New Start Plus: in spaaaaace!

by omaster43

Nick Walters and his merry band of misfits are back with a story about helping Shepard and crew fight giant eldritch robot abominations, most likely through Dumb magic and crazy shenanigans This is a continuation of my previous story, so reading that one first is recommended. but I'm not your nanny you wanna be confused that's your choice. Oc-insert, just came from Dragon age

3. Chapter 3 a day under the sun

Ch. 3

A Day Under the Sun

-/-

Nick POV

Haestrom was a hell hole, and that was putting it nicely~.

"Shepard be warned, Haestrom's star is unstable and unleashing heavy doses of solar radiation, standing in direct sunlight is unadvised," EDI warned over the comms.

"You heard the lady. Stay out of the light," Shepard ordered.

"Then we fight in the shade," Grunt huffed, "but no hiding." His rage was beginning to grow, it didn't help that we didn't get enough rest after Horizon due to the Shadow Sea system having a Mass Relay that shot us straight to the Far Rim system where Haestrom was located, we jumped from one hot skillet to another within the same day. So the team on this mission was smaller than I would have liked, consisting of me, Dogmeat, Garrus, Shepard, Grunt, Miranda, and Ayla.

"Sereda, Dogmeat, with me," I ordered taking the lead, she gave me a nod, and Dogmeat gave me a chuff. In quick strong movements, we earth-bent large slabs that provided shade.

"The earth is weird here. It feels, dry, like it just gave up on, everything," Sereda huffed, "We need to get going, the earth doesn't like us being here. It doesn't like anyone."

"Well that's ominous~, Shepard, we'll provide you with shade and cover," I called out getting a thumbs up as Shepard took command, reaching the gate we came to our first Quarian casualty, he was a male, shot in the chest with a group of Geth around him, he was still warm, I wasn't sure if it was because of the star or if he was just killed. "Ayla?" Not wasting a moment, she checked with her boss.

"... I need a diamond worth 300 gold," Not giving it a second thought I purchased a diamond from the gamer's store and passed it to Ayla.

"What are you doing?" Miranda asked as we positioned the Quarian man on his back, where Ayla put the diamond the size of my palm on the man's chest. Ayla didn't answer, only tapped the diamond with her book, "we don't have time-" she was cut off as Ayla lifted her book and brought it down with the rage of an angry barbarian.

"REVIVIFY!" she roared, smashing the Diamond to dust on the Quarian's chest, causing him to scream awake holding his chest, causing everyone to nearly jump out of their armor. Not missing a beat, I started healing the poor man.

Quarian Captain

Fin'Shaam vas Janna

Lvl: 26

Age: 32

HP: 10/ 370

Ailments:

Weak immune system (520 MP) (-1 HP per second, doubling every 2 minutes if not in an enviro-suit)

Broken ribs (40MP)

Pierced lungs (75MP)

Existential crisis (30MP and a quick explanation)

Fin'Shaam was born on the Rayya, completing his pilgrimage in under five years by stealing a frigate from batarian slavers, saving the slaves, and becoming one of the youngest captains in the Quarian fleet. The admiralty board ordered him to investigate why Haestrom's star was turning into a red giant at such a young age.

He is very confused

"That's how you bring someone back from the dead," Ayla smirked, dusting off her shoulder and walking away. She stumbled a little after leaving Miranda's sight but played it off. Revivify is one of the most powerful holy spells in a Cleric's arsenal, sure the diamond sacrifice did a good deal of the work but it did need the Cleric's power to bridge the gap between the material plane and the celestial realm, and depending where the soul was, it could take a great deal of power. Her armor should be helping her regenerate her MP. That's good because I have the feeling we're going to do this a few times.

"W-Wh-What!?" Fin started coughing as I healed him.

"Breathe," I ordered, "You just shook hands with your ancestors, breathe."

"How? I was-"

"Shot to death, yes," I answered, "But as you can see, you got better. Your Ancestors probably thought you had more time in ya." As his HP maxed, I started curing his ailments, starting with plugging up all his new holes, followed by his ribs, and lungs.

"I-it's pointless," he muttered, "My mask, it's broken, won't last the hour. My crew. Geth. Tali'Zorah, get to Tali'Zorah."

New Quest: walking on sunshine~! Tali'Zorah and her Crew are being pinned down by Heretic Geth and could use a spot of help!

0/50 Geth destroyed

1/15 Quarians saved (optional)

Reward: 50,000 EXP, 15,000 credits, 1 gold loot box, Geth plasma shotgun.

Optional: Friendly with the Quarian race, 1 gacha token

"You heroes~, always so damn noble," I rolled my eyes, "I don't know your crew so you better introduce me." I took a moment for my suit and natural MP regen to top me off before fixing his Immune system. My healing hands and Medic skills didn't tell me what his immune system was being repaired to, but I guessed it was to the level of my own immune system, being the only one I have ever had. And let me tell you something about the human immune system, it was fricking terrifying. Over 30 trillion cells with a single goal, keeping you alive. I reached up and ripped the broken mask off his face, "Now get up, and stop acting so melodramatic." I lifted him to his feet. Quarians must have come from a Feline ancestry, he had glowing cat-like eyes and sharp teeth, smaller than Sky's, but were definitely made for meat, he had a buzzed haircut, some kind of cybernetics on his face, and was so pale that I was worried he was somehow losing blood. All and all, dude was handsome, he won't be winning any awards but ladies would give him a second look.

"Wha?" I passed him my Gauss rifle and slapped one of my backup armors on his chest, I'm nothing if not prepared, thank you Batman. "Wha!?" He looked at the armor as it morphed across his body.

"Focus!" I ordered, getting his military training to kick in. I pointed to the Gauss rifle, "Aim, hold, pull. You understand?" he gave me a nod, "Good, this is Commander Shepard, he's in charge." I passed Fin to Shepard, I left them to talk, as I turned to my dog. "Dogmeat, I need you to scout ahead and provide healing runes to the injured that look like him," I ordered, he barked and took the bag of runes and booked it down the road at great speeds. I'm not sure if you have ever seen a dog run, I mean really run, to haul ass down the road like the devil was after them, it's a crazy thing. add that Dogmeat has been with me from the beginning, enhanced, and has a collar that quadruples his strength, provides magical protection, and HP Regen. Dogmeat was a hairy, four-legged, slobbering, death missile, that let nothing get in his way.

"Nick? Your dog just ran off," Garrus pointed out.

"Forward scout, I have him providing healing and recon," I answered, launching my satellite to give me a 3D map of the area.

"But he doesn't have a weapon?"

"Trust me, he doesn't need one," I smirked. Fin was given a bullet point exclamation on what was happening and had him up front with Shepard to help lead us through the maze that was ancient Quarian architecture.

"Geth!" Garrus warned as they fell from the sky.

I wanted to test some stuff but waiting for Legion to show up was going to take some time from now, so, why not use what I got? Dashing forward I separated a lone Geth from the rest of his little friends, took its gun, and pressed my hand to its chest, adding dozens of rune sentences before launching him at the rest of his friends. The Geth trooper, not knowing what I did, got up and marched back into the sunlight.

Only to start screaming... the battlefield went quiet as its warbled screams of pain made everyone freeze, even the other Geth. It started spazzing out, losing its mind... Processers?

"Nick? What did you do?" Shepard asked, confusion lacing his question.

"Did you know which sense most mortals have Shepard?" a grin crossed my face, "Pain." I answered for him, "Pain, Shepard, you can't live without it. Pain breeds fear, fear breeds caution, caution breeds curiosity, Curiosity breeds knowledge, and knowledge breeds understanding. You, Garrus, Fin, we all feel pain, we don't like pain, so we try and avoid it, try to stop its spread, so, you work together, join forces, friendship, all united through the hatred of pain. And if what you told me of Geth is true~," I dashed out of cover, right in front of another Geth unleashing a mean right hook right to its headlamp.

Haki + fisticuffs + Jeet kune do + Max strength + back stab= 1,974 points of bludgeoning damage

The Geth's head turned to shrapnel, it didn't get to say anything as it slumped over and I raced to its buddies, doing the same, leaving only the screaming Geth that finally managed to crawl into the shade.

It was still twitching as I stood over it, "And then there was one. Hey Fin? How many Geth programs are in this one body?"

He gave a look at the 8 other bodies, "80, I think."

I reached down and added some more runes on the Geth's antenna, distance, strength, and speed. I wanted to make sure that the Geth got this information. Lifting it to the sunlight, it screamed at the heat of the star as I slowly squeezed, crushing its body, making sure it felt everything before the Geth inside ran to another platform.

"There we go~," I cheered, dusting off my hands and dropping the piece of useless metal.

You have defeated 8 Geth Troopers!

Reward: 1000 EXP, 1 pulse rifle, 1500 credits

You have defeated an Enhanced Geth trooper!

Reward: 500 EXP, 500 omni-gel, 500 credits

I was getting shocked looks, "What?"

"That was brutal," Grunt nodded, "I approve."

"Thanks~," I rolled my eyes, "Alright, that should mess them up a bit."

"In what way?" Garrus asked.

"Imagine you were blind your whole life, and suddenly you could see. That's got to be all kinds of jarring," I shrugged.

-/-

Dogmeat POV

I am speed, nothing will get in my way. My partner gave me a mission, help the bendy legs.

"no~, please." what was that!? Investigate! I am speed. I found one of the bendy legs on the ground at the mercy of the shiny ones. Not on my watch! My super jaws will handle this! Bite! Crush! Twist! Throw! Ah~, victory. "Wha?" I turned to the bendy-legged one, she was bleeding. Not good. Reaching into my pouch I pulled out one of my partner's feel-good rocks and gave it to the bendy-legged lady. "Uh... thanks."

"Bark! (You're welcome) Bark! (Partner coming, you stay)" I patted her leg, stopping her from moving.

"Uh... I stay?"

Oh good, I was worried she wasn't as intelligent as myself. Giving her one last nod, I rushed forward. For I was on a mission, a mission of speed.

And I am speed.

-/-

Shepard POV

I always wanted a dog, but I could never convince Ma, if I knew they could rip apart Geth and save the injured from fatal wounds, I might have had a better argument when I was a kid.

"Breathe," Nick ordered the young woman, healing her wounds and remaking her Immune system. "Shepard, Grunt, you better be paying attention, you're going to do this one day." that was the 9th Quarian so far.

"Me!?" Grunt huffed, "But you're not doing any explosions!?"

"No, but you're under my tutelage, meaning you will learn to heal, if not for yourself than for others."

"Why would I care about that?" Grunt asked.

"Are children your enemies?" Nick asked, helping the young woman to her feet.

"What? No. They are small and not very strong. It would sully my Krogan pride. I will not have it." Grunt answered, shaking off the idea of such a thing.

"What about the weak?"

"I only fight the strongest," he growled.

"And what if they have the potential of being your most powerful enemy, but need healing?"

"... they would need to be healed. Mmm, very well. I will learn to heal, BUT only to make sure my enemies don't have an excuse," Grunt nodded like he thought up the idea.

"Good to hear," he smirked and passed the young woman another one of his armors.

"How many of those do you have?" Garrus asked.

"Like 30, are you telling me you don't have backup armors?" Nick had an incredulous look on his face.

Garrus rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I do, on the ship. Like a normal person."

Nick huffed, "At least tell me you have some food," Garrus was quiet. Really Garrus~, even I have pocket jerky. "You're hopeless~, here." Nick passed Garrus a tube of food paste.

"You carry around Dextro food paste?" he asked, taking the tube.

"Duh," he passed one to Fin. "I have just about everything," he summoned a turkey leg, still steaming as if just cooked, he gave it to Grunt who ate it whole, "And anything I don't have I create," he proceeded to create a golem from the earth around us, freaking out the Quarians, and ordered it to run ahead and attack the Geth.

"Wait... if you can just make the golems... why don't you just make a few hundred to destroy the Geth." Miranda huffed.

You know... that's a good question.

"Time, power, resources. Golems, while useful, have limitations. I could make them more complicated, stronger, and with greater autonomy, but that takes longer to make. I could make faster, smaller, golems with simple orders but I would have to be there to watch over them. That's why any golems I make are either under someone's command or have enough autonomy and instructions to work around problems."

"... Won't they just become sentient?" I asked.

Nick shrugged, "Maybe, it might take a few hundred years, but they might be able to gain a sense of semi-sentience, if they have enough power and if their original orders need them to overcome a difficult problem."

"And you're okay with that?" Fin asked.

"Sure, life is filled with crazy unknowns, we just got to roll with the punches. I did try and curve any murderous intent, by making the need to gain any new information and knowledge to be done through peaceful means, but there's only so much I can do, I'm not going to crush new life by hovering over it with a club."

"And if they go crazy," another Quarian hissed.

"Then I'll take responsibility, you silly fool, I created the golem, I gave it magic, I gave it form, I gave it orders, it may have gained its own sentience, but it was I who gave them the chance," Nick answered.

