Guilty Sparks

by General Rage

Fleeing from the glassing of Reach in the belly of the Pillar of the Autumn, the crew of the SR-2 Normandy find themselves stranded with their UNSC allies on a strange Forerunner constructed ring world called Halo with the Covenant hunting them. But Halo holds a secret, one deadlier than both the Covenant and Reapers combined... and it's hungry.

8. Nostalgia Trip

Chapter 7: Nostalgia Trip

July, 28th, 2185

The Krogan DMZ was no place for the faint of heart. For one thing, most of the planets were inhospitable, uninhabitable or nuclear wastelands. The natives were vicious, brutal, hated aliens and had very short fuses. Topping it all off though was the CDEM, the Council Demilitarization Enforcement Mission. It was their job to police the area and keep the krogan below on Tuchanka from getting their hands on ship-mounted weapons. They weren't an occupation force, not officially anyway. They stayed up in orbit, operating from battle stations. They rarely went down planet-side and when they did it was for purely Council matters concerned with Citadel Space Security. Naturally, most of the people in the CDEM were from the main Council Races. They mostly consisted of turians, for obvious reasons. They were the ones that had checked the Krogan Rebellion in the first place.

Getting by the CDEM wasn't that much trouble, not for the Shadow Broker at least. Liara had the proper authorization codes to permit safe passage. She needed them. She didn't have the luxury of a stealth ship like the Normandy. She had brought along a Shadow Net Frigate, which she had renamed the Lucen after her takeover, loaded up with a platoon worth of Shadow Broker Mercs. For the moment she only needed a squad of them, but it didn't hurt to be prepared. Something told her she wasn't going to be back on the Shadow Broker's Ship for a long time. She'd need the reserves and the numbers.

Now she was taking a shuttle down to the surface of Tuchanka with five mercs accompanying her. Plus one nervous looking alien named Kayap. The unggoy, the name of his species as he admitted, was cuffed with a merc watching over him. A bit excessive perhaps, but Liara didn't want to take any chances. He was still a prisoner even if he did seem far too afraid to try anything. The asari did her best to ignore his muffled whimpering as they descended through the atmosphere and past the CDEM border patrols.

"You're on your own now," the turian communications officer that waved them through said. "Enjoy your stay on Tuchanka, if that's even possible."

After getting past the massive layer of dust and clouds that surrounded the planet, they could finally behold the scarred landscape below. Tuchanka, home planet of the krogan, one of the most feared species in the entire galaxy. When most looked upon its devastated ruins and barren irradiated deserts they tended to just write it off as typical of a place that gave birth to a race as savage and bestial as the krogan. But Liara, being an archaeologist, just couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness.

She could see the remnants of a once great civilization and nuclear rubble. Grand skyscrapers now lay on their sides toppled, tremendous cityscapes covered in dust, old highways stretching for miles. At one point in time this place was once teeming with life, commerce and technology. Now it was just a crater, destroyed by nuclear fire brought on by a lust for challenge and war.

It was such a waste. The krogan had so much potential as a species, and yet this was what they were reduced to. It was little wonder why the krogan tried to expand after the salarians uplifted them. They needed to find some place better to live. And because of their aggressive expansionism that left so many dead in their wake, they had another apocalypse forced on them, a slower more drawn out one that came in the form of a fertility disease called the Genophage. A disease developed by salarians, deployed by turians and approved by asari. Was it any wonder they hated the Council?

Thankfully, not all krogan were the same and not all of them were so quick to embrace violence as the only solution. Liara knew someone here who would at least listen to her and perhaps even help her. Especially if he heard there were potentially hostile alien forces operating on his planet, if he didn't know already. Either way, she doubted he'd turn her away. Not once she told him how this business with these new aliens had something to do with Shepard's disappearance.

Suffice to say, Liara wasn't all that nervous about coming face to face with a krogan. Not all her men shared the same sentiment. One tapped her on the shoulder as they got close to the ground.

"Hey Doc, any tips on how not to piss the local humpbacked reptiles off?" He asked.

The mercenary was a human and, from the sound of it, young. He probably hadn't been out of Alliance space before now. She had to wonder why he decided to go into this business. That was the price you paid when you wanted to get people who weren't lowlifes, you ended up recruiting inexperienced new bloods now and again. Luckily, there was one turian with her on this shuttle and two ex-Alliance Marines, along with three more mercenary veterans. That would even things up, and hopefully keep this fresh-faced gun for hire alive.

"Stand your ground, don't stare and let me do all the talking," Liara informed him. "You'll be fine, so long as you don't look like you're trying to intimidate them."

"Who could intimidate a krogan?" the newbie asked.

"No one," Liara replied, "I said 'trying to intimidate,' I said nothing about succeeding in doing so."

The shuttle soon lowered itself towards an opening in the ground. The entrance to the krogan camp was in fact a former a missile silo now appropriated by the resident clan. Where the nuke and the operators who had no doubt fired it had once resided, now thrived an entire community. It spoke volumes of the krogan race's ability to survive despite the odds. If there was one thing to admire about them it was their tenacity.

The shuttle touched down on what had once been the launching pad for the missile. As the shuttle doors opened, they saw a packed little entrance way with some guards standing by the stairs leading off the pad. Liara's mercs all looked to their extra passenger before they left. Kayap's eyes were shifting between them all, his little whimpers all the more apparent.

"You sure we should bring him?" The turian asked Liara. "Krogan ain't gonna like the aliens they know about walking around here. Who knows what they'll do to him."

"We need him," Liara reiterated once more, as he she had explained over and over again on their way here. "I already have a cover story. Remember, I do the talking."

With that, Liara stepped off the shuttle, her entourage in tow. The krogan guards met her halfway towards the stairs, stopping her and her mercs cold. They didn't have to raise their hands to halt her, between the two of them they were practically a walking brick wall.

"State your business here, asari," one of them demanded.

"I made a request for an audience with the Clan Leader over a day ago," she stated confidently. "He is expecting me."

The guard looked unconvinced at first.

"Why would the Clan Leader want to see an alien?" He asked. "And an asari of all aliens to boot."

The krogan was giving her a suspicious look. She could tell what it was about. Asari had never done anything to the krogan directly, but they weren't exactly helping their situation either. It was quite common for many krogan to seek out asari lovers. It was the only way they could have children, even if they weren't krogan. And when your race was slowly dying out from dwindling fertility rates it wasn't any surprise that, to a lot of krogan, asari were taboo. She was quick to deflate the concerns.

"This is a personal matter to be sure, but it is not that personal I assure you," she explained. "However, as an old friend of his, I don't think the Clan Leader will appreciate you holding me up so long. If you still don't believe me, go ahead and check with him. Don't be surprised when pulls out your teeth for it though."

She couldn't help but smirk a bit as the krogan backed down from her, his suspicious gaze gone. His friend, however, had seen Kayap and the obvious questions followed.

"The hell is that?" he asked

All eyes turned to Kayap, his little knees shaking and his cuffed arms placed firmly on the floor, as a room full of people twice his size kept giving him unpleasant looks. He didn't have to worry though, Liara already had a plan. Not many krogan within Clan Urdnot had left Tuchanka after all, and they knew very little of the galaxy outside.

"That's a baby elcor," she lied with a completely straight face.

The krogan looked at each other a bit bewildered before looking back to Kayap.

"What's all that stuff on him?" One asked.

"Oh, it's a special suit. They need it to adjust to off-world environments with less gravity," Liara explained.

It was a complete and total lie of course as that didn't make any sense scientifically. Especially since a suit that worked like that would probably have to cover your whole body to be effective. Kayap's armour wasn't anywhere near that sophisticated in the first place. But she doubted these two were well-versed in the nuances of how gravity worked. Other than the fact that things fell down when you punched them, of course.

"Why do you have a baby elcor?" One finally asked.

"I'm babysitting," she answered bluntly. "Now can I go, or do you want to explain to the Clan Leader why you kept me waiting?"

The guards parted, letting them pass. Kayap ran up to Liara's leg, or as close as he could get before being pulled back a bit. He probably just wanted to be as far away from those krogan as possible. Too bad, avoiding krogan wasn't an option.

After a long walk down a hallway through at least two sets of doors, they finally reached the inner sanctum of the Urdnot Camp. It wasn't much to look at, just a few makeshift tents that were little more than tarps on sticks strewn about the rubble. There were small campfires that spanned the area as well as some beams of light coming through the cracks in the roof. Far on the opposite end was a makeshift garage lined with a number of large personnel carriers that made the Mako on the old Normandy look like a child's toy. The newbie summed it up perfectly.

"What a dump." He stated bluntly.

"The krogan would probably agree," Liara replied as she looked around. "Remember though, this was a missile silo. It wasn't exactly built for comfort. In any case, I'd keep those thoughts to yourself. We're guests, we shouldn't speak ill of their home."

They walked towards the back of the chamber towards a raised platform, but they found themselves stopped by another krogan guard before they could get closer. However, it turned out to be for different reasons than the first two.

"The Clan Leader has been expecting you, but you must wait," he explained hastily. "He is in a... tense and uninvited negotiation."

Liara looked up to the platform above them and saw what the guard meant. There above them stood a krogan in dark purple armour, shouting loudly. More importantly though, Liara could see the Clan Leader, sitting in his throne with his familiar red armour that looked just as battle scarred and worn as ever. It matched the scar that ran across his red head crest and down the right side of his face, as did those vicious looking red eyes of his. In every way, Urdnot Wrex hadn't changed a bit since she last saw him. And yet, at the same time, he had changed.

Wrex had been a krogan mercenary Shepard had met on the Citadel. They more or less fell into becoming crewmates, as they shared a vested interest in taking down the rogue Spectre, Saren. It hadn't been an easy partnership between the two. But somehow, despite the odds, the Commander and Wrex had become the greatest of friends aboard the Normandy. Shepard had that effect on a lot of people he met. The last time Liara saw Wrex it was at Shepard's "funeral" after the destruction of the first Normandy. The krogan hadn't been aboard at the time, but he paid his respects regardless. Then some time later, for some reason, he had ended up back on Tuchanka and took over as head of Clan Urdnot.

Liara had remembered how hopeless and cynical he had been over the plight of the krogan back in the day. He believed they were doomed to die out, that his people were destined to battle themselves into extinction. Whether it was Shepard's influence or the fight against Saren that had changed his perspective, Liara couldn't say. What mattered was that Wrex was head of Clan Urdnot, the strongest clan on Tuchanka. This effectively made him the closest thing the krogan had to a head of government. A job that was not without its difficulties it seemed.

"This is unacceptable, Wrex," the krogan in purple declared uproariously. "As head of Clan Gerdok I demand the wayward females be returned to me."

Wrex looked both annoyed and angered by the opposing Clan Leader's demands. He drummed his giant fingers on his throne, his other hand propping up his head.

"Those females left you for a reason, Drakax," Wrex replied with a grumble. "You were not exactly the best mate."

"Please, spare me the lecture," the Gerdok Clan Leader spat back. "They are my property, as has been tradition within my Clan for years. They all belong to me. How I treat them is of no concern of yours."

Wrex stood up suddenly from his chair a walked slightly over to the opposing krogan.

"Fertile females are the most valuable resource we have on Tuchanka now," he informed Drakax. "What happens to them is my business as leader of Clan Urdnot. If you spent more time being a proper protective mate and less time humiliating and demeaning them then they would not have sought refuge here."

"I had to be rough. Females must know their place or be put in it," Drakax argued dismissively. "They need to understand to obey their betters or feel the wrath of them. It is the Gerdok way."

"And that is why Gerdok is on the cusp of extinction," Wrex responded ardently. "Your violence towards the females is a disgrace to all krogan. I'd rather kiss a turian on his boots before returning them to your 'good graces', Drakax. They will be staying in the female camp, protected and well out of your reach. Any children they birth will be returned to Clan Gerdok if upon reaching of age they decide to. Otherwise, we have nothing to discuss. Leave."

Wrex turned to sit back down, but Drakax did not seem to know when to shut up.

"You might as well be kissing the turians with these insane reforms of yours," he growled. "You claim to be strong, but you're the weakest krogan to ever lead Urdnot. Were it not for those abnormal biotic abilities of yours, you never would've stood a chance at becoming leader. You're not a krogan. You're a freak, a mutant! At least your father knew the importance of tradition."

Wrex stopped in his tracks at Drakax's words and turned back slowly to the angry clan leader. Without a hint of warning, Wrex suddenly rushed back and slammed his head square into Drakax's plate. There was a cracking sound as pieces flew off the Gerdok Clan Leader's crest. Wrex then grabbed him by the throat bent him over and slammed his elbow into Drakax's back. The loudmouthed krogan was soon kneeling on the floor, horizontal to Wrex. But the Urdnot Leader wasn't done. He grabbed the back of Drakax's head and slammed it into the pavement. As the downed krogan clutched at his face, Wrex kicked him clean off the edge of the platform and let him roll down to the bottom. He stopped rolling just in front of Liara.

Drakax looked up at Wrex who was staring down at him from above. Orange blood was streaming down his face as the battered Gerdok Leader clutched at his nostrils tightly.

"Ew boke ma noze!" Drakax tried to complain through his shattered snout.

"Consider yourself lucky I didn't break your legs for your slander," Wrex answered back. "Otherwise you'd be crawling home across the wastes. Now leave, before I decide to forgo mercy and do just that."

Drakax stumbled to his feet and clambered away with his tail between his legs. Liara couldn't help but smile a little as she looked up Wrex. No, he hadn't changed all that much at all. Wrex noticed her in kind and returned the slight grin. With a motion of his head and wave of his arm he asked her to come up. Liara gladly obliged and walked up the path to the platform where Wrex waited, still standing at the ready to greet her.

"Liara T'Soni," he said with a slight smile. "Long time no see. Now all I need is for Williams to wander in and I'll have caught up with the whole gang."

"It's good to see you, Wrex," Liara nodded with a returned smile. "I know it was on such short notice, I hope I'm not intruding on anything important."

"Please, talking to you will be a welcome change from some of these idiots," Wrex assured her. "Trust me on that, Drakax is almost typical of the crap I have to deal with. He'll limp home, defeated, probably get killed by a rival. Average day on Tuchanka really, you just learn to go with it."

There it was; Wrex's wonderful sense of droll dark humour. Liara had found it disturbing when they first met, now it was almost endearing.

He walked by her, sitting down on his giant rocky throne and Liara moved with her group to stand in front of him.

"If that does happen, I suppose you'll still offer any children born from the refugee females back to his clan though," Liara presumed.

"It would at the very least assure the new Clan Leader I can be reasonable, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it," Wrex explained. "My concern is keeping fertile females out of harm's way for the time being."

Krogan society was strictly patriarchal, from what Liara understood. It wasn't as if the females held no power or prestige, they just happened to be a few rungs lower than the males. But from what she understood that was changing, thanks to Wrex. Given the situation, females had to be given special treatment. They needed protection and keeping them isolated from the males was the best option.

From what Shepard had told her, Wrex had set up a camp system on the head of the female clan's advice. Any female could come to the camps, where they'd be under the protection of Urdnot no matter where their birthright once was. It not only kept them safe, but solidified Wrex's position as leader. An attack on the person who was protecting all the other clans' females was an attack on those clans as well.

"You've certainly made a fair amount of changes from what I hear," Liara noted as she looked around at the less than stunning surroundings. "How's it going so far exactly?"

"More clans are starting to come over to my way of thinking," Wrex answered. "But we're still a long ways. Building alliances with them all isn't easy. They're stubborn for one, big on tradition and then you have old hatreds between clans, so there's that too. The biggest concern is beating it into their skulls that we're not going back to the days of Rebellions and why we can't. Not everyone is as willing to let things go."

The conversation was interrupted when a few plodding footsteps from the right. Wrex looked over and grimaced. Liara looked to see a krogan in white armour walking up the steps towards them, a black crest over his head and yellow eyes.

"Speaking of which, here comes the poster child for all my problems," Wrex groaned.

The krogan in white armour stopped just short of Wrex's throne, he looked to Liara once before staring at Wrex in anger.

"You dealt with Gerdok Leader without me?" He said loudly in disbelief, with a voice that was approaching an angry roar. "I thought we were going to handle this female situation together."

