Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Mass Effect. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: It was pointed out to me that Wrex is over a thousand years old. That aspect was a bit vague in my last playthrough, so I thank those that let me know and I will say that from here on out it is confirmed that that is his age in this work.

Chapter Four - The Asari Recovery Begins

"So let me get this straight," Harry noted as he power walked down the long halls of the Rancor to the holding bay where the intruding vessel was currently docking, "a Krogan is a heavily militarized reptile-like creature that can live for millenia, constantly building up more experience and skill as he goes?"

"Yes." Anderson nodded as he hurried to keep up with the taller man. "Apparently there was a really strong threat of them taking over the galaxy with their military might until…" he trailed off, prompting the emperor to stop and stare at him.

"Until what?"

Tali was the one who answered as the human was clearly too uncomfortable. "The Genophage. The Salarians created a plague that infected every Krogan alive. It decimated their birth rates and cut their population down to the bare minimum of sustainability. The resulting chaos destroyed their society and culture and drove them into a species of clans and wandering mercenaries."

The Sith grew very still at those words. "A plague. That targeted them specifically?"

The Quarian nodded, not quite understanding the pain she saw written clear across the face of her savior.

"How exactly did it decimate their birth rates?"

"T-The Flotilla doesn't have exact records of how it was done. The Salarians keep those records tightly sealed." Tali stammered. "What is known is the result. That it killed the fetus in the womb. One of my cousins made a study of it for his own pilgrimage, as he thought a better understanding of the Krogan could help our foreign relations. There are many dead infants on Tuchanka because of this act."

For a few moments Harry said nothing, and then he turned to share an intense, understanding, look with Shaak Ti. "Send a report to our geneticists and have Hermione make it a priority. When it is done, transfer every bit of information we can find on the Krogan to Satine and the Mandalorian Council."

"It will be done, husband."

The humans shared a look at that interaction. "Did he just suggest what I think he did?" Shepard wanted to know.

In contrast, her admiral merely turned up his nose. "If he is then it is no business of ours. His is a foreign power and what that foreign power develops is their own affair." The others clearly heard them as they were now the ones being stared at, so he explained, "Humanity technically has allied itself to the Council which includes the Salarians. As stated earlier the Salarians created the genophage and they still support its creation and use to this day. It is probably safest for us humans to not really go on spreading our theories based on your reactions to it. We do not agree with the Genophage, but we don't have near enough political clout to actually make anything out of our objections."

"Wise indeed." Asajj nodded. "Now leave this heavy topic behind and carry on. I wanna see some carnage."

It took another ten minutes to reach their destination, and when they saw the new vessel amongst the empire craft and the two figures standing in front of it they found themselves with a new surprise.

"Garrus!" Lily exclaimed before meandering over to shake his taloned hand. "You were the Krogan's source in the Citadel?"

"Ah, yes." The Turian said with a clear amount of embarrassment to be addressed so quickly and informally. "We have collaborated in the past. There are always criminals that we at C-SEC are not allowed to go after, for one reason or another, however that is not always the case for people they have wronged that put out bounties for them."

"It has been a beneficial relationship." The Krogan rumbled beside him. "He sees bad guys punished, I get paid." It was clearly the same voice from the transmission earlier. A quick perusal of his form showed a reptilian head with bonelike plating, a thick and muscled body completely contained in battle scarred red armor, and a shotgun with a barrel absolutely coated in intricate carvings was slung over his chest. On the whole he definitely looked as dangerous as his species was purported to be. "Who are you?"

"Lily Potter, first princess of the Sith Empire. You just picked a fight with my dad."

"And he's very eager to get started." Harry smirked as he made his way to the impromptu group. "How do you wanna do this?"

"Name's Wrex. Terms of the fight?" The Krogan asked. "Wouldn't want it said that I cheated you."

"Hm, no guns?"

"Fine." Wrex tossed his shotgun to Garrus. "No biotics."

"Agreed." Harry decided that meant Force pushes and lightning in his case. "Armor?"

The Krogan looked at the pieces he could see through the human's robes. "I keep mine, you keep yours."

"So fists and legs?"

"Fists and legs."

"Alright. I'll give you a couple minutes to get ready."

"Same to you."

As the massive being trundled over to start talking to Garrus once more, Harry began taking off his outer robes, leaving him in just his tunic, pants, and beskar chestplate, arm greaves, and shin guards. "You know, Bo, he reminds me a bit of the Mandalorians."

