Chapter 55 - Urdnot Adam, Urdnot Eve
The first sights of the salarian homeworld strike a painful similarity with Earth. Forest covered mountain ridges surrounded by countless lakes and rivers provide for a beautiful scenery, but Morgan knows better than that to be lulled by the tranquil appearance. It doesn't just look like Earth, it also reminds me of Virmire, she thinks, looking over her squad. I'm not making another decision like on Virmire, never again. I'd rather sacrifice myself to save them all if I can.
"Figured it would be you two, when Shepard mentioned old friends," Wrex rumbles, and for once she is happy to have her thoughts interrupted. "Appreciate having you along for the ride, Liara," Wrex says, looking at the asari, ignoring Garrus' pointed cough, before sparing him notice as well. "Well... I suppose I could make room for you too, Garrus."
"Just thought you'd need all the help you can get, Wrex," Garrus says, his mandibles twitching with amusement. "You've grown quite the belly sitting on that throne, all soft."
Wrex just glowers at Garrus, when Shepard finally decides to break up the friendly ribbing. "We could do with a plan for once we get there," she says. "If Linron keeps her word and gives up the females, I doubt she'll want to let a krogan with a shotgun running around the STG base."
"I don't care what some dalatrass wants," Wrex shrugs. "I'm going in and I'm getting our females out of there."
"Look, I don't want to suddenly find ourselves at war with the salarians because you start shooting the damn frogs," Shepard says, a little tersely. "I'm just saying, if they insist on you staying out, let us do the job. You'll trust us with that much, right?"
"Shepard, these females are the best and probably last chance for my people!" Wrex exclaims angrily. "You ask for much, my friend."
"We'll get them back, Wrex," Liara says, her voice calm and reassuring. "Don't worry. You know, there's one thing I've always liked about you..."
"My smoldering good looks?" Wrex flexes his muscles, posing at Liara in a way that makes Shepard chuckle.
Liara looks amused as well. "That too, but I meant your determination," she says. "You never gave up, and it's about to pay off."
"I'm just keeping Shepard true to her word," Wrex turns towards Morgan. "Still remember what you told me on Virmire, when we stared each other down with weapons raised?"
"I told you that eventually we're going to cure genophage, and that we'll do it in the right way, too," Shepard says, remembering that whole encounter as vividly as if it was yesterday. "And before you ask, yes, this feels like the right way, Wrex."
"Approaching the salarian base, Commander," Cortez informs them from the pilot's seat. Shepard looks outside to see an impressive complex of several buildings, hiding at the feet of jagged cliffs, almost completely obscured by thick mists from the nearby majestic waterfall. "Commander? The salarian ground control insists we don't have clearance to land!"
"Linron likes to play games, eh?" Shepard curses. "Tell them the dalatrass authorized this herself!"
"I knew they would try something like this," Wrex says angrily, going for his shotgun. "Let's see how they feel about a good old krogan airdrop!" He throws the shuttle doors open, about to jump from the height of several yards.
"Wrex! Don't do it, damn it!" Shepard shouts, but to no avail. With an impressive and deafening roar, Wrex jumps out of the shuttle and towards the landing pad. "No! Wrex! Bad krogan!" Morgan yells after him, together with Garrus and Liara scrambling to follow.
Several salarians immediately surround Wrex, attempting to scan the 'unauthorized intruder' with their omni-tools, but the krogan surprises them with his biotic throw sending them flying and crashing into the nearby wall, dazed and struggling to get up. As Wrex raises his shotgun, however, Morgan immediately sees three laser dots dancing on the krogan's skull, sign of nearby snipers taking aim.
More and more salarians arrive on the landing pad, carrying SMG's and heavy pistols. Morgan and the others have managed to catch up with Wrex, and by now someone higher in the STG hierarchy also arrives, appealing for calm and ordering everyone to stand down. "Commander Shepard, restrain your colleague," the more important looking salarian pleads. "We were only informed about this transfer a few moments ago."
"Understood," Shepard nods, placing her hand on Wrex's shotgun and forcing him to lower the barrel and he reluctantly obeys. "Your dalatrass has a funny sense of humor. How does it feel to know that she was willing to risk your lives just in order to cause minor inconvenience for us?"
The salarian decides not to comment on the actions of his superiors, instead focusing on the task at hand. "If you are willing to look past this misunderstanding, we are prepared to continue with the transfer. But..." he gives Wrex a slightly uncomfortable stare. "I must insist that the krogan remains under guard."
