HRANTA
TAL'VARGAS SYSTEM
KROGAN BREEDING PROTECTORATE
OCTOBER 2188
HRANTA HAD SEEN ITS SHARE of curiosities in its time. Pre-Prothean Era, it had been a small outpost of the inusannon, primarily a vacation spot, as it afforded a rather nice view of the fist-shaped Miridan Nebula just outside the system. During the reign of the Prothean Imperium, it had been transformed into a staging area for the annexation of the D'brutii Ranaa, a race they subsequently exterminated. The Reapers scoured Hranta clean when they rolled through, and the planet had recovered its lush jungles and open grasslands well in the intervening millennia. It had little mineral wealth, no eezo, and thus was of no particular interest to the Council, hence its 'gifting' to the krogan.
Hranta was no idyllic paradise, however. Half the planet was ocean, and the huge supercontinent that dominated the other half was the recipient of titanic cyclones and torrential rains. The jungles bred plants and hybrids of varying lethal toxicities, and the interior deserts and grasslands spawned ferocious predators.
The krogan couldn't have been happier, for Hranta felt a lot like Tuchunka back before the nuclear holocaust that had befallen it. At least two other planets in the system were viable – for the krogan – and the other two that weren't would be used as administration and refueling areas. Urdnot Wrex, now acknowledged Overlord – the first since the Rebellions, had his plate full – petitioning for an embassy on the Citadel – pending – and massive and extensive projects on Tuchunka itself, such as cleaning it of its nuclear wreckage and remaining radiation, and the rebuilding of its ancient legacies.
For a very long time, the krogan had been seen as nothing more than brutes and savages – and that would change, he'd vowed.
Krogan were better than that, he kept saying, and more and more of them were starting to agree with him. So far, his people seemed to be happy – more or less - with both his choices and decisions. They were heroes again, lauded across the Galaxy for their pivotal role against the Reapers – and their behavior afterwards.
At his insistence, the first thing built on every breeding world had been a memorial to those krogan fallen in the War. The krogan had once again had helped turn the tide – and were still liberating world after world of Reaper remnants, but their casualties had been staggering, and even with the Genophage cured, it would take a long time for their population to rebound. Also, next to those memorials, stood a statue to Shepard, his story required telling to all cubs – particularly the part about the Genophage (and Wrex's role in it, naturally). When he'd told Shepard that future generations would know his name as a word for 'hero' he'd meant it. Shamans from many clans had endorsed it, many of them even claiming that Shepard 'may have been a krogan in some previous incarnation'.
When asked if he'd undergo the Marking Ceremony on Tuchunka, there had been some fear that grudges against Shepard might still be harboured amongst the krogan attending. There had been much opposition from his friends and Jack had wanted to forbid it, until Shepard had pointed out that every krogan he'd killed had been killed in battle, face-to-face for the most part, and that any 'true' krogan would not remotely resent that. Besides, Shepard added, if a human could kill that many krogan, it just proved they'd all been weak and worth killing.
He'd left out that many had been warlord-level or thousand year veterans.
He'd insisted on the full ceremony. Jack had been concerned, but he'd explained the necessity of both the forms and mores of the tradition, and why it mattered he do it as a krogan would do it, even though they didn't expect it.
She'd just called him "fuckin' crazy" and went with him, "to make sure no one pulled any shit".
The Urdnot Shaman had overseen the rite, and it had been broadcast to the entire planet. If krogan had not respected Shepard before (and it had to be said that many easily feared him – un-admitted, but true), they did after he'd staggered into the main camp in the middle of one of Tuchanka's harshest deserts having completed everything required.
The final part had been the tattoo - done the traditional way – which meant the moment he'd returned, it was given as publically, slowly and painfully as possible with Shepard receiving with an unflinching stoicism that had impressed any krogan left un-swayed. The headbutt given to the tattooist's assistant that had bumped him (deliberately or not hadn't mattered) had seemed so natural and unaffected that the roar that followed the completion of the ink had been fully respectful and heartfelt.
Wrex then made him both an honorary Urdnot and the Shaman a "spiritual krogan".
The party lasted three days and damage estimates hovered around the four million credit mark.
Jack had given a biotic demonstration that had seriously injured half-a-dozen krogan and accounted for property damage to the tune of, at least by her estimation, 'a couple of hundred grand, easy." Her respect among the krogan rose to new heights by the end of it all, as well.
Through traditional channels, as a joke, Jack also sent several mating requests to the newest Urdnot clan member – heartily accepted. When, in their drunken happiness, Urdnot Bakara had offered to officiate an official 'clan-bond pairing' of the two, they had accepted, then later discovered that on Tuchunka, much to their surprise, they were as close to 'married' as they were likely to ever get.
Jack, it turned out, had been surprisingly fine with it.