"Drakax was impatient, you were taking too long, so I handled it," Wrex answered back. "He will not be bothering us again."

The other krogan's frown turned to a slight grin.

"Good, you killed him then and fed his body to the varren?" He asked somewhat excitedly.

"I broke his nose and let him limp back to his people," Wrex corrected him. "The message gets a across better when you let his clan see how weak he is."

The other krogan let out an annoyed sigh before continuing.

"Well, at least we get to keep the females, a good prize," He reasoned.

"The females are not prizes or property. How many times do I have to beat this through your head?" Wrex asked him, sounding annoyed. "We are keeping them away from their abusive mate because it proves our willingness to protect any and all females. That is just how it is."

The white armoured krogan swatted his hand at the air in front of Wrex with a grumble. He then turned back to Liara, the same suspicious look in his eye as the guards from before hand.

"Who is this alien?" He demanded to know. "Have you requested an asari concubine, Wrex? How is that going to go over with the other clans?"

Wrex rolled his eyes, looking back to Liara when they stopped.

"Liara, this is my brood brother, Wreav. We share a mother, and thankfully that's all we share. I'd hate to have his brains for one." Wrex tried to stifle a bit of a laugh at that last bit. This earned the ire of Wreav who gritted his teeth at him, which Wrex just brushed off and ignored. "Wreav, this is Liara T'Soni. We were shipmates aboard the Normandy. She is simply here for business related matters, nothing more."

Liara nodded her head in respect to Wreav, trying to be a good guest.

"It is good to meet you, Wreav," she said politely. "I didn't know Wrex had siblings."

"Spare me the platitudes, alien," Wreav growled. "I don't give a crap."

Wrex's glowering frown returned almost immediately as he gave a rather harsh look at his brood brother.

"You will be respectful to my friends, Wreav," he ordered, low and threateningly. "Unless you'd prefer I break your arm... in six places... again."

Wreav backed down, if only slightly, and crossed his arms.

"What does she want?" He asked.

"I have important information for Urdnot Wrex," Liara explained. "But I need to speak with him privately on the matter."

Wreav scoffed at the idea.

"Anything you have to say to him can be said in front of me," he announced, pounding his chest.

"That's not up to you, Wreav," Wrex informed him. "I don't need you to stand over my shoulder during a conversation. Besides, you'd have little to add but the odd complaint and bellyaching I imagine."

Wreav growled again and pushed Liara out of the way so he could get in Wrex's face. Liara stumbled back but managed to hold her footing. She kept her eyes on the two krogan as Wreav continued his blustering.

"You think you can just push me around don't you? Just because you're the Clan Leader and you're in charge?" Wreav asked. "If it weren't for the fact we share a mother I'd have killed you and already taken the throne. Instead I tolerate you and your pyjak shit 'progressive' reforms. You're soft, brood brother. You rule at my courtesy, so maybe you should start treating with some actual damn respect before I rip your head off and-"

Wreav never finished his rant. Wrex, with the most deadpan, non-emotive, bored face Liara had ever seen on him, simply threw out his hand and launched a biotic ball of energy. The ball looped back around and slammed into Wreav's right side. The white armoured krogan was catapulted through the air and slammed into a far off wall. Wrex just looked at Wreav as he tried to stand up.

"I don't even need to get up to beat you, Wreav," Wrex informed him coldly. "The only reason you're still alive is because I need someone to toss against a wall every now and again to relieve stress. When you earn my respect, maybe then I'll care about what you have to say. Until then, as I've said before, you do what I tell you and you keep your idle threats to yourself. Otherwise you may just start to bore me and I'll be in the market for a new punching bag."

Wreav, to his credit, didn't slink away. He just sat there, looking defeated, but still giving Wrex a terrible glare. The Urdnot Leader stood up from his throne once more and walked over to Liara and her team.

"We can talk in my private quarters," He informed her. "Your people will have to stay outside."

"Very well," Liara agreed, "but he also has to join us."

Liara pointed to Kayap, still quivering at the sight of Wrex. The krogan raised a brow and just nodded. At very least, Liara believed he had piqued Wrex's curiosity. Liara followed Wrex to his quarters, only looking back once to see Wreav still sitting down on the floor, propped up against a wall.

---

Wrex couldn't offer much besides water, nothing the Krogan drank on their home world was exactly friendly to other alien digestive systems. Not because of something like different amino-acids or anything, but because krogan alcoholic beverages tended to feel like swallowing glass and heavy rocks to most people. Liara was fine with it, she wasn't in the mood to get wasted after all.

"Have to admit, I was surprised when you contacted me," Wrex told her as he looked out his window down at the Urdnot camp. "From what I heard from Shepard you were busy as an information broker."

"I still am, although the job has become bigger," Liara admitted, not out and out saying what her new job was.

"So I saw. Nice entourage," Wrex replied, seemingly impressed. "You've moved up from the looks of it."

Wrex was smarter than the average Krogan, it came from the fact he'd been off planet for so long. Liara figured he'd have put two and two together once he saw the company she kept. So there was no need to outwardly admit to her new position.

"My contacts and resources have certainly increased, that's for sure," she replied. "But on to why I'm really here. It's about Shepard."

That caught Wrex's attention, turning his gaze back towards her.

"Did he step in another pile already?" He asked.

"I think so, but it's difficult to explain," Liara answered him.

She began from the top, the wormhole, the loss of contact with the Normandy for over a week, the attack on her ship, the evidence that led to the attack's connection to Tuchanka and all while Wrex listened attentively. It didn't take long to get the whole story out and Wrex didn't seem pleased by the implications.

"You really think a group of krogan working out of Tuchanka are involved with these... aliens?" He asked.

"At the very least these aliens are on this planet or have been here," Liara clarified. "I'm trying to figure out which of those possibilities is true. I just need your help in backing me up, or at least giving me permission to look."

Wrex lightly scratched the side of his face, contemplating his next choice of words. Eventually he just shrugged.

"You know, if this was anyone else I probably wouldn't believe any of this," Wrex told her with a sigh. "But I do trust you Liara and you did bring some living evidence."

Wrex turned to Kayap. The little gas breather had taken shelter in a corner, huddled up into a little ball. Liara gave an unabashed smile as Wrex turned back to her.

"What? He's a baby elcor." Liara said slyly with a hint of sarcasm.

"Liara please," Wrex said shaking his head and laughing. "I've worked for elcor, I know elcor, an elcor was a close personal friend of mine during a job way back. That thing in the corner is no elcor. Sure as hell ain't a baby, even though it acts like one."

Liara shrugged, she wasn't trying to hide the fact from him, but it was nice to see Wrex was still sharp as ever. He still had questions though.

"What exactly is it anyway?" He asked.

"He says he's an unggoy," Liara explained. "That apparatus he wears is his equivalent of an oxygen mask. Only he breathes methane. I believe he can lead us to where these aliens are currently."

"Any clue where he's from, originally I mean?" Wrex enquired.

Liara looked at Kayap, she wasn't sure if she should share her hunch just yet. She needed to be sure and all she had was a working theory at the moment. She needed to keep an open mind until she had all the facts.

"Nothing I can be sure of for now," Liara replied. "What's important is I honestly think that these aliens have something to do with Shepard's disappearance. We need to get on the trail as soon as possible."

Wrex pulled himself up from his seat, sighing heavily. He paced around the room slightly.

"It's not that simple, Liara," He explained. "Krogan don't like aliens of any kind on Tuchanka. They're not very trusting. Moreover, I can't just walk into another clan's territory on the hunch of an asari and I certainly can't just send you alone, which would be worse. I need probable cause in either case. Plus, I can't look like I'm taking direction form an offworlder, it rouses people's suspicions. I only barely got away with Shepard because everyone knows him, even on Tuchanka, and he still had to prove himself alongside the tank-born in the trials. I have to think about my position here."

Liara understood that answer, but she would not accept it. Not with the Normandy and her friends on the line, not with Shepard's life in the balance.

"Wrex, this is about Shepard," Liara reminded him. "Not me, not you, Shepard. One of your closest friends, the person who trusted you back on Virmire. He respected you, helped you, anyone else would've just thought of you as some mercenary. He never did, he saw something else, something more."

Wrex nodded as Liara spoke, he knew she was right, he did owe Shepard, but this wasn't like it was back on the Normandy. Things had changed.

"I owe Shepard a lot, I know. I'd march into the Void and back for him, really," Wrex assured her. "But I can't exactly allow a group of aliens free reign in the territories of other clans. I can supervise, but that would risk starting a fight with the other clans. Do we even have an idea where to start looking?"

Liara shook her head sadly.

"No," she said, motioning her head over to Kayap. "He doesn't exactly have precise information. On our way here he did admit it's a building of some kind. I still think he knows enough of the layout of the land to help."

"I can't just randomly start picking out likely territories to search," Wrex told her. "I'd look paranoid, reaching for excuses to start fights, sowing indecision. I'm afraid you'll need something better than that."

Liara didn't answer at first, looking down as she sat in her chair despondently. This was not going well.

"I want to help, Liara," Wrex assured. "Really, I do, but we need a better starting point than a methane breathing prisoner you brought along. Accusing other clans of working with aliens on the advice of another alien isn't exactly a great arguing position. What if I alienate an important clan or embolden my rivals? Beyond that, all I can do is send you off into the wastes alone with minimal assistance from the scouts and even then I'm not sure many would volunteer to help."

Liara couldn't exactly blame Wrex for not giving the go ahead right away, even for her. She knew that this wasn't exactly easy for him either. They both had greater responsibilities, and being the leader of his people meant Wrex couldn't go off like he used to as a merc. She accepted that, but she still hoped he'd help.

"There must be some kind of clue we can go off of," She suggested. "Has there been anything weird happening lately? Sightings of these aliens I described?"

Wrex rubbed his chin a little, trying to think.

"Well, there's been some increased thresher maw activity, but that's common this time of year." He began. "Pyjacks are getting more brazen in their attempts to swipe our food stores, nothing new. Selgok Clan recently found a working Tomkah and they've been trying to use it as a bartering tool with us. There was a confrontation with some CDEM soldiers and one of the tribes, got bloody."

Wrex's eyes suddenly lit up and he snapped his claws together.

"Oh wait, some of the other clans have reported their trade caravans keep getting jumped by some group of bandits," He rcalled. "They claim its Kercheka Clan, but no one can really prove it."

While that was certainly a problem, Liara didn't see how it was out of the ordinary.

"Isn't banditry common on Tuchanka?" She asked.

"Kercheka is different," Wrex informed her. "They were very isolationist, kept to themselves, bunch of hermits mostly. Not the kind you'd expect to pick up banditry. Until recently, they started putting out feelers to the other clans, mostly the ones that aren't exactly thrilled about my reforms."

"Have they had any luck?" Liara asked.

Wrex just laughed at the suggestion.

"Please, my rivals barely listen to me. Kercheka isn't exactly a tribe known for its charisma," Wrex elaborated. "But most of the clans hit by these raiders are allied with me. If they are involved they could be trying to undermine my authority. I was hesitant to do anything without proof though. They've been making waves against me. I don't want to look like I'm just killing anyone outright who won't follow my vision. I need a better reason to take them down."

"Would they even accept alien help?" Liara questioned. "They don't exactly sound open to the idea."

"I know they've been getting frequent visits from the Blood Pack." Wrex answered. "Ever since Shepard did a number on Clan Weyrloc, the Blood Pack has been trying to re-establish their presence, gathering up a number of the isolated clans, strengthening them. Just like any good Krogan, they're clawing their way up from the ashes."

Kercheka having Blood Pack mercs in the midst made Liara concerned. The infamous krogan mercenary group had gotten its reputation from being violent, unforgiving and brutal in their execution. That, and besides Krogan, they had a plethora of vorcha at their command. Those vicious little creatures were only outmatched by the Yahg in their ferocity. Thankfully they were way smaller than the Yahg, too bad they weren't also quarantined to their home world.

"Do you think the Blood Pack could be working on behalf of Kercheka?" Liara asked Wrex, a hint of concern in her voice. "They could be the ones directly hitting the caravans and splitting the spoils with Kercheka for a base of operations."

"Most likely," Wrex admitted, "the attacks also seem to occur within the radius of Kercheka. They deny it as a coincidence of course, but I don't think anyone buys it. The raids on the caravans do have all the hallmarks of a Blood Pack attack though. Few survivors, everything torn to shreds, one or two dead vorcha have been discovered at the scenes of the attacks, but lots of krogan outsource to the Vorcha. They're basically attack dogs with guns after all."

"So I've heard," Liara replied, only smiling a little at the allegory. "Is there anything that doesn't match the Blood Pack MO?"

Wrex nodded rapidly.

"Yeah, that's what's really odd about the attacks. Why I brought them up in the first place," he continued. "The survivors mention artillery strikes hitting the first vehicle, green and blue explosions. Some of what the survivors keep saying suggests some of the attackers were using, get this, energy weapons."

Liara's lit up at that and she stood out of her seat in an instant.

"You mean, like plasma?" Liara asked. "Like the guns the aliens that attacked me used?"

"Yeah, I didn't really think about it until just now," said Wrex. "I figured they were just wild rumours or something. After all, plasma isn't exactly something you see every day, especially in the Blood Pack."

"That's because we have barely perfected lasers for combat, let alone full blown plasma weapons," Liara continued, her speech at a fevered pace. "There's no way the Blood Pack or Kercheka or any krogan could've got their hands on those guns without coming into contact with these aliens first."

Wrex grinned a little walking over to his gun rack on the wall as he did.

"Which means we have a place to start looking for the trail of these aliens," he reasoned as he looked over his weapons. "More importantly, all this information gives me probable cause to look into Kercheka's connection to these bandit attacks."

"Meaning you can make this an Urdnot matter. It's not just you following the requests of an asari," Liara continued for him.

Wrex just chuckled at Liara's grasp of the situation.

"That's what I always liked about you, Liara," he grinned once more. "You were always one step ahead of us in the thought department."

"Well, you were always one step ahead of me in the cracking of skulls department," Liara answered back, a cheeky smile over her admittedly flattered face.

"That I am," Wrex agreed. "Just comes with being a krogan."

Wrex grabbed his claymore shotgun and attached a striker assault rifle to his back. Liara had heard about the striker, it fired explosives rounds, very appropriate for the krogan fighting style, loud and brash. Just like Wrex. The Urdnot leader jammed a thermal clip into his claymore and looked up at Liara.

"I can gather up people within the hour," Wrex told her. "Have your men and your little gas sucking friend ready and loaded. We're heading into some hostile territory here."

"When has that ever deterred us before, Wrex?" Liara asked, that sly little smile still across her face.

Wrex could laugh back with a sinister little grin.

"Yeah, just like old times, eh Liara?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"Definitely just like them," she replied.

---

The journey into the wastes did indeed bring back some old memories. They were once again stuffed into a small space inside a vehicle that was constantly knocking them around every second it sped across the desolate landscape. Granted, the Tomkah was a lot more spacious than the Mako, but when you had several krogan jockeying for position within the massive infantry fighting vehicle, it didn't seem to matter. Liara found herself pressed between her team and Wrex's. If they weren't standing up and holding onto the overhead, they were sitting down and getting jostled into one another. Such was the consequence of having a pothole marked war torn highway and an even more difficult to navigate wasteland.

Wrex stood across from Liara, holding on to one of the overhead rails as they bounced across the rugged terrain. His men were lined up next to him, some sitting down, others standing. They didn't seem pleased with the cluster of aliens sitting across from them. The turian merc got the most looks, which was to be expected. At least they weren't spitting on him or anything, but that was probably only because they were all wearing helmets.

She didn't know how close they were to their target, but Liara still wanted to know Wrex's plan for this. He was after all in charge at the moment, so he had to come up with the plan. It suited Liara just fine, Wrex was more military minded than her.

"So, how are we going to go about this?" She asked Wrex.

"We get as far into Kercheka territory as we can and start walking to the city limits from there." Wrex explained. "As far as we know they own the ruins, but we aren't sure where their main camp is. That's where your little friend there comes in, of course, to lead us the rest of the way."

Liara looked over to Kayap, sitting in his corner. He was slightly less frightened looking, but he kept his eyes away from the gathered line of krogan.

"Should we be concerned with being spotted?" Liara asked. "They have to have scouts in this area and this Tomkah isn't exactly discreet."

