Amala opened the hatch and watched the krogan swagger up to her ship; all the while, several officials followed his progress carefully. Knowing Wrex, he had probably stirred them up before heading to her ship.
"Wrex," she called out.
"Shepard. About damn time you got here. Was beginning to think you asked me to Illium as payback for Flux, just because you know I hate this stuck up planet so much."
She stepped aside, allowing him onto the ship before latching the hatch after him.
"Hardly. But before we leave port I need your promise that whatever you see onboard stays with you."
"What the hell did you bring on now?"
Seeing that Amala wasn't saying anything further, he gave a nod and said, "Fine. Your secret is safe with me, whatever it is."
"Thank you, Wrex," she said and then gestured to where Mordin sat in the cockpit. "I had to pick up Mordin before you, that's why it took me longer to get here."
"You couldn't find someone besides that salarian to help us?"
"Actually, I needed him for something else. You'll have to ask him if he'll help us out and on that note, let me introduce you to those that need the armor."
Amala led him back to the galley where the turians sat repeating phrases back to EDI.
"Wow, all of them at once, EDI?"
"Yes, they each have a slightly different accent, so this way my translations will be able to account for dialect variations."
"Do you have a death wish, Shepard?" Wrex growled.
"What's been done to them is wrong and you know it."
"And you're breaking the laws you're supposed to be upholding!"
Shepard turned and stood nose to nose with the much larger krogan.
"Slavery is outlawed in Council space. So care to explain how this happened?" she asked, gesturing at the turians.
"Well it wasn't us," Wrex snorted. "So sheltering them isn't enough, you have to get them armor as well?"
"I get shot at. They are traveling with me, so armor seems prudent. Saren," she said, pointing him out with one hand, "is teaching them to shoot as well."
Wrex gave a disbelieving snort. "Right, because everyone knows that they train slaves to shoot."
"Saren isn't from a breeding colony. Those marks, I put them there to keep him safe."
"Fuck, you do have a death wish!" Wrex yelled, his face in close to hers. The speed and grace with which the one she'd called Saren was suddenly at her side and with a gun pointed at his head was all the proof he needed that he was indeed a soldier. He gave an appreciative laugh; like any krogan, he respected strength.
"Alright, guess he is a soldier."
"Yes, he is."
"You know when the Council finds out about this they will 'retire' you."
"They may already be trying," Amala said with a sigh.
"What?"
Amala sank into the nearest chair, idly ruffling her hair with one hand.
"You know my last mission? Either my mark was warned or it was a setup. But I can't risk anyone else knowing about them just yet, so we'll have to run your mission by ourselves."
"What about him?" Wrex asked, waving a hand in Saren's direction.
"You'll have to ask him."
Amala watched as Wrex put his pride aside to ask the turian for help.
"So, turian," he began.
"Wrex..."
"Fine. Saren, I could use your help stopping some idiot who is taking my people and selling them off. And you know, that way you can make sure Shepard comes back in one piece."
Saren watched the krogan before turning to Amala. His eyes flicked between her and the krogan and she took that as her cue.
"Are you prepared to return the favor, Wrex?" Amala asked.
"Huh?"
"He can't say it, but his people need allies if they are going to obtain their freedom."
"And my people need a cure for the genophage. I don't see either happening, do you?" Wrex mocked.
Amala stood up and pointed a finger at Wrex.
"You want a cure? Well, then your people have to prove they have learned from their mistake and one way to do that is to help another species without thought of payment."
"All that will do is get my people killed for no reason. Get me a cure and we can talk." Wrex growled.
"The galaxy will never trust the krogan as long as all they can remember is what your people did before. You need to show that they have matured and will stand with an ally first before demanding payment."
"What good did that do us during the Rachni Wars?"
"Bullshit, Wrex! The krogan were given several new worlds to colonize, but that wasn't enough. Your people decided they were going to take what they wanted, which happened to be the whole fucking galaxy! You shouldn't have been surprised when the rest of the galaxy banded against you."
