Mass Effect Andromeda Series II

Chapter 32

"Garrus, you got a minute?" John entered the Forward Battery, catching the Turian off guard as he was running another diagnostic over the ship's main cannon. He finally was able to install the upgrade and hoped that everything would go well if they encountered the Collectors once more. He didn't want to use the escape pod again.

"Sure. I was doing a final test before going over the results of the upgrade anyway." Garrus stepped away from the console. He tried to act like he was busy and nothing was bothering him, but apparently the man in front of him saw right through him.

"How are you holding up? Everything clear after what happened with Sidonis?" Shepard's voice was filled with genuine concern.

"Very much so. Thank you again. It was satisfying that my men's lives were not taken in vain. Still don't know why he betrayed me…" Garrus' eyes grew dark as he thought back to the horrific terror he had to overcome on Omega. "It just doesn't make any sense…damnit."

"Leave it shelved for now. He's dead and so you may never know for sure. I say you did the right thing."

"You're right, Shepard. Did you need me for something?"

"Actually, I do. You clear to take on another mission with me?" Shepard let out a playful grin as he leaned back against the Battery's door. "I would think this through before you answer me."

This made Vakarian laugh. How good it felt…to finally laugh…to finally have a casual conversation. How he missed the days when they were hunting down Geth and Saren. He missed the old crew. "Another suicide mission like Ilos already I assume?"

"Better," John grinned bigger. "I need you as a personal escort."

Garrus lifted an eye ridge, "Okay, I'm intrigued."

"Mordin's pupil disappeared on Tuchanka and Grunt is having issues. I figured to knock out two birds with one stone by going there next. I need my crew focused. I don't need a Krogan tearing out the hull and Mordin…well you know."

"So let me get this straight," Vakarian tossed around the idea in his head and it somewhat frightened him. "Besides Grunt, you want one armed Turian, one armed Salarian and an armed Human go to the Krogan Homeworld where I'm pretty sure ninety-nine percent of its population despises all Salarians and Turians due to the genophage. We have backup right?" He chuckled, trying to keep the moment positive.

Shepard shook his head, "Nope. Just you and me. We have fought worst odds than this."

"Krogan...we are dealing with Krogan," Garrus sighed with a small smile. "You know I am with you one hundred percent, Shepard."

"Good. I appreciate it, Garrus. "I think out of all the crew members that are not Cerberus, you have the most level head. Hopefully, the Krogan clan chief will grant us an audience before…"

"Before what?"

"Before, the Krogan tear us apart…well mostly you and Mordin."

Feeling the shuttle land at the site, Garrus took a deep breath and looked over at Grunt and Mordin who sat across from him; Shepard was already at the shuttle's door. It was probably a smart idea. It would be unwise to send Mordin out first. Unlike Garrus, Mordin was purely calm. "You nervous, Professor?" He asked. Perplexed by Mordin's demeanor.

"Not at all. Been in worst situations before when I was with STG," Mordin rose up from his seat and checked his weapons.

"It would be unwise to underestimate your enemy," Grunt looked over at him.

"Krogan not my enemy. What I did had to be done."

"Grunt," Shepard looked sternly back at the tank bred. "It's bad enough that the Krogan outside of here will be all over him. Remain quiet. I don't want to provoke anymore that I have to."

"Alright. I follow you, Shepard," Grunt grumbled.

"Keep your eyes peeled, Garrus. I don't know how many Krogan will confront us before we make it to the clan chief, but we need to stay united." Shepard fixed his armor and then opened the shuttle's door. All of them held up their hands to allow their eyes adjust to the bright light of sunny Tuchanka outside.

The group approached two Krogan guards who stood near the entrance of the camp sight. They glared hard at them and growled, revealing their menacing teeth. "State your business, off-worlder," One of them barked.

"I have business with the clan chief," Shepard stood up taller. Garrus saw the other growl at Mordin.

"What's the Salarian doing here?" He snapped.

"He's with me and his part of my crew," Shepard looked back at Mordin. Garrus was grateful that Mordin remained silent. It would be a short mission if all of them were killed after just landing on Tuchanka.

The two guards looked at one another before the one on the left turned back to address them. "Go on in. No funny business."

"Nice welcome so far," Garrus sarcastically said once they were distant enough.

"Understand Krogan hostility. Common," Mordin commented.

Up ahead in the center of the camp, they overheard a heated discussion near where the chief sat. Shepard quickened his pace but was stopped by another guard. This one however seemed more polite than the welcoming committee. "Halt. You must not interrupt the clan leader. He's in….talks."