"And if they rise against you?" Miranda asked.

"Then you should thank 'present' me because if my golems raise up to fight 'future' me, something has gone very wrong. All my golems are given the simple order, no matter how big or small, no matter how strong or weak, every golem is ordered to help the innocent and the young. If they are fighting me then there is a good chance, that I have gone mad with power. Uncaring for the people around me, destroying without thought, gloating over dust." Just for a moment, I imagined Nick as this ruthless individual, and I was pretty sure most of the Citadel would have been destroyed, and I would have been very much dead... again.

"Hey~," Ayla patted Nick on the shoulder, while Sereda gave him a light elbow to his hip.

Nick took a deep breath, "I like to think that will never happen. That I would always be in control, but I'm only human, and time could change anyone, but all that is moot, you shouldn't worry about the infinite possibilities of the multiverse, we need to save Ms. Zorah from the space robots. Good lord, did you just hear what I said? Space robots~, what a wild universe this is~," he laughed walking towards the next section of the Quarian stone city.

Nick is a strange man.

-/-

Dogmeat POV

How in Dog God am I supposed to get passed this door?

"Hey, no! Get away from that!" One of the bendy legs came over and shooed me away from the steel door. I just saved a room filled with them from the metal men, some were hurt but my partner's rocks are keeping them alive.

Walking up to the bendy-legged leader, I pushed him until he fell over, "HEY!? Get off!" I sat on him. "A little help here!?"

"Bark! (No!) Bark! (Bad!) Bark! (I'm bigger and stronger!)" To prove my point, I patted the bendy one on his shiny face.

"OW! Wait! You're going to break my mask! Stop!" Sweet Dog Jesus, this man wasn't very strong, clearly his people didn't get help from the dogs of his planet. What a sad thing to see.

"Bark! (I'm in charge now!)" lifting the man with my mouth I walked him to the controls. "Bark! (Door)"

"Commander Reegar?" the bendy-legged one talked into his hand box.

"Naem? Good to hear your voice, I got word from Captain Fin, he has friends and a large group of our crew heading your way, but I'm not sure where they are! A drop ship cut us off."

"Yeah~, I got that. There's a... Dog? Here."

"A what?"

"A human pet."

The nerve! Everyone knows it was us who had to look after the humans, those poor hairless creatures could barely give each other love. Love is free! To care is easy! They fight for the dumbest things! Shiny rocks!? So dumb! They have food and large open spaces! What more do you want!?

"Okay, and what-" A loud boom cut the man off followed by a terrible tremor, followed by a long silence.

"HEY! Open up!" Partner yelled, slamming at the door.

Oh yeah! Let's do this! Racing over to the door I started digging under it, but the floor was a bit too tough, why is everything made of rocks!?

"Dogmeat?" I gave a howl loud enough to vibrate the little rocks in the room, making sure Partner could hear, poor humans and their sad small weak ears. "That's my man, move back I'm opening the door!" the door sprang open to show my smirking partner, he ran over and gave me scratches, "You beat us here!" Of course! I have four legs, "You really are the best boy!" the best! "Here," he gave me some meat snacks, I knew keeping him around was a good idea.

-/-

Shepard POV

Leaving Nick and Dogmeat to reunite and heal the injured, I moved over to the other door that should lead us to Kal'Reegar, and Tali. Walking through the room I reached the hologram showing Tali talking in a loop.

Pressing the call button, Tali's head popped into view.

"Hello!? Who's there!?" Tali asked, I don't think her hologram is working.

"Who's asking?" I answered in code.

"Ya Mama!" good, it was Tali, "Shepard!? What are you doing here? My crew!? What's going on?"

"I was in the neighborhood, thought it would be nice to get the gang back together. I also have a good number of your crew with me," I answered.

"Revivify!" I hear Ayla cast behind me.

"Hey quick question, does the Quarian fleet pay in diamonds?" I asked.

"What?"

"Never mind, we're here to save you, like that time I did with the nutrient paste."

She let out a sigh of relief, "Good to hear you're still the real Shepard~, and you didn't save me, you broke one of my ribs."

"I was giving you the Heimlich!"

"Quarian's have larger ribs!"

"I didn't know that!"

"HEY!?" Garrus interrupted, "This is really cute, family coming together and all that, but we have Geth munching at our asses here!"

"Garrus!? Who invited the space cop?" Tali drawled.

"Hey! I'm not a space cop anymore, I'm a space vigilante!" Garrus corrected.

"Oh good, so now you don't have to take bribes in secret, just beat up the criminals and take their money~," she huffed.

"And don't you forget it!"

Yeah, it's all coming together.

"Shepard, we are clear," Nick came over, dusting off his hands.

"Who's that?" Tali asked.

"The most handsome man you've never seen~," Nick answered.

"... Shepard... why do I feel like I wanna punch that guy?"

"Please don't... he's all kinds of... crazy~," I begged, he's probably going to turn her into an apple.

"You do tend to attract them, I mean look at me, in the middle of Geth space looking at stars," she muttered. "Just save my crew and pick me up, if you have the time~," she ordered sarcastically.

"I can't open the door from here," I answered, tapping away at my omni-tool, "The Geth did a number on the door controls."

"Give me a second." she stepped away from the screen for a moment, "OK, try it now." The door swung open.

"We're in!" I called out.

"Be careful Shepard, and keep my crew alive." she logged out.

"Alright, Fin, I need you and any marines in the room to keep this room clear, this is our exit, Dogmeat give them back up," the dog barked. "Sereda," I pointed to the exit door, the dwarf nodded and lifted a slab of earth to block the door from where we came from, making it difficult for any more Geth to come in. "Nick."

"Yeah?"

"How many diamonds do you have?" I whispered.

"... I would recommend for people to stop dying," he warned.

"Right~," I sighed, didn't think that was going to last forever. "Grunt, Sereda with me. Miranda, Ayla, center. Nick, Garrus, watch our six," I ordered. Securing the next room and finding another empty room with blast panels, we moved in, making sure the door behind us was closed shut.

"Locked," Grunt called out at the end of the hall.

"Button," Garrus pointed out.

This is why I became a spectre, only I get to press the buttons. "Alright, be ready, Geth were swarming this place." pressing the button the door opened... and so did the panels, allowing us to come face to face... with a Geth Colossus.

Which launched a siege pulse right at my face, "RUN!" The heat of the explosion sizzled my back as we dove through the hallway.

"Hehe Heh, this is why I follow you Shepard. Big things!" Grunt cheered.

"Happy to deliver~," I muttered. Finding Kal wasn't hard, he and a handful of Quarian marines were taking potshots at the Geth troopers, where Kal would shoot his rocket launcher at the Colossus every time it showed its head. "You Reegar!?"

He looked over to me, "Squad Leader Kal'Reegar, Migrant Fleet Marines! We talked on the radio before the drop ship arrived!"

"Hold still!" Nick called out healing Reegar's abdomen.

"Dinner first would be nice!" Reegar coughed.

"I have nutrient paste!" Nick joked.

"So do I! What kind of idiot doesn't have rations?"

"You forget one time~," Garrus groaned, popping over cover and putting a bullet dead center into a Geth trooper's head. Suddenly a thick wall providing more cover and shade appeared courtesy of Sereda. "Can I get an opening?" a perfect square was launched out of the wall crushing a Geth on the other side. "Thank you~," he smirked, shooting another Geth that walked into his kill box.

"This is going to feel weird," Nick warned, as Kal lit up like a star.

"Whoa? What was that?" Kal muttered.

"I'll tell you later, shit!" he muttered, running past me, to another Quarian who was trying to apply omni-gel to her shattered mask. "Hold still!" I left that to him. Looking at the remaining Quarians I didn't spot Tali, looking out to the courtyard I found a bunch of construction equipment the Geth were using as cover, to my left were large stone walls that looked precut, but never removed, to my right, was a ramp that circled around the courtyard that would make a decent sniper's roost if the sun wasn't hitting you in the face.

"Kal, where's Tali!?" I asked, Kal looked lost, moving his head around like he was reading something, "REEGAR!" he snapped to attention, "Where is Tali'Zorah!?"

"Across the courtyard! My team and I were able to get her into the observatory before we had to fall back." A bullet whizzed by chipping the wall.

"Is she safe!?"

"The observatory is heavily reinforced; it's going to take some time to hack it and having someone firing rockets at you tends to make you a bit distracted," he patted his rocket launcher.

"Give me the bullet points, what are we looking at!?" Another tremor was felt as Sereda launched a block of stone the size of a twin-sized bed across the field and into the colossus's head causing it to duck down behind its cover, giving us a moment without constant bombardment.

"Damn colossus has a self-repair program; it will come up when you least expect it. There is plenty of space to your left with enough cover where the Colossus can't get you but it's covered with Geth, for some reason they're sticking to the shade! To your right, you have the high ground but the damn colossus has its cannon pointed at you the whole time! But the Geth have been avoiding it due to the light."

"These things are getting annoying!" Nick called out, trying to heal a Quarian under fire, snapping his fingers he summoned two steel golems in the shape of medieval knights, a glowing sword in one hand and a solid steel shield in the other, Nick just jutted his head at the Geth. Not wasting a second, they launched themselves passed cover and chopped the head off any Geth that got cocky enough to rush them and stupid enough to stay in one place.

"Awesome! Shepard, I wanna sword!" Grunt demanded. Ugh~, where am I going to find a sword? I would ask Nick but with how much he spent on this one mission, I'm not sure I could afford it.

"Are any of you real?" Kal asked. "Are you just figments of my imagination as I die from a terrible infection?"

"I'm not going to lie to you Reegar, it's been a weird three days, but I need you to focus and guard this passage," I ordered.

"What!? No! I can-"

"Guard this spot!" I ordered, "There are other Quarians in the lab behind us, if the Geth get passed you they can die."

"... I understand, give them hell, Keelah se'lai!" he saluted.

I turned to Nick, "How many of those do you have?"

"30."

"And when were you going to tell me?"

"Well~, I was planning to take you out to dinner before I let you plow me for information about all my powers~," he rolled his eyes, "Seriously~? What were you expecting!? I met you like 3 days ago."

That's fair, I guess, "Can you have them take the left path?" He nodded and summoned 8 more Knights, and without giving them any orders the Golems jumped into action, joining their brothers and marching as a unit to the left passage. "That will distract the Geth, come on!" I led them to the right, up the ramp. With the colossus fixing itself and the Geth distracted, getting behind the colossus's cover wasn't that difficult.

Unfortunately, as we passed the corner my stomach sank to my feet, Nick must have felt the same thing because he rose a stone wall just in time to stop a pulse cannon from blasting us into next week.

"Alright Shepard I'm tired of this," Nick sighed, "At any other time, I would be all down for us to work together as a team to destroy the colossus and bring us closer as friends, but I like to think we did that on Horizon, so if you don't mind~." Nick then transformed into a giant mech, "Say hello to my Prime suit!" he roared running around the corner. Looking over the corner we saw the mech dance around the Colossus's blasters, getting under its legs and shoving a glowing red sword up and through the Colossus's body. The Colossus gave a light warble before its light dimmed. "Double Tap!" Nick roared, bringing his sword down one more time slicing its head off.

"Awesome! Shepard! I wanna giant robot!" Grunt cheered.

"That makes two of us~," I muttered. Nick continued his rampage destroying any Geth troopers left behind with his knights coming over the corner pushing the Geth they were fighting to run right into the meat grinder that was Nick Walters. "I'm guessing Nick always had a giant robot?" I asked Sereda and Ayla.

"Yep~, Nick usually doesn't use it often, it tends to make people nervous. 'Why does he have it? Is he going to use it to hurt others? It's not fair that he has one and we don't~'," Ayla groaned. "If you want one just build one yourself!" oof, clearly this wasn't the first time someone asked for one.

"So... are we going to just sit here and wait for Nick to finish making us look like background characters?" Garrus asked.

"I mean... if you wanna get in there, I ain't going to stop you," I shrugged. This is our second mission in as many days, I haven't gotten any sleep, I fought enough Geth, collectors, and husks, to make a small hill, and I can live with a 10-minute break.

"RAAAAR!" Grunt roared racing into the meat grinder.

"Well, at least someone's having a good time~," Sereda muttered.

-/-

Tali'Zorah Vas Neema Nar Rayya POV

You know~, 3 years ago all the explosions and gunfire would have made me pretty nervous. Most Quarians don't stick around on battlefields, due to the fact that a single suit puncture usually meant a horrible death, if you were lucky. I on the other hand feel completely fine, and my heart rate is normal, my hands steady as a gyro stabilizer, blood pressure... better than normal. This can't be healthy, I should blame Shepard, and probably try and get Alliance compensation for emotional distress. Wrex would probably say it's good for the mind.

There was a terrible tremor that nearly knocked me on my ass, what is that Bosh'tet doing!? This better not be another nuke situation.