"The genophage was wrong!"
"I didn't say it was right, but would you have preferred genocide? What was done to the krogan was bad but you still have it better than the turians."
Wrex snarled and stalked back and forth for a moment before facing Amala.
"You really think that standing with the turians will get the genophage cure back on the negotiation table?"
"You help the turians and I will do everything I can to get your people a cure."
"As will I," Mordin stated from where he stood, his arms crossed in front of him.
Amala wasn't sure when he had entered the galley, since she had focused all her attention on the angry krogan. She gave him a grateful smile.
"Fine, you help me stop the worthless krogan selling my people, and as the leader of Clan Urdnot I will pledge the support of all the clans I can muster to assist with the freeing of the turians."
Amala watched as Saren gave Wrex a dignified nod before his mandibles flared. That had to be a grin; she'd never witnessed him doing that before. Garrus and Nihlus had no qualms about expressing their joy as they clapped each other on the shoulder.
"Congratulations. Glad that we got that settled without EDI having to vent the ship to get rid of the hostile organics. EDI, how long until we hit our next stop?"
"Two point three galactic hours."
An interesting group strode down the gangway onto the space station. The dockworkers watched as a large krogan led the group, followed closely by three turians, all bearing arms, and bringing up the rear there was a human and a salarian. Amala hoped that the obvious show of force would keep the majority of the station's inhabitants out of their path. Unfortunately, the armor dealer Wrex had suggested resided in the heart of Blood Pack turf.
Saren had removed the stripes she had painted on him, and all three of them had removed their collars. She would swear they stood a little taller and there was a fire in their eyes now that they had a purpose. Garrus had picked up shooting just as quickly as Nihlus had, for which she was grateful. Bringing a non-combative onto Omega always left a bad taste in her mouth. Still, she kept a close eye on the two of them as far as she knew- neither of them had been in a firefight before and she didn't want to see that fire quenched needlessly early.
As they moved deeper into the station, away from the area actively controlled by Aria, the self-proclaimed ruler of Omega, trash and vermin that walked on two legs increased. The vorcha were the preferred grunts of the Blood Pack and from what Amala had seen, they had no redeeming qualities. Sigils of the Blood Pack appeared on the walls as well, and the group closed ranks further.
Finally, Wrex stopped in front of the shop he was looking for. The owner threw up his hands in dismay when he saw the old krogan leading them.
"Hey, I'm paid up. I don't want any trouble."
"Not here for them. We are customers. Shepard?"
Amala made her way to the front of the group.
"I need armor. For those three and myself," she said, pointing back towards the turians.
"Uh."
"I have the credits. I want the best you got as well, none of that knock off shit."
"But..."
"We are on Omega, and there is only one rule, and this doesn't violate it. So make them," she said, her eyes narrowed as she stared at the salarian.
The salarian gave a resigned sigh. He pulled out a scanner and started to map Amala, making frequent notes.
"Colors? Helmets?"
"Matte black for all. Yes, and full communication abilities, shields, the works."
The salarian's eyes opened wider. "Will be expensive."
"Not a problem," Amala answered and handed him her credit chit.
He scanned it and broke out into a smile. He yelled and assistants poured out from the back and they began the process of scanning each of the turians. It had barely started and just like that, the assistants disappeared in the back with the scanners.
"Have a fabricator in back so only take about an hour to have them ready."
"I'll wait here, Shepard, and make sure he doesn't disappear or something. You go get the rest of your shopping done," Wrex growled out while staring at the now nervous shop owner.
"Thanks Wrex. We'll be back shortly, this shouldn't take too long."
She had spotted a tech shop just a few doors down; she hoped they would have something decent for them. The turians followed closely behind her and Mordin. She entered the shop to find a human reading a datapad while his legs rested on the front desk. He stood and straightened out his clothes at her entrance. One hand smoothed back his hair and a smile crossed his face.
"Well hello there. How may I help you?"
Amala resisted rolling her eyes at his blatant come on. She decided to try the nice approach and returned his smile.
