Arius' inbox pinged with a new message. The Shadow Broker had forwarded him an intercepted email between a crucible scientist named Dr. Lok and Admiral Hackett. He opened it.

Security almost opened fire on the rachni when their ships pulled up to the Crucible, Admiral. I had to invoke your name more than once before they were let on board.

They're following instructions but my god, do I have to tell you how nervous everyone on the project is to see rachni strutting down the halls? They almost gave Prof. Lao a fit!

I'll let you know how our next staff meeting goes.

Dr. Lok

The queen was quick to repay her debt. This was a never-before-seen alliance that Arius had dreamed of but never imagined possible. After thousand years of rachni exploitation, war, eradication and dormancy, Shepard had established mutually beneficial relations with the species. Incredible.

He walked over to his board and updated it by adding new pins. One each for the rachni and recently acquired Volus Engineering Team in the Crucible resource pool and one for Grunt in the krogan assets. He added a pin for the Shadow Broker Wet Squad in the unassigned category. Use would be found for them later. Indoctrinated persons in positions of power sometimes required unorthodox removal.

After making the changes, he stood back from the board, eyes resting on the whole. His thoughts, however, kept pulling back to the rachni, and something tugged at him - some new information that changed an old understanding of his. He returned to his workstation, earnestly searching for Shepard's mission report from Noveria to re-read a passage. He scrolled through the report until her dialogue with the queen in the lab began, then to a specific set of questions Shepard had asked the queen. The first had been a question of the queen attacking other races again if she would let the queen live. The queen had responded:

"No. We– I do not know what happened in the war. We only heard discordance, songs the colour of oily shadows."

Shepard had then asked if the queen was a survivor from the war, referring to the rachni war in which the krogan were needed to turn. The queen had responded:

"We do not know. We were only an egg, hearing Mother cry in our dreams. A tone from space hushed one voice after another. It forced the singers to resonate with its own sour yellow note."

The sour yellow note. The Reaper signal. His head turned to the artifact on the table next to him, and a shiver passed through the full length of him, full of understanding. Drawing on the knowledge of the Reaper devices in the tunnels of Utukku, the Reapers had ways of blocking the signal the queens used to communicate with their brood to subvert the queen's children to their ends. It may have been the same which enabled indoctrination. Two thousand years ago, the Reapers had blocked the queen's signal to their children or drove the queens mad with exposure, spurring them to aggression when they met the council races.

He reeled from the implication and turned back to the board. He created another section separate from the war assets, a new board to connect a different topic. On it, he placed the rachni and their singing, the Reapers and their indoctrination, the Thorian with its control, and then, finally, the artifact and its–

"Arius," EDI notified him overhead, breaking his chain of thoughts. "Shepard has asked me to notify the Tuchanka landing party to assemble."

"Thanks, EDI."

Making a mental note to revisit the interrupted topic later, he lifted the large, cold artifact from the table and exited his room with it. When he hit the elevator's door control, the doors opened, and Shepard happened to be within, also heading down. When their eyes met, Arius wordlessly perceived immense stress emanating from her. Her posture was perfectly erect, eyes blazing with intensity, and face hard-set. He had noticed this change when she was under a heavy load. He wasn't sure if it resulted from training or personal deposition, but instead of crumpling, she only wound tighter.

"Shepard."

"Arius," she answered shortly.

Something had happened.

"How's Grunt?"

"Already on the path to recovery."

"Good." It wasn't Grunt related. "Were you able to secure the Cerberus bomb on Tuchanka?"

Shepard didn't answer and maintained her gaze straight ahead as they descended. Before the doors opened to the hangar, however, she reached up and hit the emergency stop. The elevator shuddered under them, locking them out from the rest of the ship.

"It wasn't a Cerberus bomb," she revealed to him without turning her head. "It was turian. They planted it on Tuchanka as a contingency plan in case the genophage had failed - hundreds of years ago…"

Oh.

