Chapter 34
Tali cursed in Kheelish as her wrench slipped and she banged her knuckles against the Tomkah. She had been at it for eight hours, and now Clan Urdnot had the most efficient land vehicles to ever travel across the face of Tuchanka. Tali was in her element and worked like a woman posessed, the three Krogan mechanics feverishly working behind her and taking notes on the changes she made. They were thrilled to have innovation on this centuries-old technology and were extremely attentive students.
While she was busy over in the motor pool, Shepard was sparring in the arena with a group of adolescent Krogan getting ready for taking the rite, including Kurg and Grak who had been overjoyed to see she had returned. She had immediately earned their undivided attention when she demonstrated that despite her 82kg frame, she was able to easily throw a young Krogan who more than doubled that with a simple judo technique.
"It's about using your opponent's mass and momentum against them. Let me show you. Grak, throw a punch at me." Shepard said. He complied and she ducked under his arm, grabbed it and pulled continuing the motion sending him sprawling on the floor.
"Now you try it." She said, and when he was ready she threw a punch, he perfectly replicated her technique but unfortunately his increased strength led to Shepard flying 15 meters into the back wall of the arena, and upon impact an audible snap was heard.
"Shit, I'm sorry Shepard." Grak said, jogging over to check on her. She groaned, rising to a seated position and spat out blood.
"Not your fault, Grak I should have anticipated that." she smiled, then grimaced, her hand clutching her chest.
"Stay still I'll go get Dr. Chakwas. Grak you stay with her, keep her awake." Kurg said, Grak nodded and sat beside her keeping a sharp eye on her. Dr. Chakwas jogged over, and upon seeing Shepard's state she rolled her eyes.
"I can't take you anywhere, can I?" Chakwas asked.
"Uh, I fell..." She said, unconvincingly.
"Uh-huh and I didn't witness you sparring with these young men who each easily double your weight." She said, running a scan on her torso. While the machine rendered the 3d image of her torso, she wiped blood from Shepard's mouth. It was bright red and of normal consistency. She looked over at Grak who looked mortified.
"Sweetheart, don't worry. Shepard is going to be fine. We go through this and worse during basic training all the time. It's obvious you didn't mean any harm." She reassured the young Krogan.
"Grak, it's fine I promise. I really should have taken this into account. Next time we'll do this in the center of the arena, that way I won't hit a wall." She grinned.
Chakwas' scan finished rendering just as Wrex walked over to investigate. "Looks like a broken rib, but it didn't puncture anything." Chakwas said.
"What happened here?" Wrex said, Grak looked terrified but immediately answered.
"It is my fault, I performed a throw that she showed us and she hit the wall." Grak explained, standing tall and looking Wrex directly in the eye. Wrex growled, then looked at Shepard.
"You going to live?" He asked.
"Yes, and this was my fault not his. I failed to take the differences in our mass into account. He did precisely what I instructed him to do, precisely how I instructed him." She responded.
"He still harmed you. They were warned not to endanger or harm your people." Wrex responded.
"This is MY fault. He did NOTHING wrong. THIS. IS. ON. ME." She bellowed.
"Doesn't matter. I can't have my people going around creating diplomatic incidents with yours." Wrex insisted. To Chakwas' chagrin, Shepard stood up seemingly effortlessly, and stared Wrex directly in the eyes.
"The only diplomatic incident you need to worry about is the one you'll create if you lay a hand on that boy. I'm not in the habit of letting other people go down for my fuckups, Wrex and I'm not about to start!" She shouted, flecks of bloody saliva flying out of her mouth and landing on Wrex's armor. Wrex smiled.
"You've got a Quad, Shepard. Grak, learn from this. Measure your responses, use as much force you need to accomplish what you're setting out to do. No more, no less, understood?" He said. Grak nodded and Wrex turned away and walked off. Shepard slumped back to the ground, grasping her chest in pain.
"Sorry Karin." Shepard said.
"Don't be, you were right" Karin said as she wrapped athletic tape around Shepard's chest. "Now let's get you over to their medical center." She said, helping her back to her feet and supporting the taller woman under one of her arms.
"Grak, Kurg. Keep practicing that move, once I'm healed up I want to see you do it again, understood? I might wear armor this time though." She said grinning. Kurg laughed, but Grak remained stoic. After they left, Grak cursed and punched the wall.
"What's wrong?" Kurg asked.
"I almost killed her. Wrex was so mad. I fucked up." He growled.
"Yeah, you did. Quit being a little bitch and learn from it." Kurg said. Grak spit angrily but said nothing.
"Look Grak. Everyone fucks up. Look at our planet. You know what? We're still here, and now we have strong new friends that are going to help us pull ourselves out of this shit hole we've dug for ourselves. Shepard didn't blame you, hell I doubt Wrex blamed you, and you know how he is. He pushes you until you give him your best." Kurg said.
"Yeah, I still hate it though. First alien I've ever met worth a damn, and I break her ribs" He said, chuckling a little.
"Shake it off bitch, now come on and see if you can throw me as far as you threw her." Kurg said before throwing a fast right hook at Grak.
Inside a formerly unused room, now set up to remotely medically observe the 10 krogans in the quarantine ship above Tuchanka, Anderson and Raan were sitting with Uvenk and the female shaman and discussing the latest round of results.
"So they all ended up with slight fevers but those broke after the first day." Uvenk reported.