"Krogan aren't much for sneaking." Wrex admitted. "It doesn't matter though. Frequent dust storms in the area make long range transmissions difficult. Any Kercheka scouts would have to run back to their masters on foot and we can intercept them before they make it. Even if they do spot us, energy weapons or not, we can take them."

Liara didn't doubt that, but she still wanted to surprise the Kercheka clan. If they were working with these aliens she didn't want to give them cause to flee before she could find out more about them. At least if they were spotted in the Tomkah, Liara had a bit more faith in it holding up in a fight. She remembered how fragile the Mako had been, although to be fair the vehicle had not been designed with Geth Armatures in mind. This thing could take a punch. It had to in order to survive krogan ownership.

The driver soon announced they had entered Kercheka lands. Now it was just a waiting game to see if they got spotted or not. From the looks of the krogan with Wrex, they were itching to get spotted. They kept checking their number of thermal clips, switching between fire modes, some even double checking to see if their weapons were clean. Their eagerness became more apparent when one of them spoke up to Wrex.

"I really do hope this isn't a stealth mission, Clan Leader." He began. "I want to blow some Kercheka heads off. Those desert hermits have been asking for this for a long time."

"We'll deal with them if we have to." Wrex reminded him sternly. "Until then you keep your mouth shut and you follow my lead. The same goes for everyone in this Tomkah, no exceptions."

Wrex's final words were emphasized by looking at Liara. She didn't think much of it, Wrex had to keep up the show and she understood why. He was in charge by all appearances and they had to keep it that way for the time being.

It wasn't long afterwards that the Tomkah stopped suddenly. Wrex walked up to the driver's cabin door and banged hard on it with his fist.

"What in the void are stopping for?" he demanded to know.

"We've come across some wreckage, sir." the driver shouted back through the door. "It looks like one of the trading convoys."

Wrex looked back to the group at large and motioned his head to follow him outside. He grabbed the hatch door's handle and pulled hard, opening them up to the harsh Tuchankan air and sun outside. He jumped out, landing with a thud as his feet slammed on the ground. His fellow krogan went first after him, throwing themselves out of the vehicle's hatch one by one. Liara's team followed, it was best to let the krogan leave first after all.

Liara saw that Kayap was still hiding in the corner. She motioned him to follow her. She needed him close, she couldn't trust him to be alone. Kayap reluctantly followed her out of the vehicle.

Outside, the group found themselves near the remains of a highway overpass which they now resided under. A few feet away from them, the remains of what appeared to be small caravan group resided in the sun-scorched sands of the wastes. At the center of the destruction was a demolished armoured crawler, much smaller than a Tomkah, but just as valuable to a clan that possessed one given the nature of Tuchanka's environment. Strewn about it were five krogan warriors lying dead on the ground. The wreckage was still clearly smoking as they approached.

"This looks pretty recent." Liara observed astutely. "I'd say they were hit no more than an hour ago."

Wrex walked over to one of the fallen krogan and turned the body over. On dead humpback's shoulder there was a clan crest symbol that looked like a sun with two daggers crossing it. Wrex shook his head.

"Onchokot Clan, poor bastards." He grumbled. "They must've strayed off course."

"We're pretty far inside Kercheka lands, Clan Leader." One of the krogan informed him. "You think they got into a storm or something?"

"Or maybe they were following something." Liara suggested as she approached. "Perhaps they even intended to enact their own brand of justice against Kercheka."

Wrex walked over the body and towards the burnt out crawler.

"I'll admit it's possible." Wrex relented. "I know the Onchokot Clan Leader, he's been growling over a personal claim to Kercheka territory for a while. Still, it seems a bit strange for him to send in a small scout party disguised as a caravan. They would've just attacked first and forgone recon. They're not exactly big thinkers over there."

Wrex looked over the crawler a little. It had only two pairs of wheels and apparently only sat two. On top of the slopped back driver's cabin was what appeared to be a light gun turret. Whether it was added protection or the main weapon he couldn't be sure. The remains of the driver were inside. He wasn't any prettier than his five friends lying down in the dirt.

The general damage to the vehicle was readily apparent. The front axle of the crawler had been taken clean off and there was a massive hole that cut into the other side of the cabin. It had clearly been struck by some kind of explosion. Liara rounded around the vehicle with Wrex and got a look at the damage to the passenger side. She touched the singed metal with her finger tips, brushing away at the dust to find scarring marks around where the explosion had hit. They weren't like your typical scorch marks, they were burns, energy burns.

"Plasma." Liara stated, confident in her assessment.

Wrex looked to one of the bodies, finding similar scars along his back.

"Way I figure, they were walking along and they got sidelined by some kind of plasma explosive." He reasoned as he bent down next to the dead krogan. "First hit took out most of the group while the others must've been wiped out by any infantry with them when they stripped them for weapons and supplies."

Wrex pointed over to the plasma scars that had singed one the krogan's head to illustrate his point.

"Probably took them down execution style, close-up and personal." He observed sorrowfully. "No way for a krogan to die, on his knees, no chance to fight back."

"The people who did this are probably nearby." Liara suggested. "If we can pick up the trail maybe they can lead us to their base of operations."

"Isn't that what he's for?" Wrex asked looking over to Kayap.

The little alien was hunched over near the crawler, looking at one of the bodies on the ground. Liara only looked at him momentarily, but the Unggoy didn't notice.

"I'll need to get him to start opening up first." Liara admitted. "He doesn't say much, probably out of self-preservation for all I know. I just want to keep our options open in case he doesn't cooperate."

Wrex shrugged and stood up over the body. He grimaced slightly before past the corpse and towards the direction he assumed the explosive that hit the crawler came from.

"We can start searching over there, maybe find their tracks." Wrex surmised. "But in this weather I wouldn't hold out much hope. If we can't find anything I'd suggest we all get back in the tomkah and move on. My men won't want to root around in the dirt for long."

Liara looked at the krogan as they searched the site. They were keeping their distance from Liara's people and her men were doing likewise. Probably for the best, just because they were working together didn't mean they were required to trust one another even if their bosses did. The Urdnot warriors didn't seem terribly interested in the little investigation, only looking over the bodies of the dead krogan and combing the sands around the area.

"They certainly don't seem too enthralled by things." Liara observed.

"They've been waiting for me declare war on something." Wrex admitted. "Krogan are supposed to fight and I've mostly just been talking politics with people since I took over."

"You did hand a beating to one of the other clan leaders." Liara reminded him. "And then you tossed Wreav across the room."

Wrex merely laughed a bit.

"That is how krogan politics work." He clarified. "It's probably why we never really stood chance at getting on the Council, even if the Rebellions hadn't happened. We'd be head-butting anyone who disagreed with us regularly. Not exactly something ideal for any asari or salarian I imagine."

"What about turians?" Liara asked with a grin.

"They got those plates, they'd be fine." Wrex suggested. "Although I think they'd still be pissed about it."

Liara almost laughed at that, but she remained composed and continued the conversation.

"I'm sure one day soon, if not on the Council, your people will be respected again." Liara assured him. "It's only a matter of time."

"Time isn't exactly on the side of the krogan." Wrex informed her. "Everyone knows that, but they don't seem to understand fighting with each other and the rest of the galaxy won't get us anywhere. You saw it with Wreav. He'd want nothing more than for us to just let loose and start another damn Rebellion. He's stupid like that and unfortunately there's plenty of stupid to go around. Worse, it's infectious."

Liara looked to Wrex seemingly concerned by that last line.

"You don't think he intends to, seize power do you?" She asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised. He has his own band of supporters, even within Urdnot." Wrex admitted. "He's welcome to try, but it won't work. Wreav's a dumb muscle. He couldn't lead pyjaks to a food cache even if he stuck a bit of meat on a string for them. He'll need more than a few angry morons at his side to try something like that and if he did try I'd have a ton of supporters backing me and not him."

Wrex soon sighed after that sentence and turned to the asari with a worrisome look.

"I admit that people are getting restless though. I know how many of the clan are desperate to find an enemy. I keep promising them one that's coming, something that will define krogan history for eons." He said before giving her a knowing look. "I don't think I need to point out to you what I'm talking about."

"Of course you don't, Wrex." Liara replied. "That's been on all our minds lately I imagine. But I'm guessing they'd prefer an enemy earlier rather than later."

Wrex smiled broadly at that.

"Sharp as ever, Liara." He complimented with a chuckle. "That's what I always liked about having you around back in the day. You were also easier on the eyes than Garrus, so that was a plus too."

Liara was charmed by the compliment, but tried not to overtly show it. They still had a job to do. Although she admitted to herself that it was nice to have an old friend helping her on this, it reminded her how much she missed the old crew on the Normandy.

Wrex was a connection between that time and now for her. Truthfully, all her former shipmates were, but he was the only one here at the moment and thus the best connection she could make to that part of her life. Every time he cracked a quip, it reminded her of the old days when they were battling an evil plant monster or assaulting forward Geth bases in the Armstrong Cluster. It kept her mind on why they were both here, who this was really for.

Liara looked back to the crawler again, just give it another look. As she stared at the wrecked vehicle she noticed something odd about the damage.

"Wrex," she began with a curious look, "does that hole in the crawler look a bit odd to you?"

Liara hadn't noticed it before but the impact hole that had been left looked like it had struck the top of the driver's cabin. She could tell from the way the metal was bent, the center of the gap itself. It was centered on the corner edge slightly.

"It does seem to look like it was hit up top." Wrex concurred. "Maybe the plasma explosive was a mortar round of some kind and not like a rocket then."

That would explain the weird way the damage on the crawler looked, but there was still one question on the asari's mind.

"That's an awfully big hole in the cabin for one mortar, even energy based." She stated. "I'm not saying it couldn't be just a mortar, but what if it was a ta-"

Liara's idea never got to fully express itself for something answered her query for her. A blue explosion struck the sand just a dozen or so feet away from them. Both she and Wrex covered their eyes at the blinding blue light that filled their field of vision. When it cleared, Wrex scanned the horizon and pointed upward towards a dune.

"There!" he shouted.

Liara looked up to see a strange bulbous silhouette resting on the dune. From here it looked almost like a trapezoid in shape. It moved closer to them, passing through the dusty winds of the waste, before firing something from its top, another ball of blue plasma.

"Head for cover!" Liara yelled out to everyone.

Everyone, even Wrex's krogan followed her advice and rand for the broken overpass. The plasma came down close to the crawler, but no one was affected by the explosion. Everyone huddled together, guns at the ready as they heard the strange weapon fire again.

"Seems we just found what killed the Onchokots." Wrex observed. "Looks and sounds like some kind of mortar tank."

"They have impeccable timing." Liara grumbled, sometimes she hated being proved right.

"Maybe they felt their ear-holes burning." Wrex suggested, quickly shrugging afterwards. "Ah well, there's only one and he's got no back-up. We'll make a break for the tomkah and use the onboard heavy turret to-"

It was Wrex's turn to be interrupted as a smaller plasma bolt sped across his field of vision and the group's. No doubt it was small arms fire, which could only mean infantry even if they couldn't see them at the moment. Liara soon saw blue flashes in the dust around them, pretty much confirming that hypothesis.

"Okay scratch that," Wrex corrected, "we have a slightly bigger problem now."

As another blast struck the overpass overhead, bits of pavement and concrete cascaded down on their little group. They were effectively pinned now, and even with the thick hides of the krogan, no one seemed willing to take chances with energy weapons.

As Liara tried to find a way out of the predicament, a way to flank around or better cover, she noticed something was wrong. One of their group was missing, their little gas breathing tag along to be precise. Liara looked around hectically. Had Kayap escaped back to his own people the moment the shooting had started? Had he just run off? Eventually Liara looked over to the crawler wreckage to see that he hadn't left at all. Kayap was huddled behind the wreck, clasping his cuffed hands around his head as he dug himself deeper into the dirt.

"Our bloodhound is under fire!" Liara shouted to Wrex over the plasma fire.

The Urdnot Leader noticed, but didn't seem to care.

"So? We can find another way into the ruins and to their base." Wrex told her.

"Wrex, he's our only link to these aliens and if he has insider knowledge about their HQ here we need it." Liara answered back sternly, an unshakable look in her eyes. "Besides, he's not running back to them. I need to know why."

Wrex groaned, but he didn't argue further.

"Go, I'll cover you." Wrex grumbled. "I was sick of hiding from a fight anyway."

Wrex turned to his men and cocked the claymore in his hands. The pump action was purely aesthetic in nature, like all guns the krogan claymore used thermal clips, not real ammunition. It still proved to be a great motivator.

"Come on you whelps, we aren't dying here." He declared.

Wrex of course set the example for his men to follow. He jumped up from cover, sending a throw attack out into the field. He aimed for one of the plasma gun flashes, but through all the dust it was hard to tell if they had hit anything. Whoever was with the tank, they were letting it do most of the heavy lifting, letting it actually get close to their little group. Regardless, the assortment of krogan and Liara's team soon followed the Urdnot Leader's example. As Wrex continued to fire on the attackers, slowly moving towards the crawler, everyone else joined in. His krogan stood by their clan leader's side and fired upon plasma flashes.

Liara, in the meantime, made a beeline for Kayap's position. She slid across the sand at the last hundred meters and stopped in the cover of the crawler. Kayap kept himself curled into a ball even as Liara arrived by his side. She looked over the top of the destroyed crawler to see Wrex moving to her position while their men fell back to better cover.

It was just their luck that these plasma weapons in particular didn't seem very accurate at long range. The tank still edged closer, moving past the dust storm cover and into the open. It was bluish in colour and further along the front of its nose sat a gunner. He was a krogan wearing full black armour that covered his face. He fired what was revealed to be a plasma machine gun of sorts and forced Wrex to run back to the crawler. The former mercenary dove for safety behind the crawler and slammed his back into the wall.

"Well that clinches it," he growled in disgust. "Kercheka is working with aliens. Looks like I owe you a drink, Liara."

"I don't believe we had a bet going." Liara replied, seemingly confused.

"Eh, I owe you one anyway." Wrex promised. "But first we gotta kill that thing."

Without any heavy weapons, save for the ones on the tomkah, that was going to be difficult to pull off. As she thought over the issue in her mind, they were joined by a few members of the Urdnot soldiers and her own people.

"Gunner has got us scattered, ma'am." One of the Shadow Operatives exclaimed. "Our people are regrouping on the highway behind some rubble and working towards the ledge up top. Not sure if high ground is going to help though."

At least the tank had stopped firing its main gun, for now. They had worse problems though, as the tank drew closer, Liara peeked out to see its support walk out of the dust with it. Once again she found herself in combat with the sangheili, as Kayap called them. These ones wore helmets that covered their faces completely, but there was no mistaking them for something else. These helmets in particular had two yellow eye-holes and a large rounded plate encompassing the forehead of the alien's face. It was not open like the other sangheili helmets had been. More than likely these were a different rank or class. Alongside these sangheili were more krogan, wearing similar black armour to their gunner friend.

As the plasma fire increased, Liara turned back to Kayap and pulled him up from the dirt. He was still whimpering, but Liara didn't care right now. She needed a way to get rid of this tank and Kayap was going to give it to her.

"He do we take out that tank?" she ordered him to tell.

"I no know!" Kayap shouted. "Blow up! Make boom!"

Not very helpful advice, she needed more details.

"Does it have a weakness?" She demanded of the Unggoy.

"Backside!" Kayap yelped. "Throw boom in backside! Blow up core!"

Core? Of course, it had to have a power source that kept the gun running. But getting onto the tank to throw an explosive into it would be tricky.

"Do we have any grenades?" Liara asked Wrex.

"One," Wrex replied digging into one of his pouches on his armour and pulling out said grenade. "It's got a high explosive mod, but sticking it into this tank's engine or whatever is powering that thing isn't going to be easy. I'll need to punch my through all those guys first."

Liara looked out into the battlefield to see the sangheili and Kercheka krogan surrounding their little crawler, but keeping their distance. Then the tank fired another plasma blast at their position. Liara ducked her head back into cover as the shot slammed into the ground just a few feet away from the crawler. It wasn't safe here anymore, they'd need to move. Liara kept her cool though, they had been in worse situations after all.

"That doesn't sound too hard for you, Wrex." Liara told him with a slight grin. "I watched you bulldoze a Geth Prime, remember?"

