Sarah looked around, to see Wrex standing over a pair of terrified privates. He said, "You aren't going to touch my weapons."
"Orders are orders, sir." one said, her voice shaking. "Admiral Hackett made it clear that none of the freelancers Commander Shepard requested were allowed firearms in this Alliance facility."

"Your Admiral's a coward, then." Wrex said, "And a krogan never surrenders his weapons."

"Sir, we are asking politely." the other private said, with only a slight shake to his voice.

Sarah laughed, and said, "Wrex can keep his guns. It's a bad idea to ask to even look at them, much less to temporarily confiscate them."

The privates jumped, and said, "We're sorry, Commander, but these are the Admiral's orders."
"Wrex won't do anything." Sarah replied, "And if he does, I'll take full responsibilty for his actions."

The privates sighed, and said, "But... Hackett's orders..."

"I'll take care of it, soldier. These are people I would trust with my life. If Hackett has any issue with them keeping their weapons, he can take it up with me." Sarah replied.

"Alright, it's your head on the chopping block." they said.

"Not like I haven't been there before." she said, as she turned to Wrex, who said,

"Shepard!"

She smiled, and replied as she always did, "Wrex."

"I hear you want me to come with you to go and kill big things with even bigger guns again."

"Well, it's not officially a kill mission, but I've got a feeling it's going to turn into one." she said. "How have you been, Wrex?"

"Good, Shepard. The work is plentiful, high paying, and many have strong enemies. You should come along some time."
"I think the Alliance wouldn't be okay with me disappearing to go freelance for a bit. Maybe after my tour of duty is over."

The krogan laughed, and said, "When will that be? After you kill the Reapers?"

"I dunno. I might try to take out their creators as an official Alliance operation too. You can never be too sure with things like this. I mean, when we started working together, did you really think that things would end up as crazy as they are now?"

"Spectres always lead to interesting jobs." the krogan replied, "That's why I always take jobs which are even tangentially related to them."

"I still don't see how Miranda and I taking out some Blue Suns on the Citadel is tangentially related to a Spectre." Sarah replied, checking the time on her omni-tool.

"Expecting someone, Shepard?"

"Just surprised Jack hasn't shown up yet. I thought she'd be more interested in coming along for this op."

"Why?"

"Because, it sounds right down her alley. Killing people who mess with kids. She may put off a tough exterior, but she's a big softy when it comes to people messing with kids."
The krogan laughed, and said, "That one always seemed to have the spirit of a krogan."
"Yeah, I think she'd have done well among you. Killing threshers and the like."

Miranda shook her head, and said, "Jack doesn't have enough discipline to be a krogan."
Both Sarah and Wrex turned to her, and the ancient alien said, "Krogan brigades don't have much discipline like human or turian militiaries. Each warrior must be able to count on his fellow krogan to watch his back, nothing more."

Miranda laughed, and asked, "That doesn't seem very effective."

"Just because it doesn't seem effective, doesn't mean it isn't. After all, the krogan used to be the greatest threat to all galactic stability." Sarah said.

"The krogan have greatly deteriorated since we were cursed with the genophage." Wrex said, "Back when our numbers were greater, there was a bit more command just to keep things co-ordinated."

"That doesn't sound as fun as fighting alongside a modern krogan." Sarah said. "That sounds more like fighting in a regular military unit. And where's the fun in that if there isn't a chance of your squadmate charging in, soaking up a ton of enemy fire, and still walking away unscathed."
"That was how krogan combat was back in the day, but on a much larger scale." Wrex replied. "But, armor was worse too, so we had a lot more losses."
Sarah nodded, and said, "Is that how you lost Shiagur?"

"Shiagur was our greatest tactician. According to everything, she was killed not because of a charge gone bad, but rather because of a carefully laid plan not accounting for the chance of those damn turians having half a fleet ready to bombard the surface."

"Ouch." Sarah said, "That sounds painful. How many krogan did you guys lose?"

"Thousands." Wrex said, "And that was after the genophage. So, it was a massive loss. But we didn't fully understand how bad it was. None of our so called scientists thought it was a big deal. They figured it would be like a common cold, and be gone in a few days or weeks."

"That's horrible." Sarah said. "But, what about your jobs? What have you been doing since I've gotten really busy working here at the Alliance."
"Mostly dealing with thugs who start to think they're more powerful than they are. One crime lord has me wipe out a small gang because they're stepping into his territory, then another higher up one has me kill my previous employer because the gang I wiped out was one under his control, and he'd wanted them to take out his underling. Nothing too interesting." the krogan said.

"So, nothing like that run-in you had with that weird turian?"

"Nothing like that, sadly." Wrex said, "It was a surprisingly interesting part of an otherwise boring few years."

"Well, you're working with me again, so shit is about to get exciting for you again." Sarah said, with a small smirk. Then, after glancing to make sure that the privates weren't paying attention, added, " We're going to have three threshers coming our way in this op. I'm going to need you to be at your best. I don't want to spoil the big surprise of my new abilities to the team just yet."

"Better to keep it under the radar for as long as possible." Wrex said, laughing. "And, if they ask how you know so many people you haven't had a reasonable chance to run into yet?"
"You should know that I'm very good at convincing people to believe what I say. So, if they question me, I'll give them an explanation that they'll accept. Most people wouldn't accept the actual explanation, so any bs I come up with should work."
Miranda chuckled, and said, "I don't know. Some of your lies are very hard to believe. Like that time on Omega you tried to sneak into a Blue Suns facility claiming to be the janitor."