Wrex roars angrily at that, likely just to frighten the salarians, and doing an amazing job at that. "We already discussed this eventuality, Wrex," Shepard tells him. "Let us handle this for you. We'll be back with your females before you'll know it."
"Fine," Wrex grunts. "But if anything goes wrong, I'm going in there myself. And I'll be shooting anything that doesn't look like a krogan."
"I've missed his charming old self," Garrus notes merrily as Wrex follows four salarian guards to remain waiting on the upper level of the base. "I think we better move fast and get those females, or else there will be too many beaten up salarians to fit in one medbay."
"I quite agree," Shepard grins, then looking at the fidgeting salarian leader.
"I appreciate your understanding, Commander," he says. "My name is Padok Wiks. With the war on everyone's minds, our people are on edge-" here he is interrupted by angry shouting by some technician, screaming at someone to watch the containment shields. Looking upwards, they can see an isolated pod containing an all too familiar grey skinned monstrous creature, angrily banging against the walls of its cage.
Shepard feels Liara bumping into her and she instinctively wraps a protective arm around her lover, the asari physically recoiling from the mere sight of the dreaded yahg. "I'd hoped to never see one of those things again," she says in a quiet voice.
"As you can see, this base contains sensitive information," their guide explains. "We conduct evolutionary trails, morphological simulations, exogenetic assessments."
"You kind of lost me at 'evolutionary, there," Morgan confesses, then giving the salarian an impatient stare. "How about we hurry up and get what we came here for? The sooner we get the females, the sooner we'll leave and take him with us," Shepard points at Wrex, having found a hapless salarian victim to torment, some young apprentice working on one of the consoles. Wrex is constantly pressing random buttons on the console, preventing the young salarian from going about with his tasks.
"I'm afraid that if you keep touching this, you risk a diplomatic incident!" the salarian tries to warn Wrex, but his threat clearly fails to make an impression.
"So, what are you going to do?" Wrex laughs, pushing the button again. "Read me some poetry about waterfalls?"
The salarian sighs deeply, making Morgan feel a little sorry for him. "Further manipulation of that object is grounds for further admonishment," he tells Wrex, but the krogan just grins, going for the button one more time.
"The females were in poor health when we found them on Tuchanka," Wiks explains, leading them away from Wrex's little corner of entertainment. "We had to bring them here to stabilize their condition. You can go see them, but I will need a few minutes to clear you for the lower levels. In the meantime, please wait by the elevator," the salarian points ahead towards the entrance leading deeper into the base.
"Well, so far, so good..." Morgan mutters under her breath as Padok Wiks takes brief leave of their company.
"Still expecting trouble, Shepard?" Garrus asks.
"Always," Morgan replies, looking around. One of the salarians pacing in front of a small group of rank agents and giving them loud instructions looks a little familiar. "Hey, isn't that..."
"Captain Kirrahe," Liara confirms her thoughts. "We met him on Virmire."
Wonderful, even more reminders of that accursed place, Shepard shivers mentally. Now I'll start getting paranoid about some dreadful circumstances forcing me to choose between Liara and Garrus during this mission. Gods... I'd rather put a bullet through my brain just to escape this choice.
"Commander Shepard!" Kirrahe has noticed them by now, approaching their group. "Major Kirrahe, perhaps you remember. I'd heard you were coming."
"Of course I remember," Shepard smiles, shaking the salarian's hand, Liara and Garrus doing the same. "Congratulations on the promotion!"
"Well, you and your colleagues played a large part to it, during our mission on Virmire," the salarian gives them a grateful look. "'Hold the line.' We created another legend of the STG on that day, Commander."
"Is Mordin still making fun of that 'hold the line' chest-pounding routine?" Morgan asks.
"Yes, irritatingly so," Kirrahe says unhappily, before catching himself. "Wait, you know Dr. Solus? Of course you do, but how did you know he was here?"
"I didn't, but thanks for confirming that, Major," Morgan smiles, looking at Liara. "Well, I guess that's one mystery cleared up."
"I quite agree," the asari nods.
"Mordin must have mentioned working with me to stop the Collectors," Morgan stares at Kirrahe. "He told me you worked with him during the genophage modification project."
"Yes, that is true," Kirrahe nods. "Also, that assistant of his, Maelon. This whole deal is his mess. He might have meant well, but his methods were crude."
"We saw it for ourselves, Major," Garrus says grimly.
