Chapter 4: Sur'Kesh

"James!" Shepard shouted over to the muscular man. "Get the conference room prepped up and ready. And remove the wrappers off the table too!"

"What wrappers?"

"Just go."

James looked annoyed, but he went off anyway.

"Commander."

Shepard turned around. It was Specialist Traynor. It appears that the Salarian Dalatrass and the Krogan Chief were here.

"Bring them to the conference room," Shepard said as he walked towards the door. "And hope this doesn't start another war."

"My candy bars!" James' voice rose as Shepard neared the room. "Someone's been eating them all!"

"This krogan doesn't know anything! How can he speak for his people?" The Salarian Dalatrass shouted as Shepard entered the room.

"Show some respect here, salarian!"

Shepard saw that it was his old friend, Urdnot Wrex, who was sent to represent the krogans. He had no time to say 'hi' to Shepard, so he acknowledged him with a nod. Shepard looked around the small room. Wrex, the Dalatrass, and the new Primarch, Victus, were here, ready to talk. Wrex was back in his red armor once again.

Wrex spoke again. "Actually, why I am even here to help you turians. Reapers have already arrived at Tuchanka."

"Wrex…" Victus spoke up. "I'm no diplomat, and neither are you, so just tell us what you want."

Wrex laughed to himself for a little bit. "You need our help? Here's what I want… a cure to the genophage."

"Absolutely not!" the Dalatrass shouted out, apparently shocked at the statement. "We will not negotiate for a cure!"

Shepard decided to say something. "We need the krogan. You do too. Without the krogan, we don't have as much of a chance against the Reapers."

"And what happens after the war?" the Dalatrass countered.

"We keep the peace," Shepard replied firmly. "If… we win."

Victus cut in before the Dalatrass could reply to Shepard's comment. "Enough. A cure will take years to create. We don't have that time!"

"Aha," Wrex added. "That's where you're wrong."

Wrex walked over to where Victus was standing. Victus just got out of the way, not wanting to start anything with a krogan.

"There was a salarian. Maelon. He tested a cure on some of our females… It worked. But that scared the Dalatrass here," Wrex said, looking at the salarian. "She ordered her loser squads to take them prisoner."

The Dalatrass looked surprised that a krogan seemed to know that. "Wh-where did you get this? It could be a fabrication!"

"Stop lying, you fool!" Wrex shouted out, startling the Dalatrass. "Those females belong to us! They're immune!"

"Is this true?" Victus asked, joining in on this conversation.

The Dalatrass was at a loss of words, but spoke up after a while. "How will curing the genophage help my people?"

Shepard felt that that was a dumb statement. "How long do you think you'll last alone against the Reapers? Not very long I'd say."

Victus seemed like he was about to say something, but Shepard cut in first. "And he'll be the last friendly turian you'll ever see."

Victus just returned to his position.

The Dalatrass contemplated for a while, but eventually submitted. Shepard grinned at having another victory here.

"They're being kept on one of our STG bases on Sur'Kesh."

Victus and Wrex followed Shepard as he raced for the door.

"But I warn you commander…" the Dalatrass started as Shepard went out. Shepard never heard the last bit of her final remark, but it was probably not worth hearing anyways.

"Joker," Shepard told the brittle bone pilot. "Set a course for Sur'Kesh. We've got some rescuing to do."

"Roger that, commander."

Cortez flew the Kodiak in towards the coordinates he received. Shepard had brought along Mason and Garrus this time. Wrex tagged along as well, wanting to see that this exchange doesn't have problems.

"So…" Mason asked. "What's an STG? Sounds like a Special Task Group kind of thing."

After a pause, he spoke out again. "Nevermind," he said, as he had already answered his own question.

"Keep it low, Wrex," Shepard told the krogan. "Salarians aren't used to seeing krogan. Especially on their home world. We get in, get the female, get out."

"Meh. Never liked salarians."

Mason walked in from the pilot area. "So, actually, how did one like you get raised to be the krogan rep?"

"Oh you know," Wrex said. "Krogan style."

Wrex took a look at Mason. "Who's this?"

"Oh," Shepard told him. "This is Darius Mason, of the Red Faction. He's from Mars. There were, apparently, more humans on Mars. We just never knew. They hid underground mostly, but some venture up, like Mason here."

"I see…"

Wrex looked to Garrus. "Nice to see you again, Garrus."

"The same," Garrus replied.