"... Cerberus got wind of it and tried to detonate it. Lieutenant Victus, the primarch's son, sacrificed himself to disarm it…"

Oh.

"... Wrex is understandably unhappy and is threatening to pull from our alliance if his allies continue to keep secrets that place his people in mortal jeopardy. I, too, am unhappy for the same reasons. And the primarch has paid a personal price for it."

Her words were cold, but regret was etched onto every syllable.

"Fifteen minutes ago," she continued, "the salarian dalatrass asked me to sabotage the genophage cure in exchange for the support of the salarian fleets and their best scientists for the Crucible. Ten minutes ago, I was informed we have a new type of ground Reaper on Tuchanka we'll need to contend with."

Arius could see the muscles in Shepard's jaw set with tension. She raised her hand to rest on the elevator's emergency stop button, but she didn't press it. "Mordin found a cure. We're deploying it today using the Shroud, the atmosphere-terraforming constructs used to spread the original genophage. I need to ensure this mission goes off without a hitch, whatever it takes. Understood?"

"Understood."

Shepard pressed the emergency stop button again, and the elevator shuddered under them as it continued moving downwards. The doors opened to the hangar.

.

The lot of them were in the shuttle zooming over Tuchanka. Wrex was giving the details of his end of the plan.

"I've ordered the clans to assemble at the Hollows," he informed them, "It's our sacred meeting ground. We'll land there and take an armoured convoy against the Reaper. This will be the defining moment of krogan history."

Mordin poked his head out of one of the shuttle's seats. "Krogan history filled with defining moments. Most bloody. Hope this one better."

Wrex didn't respond.

They would reach their destination any minute, and the dalatrass's proposed betrayal was eating away at Shepard. She needed to say something. "I got a message from the–"

She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence. The shuttle rocked under them, making those standing sway off balance.

"Wrex, it's Wreav! The Reapers are already at the Hollows! Come out with guns blazing!"

"Hang on tight! We're heading in!" Pilot Cortez warned them, setting the shuttle down quickly.

When the shuttle door opened, a husk was already upon them. Wrex, standing at the door, blasted it into pieces with a well-timed pull of his shotgun's trigger. "Shepard, keep them away from the female! I'll sort out what's happened with the other clans!" He ran off with haste.

All around the LZ, krogan were engaged with all manner of husks, most grappling hand-to-hand, unable to keep the tide of their numerous enemy at bay. "Everyone pick your targets and keep an eye on our six! Now move!" Shepard ordered, bringing up her rifle and firing.

She was thankful to bring Liara and Arius with her - all the fighting was close quarters, and both were well equipped with the task. Liara, using her biotics, threw and slapped the advancing husks aside like rag dolls, keeping them out of arm's reach. Arius had not bothered removing the artifact and instead began swinging a razor-thin blade in tight, quick movements, conserving his energy while cleanly severing the limbs of those that got close. The arena cleared quickly, and once all husks had been dealt with, the large blast doors to the Hollow opened, and Wrex, along with other leaders from the clan, arrived, already splattered with blood. His krogan spirit only seemed strengthened.

"They'll sing battle songs about this someday. Ha! Reaper blood has finally soaked our soil."

Shepard jogged toward the krogan leader, squad in tow. "We have to get to the Shroud. The airstrike is on its way."

He nodded to her. Behind Wrex was Mordin, who shuffled down the ramp towards her. "Female safe, Shepard. Vitals are strong."

"What's a salarian doing here?" shouted another krogan, joining the fray with his own posse. "Nobody said anything about this!"

Mordin blinked. "Multiple krogan. Problematic."

"Who are you?" Shepard asked, stepping forward.

"Urdnot Wreav," the newcomer stated, "brood brother to our… Illustrious leader."

Wreav's comment was clearly disrespectful toward Wrex, who glared back at him, daring him to continue. "Wreav and I share the same mother. And nothing else."

