Chapter 54 - Krogan Diplomacy
"Commander," Traynor's voice over the comms interrupts Shepard's thoughts. "The salarian dalatrass is ready to come aboard."
"Well, we can't really refuse, can we?" Shepard replies, cursing inwardly. "I really wanted Wrex to get here first. Any word from him?"
"Not since they left Tuchanka... wait, Commander, something on our sensors! Looks like the Alliance shuttle sent after the krogan chief. 30 minutes ETA."
Shepard sighs. "I can't stall Linron that long. Begin docking procedures and let her come aboard."
"Uh... Commander, if I may ask..." Samantha Traynor speaks up hesitantly. "Why is it so important to have the krogan here first?"
"Because Linron doesn't expect the asari presence at the summit. I wanted to take advantage of her surprise," Shepard explains. "Make the most of her being on the back foot. Hell, it probably wouldn't have worked, but..." she then ceases the conversation as the salarian representatives step onboard and she moves forward to welcome them.
"Dalatrass Linron," she bows her head at the elderly looking salarian, wrapped tightly in a grey ceremonial robe that makes her look like an ancient, grotesque mummy. Everything about her demeanor, the expression on her lips, the way she returns Shepard's greeting with a barely perceptible nod, speaks of one thing; the dalatrass is not happy to be here, she does not approve of this summit, and she is going to make her displeasure known.
"Please, follow me to the conference room," Shepard says, leading the dalatrass towards the elevator and then the CIC, her small STG entourage remaining with the shuttle. In the conference room, Victus and Aethyta are already present, talking animatedly... or to be more accurate, Aethyta is doing most of the talking, holding a glass of liquor in her hand, while Victus struggles to get a word in, occasionally starting to blink rapidly, looking shocked from whatever story the unorthodox matriarch is sharing with him.
"Allow me to introduce you," Morgan tells the dalatrass, pointing at Aethyta first. "Matriarch Aethyta, representative of the Asari Republics. And Primarch Adrien Victus," she nods to the turian.
"I was under the assumption that-," Linron starts to speak, staring hard at Aethyta, but then catching herself, looking furious at what she probably considers the betrayal of their oldest allies.
"Yes, dalatrass?" Shepard asks innocently. "Is everything in order? Would you care for a drink while we wait?"
"No," Linron grinds out the words. "Where is this... krogan brute that you have decided to invite to our summit? Being made to wait on one of them is an insult in itself!"
"We offer our deepest apologies, dalatrass," Morgan bows again, activating her comms. "Samantha, update on ETA?"
"Less than 15 minutes," comes the reply.
"With your permission, I will excuse myself," she tells the three 'diplomats'. "The krogan representative will be arriving shortly. Meanwhile, Primarch, if you could explain your rationale for bringing the krogan to this summit, it would certainly help speed things along once Wrex gets here."
Victus nods at her and starts his explanations to Linron and Aethyta, while Shepard hurries back to the cargo bay, where a few minutes later, the Kodiak shuttle piloted by Lt. Cortez lands and Shepard sees her old friend Wrex standing proud in all his glory as the cargo bay door rises to reveal the burly krogan.
"Shepard!" Wrex roars, making the salarians on the other side of the docking bay jump in fright. "Good to see you again, my friend!" he charges at her, starting to shake Morgan's hand with such eagerness that it nearly dislocates her shoulder.
"Uh... happy to see you too, Wrex," she manages a slightly pained smile. "Looking good, if maybe a bit soft around the edges." Shepard playfully throws a light punch at his stomach. "Too much sitting on that throne and feasting, huh?"
"Hah, I heard they have been forcing you to sit on your hands for six months, Shepard," Wrex replies with the same gesture, only in Morgan's case, almost managing to make her double over. "If anyone's here soft, it's you!"
"Right..." Shepard takes in a deep breath. "So... you ready to do some diplomacy, Wrex?"