"Yeah, but that gunner makes things a lot more difficult." Wrex explained. "I appreciate your faith in me, but my barriers won't last with that plasma machine gun nipping at me."

"I can have my men provide you cover fire while you get to back of the tank if you want." Liara informed him. "Don't worry about the gunner either. I'll take care of him personally."

Liara spoke that last sentence with an exuberant amount of resolve. Wrex just chuckled at it.

"Sometime I wonder if you got some krogan in you, Liara." He said with a slight laugh. "Alright, take out that gunner I'll give you a show. Let's move!"

They all broke out of cover and scattered, just as another plasma blast came down on the crawler directly. It didn't destroy the wreck any further, but the plasma did engulf it regardless. But while they had escaped the tank, the sangheili were quick to make up for the mistake. They began firing at the scattered group. Kayap ducked his head low as plasma started flying past his little head. When one bolt almost hit near his feet he jumped in surprise and ran ahead of Liara screaming like mad. Liara turned back and saw the sangheili taking shots at her, and subsequently Kayap. She let loose a throw and it struck the alien square in the chest. Liara doubted it would kill the sangheili outright, she had seen their strength first hand after all. It did give her and Kayap a chance to escape his gunfire.

Liara, Kayap and the Shadow Operative that had followed her, all made it to the edge of the overpass. They scrambled onto the road, determined to get to the top of the crumbled overpass. Liara needed a good line of sight towards the tank's gun if she wanted to take him down. Kayap scampered behind an overturned old krogan vehicle that was in a similar state to the crawler below in the sand. It was just as well he hold up there for now, he'd just be another target for the enemy otherwise and Liara didn't need that.

She reached the top of the overpass with her Shadow Operative. They could both now clearly see the whole battlefield below them. Most of Liara's and Wrex's teams were on the other side of the overpass, using an old car as a makeshift wall while they fired down on the sangheili and krogan below. The Kercheka krogan and their new allies were spread out across the sands in front of the crawler, the tank at the center. At the moment, most of them were focused square on the group at the opposite end of the overpass, which worked to their advantage at the moment.

It was then Liara heard a sound, a "Psst", from down below. She looked to see Wrex and two of his men taking cover behind a large chunk of rubble lying next to the side of the overpass. Liara simply nodded as Wrex, time to do her job. She had a clear shot at the krogan in the gunner seat and knew just how to deal with him. It was probably too far for any offensive biotics to work, but she could take him out of combat long enough to give Wrex a shot at the tank.

Liara turned to her operative and noticed the assault rifle on his back. Not that effective at long range and she didn't want to give away their position to the tank, so they couldn't use it on the gunner. Didn't mean it had no part in the plan though.

"When I make my move you shoot anything that isn't wearing Urdnot colours." She ordered him.

The human operative obeyed and got it his rifle ready.

"Say when, ma'am."

Liara took a deep breath and hoped Wrex was ready to make his run. She let the energy flow into her arm and then held up an open palm towards her target. Before the krogan gunner knew what hit him he was frozen in place with stasis. That was Wrex's cue and he wasted no time once he saw the gunner suddenly stop shooting. He rushed out of cover, his men covering him as he ran forward. Liara's operative began firing on the sangheili and Kercheka ahead of the Urdnot leader, trying to keep them of balance. But from the looks of it, he didn't really need the help.

Liara watched as Wrex bulldozed one of sangheili in his path, smashing his crested head into the alien's backside and sending him hurtling into the air. He then fired his claymore straight into the head of a nearby Kercheka Clansman and kept going, not even stopping to watch the body fall. Reloading his claymore once more, one of the sangheili charged forward firing his plasma weapon. Wrex didn't miss a beat, just slamming his fist into the side of the alien's head. He then let loose a biotic throw that sent another sangheili and Kercheka krogan flying backwards. Before they even landed he tossed out a shockwave that rippled across the sandy ground. It struck the two as they fell and detonated the biotic resonance around them.

The Urdnot leader continued to run up to the tank. Liara saw one of the sangheili turn to try and stop him, firing plasma at the krogan. Wrex took a hit to the hump, but only turned to rush the alien. He swung a punch that hit the sangheili in the jaw. He then stuck his claymore into the alien's gut and pulled the trigger. At this close range the powerful round of the krogan shotgun cut the alien in two. Wrex ignored the mess and ran up to the tank. He grabbed onto the back of vehicle. Liara couldn't see what happened from her position, but Wrex stuck the grenade into something and then jumped right off. He ran from the tank and mere seconds later it exploded into a plume of blue fire. One of the remaining Kercheka nearby was engulfed in flames and one sangheili took the brunt of the blast's shockwave.

As Liara expected, Wrex never looked back once until the tank's flames had died down. She could only shake her head and smile at it all.

With the tank gone, clean up was almost an afterthought. What was left of the enemy quickly pulled back from the fight and then quickly retreated altogether. They had lost the advantage without their weapon and staying would be suicide. Leaving her man with Kayap, Liara went over to Wrex as he stood on the battlefield. As she began to walk up to him, Wrex noticed that one of the sangheili was still alive. He was crawling away across the ground before the Urdnot leader put his shotgun to his head. Liara thought she could hear a defiant growl from the downed alien.

"Welcome to Tuchanka." Wrex said rather plainly, and the he pulled the trigger.

With purple blood staining the ground, Wrex put his gun away. He kept staring at the alien even where Liara approached.

"Credit where it's due," Wrex said aloud, "he didn't flinch."

"I'm just surprised he didn't blow himself up." Liara added.

Wrex looked over to the remains of the tank. The body of the krogan gunner was slumped over in the turret seat, while smoke poured out of the main gun. Already the other krogan were crowding around it and picking up the energy weapons from the fallen aliens and Kercheka.

"Well we may have gotten ambushed, but it looks like the boys are just happy they got to stomp some heads." Wrex observed. "I don't think they'll be complaining about this mission anymore. Not when they have killing these aliens to look forward to."

That was good to know. Even if their investment only went so far as their own savage instincts, Liara could accept it. So long as they were in for the duration she'd be fine with it.

"Imagine they just hope you don't steal all their kills." Liara said towards Wrex in a complimentary fashion. "You were pretty impressive out there, almost felt sorry for the Kercheka and Sangheili."

"Yeah, just like back in the day, making things dead with lots of explosions." Wrex grinned as he laughed a bit. "Couldn't have done it without that stasis of yours, it gave me just enough time to get into position."

"You certainly pulled it off with your usual flair." Liara agreed with a light smile. "What about the core Kayap mentioned though? What did it look like?"

Wrex shrugged slightly.

"It was filled with some kind of energy, probably plasma or maybe a fuel cell." Wrex explained. "I'm not sure. All I know is it was highly volatile, although that almost goes without saying."

Their conversation was interrupted by a cough from one of Liara's men. She looked to him to find Kayap at his feet. He wasn't quivering for once though. Instead he had his arms out towards her.

"He says he wants his cuffs off." The human merc said gruffly.

Wrex just rolled his eyes.

"Uh huh, and I want a lifetime supply of Ryncol." He grumbled. "Doesn't mean I'm gonna get it."

Liara wouldn't deny she wasn't suspicious at the request. She wasn't about to just go through with it, even though Kayap had cooperated thus far, but she still wanted to hear him out. She bent down and looked at the little Kayap straight in the eye.

"Why should I release your chains?" She asked him sternly. "So you can run back and warn your friends about us?"

Kayap shook his head frantically.

"Can't go back. Kayap never go back." He explained sadly.

"Why not?" She asked him.

"They see me with you." The little gas breather elaborated. "They think me help you. Me did help you. Kayap go back, they kill me. You see them try in fight! Kayap has to stay. Me help you more. Just release cuffs. They useless now, nowhere to go, have to stay. Me show you to hiding place if you do!"

Liara started to think and looked back at Wrex. The Krogan didn't seem convinced.

"You really buy that?" He asked her. "How do we know he's not just going to run off or try to grab one of our guns?"

"They were shooting at him, I saw it." Liara assured Wrex. "And from what I saw on my ship, the sangheili didn't exactly seem to care all that much about their lives. Perhaps the Unggoy are lower on the hierarchy."

The little gas sucker suddenly bobbed his head up and down.

"Sangheili treat Unggoy like dirt. Worse than dirt." He swore. "They throw us into fight and expect us not come back."

It was hard to just outright trust her prisoner, but he seemed sincere. Besides, he wasn't much of a threat. Anyone in the group could easily take him down before he got off a shot. Still, it was a bit risky to just release his bonds. Liara looked back to Wrex, but he seemed to know already what her answer would be.

"You're not gonna give him a gun at least, are you" He asked her grumbling.

"I may be compassionate, but I'm not stupid, Wrex." Liara replied sternly.

"That I know, T'Soni." Wrex complied. "Just keep your eyes on him okay? Even if he is telling the truth maybe he'll enjoy the extra attention from an asari. I know tons of people who would."

Liara rolled her eyes at Wrex's little joke. She then released Kayap and let the cuffs drop to the ground. The little alien rubbed his wrists a little before going back to standing on all fours.

"Now, where are your friends hiding out?" she asked him.

Kayap pointed in the direction of the tank had come from.

"Ruins that way." He exclaimed. "Find me good spot to look. Me show you where base is! Promise!"

---

Kayap was good as his word, however grammatically challenged that word was. After an hour of guiding the tomkah's driver through the dust they finally made it to the outskirts of the Kercheka city ruins. It wasn't much to look at, like most cities on Tuchanka. It was a nuclear blasted radiation scarred corpse of a once thriving urban jungle. All that remained were the crumbling highways, some smaller buildings and what looked to be a toppled skyscraper lying on its side. All Liara could see was utter devastation, no signs of life or something worth holding. At least Urdnot Territory had a few tall buildings standing, this place was a mess off concrete and rock scattered across the ground. There was nothing she could see from here that stood out to her as a place to start looking. No funnels of smoke indicating a fire, no visible camps, nothing.

She knew she shouldn't be that surprised by the look of the place, this was Tuchanka. Given their history, however, Liara expected something to stand out, something that pointed to Kercheka's longevity.

"How did the Kercheka live here isolated for so long?" Liara asked. "The place looks absolutely barren."

"No one knows, but there are a ton of rumours." Wrex began to explain. "Some clans say they have an underground tunnel network and they use to steal from other Clan food stores or that there is a crashed Salarian supply ship they are keeping secret. They could be just too stubborn to die from starvation. No one has ever gone this far into their territory to find out, but it's exactly why other clans like Onchokot keeping arguing why they should own it instead."

"Suspicion and paranoia does often feed conflict." Liara conceded. "I suppose we'll find our answers to those questions when we locate their lair."

That wouldn't be easy in this ruin, but luckily they had Kayap. He had gotten them this far, time for him to prove Liara's faith in him. She bent down to the little gas breather as he scanned the horizon.

"Do you know where the Kercheka camp is from here, Kayap?" She asked him calmly.

Kayap didn't look at her. He instead kept scanning the devastated skyline. Thirty seconds later he suddenly stuck his arm out in front of him and rapidly pointed it in one direction.

"There! Blocky building there!" he shouted.

Liara grabbed a pair of binoculars from one of her men and looked to where Kayap was pointing. It took her awhile, but she soon saw it. It was a large foreboding building somewhat in the shape of a trapezoid surrounding it appeared to be smaller but very sturdy looking towers. She passed the binoculars to Wrex pointed his gaze towards the building. Liara bent down to Kayap's level once more and asked him if he was sure that was the building, the little alien only nodded.

"What is that place, Wrex?" She asked the Krogan leader.

"Looks like some old prison from before the bombs fell." Wrex surmised. "I'm not that shocked its still standing, those places were veritable fortresses. Had to be to keep Krogan criminals locked up."

It was a bit weird to hear that Krogan society once had a system of law and order given their violent past. But Liara supposed the Krogan couldn't have gotten so far as a society unless they maintained something of a sort before nuclear hellfire destroyed their civilization.

"What crimes would lead to locking a krogan up?" Liara asked him. "I'd imagine you'd just kill the offenders."

"It would mostly be prisoners of war or deserters." Wrex elaborated. "There were probably a few common criminals like thieves that no one thought were worth killing, but for anyone else the place would just be a glorified holding pen until execution. Not exactly a glorious existence for many Krogan, it was worse during the Rebellions from what I hear."

Liara didn't need to know about that part. All she needed to know is that if these places were built like fortresses then it was a perfect spot for the Kercheka clan to hide out in along with their new alien friends. The problem now was how they were going to get there. Now that they were this close to the Kercheka camp, they were bound to stumble across enemy patrols. They needed to avoid them best as possible. Liara turned to Kayap once more.

"Can you get us to the prison safely?" she asked him.

"Know patrol path like back of hand." Kayap assured. "Had me walk it for weeks. Got blisters on blisters. Follow me."

The unggoy rushed forward a bit on all fours, but remained close by ushering the others to follow him into the ruins below them. Wrex huffed with a grimace as they moved out. His eyes were fixed on Kayap even as he spoke to Liara.

"Are you sure we can trust that little midget?" He asked her. "He could be leading us into some kind of trap."

"I think he's too scared of you and your warriors to try even if he wanted to." Liara replied, trying to reassure her friend. "Plus, he doesn't seem like the devious type."

Wrex sighed slightly. Liara could just sense the cynicism in his breath.

"I just don't think we should be so willing to follow a former enemy around is all." Wrex explained. "He may not be the scheming type, but how can we be sure he's telling the truth about his people killing him if he tries to go back?"

"We can't, not right now at least." Liara admitted. "But he had the perfect opportunity to try back during the ambush and he didn't. I'm trying to trust my instincts here, Wrex, and they're telling me he's not a threat."

Wrex grumbled in his throat for a moment, shaking it off.

"For what it's worth I hope you're right, it would be a shame to waste the ammo on something so squishy." He relented.

---

Following Kayap into the ruins, everyone got a close look at the devastation the Kercheka lived in. What little remained of the sandblasted nuclear torched rubble was complemented by what few vehicles lay about the broken roads. Rusting old cars from before the nuclear fire that scorched the planet littered the area, making what should've been a straight road into a winding maze. Wrex and his men clearly didn't like it, Liara shared the sentiment. This area was pretty good ambush territory. Whether Kayap knew that or not, she couldn't be sure. He was still staying pretty close to them all, not running off on them.

Kayap suddenly stopped, sticking his nose up into the air and sniffing deeply. His demeanour went from relatively calm to extremely agitated in seconds. He scrambled back closer to her, waving his arms like mad.

"Hide! Hide!" He screeched at them.

He scampered across the rusting cars into one of the ruined buildings and kept motioning them to follow him frantically. The group quickly followed suit, getting into cover with the little methane sucker who was now in his usual state, crumpled up on the floor shivering. Liara soon saw what had spooked him so hard. Walking down the ruined road, turning the next corner and coming their way, were a group of Kercheka scouts patrolling the area.

"I thought he said he knew where all the patrol routes were." Wrex growled.

"Well they must've changed some of them around or they're lost." Liara reasoned, doing her best to draw any suspicion from Kayap deliberately doing this.

It didn't make sense for him to warn them about running into a patrol in Liara's mind. Nor did it make sense for him to tell them all to hide. Although Kayap's cowardly antics oddly seemed to dismiss the notion of him backstabbing them for her.

"Sssshhh! They hear us." He hushed them.

Kayap's advice was sound enough. They just had to sit tight in these ruins and let them pass. With any luck they wouldn't notice them. The Kercheka slowly made their way through the maze of rubble and rusting metal. Eventually they began to pass by their position. Everyone pressed into cover, even the krogan going against their usual nature. Although Liara could see the idea of letting the enemy past pained even Wrex, as he grit his teeth and tightly gripped his shotgun.

One of the krogan stopped mid walk and looked to the ruins. Either a sound caught his ears or something caught his eyes, either way Liara readied her gun for the possible fight ahead. The krogan leaned in to look into the ruin ever so slowly, just inches away from Liara's position. She aimed down the sight of her pistol, expecting to be spotted in the next few seconds.