… everything was quiet... too quiet~.

Knocking came from the door, "Tali you in there?" Shepard's voice came from the intercom.

"Who's asking?" I called back.

"Ya mama! Now open the door you punk!" I got behind cover and unlocked the door, you can never be too careful.

The first person I saw was Shepard in his N7 armor, "What took you so long?" I huffed. "My crew better be okay."

"I took the scenic route, first time on a Quarian planet, thought I'd make the best of it~."

"It's too hot!" Garrus complained, walking into the room, he would, what a philistine.

"I don't know, I like the architecture," a small blonde female human nodded to the walls.

"That's because this place is just like Orzammar," Another blonde-haired human with pointy ears stated.

"This place is awesome, lots of sun and things to kill, it's practically Tuchanka!" a Krogan cheered holding up a Geth's head, "Hey Nick can you make this into a lamp?"

Suddenly a huge mech came into view, it had to be at least 25 feet in height before it popped out of existence leaving a human behind, he was around 6 feet, with black fur on his face and head, but his eyes, they had a strange glow to them. Almost... Quarian.

"Shouldn't be too hard~, as a growing Krogan it's important for you to have battle trophies~, show off to them krogan ladies~," he joked.

"What about that big one!?" The asked Krogan bouncing in excitement.

"You gotta ask Shepard, it's big and you need his permission."

"SHEPARD!?" that Krogan was way too excited.

"If you can get it purged and to the ship, then fine," Shepard sighed.

"Alright!" He cheered and ran back outside.

"Still babying your crew, I see~," I teased.

"It's either that or become a hardass, and I don't have the military rank to do that long-term," he shrugged. "Good to see you haven't lost your touch." he pointed to the dozen Geth in the room.

"It was a little cramped," I teased.

"Hey, Shepard!? Can I have this!" the human named Nick yelled holding a Geth plasma rifle, "also this?" He held up a Geth plasma shotgun.

"Yeah, I guess~," Shepard shrugged.

"Cool... what about all the other stuff I picked up?"

"How much did you pick up?" Shepard asked.

"... that wasn't an answer."

Shepard put his hands on his hips, "Did any of that belong to the Quarians?"

"... that still isn't an answer."

Who the hell is this jackass? "You can't take things from us!" I answered.

His gaze snapped to me. Whoa~, it was like that time I dropped Wrex's shotgun. He slowly tilted his head, before appearing half a foot from me, looming over me like a Varren does a Pyjak. "Tali'Zorah Vas Neema Nar Rayya~. You have a lot of moxie for a damsel in distress~."

I looked straight into his eyes, "Who's in distress?" I asked, shoving my shotgun against his chest.

He didn't even flinch, instead a large grin spread across his face, "Julee's going to love you~," he burst out laughing, before lifting his hands in surrender, "I'll return the things I found."

"You better," I warned tapping him in the chest.

"Names Nick Walters~, a man of many talents, Cerberus hater, the most handsome man you have met~." Nick offered his hand in a shake.

"Tali'Zorah. The best engineer you'll ever meet," I shook his hand. Why did everything taste... blue? Why am I glowing? Just as everything happened, it ended. My screen was going crazy though, it was nothing dangerous, just... weird.

"Julee's definitely going to eat you alive~," Nick chuckled, letting go of my hand, "I'm going to go check on Grunt and make sure he doesn't get too handsy with some of the Quarians." He waved goodbye followed by the two blonde women. He walked with way too much confidence.

"Tali, sorry for dropping in without calling, but I'm still hoping you will join my crew to fight the Collectors," he asked.

"I wish I left with you on Freedom's Progress, but I couldn't let anyone else take my place on something this risky."

"What was so important that put so many lives at risk?" he asked.

"In all honesty, I don't really know. The Admiralty Board believed the information here was worth all the danger, I have to believe that they knew what's best," even if it's a little questionable.

He frowned down at me, "I didn't ask what some admiral thought. I asked what you thought."

"I don't know, but it has to be. What other reason would we be sent out here?" I took a deep breath, "...How many?"

"... we found 3, we couldn't save them. We believe they when quickly. I'm sorry."

"We knew the risks but," Damnit Damnit Damnit! I took another deep breath, "And the rest of the crew?"

"A little banged up but still kicking, Ma'am" a familiar gruff voice came from the Doorway.

"Reegar!?" I raced over, but he waved me away before I even got to him.

"I'm fine ma'am, better than fine even," he pounded his chest, typical marine bravado.

"Commander? The Krogan's using Cali as a metal detect-" I didn't hear what Sheha was reporting as I saw her without her mask, before I knew what was happening, I was slapping my mask on Sheha's face plate. "Tali!?" I took a deep breath, so... this is what real earth smells like, I wish flowers were the last things I smelled.

.

.

.

"Uh, are you okay?" Shepard asked. Any second now I'm going to break into hives and die.

.

.

.

"Tali," Garrus called out, "I hope you understand, but I'm recording this." really Garrus! You're going to record my final moments as a puss-filled sack. Gross.

.

.

.

"We got the all clear on the colossus head. What's with her?" Nick came back into the room. Keelah, it sure is taking longer to die than I thought. "You know, Quarians are really pale~, you guys should get more sunlight, not this sunlight of course, you'd be roasted alive." Nick got close enough for me to smell his breath. "Why do female Quarians have hair but males don't and are these cybernetics?" he asked, looking at my bio-enhancers.

"What's that smell?" I asked.

"Mmm? Oh, mint, brush twice a day," he informed, "Why have cybernetics so close to your eyes? Seems dangerous."

"They help distribute nutrients better," I muttered. What the hell's going on here?

"Is that safe?"

"It's necessary," I turned to everyone else, "What is happening here? Why am I not dead? Or on the floor going into cardiac arrest?"

"Mmm? Oh, you haven't told her?" Nick asked, backing away.

"We thought this would be funnier~," Garrus answered, still recording me. I'm going to break his arm.

"Understandable," Nick nodded, "To answer your question, I used my magic powers to fix your immune system."

"... Shepard... this man is crazy," I muttered to the group.

"I know," Shepard answered, "But being crazy doesn't make him wrong. We'll discuss it later."

"Shepard... this man thinks magic is real-"

"Tali wait!" Shepard warned.

"-Magic doesn't exist!" I finished.

"YOU DARE QUESTION MY MAGIC!?" Nick roared. Making a pose that made my inner child cheer but my adult self cringed so hard that I felt like was going to turn into a black hole just to not be seen near him.

We all just stood there for a moment.

"So... are you going to do anything?" the Cerberus woman asked.

Nick looked at her like she was crazy, "What!? Miranda... we are in the middle of a mission, in the middle of hostile territory, it would be super inappropriate right now. I'll shatter her sense of reality when we're not in the middle of a warzone."

"Sounds like an excuse," Miranda countered.

Nick narrowed his eyes at her, "... you punk~." he then STUCK HIS HAND INTO A BLACKHOLE!? Keelah! "catch~," he tossed me a bag made of leather. Looking at the fancy bag I notice glowing scribbles and symbols, glancing back at him I notice he wasn't even looking at me, instead, he was staring down Miranda.

"Um?" I didn't really know what to do here.

"Check the bag," Nick ordered. The bag wasn't very big, maybe the size of my third pocket, looking inside, it was pitch black, bottomless. I started with a finger, then my knuckle, hand, wrist, ARM!?

"What is this thing!?" I screamed removing my hand from the bag, and started moving her fingers making sure I wasn't going crazy.

"It's a Runic Bag of Holding, Master crafted, with expert-level runes. It can store over 3 tons of weight and can fit anything less than 100 cubic feet as long as it isn't alive," He answered, I just looked back at the bag, then at Shepard, who just shrugged, then to Garrus, who was still recording, that bosh'tet, who also shrugged, Over to Reegar, and like every man in the room also shrugged.

"Uh~, ok," I muttered, I tried to give it back.

"No-no, that's yours now, because screw you Miranda, you know what? Kal you should thank Miranda too, Sheha you should as well, because thanks to her you can keep the weapons and armor, allow me to also send you a detailed email on how dangerous runes are and how to create basic runes. All together now! Thank you, Miranda~!" he gave a mock bow, before walking out of the room.

.

.

.

"So~," I drawled, "that doesn't explain why I'm not dying."

-/-

This room was wrong. I gave the meeting room I was in a closer look, "Is this room... bigger on the inside?"

Getting off Haestrom was rather easy, Haestrom's star made communication off the planet practically impossible, and with Joker shoving two Javelin disruptor torpedoes into the Geth drop ship, it was going to take some time before any more Geth showed up, but we weren't going to test that. With my mission complete, I gave Kal the data and sent a request for transfer of command, well, I say request, but I wasn't asking, I just left with Shepard after giving my crew a proper goodbye.

"Magic~," Shepard answered with a yawn. I'm beginning to believe that's going to be an answer for some time.

"You wanna take a nap? You look exhausted," I pointed out.

"After I give you the tour, the Normandy's... well I'll show you," he muttered.

"Before you go," the dark-skinned human stopped us, "Shepard told me that you were going to be the Chief engineer, so you will be given the engine's schematics. My Name is Jacob Taylor and I'm the ship's Armory Chief if you need any weapons, I'll be found across the Tech Lab on the port side of the second deck," He gave a nod and walked out of the meeting room. Leaving me and Shepard alone in the meeting room.

"Shepard... please tell me you don't trust Cerberus."

He didn't say anything, just looked around the room and tapped his lips in a shushing motion. I'm taking that as a no. "Let me show you the ship."

He gave me a quick tour of the armory, and the tech labs, Mordin was... very excitable, the galaxy map, with the decks tour ending at the cock pit where I got to meet up with Joker, that... Bosh'tet.

"Tali!" he cheered, as his little chair swung around, "... Who the hell are you?" ugh~, I forgot to pick up an extra mask.

"... Mmm~. So Quarian's are space cat people? A lot of nerds are going to be very happy~," he joked, or at least I hope he was joking.

"Joker~, good to see you! Hate that you're working with Cerberus, but still happy you're okay. If we're planning on punching the Collectors in the face, I wouldn't have anyone else at the helm."

"Are you saying that because you think I'm the greatest pilot in the galaxy or because if we crash, I die first?"

"... so good to see you!" We both broke out into laughter.

Shepard just shook his head, "and this is his co-pilot EDI... she is also his wife~," he stage whispered.

"She's not my wife!" Joker protested; the woman had dark skin, bushy dark brown hair, her eyes must have been implants due to their light blue glow, and wasn't wearing any Cerberus clothes.

"Hello Tali'Zorah, my name is EDI, which stands for Enhanced Defense Intelligence, I oversee the Cyber-Defenses on the Normandy as well as being Lt. Moreau's co-pilot." Her voice was... strange, almost... I snap my eyes over to Shepard who was looking up at the ceiling, looking over to Joker he was looking at his toes.

"EDI?"

"Yes, Ms. Zorah?"

"Are you... an A.I.?"

"Yes, I was created for this mission."

.

.

.

"Shepard?"

"... Yes Tali?"

"When were you going to tell me about this?"

"... EDI, is the Janna within communication range?"

"No commander."

"Now, I was going to tell you right now," He tried his classic Shepard charm... I tried to pinch his cheeks off his face. "Wowowowowwooow! Hold on! Hold on! Your fingers are way stronger than human fingers! My face! My face! I just got it fixed!" he cried. Letting him fall to the floor I turned to Joker.

"I'm a poor crippled man! You can't hurt me! I'm pretty sure there are laws about that!" he cried.

"Jeff, your Vrolik syndrome has been cured. I don't think those laws apply to you anymore." the... machine... robot woman answered.

"... I guess, this would be the best moment to betray me~," Joker muttered, "but I'm not going down without a fight!" He then performed the sloppiest tactical roll I have ever seen and started running like a three-legged Varren.

"Where are you going!? You're on a ship! You can't run! I'll find you!" I roared. Only a fool tries to outrun a Quarian, we evolved from land-based creatures that hunted on the ground and used trees to keep our kills from other land-based creatures. Joker learned this as I caught him and sat on his back.

"Gods! Why are you so heavy~, Maker if you get her off, I'll pray to you~!"

"Ms. Zorah~," the machine's voice came overhead as she stood over me, "I would appreciate it if you got off my pilot." Her voice was monotone but the threat was there. The man you're sitting on belongs to me, get off. Or else. I didn't say anything, just got to my feet and tried to stare her down, and I would have won if Shepard hadn't pulled me away.

"Nothing to see here people! Just simple space madness~, get back to work!" he ordered as we entered the elevator.

"Shepard, why is there an A.I. on the ship!?" I hissed.

"Okay-okay let's all just calm down a second~. Yes, EDI is the Normandy's A.I., Yes, she has a body. No, she's not shackled." I think I'm having a heart attack. "No, you are not hearing things. Tali-," he let out a long sigh, he practically aged 30 years, "A lot of things have happened since I've seen you last~. A lot of it in the last three days" The elevator opened to the crew quarters. "Let's get a drink~. The Normandy has a nice bar."