"For which I'm thankful," Wreav insisted. "I remember what it means to be a true krogan." Wreav's posse roared in agreement around him. "We flay our enemies alive and drown them in a geyser of their own blood. We don't invite them into our home."

Wreav was exactly the wrong leader for the krogan, and Shepard was thankful Wrex was still alive. "This salarian is not your enemy. He's here to cure the genophage."

Wreav's eyes narrowed at her, outraged by her suggestion. He scowled angrily as he moved towards them. "His kind gave us the genophage! Why should we trust him?"

Wrex stopped Wreav before he advanced closer and delivered a fierce headbutt straight into the krogan's mug, who reeled, clutching his jaw.

"Because I do." Wrex glared at him, daring him to try his patience. "And so will you, Wreav."

Wreav growled at him, formally challenged. He pulled his shotgun.

"Enough!"

The voice belonged to Eve, and all the krogan stopped their bickering at once. A fertile female was a rarity among them, and they looked up at her in awe.

"You can stay here and let old wounds fester as krogan have always done…" she exclaimed, walking straight past and ascending the raised stage, "...or you can fight the enemy you were born to destroy – and win a new future for our children. I choose to fight. Who will join me?"

Shepard spoke up. "I will."

"And so will I," added Wrex. "Now hold your heads high like true krogan!" The clan leader walked to the rear, pointing his finger toward the blast doors like a pioneer on the wilderness' edge - in his direction the promised fight they had all been waiting their entire lives for. "There's a Reaper that needs killing!"

A rallying cry went up, and krogan in attendance banged together their fists and hollered, reading themselves for perhaps the first truly meaningful fight of their lives. Wreav, seeing the crowd's acceptance of the rallying cry, returned his shotgun and nodded to them. He would play along for now.

.

A convoy of krogan all-terrain trucks travelled through the barren wastelands of Tuchanka, well-equipped to traverse the hard topography. Ancient, decrepit roads ran under their wheels, having been destroyed by their own hands long ago.

"Krogan ground convoy, this is turian wing Artimec. Our flight vector to the Shroud is locked. We're ten minutes out and counting."

Shepard pressed a hand to her ear. "Copy that Artimec. We're on our way, trying to make up for lost time. Shepard out."

Wrex and Eve rode in the shuttle with them. "Wreav isn't the only krogan who wants revenge for the genophage, Wrex. You'll have to placate them somehow," the female krogan told him.

"I'll demand that the Council return some of our old territory. We'll need room to expand– recapture the glory of the ancients."

Mordin, hearing Wrex's words, turned his head toward them. "'Glory of the ancients' led to Krogan Rebellions. Countless deaths. Creation of genophage. Expansion plans… problematic."

"What were the ancient krogan like?" Shepard asked.

Eve's wide, reptilian eyes shone from behind her shaman's cloak. "Tuchanka wasn't always a wasteland. In the old times the krogan were a proud people. We had dreams… a future to look forward to."

"Until salarian interference," Mordin concluded.

"No. We destroyed Tuchanka ourselves. Technology changed us. It made life too easy. So we looked for new challenges–and found them in each other. Nuclear war was inevitable."

Arius had been quiet until now and moved forward, holding onto the overhead bar as the rover bumped over the broken land. "That is not a fate reserved solely for the krogan. There's an old archetypal story in human culture that names 'Eden', a walled garden. Outside the walls that society has built lies chaos, raw and untamed. Within lies the order and control of things that grow under cultivation. Humans evolved to be very good at looking for snakes, a reptile that predated them early in their evolutionary history. Over time, they eventually realized that once you've rid the garden of all the snakes, you'll start seeing them in each other. Krogan and humans… they're not so different."

"Yeah, well, our planet is rubble. We'll need a better place to live."

Shepard shrugged. "I'd say helping defeat the Reapers would be worth a new planet."

"Or ten. You haven't seen how fast we can pop them out."

Eve shot Wrex a look that could cut.