But she never fired her weapon, she didn't have to. Something hit the krogan in his eye and he fell over dead. Suddenly there was shooting, but nothing from their side. Liara looked out to see two Kercheka scouts take several shots to their torsos before going down. Liara could distinctly make out the laser sights that were aimed at them. The Kercheka scouts shot at buildings up the road with sporadic fire. They weren't hitting anything, that much was apparent, but something was taking them out with relative ease.

The biggest surprise, however, was soon to come. Liara looked above on top of one of the ruins, thinking she saw something. Said something reached the edge of the destroyed building and launched itself from on high. A black blur crashed down on one of the krogan, stabbing it in the neck with some kind of blade. Before the Kercheka scout could react a terrible electrical shock erupted, coursing through his entire body.

The black blur jumped off the krogan as he fell down, his flesh smoking. The figured followed the action up with a slash across a near krogan's throat. It wasn't enough of a cut to kill a creature like a krogan though, so Liara didn't see the point of it at first. As she looked at the krogan grasping at the cut though, she thought she saw some kind of resin or gel in the wound. The fast moving shadow stepped away quickly at that moment and pressed down on the hilt of his sword. Before Liara could comprehend what was going on the krogan's head had exploded.

The shadow had stopped moving now and it now became clear what it was. He was clad in black armour from head to toe, with only a few yellow highlights on the arms. He sported a distinctive rounded helmet, albeit this one slightly more sloped in the back than most. His chest plate was stuck out to give his concave bone structure look a bit more impressive. It was unmistakable a salarian and that meant the mysterious snipers had to be salarians as well.

There were salarians on Tuchanka. That meant only one thing and Wrex seemed to already know it. With the Kercheka dead, he vaulted himself out of the ruin and pointed his gun to the salarian in black. The salarian replied in kind by readying the sword.

"If you don't want your friend dead you'll come out now!" he shouted out into the ruins.

Apparently, they didn't need much coaxing. Pooling out of the rubble nearby appeared a small squad of salarians, moving in their direction, their weapons aimed at the new krogan target. The other Urdnot soldiers had stepped in behind their chief to back them up as the two groups neared each other with the salarian in black in the middle. Liara stepped out with her team, hoping to mediate things before they got heated again.

"Wrex, they followed your instructions." She hesitantly piped up. "Maybe you should lower your gun."

"Them first." Wrex growled. "Krogan know better than to turn a blind eye to salarians."

It didn't look good and the prospects of a peaceful resolution seemed dim. But thankfully someone managed to get the salarians to lower their guns, their Commanding Officer.

"Stand down, men!" Cried out a voice from the back of the salarian squad. "We blew our cover to help them, remember?"

The salarians lowered their guns, as did Wrex, but his eyes steeled at the voice. Liara knew exactly what he was thinking, they knew that voice. As the salarians parted the familiar greenish speckled face of a salarian clad in brownish armour stepped forth. He walked over to the black armoured salarian and nodded once, getting him to sheath his sword in the scabbard on the small of his lower back.

Wrex wasn't even about to let the salarian commander get the first word in on things it seemed.

"Captain Kirrahe," he growled, "as if this day couldn't possibly get worse. Now the blasted Void throws the damned STG at us."

"It's Major Kirrahe now, Urdnot Wrex," The salarian replied, trying to sound professional in his answer, but one could detect the slight bit of distaste in his voice. "And you're welcome. I just saved your life from those Kercheka."

"Like hell you did." Wrex grimaced at him. "You just saved me the bullets."

Liara stepped forth to cool things down a bit. Wrex and Kirrahe weren't exactly friends. The last time they had met was on a little planet called Virmire when Kirrahe had called Wrex's people a mistake. That and the salarian had told them they had to destroy a cure for the Genophage that the rogue Spectre Saren had cooked up. While the Krogan had put his anger over the necessities over the mission aside, Liara knew he hadn't stopped disliking and outright hating the salarian officer.

A Special Tasks Group squad, or STG, certainly complicated things further. But unlike Wrex, Liara considered Kirrahe a friend. Maybe they could use this to their benefit. But first things first, what were they doing here?

Kirrahe turned to Liara as she approached and his stern frown turned to a pleasant slight grin.

"Dr. T'Soni," he greeted, "what a surprise seeing you here."

"I could say the same thing, Major." Liara replied back. "I wasn't aware STG was allowed to have people on Tuchanka."

"My people uplifted the krogan, Doctor." He answered, and yet at the same time did not answer. "Then we developed the disease that keeps them in check. We have an invested interest in keeping tabs on them."

Wrex growled again and approached the Major.

"You don't have the authority to do that." He informed the Major. "You're not CDEM and you're not Krogan, you have no business here."

"And if I'm not mistaken this is Kercheka territory, not Urdnot." Kirrahe rebuffed. "Do you really want to make that kind of argument?"

Wrex almost stepped forward another inch, but he was blocked by the black armoured Salarian. Thankfully, Kirrahe put his hand on his man's shoulder before he did anything beyond that.

"Easy, Agent Saya Empa, we don't need a confrontation arising over this."

The Salarian in black, Saya Empa, pulled back once more but remained close to the Major. Wrex just looked to Liara and stepped to her side. It was a slight indication he was willing to let her do the talking.

"Why exactly are you in Kercheka territory, Major?" Liara asked.

"Sadly, I believe that is on a need to know basis." Kirrahe replied. "And does it matter? I think we're doing the other Clans a favour. Our intel suggests that Kercheka isn't exactly popular right now with many people."

"We don't need you policing us." Wrex snarled at Kirrahe, his anger still apparent. "We can handle our own problems just fine, including Kercheka. The last time you people started interfering we ended up sterilized. So don't claim you're doing us favours."

Kirrahe was unmoved by Wrex's disagreement, but Liara remained persistent in her questioning. She could read the wear and tear on these salarians, they had been here for a while. They were dirty, covered in dust and some looked tired. The fact they knew so much about the Kercheka says they had studied this Clan beforehand, which meant they had know what was going on in part.

"If you have that kind of intel you've been here for a while now." She observed. "You must be aware of Kercheka getting outside help from an alien party. That's why we're here and I imagine the same goes for you. So, at this point I think secrecy is redundant."

"I have my orders, T'Soni." Kirrahe replied steadfastly. "I can't break them, not even for friends."

"I understand, Major, but I have my own intel on who those aliens are. I'm willing to give up that information to you. I can only assume you helped us, besides just us being friends, because you wanted help as well." Liara coolly stated. "Now, we can help each other, but we need to be open with everything first."

Kirrahe gave it some thought. You could always see a salarian's brain working, the gears running in his head as he went over the stuff you told him at lightning speed. It was the eyes, those big eyes made telegraphing someone way too easy. At last he sighed and relented.

"I do admit this mission hasn't gone as well as we planned." The Major said shaking his head. "We expected something in the vein of a PMC or rogue military element, not... this."

He took another breath before he continued.

"About a week ago we received information regarding an attack by the Blood Pack on one of our genetic research labs in our outer colonies." Kirrahe explained. "It didn't seem to match their regular MO. What really stood out was the descriptions of some of their arms. There were reports of needles that exploded, rapid fire plasma weapons, the kind of stuff that just didn't make sense for Blood Pack to be carrying around. We suspected they were being supplied weapons from an outside party. Weapons that helped them carry out the raid. We tracked them back to Tuchanka and the Kercheka Clan. Then we confirmed they had a sufficient stockpile of new weapons, said energy weapons. And worse, plasma weapons mounted on vehicles. It was a shock to say the least."

Out of all of that, what interested Liara the most was the raid on the salarian lab. Why would the Blood Pack or Kercheka want to raid that? What value was there for Krogan? Unless it had actually been the aliens rather than the Kercheka that had issued the contract for the raid on the lab and the Kercheka were just another partner. But still, why?

"What exactly did they go to the lab for?" Liara asked.

"We know they took something, but they never told us what." Kirrahe admitted. "I can't be more help there. What I can tell you is that their headquarters is heavily fortified."

"It's a prison, we know how well defended it is." Wrex cut in.

Kirrahe shook his head slightly.

"No, like I said they have plasma mounted vehicles, a lot of them." He elaborated. "They're stationed around the perimeter. A frontal assault is suicide and we can't figure out a way around them. We've been stuck in these ruins trying to come up with a plan and stay out of sight."

"Perhaps then we can provide a way inside." Liara informed him.

She turned to the ruins and motioned her arm towards her as she called for Kayap. Before long the little alien stumbled out of the ruins and bent down next to her.

"What is that?" Kirrahe asked confused.

Wrex looked at the Unggoy and got a bemused look on his face. He turned back to Kirrahe, trying his best not to laugh as he spoke.

"It's a baby elcor." Wrex chuckled slightly.

"His name is Kayap, and I think he can get us inside the prison." She explained to the Major, turning to Kayap when she had finished. "Is there another way besides the front?"

Kayap was quick to respond with frantic series of nods.

"Yeah! Yeah! Big pipe, underground, lead to base. Was taking you to it before. Lead right to below prison floor."

"And you know that how?" Wrex asked him, not entirely convinced.

Kayap fiddled around with his fingers a little before he admitted the reason.

"Me... used it to slip off from patrol and sleep." He explained sounding a bit embarassed. "Only me knew about it."

"Why am I not surprised?" Wrex announced as he sighed heavily.

It seemed like their best shot at getting inside. If they broke into the base from below they could maintain the element of surprise and catch the aliens unawares. Kirrahe wasn't entirely convinced of the idea though.

"Even if we do get inside we'll have to contend with those plasma tanks they got in the perimeter." He informed them all. "We don't exactly know how to take them out."

"We do," Liara told him straight up, "working together we may in fact have a better shot at infiltrating and then getting out of their alive."

Again, not everyone was sold on that idea. Wrex's krogan included.

"Now we're working with the frogs? What kind of pyjak crap is this?" One asked.

Liara looked to Wrex, hoping he'd see reason in this. She could tell how much he didn't like the prospect of working with Kirrahe again, but this was bigger than petty past grievances. Once Wrex got a good look at Liara's gaze, his tune shifted. He was quick to assert his authority back over his troops.

"We are not working with the salarians, we are using them." Wrex explained to them proudly. "Because they know we'd probably kill them or the Kercheka will kill them before they can do any real damage. They'll follow and do their part in destroying the tanks around the perimeter. We will focus on the aliens inside. We're getting the fun job here, don't complain."

That seemed to shut them all up. With that all resolved for now, Kayap took point again to lead them to the pipe. Liara decided to explain to Kirrahe how to destroy the tanks on the way. All the while she kept looking at Wrex, trying to see if he was going to be okay with this. At least this time, both he and Kirrahe had the same goal in mind. With any luck, that would be enough for him to look past their many differences. Knowing what she did of the krogan, she had faith in that chance. Wrex didn't hold many grudges, thankfully. Any person he did hold one with was probably long dead by now in any case.

---

The sewer was old and crumbly and smelled of a number of foul substances Liara did not care to think about, let alone imagine their origins. The pipe they were trekking through was cramped and dark. It forced them to use their flashlights if they wanted to find their ways. It sort of reminded Liara of the many abandoned mining facilities they had raided on the first Normandy. That was especially so with the ankle deep water sloshing around her feet as she walked.

She was just grateful her current armour set was water proof. Just because she was a former archaeologist who didn't mind getting dirty, that didn`t mean she was fine with the idea of bodily waste pouring into her shoes and onto her feet. Regardless, Liara still wished she had Tali's enviro-suit. Not only was it even better sealed than her current attire, it had olfactory filters for the various horrible smells.

Wrex was up front with her, their forces were directly behind them, mashed together in the middle of the column, while the Salarians and Kirrahe took up the rear. It was probably best for now if it remained that way for the time being.

"I would've thought you'd be over Kirrahe's insults by now." Liara mentioned to Wrex. "It's been over two years."

"It's not about him telling me to my face my people are a mistake, Liara." He assured her. "I just inherently try to be cautious around salarians. Granted I don't hate them like Wreav does, but I have issues trusting them. Salarians are notoriously tricky. Their minds work at super speed. It's hard to figure them out."

"I highly doubt Kirrahe intends to betray us." Liara tried to assure him.

"No, but he is here to police issues we should handle on our own." Wrex replied. "He's here to remind us who's really in charge of Tuchanka now and I don't intend to let him get away with that. I'm the Clan Leader, it's my job to keep the other Krogan in line, and he needs to realise that. Every time I look at him now, it's a constant example of how they want to control our daily life. It makes me sick."

Liara could understand Wrex's frustration. He was in charge of his people and here was a group a black ops soldiers from another planet trying to do his job. She wanted to tell him that there was no sense in dwelling on it. There was no way he was going to piece together Kercheka's outside involvement on his own. Like he said before, he had needed evidence first and Liara was the only one that got him one.

That and letting an STG team run around Tuchanka for who knew how long was probably eating at him too. He should've been able to find out about their presence and dealt with them quickly. At least that was what he had to be thinking. Liara could only make assumptions about her friend for now, and she didn't want to agitate him further with the salarians nearby. To his credit, he had been doing his best to keep things civil and his soldiers were following by example.

"You're taking this a lot better than I thought." Liara observed.

"You should be congratulating my warriors." Wrex told her. "I can suppress my urge to bash their little froggy heads in easy. They don't usually have the same restraint."

"Kirrahe still didn't leave a great impression on you." Liara recognized. "I know you're probably still angry with him, forcing your hand like that on Virmire. It couldn't have been easy to just let that cure go up in flames."

Wrex didn't say anything for awhile, he kept his head down and his step became heavier. It was a strange change of demeanour, but it wasn't anger, it looked like shame.

"There was no cure." Wrex just blurted out.

Liara looked at him confused.

"What are you talking about?" She asked him.

"I told Shepard this in private when he arrived on Tuchanka," he began to explain in a sombre tone. "I went back to Virmire after the Normandy blew up. Checked out the crater that was Saren's Lab. I tried to find a trace of the cure, something I could use, maybe it survived. I don't know why I thought that, but all I found out was that Saren hadn't figured out a cure, he was just pumping out shock troop krogan clones."

Once more, Wrex remained silent as they walked forward. Liara didn't press him to continue, fearing she'd interrupt his thoughts.

"I almost turned on the one real friend I had in decades for a lie." He said sighing deeply. "It was humbling to say the least."

Wrex had never been one to wear his heart on his sleeve. This was the closest he had ever gotten to it. It was nice to see the Urdnot leader had perspective on himself, but really, in a way, she already knew he was capable of that.

"I'm glad neither of you pulled the trigger that day." Liara informed him, trying to lighten his mood. "The galaxy would be lesser for it if we had lost you, Wrex. We wouldn't have your charming personality for one."

Wrex just gave his trademark chuckle as they kept sloshing through the water.

"Don't focus so much on what you might've done back then. Just remember what you actually did." She continued with a brief a touch of his shoulder. "In a way, I was proud of you that day. I'm not sure how many of us in your position would've found the strength to do the right thing, even if it was against what you wanted."

"Nah, it was mostly Shepard, let's not deny that." Wrex corrected her. "He convinced me, reminded me of why the Krogan were really dying. He's the reason I'm here in the first place."

"That may be true," Liara admitted, no Normandy crew member would deny that fact, "but he didn't make you do any of the things you've done as Clan Leader, he just inspired you. I find that learning something about yourself and what you want is one thing, but actually doing something with that knowledge is another. Be proud of yourself for committing his words into your actions."

Wrex only nodded and they continued to walk forward in silence for awhile.

"So, what did Shepard help you figure out about yourself then?" He asked her suddenly.

It was a fair question, but it wasn't an easy answer. Shepard had made her learn a lot of things and she had done a lot of things with what he had taught her. However, it was hard to explain it all in the proper words and she wasn't really ready to anyway.

"Mainly that mining lasers are incredibly useful for breaking out of ancient prothean ruins." She quickly pieced together.

"And bringing them down at the same time too." Wrex added with a laugh. "Good times, hopefully we'll have more."

"If this mission succeeds we most certainly will." Liara assured him.

Kayap eventually came to a stop above a small grate a few inches above them. Small beams of light pooled in from above, along with what little fresh air one could breathe in.

"That lead inside." He said. "We under them now."

"Well, a fat lot of good that does us from down here." Groaned one of the Wrex's men at the sight of the grate, it was an apt choice of words.

"I don't suppose anyone brought some explosives?" Added one of the Shadow Broker mercs, with his tone sounding rather annoyed at where they had been led to.

