Mass Effect Andromeda Series II: Chapter 42
"Whoa, Scars. What brings you down with us low lives?" James Vega called out to Garrus as he exited the elevator on the level where the shuttle was located.
"Just killing time. Thought I would check out the specs on the Kodiak shuttle," Garrus answered as he walked towards the spacecraft. He missed the old days on the SR-1 where he could run diagnostics on the Mako. Things were different after all these years and it just didn't feel the same.
"Ah," Cortez's face lit up. "That's my specialty. Should I give you a grand tour?"
James Vega groaned, "Don't get him started."
Steve chuckled. "What's the matter, Mr. Vega? Jealous?"
Even though he really didn't know these two well, Garrus was appreciative how their banter was lightening the atmosphere lately. There was no word yet from his family and each passing minute, the knot in his stomach tightened. He was determined to keep searching for them until he had some type of answer….even if was about their deaths. Feeling his mood starting to sink, he shook his head and followed the shuttle pilot over. "So far it's been very impressive. What's the kinetic barrier ratio on it?'
"Off the grid," Steve leaned down near the back and pulled away the control panel door. "It has a very advanced and expensive may I had, element zero core."
"Pfft, boring," James muttered as he walked over. "If you want to see something impressive check out some of the new mods that Shepard picked up from the Kassa Fabrication vendor." He pointed back to his station with his thumb.
The topic did peak Garrus' interest. "Sure. I needed to find something to give my Phaeston some boost."
"Right this way," Vega smiled as he led him over. "These are pretty sweet."
Steve shook his head and sighed. "Figures. Soldiers always wanting guns." He raised his voice louder to get James' attention, "You forget. Mr. Vegas that you need an impressive shuttle to get you to and from hot zones."
Purposely ignoring him, James picked up a crate and set it on his workbench. "I was trying to get these sorted before Shepard and the others got back. He told me to wait but I couldn't resist."
"Yeah, heard about Cerberus being on the colony of Benning. The Alliance said they were taking colonists. I wonder what for," Vakarian watched the marine take each box out from the crate to get them organized.
"Beats me. Benning is not under Reaper threat and I seriously doubt that Cerberus would go that far to protect them on the front end. With all the colonies being attacked, reminds me of the Collectors-"He stopped in mid-sentence and turned to see Steve standing there with a pained look on his face. "Sorry, compadre."
Garrus looked at the both of them in confusion. "Something I miss?"
"Just brings back memories. My husband Robert was stationed on Ferris Fields when it was attacked by the Collectors. He was taken." Cortez's voice softened as he spoke about his past love. He grew quiet and turned to walk back over to his previous station.
Looking on, Vakarian couldn't even fathom what Cortez was going through. What if Andromeda went to Horizon like he asked when they were fighting the Collectors? She could have fallen to the same fate as Robert and the others and been part of the monstrosity experiment of the human reaper. He didn't know what Steve's husband looked like but he could see in his mind as the more he thought about it, a male human in one of those pods, waking up to only be killed in one of the worst ways. James growled in annoyance with himself. "How stupid am I. I lost a colony trying to follow up on the Collector intel to only find out that the intel wasn't needed and Shepard destroyed them. Then later found out that they were created by the Reapers. I hate those bastards."
"I think we all do."
A few days later a conference was held between Mordin, the Primarch, Shepard and Wrex. Garrus wasn't present but Liara had the four one one on it. How was he not surprised? She was after all, the Shadow Broker. He wondered if she had every room bugged and if so, did John know about it? While the conference was being held in the ready room, Garrus and Liara had their own conference speculating what the decision would be. Apparently, Mordin found a way to deliver the cure for the genophage. There was a shroud on Tuchanka that was used ironically for implementation of the original genophage. It would release the cure into the atmosphere and would affect all Krogan. There would be no side effects for any non-Krogan. The only issue was that the Reapers were already on Tuchanka and one of them was guarding the shroud from direct contact. "It doesn't make any sense why the Reapers are particularly guarding the shroud. They must have been fed information." Liara seemed aggravated as she searched her terminal for any data she could come across.
"Who would be stupid enough to betray us for the Reapers?" Garrus watched in despair. It always seemed like these sentient machines were one step ahead of them.
"And I should be more on top of this," The troubled Asari huffed. "Glyph, reach out to all my contacts on Tuchanka. See if you can find any transmissions in the past year."
"Right away," The AI responded nearby.
Their conversation was stopped when short when Wrex came through the door. "You guys ready to make this happen?"
"You know I'll do whatever I can, Wrex," Liara smiled as best as she could at him given the circumstances.
"I knew I could count on you, Liara. What about you, Garrus?"
"Why the hell not? Already went up against Sovereign. What's another Reaper?" Garrus joked.