Garrus tried to peer around to see a heavily armored Krogan ranting to the chief about an issue he felt strongly against. He then looked over to the chief and had to do a double take. There looking quite bored and annoyed sat Urdnot Wrex. He fought the urge to call out to his old comrade. Their appearance must have caught Wrex's attention as he made a sideway glance and then sat up livelier. He pushed the speaker aside and walked over to them smiling big. "Shepard! Garrus!"

"Excuse me," Shepard moved around the guard to greet his old squadmate, Garrus moved closer next.

Wrex gave a warm handshake to John and then lightly bumped up against Garrus with his shoulder. The light tap almost knocked Garrus back. He almost forgotten how powerful Krogan were. "Good to see you too, Wrex," Garrus smiled back at his friend.

Wrex then eyed Mordin and Grunt and sat back down in his chair. "I see you have others this time. A Krogan? My replacement I resume?" He almost sounded glum when he spoke the latter.

"This Krogan says he's sick. I thought I would bring him here," Shepard pointed back at Grunt.

Urdnot Wrex looked over at Grunt as the tank bred approached proudly. "Where are you from, whelp? Was your clan destroyed before you learned what was expected of you?"

"I have no clan. I was tank bred by Warlord Okeer. He is dead."

"Of course," Wrex stood back up to get a closer look at the Krogan before him. "You're with Shepard. How could he be alive?"

"Wrex, I need Grunt to fight against the Collectors. What's wrong with him?"

"There's nothing wrong with him," Wrex looked back at Shepard. "He's becoming a full adult."

"Adolescences?" Garrus blinked. "Can't we take him to Omega and buy him a few dances?"

"I don't care what aliens call it. Krogan go through the rite of passage."

"Hmm…interesting. Did not know about this," Mordin looked at Grunt.

"You're a Salarian," Grunt shot at him. He looked around the camp and smiled back at Wrex. "I want to do the rite of passage. This is in my blood."

"Good boy," Wrex chuckled and then he glanced over to Mordin. "So why bring a Salarian here, Shepard?"

"Apparently, Mordin's assistant was on Tuchanka and has gone missing. We need to find him."

"Go speak with my scout. He can put you in the right path."

"Want to come with us, Wrex?" John looked over at his old comrade, hopeful.

"I can't. I am reuniting all the Krogan together here on Tuchanka. I do miss the old days though."

"We will miss you, Wrex," Garrus smiled warmly at him.

"Stay out of trouble, Garrus. I won't be able to save you this time."

"Mordin, let's go talk to that scout. Grunt, stay here and see what you can learn from the Shaman," Shepard motioned them to follow him.

"Wrex, I escorted the ambassador for Clan Nakmor upstairs. He asked when he would be granted an audience with you." A familiar voice made Garrus turn around.

There approaching with Clan Urdnot markings on her arm was Horde. This was the third time he ran into her. He couldn't believe out of all the systems, he kept running into this female Krogan. "Horde?"

Horde looked his way and blinked momentarily as if she couldn't figure out why he was there again. "You?" She chuckled and shoved him a little. "Guess you made it off Omega after all."

"Omega?" Wrex looked over at Garrus.

"It's a long story, Wrex." Garrus smiled wryly. He then redirected his attention back to Horde. "Glad to see you made it away from the Blood Pack."

"Yeah…felt like Omega wasn't for me. You had a quad going up against those mercs though," Horde laughed. "Heard Archangel was killed so I left Omega with

several Blood Pack members and came to Tuchanka to find more work. Ran into Wrex."

"I gave her new work. Kept her here. She joined clan Urdnot. Told Clan Weyrloc. They weren't too happy about the transfer, but they don't have much say in the matter," Wrex gave a shrug as he sat back down. "The female clan allowed her to stay here. Though it's not common for one of them to be running around the males. Only during time of breeding. Just the way it is."

Garrus was going to make a joke about the only female there present, but Grunt spoke out before he was given the chance, "A female merc?"

"Who's this?" Horde asked out loud as she addressed Grunt.

"I am Grunt. I'm pure Krogan," Grunt held out his arms. "You should be in awe."

Horde blinked and then huffed, "What makes you special?"

"He's a tank bred. I'm letting him do the rite," Urdnot Wrex answered for him.

Horde cracked a teasing grin at him, "Will you pass?"

"My blood will demand it," Grunt replied back shortly. Garrus was amused at the little exchange.

"Horde, take him to see the Shaman while Shepard helps out his friend here," Wrex motioned her to go on.

Garrus watched on seeing Grunt follow Horde up the stairs to see the Shaman. "Good match," Mordin interrupted his thoughts. The words caught him off guard.

"Excuse me?" Garrus started to follow Shepard to see the scout.

"The tank bred and that female. Wonder if it is true if he is not effected by the genophage. Could Krogan really repopulate?" Mordin pondered the question. "Grunt has not allowed me to take any samples to see."

