Chapter 81
Shepard and her crew found themselves disembarking the Tyrannicide after transferring command over to its new commander, Captain Yuri Chernenko. Over the course of a few hours they were all shuttled down to the surface of Tuchanka to await the arrival of the newly re-fit Normandy. Shepard was anxious to resume command of the smaller vessel, as despite her capabilities of coordinating enormous strike groups and legions of ground forces, she was still more comfortable with doing so aboard the Normandy, especially with Joker at the helm. As the Normandy was not expected for several days, she told the crew to consider themselves on shore leave and they all dispersed to explore the Krogan homeworld.
Shepard and Tali broke off from the rest of the crew and immediately headed over to the Krogan capital building. The differences she noted were staggering, adorning the walls were pieces of art contributed by local Krogan, as well as Quarian and Human artists, the styles clashed obnoxiously, but the unity they represented made up for it. She raised her fist to knock on the chamber doors but paused when she heard a loud bellow, followed by a high-pitched screech. Reacting on instinct Shepard burst through the door and saw something she would remember fondly for the rest of her days.
Wrex was on the floor, bleeding from several minor wounds, laughing uncontrollably while three baby Krogan held him down while a fourth was viciously biting his arm. Wrex was putting up a token struggle, while Bakara stood in the corner, shaking her head in feigned disapproval. As soon as she noticed Shepard and Tali, she whistled and the four infants immediately broke off and moved to sit quietly near their mother, allowing the injured elder Krogan to get back to his feet. Shepard eyed the female Krogan baby that had been biting her father.
"My namesake, I presume?" She asked, gesturing at the girl.
"Of course. Urdnot Jane, meet Captain Jane Shepard." Bakara said. The girl looked confused slightly but then understanding dawned and she immediately waddled over to Shepard, holding her hands up In the universal baby sign for "I want up." Shepard grinned and stooped over, effortlessly hefting the large baby Krogan. Shepard laughed as the baby ran its three-fingered claws through her hair, mesmerized by its color and texture.
"I hear you've been giving your parents a hard time little one." Shepard said to the girl. Baby Jane grinned and let out a high-pitched roar that had Shepard smiling even wider.
"She's a vicious little beast and I wouldn't have it any other way!" Wrex said, slowly getting to his feet. Shepard shook her head, still marveling at the old warrior. He was bleeding from several bite wounds, heavily from one. Thankfully due to Krogan regenerative abilities, Shepard could almost see the wounds knitting themselves.
"Urdnot Bakara, how have you been?" Jane asked.
"Well, thank you Captain Shepard, yourself?" She replied
"Great! Getting antsy to get back on the Normandy though, she's my baby." Shepard said. Tali smiled and rolled her eyes.
"Lieutenant Zorah, I'm pleased to see you as well." Bakara said, extending a hand to the Quarian, who shook it enthusiastically.
"You too, Urdnot Bakara, and please, call me Tali." Tali said
"Of course, and Bakara will do for both of you as well, please join me, it'll be nice to speak to adults for a change, instead of these five children." Bakara said.
"Five?" Wrex said, looking around.
"Yes, the four babies and their father." She said, grinning. Wrex huffed in feigned indignance, before ushering the kids off to another room. They all sat in a surprisingly warmly decorated chamber. By necessity the ceilings were higher than in human dwellings, given the Krogan's increased stature, but the walls were adorned with beautiful, ancient looking tapestries and paintings. Shepard found herself mesmerized by the inspired artwork, further proof of the Krogan's artistic past.
"How is Tuchanka handling the influx of little ones?" Tali asked, obviously addressing Bakara .
"Far better than I had any right to expect. The males have surprised us, they're all taking their roles as caretakers and teachers to the young very seriously. It makes me second guess the last centuries of sequestering young Krogan to be raised by the female clans." Bakara noted.
"I'm not surprised. You should see Kurg and Grak with the children we've rescued. Most young Batarians are terrified of Krogan but usually within five minutes we can find them all on the ground playing, isn't that right Jane?" Tali said, smiling. Her expression turned concerned when she received no response.
"Jane?" tali asked, looking up.
"Where did you get this Bakara?" Jane asked, her voice harsh and urgent. She was gesturing at an extremely ancient tapestry.
"It was found in one of our old temples, it might be the oldest piece of our history we've found. Why?" Bakara asked. Tali followed Shepard's gaze and immediately saw what had got her attention.
"Keelah.." Tali said, covering her mouth with her hand in surprise.
"What's wrong?" Bakara asked, standing and walking over to the pair. She looked up at the painting, extremely faded with time and exposure to radiation, but what she could see was a red and orange background, with dozens of small Krogan gathered around a very familiar, giant insectoid creature.
"Tali, get ahold of Liara, she needs to see this now." Shepard said. Tali nodded and ran out of the room, activating her omni-tool as she ran.
"Jane, what's going on? You're worrying me." Bakara said.
"Bakara, that.. that thing, in the painting, it's a reaper!" Jane said.
"What?" Bakara asked, alarmed.