"Good," Wrex smiled as big as he could. "It's finally going to happen. After all these years."
"Is Shepard getting ready to leave now?'
"Almost. He got a call to the video conference room. After that, we'll hit Tuchanka."
The flight to Tuchanka in the Kodiak seemed awkwardly quiet despite Cortez' reports as they got closer to the LZ. John seemed deeply troubled about something as he stared off. Liara and Garrus gave each other glances and then she looked over to Eve and Wrex who were sitting comfortingly next to one another in idle chatter.
Eve too noticed Shepard's abnormal behavior. "Is something wrong, Commander?"
"I got a message from-"John started but was abruptly stopped as the shuttle rocked hard from an explosion.
"Wrex, it's Wreave," Wrex's younger brother came through the Kodiak's radio. "The Reapers are already at the hollows. Come out with guns blazing!"
"Hang on tight, we're heading in," Cortez called back to him as he descended down to the LZ.
Just as the doors opened, the gruesome face of a husk looked at them in surprised and snarled viciously. Not even considering the beast a threat, Wrex pulled out his shotgun and shot it point blank in the face. He jumped out and turned to address the rest of the occupants. "Shepard, protect the female! I'll go see what's happening with the other clans!" He ran off down the steps.
Shepard jumped down with Liara and Garrus and followed the Krogan down the steps. The place was crawling with husks. All the Krogans at the hollows were engaged with them. "Everyone watch your six! Keep sight of your targets!" John yelled as he opened fire on the nearest husk. "Switch to inferno ammo!"
"You got it!" Liara obeyed the command and then used a singularity attack to uplift one husk to make it easy prey.
Garrus took out his Phaeston and blasted one with a concussion shot. The husks kept coming. He checked back at the shuttle to make sure Eve, Cortez and Mordin were safe and then continued to find targets. The husks were coming in too fast for him to take any sniper shots. He picked out several that were targeting his squadmates. After several minutes of hard fighting, the Reapers forces for the time being were destroyed. That didn't mean that the next wave would approach soon or were they waiting for them closer to the shroud? That just meant the fight would be tougher as they went along.
Wrex triumphantly walked down the steps to join everyone at the center of the hollows with several members of Clan Urdnot. Their bodies bloody from the melee carnage that they prefer. "They'll sing battle songs about this someday. Reaper blood has finally soaked our soil." All the Krogan looking on, grunted their approval.
"We need to get to the shroud. The airstrike is on its way," John jogged over to meet up with Wrex to remind him of their urgency.
"Female is still strong, Shepard. Vitals are good," Mordin reported, escorting Eve to where they were from the shuttle.
"What is the Salarian doing here?" Wreave snarled as he thundered towards him with his own pack of followers. His eyes directly on the professor, filled with pure rage and hatred. "No one said anything about this."
"This is not good," Garrus mumbled under his breath just loud enough for T'Soni to hear, who was standing beside him. He watched the inbound Krogan wearily.
"I agree," She replied in a hush tone.
"Multiple Krogan," Mordin nervously looked on. "Problematic."
"This is my brood brother, Urdnot Wreave," Wrex introduced his troubled sibling. "We share the same mother." His eyes narrowed, "And nothing else."
"For which I'm thankful. At least I know what it still means to be Krogan," Wreave argued. His followers backed him up. "We filet our enemies alive and drown them in a geyser of their own blood. We don't invite them into our home."
"He's here to help us cure the genophage," Liara spoke up. She was thinking that perhaps an Asari's perspective may soothe things. Apparently, she was wrong.
"His kind gave us the genophage," The brother turned on her. "Why should we trust him?"
Apparently, Wrex had enough of the talkback. Without warning, he head-butted Wreave hard in the face. Krogans on both sides reacted with their growls of approval or disproval of the escalation of the situation. "Because I said do and so will you." This statement only infuriated Wreave. He snarled louder at his older brother, willing to invoke a challenge of authority of then and there.
Garrus took a step back and motioned Liara to do the same. Any moment he knew an all-out brawl would ensue. This is not what they needed. Not now. This is what the Reapers wanted and Wreave was not going to listen to reason it seemed.
"Enough!" Eve firmly yelled over the ruckus. She approached the group. "You can stay here and let old wounds fester as Krogan have always done. Or fight an enemy you were born to destroy and win a new future for all our children. I choose to fight. Who will join me?"
"I will." John stepped forward.
"So will I," Wrex chimed in.
"Count me in," Garrus took his place beside John.
Liara came up right next to him. "I will."
Keeping the momentum going, Wrex moved over to the exit of the hollows where the battle would take place momentarily. "Now hold your heads high like true Krogan. There's a Reaper out there that needs killing!"
