Kasumi had been easy enough to recruit, although he had looked a little strange talking to an advertisement on the Citadel. Then of course she had a mission she wanted done as well, just one more thing no one had told him about. And somehow Shepard ended up in a shuttle, in a formal suit, on his way to crash Donovan Hock's party.
It wasn't incredibly difficult if you looked past getting shot at by a gunship. All for a grey-box full of Kasumi's deceased boyfriend's memories and such. But obviously they were important to his new team mate, so he told her to keep them, despite the warning not to.
Now that Kasumi was on his team and loyal to him, a nice feeling actually, Shepard headed down to Engineering, not bothering to change out of his suit. He hadn't had time to talk to Lani yet and he had a feeling she'd want to start her mission as soon as possible.
He headed through the familiar doors to get to the main core, once more going past Donnelly and Daniels, finding the raven-haired girl at the main console. 'Well we haven't crashed or exploded yet',Shepard thought with an amused shake of his head.
He tried to get to her as quietly as possible, hoping to get a peek at what she was doing to the Normandy, but she turned almost as if she sensed him coming near, "Shepard. I met your new recruit, Kasumi. She's actually pretty cool. I'd love to get to know her better."
She gave a soft smile, she seemed like someone who would put people she cared about before anything else, something Shepard found very noble in a Conrad, a friend, or something more. He couldn't deny any feeling he got around Lani, there was something about her that made his heart beat faster. Not in a bad way like when a husk jumps out when you're turning a corner, but in a good, jittery feeling kind of way.
He knew that he had a lot to deal with recruiting, loyalty, and stopping the Collectors, but it was now or never, they could all be dead in a week's time.
He broke out of his thoughts when he realized those ice blue eyes were on him, concern etched in her face. He chuckled deeply, "I think you two would get along great, but in the mean time, the Illusive Man gave me a lead as to where Aviation might have gone."
The girl gasped, then smiled brightly, resting a hand on the Commander's shoulder,"Thank you so much for this Shepard, I can't believe after all these years it's finally going to be over", As she finished her eyes dropped to the floor thoughtfully.
A dark blonde eyebrow quirked upwards,"You sound as though you didn't think I'd help."
Lani cleared her throat and removed her hand,"I had my doubts. I thought you'd be too busy, what with the Collector attacks and trying to get more people for the mission. My needs seemed pale in comparison."
"You deserve this. I wouldn't let any of my team down, especially you. We'll take down that facility and you'll never have to worry about them again.", Shepard said, looking out to the giant sphere of blue energy that was the drive core.
She seemed shocked at the complete devotion to take care of his people, looking back down at the console,"I...Thank you ,Shepard. I really appreciate this."
Shepard went up to the CIC just walking through the door when the usual message reminder came from Kelly. He checked those which was just a message from the Illusive Man that gave him the system name again for Aviation. He left his terminal, and made a beeline for Kelly.
"Leilani is doing wonders for the Normandy and for the crew as well, I'm glad she's apart of our team now."
Shepard crossed his arms and leaned back to the heels of his feet,"Any idea what she's been working on down there?"
Kelly twisted her upper body towards the front of the Normandy,"As far as I know she has increased the speed of the ship by 4.3%. Also enabled us to maneuver more smoothly through any debris field."
Shepard gave an impressed nod,"Is there anything else I should know about the crew?"
The redhead nodded,"Jacob would like to see you in the Armory and Mordin would like to see you in the Tech Lab. Is there anything else, Commander?"
"That'll be all."
"Yes, Commander.", She turned back around to her terminal.
The blonde sighed, climbing to the Galaxy Map. 'Fine. Krogan Warlord. Let's get this over with.'
Shepard had EDI call for Garrus and Lani, deciding to give her a break from tampering with his ship and get her out somewhere. Also, he wanted to see what she could do on the battle field.
Shepard stood, hand holding the handle on the ceiling of the shuttle, while Garrus and Lani sat on the bench.
The shuttle pilot dropped them off near a large facility building, loud over voice of a woman yelling at people to get rid of the intruders, which would be us. We all took cover as mercs shot at us. Easily taken out between the three of us. We continued onward shooting our way through the mercs that were sent after us. Eventually we made it to an area with more gun shots, but a Krogan with a mask covering him shot back at the attackers.
After all were gone, Shepard took initiative to talk to the Krogan, who spoke of a glass-mother.
"They're breeding Krogan?", Garrus questioned as the krogan directed them to Okeer, moving aside a large slab of cement out of the way.
"Humans are slow when large things are in their way." said the bred-krogan and walked away vowing to stay there until called out.
"This Okeer guy sounds a little shifty, don't you think? Making full-grown Krogan's for this chick's use.", Lani said taking out her gun and following Shepard as he ran forward again.
The Commander hummed thoughtfully running up several catwalks to get to the uppermost floor. The lock engaged and they went into the door as it slid open. A krogan stood there, more normal looking than the one they met previously.
"You Okeer?", Shepard questioned, listening to Okeer's droll about Jedore's need for an army of bred Krogan and his perfect Krogan he had made, which was in a tank right next to him. Okeer proposed that they go kill Jedore and he would join, so they ran back down the walks to go get Jedore. Jedore had started to put gases into the lab, but Okeer refused to leave his 'perfect soldier'.
Shepard, Lani, and Garrus took out dozens of mercs and finally getting Jedore, being finished off with Lani's overload.
They hastily went back up for Okeer, only to find him dead next to his console. Shepard typed some keys on said console, playing a message of Okeer's last wish before dying, to take his perfect soldier to defeat the Collectors.
"Joker, we have a package to pick up. And he's a big one."
Shepard found himself in the Port Cargo in Engineering, just about to release the krogan from his tank. He shook his head at his reckless behavior, letting the Krogan out. It only took a moment to gain recognition and slam Shepard into the nearest wall, threatening to kill him where he stood.
"I don't take threats lightly", the Commander said. The Krogan turned tables, grumbling about needing a name. Then decided on Grunt, which was said in Okeer's last message. "It has no meaning, it'll do.", Grunt grumbled.
Shepard found himself wondering why one would pick the name Grunt or something like Legacy,but dismissed the thoughts to persuade Grunt to join his cause. Grunt's strive for fighting and violence won over and he agreed.
"I'm glad you could see reason", Shepard said as he lowered the gun he had pointed at Grunt's stomach, which the Krogan took notice to and laughed, approving the gesture.
As Shepard walked away from the Port Cargo room he shook his head, wondering how much more crazy his team was going to get.