Another change had been Wrex's request to the salarians for their aid in the setup and administration of the Protectorate, as well as the 'reclaiming of Tuchunka', as he called it – and the salarians, eager to shed the past stigma of aiding and abetting the 'slow genocide' of the krogan, seemed more than happy to do so. From there they oversaw the deployment of air and soil scrubbers, water filtration and recycling, the cloning and resequencing of native Tuchunka flora and fauna. Asari and human archeological teams had greater freedom on the homeworld, though they stayed mostly in the ruins of the ancient cities. Had it not been for the rachni (and their own unpredictably pugnacious nature), many sociological scientists surmised krogan would have very likely been a culture with which to contend, citing many artistic and literate relics as examples.
For instance, a newly discovered philosophical treatise by an ancient krogan known only as 'Kurghal', had startling similarities to Buddhism – in context of the krogan mindset, of course; and several tomes (incomplete and several volumes missing) by an unknown author on something called "virtual infinitesimal underpinnings" – an astonishingly sophisticated theoretical discourse (again, for krogan) on the underlying nature of the universe. Buried deep under a collapsed pyramidal structure in the center of the Ancient's city was discovered what appeared to be an art gallery/museum, full of works that had caused a sensation on many of the so-called 'cultured' worlds. The krogan had reached a rather surprising level of cultural sophistication before they'd flung nukes at each other in a great moment of stupidity, and each new revelation of their past seemed to have what one asari scientist called "a calming effect" on krogan populations.
Many saw 'great things ahead' for the krogan – barring a return to old tendencies, of course.
Wrex' most unpopular order had been a new edict limiting population growth. Even Cured, the krogan needed to take things slow, he'd argued. The 'days of the Horde' had been in response to the rachni, he'd pointed out, the greed of ancient warlords who saw only power for themselves, not for the welfare of the krogan people. The krogan would never be used as fodder for the wars of others ever again, he vowed. Citing the examples of the Ancients, krogan could be much, much more than a "sea of violent brutes".
"My children," he'd said, "will be taught that the words 'artist', 'doctor', 'scientist', 'engineer' and 'philosopher' are as important as the word 'warrior'. This first generation in over a thousand years will lead the next – as they should be led."
Such statements were lauded nearly universally by non-krogan, and, it had to be said, many krogan were starting to see the caliber of leader they truly had in their Urdnot Overlord.
The salarians were only too happy to encourage such thinking when and wherever they could.
Many were also sent into the Protectorate, to key worlds, to help there with technical setups.
Not too many at first. Krogan were very touchy around their newborns – especially with salarians.
Their enclave on Hranta (segregated, and they didn't mind at all) – called in Old Krogan 'Mejk'ua'Thar' – 'Fount of Hope' - was easily the most sophisticated structure on the planet – save for the almost-completely intact Prothean ruins buried at the center of the continent no one had yet discovered.
It was ringed with security barriers and guarded by handpicked krogan and salarian STG specialists, patrolled by rather lethal drones and constantly scanned by intricate and sensitive sensor devices. There were three hundred salarians in residence, mostly students of various persuasions, overseen by fifty experts in differing fields. The Enclave had been designed to withstand an assault by at least a Fifth Tier krogan Assault Horde.
Urdnot Derkur was, by krogan standards at least, a rather patient individual. A minor chief of the previously-offworld Kerlack Urdnots, he was as fierce as any of his brethren, liked a good fight as much as they – but he approached any battle with slightly more reserve. Derkur preferred analyzing the lay of the land, so to speak, rather than simply charge heedlessly in. It had served him rather well for the last thousand years, (and made him feared as the leader of the 'Crimson Dead' arm of the Blood Pack) and would hopefully keep him going for the next thousand. He'd seen a lot in his long life, although he was considered barely middle-aged by krogan standards, but he had to admit, this calm evening on his patrol across the wall of Mejk'ua'Thar; even having fought Reapers and husks – he'd never seen anything like what was about to happen.
It began with a single alarm, somewhere deep in the compound. Being the patient one, Derkur had simply commed the Enclave's Central Operations Oversight and informed them of it, asked for further information. The alarm was silenced a few moments later and attributed to a glitch in software somewhere. Derkur accepted the explanation and went on with his patrol.
Second moon, the silvery one that looked like it had a slightly-flattened asari profile on its face, was just cresting the horizon when he heard another alarm. This alarm was joined by two others, but they were silenced almost immediately. Another comm to the COO received no reply other than a muffled "Everything's under control".
Krogan were permitted into the Enclave only via specific requests (to keep the salarians comfortable), and thus, even when the screaming began, patient Derkur commed the krogan administrative office to ask permission to investigate.
By the time a reply returned, the screaming was dying away, and the krogan team that rushed in encountered many dead and dying salarians, and many alive, but ranting, raving, seemingly having gone mad. Jor'ghal Revac discovered the anomaly – a figure at the heart of the compound. ragged and with hollow eyes, many dead and yet-screaming salarians around it. It raised an arm at Revac and managed two words:
"ANd sO,"
…before it was immediately charged, shot multiple times and crushed by sheer brute force, the remains then clamped under starship-grade barriers and surviving sane salarians – those apparently furthest from whatever had befallen the rest, scanning and comming and analyzing.
Within two hours, local time, the remains of whatever it was had been firmly secured and waiting to be sent to Sur'kesh at the best possible speed. The dead and mad catalogued.
The krogan asked no questions.