Maelon's data with him. However, krogan culture was too chaotic, and their leaders never last that long, although he was impressed he was still alive and leading the krogan.

"Ah, Urdnot Wrex, Shepherd's friend, what can I do for you?" Mordin said looking in his microscope.

"You can tell me why the STG was on my planet taking away a dozen Krogan females?"

Mordin looked at him with his brow raised, a characteristic he picked up from the humans. "The STG on Tuchanka?" he asked. "What makes you think I know?"

Wrex narrowed his eyes. "Because once a STG, always a STG…"

"True, but in this case I really don't know, perhaps if you told me" Mordin said.

"About four weeks ago, one of my scouts spotted some salarians on the planet; all of them wear uniforms with the STG insignia on them." The krogan explained. "They were carting off the females, I want to know why"

"So you came to me? True, I still do have my STG connections" he said. "But I don't have a clue why, where did your scout find them?"

"At these coordinates" Mordin took a look and his eyes widen, it was the base where he found Maelon..

Months ago

They enter the next room; Maelon was in the other end of the room scanning a holo screen with an Omni-tool. Mordin stepped past Shepherd, a frown creasing his features.

"Maelon. Alive. Unharmed. No evidence of restraints. No torture. Don't understand."

The other salarian turned, he was slightly taller than Mordin, with reddish skin and a narrower jaw. His face didn't look like that of the rescued captive; it held emotions far more unpleasant. Maelon pointed at his mentor accusingly.

"For such a smart man, professor, you always had trouble seeing evidence that disagreed with your preconceptions." He said angrily. "What will it take to make you realize I'm here because I wish to be here?"

"He came here voluntarily to cure the genophage" Kaiden said.

Mordin was taken aback. "Impossible. Whole team agreed! Project necessary!"

"How was I supposed to disagree with the great Doctor Solus? I was your student; I looked up to you as a mentor!" Maelon said angrily.

"Experiments preformed here. Live subjects! Prisoners! Torture and execution. Your doing?!"

"We already have the blood of millions on our hands, Doctor. If it takes a little more to make this right then so be it."

"No. Never taught you... this, Maelon!" he hissed. "What you did here... abominable, unacceptable!"

"So your hands are clean! What does it matters if the ground is stained with the blood of millions!" he said angrily. "You thought me that the ends justified the means. I will undo what we did, Professor. The only way I know how"

"Clan Weyrloc, are nothing but murdering thugs, if you cure them, then the galaxy might just decide to wipe everyone, you would be responsible for the end of the Krogan race" Kaiden said angrily.

"We justified this atrocity by saying the krogan would cause havoc and war if their population recovered" Maelon said. "But look at the galaxy, Geth attack the Citadel, batarians attack colonies in the Traverse... we justified our action by saying that a krogan population increase would bring war, but what if a strong krogan military could have prevented those things? Maybe your humans would never have lost Eden Prime or the geth would have been stopped before nearly destroying the Citadel."

"Bullshit, you don't know that!" Shepherd said.

"Maybe, we'll never know"

"ENOUGH! Have to end this!" Mordin said.

"Don't you see? We tried to play god and we failed!" Maelon said fanatically waving his gun. Mordin charges his former student, Maelon tries to fire but one swift punch in the face by his teacher and the gun is dropped to the floor. It was obvious while Maelon was a student of the science Mordin had taught him, he was by no means a fighter like the older salarian. Mordin had Maelon pinned to the wall with his gun up to his head. Maelon eyes went wide with fear.

"Unacceptable experiments. Unacceptable goals. Won't change. No choice Have to kill you."

Kaiden spoke up. "Wait, you're not a murderer, Mordin, you're better than this" Mordin's hand shook as he his gun stayed in Maelon's face. "If you do this, then you're proving his point"

Mordin took a deep breath. "No, not a murderer" he said lowering his gun. Maleon dropped to floor, shaken from being so close to death. Mordin put away his gun and looked at Maelon. "Finished, Maelon, get out. No Wreyloc left. Project over"

"You heard him, get out, now"

The younger salarian got up glaring at Mordin. "Where am I supposed to go?" Maelon asked.

"Don't care, Try Omega, can always use another clinic" Mordin said

"The krogan didn't deserve what we did to them, Professor. The genophage needs to end" he said walking away.

Mordin sighed and looked at the terminal. "Not like this" he said sadly. "Apologize, Shepherd. Misunderstood mission parameters, no abduction."

Now

The krogan frowned. "You know why, don't you?" Wrex asked.

Mordin sighed. "We found Maelon, a fellow STG member, at these coordinates "he explained. "He was trying to cure the genophage, but his methods were brutal, disgusting…"

"So he grew a conscience, funny I didn't think you salarians had one" Wrex said barely hiding his venom. "But what do those females have to do with this?"