Though no one could see behind her helmet, there was no mistaking the humor in her voice as she said, "You're already planning something in that beautiful head of yours for his kind with my sister in mind, Harry, I can see it. You're wanting to send some cadres to Tuchanka?"

"Well they apparently have no culture now… what do you think would happen if we provided an example of a functioning warrior race?"

The mandalorian began rubbing her armored hands together with apparent excitement. "I'll get Clan Wren working on an embassy right away. I know they've been wanting to get Sabine out of the house for a while."

"Why?" Lily wanted to know. She liked Sabine.

"She keeps defacing their main compound with her 'art'." She said the last with finger quotes, earning a blush from the young Togruta.

"That does sound like her." Sabine was certainly a 'unique' artist. Though the princess knew for a fact that Thrawn had purchased a vast number of her works for his private collection.

"Hey!" Wrex called across the division. "We doing this or what?" Clearly ready, the Krogan was beating his fists against each other with impatience.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Harry waved easily as he made his way over. "Remember, you need to last five minutes."

"I'll only need four." Wrex promised before snapping his skull forward and slamming his foe in the face. The wet crack of contact caused everyone in the crowd to cringe in sympathized pain, but contrary to their own reactions, the emperor merely began to laugh as blood fell from a fresh gash on his forehead.

"Woo hoo! By the Force, Wrex, do you know how long it's been since I actually bled? Have at thee!" He shouted as he slammed his beskar coated shin up between the Krogan's legs. The gasp of pain and accompanying moan of discomfort showed that he'd chosen a good target. Who knew they shared that aspect of physiology? "Ooh, sorry, I thought we were both taking cheap shots now?"

"Why, you…" *Smack*

Harry's body flew across the floor and slammed into a nearby fighter craft. He slid back down its hull, squared his shoulders, and said "Okay, nice punch. But let's see you do that again!" then he ran back in. *Smack* he crashed back into the same spot. "Alright, I admit that was impressive."

Wrex began to laugh heartily. That chestplate was really something. It had been centuries since something had gotten back up after a punch from him. "I can do this all day you know-" *Crunch* "Shit!" the Krogan yelled as his own body started skipping along the floor back toward his own vessel. He hadn't even seen the man move, or drive his fist into his face. How could a simple human pack that much of a punch?

He stumbled up and asked, "What are you?"

"A Sith."

"The fuck is a Sith?"

"I'll show you." Channeling the Force through his body to enhance his strength and speed he charged back into the fray as his foe did the same. As they began a rapid tradeoff of fists and feet Harry took note of his own surprise. With how massive and armored his opponent's head was he expected more stiff movements and a cranium forward fighting style. He was wrong. Wrex moved in a vicious style of martial arts he'd never before seen nor knew how to interpret. The only thing he could do was dodge, let the Force warn him of any blow too deadly, and reciprocate in kind when he could.

However, something strange was happening. The Krogan was getting progressively faster. The longer the fight went on the more vicious he seemed to get, and by the time they had almost hit the four minute minute mark he was landing four blows for two of his own. It finally came to an end when Wrex reared back as if to move in for a final headbut, Harry raised his arms to block, and then the mercenary spun around and nailed him with a backhanded fist that knocked him off his feet and made the emperor see stars.

"That's it." Harry raised his hand in surrender. "I'm done." Was he beaten? Not even close. But he'd seen enough to know that having a warrior such as this on his crew could only be a benefit. "How long was that, honey?"

Asajj answered, "Just over four minutes."

"Huff. I like to be a reptile of my word. So can I come along?"

"Hell yeah!" Harry lithely kickflipped himself back onto his feet and grasped the Krogan's arm. "Welcome aboard the Rancor. Where do you wanna bunk?"

"I'm good here. My ship cot is already made up the way I like it."

"I can respect that." Harry nodded. We're headed to a volcanic area as near as I can tell. You gonna be good with that?"

"My kind thrive in the heat."

"I figured." Harry casually wiped blood from the corner of his mouth, "Nice meeting you, Wrex."

"You too, human." The two bumped fists and went their separate ways. Each taking a bit of satisfaction with the confused looks most of the others (bar Shaak and Asajj) were giving them. Sometimes all you really needed to truly understand someone was to lock fists and beat each other down.

The next few hours of travel were spent in several different ways by the new members of the Rancor craft. Wrex tinkered with his weapons. Garrus traveled down to talk to the gunnery chief about weapons makeups and possible calibrations. Lily had kidnaped Shepard to give the redhead a tour of the ship. Asajj and Shaak had elected to go and train, and they had both sighed before insisting their husband take Tali to see the engine room.