Separated from the trucks, Shepard and his team had to go underground to find a meeting point with Wrex and the others. Wherever they were at seemed like a dark labyrinth. "These markings on the walls are incredible," Liara walked up to drawings. "I would love to explore this place more if we had more time."
"You are looking at the City of the Ancients," Eve came through the comm.
"How do we get out of this place?" Shepard turned on his rifle flashlight to find a path but seemed like they kept running into rooms with dead ends.
"That place has been deserted for thousands of years. No maps exist."
"You're a trailblazer, Shepard," Wrex spoke up. "We'll meet you on the other side."
Suddenly the ground quaked beneath and chips of the rock walls were coming down. "What was that?" Liara looked at the both of them in fright.
"Felt like a small tremor," Garrus followed Shepard as he tried to lead them as best as they could. Moments later, it did it again, only more violent. "I really felt that one!"
Shepard stopped. "Wrex, are you feeling these tremors up there?"
"Not up here."
Eve came through the line once more. "It could be something else, Commander. Could be Kalros."
"I don't like the sound of that," Garrus worriedly continued on behind John. He also noted that John seemed to quicken his pace. At least they were making headway. He just prayed they didn't come to another dead end. "What is a Kalros?"
"It's said to be the mother of all thresher maws."
"Thresher Maw?" Liara's voice became low in a whisper, trying not to give their location away from the creature.
"Which is why you need to get your ass out of there!" Wrex urged.
"Light ahead!" Shepard announced and he ran as fast as he could with Liara and Garrus not far behind.
"Great," Garrus panted between breaths as he ran. "Reaper and a thresher maw."
"The mother of all thresher maws," Liara corrected him.
"You could have left that part out." How would they be able to fight both deadly enemies at one time? The Turian airstrike against the Reaper was not making any damage.
"About time you guys showed up," Wrex looked up at the Shroud that was in front of them. "Kalros came through for us."
"Yes even she wants to protect this planet," Eve smiled warmly at him.
"That was a first," Garrus shook his head in disbelief after experiencing an all-out brawl between the maw and the Reaper. Luckily, it was on their side and it was just what they needed to get access to the shroud.
"Sorry about your brother," Liara expressed her condolences after watching Wreave's truck get taken down by Kalros, once she surfaced.
"He was a pain in the ass," Wrex shrugged it off. "We did our part and now it's up to Shepard and the clever pyjak. I just hope he doesn't double cross us." His voice hardened.
"Wrex, I trust Mordin. I spoke with him on the Normandy. His desire to cure the genophage is genuine," Eve soothingly commented.
"Mordin is smart. This will work," Liara watched the shroud tower eagerly. Any moment, the cure would dispense and history would be made. One event she was glad she was able to experience in her lifetime.
"Your kind deserves this," Garrus looked on up at the tower.
"I hope they get to the top in time. It's becoming highly unstable from the attacks." Eve was becoming uneasy.
Moments later, there was a flash of light and glowing particles shot up from the shroud's top point. "By the goddess!" Liara exclaimed. Just seconds later, the shroud tower exploded and then crumbled down. They all looked on in horror. The sudden change of the mood hit them hard.
"Shepard!" Wrex ran towards the shroud with a worried look on his face.
"Mordin!" Garrus accompanied him. There was no way possible that they would lose both of them. Not now. Not like this. The war was not nearly over.
Shepard solemnly walked up to them. His eyes were down. His face guarded tightly. He slowly raised his head to see them approaching. This made Garrus slow down his step as he knew what the next news would be. "Mordin…didn't make it. I told him the tower was becoming unstable. He insisted that he had to go up there. There was no other way. He managed to release the cure but he died in the process."
"He will be remembered by all Krogan," Wrex assured his friend.
Garrus shook his head in disbelief. After all they went through with dealing with the Collectors and the Reapers. Only to fall here. "Shepard, I-"
"It's ok, Garrus. Let's head back."
At the hollows, they stood there with Wrex and Eve while Cortez was inbound with the shuttle. The Reapers were gone, for now. "Right there," Wrex pointed to a particular spot nearby. "That's where I killed my father. That's what the genophage reduced us to, animals. You changed that today, Shepard. You and Mordin."
"It was a pity that he had to die," Eve looked over at the commander.
"He wouldn't have had it any other way," John diverted his gaze back to the direction of the shroud.
"Wherever he is. I'm sure he's putting the good word in for us," Garrus added.
"I'll name one of my kids after him," Wrex announced. "Maybe a girl. Tell the Turians I'll be deploying troops to Palaven immediately. And when you're ready to kick the Reapers off Earth, you let me know."
"Good to see you, Wrex," Liara waived at her friend, turning to follow John back to the waiting shuttle.
"Thanks. I look forward to the Krogan support on Palaven. My family needs it," Garrus also thanked him.
"They'll make it, Vakarian, if they are just as stubborn as you are."