Walking through the ship's hallway I caught a glimpse of the kitchen; the ship was definitely bigger on the inside. Walking into the most beautiful and most expensive bar I have ever seen; I was fully expecting to see a bouncer ready to toss me out.

"Robo-Boy! Get me a Nug Rider, neat!"

"Of course, Master Shepard," a robot in a suit called out placing a glass cup on the bar table and filling it with alcohol, without missing a beat.

"You want something?" he asked, pointing to the seat next to him.

Taking the seat, that was made for me!? Wow! Who made this chair? it's amazing! "Uh~, what can I get?"

"Two Dextro heat sinks," Garrus answered for me coming up behind me and sandwiching me between both of them. "And some Dextro cookies."

"Right away Master Vakarian," the robot answered, putting some cookies on the table, before working on the drinks.

"Heard you came down with space madness~," Garrus joked.

"This isn't funny Garrus! There's a rogue A.I. on the ship!" I hissed.

"Yep~," he sighed, "and there are people from another dimension, a Krogan learning magic, a crazy convict in engineering, collectors kidnapping thousands of humans, the council doing jack all about it~, and now I'm looking at a snippy Quarian in a bar, drinking alcohol without her mask. Is an A.I. who's in love with a human pilot, that has been magically cured from his uncurable disease, any crazier than it already is?" he asked munching on some cookies.

.

.

.

"What the hell have I missed?" I turned to Shepard, "It's only been a month~."

-/-

Julee POV

"So, what are we doing today~?" I asked my bath buddies.

"Nothing~," Ayla sighed, sinking into the bath. Hehehe~, her fun bags left two little peaks over the water. Nice~.

"Yes~, yesterday was rather intense," Sereda groaned. Oh~, she was cleaning herself at a rather nice angle~, and she played hard to get~.

"I heard Sky City got a new restaurant~," Neria teased the idea, floating past. She is perky in the morning~, and those abs~.

"I wanna fly!" Sky pouted. "Space is nice but I can't fly~, I want to feel the wind through my wings~." Ahhh~, my horn goddess~.

"We do have to check in on Morrigan," Jakky sighed next to me. mmm~, she does have a point~, we did kinda leave in a rush leaving her in charge, well we left Aeden in charge, but he's such a pushover Morrigan's going to take command.

"When are we reaching Tuchanka?" Natty asked. Her butt was very warm on my left lap~.

"Uhmm~, sometime tomorrow~," Dagna answered. Her butt was on my right lap~. Dwarf buns are so firm and large~.

"Why don't we take Kasumi with us~?" Nat asked.

"Gasp! Natty~, you're finally joining my Super Harem Plan~!" I giggled bringing her close and touching, everything~. "Just imagine it, beautiful lonely women that need our... tender love and care~," she was shivering so nicely~.

She reached up and pinched my cheek, "Don't even think about it, Kasumi needs a friend. I don't know what happened to her but she's definitely suffering over something. I think a break from all... this, might help her."

"That's the first step~," I teased kissing down her neck, "Love built on friendship, is stronger and last forever~."

"Indeed," Ava huffed, agreeing with me. She was sitting back like a mob boss, showing me everything~, "But Nat is correct, Kasumi is grieving and I am not as ruthless as Elissa to use that grief, she needs a friend. If something comes from that, then I say yes, but if not, then a friend will be enough."

"Even after she tried to steal your arm?" Lyna asked. Sitting on Sky's lap. She and her sister may be identical, but I knew every mole, scar, and pleasure nerve that made them unique.

Ava just smirked, "She learned her lesson~." Ava's arm was made with one hell of a security system, anyone stupid enough to try and steal it was in for a world of hurt. Poor Kasumi, her hair was frizzy for hours.

"Well, you ladies have fun~, I'm working on the Normandy's engines and comparing them to Nick's hyperspace engine, we might even be able to combine the two designs, and fly to another galaxy~!" Lyna cheered. Ahhh~, I love her enthusiasm~.

Racial skill unleashed: Lust

Dagna, Natia, Sereda, Sky, Neria, Lyna, Ava, and Ayla, have been affected!

Jak Hope has rebuffed your skill!

Jakky's hand lightly pinched my cheek, "Not in the bath~." she warned.

"Oops~," I scratched the back of my head, I can't help it, they're just so sexy when they get like that~. My poor Natty and Dagna were squirming on my lap, sweet evil, they did things to me. Jak pinched harder, "OWowowowowwowwo!"

"Not, in, the, bath," she hissed.

"Sowwwy~," I whined.

"Come on, Nick is working with Gardner, so breakfast should be ready by now. We're also meeting our new crew member." Jakky ordered, getting out of the bath.

"Sereda, Ayla you met this, Tali~. What's she like?" I asked, following Jakky's lead.

"Mmm, selfless, caring, a bit snarky, and there's a definite pride in her skills," Ayla answered.

"Maybe a bit too selfless~, she risked her life for one of her crew members she thought was dying, if Nick didn't already heal her immune system she would have died," Sereda added.

"Mmm~, how do you make a selfless person selfish?" I muttered.

"Is it bad for someone to be selfless?" Dagna asked, walking into the main room with me. "Nick is pretty selfless."

"There is a difference between being selfless and a martyr," I pointed out, "Nick may do selfless acts, like making Hogwarts so everyone could gain a form of higher education for cheap, but his goal was so he didn't have to do anything~, with everyone having the intelligence to take care of themselves, they now don't need Nick to take care of them, giving Nick all the time in the world. In the same way, he is making sure the crew of the Normandy are comfortable. Nick doesn't want to hold back on his magic, but the Crew would fear him, making it hard for him to enjoy his time here, so in order for him to enjoy his powers the crew has to be comfortable with magic in general-"

"The bar, the kitchen, the bathroom and showers, the crew bedrooms ~," Dagna surmised.

"Nick believes that if people are comfortable, they'll bother him less-" I continued,

"And allowing him to do whatever he likes." she finishes, "Does he do that with us?"

"I don't know~, are you still part of his party~? Are you still gaining EXP from the darkspawn? Money? How do you like your new work lab~? How about all the new spells you're learning~?" I teased.

"He knows that we don't like him for the things he gives us, right?" Dagna asked, worry lacing her words.

"He does, but he was raised to believe that as a man he has to provide. It's silly but it brings him joy," I shrugged, "he never takes it too far and allows us to help him when he's stuck, I'm not going to complain~."

"He does know how to make a good lab~," she drawled.

"Oh yeah~, hard tables that don't mess up your back~," I joked, bouncing my eyebrows at her, getting a pervy giggle. "Come on let's go seduce, I mean, meet this noble Quarian~."

-/-

Nick POV

"One, two, three, four, and step! Come on Grunt! Pick up those feet!" I ordered, doing some razzmatazz with the rest of the crew to keep us limber, going up and down on a stepping stool. "Come on Jenny! Lift those knees!"

"This is dumb!" she complained but also did lift her knees. "This is embarrassing!"

"You don't wear shirts~," I drawled, "and Squat! Hold and work those Quads!"

"And cover up my kick-ass tattoos!? I went through too much pain to hide them away!" Jenny grunted.

"Turn!" I ordered, "So you're just going to give everyone a show? What will Shepard think?" I teased

"Maker!? Why is this so hard? Do I even have quads?" Joker complained.

"NO!" Grunt joked, laughing at his own dig.

"Twirl!" I ordered, swinging my arms back and forward while stepping on the stool, alternating steps.

"What do I care what Shepard cares about!?" she huffed, twirling with me.

"Oh? So, you don't look at his ass every time he passes by~," I teased. "And Hula Hands!"

"Nick, why are we doing this?" Shepard huffed, doing a decent impression of a hula girl.

"Working out as a team breeds trust and camaraderie," I answered. "Now wag them tails!" I ordered bending slightly and wagging my buns.

"This is all kinds of embarrassing~," Jacob huffed.

"Keep wagging back there!" I called out to Miranda.

"Enough!" she huffed and stood up straight, "What is this even for!?"

"Other than allowing you to goggle Shepard's glutes~?" I teased.

"Shut up!"

"Grunt, give me a firebolt, high and tight," I ordered, ignoring Miranda.

With a huff and groan he launched a firebolt the size of my head, "WHOA!?" he looked at his fist, then to me, then to his fist, then back to me, "I've never gotten it that big!?" He started hopping around, he's been having trouble with his rage clouding his concentration, so I had to work out his aggression. He unleashed another firebolt. "I'm the best!"

"Keep a handle on your Mana Grunt, unless you want another Mana Crash~," Dagna teased. That got him to freeze, his last Mana crash wasn't something he was going to forget anytime soon.

"Does this mean you're going to teach us all magic~," Miranda huffed.

"You know what Mary~, every time you ask me that I'm going to make someone you don't like into a super soldier, making them better than you in every way," I warned. "Starting with Jenny! Jenny, you want superpowers?"

"I mean, I wouldn't say no~, do I have to pay you or something?" She looked extra suspicious at me.

"Nope~, I'm doing this just to annoy Mary~," I stated.

"Then I'm in!" She cheered.

"Kasumi? You want superpowers?" I tempted.

"Mmm~, a super wizard ninja~, I like the sound of that~," she joked.

Joker~, I know ya wanna impress your wife-"

"Not my wife!" he blushed.

"Garrus!? Do you or do you not want to walk around with a giant fuck off gun as a backup weapon~?" I continued, ignoring Jeff.

"Wrex would second guess on picking on me when we get to Tuchanka~."

"Tali~, super quarian~?" I asked, bouncing my eyebrows.

"Mmm~, on one hand, I gain otherworldly power, on the other, it pisses off Cerberus~, this sounds like a win-win~," she nodded.

"Mordin? Secrets of the universe~?"

"That does sound, inviting," the salarian muttered.

"Zaeed, I heard you wanted to rip the face off a living man, you know what would help with that~?"

"Super-strength?" he questioned.

"SUPER-STRENGTH!" I cheered. "Shepard! Those Reapers are going to need to be throttled, why not use your bare hands~?"

"Mmm~, why don't I use my bare hands~?" he asked himself.

I turned to Miranda, "And I'm going to do the same for the rest of the crew, one by one, from Donny and Gabby to Chakwas and Gardner, to Shepard's hamster and FISH! I WILL MAKE EVERYONE AROUND YOU SUPER, MARY! Everyone but you, you will be mediocre at best, 'in the way' at worst." I leaned in close, "So, are you going to ask me about magic again?"

"..." she just glared at me.

"Okay~," Jak pushed us apart, "By the primordial evils, you argued less with Morrigan," She shooed me away.

"Morrigan was a punk kid, like Jenny-"

"Who are you calling a kid!?"

"-Who grew up in the wild with an evil Witch who wanted to steal her body! Mary is a grown woman of 35! She had to have met at least one other sentient person!" I huffed; Miranda was really getting on my last nerve. "Buy a book on how to have a normal conversation!" I screamed as Jak pushed me away.

Training ended not long after, and most of the crew went off to do their own thing, leaving me, Grunt, Dagna, Tali, Lyna, Julee, Nat, Neria, and Kasumi, behind.

"Yo Nick~," Kasumi called out.

"What up girl? Not hitting the bar?" I asked.

"Not this one," Nat answered for her. "I and the ladies are going to hit up Sky City for a lunch date."

"And you're taking Kasumi with you?" she nodded. I shrugged and summoned a magical redwood golem. "Here you go~." I passed Kasumi the golem, connecting their magic cores, I didn't know how someone without magic would be affected in Ferelden and I didn't want to find out.

The one-foot golem morphed into a ninja, "So cool~, hey can I do magic now?" she asked.

I gave her a shrug, "Technically ~, the golem acts as your mana core until you grow your own to an adequate level, it then turns into a focus, eventually you won't need it but you could use it as a trump card. Trust me, no one sees a fireball coming from something so small."

"So, I guess I need to come down here for lessons?" she asked, changing her golem into a magic wand.

I gave another shrug, "If you want, Neria and I are more Jack of all trades, we know a little bit of everything so me or Neria could probably teach you the basics before you specialize, Julee and Lyna are rune experts, Astral, Jak, and Sky's nothing but power, Ayla, Sereda, and Ava are holy warriors, so I don't know how much help that will be, but you can ask. You might have to join their religion."

"And I'm his apprentice~," Dagna added giving her a thumbs up.

"I'm going to learn from the big-horned one!" Grunt huffed in pride, after Sky put him in his place, he started looking up to her as a big sister.

"But all that can wait, go have fun, and make sure Morrigan isn't making purple the city's color!" I shooed them away, Kasumi really needed friends. "And for you three?" I turned to Tali, Julee, and Lyna.