The last proved rather eventful as the Quarian nearly had a heart attack upon being greeted by an intelligent droid. "Ah, greetings, madam, I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations, on loan from the Tatooine Primarch royal family. It is a pleasure to- Oh dear!" The golden droid dodged to the best of his ability (a shuffle really) the alien's wild pistol shot as his emperor quickly pulled the weapon from her hand before a second could follow.

"What are you doing?"

"That robot is self-aware!" Tali's voice was clearly quite stressed through her suit's speakers, but she made no further moves to attack while the emperor was staring her down.

"To an extent." Harry agreed. "He is an optimized digital life-form given a merit of AI control so as to provide the best service possible. There are many like him in my empire and more besides. They are part of the reason our technology has advanced so far."

"You cannot trust them." Tali growled. "AI can only lead to genocide and death."

A sudden thought came to Harry then. "Your people, they have had a bad experience with AI haven't they?" Not for the first time the Sith reminded himself that he really needed to carve out some time to research all the different races in this part of space.

"Yes. We developed an advanced robotic service class, much like you seem to have, but they became aware, decided they no longer wanted to serve, and waged war against us, eventually driving my people off of our planet. The Geth stole our homeland. We've lived upon a wandering flotilla ever since." Though her face was hidden, the despair in her voice was unmistakable. "The rest of the galaxy looked at our displacement as our own fault, and every request for aid in taking back our home was denied. Our people were ridiculed, shamed, denied even basic respect and dignity, and treated as a galactic inconvenience. Do you know what it is, Harry, to live without a home? To always be on the move?"

"Not to your extent." Harry slowly wrapped his arms around the Quarian and pulled her into a warm embrace. She looked like she needed it. "But you can have a home here as long as you want it." He liked this girl quite a bit, but as his mind thought over what he'd heard he took note of the fact that the Geth had been called a service class, something that bothered him a great deal. He'd need to look into that too.

"Thank you, Harry." Tali sounded like she was sniffling a bit. Clearly this was a topic that cut at her deeply, though she was trying to keep things together. "C-Can you show me how your reactor works?"

"But of course." He'd not shame her for needing to change the subject. "It is right this way, along with our chief engineer, Major Pellion."

Some Time Later

Therum finally came within range and the entire group was gathered on the bridge to watch as they pulled out of hyperspace and gazed down at the volcanic world. Most had reactions of interest or awe, but Harry's group were practically bored.

"Well," Asajj noted, "it's no Mustafar."

"No," Shaak agreed, "but it does have its own small level of charm, I suppose."

Looking to his daughter, Harry offered, "Well, Lily, what's next?"

"Dad?" The Togruta shot him a questioning look.

"What's next? You have as much information as I do, so if you were in charge of this mission how would you handle it? What would you do?" This wasn't the first time he'd tested her this way, and she had so far never disappointed him.

Immediately drawing herself up and putting on her 'princess' persona with her hands folded into her sleeves with the regal bearing of her mother, Lily offered, "I recommend a full scan of the expected dig sight followed by a three tiered landing with our split forces. If we want this Liara person then it stands to reason that Saren could easily as well. Depending on the fortifications of any enemy outposts we might consider sending in an Iron Rain as well."

"Why not an orbital bombardment?" Harry asked too casually.

"Because this is a 'dig site' dad. For all we know Liara is underground and a bombardment could collapse the tunnels."

"Excellent reasoning, Lily." Turning to the bridge crew Harry commanded, "You heard the princess, perform the planetary scan."

A moment later both Anderson and Shepard watched in awe as a massive holographic projection rose over their heads with intricate details of topography, built structures, industry, population, and foreign occupants far beyond anything their world was capable of. It didn't take long to discover the particular mine shaft that had a veritable army of robots patrolling all of its entrance routes.

"I'd say that's the one." Lily nodded, "Though it's sadly not enough adversaries for an Iron Rain." The last was said in almost a pout. "Shepard and Garrus are with me. We'll take the northern approach. Dad, you take Tali and mom up the southern approach. Wrex, aunt Asajj, and aunt Bo, how would you feel about dropping right down on the armored section and wreaking some havoc as a distraction?"

"Delighted, dear." Asajj purred amidst much happy grunting from the Krogan.

"We'll each make our way to the mine shaft and once we arrive aunt Asajj and her group will hold the entrance while the rest of us go inside and retrieve the archaeologist. We don't know what force could be below the surface so it's better to have strength of numbers from that point on."