The Kodiak flew for a bit more, finally finding the base that the Dalatrass had told them about. Cortez flew the shuttle down, rapidly approaching the base. They would be there in no time. When they arrived, they just hovered there for a while. Shepard wondered what was going on, so he went to go find out.

"Commander," Cortez said. "Salarian ground control says we don't have clearance to land."

"Great," Shepard said, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. "I thought something like this might happen. Tell them we have permission from the Dalatrass."

Wrex didn't wait for clearance. He just got up, picked up his Claymore shotgun, opened the door, and jumped right out. Salarian STG forces came out to meet him right away.

"Stop! You're not authorized to be here!" Salarian STG soldiers said, as they rushed out to meet him, weapons and omni-tools ready.

"Who told you, you were authorized to hold my people!"

Wrex flung a few of them away with a biotic push, and got his shotgun ready. Before he could pull the trigger, red dots appeared and danced around his face. Snipers. Shepard and his teammates jumped out too to back Wrex up. More of the STG came in, weapons and omni-tools pointed at the gang.

"Hang on, hold your fire!" a voice came up from behind the STG force. "They have clearance! It just came in! Restrain your friend here, commander!"

"Finally," Shepard thought.

"We can help you out, but I insist your krogan be restrained."

Wrex raged to himself, but eventually stowed his shotgun. Shepard and his team followed the STG salarian, who was called Padok Wiks, while Wrex followed other STG soldiers. Following Wiks, Shepard came across a yahg, being brought to the lower levels.

"Brings back memories…" Garrus told Mason.

Shepard followed Wiks through the 'hallways' of the base, looking at all STG and technology they had around. There was much to look at, but soon, they arrived at an elevator.

"Ok, commander," Wiks said, suddenly turning around and tapping his omni-tool. "We've cleared you for the lower levels, so go right on ahead. Take the elevator down, and someone will –"

Shepard turned around as a warning alarm starting blaring out.

"Alert!" A robotic voice sounded. "Threat condition two has been declared."

"What's happening?" Shepard demanded, curious as to what was going on.

Wiks tapped away on his omni-tool as gunships, and other STG soldiers scrambled about.

"We've got activity on the perimeter," Wiks told the commander. "Use the elevator, someone will find you below."

Wiks walked off as the elevator doors closed around Shepard and his team. The descend was fast, and Shepard found himself staring out of the elevator on the lower levels in less than a minute. There were a lot of salarians walking all over the place, handing datapads and many other technological items that Shepard didn't bother wasting time finding out about. All of a sudden, Shepard thought he had heard something familiar. A voice. Salarians scrambled all over the place, but Shepard could make out a familiar salarian, who stood out from the other STG salarians.

"Mordin!" Shepard shouted out, excited to meet an old friend.

Mordin Solus, the scientist salarian, looked up from his datapad.

"Shepard! Excellent timing! Good to see you," Mordin replied, smiling as Shepard approached him.

"How's it been, Mordin?" Shepard asked.

"Good. Surprised to have gone back to work."
"You're back with STG?" Garrus asked, coming out from behind the commander.

"Special consultant. Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong."

"Seems we're all special consultants about the Reapers now," Garrus replied, not very surprised.

Mordin looked around, surveying the area before speaking. "Helped female krogan. Feed information to clan Urdnot. Encouraged political pressure to free females."

"Nice," Shepard said, admiring his friend's special covert work, wishing he was able to do the same.

"Need to get female off world," the scientist salarian said. "Warnings not normal."

Mordin lead the commander and his team through the facility to get the female krogan. Mordin explained many things about the females, and Maelon's cure.

"Good thing we saved it," Shepard thought to himself. "I almost wanted to finish off that bad attitude salarian."

Many of the females didn't survive, but there was one survivor, apparently immune to the genophage, which would be good news for Wrex, but if she died now, well… things would be, as Mordin put it, "problematic". Shepard had finally arrived at the female krogan at the end of the hallway. She was in some sort of tank elevator box, which looked very secure.

"I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance Navy."

"Navy?" Mason said, suddenly cutting in. "I've not seen one ship or even a boat around, and you're mostly going around on foot, or a shuttle."

"Well," Shepard replied, lost for words. "You know…"

"Are you here to kill me?" The female asked.

"Nope," Shepard said, putting a smile on his face. "You're the krogan's last hope."