"Ah, it makes sense," Kirrahe says in realization. "When Mordin contacted us to clean up Maelon's mess on Tuchanka, I should have realized that you would have been there helping Mordin. Went to Tuchanka shortly after that, recovered the females during cleanup operation. Isn't it ironic, Commander?" the salarian asks her. "We went through so much to destroy the genophage cure on Virmire, and now you're here to do the exact opposite."
"Except what Saren had on Virmire wasn't really a cure, it was just means to create more and more krogan thralls," Shepard shrugs. "Sure, maybe it could have been modified and turned into a proper cure, but we had no way of knowing that."
"Too true," Kirrahe admits, his expression turning grim. "I've heard about Earth and Palaven. My condolences. If they were to hit Sur'Kesh with the same intensity... that's not the kind of warfare we salarians can sustain." He then lowers his voice. "Though I've heard rumors that you are building a super-weapon of some kind?"
"That is true," Shepard replies quietly. "And that's also why I'm on a mission of galactic hand-holding to make sure all races cooperate in building and deploying that thing."
"I prefer to leave that kind of thing to the dalatrasses," Kirrahe says, looking a little disgusted.
"Well, Linron is doing a really crap job at it," Shepard chuckles. "So far she has managed to just piss off all of her potential allies. If the Reapers were to hit your worlds, I'm afraid the salarians might just have a tough time finding someone to help them."
"I'll be sure to thank the dalatrass for that," Kirrahe mutters sourly, glancing to his left. "Ah, there comes Wiks, you must have the clearance now. And Commander..." he whispers, leaning closer to Shepard. "I don't care what the politicians decide, if there's a way I can help in your war against the Reapers, I will do so. Whether it's a talented team of STG scientists for your project, or aid in retaking Earth, you name it."
"That's... very considerate of you," Shepard says, feeling moved by the gesture. "Get in touch with Admiral Hackett, he can tell you precisely what is needed for the project." Kirrahe simply nods and smiles as Padok Wiks approaches to inform them that they have clearance to see the krogan females.
As they head towards the elevator, there seems to be some commotion amongst the tense looking salarian personnel. Someone claims about some kind of unknown ships skirting the outlying territories, while another one whispers about outgoing messages without any ID signatures from within the base. Can't be the Reapers, Morgan thinks, as they reach the elevator. The front is too far from Sur'Kesh, they could not have jumped without any warning, not anymore with the whole galaxy watching them.
"Alert! Alert! Threat condition two has been declared! Scramble readiness teams! Sensors have picked up activity on the perimeter!" suddenly there are alarms going off everywhere as they step inside the elevator, groups of armed salarians running around, making it look as if someone would have poked an anthill.
"Why couldn't things be simple just for once?" Liara laments as the elevator starts to slowly move downwards.
"Still clinging to your charmingly naive view of the galaxy, T'Soni?" Garrus chuckles. "You'd think becoming the Shadow Broker would make one a bitter cynic."
"I would not presume to steal your role on the Normandy, Garrus," Liara's reply is immediate.
"Nice counterpunch," Shepard claps her hands together. "But much as I sometimes regret it, circumstances have hardened you, Liara. There was no way to escape that, anyway."
"You just shouldn't have died, Shepard," Garrus says plainly.
"Yes," Liara agrees, then recovering to smile at Morgan. "You see, it's all your fault in the end."
"Gee... thanks," Shepard rolls her eyes as the elevator reaches the lower levels and the door slowly opens to reveal a very familiar figure standing in front of them, looking impatient. Morgan immediately recognizes the smiling face of her old friend, the unmistakably chopped off head horn making him appear like a rabbit with droopy ears. "Mordin!" she almost charges him and grabs his hand in a violently joyful shake. "So good to see you!"
"Shepard!" Mordin says once she has finished shaking him about. "Excellent timing! Good to have you here!"
"You said you wouldn't be going back to the STG," Morgan says. "But I think I know just why you did it. I have been talking with Wrex..."
Mordin looks around to make sure they are not overheard, but the other salarians are staying out of their earshot and looking busy. "Had to do it, Shepard. Helped female krogan. Fed intel to Urdnot. Encouraged political pressure to free females."
"Thought so," Morgan nods. "So... how do you propose we play this?"
Mordin looks a little worried as he listens to the announcer's voice on the comms, informing them about the security threats. "Warnings not normal. Do not like this, Shepard," he shakes his head. "Must get the krogan off-world. Ensure their safety. Step this way. I will explain."