"Hyperspace design, Please~," Julee bit her lip, giving me an innocent look that oozed naughtiness. I rolled my eyes; she'd been eyeing Tali like a sack of meat. She was going to try and use the plans to get into Tali's... pants? Suit? She wants to get Tali naked.

I summoned the Hyperspace blueprints I got years ago, thanks to a Gacha token, and handed over the book-size blueprints. Tali was looking over the plans like a mad woman.

"I can't read any of this," Tali whined.

"Yeah, not surprising, it's written in another dimension's Galactic Basic." I summoned another book and passed it to her.

"Learning Galactic Basic for dummies~," Tali muttered.

"Have fun learning~. If you guys feel uncomfortable learning with Miranda looking over your shoulders~," I jutted my thumb at the fourth floor where Miranda was looking down at us like a hawk, "you can use my lab. Op! You're going to need this~," I summoned a Redwood golem, connecting their Mana cores, "Have fun."

"Thanks, Nicky~," Julee cheered dragging the ladies away to the elevator.

"Expect a Quiz!" I called out.

"Ugh, do you ever turn off teacher mode~?" Lyna huffed.

"Not for my naughty students~," I teased.

Her cheeks lit up a bit, "You're such a dork!" She blew me a raspberry as the door closed.

"Love you too~. Alright, Grunt, we're doing some weightlifting today~." He gave me a roar in approval.

-/-

Kasumi POV

Nick's room was ridiculous~, it looked exactly like I thought a magical room would look like, smooth stone walls, glowing lanterns that lit the room, wood floors with a carpet that would probably start a bidding war ending in the millions, a couch that looks to be stolen from royalty with all the beautiful low relief sculptures of dogs, and a TV on the far end. There were more doors, probably to the bedroom and bathroom, and a huge vault door, like one from the old Heist movies~, no omni-tool hacking, no slapping omni-gel on it, three number locks, and a huge wheel you would have to turn, the vault itself would be worth a fortune alone.

"Sky! Astral! Dogmeat! Pancake! We're leaving~," Neria called out, the dogs hopped off the couch and ran over to us.

As if magic the vault began to open, showing me the treasure within.

Gold, silver, jewels, armor, weapons, jewelry~. My mouth was very dry. Sky came out completely naked. Oh~, I like muscles~, was the first coherent thought that flashed through my brain. Jacob has some serious competition.

"Wait for me~," Sky cheered, running into another room, I didn't get to see very much but it looked like a bedroom.

"Sorry about that~," Nat sighed, "Sky's a dragon, and tends to take money baths in precious metals and jewelry."

"It's fine." I waved away the apology, "Different people, different cultures."

"Well allow me to show you the 'in-between'" She walked over to what I thought was a funky mirror, only for Nat to press a button and watch it break into itself leaving a portal to the unknown. I wonder if this was what Grissom felt like when he was the first human to go through the Mass Relay on Pluto. Dogmeat and Pancake, Nat's dog, were the first to run through the portal, it looked like they jumped into an inky pool covered in stars. Neria patted me on the back before walking through the portal. Nat must have seen my indecisiveness. "There's no shame in turning back, the idea of the Multiverse scared me too, I had Nick test it for me a billion times."

"And look at you now~," I nervously chuckled. Can I really do this? To leave the Milky Way?

"Yep~, Here I am~, in front of my new friend," she gave me two finger guns.

Oh god, that was so cheesy! I couldn't help it and started laughing.

"Let's GO!" Sky came out of the room, and without giving me a moment to think grabbed me and ran through the portal.

I didn't know what was going to happen, but simply stepping into one room and into another, wasn't it? No cool sci-fi noises, or magic stuff, just one step, and poof, you're in another dimension, a bit anticlimactic really. Still, the room we were in was pretty cool~, Swords, armor, colorful banners, pictures of what seemed like their adventures and friends, one man standing in a family portrait with Jak and Julia that looked so much like Shepard I thought it might have been his slightly older brother, it looked a lot like their room in the Normandy. There were also other portals lining the walls that probably led to other dimensions, all neatly labeled with wooden signs, looking over to the portal I came from, a sign named Normandy was hanging over the door. At least I know where to go if I need to return in a rush.

Nat came through the door shortly after with Astral, "Don't drag people into the portal Sky!" I found it funny as a 5-foot woman chastised an 8-and-a-half-foot behemoth, and was doing damage.

Sky finally put me down, "It's okay~, I was kinda frozen back there~."

Nat shook her head at me, "You shouldn't do that. Sky is a Dragon. She is a creature of power, if she gets confirmation that she can do what she wants she will~." she pointed to Sky who was looking at me like Keiji did after that heist on the Citadel.

He he, I'm in danger~.

"Come on, come on, I wanna spread my wings~," I would be forever grateful and annoyed at Astral as she shoved me away from Sky and into another portal, unlike before, this was a large room with hundreds of giant robots standing in perfect attention, Neria came over with a small golem, which began scanning me, my little golem jumped from my shoulder and saluted. The taller golem gave him a scan, nodded, and moved away.

"I guess you're more than just my magic wand~." I lifted him up to my face where he bowed and morphed onto my wrist.

"Let's go already~!" Astral huffed running off ahead.

"For a 70-year-old woman she sure acts like a kid~, I blame Nick, he babies her too much. Girl needs some spanking," Nat huffed, walking out of the portal with Sky.

"Oh~, I'm sure someone's spanking to her~," I joked causing women to bust out laughing.

"Ahhh~, classic. Come on, let me show you my home before we hit the city~." Nat led me out of the room.

Turns out all the giant robots were indeed active, Nick was a paranoid man, never knowing what might come out of his portal, the robots were at the ready to crush anything without one of his golems without mercy. The room we were in was deep underground, with a single elevator that led to a real-life castle on top of a mountain where I met Nick's other sister... she was, mighty, to say the least, but still kind, like a... mom? Like a bear, majestic at a distance, terrifying up close. Nat and Neria showed me Nick's library, which gave the Citadel's archives a run for their money, I'm pretty sure he chopped down an entire forest to get that many books. I did love the smell though~.

It was when the girls took me out to the ramparts that I finally saw Sky City in all its glory~.

It was beautiful! Built on the side of a mountain, with farmland that seemed to stretch out across the mountain's ridges, down below was a Valley and lake, with a few homes and more farmland, and across the city and the valley was another mountain with what I could only call another castle but was the size of a small city, which turned out to be Hogwarts, Ferelden's foremost school of education for everything. It even had farmland for their farming classes, Nick really spared no expense. According to Nat and Neria, Nick got it in his head that if people got paid fairly for their work and had stuff to keep them occupied, they would bother him less. Not the worst plan in the galaxy.

The city was nicer up close, the roads were smoothly cobbled, with hundreds of men and women of different races walking from one place to another, with occasional children or adults in a uniform running off to catch a flying bus that made round trips to the school.

Lunch was fun, filled with jokes and laughs, it made the pain in my chest lessen, but Hock was still on my shit list, and I would get flashes of Keiji's face on a stranger for a second, reminding me that his grey box is out there somewhere.

Hock will pay if it's the last thing I do.

-/-

Nick POV

"A bit choppy~, no?" I asked Shepard, who was sitting across from me.

"No part of Tuchanka is friendly~," Shepard answered, "Not even the air~."

Arriving on the Krogan home world this morning, Shepard, Grunt, Garrus, Tali, Sereda, Dogmeat, Mordin, and I were the first to get boots on the ground. The turbulence came to an end as we entered some kind of underground hanger bay.

"We've landed commander," the Kodiaks VI came over the comms.

"I still say we should have a pilot, what happens if the VI fails?" I asked.

"We die," Tali answered.

"That's not funny~," I bumped her with my hips.

"Who's joking?" she smirked at me, she seemed to be getting used to not having a helmet. I wonder how the other Quarians are doing at the Migrant fleet, I hope Xen isn't experimenting on them.

My first impression of Tuchanka was, how do I kindly put this, A shit hole made of stone that was falling in on itself. Yeah~, that's it. I'm pretty sure I could burn this place to the ground and somehow it would still look better than it is now. The camp was far better, unlike the game, which only showed off a tiny part of one of the most powerful Krogan Clans on Tuchanka, real life was a million times cooler, the only thing we could see coming from space was the tip of the clan camp, the rest of it was underground, it some kind of ancient pyramid with multiple levels, each filled with Krogans doing their own thing, I couldn't see the top floor but it seemed to lead away from the main Camp, probably to a more secure and guarded area.

"Remember to keep calm, to the side, and if anyone makes a fuss, make an example," Shepard warned, moving off to the side and climbing the stairs, we got some stares but no one did anything, Wrex ran a tight ship, there were dozens of other Clans talking and trading, we would pass a fight or two but Urdnot troops were quick to break it up.

"The earth here feels... angry~," Sereda commented.

"At what?" I asked.

"... Everything," she answered.

"Mmm, Shepard? What is the Maker telling you?" I asked.

"Not much, I think he knows I can't really do much here, but I'm sure Ayla's healing skills would do well here," he answered.

"She would probably start curing the Genophage~," I muttered, causing Mordin to twitch for a second but went back to normal.

"Can you cure this disease?" Sereda asked me.

"Yep~, but are the Krogan ready for that?" I asked, "From what Shepard tells me the Krogan people are still furious at the rest of the galaxy, if I were to cure them, they might just attack the rest of the galaxy in anger, and with the Reapers circling us like we're wounded pray, we can't afford a galactic war. But~, I'm nothing if not pragmatic, if Shepard trusts Wrex, I could help cure the females in Clan Urdnot for an alliance with humanity," I then stepped on something that made a nasty squishing noise. "And maybe allow me to clean this place a little. How can anyone live like this? It's Denerim all over again, but worse."

"Your need for building is showing~," Sereda teased.

"I can see it now, a beautiful waterfall that feeds to the center of the camp, Krogan sculptures that depict quick battles, plant life everywhere~," I used my prestidigitation to allow our little group to see what the Krogan camp could look like. It looked halfway between a forest and a future utopian city. "Nice right~? If we're here for a bit and I get Wrex's permission, this is probably the first thing I'm going to do."

"And the materials? Lots of work, not many willing to come to Tuchanka to drop off materials," Mordin pointed out.

"Drop off? Why would I want that? Have you looked outside? I can just recycle everything," I explained, "it's called 'magic' Mordin~, the laws of reality don't apply anymore, well, the law of matter still applies, and gravity... and food... let me rephrase that, Magic can do a lot of cool things~."

"I'll bring it up with Wrex," Shepard chuffed, we were about 8 flights of stairs up, I was going to have to fix the escalator we were on. We still had at least another 15 flights, I doubt something like that would truly tire out Shepard, with his robotics and holy power, but these weren't flimsy 'human' stairs, these were Krogan stairs, and they made everything difficult. Where normal steps would barely reach 7 inches, Krogans brought it up to your shin, so if you misstepped, get ready for a world of pain. "How are you not tired~."

"Oh, we've been earth bending a slab of earth under our feet to hover up the steps," I answered, pointing to the slab of earth underneath Sereda's and my feet. "Walkings for chumps~."

"... can you give us a lift?" he asked.

I slowly float past him, "Seems kinda lazy, no? Grunt's having a good time~." We look to the top of the stairs where Grunt was overlooking the Camp.

"This is the homeworld of Shiagur, Kredak, Moro, Terg, Wrend, and Veeoll? this rock is barely worth standing on!" he huffed.

"Ah~, my boy. The problem isn't what you see, it's what you don't see," I tutted, as I floated next to him.

"What does that mean? I can see just fine."

I shook my head, "The Krogan race has been beaten down time and time again, any normal race would have gone extinct, dust in the cosmic wind, and yet here we are. In a camp filled with different clans and cultures, brought together with one thing in common."

"Hunger?"

"Hope. Hope that tomorrow will be better, hope that the next clutch of children will grow up strong, hope that the Krogan people will rise again. Rage tends to burn hot and fast and leave you hollow, but it's hope that keeps you marching. Don't look at the buildings Grunt, look at the people, are they broken? Are you shattered?" We looked out to the crowds of Krogans walking, talking, laughing, the world around them broken to pieces.

"They don't care," Grunt answered.

"Why would they? This is just a building, one day through hard work, they can make the building better, stronger, bigger~." I patted him on the shoulder. "Come on, Shepard's going to beat us to the top~."

Grunt just huffed, looking out to the crowd one last time before following me up.

I wasn't sure how Krogan society functioned, but as we got higher and higher, there were fewer individual krogan and more groups, clan symbols tended to be on clothing and armor, and there seemed to be less mingling, things looked almost... formal. As we reached the top, we were stopped by a krogan with the Symbol for Clan Urdnot, and I was surprised there wasn't a Chantry official trying to sue for copyright infringement, being a sun with an eye in the center signifying Aralakh, Tuchanka's sun, also known as the Wrathful eye.

"No alien is allowed to meet the clan leader at this moment, the clans are in session," the guard explained.