"Is that the boring talky part before we start shooting, Shepard?" Wrex grins broadly.
"Usually I would say yes... but in this case, it's boring talky part followed by more and more talking, until we're all happy and satisfied."
Wrex groans. "...sounds like some of the gatherings in krogan female camps," he says. "They just talk... and talk... and then talk some more, ugh, the pain of it all!"
"That's about the gist of what's about to happen, yeah," Shepard nods. "Come on, I'll introduce you to the others. Oh, and I hope you decided on your demands like I advised you?"
"I have," Wrex's grin becomes almost disturbingly wide. "Oh, you'll love this Shepard."
"...for some reason, I am filled with dread," Shepard sighs, as they arrive at the conference room. "Well, here we are."
Inside, the others are already arguing passionately. "I agree that we will need the krogan, but are you prepared to listen to their demands?" she hears Aethyta's voice, different from how she usually sounds, suddenly all business and cold professionalism. "Because they will not be willing to sacrifice themselves for us just because we ask nicely."
"The krogan are in no position to make demands!" Linron exclaims, waving her arms animatedly.
"I think the krogan are in the perfect situation to make demands," Wrex speaks up as they arrive, all eyes immediately on him. "And the krogan has a name: Urdnot Wrex."
"Wrex, please meet Primarch Victus from the Turian Hierarchy," Morgan moves quickly to make the introductions. "Matriarch Aethyta from the Asari Republics and Dalatrass Linron of the Salarian Union."
"Shepard tells me you are looking for krogan aid," Wrex speaks. "Well, let me tell you something. Reaper scouts have arrived on Tuchanka, and my people are busy dealing with them. Why should I care if any of your species goes extinct?"
"Don't think us fools, Urdnot Wrex," Victus says, folding his arms across his chest. "You wouldn't have come here if you didn't think you stood something to gain. We don't have time to dance around the issue all day. What is it that you want?"
"I'll tell you what I need," Wrex growls. "A cure for the genophage."
Hah, so that's what he was thinking! Morgan grins inwardly. Bold, but risky. But what if he is asking for something that can't be done on such short notice? She looks at the faces of the others. Victus looks thoughtful, then nodding. Linron appears to be hyperventilating, her black eyes narrowed at Wrex. Aethyta says nothing at all. I wonder what she thinks, with her father being a krogan and all.
"This is preposterous!" Linron is the first to recover. "We will not entertain this possibility, it is not negotiable!"
"Everything should be negotiable in the face of this crisis," Aethyta shrugs. "Don't paint yourself in the corner, dalatrass."
"Why can't you even consider it?" Shepard asks. "Surely the circumstances are dire enough to-"
"No! We uplifted the krogan! We know what they are like," Linron exclaims passionately.
"I think you don't know what they are like, you only know what you made them into," Shepard says, deep inside enjoying the angry expression on the dalatrass' face. "A cheap tool for your wars to wage, to be discarded once they ceased to be useful."
"They did not just cease to be useful, their aggressive expansion became a threat to the whole galaxy!" Linron snaps back. "The genophage was the only way to keep their violent urges in check!"
"We could do with some of those violent urges against the Reapers," Victus remarks.
"I should not be surprised to see you so short-sighted, turian," Linron scoffs, then turning towards Aethyta. "But your people still remember the horrors of the Krogan Rebellions, matriarch. How can you support this madness?"
"My own parents fought in the Krogan Rebellions. On opposing sides," Aethyta says, Morgan catching Wrex suddenly staring at the asari with interest. "So do not presume to lecture me about the Krogan Rebellions, dalatrass. I know enough of the horrors, and I know all about the short sighted decisions made in fear of another Rebellion. Those who cling to the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them."
Of course she would say that. The other matriarchs kicked her off Thessia because she wasn't stuck in the past like they were, Morgan thinks, giving Aethyta a fond stare. "I say give the krogan their cure," the matriarch adds, crossing her arms over her ample bosom.