"No offense, Mordin. I don't think he will."

"Happy to help," Mordin cheered as he took down the last of the Vorcha assault. The scout leader was able to provide a truck to get them part of the way but their path was cut off by several obstacles of debris that was strewn about from previous wars. The wind howled through the devastated land. On foot they came across numerous Krogan that appeared to be part of Clan Weyrloc and Vorcha members who joined up.

Shepard led them inside in the war torn structure. "Inside."

Mordin surveyed their surroundings as made his way down into the building. "Repurposed Krogan hospital. Interesting."

"That's unfortunate. Hospitals are not fun to fight through," Garrus commented. The air was strong with the mixture of medicine and dead bodies. He hoped that he didn't vomit. It was worse than the plague ridden streets on Omega. He didn't know why a hospital was still being used on Tuchanka. The idea of Krogan and medicine really didn't come together, but someone definitely was recently using the facility.

"What's fun to fight through?" Shepard took the bait.

"Gardens, electronic shops, antique stores, but only if they're classy," Vakarian joked.

Shepard laughed, "Never knew you were so diverse, Garrus."

Mordin was ahead of them and knelt down to examine a body. Shepard ran up ahead to see what he was looking at. Garrus stood back. He didn't have to look, he knew what it was. Something else caught his eye in the room nearby. Leaving them to discuss their finding, he moved over to the room, still on guard. There on what to be an examination table was another covered up corpse with the outline of a Krogan. Rigamortis already took over. The smell of death left the air putrid and foul. Garrus held one hand up to cover his nose. "Shepard, over here."

Mordin got up quickly and moved over to where he was. "Another test subject. Don't understand this."

"Why not, Professor? You think Krogan were just going to sit back and let themselves go extinct?" Garrus shook his head as he looked on. He wondered if Wrex knew what was going on with Clan Weyrloc. Perhaps this what made Horde leave Clan Weyrloc or even Tuchanka.

"Of course not!" Mordin snapped back angrily. "But why do this? Meaningless tests. Pointless. Pointless waste of life."

"Do you ever regret working on the genophage now?" Shepard watched intently beside the troubled Salarian doctor.

"Never. Had to be done. Had to be me. No…no, do not regret," Mordin answered but he seemed as if he was doubting the words that were coming out of his mouth. He inhaled as he closed his eyes and then did a religious ritual with his hand over the corpse. "Rest now, young mother. Find comfort."

"Too late for that. She shouldn't have died," Shepard growled and moved away. The Commander looked disgusted and angry. Garrus didn't blame him. After all these years, he always picked at Wrex for whining about how his kind had to adapt. But he didn't know it would come to this. Sacrificing their lives for a chance of new life? A hard pit formed in his stomach. He felt sick once more and this time he didn't think it was from the smell.

Clan Weyrloc were tough and fearless. Apparently, they were using Mordin's assistant to help cure the genophage so they could take over Tuchanka. He was the key to their rise in power and they were going to stop at nothing to prevent anyone from halting the process. What made things worse was that majority of the Blood Pack members on Tuchanka supported Clan Weyrloc hence why probably Horde teamed up with them earlier on Omega. Once they were subdued, it seemed like no one was left to stop them. Mordin was becoming eager to find his assistant. If the Krogan were desperate, what kind of force would they put Maelon under to get their results? He rushed ahead but halted in his tracks when the young Salarian scientist stood before them in the room with his back turned, working away, apparently unharmed. "Maelon? No signs of torture," Mordin shook his head in disbelief as he looked on.

Maelon turned around and glared sharply at his mentor. "I came here on my own free will, Professor. You won't stop me. I'm so close."

"Impossible! Whole team agreed. Project necessary."

"I was your student! I looked up to you!" Maelon shot back.

"All those tortured subjects back there? You're doing?!" Mordin's voice rose as anger consumed him.

"We already have the bloods of millions on our hands, Doctor," His student argued. "If it takes a bit more to put things right, I can deal with it."

"This is not justified," Garrus looked around at all the data that was displayed. There was a log up nearby with numbered entries of test subjects and all beside them stated "failure."

"The experiments are not justified. I was taught to be a monster…by you," Maelon's voice shook as he pointed back at the data that Garrus was glancing at.

"No…I never taught you this, Maelon," The Doctor moved away to examine what his peer was working on. "Unacceptable."

"You taught me the end justified the means," Maelon watched him as the young Salarian tried to explain his point of reasoning. "Krogan are fighting over fertile females. They become mercenaries or pirates because they have no other recourse. We are to blame for this because we decided this is what they deserved!" Garrus sighed hard as he listened in and continued to look over the data. He thought back to when he first met Wrex and all the old Krogan's stories about his work as a merc. What if this Salarian was right? What if the Krogan were not sterile…would have Wrex continued to remain a merc?