"I'm John Shepard, Battle Master Urdnot Wrex and I are Krantt, I sent word that I would arrive today," Shepard spoke up,

"And how do I know-" he didn't even finish as Shepard headbutted him. "... come with me." What kind of password was that!? I looked over to Garrus and Tali who just shrugged, confused as I was. "I must still remind you that the Clan ambassadors are in talks with the Clan leader. So, if you don't want to get your face used as a bib, I suggest you keep to the side." The top floor was empty but there was a sky bridge, that showed the decimated world outside, that led to another section of the underground city.

This new room was large with a second story where Krogans were looked down on the meeting. There was a single stone throne on the far end of the room with a beam of light illuminating a massive Krogan sitting like a king of old.

Krogan Clan leader

Urdnot Wrex

Lvl: 64

Age: 1,426

HP 1500/1500

BP(Biotic points) 1200/1200

Str: don't let him get his hands on you

Vit: Natural HP regen

Dex: don't let his size fool you, he can run up to 50 MPH in a straight line

Int: he tends to eat his problems... don't be one of his problems

Wis: the years have made him very wise and grumpy

Cha: Ladies dig the scars

Luk: ran into Shepard, and got his Mojo back

Ailments:

Genophage (1500 MP)

Minor radiation poisoning (50MP)

A famed krogan mercenary and bounty hunter, Urdnot Wrex is also one of the last Krogan Battlemasters: rare individuals who combine powerful biotic abilities with the devastating firepower of advanced weaponry. A long-lived krogan who has had many adventures, gaining a large number of connections throughout the galaxy, from high-powered spectres to lowly gang lords.

Despite his chosen path of violence and killing for credits, Wrex is deeply concerned with the fate of his people after the genophage and is one of the few planning for a new krogan future.

He knows who you are thanks to Shepard but doesn't know what to make of you.

A krogan was stepping back and forth, in front of him, "You know what tradition demands! Clan Urdnot must respond! Your reforms will not go unopposed, you risk looking weak at a critical time-"

"SHEPARD!" Wrex called out, just straight up ignoring the krogan who was talking.

I leaned over to the Krogan guard who led us here, "On a scale of one to ten, how bad is it to be called on in the middle of a clan meeting?" I whispered.

"... good luck," he huffed and walked away. Yeah~, we're not making friends today~.

Say what you want about Shepard, but that man had the confidence of a badger~. He just strolled over like he owned the place; he even shoved a few Krogans out of the way. We just followed his makeshift path.

"Wrex!"

Shepard!" They shook hands like long-lost brothers, I was fully expecting them to start arm wrestling in the air, Predator style. "My friend! You look good for dead, Shepard~. Should have known the void couldn't hold you."

"Wrex~, looks like you've done well for yourself," Shepard nodded looking around the room.

"Not for me Shepard, but for all krogan, Clan Urdnot is just the beginning, when I'm done, we will be one people again," Many of the krogan in the room grunted and huffed in approval.

"You abandoned many traditions to get your way, dangerous," the krogan Wrex ignored growled. Getting other Krogan to grunt in approval.

Wrex didn't seem to like that, so he turned, and with the grace of a sledgehammer, headbutted the other Krogan to the ground. "Speak when spoken to Uvenk, I'll drag your clan to glory, whether it likes it or not." Another round of grunts was heard from the peanut gallery, at this point I think they were just hungry, it was getting close to lunchtime, "Now, Shepard what brings you here? how's the Normandy?" The krogan in the room seemed to relax, I'm guessing this was considered an intermedium.

"Destroyed in a collector surprise attack, I ended up spaced," good to see him coming to terms with what happened, maybe Chambers really is a therapist.

"Well, you look good." he grunted in approval sitting back down on his throne, "Ah, the benefits of a redundant nervous system."

"Yeah, humans don't have that~," Shepard deadpanned.

"Oh, it must have been painful then, but you're standing here and you've got a strong new ship, takes me back to the old days, us against the unknown, killing it with big guns, good times~," he smirked.

"I wouldn't call Shepard's driving 'a good time~'," Garrus joked.

"That time he drove up that mountain, Keelah~," Tali muttered, shaking her head.

"I thought I saw a crate!" Shepard hissed.

"Tali?" Wrex huffed, "I see you finally got rid of the bucket~, I didn't wanna say anything but it looked really dumb, I'm just happy it was a phase."

"... Yeah~, me too~." she deadpanned.

"You youngins always trying to look cool~, guns are cool. Buy more guns! The bigger the better."

"Still the same crazy Krogan uncle I see~. But to be fair, guns have saved my life on multiple occasions~" she muttered.

"It's because guns are great!" pretty much every Krogan hummed in approval.

"Yes-yes, guns are super cool, but catching up is only part of the reason I'm here," Shepard interrupted, keeping the meeting from going into heavy gun lore.

"Ahh~, yes," he turned to Grunt, "The boy~. Tell me, boy, did your Clan die out before you knew what rite you had to perform?"

Grunt stood up straight and looked Wrex in the eye, "I have no clan, I was tank born created by warlord Okeer, my line distilled from Shiagur, Kredak, Moro-"

"You recite warlords but you're an offspring of a syringe," Uvenk interrupted, getting all up on Grunt's face, but my boy kept his cool. I wasn't though, Grunt was a young man barely entering adulthood and Uvenk was a grown-ass Krogan trying to punch down, I cracked some of my joints. I don't have to kill Uvenk... just, set an example.

"I am pure Krogan, you should be in awe," Grunt huffed, dismissing Uvenk.

"Okeer~? That is a very old name, a very 'hated' name," Wrex stood from his throne getting a better look at Grunt.

"He's dead," Grunt clarified.

Wrex rolled his eyes, "Of course, you're with Shepard, how could he be alive?"

"You know I don't kill random krogan, right?" Shepard drawled.

"Trust me, you would make an exception for Okeer. So, you wish to take the Rite of Passage?"

"TO FAR WR- ACK!?"

Haki + minimal strength + backstab + fisticuffs + Jeet Kune Do = 525 points of bludgeoning Damage.

Uvenk didn't get to finish his rant as I cold-cocked him right in the jaw, dropping him.

"Sorry about that, his voice was getting annoying, please take this War Axe as an apology," I summoned a War Axe. It was one of my flashier weapons, Stainless steel, Druffalo leather, and had a fire rune on the head, tapping it on the ground the head burst into flames, before I tapped on the ground again, snuffing it out.

Wrex took a couple of swings, checking the weight, and activating the runes a few times, making sure he knew how it worked, and nodded to me, "Apology accepted," looking back to Shepard, "It's about time you started hanging around more..." he looked over to Garrus, "Respectable people~,"

"I'm not a Space cop anymore, I'm a Space vigilante."

"Oh~, so now you don't have to take bribes in secret, just beat up the criminals and take the money~," Wrex huffed.

"And don't you forget it~," Garrus huffed.

Wrex just smirked and shook his head, before turning to Grunt, "Well boy, do you ready to stand with Urdnot?"

Grunt looked over to Shepard, "This is your decision Grunt."

He then looked over to me, "Becoming an adult means you have to make your own choices," I patted him on the back, "But know that we're backing you up the whole way."

He gave the room one last look, before turning back to Wrex, "It's in my blood, it's what I'm for."

"Good boy, go meet with the shaman on the second floor," Wrex ordered, "he'll set you on the path,"

Shaman~, fuck, how did I forget about the shaman!? Shit! "RAAAAAR!" Uvenk rushed me.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" I roared, mule kicking him dead in the chest.

Haki + Max strength + Fisticuffs = 1,032 Points of bludgeoning Damage.

I didn't check myself; my kick rag dolled Uvenk over all the krogan in the room and into the far wall where his corpse made a mess.

You have killed Gatatog Uvenk!

Reward: 5,000 EXP, Claymore shotgun, 5,000 credits

Warning! You are now a hated enemy of Clan Gatatog. They will attack you on sight.

I let out a long sigh, summoned a trident with a lightning rune, and passed it to Wrex, "For the wall~." he played with the trident, finding the rune that shot out a spell of Chain lightning that struck the ceiling. He looked at the trident, then to me, "It has 6 shots, needs 30 seconds to reload."

He nodded, "See Tali, this is an apology gift~."

"You said you liked the Krogan wax I got you!"

"It was Turtle Wax! You think I didn't know the difference?"

"In my Defense, I didn't have a lot of money, Shepard was being all stingy," Tali huffed.

"You wanted the HMOT Master line Omni-tool!" Shepard countered.

"And It was worth every cred~," she smirked patting her omni-tool.

"How come Tali got all the good stuff while the rest of us got your sloppy seconds~?" Garrus asked.

Shepard rolled his eyes, "Oh, I don't know Garrus~, maybe it was because she was the only one who could destroy Geth with a wave of her hand, or maybe it was because whenever she was around our enemies' shields seemed to malfunction, or maybe, and hear me out here, she had full control of my money," he shrugged.

"That's why you got the fancy Dextro food!" Garrus pointed to Tali, who looked all kinds of smug.

"Enough!" Wrex roared, shoving them toward the second floor, "Go whine about Shepard's lack of financial sense to the Shaman!"

"Uh, Clan leader Wrex?" I whispered to him, "Uvenk seemed important, do I need to remove Clan Gatatog from the census in order for them to leave me alone?"

"Mmm, not the whole clan~, just his Krantt, I'll move in, absorb his clan, and take the women and children to the Female Camp."

New Quest: ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!? You have bloodied Clan Gatatog's honor and they will chase you to the end of the Galaxy unless you put them down.

0/10 Gatatog Troops

Reward: 20,000 exp, 1 M-11 Wraith, 15,000 Credits, friendly with Clan Urdnot, no longer an enemy ofClan Gatatog.

"Thanks~," I muttered, following the rest of the crew.

"You've done made a mistake~," Sereda teased.

"Aren't you a princess? You shouldn't go around laughing at peasantry," I huffed.

"Mmm~, that's blatantly untrue, in fact at least 30% of any Noble's job is laughing at those less fortunate. How do you think we gain annoying laughs? Years of practice." She then proceeded to laugh in a way that made me want to buy a guillotine.

"I'm going to cover you in cake and have Julee and Jak do things to your body that would be very inappropriate to say in polite company," I threatened.

"But we're surrounded by uncaring Krogan~," she countered.

"I know~, I don't want them to feel inadequate~," I joked.

"Promises~, Promises~," she teased, strolling ahead to talk to Tali.

"So, Lady Zorah, how come you were in charge of the Commander's financial assets?" Sereda asked.

"Spectres don't really get paid, the idiot Council thought that spectres should gain their own money, so after we sold off every weapon, we picked off every idiot that got it in their head that they could kill us, Shepard decided to buy model ships~." I knew you could buy model ships in the game, but I only thought that was in the second game.

"So, he bought a toy? I don't see the problem, Alistair had a few, something to give Mother Base a bit more of a whimsical vibe," Sereda stated. It's true, Alistair would at times find toys and buy them, Elissa found them cute and their baby boy, Bryce, loved them.

"It wasn't just a single ship," she clarified.

"232," Garrus answered, having Vietnam flashbacks. "They were everywhere, in my nutrient paste, in the Mako, my locker-"

"-the engine room, there were at least 5 in Joker's cockpit, the fridge, we could barely eat on the god damn table! So, not wanting to find one in my suit, I took control of his finances," Tali huffed.

"And here I thought Shepard gained control of his addiction with pure willpower," Garrus muttered, "Never meet your heroes."

"You guys are overreacting ~, so I bought one or two, so what~," Shepard shrugged, "It was my money."

"We needed a toilet!" Garrus growled, "We needed to make emergency landings every day! Shepard... John... if I go up to your cabin... and find it filled with Model Ships... I 'will' lose my mind."

Shepard just scoffed, "Relax~, I learned my lesson... but uh, in unrelated terms, don't go up to my room for a while, there's a, uh... gas leak." Garrus and Tali let off a long shaky sigh, just trying to keep their shit together. "Oh look, we're here."

Walking up to the top floor we were greeted with dozens of shirtless krogan, each with some kind of colorful battle skirt, with different body paint designs

I didn't get any closer, staying by the stairs, this place looked holy as all get out.

"Nick?" Shepard calls out.

"Yeah, bud?" I answered staying in place.

"Are you coming?"

Sereda let out a sigh, "Shepard, I know you're new at this but you need to focus. Allow your magic to feel your surroundings."

He stood still for a moment before he started shivering, "What is that!?"

"There's a god here or at the very least a large amount of holy power. Someone knew we'd come here." Sereda hummed.

"But how?" Shepard asked.

"They're gods Shepard, how do they know anything? Nick tends to be a lightning rod when it comes to divine entities," she explained.

"Meaning?" Tali asked.

"If I walk into that room, I'm probably going to get mind-jacked," I answered.

"That doesn't sound good," Garrus muttered.