"This looks exactly like the monstrosity we fought on Eden Prime." Jane replied. She activated her omnitool and brought up footage of the fight against the ancient monster. Bakara paled as she watched it.
"That's impossible. That tapestry was found hundreds of meters down, it was in a treasure trove of ancient relics dating back to a few centuries before the Salarians uplifted us to fight the Rachni. It depicts our ancestors worshipping an ancient god before we adopted the newer ways." Bakara explained.
"They aren't worshippers, Bakara, look at them. They're waving weapons at it." Shepard said, examining the tapestry closer. Bakara and Jane both jumped as they heard the door swing open and Liara and Tali followed by a worried Wrex bolted in towards Jane.
"By the Goddess..." Liara said, scanning the tapestry with her omnitool.
"I need to see the rest of the artifacts that were discovered with this." Liara continued, grimacing at the readings she was getting.
"Wrex, Bakara, could we please take a look at them?" Jane asked. Liara blushed, she had forgotten whom she was in the presence of.
"By all means, buy we need to approve what is forwarded to Thessia." Wrex said, leading Liara into a storage room.
"Of course, I am here at the behest of the Alliance and to a lesser extent the University of Cairo, ." Liara said. Wrex shrugged
"Shepard trusts you, and I trust Shepard. Let me know if you need anything I have to figure out what all this fuss is about." Wrex said, turning to return to the main chamber.
"Naran, It's times like these I hate our policy of splitting up family members after basic. Those two are a wrecking crew." Dunn said, jotting some notes down on an ancient looking clipboard.
"Agreed, but I see the wisdom in it. On the fleet, not only did they do that to avoid two family members being lost in one accident but it also spread the genes out." Naran said, bringing up a sub menu on his omni-tool. The Lawson sisters jogged by, sweating but not panting, followed a full minute later by a disgruntled group of mixed Quarian, Human and Krogan recruits who were breathing hard and looking like death warmed over. Jack and Oriana were already standing at attention while the remainder struggled to get into formation and do the same.
"That was pathetic! I expect better tomorrow, now hit the shower you smell like shit! Nar, report to medical and get that leg looked at." Dunn shouted, They all saluted and marched off to their destinations, some more slowly than others.
"The Lawson sisters aside, these recruits keep outdoing the previous groups. You see Nar get up after taking that spill? Krogan or not there's no way he didn't break a tibia at least. Marched 20 kilometers after without complaint." Naran said.
"I know, I'd have killed to have these kids on my squad when I was deployed. Ain't gonna tell them that though." Dunn said, grinning. Naran laughed and gestured for Dunn to follow him into the mess hall.
In the showers, the recruits minus Nar who was arguing with a medic about whether his leg needed treatment were all discussing the day's training.
"You two are fuckin' freaks." Valerie Doneghan, one of the human recruits in their group said, grinning at the Lawsons as she stripped and gathered her things. Jack immediately tensed up and averted her eyes, this had been the first time someone had used that term to describe her since her stay under the loving care of Cerberus.
"Yeah they are, it's fucking awesome, I can't wait to see my older cousin's face when she finds out Jack and Oriana crushed her records!" Gerard Fresnel, another human said, smiling as well. Oriana had been prepared to jump to Jack's defense, but after Fresnel's contribution she saw a slight smile on Jack's lips and knew that she realized the term was not meant as an insult.
"You need to show me that hold you used to bring down Nar during sparring, Jack, that was amazing!" Allu Neeruuna, the female Quarian member of their group said.
All of their squad except Nar were doing summer training before their last year of school. Nar had taken and passed the rite on Tuchanka and blazed through a rapid version of Alliance primary education, so he was destined for deployment immediately after training. As it was illegal in the Alliance to train soldiers on firearms and explosives until they were considered legal adults, they had been concentrating on hand to hand combat, squad maneuvers, physical training and military doctrine.
Dunn and Naran had made quick work of determining their specialties, Nar despite his impressive intellect was destined for a role he would relish in the Alliance, front-line infantry. Gerard Fresnel and Allu Neeruuna were heading to sniper school after their high school graduations, Oriana was destined for intelligence work and Jack, surprising everyone except Oriana, Miranda, and the Baileys had been tapped for officer training. She'd shown despite her reluctance to come out of her shell in social situations to be an impressive and natural leader.
"You guys see the new mechs they were unloading?" Fresnel said, grabbing his soap and shampoo from his locker.
"Those weren't mechs. Notice one of them is substantially bigger than the others? That's the new power armor they've been developing. All new recruits are training in it so they're familiar when they're rolled out officially later this year." Jack said.
"Power armor? Fuckin' A! Oh the big one is for Nar, isn't it?" Allu said.
"Right in one. Read the specs on it yesterday, R&D found schematics for some Prothean power suit on Earth and they've been reworking it to work with Quarians, Krogan and our allies. Each will host a few hundred Geth programs each to assist with automating secondary systems, targeting assistance and they can drive the armor home with the soldier inside if they're incapacitated." Oriana said.
"Does it come in Purple?" Allu said, causing them all to laugh.