Explosives would work, but they couldn't just expect to strap a bunch of grenades to the grate and hope it would make a hole big enough for them to climb out of. They'd need specific shaped charges if they were going to get inside from here. Luckily for them, it seemed one of Kirrahe's men was on top of that.

Pushing his way through the crowd of krogan warriors, human operatives and turian mercs, was that black armoured Salarian, Saya Empa. He didn't say a word, much like before. He just passed Liara and Wrex and walked up to the grate. Kayap ran back to Liara as he approached. The Salarian kept looking at the grate for a moment, seemingly studying it for awhile.

"If you have an idea we'd love to hear it." Wrex expressed a bit agitated at the salarian. "Probably this century, if you don't mind telling us that is."

Slowly, Saya Empa pulled out his sword again. Liara got a better look at the blade this time. The hilt appeared to be streamline with the razor edge. The sword itself had a bluish tint to its metal, only curved towards the top. Along one edge of the blade, the top edge of the sword to be precise; was a strip of metal that continued on from the hilt. It stopped following up the side of the sword when it reached near the tip, allowing it to still be used as a stabbing weapon no doubt, but that still didn't explain the metal strip on one side of the blade.

"What kind of sword is that?" Liara asked Kirrahe as he approached.

"Shiakala," the Major replied, "one of STG's most recent developments. There are only a few hundred in service and they're reserved for very highly skilled infiltrator agents."

"Swords sound a bit primitive for you salarians if you don't mind me saying." Wrex suggested.

Liara watched as Saya Empa flicked something on the hilt and held his sword low. After a few seconds he scrapped the top of the wall in a circular motion before backing away towards them. Looking closely, Liara saw that same familiar resin she believed she spotted before and just as before Saya pressed down on the hilt and the resin just ignited. An explosion broke through the concrete around the grate, when the dust settled there was a large hole in the ceiling. It was their way inside.

"It's not your average sword." Kirrahe said looking to Wrex, sounding rather smug.

"It secretes an explosive gel." Liara announced, ousting the little secret. "It can be used to discretely breech areas and leave little evidence behind of its use."

"That's very Astute of you, T'Soni. Depending on how much you apply to the target it can do more than that." Kirrahe added. "STG always needs explosives now and again, but it's hard to conceal them or carry them when you need to pack light. The gel is fabricated within the hilt of the weapon with tiny replicators and pooled across the blade on command when it is pressed. The strip that covers the back end of the sword is how the gel goes from the hilt to be siphoned to the weapon proper. Once it leaves the blade, it solidifies into a potent combustible. Given its temporary liquid nature, however, not many possess the finesse to properly apply it without risk of collateral damage."

That wasn't all the sword could do though, Liara had seen it pull something else out in the ruins.

"And what about the electrical current it produces, Major?" Liara asked. "Doesn't that seem like overkill?"

"The metal strip does generate an electrical flow through use of a small battery pack also contained within the hilt, yes." Kirrahe admitted. "It's mainly for use against potential synthetic targets, Geth, Mechs-"

"Or bigger targets that you need to put down because a simple stab won't do it." Wrex growled, cutting the salarian off. "Don't try and fool me, Kirrahe. This weapon is designed for krogan first and synthetic enemies second, isn't it?"

Kirrahe didn't deny that of course, in fact he didn't respond to the question period. And why would he feel should anyway? He had never felt like he needed to justify his government or his actions to Wrex before. So why would he start now? Instead, Kirrahe joined Saya Empa as he walked towards the freshly made hole.

"I suggest we keep moving." He told them. "The Kercheka are still our priority."

Wrex grumbled to himself as he approached the hole with Liara.

"So the salarians are making weapons against us." He said with a growl. "Why am I not surprised?"

"You can't say they don't have their reasons," Liara said trying to calm him, "what with the Kercheka and your brood-brother."

"I understand," Wrex assured her, "but it's just another reminder the galaxy is still afraid us and how far we have to go to fix that. Even with the genophage they still see us as if we were a plague of thresher maws waiting to strike."

"There's nothing we can do about that now, Wrex." Liara told him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We need to focus on why we're here, the Kercheka and finding Shepard."

Wrex just nodded simply, what little rage left inside him dying as they turned to the hole and climbed up.

Inside they found themselves in one of the larger rooms of the prison, perhaps it used to be a gym or garage of some sort. They couldn't tell because of what was occupying it currently. There were six of the deadly plasma mortar tanks they had encountered, three of each lined up against the walls. They were unoccupied, but it was still chilling to look at them all.

"There were exactly this many tanks outside in the perimeter area." Kirrahe observed. "If there are other rooms in this prison complex filled with these..."

"Kercheka might be thinking of making a play for the other clans' territory." Liara suggested.

"Over my dead hump they are." Wrex growled. "We're shutting this place down."

For once it seemed Kirrahe and Wrex agreed on something. The salarian quickly formed a strategy as everyone gathered around in a huddle.

"My people can secure the perimeter." He assured them. "We'll deal with the tanks currently operational. That should make our escape easy enough."

"Fair enough, but what about the Kercheka leader and their alien friends?" Liara asked.

"They're probably in the main courtyard at the center of the cellblocks." Wrex surmised. "If I was fortifying a prison as a fortress that's where I'd set up. With any luck, the aliens are there with them."

So a plan was more or less formed and the teams split up. Liara and Wrex's groups went one way while Kirrahe's team went the other. They were to meet back up in the central cellblock area when the fighting started. That wouldn't happen until one group heard the other shooting. It seemed like the most practical form of a signal, given they were on the krogan homeworld.

---

Slinking through the halls of the prison, Liara found the place eerily silent. For awhile they only encountered a few krogan, only really hearing their voices echo through the halls. Liara thought this peculiar, expecting a lot more patrols in their path to the central cellblock.

That was not to say the place was entirely abandoned. Now and then they saw some of the Kercheka guards moving through the prison themselves, just missing them by feet. It was unnerving, watching quick glimpses of the enemy as pass close so close to them.

Each time they saw Kercheka, they were forced to take shelter to avoid getting spotted and had to wait for them to move on. Thankfully, they were a lot of open cells on their way to their destination. Ducking into them proved the most effective way of keeping out of sight. One or two Kercheka may have saw a flickering shadow as they moved into cover, but they soon moved on, mostly in the same direction. Liara could just tell something was going on.

They continued to follow the directional lines on the floor and walls that spanned the complex, leading them ever closer to the central cellblock. They found cover in some demolished prisoner cells that looked down on the central chamber that was patterned in a kind of circle from the top to the very bottom. Above them was a steel cage dome. Below was the courtyard for the cellblock. As well as Liara's answer to why the prison felt so deserted.

The courtyard was crawling with Kercheka, who had made their own little camp in the middle of the prison. Right now it played host to most of the clan itself as they surrounded what Liara could only assume was the throne for the Clan Chief. There were boxes and two more of those plasma mortar tanks behind the throne. Between them were four smaller vehicles of similar aesthetic design, but they didn't look like tanks. Strewn about the courtyard itself were dozens of boxes and strange purple coloured equipment. They had definitely found where the aliens were holding up.

Getting out her binoculars, Liara looked down at the throne room below. She could make out a large intimidating krogan standing next to it. He wore dark purple armour and sported a matching blackish-violet crest. The shoulders of his armour were lined with heavy pads and there was a big bright blue streak that stretched from his neck to his sternum. Most damning of all though, he was standing next to a sangheili in gold armour and screaming at him from the looks of it.

"Recognize him, Wrex?" she asked her Krogan friend as she passed the binoculars to him.

Wrex took a look for about five seconds before he answered.

"Clan Leader Rekok," he grimaced, "yeah I know him. He's always makes a lot of idle threats and accuses the other clans of everything from stealing water to sending plagues of pyjaks his way. Even my father didn't like him and Rekok wanted to bring back the rebellions as much as anyone."

"Charming fellow," Liara said rather derisively, "it seems the sangheili is getting a taste of his hospitality at the moment."

"Any idea what he's saying?" Wrex asked.

Liara took the binoculars back and flipped on a laser microphone attachment. She just had to aim it at the conversation and it would be as clear to her as is she was standing next to them. It was pretty much what she expected it to be.

"You promised you would be discreet, that you would leave only enough survivors to spread rumours of our slowly approaching dominance!" Rekok shouted in a rage. "Now? Now I have Urdnots on their way! Your warriors should've stayed and fought, finished them, with or without the tank!"

"Then we would not know of their coming." Argued the sangheili back to his krogan counterpart, and sounding a lot more relaxed while he did. "They would be dead and we would be unprepared to face them."

"You've already sent half of my garrison to patrol the damn ruins!" Rekok shouted back. "How is that preparing?"

"They will be discovered in due time thanks to the doubling of patrols and the already potent forward guard will dissuade any frontal assault." The sangheili continued to argue. "Even if they do get in here, our forces will be ready. They are but one small group, they are nothing."

Rekok balked at the suggestion, throwing his hands up at the sangheili.

"You obviously don't know much of Urdnot. They're the dominant clan for a reason." He declared. "This would've been far simpler if you took that ship of yours and just started levelling what remains of their precious cities like I suggested from the beginning! We have the power now! Why did we not strike sooner?"

"Then you would've gained the ire of the CDEM prematurely and you wouldn't have lasted long against that kind of assault."

That was not from either Rekok or the sangheili. The voice was somewhat dimmed by not being in center frame, so Liara pulled the binoculars view back. When she did, she saw a third person climbing onto the throne platform. He wore familiar black and red armour, his skin was a yellowish green and he had four eyes, one on top of the other. Liara passed the binoculars over to Wrex so he could get a look to.

"It looks like Kirrahe isn't the only old acquaintance we're meeting again today." She said as Wrex took a look.

"Balak," Wrex snarled, "that slimy batarian asshole. What the hell is he doing here?"

Balak was not an old friend, but an enemy. Two years ago during their original stint on the first Normandy, Balak had orchestrated a terrorist attack on a human colony, Terra Nova. His plan was to use an asteroid that was being delivered there for mining purposes as a way to permanently render the planet uninhabitable and kill everyone on it in the process. Shepard had of course stopped him with their help, but the bastard threatened to kill the hostages he and his men had taken with a bomb he had planted. If Shepard tried to go after him, Balak would've detonated the explosives and killed said hostages. Shepard couldn't allow that, so he let the coward flee while he did what he did best, save lives.

It was the right choice, as far as Liara was concerned, but Balak hadn't taken defeat lying down it seemed. He had made new friends from the looks of it, friends with plasma guns and hover tanks. The batarian walked up to Rekok and the sangheili and into their current discussion. By his side was another Krogan, clad in full Blood Pack armour, although Balak only seemed to just notice him as he came into frame.

"Ah, Trox," Balak said as he looked over his shoulder at the Blood Pack merc. "Good, we're all here more or less, this will make things quicker."

Trox was wearing what looked to crimson red berserker armour, complete with fluorescent tubes attaching his helmet to his hump. The helmet itself was very ornate with a special looking design pattern that more properly outlined the face and eyes that lay behind it.

"I hope you make it quick," Trox told Balak, "my Blood Pack is waiting for me on the front defences. We will hold this prison, whatever Urdnot Wrex sends us."

"You'll be back to the mindless slaughter in good time, Trox." Balak promised. "But first we need to go over some important matters."

"What could be more important than the fact my plans are about to go up in flames if we don't find those interlopers and kill them?" Rekok demanded to know.

"Our deal, Rekok," Balak reminded him, "or have you forgotten why I came to you in the first place?"

Rekok stomped over to his throne and sat in it.

"Ugh, if you must know I've already transferred the striker assault rifles to your ship." Rekok swore as he rubbed his temples. "Our trade is complete."

"And the other weapon?" Balak pressed again. "Do you have it or not? Otherwise I may ask the good Field Master here to take your newly delivered tanks back."

"I will load it onto the ship once these interlopers are dealt with, not before." Rekok declared. "After this, I'm wondering how effective these new alien friends of yours are. It's bad enough they almost look like uglier versions of the turians, but if they can't stop one small squad Urdnot soldiers from coming into our lands with one tank what good are they in a fight?"

The Sangheili Field Master lit up a plasma sword and sneered at the krogan.

"If you truly wish to test my people's resolve than I welcome the challenge."

Balak looked exasperated at both of them and stood between the two.

"Enough, I'm not going to have you squabble like children over this crap." He grunted at them. "Remember, we have bigger designs in store. Rekok gets to expand and we get our weapons, but only if we cooperate."

Balak's words seemed to end the confrontation for the moment and Balak turned to Trox.

"I want you to make preparations for the Blood Pack to leave." He told him. "As soon as Rekok here feels secure we can move back out to our secondary base for further preparations."

"Kreave's orders were that the Blood Pack was not to move until he returned with the Covenant's end of our bargain." Trox snarled. "We still have not recieved our share of the plasma weapons."

Covenant? Was that the name these sangheili and unggoy aliens belonged to? It seemed to fit. Liara kept watching as Balak continued talking, she needed to learn more. The batarian crossed his arms and sighed apparently.

"According to reports from my associate in... elsewhere..." Balak began calmly, "I'm afraid Warlord Kreave... is dead along with his entire expeditionary force."

Trox seemed taken aback by the news, before rushing up and sticking his head into the batarian's face.

"You lie! How could Kreave be dead?" He demanded to know. "He was to capture, Shepard! How could he fail?"

"It would appear your Warlord wasn't up to the task and let him escape." Balak continued to explain. "I'm afraid your dear chapter leader is now lying dead in the ruins of glassed world. He didn't even get to have the honour of being killed by Shepard himself it would seem."

Trox raised his hand to strike the batarian, but Balak was quick to counter him.

"I thought you'd be pleased, Trox." He said in a rather coy tone. "With the chain of command decimated by this, the next person in line to take charge is you. I checked the line of succession myself. You're now the leader of this Blood Pack chapter, doesn't that just make that quad of yours feel big?"

Trox slowly lowered his fist, Balak once again calming the massive krogan.

"I still want those plasma guns." He demanded.

"With Kreave dead, the contract has transferred over to my men." Balak assured him. "When Shepard is dead, by their hand, we'll give you the plasma weapons and you can do what you please. Until then, remember I'm still paying you for this part of the operation, so it's best you do what I say and not listen to the words of a dead man."

Liara lowered the binoculars, both elated and disturbed by the information she had just learned. She turned to Wrex, who had been listening in on the conversation as well.

"Do you know what this means?" She asked him.

"Yeah, that Shepard is still alive and fighting these dumb pyjaks." Wrex chuckled.

"It also means he's a bit too busy right now to do his usual thing of saving the galaxy." Liara reminded him. "Right now, we need to find a way down there and take Balak down before he gets away with whatever Rekok is giving him."

Scanning the room once more, she quickly came up with a plan of attack. As she looked through her binoculars she spotted a number of the sangheili and batarians among the Kercheka krogan. While on alert, they didn't appear to be expecting a fight. They still had surprise on their side. They could catch them off guard.

"I can leave some of my men up here to provide fire support and keep them from getting to those vehicles at the back." Liara suggested to Wrex. "I'll move in with you and your people then while you work your way to the center of the courtyard. Kirrahe will probably be here by then to help us lock the place down further."

"Good, I'll handle Rekok then," Wrex told her, "you worry about Balak."

That sounded good to her. She wasn't about to get involved in a fight between two Clan Leaders. Besides, Balak had to know more about Shepard. She needed to confirm where he was and the batarian was the only one who could do that.

Wrex and his fellow krogan lined up on the side of the catwalk. They were a long way up, but for a krogan this kind of fall was nothing. Wrex motioned Liara over to him as he got in position.

"Grab on and don't let go." He told her.

Liara did as told and wrapped her arm around Wrex's head while he wrapped one around her waist. It was somewhat of a compromising position only made slightly less embarrassing by the fact some of her operatives had opted for a similar position with the other krogan, much to both parties' chagrin. Kayap, surprisingly, joined Liara, scrambling onto Wrex's back like a child wanting a piggyback. Either Wrex didn't mind or he just didn't notice the extra weight. Either way, Kayap was along for the ride.