Grunt didn't say anything, just stared at me with huge eyes. Did Dogmeat teach him how to do that? "Ugh! Fine but if anything happens it's on your head," I warned pointing at Grunt. Taking a single step into the room... nothing happened. "Hey look at that, nothing- and they're gone~."

I wasn't even standing in the room anymore, I was standing in the middle of a vast desert in the middle of the night, stars overhead, without a soul in sight, before I spotted him, the outline of a krogan in the stars, he was old, real old, moons were circling his being, sitting on a throne made of space dust, looking down at me.

Divine

Vaul the protector

He is too powerful, you cannot read his stats

He is unimpressed.

Even at Master Rank in observation, I couldn't see a god's stats.

"Impress me, show me your might, show me your resolve."

That was the only thing he said before a single Krogan appeared from the sand, and then another, then a dozen, a hundred, they then blocked the horizon line.

New Quest: Survive

Reward: your soul doesn't become one with the Void

"Because why not~," I muttered, Gamer's Mind keeping me from losing my nerve, "WELL THEN!? COME GET SOME!" I roared Sand bending a huge wave, slamming into the horde.

-/-

Shepard POV

Nick took a single step into the room before he froze in place, his face went blank, and his eyes seemed to lose all life. He looked like he died on his feet, just staring off into space.

"Nick?" Sereda waved her hands in front of his face.

"Is this normal?" Mordin asked.

"No," Sereda answered worry lacing her words. "The gods don't work in mortal time; a month could pass for them and not a moment would have passed here. This is taking too long."

"What's happening here?' An older Krogan came over and unlike his brothers, he was wearing a red sash.

"AND YOU CAN KISS MY-!" Nick dropped to the ground, breathing like he had run a marathon. He got to his knees and looked around the room, "Oh good~, I'm back."

"Nick!" Sereda rushed forward grabbing his face, neck, and chest, looking for injuries. "What happened? Are you ok? Do I need to take you back to the Normandy?"

Nick Just pulled her in close, "I'm fine~, I'm okay. Just one of the Krogan Gods thought it be fun to throw endless Krogan spirits at me, for the last... month? I don't know~, time is a weird thing in a place without a sun." He slowly got to his feet.

"Nick~," Sereda helped him to his feet.

"The princess saving the knight," he teased.

"What are you talking about, I'm both the princess and the knight, you're the damsel, now shut up and let me help," she huffed, holding on to his hips.

"Thank you," he leaned into her side.

Garrus turned to me, "Why don't you hold me like that when I need a hand, you toss me over your shoulder like I'm a sack of Varren jerky."

"That's because we're being shot at 9 out of 10 times, and carrying away like you're my bride would have made Ash jealous, remember that time I shook Kaidan's hand for too long?" I answered with a roll of my eyes.

"I don't know~, Kaidan was really looking deep into your eyes that one time~," Tali pointed out.

"Excuse me," the Krogan Shaman regained our attention, "Why are you here?"

"I am here for my Rite of Passage into Clan Urdnot," Grunt answered.

The Shaman looked over Grunt, then the rest of the group, before focusing back on Grunt, "Who is your Krantt? Who will stand by your side as the world crumbles around you?"

"You're looking at them," Nick answered without hesitation, "We haven't let a single enemy live, so I understand if you don't know us~."

The Shaman gave him a long look, before smirking, "come with me," he grunted leading us to a large Krogan who was using a mortar and pestle to crush what seemed to be plants into a red paste.

"Elder, a young one is here for a chance at the Rite," the Shaman bowed.

"Yes, I saw. Not many humans can kill a krogan in a single blow," the elder Krogan didn't stop working on his paste.

"I wasn't planning on killing him, I just forgot about something important, and Uvenk's voice was the last thing I wanted to hear," Nick muttered, I need Nick to teach us how to kill krogan in a single blow.

"Ba~!" The elder waved away his excuse, "Uvenk was full of shit, he hid behind his Krantt and use words to seem smart, we knew sooner or later someone was going to shove his words down his throat, the fact it was a human only made it better. Fair warning, his Krantt is going to try and kill you when you leave this place." he jutted his head to the floor below where some Krogan were looking up at us while moving Uvenk's corpse.

"Oh good, saves me the trouble of hunting them down," Nick sighed, "I was not in the mood, hey do you know a god by the name Vaul the Protector?" The name sent a shiver up my spine, that was weird.

"... Yes, he is one of our oldest gods, legends say he protected Tuchanka from the dark gods of the void. Why?" the elder asked.

"He demanded I give hope to the Krogan people." we gave him a weird look, "Hope is the name of a large fuck off War hammer."

"That makes more sense," the elder huffed, "Just take it to Wrex, he'll know what to do with it." he seemed rather uncaring about the fact that one of their gods gave some kind of holy weapon to an alien, but to be fair if I wasn't a paladin I'd probably labeled Nick a crazy person and moved on with the rest of my day.

"No problem boss man," Nick gave them a thumbs up.

"Now, young one, you wish to take your rite of passage, correct?" the Elder asked Grunt, finishing his paste.

"Yes, I am ready," Grunt confirmed.

"Pick 2 of your Krantt, together you shall face the Rite and come out stronger, or dead." Grunt turned to me, I just nodded, followed by looking at Nick, who also nodded, much to Sereda's annoyance. "Very well." the elder dipped his finger into the paste and drew a circle on Grunt's forehead and a single dot for Nick and me. "Head to the garage on the first floor, they will lead you to the first Marker, it will be up to you to find the next two keystones when you finish the third key, you will activate the Beacon on the third marker where someone of Clan Urdnot shall retrieve you, do you understand?"

"Can you give us any idea what they might face?" Sereda asked

The elder shook his head, "No, the Rite is all about survival, it is up to them to find their way to safety. Any more questions?" we shook our heads "Then let the ancestors watch over you."

Giving a final bow we left the second floor.

"That SUUUUUCKED!" Nick groaned, twisting and bending. No doubt warming up for the shitstorm we are about to walk into. "Vaul was a douche!" that too, I guess.

"What happened?" Sereda asked, "You were frozen for a full 10 seconds?"

"Vaul had me fight hordes of his warriors to test my 'resolve' I think he was just bored," he huffed, jumping on his toes, "My soul is all over the place, the warriors weren't gentle~."

"Are you going to be okay?" Tali asked.

"For the stone you stand on is firm and stable," Sereda chanted, touching Nick in the chest, causing him to glow for a second.

Nick gave a sigh of relief, "Thank you~," he brought her into a hug, "Where would I do without you~."

"Probably tied up to a bed, with Jak standing over you like a watchdog," she joked.

"I could think of worse places~," he teased. "Alright let's go talk with Wrex and drop off this holy hammer of protection, it's going to be one hell of a show~."

It took some time as other Krogan leaders had business with Wrex and unlike Uvenk, Wrex was actually listened to these guys. So, we just got in line, Nick was passing the time by making food and serving the Krogans around us, 'food is the easiest way to make friends~' he explained, and he was right many of the Krogans seemed less annoyed at our presence. By the time we got to the front of the line, Grunt was given enough advice to know what to look for when we went on his Rite. At first, he was annoyed that people were ruining his Rite, but I explained that a warrior with information on the enemy and the terrain uses his knowledge as a weapon, which eased his pride and got him excited about what was coming.

As Nick got to the front of the line, he gave Wrex a bow, "Clan Leader Urdnot Wrex, I came in contact with one of your gods, Vaul the protector." Many of the Krogan in the room got up and started growling and thumping chest, calling Nick a liar and all sorts of names.

"Silence." Wrex ordered raising a hand, quieting the room, "Do you know what you are saying Walters, the Salarians did the same when we first met, and you can see where that ended. Be cautious of your next words, no gift can hold back a Krogan horde in a blood rage."

Nick gave a bow, "I bring no offense clan leader, I tend to be a messenger for the gods, but rarely do I get a choice. I was asked to deliver Vaul's blessing to the Krogan who is uniting the krogan people, for he believes the servants of the Dark gods return is nye." Nick extended his hand out, at first nothing happened, but then I felt it, in my very bones.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

Around the room, 5 ghostly Krogan materialized, all holding large spears thumping the earth in unison, as they began to chant a low guttural rhythm. The Krogan in the room were in awe, Shit I was in awe, was it like this when I became a paladin? As the Krogan chanted the earth under Nick's outstretched arm began to shift and move.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

Every thump made seemed to push a handle out of the floor, it wasn't long before a massive Warhammer, with the skull of a beast, stood tall in front of all of us. Nick just moved away from it, leaving it for Wrex.

The room grew dead silent. The Krogan specters looked on... waiting.

Wrex stood to his full height and grabbed the hammer.

"Get ready!" Nick called out, dropping into a combat stance, as one of the specters roared and rushed Wrex, getting the Clan ambassadors to jump out of the way. Not wasting a moment Wrex grabbed the Warhammer and spun it, clocking the Ghost in the head, returning it to dust. This got the rest to charge, and everyone in the room to scramble.

"SACRED GROUND!" Sereda screamed, causing every weapon in the room to light up with holy energy. I need to get more spells!

Shooting a specter in the face it growled and focused on me, only to get blindsided by Wrex's holy hammer. "JUST LIKE OLD TIMES SHEPARD!" well at least he was having fun~.

"SMITE!" I heard Sereda roar smacking a Ghostly Krogan with a huge glowing fist turning it to dust.

Right, I'm a Paladin~, "SMITE!" I cast shooting a Ghost between the eyes, it paused for a second before looking at me with annoyance, before it exploded into dust.

"You have one too!?" Wrex cheered, "But like always, mine's bigger~." he gloated killing another one. The last one was torn apart by a hail of holy bullets thanks to the room of confused and angry Krogan. As it vanished the room fell back into silence.

Suddenly Wrex's hammer lit up like a lighthouse blinding everyone. As the light faded, everyone was pointing their guns and a newly armored Wrex, his ancestral armor, was changed, where before it was old with some rust, it now seemed to glow and gave off an aura, of might, of prestige.

"Congratulations Wrex, you are now the Paladin of Vaul," Nick sighed, stretching out his muscles, "what that comes with is anyone's guess." With my holy sight still active I saw Nick's perfectly circular soul light up like a beacon in the dark before it faded, I wasn't sure, but it looked... bigger.

Wrex looked at Nick, "You are a very strange man, you could have told us that the Krogans of old would have attacked."

Nick shook his head, "No, I couldn't~, the same way the Elder couldn't tell Grunt what his Rite involves, Vaul wanted to test you, to see if you had the strength to carry the krogan people on your back, to see if the people would help when they did not have to, a Rite of Paladin hood, and it seems Vaul has judged you worthy."

Wrex just looked down at his new Warhammer, "Servants of the Dark gods~," he muttered looking over at me. I gave him a light nod, which probably meant the Reapers. "My people would need to be ready," he huffed, "And would need allies."

Nick gave another bow, "I do wish to talk to you about that, but I'll do that after I help Grunt complete his Rite. Feel free to have fun with your new powers." Sereda nudged me, "Oh right," he summoned a rock on a necklace, "This is a Rune of Greater Mana regeneration, it helps you regain any mana you use at five times the normal rate, and this lovely woman is Princess Sereda Thuruna Thundoline Aeducan, Paragon of Orzammar, and Paladin of the Stone, if you want she can help you understand your magic, and how to contact your holy patron." Sereda made a fist, causing her stone gauntlets to give off holy power. This caused my Pistol to light up in response along with Wrex's Warhammer.

"Never a dull moment with you is there Shepard~," Wrex grunted.

"You know me~, the galaxy calls for help and I'm a sucker for a damsel~."

"he he he he. Very well, go, complete the Rite and head back here," he took the rune from Nick, "Stone," he looked down to Sereda, "How'd you make your gloves into those bracers?" he asked walking back to his chair, the krogan around us muttering and huffed at what they just saw and did, this is going to make the rounds in the camp for a while, I wonder when it's going to leave the planet. I can just imagine the Council frothing at the mouth at the idea that their gods could help their people.

"We'll make sure Wrex doesn't get a big head," Garrus patted us on the back, walking over to Wrex.

"Try and keep the destruction to this side of the planet~," Tali elbowed me.

"All be here with the crew, try and understand holy power, and see if I can find information on Maelon, come back safe," Mordin nodded and walked with the others.

"Dogmeat, watch over Sereda," Nick ordered, dogmeat ran after the crew. "So, ya ready?"

"LET'S GO!" Grunt cheered running out of the room.

Here we go~.

-/-

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you saw it, Clan Gatatog wasn't waiting outside for us to fight, the guard told us that they ran off, more than likely to try and cause problems for us. At least we didn't take the stairs, Nick wanted to make a statement and had us use a stone slab to slowly and flashily lower to the ground, making sure everyone could see us. Grunt loved it~, he roared out and flexed, getting roars back.

Reaching the garage, we ran into our first Gatatog Krogan, he talked about something about learning our lesson, and how his brothers were going to kill us. Nick literally smacked his head off in a single blow.