"I don't particularly like this, dalatrass, but Wrex is right," Victus also concedes defeat in the face of demands.
"I cannot believe this! I will not allow you to make the same mistake as we did, acting out of desperation!" Linron says resolutely. "The genophage is not an option. The krogan will turn on us as soon as we give them the cure!"
"No, we would wait until the Reapers are defeated before turning on you," Wrex says, sounding surprisingly polite and thus even somehow scarier. "We krogan honor our promises, after all!"
"There, he openly admits it!" Linron points with an accusing finger. "You all heard it!"
"Wrex was merely baiting you, dalatrass," Morgan speaks up, hoping she is correct in her assessment. "I don't believe that the krogan will turn on us, unless we give them any more reasons than we already have given. But if they do... they are nothing like the Reapers, you have to realize that! Reapers are super-intelligent, merciless, meticulous and persistent machines of destruction that will not stop to rest before they have eradicated us. Krogan might be dangerous... but at least we'll always be able to outsmart them!"
"Oh, is that so, Shepard?" Wrex turns towards her, giving her a challenging look.
"Just pretend you didn't hear that, Wrex," Shepard whispers to him conspiringly. "Anyway... I think that the genophage has gone on long enough," she adds, Victus and Aethyta nodding at her.
"One thousand, four hundred and seventy-six years, if you're keeping track," Wrex says.
"Yes, a thousand years of peace from these... brutes!" Linron challenges, pointing her gnarled finger at Wrex again.
"Perhaps safe from the krogan, but on the whole there has been nothing safe about this galaxy ever since the Rachni Wars," Aethyta shrugs, giving Linron a slightly condescending stare. "Maybe you short-lived races can maintain illusions of a prosperous and peaceful ages of the past, but over the past millennia I certainly can't remember any period of time longer than a decade without some race somewhere in the galaxy not going to war with their neighbors. And it wasn't the krogan that went to war. Maybe the galaxy would have been safer if you hadn't deployed the genophage and evolution itself would have attended to their birth rates and life spans."
"We don't have the luxury to spend time dealing with 'what ifs'," Victus looks at Aethyta impatiently. "And even if we would agree to give Wrex what he requests, we would not be able to comply. The best we can do is to promise the cure to the krogan, it would take years to actually formulate one..."
"My information says otherwise," Wrex interrupts the turian with a smug grin. "A salarian scientist, Maelon, grew a conscience. He was on Tuchanka, testing a cure on our females." Shepard says nothing, worried a little whether Wrex knows the whole truth about her involvement in stopping Maelon's gruesome work.
Wrex fiddles with his omni-tool for a brief bit, bringing up video footage. Morgan sees some kind of research facility, full with salarians walking around hurriedly, gesticulating wildly. There are containment cells along the walls of the room, holding distinctly krogan looking shapes. "Some of the females actually survived the experiments," Wrex explains the recordings, sounding rather angry. "But the dalatrass here sent in a team to clean up the mess, and took the females prisoner."
"This... this is a lie, a fabrication!" Linron protests, but her voice lacks its previous edge.
"Don't insult me!" Wrex roars, smashing his fists against the conference room table, leaving cracks in the plastic surface. "You have my people! They are immune to the genophage and you're going to give them back!"
"Dalatrass... is this true?" now Victus looks to be seething in anger too, and Morgan catches Aethyta smirking at Linron's obvious discomfort.
"How will curing the genophage benefit my people?" Linron asks, taking a step back, intimidated by Wrex's display.
"If you help us, we won't leave you hanging out to dry when the Reapers come calling?" Morgan shrugs. "Because that's what is going to happen if you don't work with us. Your famous intelligence networks against the brute force of the Reapers? Think twice, dalatrass."