"Excellent plan, Lily." Harry proudly patted his little girl on the shoulder. She had accurately paired those who would work well together and given them mission points that made sense. "Shuttles or orbital drops?"

"Shuttles, dad. We don't want to mentally scar the newbies and you know how much mom hates the drops."

"They're so uncivilized." The elder Togruta sniffed. "Why the two of you enjoy freefalling through the atmosphere I will never understand."

Lily waved off the heresy of her mother and said, "Follow me to the hanger, everyone." So it was that the group entered into three armored carriers and took off in separate directions toward the planet's surface.

"What are your specialties, Tali?" Harry asked as their bumpy ride bounced them through orbital entry.

"I'm a fair hand with a shotgun and a master hacker."

"Excellent. If we run into any mechs, doors, or security that can be hacked then you're up. All straightforward contact, Shaak and I will handle."

"That doesn't seem fair, Harry." Tali tried to argue.

"The hell it does. Both Shaak and I are terrible with computers. Why do you think we have so many droids strolling around the Rancor? They talk to the ship so we don't have to."

"You rely too much on them."

"Perhaps. But each is an intelligence unto themselves. We gave them individualism and raised them with their intelligence to make sure it developed in a way that benefitted both us and them. Sort of like mentors they can't help looking up to. How did your ancestors raise the Geth?"

The Quarian shook her head, "I do not know. Only the admirals of the fleet have access to records that old. They say there is information in them vital to our defense and future military operations. Thus they have been classified as Top Secret."

Harry and Shaak shared a look at that bit of information. Withholding history and information like that was never a good sign. They elected to keep their eyes on the Flotilla from then on to see what happened.

Their craft soared through the superheated air and because of that they managed to avoid several manned barricades with ease, but had to land at the last one because it actually seemed to have anti-aircraft cannons mounted at the top. A quick survey of the ground showed perhaps eight mobile platforms on top of the barrier and patrolling the grounds with a forward turret facing the cleared roadway.

"This is going to be difficult." Tali muttered. "Such a defense is fortified and ready for incursion. The Quarian Commandos have lost many members to barriers such as this." Contrary to her message of doom, the Sith and Jedi were both acting supremely nonchalant.

"I am sorry to hear of the losses suffered by your people, but this will be relatively easy for us." Harry shrugged.

"Indeed." Shaak grasped the other woman's shoulder easily. "I am curious though, would there be a terminal uplink inside, do you think?"

"Most certainly." Tali responded without pause.

"So if you could get access to it could you document the movement of all the platforms in this area? Perhaps even deactivate any further turrets and cannons so that we might fly directly to our target?"

Tali seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding her hooded head. "That should be possible. I have trained to crack Geth encryptions before and they all tend to operate on the same frequency or server."

"Perfect." Harry gently took her hand and a second later Tali felt that familiar pulling sensation and suddenly she was on top of the barrier and staring down four armed Geth, the rapidly blinking lights on their heads denoting their shock. The Quarian had just enough time to dive for the nearest cover before they opened fire.

Harry already had his lightsaber in hand and was quick to block every shot that came his way, delighting in the fact that these were actually energy weapons. The Geth were apparently more advanced than their organic counterparts in regards to weapons manufacturing. Walking forward into the hale of laser fire he levitated the first machine and crushed it with his will, sent a piercing hex through the second's head, electrocuted the third, and when he was close enough, dove into the center of them all with a series of crimson slashes that removed limbs and torsos in equal measure. By the time he was done the only sound remaining was the blaster fire of those platforms on the ground below.

"I'll never get used to that." Tali muttered as she came out of cover to approach the emperor.

"Oh I don't know, Tali, give it time. With how often I intend to be around you I'm sure you'll find some measure of comfort with me."

Within the confines of her suit, the Quarian blushed. She rather liked the sound of that.

"Now how about we find the closest terminal and get you hacked in?"

"What about Shaak?"

The Sith pointed over the side, "I think she's good."

And to her eyes that fact became remarkably clear. Shaak ti had ripped the turret out of the ground with the Force, levitated it in front of her as a shield, and with her free hand she was lifting the platforms below one at a time and smashing them to bits against the nearest rock walls. Yup, Shaak Ti was a badass.

"Right…" Tali trailed off and moved over to the terminal, "she definitely is."

In short order the network was hacked and the outlying defenses found themselves laid bare to their craft as they thundered through the air to meet the others. They had an Asari to rescue.