"Hi, I need three omni-tools. Good quality, none of that Elkoss crap."
"Of course, always good to have a couple of spares. I have some high-end Ariake units available. Would you like to see them?"
"That sounds great."
He disappeared into the back and brought out a box. He carefully removed one of the implants; a gentle touch and it brought up the interface showing the make and model. Amala leaned in to get a closer look and touched the interface, pulling up other options available on it.
"That's great; the other two are the same model?"
"Yes, here, I'll show you."
He repeated the process for the other two until Amala was satisfied.
"I'll take them."
She handed a different credit chit to the man and he quickly wrapped up her purchases. The implants were carefully tucked away into her pockets. Turning on her heel, she exited the shop, with the rest of the group following in her wake. As they approached the armor store, she could see Wrex leaning against a wall inside, making the already jumpy owner even more nervous.
Mordin walked alongside her, allowing her to talk to him without those around them overhearing her.
"When we get to your clinic can you do the install on the tools for me?"
"Contacted clinic while you were busy. Nothing needing my attention, so able to take care of it on the ship. Safer there."
"That's great," she blurted out.
"Glad to help, Shepard," he chuckled.
Sitting idly in the heart of Omega had Amala's teeth on edge, but she forced herself to sit still. Wrex maintained watch at the door, but she could see that his eyes followed every little movement around them. Mordin was probably solving all of the galaxy's problems by the sheer amount of typing he was doing on his omni-tool and the datapads he had pulled out of the voluminous pockets of his jacket. Every minute they had to wait increased the likelihood that one of the Blood Pack members would stumble upon them. A sigh of relief escaped her when the owner and his assistants came out of the back, bearing sets of armor for all of them. With a wave of a hand she sent the owner to assist one of the turians- putting on armor was something she had been doing for years.
After the last piece had been slapped in place, she looked up to see how the others were doing. She pulled the package of omni-tools and tucked it into one of the pockets in her new armor. Wrex and Mordin had joined in to help and now everyone was fully dressed. A quick demonstration of all the features, and they were able to escape the shop.
Wrex took point once more as they headed back to the docking area, his size and species making most inhabitants happy to move out of their way. Amala slowed her pace as she typed in the suit codes to send to EDI.
EDI's voice crackled in her helmet, "All suits are linked and I've patched in Wrex and Mordin."
"Great! Any problems on your end?"
"Negative. Just waiting for your return."
She nearly walked into Wrex's broad back when he came to an abrupt stop. Then she heard it: the voice of a vorcha.
"Garm want your pets. We take."
Amala pushed through the turians to snarl in the face of the lone vorcha blocking their path. She knew better though; there were always others hidden nearby.
"Garm can fuck off. I tell you what, you and your friends walk away and I'll let you live."
Wrex's evil chuckle had the vorcha turning nervously towards the large krogan.
"Or not," Wrex growled, "nothing like a little bloodshed to get the blood pumping."
"Blood Pack turf. Give us pets now."
"They are not pets and you say that one more time and we are done talking."
"We kill you!" the vorcha shrieked.
"Get to cover!" Amala ordered.
The turians dove into nearby doorways. Wrex head butted the delegate and while the vorcha reeled from that he pulled out his shotgun and finished him off. She glanced behind her to check that the turians were safe before turning back to the main fight. She could hear Saren barking orders at the other two over the comm.
"Head shots if you can, although if Mordin lights them on fire you can shoot them anywhere and kill them. That damn regen is almost as bad as a krogan."
"I'm insulted you compared a vorcha to me," Wrex chuckled.
With a loud roar, he charged around a few large planters, and several more vorcha spilled out from behind as they tried to avoid the krogan. Now that they were in the open, the rest of the group easily picked them off.
"Right. Double time back to the ship before this Garm sends more," Amala ordered.
They jogged through the now empty corridors, the sound of gunfire having sent everyone to ground.
~Once more thanks to Mordinette, my long suffering beta. Thank you to all my readers for your continued support!~