"What do you want to do?" Shepard decided to leave it up to his squadmate. It was his mission.

"Have to end this," Mordin glared back over to Maelon.

With that statement, the young scientist pulled out a hand cannon and aimed it all three them with fear covering his face. "I will not stand by and let you commit an atrocity!"

Mordin growled as he punched Maelon, knocking him hard back against the monitor that was behind him, causing him to drop his side arm. Pulling out his weapon, Mordin aimed it his old colleague's head. "Unacceptable experiments! Unacceptable goals! Won't change. No choice…" He seemed to be debating the next move out loud. "Have to kill you." Panic filled Maelon's face.

"Is this-"Garrus spoke up seeing the look of terror on the Salarian's face as Mordin aimed at him.

"If we don't stop him, he will continue the experiments. Is this what you want, Mordin?" Shepard butted in.

"No. Can't let him live," Mordin squeezed the trigger and fired. The side of Maelon's head exploded due to the impact at point blank range. Brain matter splattered out as his dead body fell to the floor. His killer lowered his weapon and stared down at the lifeless form. "Thank you, Shepard. Had to be done."

Vakarian cringed from the gruesome sight he had to witness and redirected his attention to the data that was displayed. To him all the equations looked like another language. "What about this data?"

"We could keep it and see how close Maelon was," Shepard recommended.

"This data is contaminated by Maelon's experiments," Mordin seemed mentally exhausted by the event. "However, can use it later after fight with Collectors. Would like closure. Need to be sure."

"This lets head back to the camp. I think we are done here."

Garrus was the last one to leave the facility and knew even if Shepard kept the information about finding the data hidden from Wrex that eventually his old friend would hear about it. The only question is would Mordin be willing to cure the genophage after their fight with the Collectors? And if so, what would Wrex's plans be? He hoped another Krogan Rebellion would not ensue.

It had been hours since they made it back to camp Urdnot. Mordin returned back to the Normandy while Garrus hung back to stay a bit with Wrex. Shepard and Jack took Grunt to help complete his rite of passage. Garrus sat beside the burly Krogan near the edge that overlooked the camp and the varren fighting pits. They talked about their adventures before meeting up but what Shepard was going up against currently intrigued him. "So, this rite of passage…."

"What about it?" Wrex glanced over.

"What do you do?"

"Kill stuff," The Krogan shrugged.

"Like…bugs? Vorcha?" Garrus tried to think about what enemies they could face on Tuchanka. He never read up on the planet's habitats and life forms.

"Bigger."

"Other Krogan?"

"Bigger."

"How much bigger?"

"Try a Maw."

"A what?"

Wrex chuckled, "Let's hope you never have to see one."

"Clan Leader, Grunt is back from his rite," One of the guards spoke out as he approached the two gathering their attention.

After standing up, Garrus turned to see Shepard, Jack and Grunt walking towards them with smiles on their faces, especially Grunt. "What a good fight. Shepard has no equal."

"We took that son of a bitch maw down," Jack grinned with a laugh.

This peeked Wrex's interest as he lifted an eye ridge and looked over at his former commander for an explanation. "You took down a Thresher Maw on foot? I was the only Krogan to do that since my rite." He looked back over to Grunt. "Good boy. You are now part of Clan Urdnot."

"This is what I needed," Grunt bowed.

"Yeah, EDI told us on the way down that there were already three breeding requests for Grunt and one for Shepard," Jack teased. Garrus stifled a chuckle.

"Ha!" Grunt bragged and elbowed John.

"See you around, Wrex," The man waived to his old friend. "We need to get back."

"Shepard," Wrex nodded to him. "Take care. You too, Garrus."

As they were starting to depart the camp, the Turian looked back to see Grunt hanging behind as Horde approached. "See ya around, kid," Grunt looked her way as she stopped beside Wrex.

"Kid?" Horde huffed. "I am older than you, tank bred."

"I killed a maw. I am a worthy adversary to take down."

"I may take you up on that offer."

Wrex motioned Horde to follow him back over to his post. "Let's go. We need to clean up the Weyrloc mess."

Without saying a word, Grunt turned and caught up with Vakarian who stood watching. Seeing the two interact made Garrus remind him of his talks with Andromeda. He wondered if he would ever see her again. "What's eating you?" Grunt questioned as he walked by.

Clearing his mind, Garrus turned to walk beside him to catch up with Shepard and the others. "You, uh, like her?"

"Hmm?"

"Horde. She seems like a nice…uh, match."

Grunt stared incredously for a brief moment and then snarled as he quickened his pace. "Turians talk too much."