Wrex was the first to jump down. The air rushed passed them as they fell to the ground below. Liara held on tightly before they slammed into the ground floor. Wrex's knees only bent slightly as he absorbed the impact. Liara let go of her krogan carrier just in time for Wrex to pull out his claymore and fire point blank into a Kercheka guard. With the enemy krogan down, Wrex opened the flood gate for both sides to start shooting.

Liara thought she could hear Rekok shouting in anger to "destroy them all" or something trite and predictable that sounded like it. She had come to expect stuff like that by now. She noticed Kayap scrambling among the tents, trying to stay out of firefight while everyone else rushed past him. Liara just hoped he stayed there and didn't try anything funny. Balak was her priority.

Wrex led the charge, as he always had as long as she had known him. One of the batarians tried to pull back before Wrex overran him, bulldozing him to ground, smacking him in the gut with his head. Wrex left him for the other members of Urdnot to finish him. He had already taken aim at another krogan with his claymore, this time firing an inferno round that set the Kercheka soldier on fire.

Liara for her part moved through the sea of small tents and boxes, making her way over to the open ground as the gunfire raged around her. As one kercheka guard ran from cover with two sangheili behind him, she stuck out her hand and let loose a biotic throw. The attack hurtled the big lizard into the sangheili, it was almost comical but she resisted the urge to laugh. She fired her heavy pistol as she moved forward, taking down a batarian among the crowd as she headed to cover behind a large metal box.

Curiosity got the better of her and she pushed the lid open a crack. She looked inside to see what appeared to be several pink looking weapons with needles sticking out of them. Before she got much of a chance to take a look at them something slammed into the side of the box. She looked over to see Kayap, huddled and afraid near her.

"Give me gun! Give me gun! Need to protect self! Give gun!"

Liara hesitated for a moment. Not so much because she didn't trust Kayap, but because giving him a gun would make him a target. And in the long run, was it really wise to give such a scared little creature a weapon?

"Just find a place to hide and stay there, Kayap." She told him sternly.

"No, no, no!" he shrieked. "Please give gun! Then me hide! Sangheili find me, he kill! Need gun!"

Liara just sighed and quickly reached into the box, shoving the pink weapon into the alien's little grubby hands.

"You remember this, Kayap." Liara told him firmly. "When we get out of this we're going to have a talk about your former friends in detail."

Kayap nodded at a lighting pace and hobbled off to find somewhere to hide probably. Liara just hoped she had made the right decision giving Kayap a gun... however strange that gun looked. Once he was out of sight, Liara vaulted over the box and back into the field of fire. Already it was filling up with a chaotic mix of enemy soldiers and Wrex's people. As per krogan tradition, the combat was up close, personal and brutal. Wrex's men were winning of course, at least against the Kercheka. She could spot more than a few of the sangheili giving them pause with those plasma weapons they carried.

As much as she wanted to help, she had her own people and Balak to worry about. She spotted one of her men pinned down under an overturned table while two batarians kept him pinned from behind another of the gun boxes. They were using those plasma rifles the sangheili were so fond of. Wasting no time, Liara sent a singularity over that trapped the batarians in a biotic vortex. As the tumbled about in the air, Liara let her operative finish them off while she ran over to his cover. The Shadow Net Operative's assault rifle was more than a match for the two helpless batarians.

She slid in beside the merc.

"Thanks, Doc." The human said panting, his voice that of the newbie she had brought with her. "Gotta tell ya, I was not expecting batarians on this trip. What are they doing all the way out here?"

"I'm not sure, but this has gotten a lot bigger than we thought." Liara informed him. "Did you see Balak? The lead Batarian who was with the Kercheka Leader?"

"I think I saw him. He bolted towards the north cell block, ma'am." The newbie explained. "Seemed to be in a hurry too, took that Blood Pack guy with him."

If they weren't staying to help Rekok, then they were probably getting to that weapon he had left for them near their ship. That was something else that bothered Liara. Kirrahe didn't mention anything about a ship. Did it only just arrive or was it hidden from his view somehow? This day was bringing few answers and far more questions.

"Regroup with the others and assist the Urdnot soldiers," she ordered the newbie. "I'll handle Balak."

She heard a primal roar and peeked above to see a charging Kercheka guard coming at them. She used her biotics to push the newbie away and rolled away backwards as the giant lizard careened through the table. She stood up quickly and began to fire on the krogan. The rounds didn't get through his thick armour, but they wouldn't need to. Armour was what warp was for after all. She flung a warp attack at the krogan just as he turned and when he tried to charge again, even as his body was covered in biotic fire, Liara let out another throw attack. This one not only pushed the krogan back but ignited the warp damage. The biotic detonation finished the job the warp had started.

With that krogan down Liara ran up through the fighting once more. She thought she spotted Wrex lifting one of the Kercheka over his head and throwing him into a sangheili who didn't roll fast enough to get away. As another sangheili approached, firing off his plasma weapon, Wrex let his armour absorb the energy bolts and aimed his shotgun square at the alien's head. He fired once and that was all it took to bring both the shields down and take of the sangheili's head.

Wrex could handle himself, she needed to find Balak. Lucky for her he wasn't too far away. She spotted the bastard making a hasty retreat with Trox, the Sangheili Field Master and a complement of each of their respected men. Liara pointed her weapon at the batarian and called out his name.

"Balak!" She bellowed. "Running off again? Why am I not surprised?"

Balak just turned to face the Asari, obviously recognizing the voice.

"Ah, Doctor T'Soni." He said, sounding somewhat pleased at her presence. "It's been awhile. I see you brought the lumbering lizard, I wonder where the Suit-Rat and the disgraced C-Sec officer are though."

"Don't play games, Balak." Liara snarled, gritting her teeth all the while. "You know where the Normandy is, what happened to it and my friends. You're going to tell me or I'm going to put a bullet square through your head."

Balak just laughed uproariously at the threat.

"Please, that little gun of yours won't be enough to pierce my shields at this range. Let alone kill me. Besides, I have all the cards here."

Balak's men pointed their guns at Liara, as did Trox's. Liara remained unshaken.

"I have several krogan and a sniper up top with a crosshair levied at your head." Liara replied confidently. "I say we're even."

The sangheili ignited his plasma sword once more.

"This is a waste of our energy, let me cut this heretic down and be done with her." he demanded.

Balak grabbed his hand and made him lower the sword.

"Don't be ridiculous," Balak scoffed, "Dr. T'Soni means much to Commander Shepard. Not as much as the quarian it would seem though, if the Lieutenant Commander`s intelligence is correct."

Liara gripped tighter on her gun as her eyes became centered on the bastard, trying her best not to show anything to him. Hell, he had just told her that he had been keeping tabs on Shepard`s team. She wouldn`t be surprised if her predecessor had passed one of his minions some information. Stupid batarian and his stupid big mouth was his own worst enemy.

"If we capture her, given his current position... elsewhere, he'll know he won't be able to help her." The batarian terrorist leader suggested. "He'll surrender to your fellow sangheili on the other side."

"Don't expect me to make it easy for you." Liara warned him.

Balak just looked off to the side, his expression becoming even smugger in its appearance. It was then one of her men contacted her.

"Doc, one got through to the tank! Look out!"

Liara's eyes went just a little wider at that message.

"That's why I have that." Balak said rather proudly.

Liara looked to see one of the hovering tanks powering up. All she had was a pistol and Wrex was busy. So when she saw it getting ready to fire she broke off from Balak and ran. The batarian would have to wait until they dealt with this thing.

The arc of blue plasma crashed down just inches away from where she was standing previously. She leapt to the ground before rolling over on her back and pointing a gun to her front. Balak and his entourage were on the move again and the tank was headed in her direction. If she could get around it, maybe hit it with a warp attack, she could weaken it just a bit or even outright destroy it. It was worth a try, better than lying down and dying.

"Surrender asari," Balak called out, "don't make me work for this. It isn't worth the effort."

As she got up though, she thought she some sort of distortion in the light. Liara watched it move behind the tank, before she heard metallic slice. Popping up on top of the tank was Saya Empa with sword in hand, scraping it against the armoured shell of the tank. He jumped off, landing a few feet away from the tank before pressing down on the hilt once more. The resin the sword had left behind detonated and the tank's backside blew out.

As the hovering hulk of metal crashed back down to earth, blue flames engulfing it, the salarian infiltrator rushed up to Liara.

"Where's Kirrahe?" She asked him.

Saya pointed up high to the opposite end of the cell blocks. Salarians popped their heads up one by one and began firing down into the courtyard below.

"Sorry we're late, Doctor T'Soni." Kirrahe's voice came in over the radio. "It took a bit longer to set the charges on the other tanks around the perimeter. We miss anything?"

"You actually have excellent timing." Liara responded. "Keep as many of the enemy bottled up inside here as you can. I need to get after their leader."

"You know me, T'Soni." Kirrahe replied. "We'll hold the line."

Before she could get after Balak again, however, she and Saya encountered another problem. A high pitched humming sound caught their attention. They looked to see two of the small vehicles Liara had spotted, speeding towards them. They were purple in colour, bulbous and had little wings that stuck out from their sides. They began firing plasma bolts at them, forcing the two split up as the vehicles sped by them. They each had a single driver, a sangheili from the looks of it, who sat in the open. So, unlike tank, at least they weren't nearly as well protected.

Saya rushed to the side while Liara stood her ground. The speedy little hovering vehicle circled back to run her down. She motioned her hand up and let a biotic throw circle around to strike the sangheili in the driver's seat from the side. He was thrown from the vehicle and crashed into a heap as his hovering speeder came to a stop. Liara had to side step away from it as it slid across the ground.

The sangheili stood up again and fired his plasma rifle. Liara ran over to the cover of the downed hover speeder. She loaded a new thermal clip into her pistol and took a breath. This wasn't going to be easy, but at least he wasn't in his little hovering motorbike anymore.

She jumped up and fired three shots into the sangheili as he closed the distance. Two hit, spiking his shields, but he rolled away from the third. These guys were agile in open spaces. She needed to slow him down. So she sent a stasis attack, striking the sangheili head on. He was frozen in place, the perfect opportunity for Liara to close the distance, if only a little, and line up a shot. She got close enough to the sangheili and balled her fist. She punched forward, sending a biotic wave careening into the alien just as the stasis lifted.

The sangheili was flung backwards, and then Liara fired what was left of her pistol's clip into his body before he could recover. Amazingly he was still breathing after all that and lunged at her with open wounds and a sharpened pair of talons. She dodged to the left and sent one more biotic punch into the side of the alien's head. This time the attack snapped the alien's neck, and he was done.

Liara looked to see where Saya had gotten off to. She found him leading the other speeder on a chase away from her. They passed by a krogan taking on two sangheili at once in close quarters with only their fists. Interestingly enough, they were actually holding their own against him from the looks of it. He flung one of the aliens onto the ground and pummelled him before punching the other away from his backside.

About that time, Saya jumped up and onto the vehicle that was chasing him, even as plasma bolts licked at his heels. The salarian infiltrator landed on the hood of the vehicle, gripping at the dashboard, before taking his sword and stabbing it into the alien's mouth before he could react. There was an electrical spark from the sword and the sangheili was shocked to death before Saya leapt off and let the vehicle crash into a group of tents.

Liara resumed her search for Balak and she saw him leaving with his entourage into one of the cell blocks. She ran after him, she could still catch him before he got too far. As she neared, the batarian looked to her and then over to the side.

"Stall her for a bit would you." She thought he heard him say.

Balak disappeared into the shadows of the prison and then Liara heard the clamping of metal. It sounded like extremely heavy footsteps. The shadows of the prison corridor grew greater and then stepping out of the darkened halls was something new and more terrifying.

It towered over even the biggest krogan, had spines on its back and carried what looked like some kind shield in one arm and a huge gun in the other. It was a huge lumbering thing that had no face that she could see, just something that vaguely looked like a head that protruded from the body on a neck. That wasn't the worst part though, the worst part was that behind it was a second alien just like the first one.

"By the Goddess." Liara looked on speechless.

Liara wasn't dumbstruck enough to just stand there, she quickly lunged to the side as the creatures powered up and fired their weapons. They shot out two huge streams of energy that slammed into the ground and exploded like rockets. She got up again and kept her sights on the aliens. How was she going to kill these things?

Luckily for Liara she had back-up. Whether because they now suddenly liked her, Wrex had ordered them, or they just wanted to pick a fight with the biggest thing in the room, the Urdnot krogan rushed the pair of giants.

"Stand back, asari!" Boasted one of them to her as he passed by. "Watch how a krogan handles giant monsters!"

The Urdnot soldier was armed with a gun of some sort. If she had read up on her weapons right, it was a Graal Spike Thrower, used to kill thresher maws. The krogan charged up the weapon and fired, launching spread of flechettes at the monstrous creatures, but it would fail. The beastly aliens just blocked the shot by holding up their giant shields. The flechettes bounced harmlessly off the arm-length safeguard, falling harmlessly to the floor.

The attack did give the other krogan nearby a chance to get close enough to the two aliens. They began striking them with the large bayonet knives on the end of the ends of their rifles. When that failed, they shot at them from point blank range into their back armour, but both attacks only seemed to annoy the aliens. The exercise was proven futile as one of the creatures just batted the krogan away with his shield like he was a mere rubber ball.

The Urdnots reluctantly pulled back, firing all the way. They only stopped to dodge the aliens as they rushed at them, swinging their shields like battering rams. They still kept trying to shoot the aliens in the back, but their weapons couldn't penetrate the thick armour that covered them. All their claymores managed to accomplish was blasting off a few spines from the creatures' backs.

Suddenly, Saya Empa sped past her field of vision towards the beasts. While she knew the salarian was capable, she didn't see what he could do against them. Perhaps he was planning to stick them with the explosive gel and detonate them.

Liara would only be able to speculate, as Saya leapt up, avoiding the strike of one of the creatures, and onto the alien's back. He was about the stab downward, when the second monster came up from behind and swung at the salarian. The infiltrator was forced to flee from his target before his fragile body was broken to pieces by the massive shield that apparently doubled as a club. The second alien instead struck his comrade's back, angering the first slightly as he pushed back against him. They quickly regained focus on their true target though and began firing on Saya Empa as he tried to retreat.

Liara tried to get their attention off them, firing at them with her pistol. She must've scored something, because she thought she saw a speck of orange blood spill out from the neck of one the creatures. The aliens turned and levelled their guns at Liara. But before they could fire, several pink needles collided into one of the alien's arms. It looked at colourful barbs perplexed, before an explosion ignited in a pink cloud. The second alien's arm was intact, but the blow had been made and he pulled back slightly. Liara looked to where the shots had come from and spotted little Kayap among one of the tents aiming that pink weapon she had given him.

To Liara's surprise, the little cowardly creature turned out to be her most unlikely saviour. The beastly aliens turned to fire on him, so Liara decided to return the favour. She threw out another throw, not expecting it to do much against them. Indeed, all it did was force one of the monsters into the other and their shots went wild, striking far and away from Kayap's position. The little Unggoy ran off once more, but the giant aliens didn't pursue. They pulled back to the corridor and when they were far enough down the hall fired their weapons again. The attack closed off the passageway as rocks fell down from the ceiling, sealing it off from the central cellblock.

Balak's orders were just to delay her and they had. He was probably halfway to his ship by now. She had to follow and fast. As she looked for another way out, she heard the weird buzzing again. She turned just in time to see another of the speeders headed for her. She turned to fire on it, but found it was unnecessary. In the next instant, Wrex came barrelling out of nowhere, collided into the side of the vehicle and sent it hurtling into a wall, destroying the vehicle and killing the driver inside.

"Get after Balak!" He told her. "I got this!"

With not even any time to say thanks, Liara ran to one of the nearby cells and to the back wall. She was joined by Saya, coming up from behind.

"I don't suppose you have more of that gel?" she asked him.

The salarian just flicked out his sword and sliced a circle into the wall, leaving behind a trail of resin. They stepped back, Saya pressed hard on the hilt and the wall exploded outward. The two quickly scrambled across the rubble and after Balak.

---

Wrex marched past the dead and dying of the Kercheka and sangheili as he approached the throne in the center of the room, his head held high and his claymore at his side. His men would deal with the downed eight foot aliens and the other Kercheka, but Rekok was his. The rival clan leader stood atop his stage, proud as ever, he hadn't even dirtied himself in the fighting, the coward.