Shepard, Mason, and Garrus ran along the walls towards their exit. Mordin had followed the female krogan up the rails in the special box. Shepard had no idea what he would be facing here, Reapers, Cerberus, or anything else, but he was prepared for anything. At least, that's what he thought to himself.

"Alright, people," Shepard spoke, ordering his team. "We don't yet know what we're up against so-"

Smoke suddenly filled the area where Shepard and his team stood at. Cerberus. It had to be. So far, only they knew how to use smoke bombs. Shepard and his team retreated back towards conveniently placed walls and tables to take cover, guns drawn and ready for a fight. This time, there were two guardians, and two centurions. There were also these weird looking soldiers, wearing black armor, and special masks and helmets. They kinda looked cool, making Shepard feel jealous. One of them spotted Shepard's team hidden behind the chest-high objects, and alerted the rest of the attack force. Gunfire sprayed in Shepard's direction.

"Great," Shepard snorted. "Isn't there a mission without shooting involved?"

Shepard leaned out from his cover and took a few shots at the enemies in black, and managed to send one of them flying back to the opposite wall, dead. Sadly, four of those black armored soldiers were still alive and shooting. The Cerberus guardians were easy. Mason just fired a singularity at them, sending them flying up as he then concentrated his fire at the centurions. The singularity just blew up on its own and sent the guardians flying off the side of the building to their doom, if they weren't already dead. Shepard saw his chance as the soldiers were a little distracted from the continuous fire, and shot off a concussive shot, flattening a black armored soldier against a potted plant, ending his life.

"Contact the Helghast reinforcements!" A centurion shouted out to his remaining soldiers. "Tell them to bring in the Metal -"

He never got the chance to finish his sentence, as a bullet hit him right in between his eyes. The centurion crumpled to the floor.

"Ha! Got that one!" Garrus shouted out triumphantly, ejecting a thermal clip.

The soldiers probably understood what he meant, because one of the black armored soldiers ran off, while the last centurion and the rest of the black armored soldiers provided cover fire. Mason flipped over to the chest-high cover Shepard was hiding behind, and sent his previous chest-high cover flying to the centurion with his magnet gun. The block of metal struck the centurion right in the chest, and kept going until it hit the wall. Even energy shielding could not save Cerberus from metal chest-high objects. Garrus and Shepard took out the remaining soldiers with the combined fire of Garrus's Mantis sniper rifle, and Shepard's Avenger rifle.

"That armor is cool," Shepard told his teammates. "We need to tell the Citadel shops to start making armor like that. I'd buy them."

"Sure," Garrus thought to himself."

Garrus was sure he saw a yahg escape, as its containment cell blew open with Shepard's random spray fire.

"Careful! There goes the next Shadow Broker!" Garrus shouted out to his teammates. "And I was pretty sure he was saying T'Soni as well."
"Nah," Shepard told him. "No way we'd hear him from all the way here. Especially with my gun making so much noise."

Garrus took a shot at a Cerberus soldier from across the room during the confusion, while Shepard's random spray of fire gunned down the rest of the soldiers. Mason had earlier interrogated one of the soldiers in black armor. They were apparently called the Helghast, from the planet Helghan, which Garrus thought was silly, because they should have been called the Helghans or something, but they obviously thought Helghast sounded cooler, and chose that as the name for their people. They let that soldier live, because they were such good guys, but had to dispatch him quickly, as he pulled a pistol on them.

"You know," Shepard spoke out. "I've seen their weapons before. The ISA have some of those back on earth. Probably stolen from these Helghast soldiers."

They had already almost caught up with Mordin after that last firefight. He was just one last floor above them. Wrex would also be meeting them there. Earlier, he had stolen their Kodiak shuttle and went out to stop some of the Cerberus forces. Being able to contact them, meant that he hasn't crashed the shuttle yet, and also meant that he was somehow a better pilot than James. But that wasn't saying much. As they progressed along the really convenient, linear path, Shepard had found a Scorpion pistol, which shot out sticky bomb looking explosives, that were really useful against Cerberus and the Helghast, because they roughly took them out instantly. After fighting through that last wave of enemies, the team arrived at the landing area, where they were to meet Mordin and Wrex. Mordin and the female krogan were already there, while Wrex was still flying around somewhere out there. As Shepard moved to unlock the carrier box that housed Mordin and the krogan, there was a sudden, strange whistling sound, like something falling at a fast speed.