Mordin leads them deeper into the lab. There are holding cells all around the walls, like in the vid that Wrex presented before the summit on the Normandy. "Krogan females had weakened immune systems. Side effect of Maelon's cure." He stops and looks at the contents of one of the cells with a pained expression on his face. "These... didn't survive," he points at the four large lumps inside brown bodybags.
"I'm sure you did the best you could for them, Doctor," Liara says comfortingly.
"I am certain he did, but Mordin, please tell me that some have survived and we didn't come all this way for nothing!" Shepard pleads.
"Yes. One survivor. Immune to genophage," Mordin nods. "Can synthesize cure from her tissue. But Shepard..." the salarian says, leading them towards another pod. "If she dies, genophage cure... problematic." The large, burly and very much krogan-like figure inside the pod seems to be suspended in some kind of contraption, likely meant to incapacitate her. "Be careful, Commander. Krogan slow to trust."
"Can she hear me?" Shepard asks Mordin.
"Yes, I can hear you," the voice replying is deep and yet somehow definitely feminine. "Are you here to kill me?"
"What? No, I'm here to ensure you are not harmed," Shepard tries to sound reassuring. "My name is Commander Morgan Shepard from the Alliance Navy. I am here together with Urdnot Wrex. We are taking you back to your people, and we are going to cure them of the genophage."
"Why?"
"Because the krogan deserve the cure?" Shepard shrugs. "But yes, that's not the only reason. The rest of the galaxy needs the krogan to yet again save them from giant monsters. There, I openly admitted that," she adds with a grin. "If we play this right, your people will be able to breed to their heart's content and you might even get another statue on the Presidium."
"Let's not go that far, Shepard," Garrus interrupts her. "Need I remind you that turians are yet to get a statue of their own?"
"I would suggest placing a small bust of Garrus in some appropriate place on the Presidium," Liara says. "Perhaps inside the public washrooms of the Tower?"
"You seem honest about your motives," the female krogan speaks, her face covered by a strange garb, leaving only tiny slit open for her eyes. Suddenly, the alarms grow in volume, informing everyone about unidentified vessels breaking the perimeter and someone screams about multiple ships inbound as they run past. "I would accompany you, but it would appear that escape will be difficult. Commander, I hope you have brought an army."
Shepard grins, shaking her head. "These two," she points at Liara and Garrus. "Are all the army I'm ever going to need. Trust me. I'm getting you out of here."
She steps away from the female krogan's cell, hearing the soft beep of the call signal on her omni-tool. It is Wrex. "Shepard! Cerberus troops are attacking the base," he informs her. "Get those females out of there now!"
"We have only one survivor, Wrex," she replies, wincing at the way Wrex roars angrily at the news. "This is going to be tricky, but we're getting her out of here. I did promise you that."
"You make sure of that, Shepard, or there will be no help for turians, humans or anyone!" Wrex snarls.
"Alright, alright, keep your shorts on, Wrex," Shepard sighs, terminating the call and looking at Mordin. "Let's get moving. Things are about to heat up quickly."
"On it, Shepard," Mordin punches in commands on the nearby console, opening a small compartment at the side of the pod. Without any hesitation, he steps inside, taking his place behind the glass. "Need to monitor the pod as it clears quarantine." The pod slowly starts to move towards the upper levels. "Meet us at the next quarantine checkpoint, Shepard. Make sure Cerberus troops do not damage the pod."
"That means we don't have a lot of time," Shepard swears, turning to the krogan female who does not seem to display any sort of emotion. "You heard what I told Wrex. I'm getting you out of here, that's a promise."
"I suggest you hurry, Shepard," Mordin reminds her as the pod has already moved a yard or so.
"We're on our way," Morgan says, leading her team back towards the elevator to the upper levels. "I expected a lot of things, but Cerberus? Here, on Sur'Kesh? What the fuck is up with that, why?"
"It does seem odd, Shepard," Liara nods. "The Illusive Man has usually opposed us whenever there have been some opportunities to study the Reapers or tech relating to them. Genophage does not seem to fit in his plans. He has to see that the krogan will help us defeat the Reapers, and at least in words he has always claimed that Reapers are his enemy. And yet here he is about to do them a huge favor."
"That's what I figured, too," Shepard nods. "But maybe we're forgetting about the 'human supremacists' part of Cerberus ideology. Perhaps he sees the cured krogan as potential threat to his plans for humanity?"
"Well, whatever his plans may be, he just provided us with a lot of fresh target practice," Garrus' mandibles twitch in anticipation as he gives his rifle a fond pat. "I suggest we go have our fun with them, before Wrex has torn them all apart in blood rage..."