Linron's shoulders sag just slightly as she thoughtfully rubs her brow with her elongated fingers. "Fine... you leave me with no choice," she says angrily. "The females are being kept in one of the STG bases on Sur'Kesh. Now, since my warnings about the consequences of your foolish actions will only be ignored, I take my leave. You will have the location of the base within an hour," and with that, Linron draws herself up proudly and storms out of the conference room.
"I guess that means she won't give us the support of their fleets or aid for building the Prothean device," Morgan shrugs. "But hey, at least we got what you were asking for, Wrex."
"If she keeps her word," Wrex grumbles. "I do not trust those salarians."
"She would not lie outright to us all," Victus shakes his head. "Of course, with her gone and with Wrex's demands taking over the focus of this summit, we never even touched the part about coordinating the tactics of our fleets."
"The asari fleets have been given an order to avoid direct confrontation with the Reapers and provide evacuation for the targeted colonies," Aethyta says. "The salarians will do exactly the same, and you need to preserve your fleets as well, Primarch. If you wish to discuss it in greater detail, please, let us move to the War Room."
"An excellent idea, Matriarch," Victus says, heading out of the conference room while Aethyta lingers a little behind.
"He doesn't know that I'm not actually at liberty to make any decisions regarding the movements of our fleets," Aethyta whispers conspiringly to Shepard, accompanied with a wink.
"Victus doesn't need to know that. It's just enough that everyone sees the asari having an active presence on the summit," Morgan replies. "Now your people won't be left alone and on the sidelines when the action heats up."
"If you had sided with the dalatrass, maybe she would not have given in," Wrex says, giving Aethyta another thoughtful stare. "So... your dad was a krogan, huh?" he asks.
The matriarch glides past Wrex on her path to follow Victus, on her way smoothly raising her arm and teasingly tracing two fingers along the krogan's neck. "Why don't you stop by the lounge later, and I'll tell you all about my parents," she says, her voice sultry. "And I'll mix you something nice to drink, too."
Wrex looks a little bit stunned as Aethyta leaves the room, Morgan empathizing with the reaction. Did she just... flirt with Wrex? I'm not sure my poor brain can handle that mental image. "This... asari is strange," the krogan finally manages. "Seen a lot of weird things over the years, Shepard, but this one... just might beat them all. The turians, sure, they get our help or go extinct. The asari, they aren't feeling the heat yet. I guess she just knows the writing is on the wall and wants to make nice, huh?"
"Don't think so, Wrex," Morgan shakes her head. "This one might have actually stood up for the krogan because she believed it was the right thing to do."
"Hmph. We'll see," Wrex shrugs. "I just hope that this dalatrass keeps her word. I've seen her kind, she'll try something, Shepard, mark my words!"
"Yeah, we should probably be careful," Shepard agrees. "So, you've got a mole on Sur'Kesh? How'd you manage to put him or her there?"
"Wasn't my doing, Shepard," Wrex shakes his head. "Don't even know the guy, he's been sending me all kinds of messages about the females and the cure. Figure someone might have grown a conscience, maybe it's that Maelon?"
"No, can't be Maelon, the STG would never take him back. Hmmm... I wonder..." Shepard appears thoughtful. Could it be... naaah, he quit the STG, didn't he? He's probably lounging on a beach somewhere, counting seashells.
"You know, when I got the first message, I immediately started to put a team of my own together," Wrex tells her. "Put Grunt in charge of the company, told them to train for a mission to Sur'Kesh. Figured that we'll go take the females ourselves. Then your message came, Shepard."
"Well, for once I had good timing, huh?" she chuckles. "So, we have a bit of time still before Linron sends us the location. How do you want to handle this?"
"Just you and me, Shepard," Wrex says with certainty. "I don't want some strangers in on this, mucking it up. It's too important, too... personal."
"What if I tell you that I have two old friends of yours onboard of the Normandy, both of them eager to help you?" Shepard asks, grinning broadly.
"Oh?" Wrex looks at her curiously, then poking her in the ribs. "Out with it, Shepard. This ought to be good..."