"When we were there, there were no survivors of Maelon's experiments, though we were too preoccupied with fighting Clan Weyrloc to have noticed explore more of the compound" he said. "But for there to be survivors, Maelon must have been closer to a cure than even I had thought"

Wrex's eyes went wide. "A cure exists…?"

"Few more modifications and a complete cure could be made" he said. Mordin then had a thought, female krogan were much smarter than their male counterparts, as impressed as he was with Wrex, he was only on krogan…betrayals were bound to happen. However if the females were to side with him, the krogan could be unified and a unified krogan could once again save the galaxy. "I'll make the call"

Wrex blinked. "You're helping? What are you up to?"

"Nothing, you've worked with Shepherd before, you know the reaper threat exists" Mordin said. "A cured krogan could help turn the tides, since I worked on genophage at one point, that makes me your people's best ally, no?"

Wrex chuckled. "A pragmatist I see, fine this is an alliance" he said. He then grew serious. "But if you screw with me…"

"I won't, I have my own reasons for wanting to help you"

Tuchanka

Grunt was on the krogan homeworld, as he got out the shuttle he sniffed the air, the smell of blood, the smell of gunsmoke and the growls of krogans fight for their dominance filled his senses, he was home. He walked through the compound to the main area, months later and it was still a pile of rubble, at first he was unimpressed that krogan homeworld was this pile of rubble but now he understood that this was a testament of krogan strength. He met with Wrex, who was sitting on his throne.

"Good you're here"

"So what's this about?" He saw other krogans with Wrex. "Who are they?"

"Grunt, do you know who the Aralakh Company is?" Wrex asked.

"No"

"They were feared far and wide by the galaxy, for taking down the last queen in the Rachni wars" he said. "Centuries later, they killed most enemies in the Krogan Rebellions, until they were killed"

"I'm resurrecting Aralakh Company, and I want you to lead them, Grunt"

Grunt blinked, for once he was speechless, he was going to be leader of his own team. He wasn't a battlemaster; he didn't know how to lead a squad. "You've already learned from the best leader, Shepherd, now it's time to apply to what you have learned" Wrex said with a smirk.

Someone spoke up; a krogan in black armor with a blue crest stepped forward. "You expect us to follow a tank-bred?" one of them said. "You insult us and Aralakh Company!" The other krogans grunted in agreement, Grunt growled, he wasn't just a tank bred he was a Urdnot, he had earned his place. Grunt stopped growling when he Wrex chuckling, the older krogan smirked at Grunt.

"And part of being a leader, is proving your strength…"

Grunt's eyes lit up. "Heh Heh Heh…" he said. "If you think you can lead better than me, then prove it!"

Sur'kesh

"Hold the krogan still!" One of the STG said. One of the female krogan was struggling against her salarian captors. The salarians wanted to do a health test, but she saw it differently, and tried to escape until the STG cornered her. The struggle continued with salarians being thrown like rag dolls.

"Damn it, we may have to put her down!" the leader said. "Weapons at the ready and…"

"Enough!" The salarians looked back and gasped at the sight of the STG veteran, Mordin, returning. "Barbaric treatment and you call yourselves STG? Shameful"

"All we were doing was giving her a simple test, and she went berserk"

"Then perhaps, I can try…" Mordin said walking towards the krogan female.

"Sir, I don't think that's…"

"I'll be fine" He came up to the female and picked up a syringe. The krogan picks up Mordin and gave him a look of anger. She then growled and held the doctor up; the soldiers raised their weapons up ready to put the female down. "No! No weapons!" The salarian reluctantly put their weapons away.

Mordin looked into her eyes, while as dangerous as the males, female krogan were calmer than the males. They usually didn't fight unless they had no choice, or their offspring was in danger but the female krogan before him looked tired and more scared than angry. "What is your name?" Mordin asked calmly.

The female narrowed her eyes. "I have no name…"

"No name? We can't have that, can't we?" Mordin said. "How about Eve? Human mythology, first female human, mother of all humans, would you like me to call you that?"

"It is…nice" she said. "My sisters have been through a lot, we just want rest"

"Then you will have it, I promise, we're just going to do a simple health test, that's all, we will not harm you" Mordin said. "I will make sure of it…"

"I don't believe you, salarians can't be trusted"

"Then I will earn your trust" He said with a smile.

Eve blinked, salarians were known for their secrecy their minds were like mazes and a person never knows just what they were thinking. But this salarian was different, she felt she could trust him…her eyes soften and she sat him down. "What is your name, salarian?"

"Mordin, Mordin Solus, a pleasure to meet you"

Grunt leading a squad of his own! Mordin, a mole for Wrex! How will this affect the approaching war?

Find out next time! As always, Review and Coment.