"Good, any other symptoms? We need to know everything, no matter how minor or inconsequential they might sound." Anderson repeated.
"Just a little stir crazy. Krogan don't do too well in enclosed spaces, even though that quarantine ship you sent was a lot bigger than I expected" the female Shaman said.
"It's meant to comfortably house potentially infected individuals while they either ride out an illness or have gone long enough without symptoms to be allowed to rejoin the general population, it's not a prison." Raan said.
"And we appreciate that. How long until we can consider them safe from harm?" Uvenk interjected.
"Three weeks is the standard quarantine, after that we'd like if you'll allow it to do continued observation over a year. Anything major will show up immediately, and anything deadly should have shown up in all of the pre-screening tests we did in the lab, but life tends to find ways to surprise you." Raan said.
"Agreed." The female Shaman added. A door opened, admitting Wrex who sat down and read over the newest status update from the volunteers.
"Anderson, how long have you worked with Shepard?" Wrex asked as he scrolled through the detials.
"Years, since my first command. Why?" He asked.
"She just got a rib broken by one of our younglings, then got up and threatened me when she thought I was going to punish him." He said.
"Christ. Look, I'm sorry, she's a damn fine officer but she takes keeping people she considers in her charge safe very seriously." Anderson said
"I don't want an apology Anderson. She stood between a 700 pound Krogan battlemaster and the kid that just grievously injured her ready to fight with a broken rib. What I want to know is why shes' not leading a company or a division." Wrex said. David chuckled.
"You're not the first superior officer she's stood up to." he said, grinning. "Remember I said I've been with her since my first command? We came out of FTL incorrectly and collided with an asteroid. I ordered the crew to abandon ship, and stayed aboard to make sure everyone got off. Our engineer hadn't reported she was safe, so I was determined to get her in a lifeboat or go down with the ship trying. Shepard insisted I get out safely, that the engineer was probably already gone, but I had it in my head that if there was even a chance to save her It was my job to do it or die trying. Christ how she yelled at me. I pulled rank and ordered her to get in the lifeboat, then I didn't make it three steps before she knocked me out with a spanner and dragged me into a lifeboat. When I woke up Shepard was in the brig and my engineer was there waiting to chew me out." He said fondly.
"Why'd they put her in jail? She saved your life." Uvenk asked.
"Military law, you strike a superior officer it's usually the firing line for you. I nearly got myself drummed out of the military defending her, eventually they settled on six months hard labor and a demotion. Her mother being the Prime Minister at the time also factored in." Anderson explained
"She finally made it back to LC when we were assigned to the Normandy, and quite frankly there's nobody else I'd want as my XO. Commanders need their 2nd in command to challenge them, keep them honest." Anderson said.
"She sounds like a damn fine officer, Anderson. Hold on to her as long as you can. Besides, from what I've been learning about your people, rebellion has worked out well for you in the past." Uvenk said.
"I was wondering what your take on our history would be. We're still sorting through what you gave us, your documented history is longer than ours and comes from so many sources." Anderson said.
"I was shocked at how open you were willing to be with us. I'd be lying if the stories about your great war were not disturbing, but I'd also be a hypocrite to judge your people for it, especially given how far you've come in less than two centuries. I see a lot of ourselves in your past." Wrex said.
"No good would have come from hiding the truth. We're only scratching the surface with the information we've gathered from the extranet about the Asari and Salarians, but some of the things we've discovered that they've tried to shovel under the carpet make us at our worst look outright civilized. Christ, the the things the Salarians have done are abominable, the genophage not the least of them." Anderson said
"What could they have done that compares with the genophage?" Wrex said his tone bitter.
"If they'd succeeded in annihilating the Krogan, then you would be the second sentient race they've pushed to extinction." Anderson revealed.
"What?!" all three Krogan said.
"Sur'Kesh was once home to two sentient races. The Salarians, and the Mi'ik. The Salarians are amphibious in nature, and the Mi'ik were evolved from arboreal mammals. Many of their early advancements were stolen from the Mi'ik. By the time they discovered the Citadel and the Asari, the Mi'ik had been reduced to a slave race of a few hundred thousand. When they learned of the Asari and their morality and ethics code, specifically their opinion of Slavery, one of the first things they did was to exterminate the remaining Mi'ik. Not even the Asari know about this." Raan said.
"How did you find out about it?" Wrex asked.
"Rothschild is a very talented data miner, and the early Salarians were notoriously sloppy about data destruction." Anderson said.
"The Mi'ik were the Salarian's dirty little secret, and to save face in the presence of the pretty blue space ladies, they wiped out a beautiful, vibrant, intelligent race. All of that potential, all that they had discovered, all that they could have achieved, gone forever." Raan said, her eyes watery. Anderson squeezed her hand reassuringly.
"We're discovering that many of the citadel's policies towards the Quarians were tied to the Salarians. They sold flawed technology to the fleet, claimed mineral rights on levo worlds to prevent Quarian settlement, insisted on trade restrictions with the Turians. They're levo protien like Humans and Quarians, and the fleet routinely depended on Turian exports to feed their people. They weren't exaggerating when they said when they found us they were starving." Anderson said.
"So they were trying to wipe out the Krogan and the Quarians? Why?" The female Shaman said.
"We haven't found out. While barbaric and unforgivable, the Mi'ik made sense, they were sharing resources on the same planet, and they'd outlived their usefulness to the Salarians. The Quarians and the Krogan make no sense. Rothschild is working on it though." Raan said.