"They bought it, didn't they?"

"You had to explain why a janitor would be wearing battle armor and have more guns than cleaning materials."
"It was a reasonable explanation." Sarah replied, "And it meant we got to the target without having to worry about anyone dying."

"You spent fifteen minutes explaining it to him. It would have been so much faster to just knock him out."

"If we knocked him out, it would have alerted the other guards. And, then we'd have to worry about them trying to kill us. I was working on being sneaky."

"We both know sneaky isn't your strong suit. Do you remember what happened the first time you helped Kasumi out? I was amazed Hock didn't throw you in his brig, or have you shot." Miranda said, a small smile on her face.

"Hock was an idiot. And, the fake identity Kasumi created for me included that I was quite eccentric. So, he just thought it was me being me."
"You didn't even try to keep a low profile when taking out the power supply for the defense grid."

"I'll admit, that was not my finest hour." Sarah said, "But we still got the box, and got out of their unharmed. And, I've learned a lot about that kind of work since then."

"True. I heard Kasumi talk about how after that thing happened, you helped her with another job, and did incredibly well."
"Yup." Sarah said, "And, there wasn't even a need to shoot anyone that time."
"Well, maybe if you'd done a bit more to take out the security cameras the first time, you wouldn't have had to fight your way out."

"True. IT would have been a hell of a lot easier if Kasumi would have been cool with a third coming along. Though I might have to make it clear that you and I were a thing, to make those scumbags keep their hands off you. Maybe next time we do something like that I'll set up a bomb that'll kill 'em all. Make the statue explosive."

"You'd need to use an explosive that scanners couldn't detect. Something that they haven't encountered before."
"True." Sarah said, "I know what I'd make the explosive out of that Hock would never know about. The only real problem would be getting out of the vault after blowing the building above it to kingdom come. Rubble could block all the entrances."

"You could just send in a ship to blast the building." Miranda replied.

"That would be really taxing on the drive core."

"It would be simpler. And typically the simple solution is the best one."
"My plan of a big ass fucking bomb blowing the place to hell is also simple."

"I know what kind of bomb you're thinking of using, and that is not very simple."
"So you say. I haven't seen you make one of them."

"I don't have the necessary... skillset." Miranda replied.

"Yeah, but I do. So don't tell me that it's too complex. If you know what you're doing, it's simpler than calling in a ship to blow shit up. And, a lot more dramatic. I mean, if an entire building filled to bursting with the worst criminals you'll find is suddenly wiped off the face of whatever planet it's on, that would be a pretty clear message. And, the crooks would be a hell of a lot more scared than if a ship flew up and shot everything up."

"True." Miranda said. "Make it more mysterious. Make it seem like it could happen to anyone. And with the force of the bomb's balst, it would be easier to explain why your false persona's corpse was never found."

"Exactly." Sarah said.

"Or you could just go in guns blazing." Wrex said, "Like the good old days."

"Sadly not an option." Sarah said, "They'd all have guns, and there isn't too much cover we'd be able to use. Some would escape, and we'd probably die. Since that would be a lot of rounds coming our way."
"These thugs you're talking about have probably never seen a krogan in bloodrage." Wrex replied, "They'd probably crap their pants in terror the moment they saw me lose it."
"That wou ld be kinda funny to see, but tragic if they still managed to take you out."

"You'd be able to cover my back, Shepard." the krogan said. "And if they do take me out, I'm sure the void won't be able to hold me for long."
"True, I could pull some strings with some powerful individuals to get you back on your feet. But, I still have dibs on being the first person to come back from the dead."
"So I'll just have to be sure to take you out with me." the krogan warrior said, "And make sure that none of the thugs get our corpses."

"I don't know. I think I have enough powerful friends that if I die in combat, at least my body will get to the proper people. Make sure that everything works out fine in the end."
Wrex simply laughed, and said, "And if we took that blasted turian with us, I'm sure he'd insist we pass the time before we came back dirnking at the bar."

Sarah laughed, and said, "Doesn't sound too bad. Die in a gloriuos battle, and up in a bar. I actually think that's how a few ancient cultures saw heaven. Somewhere you went after you died, if you died badassly."

Wrex chuckled, and said, "That sounds like a krogan culture."

Miranda laughed, and said, "Those were in the more... barbaric times on earth. From the descriptions of Valhalla I've read it sounds like it would smell horrible. Just a bunch of ancient men who don't bathe drinking until the end of the world. And even though the problem is probably slightly alleviated by the people cleaning feet. But still..."

"True." Sarah said. "Then why the hell would you want to go there, if it smells horrible?"

"It was in ancient times. It probably smelled about as terrible as everything else." Miranda replied.

"I think I'd kill everyone if I lived in a time where no one showered." Sarah said.

Miranda laughed, and said, "I think all the dead bodies would smell even worse."

"Easier to clean up than a group of repeatedly stinkying people." Sarah said, looking at the door, as the pair of privates' jaws dropped.

"Looks like Jack has finally shown up." Miranda said, looking at their reaction.

"Yeah." Sarah said.

-=0=-

A/N: Thanks for reading the latest chapter. Hopefully you enjoyed it. And if you did, please leave a review. :-)