"Urdnot Wrex," he said in a derisive tone, "if I knew you were coming I would've prepared a proper welcome."

"Yeah, I've heard that from you and every other idiot who's ever tried to kill me," Wrex growled as he approached. "You have a lot to answer for, Rekok. Attacking Urdnot allies and their caravans was a stupid idea, even for you. That mistake is going to cost you your clan and your life. Was it worth it?"

"Worth it to see Clan Urdnot put in its place once and for all, Wrex." Rekok argued. "It was bad enough when your damn father thought he was capable of heading up the throne, or when Wreav and his bluster were in charge for all those years you were gone, but then you come in with your 'reforms.' You're probably the worst of your whole damn family line for that alone."

Wrex thought he heard one of the Kercheka running up behind him to take him down. He quickly turned half way around to deliver a backhanded punch to the attempted backstabber, knocking him to the ground with ease.

"I'll take that as a compliment, Rekok." Wrex replied, never taking his eyes off the Kercheka leader. "But I'm still going to kill you anyway, so it isn't going to change much."

Rekok just laughed.

"You? Kill me? Please, you've grown soft in your time away." He argued, still chuckling as he did. "Living among aliens has made you weak and use those biotics of yours as a crutch. I can kill you with my bare hands and when I do, Clan Urdnot will be mine and I'll be the dominant clan!"

"I really have to figure what kind of red sand you're taking, Rekok." Wrex said as he got on the stage. "These delusions of yours must be very entertaining. As for a crutch, I don't need biotics to snap your pathetic little neck."

Wrex let his claymore drop to the floor. He then pulled out a knife and flung it into the ground at his feet. If Rekok wanted to do this bare handed, fine, he'd give him his wish. The Kercheka leader just laughed.

"Oh this is going to be good." He said, relishing the fight at hand.

"For me, yeah," Wrex halfway agreed, "not so much for you."

He let Rekok throw the first punch. As he expected he leaned too far in and allowed Wrex to grab it. He pulled back on it, threatening to break it. To his credit, Rekok didn't let out much of a scream and quickly countered by punching him in the face. Wrex let go and was forced to defend from two more rapid punches before he slammed his head into Rekok's face. The Kercheka leader stumbled back, clutching his nose, but again to his credit he didn't cry about it. He charged at Wrex, pushing him to the ground and tried to stamp on his head. Wrex easily grabbed the foot and then delivered a kick to Rekok's quad. Rekok stumbled back in pain, clutching himself tightly.

"That was low, Wrex!" Rekok shouted back in a slightly higher pitched voice.

"Yah, duh, that was kind of the point." Wrex replied as he got back up.

Wrex slammed his fists into the side of Rekok's face, first the left, then the right and finally double blow that sent Rekok into a kneeling position. Rekok went down but he came back up with an uppercut, forcing Wrex backward. He recovered just in time to see Rekok charging again, so Wrex sidestepped, grabbed him by the hump and threw the Kercheka leader into his own throne. The back of it broke clean off as Rekok fell back to the ground in a heap. As he struggled to get to his feet, Wrex grabbed the broken piece of the throne and slammed it down onto Rekok's back, breaking into another dozen pieces. Rekok collapsed back to the floor with bits of rubble surrounding him. With a swift kick to the downed krogan's side, Wrex was upon the now face-up krogan. He grabbed the Kercheka's leader jaw and pulled them open. He could hear the snap of bone as he did.

"Told you this wouldn't be much fun for you." Wrex said grimly as he held Rekok's jaws in his grasp.

Wrex pulled the jaw apart one last time before he twisted the head sideways, snapping Rekok's neck. He stood up over the battered body of the Kercheka leader and looked to room around him. Kerchaka Krogan had stopped mid-fight with Urdnot Krogan to watch and now stood stunned as Wrex stood over their leader triumphant. The whole room was deadly silent.

"Anyone else?" Wrex asked them all.

The Kercheka said nothing for awhile. Then they quickly tucked tail and made a break for the exit, Urdnot soldiers cheering all the while. Wrex just huffed at it at all, so predictable.

---

Liara ran through the halls of the prison, making her way towards the nearest exit. She busted out of the door with her shoulder, Saya close behind. They found themselves once again in the wastes of the ruins just outside the prison. As they exited, they saw a pair of what looked to be troop transports, similar in design to the other Covenant vehicles they had encountered. Its bulbous shape floated up into the air and Liara could swear she saw Balak aboard it looking down on her. She fired on it in frustration as the ship's blast doors closed shut. The ship took off towards the sky and then, miraculously, out of nowhere, something appeared.

It was a huge purple spaceship, hovering in the air. It sported two large fins at its back and what appeared to be a massive sloping wide front end for a bow. The little troop transport disappeared into it and the vessel lurched into the skies, heading towards space. Liara and Saya could only look on in awe as the ship once again vanished into the clouds above.

"They have cloaking technology."Liara said aloud, her feet stuck to where she was in shock. "Actual working ship cloaking technology, but that's supposed to be impossible."

She looked to Saya, but he had nothing to add from the looks of it. There was nothing more they could do here anyway. Balak was gone, along with his lieutenants and he had left Liara with more questions than real answers. At least she knew one thing, Shepard was alive and he was out there, just not in this galaxy if Balak's cryptic words aligned with her hypothesis. At the very least, Shepard was not in this version of this galaxy.

"Let's head back to Wrex and Major Kirrahe." She told Saya.

The salarian obliged and followed.

---

Liara found Wrex near Rekok's former throne, now in pieces. He was in conversation with Kirrahe. From the sound of it though, it wasn't a very pleasant conversation. Wrex holding up an accusatory finger for one was a dead giveaway for that.

"Kercheka territory and everything in it is now Urdnot's to do with as it pleases." Wrex argued loudly. "It's the law. We won it. You've already apparently destroyed all the tanks, isn't that enough?"

"You keep coming up with excuses to hate me, Wrex," Kirrahe sneered back at him. "I just helped you maintain the balance of power. With Rekok dead you won't have to worry about the Kercheka raiding your allies."

Liara approached the two, trying to get between them.

"Wrex, what's wrong?" She asked him.

"The good Major here apparently was late to the party for a very specific reason." The Urdnot leader began, pointing accusingly at Kirrahe. "He had his team double back to locate and destroy the remaining alien vehicles so we wouldn't get our hands on them. Now he says he's going to take the weapons they gave to the Kercheka as well. They're our plunder, we won them by right."

Kirrahe looked passed Wrex and to T'Soni.

"You must realise, Doctor, my reasons for such an action." He explained. "STG standing orders are to make sure the krogan status quo remains. No clan is to gain a strategic advantage over the other through alien means. By letting Wrex keep these weapons I'm potentially violating that order."

"Did you really destroy all the tanks, Major?" Liara asked in response.

"I had Agent Saya Empa dispatch those on the perimeter, which he did when the fighting started." Kirrahe answered dutifully. "My team did indeed deal with the rest of the vehicles. We had just finished said task with the last of the tanks when Wrex spotted us."

Liara looked over to the only remaining tank that had been left in the room when she left it. It was still up against the wall, but was now a heap of burning metal. At the very least, Kirrahe wasn't trying to hide his motives.

"Wrex is correct regardless." Liara reminded Kirrahe. "The alien weapons are now Urdnot property."

"Damn straight they are." Wrex added boomingly. "We won them fair and square and we will fight to keep them."

Kirrahe just sighed exasperated at the situation as he heard a number of krogan reloading their weapons on Wrex's words.

"I don't want to end this alliance on bad terms, Wrex." Kirrahe admitted. "But I have my orders. I cannot in good conscience let you have these weapons not knowing what you will do with them. It could potentially shift the balance of power further in your favour."

"Urdnot is already the dominant clan, Major." Liara informed him. "Would it really hurt for them to have some of these weapons? It would only be a short term issue. They won't have the supplies to restock the ammo or recharge the guns in general. They don't work like standard weapons."

Kirrahe gave it some thought, looking to Wrex and then to his men. It didn't take him long to process things, salarians never did.

"Well, I suppose I can accept that reasoning. That and I probably won't be able to carry these guns too far away before the other krogan recapture them and we don't have the necessary explosives to destroy them all in such an event. The tanks took their toll, so to speak." He relented, his reason overcoming his stiffness. "However, in exchange, I desire a third of the weapons in this room to bring back to salarian space for study. After all, I helped take this prison. Doesn't Krogan law afford me part of the plunder?"

Liara looked to Wrex to see his answer, he sighed as well at the compromise.

"Well, a salarian that understands Krogan law, impressive." He conceded. "Fine, Kirrahe, you can take some of the guns, but you leave the majority for Clan Urdnot. And you stay out of Urdnot territory to boot. We find you there and you're not leaving. Got it?"

"I can accept that I suppose," The Major said nodding politely. "Glad to see a diplomatic solution could be reached. For a krogan you're surprisingly reasonable."

Wrex only grunted, slightly annoyed, as Kirrahe turned to Liara.

"I'll see about sharing our findings concerning the weapons with you, Doctor." He promised her. "Consider it a favour from a friend. We wouldn't have gotten this far without you and imagine this fight with these aliens isn't over."

"No it's not. I'm afraid that Balak got away in one of their ships." Liara informed him. "This is indeed only the start of things."

Kirrahe looked a bit surprised.

"Balak? The batarian terrorist? Hmm, peculiar development. And he's joined forces with these aliens, eh? Well, that certainly is a problem." Kirrahe surmised. "I wish I could help, but I do have other obligations to STG. Admittedly though, if Balak has any more krogan centric plots it could be a concern for the Salarian Union."

"Perhaps with your own invested interested in this, you could spare one of your men." Liara suggested. "I have space aboard my ship and it would make keeping you updated on the threat at hand a lot easier, and vice versa."

Kirrahe just smiled at the proposition.

"You certainly have picked up a few tricks from your old Commander's silver tongue, T'Soni." He admitted. "I do like that idea."

Kirrahe looked over to Saya Empa and motioned him over to them.

"Agent, I'm assigning you to follow up this new alien threat with the good Doctor." He said commandingly. "You are to keep me informed on the situation at hand and any updates to her investigation. Do you understand?"

Saya Empa only nodded once and stood at attention. That seemed good enough for Kirrahe.

"Good, I'll see to my men and the weapons and then we'll take our leave. It was good to see you again Liara T'Soni," The Major stated politely with a graceful little bow, he then looked over to Wrex once more. "The same goes for you, Urdnot Wrex, whether you believe that or not."

Kirrahe walked away, Wrex giving him a bit of a stink eye as he did. With a sigh he looked away and back to Liara.

"Well, this was certainly an eventful reunion." He told her. "Glad we got to work together again, Liara. Me and the boys had a lot of fun. They really needed to let off some steam."

"I could still use your help, Wrex." Liara told him earnestly. "We may know Shepard is alive, but Balak is still out there and I don't think Wade would want us to stop following him. What if he finds another clan willing to work with him and these Covenant? They're still a danger and we still need to find out what is happening to Shepard."

Wrex just sighed greatly, looking rather despondent.

"Liara, trust me on this, I want to help, really I do." He swore. "But I can't exactly just get up and leave. I still have a Clan to run and keep out of the hands of people like Wreav."

"You did say that your people were looking for a worthy opponent," Liara was quick to remind him, crossing her arms thoughtfully as she did. "Did they find one in these sangheili?"

Wrex looked to the broken bodies lying among the dead on the ground. The battered and blasted forms of several sangheili stained the floor of the prison with their blood. It didn't take long for him to answer after that.

"I suppose they did find quite a bit of enjoyment from all that." Wrex admitted. "Killing worthy enemies and fighting good battles, it's what all krogan yearn for."

"And it would give them a chance to find out more about the galaxy they live in." Liara added. "How else are they going to learn they need to change if they don't experience anything beyond Tuchanka? Think about it, you're so open because you've been out there, seen things. Maybe they just need that to make them realise why what you're doing is important."

Wrex looked next to his fellow Urdnot soldiers. They were conversing, playfully butting their heads against one another, relishing in their victory. Hell, even a few of them were getting on with the Shadow Broker operatives, accepting how well they fought and such. The sight of one Urdnot laughing it up with the Turian merc seemed to be inspiring from what Liara saw in the look in his eyes.

"You may have a point." Wrex agreed. "I suppose I can get someone to take my stead in my leave of absence. Someone even Wreav wouldn't dare challenge."

He finally turned to Liara, a broad smile on his face.

"Alright, T'Soni, you got me on board," Wrex said with a happy grin. "If only because I want to pay Shepard back for being the best friend I ever had and because I can't say no to a pretty face I guess."

Liara tried her best not to look too flattered, but she smiled all the same.

"Just keep the sneaky looking salarian in black away from me and my people as far as possible." He requested.

Saya only nodded, seemingly agreeing with the request.

It was then Liara realised they were missing someone. She looked past her friends and the carnage to spot little Kayap sitting against a box of weapons. She walked over to him, stepping over corpses and such before she sat down next to the methane guzzling alien.

"That was a big risk you took back there." She told him calmly. "Shooting those needles at those monsters, I mean."

"You give me gun." He said simply. "Sangheili leaders never give Kayap gun when mine run out of power. You trust me enough with gun. So, me help when you in danger."

"That must've taken a lot of courage." She admitted. "I honestly didn't expect you to try and fight to be honest."

Kayap just shrugged.

"Me did not think me do it either." He admitted.

For about a minute, Liara tried to figure out what next to say or ask. The name of those monsters? If he knew Balak's plan? What he could tell her about this Covenant he used to belong to? There were so many questions bumping around in her brain, her old archaeologist mindset coming back. Here was an alien from an entirely new species, in fact from an entirely different dimension if she was right. He could tell her so much, if only she could figure out a way to get him to. Perhaps, making him more of a friend than a prisoner was a start.

"So I guess I'm going to have to get you your own room on the Lucen." She surmised.

"Me have own room?" said Kayap, sounding rather surprised. "Me never have own room. Leaders stuff us in stinky cramped places with everyone. Can't even go tinkle without others watching."

"Well, I think you earned it." Liara told him. "I mean, you've certainly pulled your weight and more today."

Kayap's eyes watered and he suddenly clutched at her leg, seemingly crying in joy at the gift Liara had just promised him. This day had certainly been one full of memories with old friends, but it had also been one of making new friends. She wondered what Shepard would think of all this? She was recruiting people for a crew to save the galaxy. It really was like old times, like Wrex had said back at the Urdnot Camp. She only wished Shepard was here, so he could share in the moment.

But he wasn't here. He was somewhere, probably fighting more of these aliens like those giants. She couldn't help him, but she could lead by his example as best she could. Whatever Balak was planning, whatever his new friends had in store, she'd find a way to stop it. It's what her friends would've wanted. It was what her Commander would've wanted. And until he returned, she'd pick up the slack. The Galaxy still needed its heroes after all, and right now that meant her, Wrex, a Salarian Infiltrator and one scared out of his mind little turncoat alien.

She pitied anyone who even tried to stand in their way.

---

AN: So here's a "what if" scenario for ya. What if Liara had to make her own crew to help save the galaxy? She's certainly in a position to do it. She's the Shadow Broker. She's got mercs at her finger tips, her own ships, definitely all the resources and intel she'll need to find the bad guys she needs to fight. So, why not? Let's see how one of Shepard's crewmates goes about trying to play Shepard. That's pretty much the premise for these chapters.

It was a joy writing Wrex. I can see why they didn't make him a squaddie in two and three to be honest. Wrex is so damn bad-ass the suicide mission would've been WAY too easy. Well, easier than it turned out to be. In three, he'd probably bulldoze over everything... which he kinda does in the Citadel DLC. I'll talk more about that on my profile page if you're wondering, along with other reasons Wrex probably didn't fit as a squaddie in the narrative. More importantly, for now, just know it was a blast to do dialogue for my favourite Krogan merc and I hope you enjoyed reading him as much as I did writing him.

I'll talk about more concerning some of the original characters and ideas I came up with for this chapter in the profile page; right now it's time for our next stop. Since we've given Shepard a lot of screen time already I think it's only fair we give some more chapter space to Liara to make up for how long we've been out of the loop with her. Next stop on Liara's tour will take us to another beloved location from the games and allow me to write another of my favourite Mass effect characters. Which one? Alright, here's your hint: One Rule.

See you then.