"Move!" Mason shouted.

The three of them dived towards some chest-high consoles, as a huge metal thing landed right where they were standing, sending debris flying up, and pelting their armor plates. What stood there was something Garrus had never seen before. It looked like those exo suit things that humans used to carry heavy objects for them, but this one was outfitted with a rail gun and some extra cannons and guns, and no arms. The words "Metal Gear Atlas" were written on the side of its leg. Looks like they did modify that human exo suit into this weapon of mass destruction.

"Great. Just what we needed," Shepard complained.

Shepard was tired of people trying to kill him in the last few minutes of fighting the Atlas. It just so happened to shoot the door mechanism of Mordin's carrier box, which jammed it, sealing Mordin and the female krogan in there. Mordin could probably fix it, but it would take some time. Wrex was still flying around, being dogged by a Mantis gunship, and Shepard has been shooting at the Atlas for a while now, and its shield was still up. Yeah. He was annoyed. The Atlas pilot was alert, shooting at Shepard, Garrus, or Mason as soon as they stood up to shoot at it. Every now and then, they would get a few shoots in, but otherwise, they weren't doing well.

"The Illusive Man certainly picked up his game..." Shepard thought as a missile exploded near his position. "No way he came up with this idea on his own though... it's too original."

"Hey, commander! More shooting, less thinking!" Mason hollered. Shepard nodded and returned fire, stopping only eject his thermal clip. As the mech rotated to face Garrus, the commander caught sight of some kind of serial number painted on the side. It said – "SHDWMSS 1221".

"Hey!" Shepard yelled at the mechanic. "What do the numbers mean, Mason?!"

"How am I supposed to know?" Mason shot back, while shooting back at the Metal Gear Atlas.

Running out of thermal clips, Shepard dived to a more stable chest-high wall. The future was looking black. As Metal Gear Atlas closed in for the kill, it was indeed looking black. Even the sun was going dark. There was also the roar of an engine. Wrex shot past in the shuttle, the Mantis pursuing him and fired off two heat seeking missiles, but through skillful piloting, which was something James never had, and a stroke of luck, the krogan had dodged them both, and now the missiles were heading for the next hottest thing in range - the Metal Gear Atlas. Shepard's team threw themselves to the floor as both rockets exploded against the hull of the enemy mech, and it lost its balance for a moment, unable to calibrate through the smoke and shock.

"Look! The cockpit's opening!" Garrus shouted and took aim.

The pilot seemingly had opened the cockpit to look around, and Garrus took advantage of that to shoot him in the head. It seemed advanced radar and a good climate control were to be the downfall of this mech. The pilot's body slid out of the Atlas, and the mech sat back down to a neutral position. Smoke streamed out of some vents, but otherwise the Atlas looked operational.

Shepard grinned. "Hey Mason. You're a mechanic, right? You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think so, commander," answered Mason as he readied his nanoforge. "I think so."

Mason walked over to the Atlas and started tinkering with his nanoforge and the Atlas. While he reprogrammed the mech, Wrex landed the Kodiak and walked over to join Shepard and Garrus.

"Nice pilot skills, Wrex!" Shepard exclaimed. "James would never be able to fly like that."

"Thanks," Wrex replied. "I had some time to learn while flying around the salarian borders."

Before anyone could ask him anything else, Mason finished fixing up the Atlas.

"Done!" Mason shouted out happily. "Now we just need to bring it out to some important Cerberus area, and let it get to work."

"Alrighty, then!" Shepard said, happily. "Wrex, since you were so good with flying the shuttle, why don't you fly us back to the Normandy?"

"Meh," the Krogan replied. "Why not?"

After attaching the Atlas to the Kodiak, Wrex decided to help the female krogan get on.

Suddenly, more Helghast troops dropped out from the sky, guns ready. Without wasting any time, the female took Wrex's Claymore shotgun, and with two quick bursts, dispatched the Helghast soldiers. Giving Wrex his shotgun back, the female krogan stepped aboard the shuttle.

"Didn't the claymore only have one shot each clip?" Shepard thought to himself, but decided it was a pointless question at this point of time.

As the rest of the team got on the shuttle, Shepard smiled to himself of securing the female krogan. The krogan race now had hope. Hope that the genophage would be cured, with the last female krogan. Shepard decided that he'll get James to prepare the medical center for Mordin and the female when he got back.

Project Eel – Sur'Kesh