"What? With the genophage cured, we'll have a lot of catching up to do."

The shaman shook her head. If she could roll her eyes, she would have. She turned back to Shepard. "Commander, on the shuttle–was there something you were going to say?"

Shepard, remembering the urgency, spilled the beans. "Yes; The dalatrass tried to cut a secret deal with me."

Wrex narrowed his eyes. "What kind of deal?"

"She said they sabotaged the Shroud years ago. The cure won't work until we fix it." Shepard raised her left arm and, on her omni-tool, played a secret recording she had taken during her conversation with the dalatrass.

"-Years ago, our operatives sabotaged the Shroud facility to ensure what you're planning couldn't be done–"

Wrex, hearing the betrayal with his own ears, growled with anger. "And she thought we wouldn't know better?"

Mordin nodded, agreeing. "Correctly. Would likely have fooled tests. But familiar with STG work. Can adjust. Did not come this far for nothing."

"You just spared our race another genocide, Commander," Eve admitted.

"I told you we could count on her."

The shuttle continued to bump along for a while but felt the movement slow far too early. It should have taken longer to reach the shroud. Wrex rose to his feet, concerned. "What? Why are we stopping?"

Investigating the issue, they exited the shuttle. Outside in the distance, over fields of grey rubble, rose the Shroud. An air-terraforming tower, a column of wispy air rose from base to spire to stabilize the atmosphere after the self-induced nuclear winter. A new, smaller, ground-level Reaper was next to the tower the war had not seen before.

Arius didn't bother zooming in. "A Reaper Destroyer. Typically 160 meters in height. Their front-facing plates contain a main gun that can destroy a modern cruiser, but it's their main weak point when exposed. I've not confirmed it, but I believe their core is created using harvested species not used to build a Reaper capital ship."

Shepard had seen them in Eden Prime's Prothean time capsule recordings. She knew the danger. Turning her head, she looked to the reason why they had stopped. The road ahead was completely split. They could not pass.

"Turian wing Artimec, this is Shepard. We've been deployed–hold off your attack."

"Negative, Commander. Our approach is locked. The Reaper already knows we're here!"

Overhead, the turian squadron zoomed past, shaking the dust and rubble in their sonic wake. They were heading toward their doom without ground support to draw some of the fire.

Arius itched as he watched the freighters begin to swarm the ground Reaper, unleashing their meagre weapons upon it. "An airstrike won't do it. We have to get in that fight."

"Damn it." Inpatient, Shepard turned to the scout who had stopped the convoy. "I don't care if we need to build a new road. We're going!"

In the distance, a beam from the Reaper ripped through the air, a lightning-fast line of thin red. It struck one of the fighters and it caught fire, careening straight toward them in a death spiral.

"I've lost control! I can't pull up!" they heard from the turian pilot as black smoke and flames trailed behind it.

Arius readied himself. "Shepard…"

"Move!" she yelled.

The wayward fighter craft slammed into the ground at the foot of the convoy, exploding in a fireball. One of the rovers flipped over entirely, and black smoke filled Shepard's lungs. Debris from the impact pelted her.

"Shepard, what's happening?"

She was on her back without realizing it and shuffled backwards, pressing her hand to her ear. "Wrex, get the female out of here now! Go!"

Two rovers, with a fire lit under their asses, got in gear and drove over the rubble as the road under their monstrous tires collapsed.

"Artimec, do you copy?"

"We have to abort, Commander! The Reaper's tearing us to pieces!"

"Understood! Save your pilots– we'll find another way!"

As she cleared her head from the smoke, Shepard noticed the bodies. The krogan scouts unable to move out of the way had been burnt and mangled from the shrapnel of the crash. Several rovers no longer had any crew, nor could they follow the others as the way had collapsed.

"There's a tunnel over there!" Liara spotted. "Could be a way off!" It led to a large structure to their right, and the passage disappeared into the ground. The trio, not having other options, headed straight down.