'1 down, 9 to go~,' Nick muttered.

The Gatatog krogan did a number on our transportation, but Nick fixed it with a wave of his hand, the Krogan engineer looked shocked at his brand-new Tomkah tank.

Reaching the first Marker took an hour, and our driver commented how smooth our ride was, I'm guessing the suspension was shot some time ago. Nick has a spell for everything, doesn't he?

It took over 2 hours to get to the drop-off point, "Alright Shep you're up," Nick whispered to me. He was jutting his head over to Grunt, my confusion must have been written on my face because he rolled his eyes. "You are an N7 elite soldier, teach the young man a thing or two."

Right~, "Grunt, I want you to pay attention, because you're doing this for the rest of the Markers." I called out getting Grunt's attention. "First, secure your surroundings, check for dangers, you're in hostile territory so have your weapon at the ready, one of the worst things to have right now is tunnel vision. Use all your senses, what do you see? What do you smell? What do you hear?"

"All I see is rubble, I hear the wind, and I smell... Food?" he took another whiff, "Yeah, something is roasting."

That's weird, "Keep an eye out, second, find your objective, where is the marker?" I asked.

He pointed to a large tower, "There, they told us the first marker should be within sight."

"Good, Nick can you clear a path?" I asked, he took the lead, touched a huge pillar, and popped it out of existence.

"Whoa~, what was that?" Grunt asked.

"It's my hammerspace, as long as it isn't alive and isn't too big, I can shove it into another dimension, that is attached to my soul. I can then use magic to recycle the material, of course, that isn't perfect, some material can't be saved so it's sacrificed to the ether," Nick explained. Popping more rubble into his hammerspace.

"Can others learn to do this?" I asked, scanning our new open space, something was cooking.

"I tried replicating my power but there's something about it that's unique. So, I help create Bags of Holding that replicate the effects. The hell?" head of us was a pack of dead Varren on fire. Nick snuffed the fire. "Someone is trying to lure in something big~." He looked back to me, tossing me and Grunt one of his Gauss rifles, "You got 230 shots," before tossing me some ammo, "Make that 460, aim, hold, release." It wasn't as heavy as I thought it was going to be.

"Grunt," I jutted my head to the keystone. Not saying a word, he slammed the button, causing a large steel hammer to rise into the air.

"First the Krogan conquered Tuchanka... and mastered a natural world only we are fit to hold!" the keystone's automated voice screamed out to the sky, before bringing down the hammer causing a tremor I felt to my very soul.

"the dinner bell has just been rung~," Nick muttered.

Grunt pointed out into the sky, "Here they come! I'm ready!" Harvesters~, I don't remember a lot about them from N7 training but I do remember that they're mean, travel in packs, and use Klixen to weaken their prey before coming back and eating everything, Klixen included. Aiming my rifle, I held the trigger, getting a number reader to skyrocket to 99, giving me the maximum output, and released, the rifle kicked but it was nothing like I thought it would be. I've seen Nick, his crew, and a bunch of Quarians use it, but releasing the trigger was a strange experience, most rifles tend to have a kick, but whatever Nick did to his guns seemed to remove the kickback.

Following the blue streak my bullet let out, one of the harvesters jerked hard and plummeted to the ground. That seemed to anger the rest of them.

"Nice shot Shepard~, what was that, a thousand yards?" Nick whistled. "Grunt?"

"Mmm~," Grunt hummed, taking a shot, hitting one dead center, causing it to follow its brood. "YEAH!"

"Heads up! We got company~," Nick warned as Varren started coming out of the underground tunnels. A whole lot of them~. Nick started making pit traps and shooting any that got too close, but as we dealt with them, harvesters were able to get in close enough to drop off Klixen before trying to fly away, they didn't get very far as I shot them in the back.

"I should thank them~," Nick laughed grabbing a klixen by a foot and throwing it at a group of Varren where Grunt shot it in the underbelly causing a small explosion, "Not every day you get live fire grenades~."

Grunt was just laughing and cheering shooting everything with more than two legs, "This is great! DO YOU HEAR ME TUCHANKA!? I AM KROGAN!" he roared, shooting from the hip and punching a Varren, before stomping on its neck.

With Nick and Grunt handling the ground troops I focused on the harvesters; it took another two waves before the battlefield grew silent. We stood in the silence, waiting, but after a minute we concluded that nothing else was coming.

"Alright~," Nick sighed, "The show is yours Grunt, where are we going?"

-/-

Grunt POV

One Marker down, the fight was good, and the roasted Varren brought in more prey to the slaughter, but I didn't like that it was because of that worthless clan Gatatog, even their name was dumb, that laid the bait for the creatures of Tuchanka, I wanted the creatures to come to eat me, not some already killed prey, at least the roasted Varren haunch Nick made me calmed my anger.

Nick is a strange human, well, all aliens are strange, but Nick is stranger than that. His eyes see things others don't, hear things, that are silent, feel things others can't. His magic makes him dangerous, makes him an unknown, he can use the power to do whatever he likes and the first thing he does is teach a krogan. Yes, he did it out of petty reasons, which I respect, but he could have done the same with the turian or the angry bald female, yet he didn't.

He is very strange.

"Fork," Nick called out, as we reached a split in the path." all you Grunt."

"Mmm~," the Krogan at the clan meeting room told me about some of the symbols Krogan of old left behind to give those who follow a sense of direction, but something was wrong, taking a whiff, I smelt fresh paint, "Someone covered the symbols, Gatatog~," a growled, this was dangerous, the tank's imprint warned me about the dangers that called Tuchanka home. 'in times of stress and confusion allow your magic to give you a clue,' was one of Nicks first lessons, when I started casting Firebolt.

My magic~. Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, I searched for my mana core like Nick taught me, the fact that I had three stomachs made it hard at first. Finding it, I let it go, slow and steady, too hard or too fast could lead to a Mana crash, opening my eyes I came face to face with another ghostly krogan, he had ancient armor and a spear with the symbol of Clan Urdnot painted on his forehead. Looking over I found Nick and Shepard looking around to make sure we weren't ambushed, the krogan pointed left, before vanishing.

"Grunt? You okay?" Shepard asked.

"I... yes, we go left," I ordered. That was weird. "Nick?"

"mmm?"

"Can ghosts help you?" I asked.

"Mmm~, some can yes, it tends to be ancestors coming back to give their descendants a guiding clue. This usually happens for people who have ancestor worship as part of their religious practice. Why? you got a clue from a ghost?" he answered, storing away more junk.

"I think I did, but I've never seen him before, he did have the symbol for Clan Urdnot," I explained.

"Then take comfort in that, Clan Urdnot is taking a liking to you," he smirked, patting me on the shoulder.

Urdnot Grunt. Yeah, I can make that work.

"heads up," Shepard called out. The keystone was hidden behind a bombed building.

The ancestors have led me right.

-/-

"Then the Krogan were lifted to the stars to destroy the fears of the galaxy, an enemy only we could chase to their lairs!" the Krogan voice barked to the empty wasteland, as the hammer came down, challenging the strength to come to meet their end.

For the first time since we got out here everything was silent, even the wind seemed to die down. Then I felt it, it was a soft tremor, and the pebbles around me began to vibrate.

"What is that?" I asked.

"You got to be joking~," Shepard muttered. The tremors began to kick up to the point where I had to brace myself.

"What's going on!?" I roared, and suddenly the tremors stopped, before something exploded from the broken rubble, followed by another two. Images began popping into the front of my mind.

"Thresher Maw~," Shepard whispered, aiming his gun at one of the tails, "Nick?"

Looking over I found Nick shoving his hands into the earth, "The second you shoot, I'm going to harden the ground as hard as I can, making sure it can't just pop from underneath us," he answered. "When your ready Grunt."

"Shepard, I'll shoot first, follow up when it pops up. We need more cover," I pointed out.

"I got you," Nick nodded.

I nodded back, aiming and charging my rifle. The shot was true, blowing the top right off a tail, pissing off the thresher maw as it exploded out of the ground, where it took Shepard's follow-up shot to one of its poison sacs. Nick then hardened the earth underneath us and popped out multiple thick walls of the earth for cover, before jumping out of the way of a poison dart as it slammed into the spot he was standing on.

I started rapidly firing the Rifle getting the Maw's attention, just for a boulder the size of a sky car to slam into its head followed by a more precise shot to claw, causing it to roar and dive back down into the earth.

It then exploded out of the ground to our right firing a poison dart blindly at our general direction, lucky we had plenty of space to avoid it. We returned fire, pelting it with bullets and large boulders while running around dodging poison darts and lunges. It all came to an end as Nick created a giant earthen spear and stabbed it through the mouth coming out its back.

"Fuck me that sucked," Nick groaned, huffing and puffing

"He, he, he~," I started laughing, followed by Nick, with Shepard taking up the rear. "RAAAAARR!" I gave a cheer. To kill a Thresher Maw is one thing, but to do it on foot.

"Alright~, let's take a moment to breathe," Shepard eased his laughter, "we still have one more keystone~."

-/-

Nick POV

We took a brief break before moving on, the sun was beginning to set and I sure as hell didn't want to be out here in the dark. Along the way, we ran into three more Gatatog krogan trying to ambush us, 4 down, 6 to go.

Grunt was able to lead us down a path that ended with another keystone tower, this one in the middle of what seemed to be a wall-less mausoleum surrounded by a dry lake bed that stretched out into the desert, with some buildings sticking out of the ground like islands.

Krogan statues stood throughout the open space, most were broken.

"Urdnot Noksar," Grunt pointed to one of the statues. Shepard and I looked at each other in confusion.

"Who?" I asked.

"Urdnot Noksar," Grunt repeated, before pointing to another one, "Urdnot Kark, Urdnot Turgon. This is where Clan Urdnot started. Old Krogan came together to survive Tuchanka... long before we nuked ourselves. Come on, we have one last keystone."

I'll say one thing about Krogan architecture, it was meant to last, I'm just happy the radiation that plagued Tuchanka has long since settled. Reaching the keystone, we found a problem.

"It's broken," Shepard pointed out looking over the button, "Nick, you think you can-"

"No," Grunt cut Shepard off. "It's not broken," he grabbed the chain that was meant to lift the hammer and began pulling, slowly lifting the hammer.

DANGER! LEFT! I Earth bent a wall just in time to block a tank around from taking our heads.

"FUCK!?" Following the round, I spotted a Tomkah with the Gatatog symbol painted on its side. "I see where the rest of Gatatog ran off to. Alright Grunt lets-"

"I can't!" he barked back. "I've already started! I can't stop, they're telling me to finish!" He gestured to the statues around the room.

Grunt would become an ancestral guardian at a time like this, "Shepard! Help Grunt! I'll handle these idiots!" I ordered, sand-bending the Tomka head first into the earth. DANGER! RIGHT! Making another wall to my right blocking a shotgun blast.

Step, thrust! I shoved the wall right into a krogan slamming him with a rock going 30 miles an hour, launching him across the room. Activating my observation skill 3 red krogan appeared in my vision, my Gauss rifle did quick work of any shield and armor, but the damn krogan have a billion redundant organs, every time I would drop one, they ran behind cover. That shit was annoying, so I just created an illusion, turned invisible, and unleashed a full-power backstab, ending things in one blow.

7 down 3 to go.

Looking around I spotted another krogan rushing toward Grunt and Shepard, but before I got to lay the smack down, a ghostly spear slammed into the krogan, pinning him to the ground, followed by two more, before a ghostly Krogan came into view, giving me a nod before vanishing into the ether.

"whoa~."

A loud clicking noise gained my attention.

"Now all Krogan bear the genophage, our reward, our curse. It is a fight where the only goal is survival!" the automated krogan voice screamed to the wind, as the hammer came down sending a shockwave, throughout the empty desert.

Before, when the Thresher Maw attacked, everything became... quiet, as if the world was holding its breath, now, it felt like something was ripping the very air from my lungs.

"Is that mountain... moving?" Shepard asked. Looking out into the setting sun, I think he was right.

I squinted, trying to get my Observation skill to give me a reading, "What is that?" the mountain twisted and headed straight for us.

Elder Thresher Maw

Kalros

HP 1,900,000/1,900,000

Lvl:?

Run

New Quest: Munch munch munch! Kalros has heard your dinner bell and is heading your way! Escape or defeat Kalros!

Escape reward: 100,000 EXP, neutral with the Krogan race, one silver loot box

Defeat reward: 1,000,000,000 EXP, 150 Gold loot boxes, Krogan Legend, Feared and respected throughout the galaxy.

Arrival: 10 minutes

9:59

9:58

Hell nah! "THRESHER MAW! Big thresher maw! We need to go!" I screamed.

"We need to turn on the beacon!" Shepard screamed looking for the beacon.

"Found it~," Grunt muttered, pointing out to the Tomkah, where a Gatatog Krogan was digging himself and his friend out, the beacon on his back. I didn't hesitate, I dashed forward as fast as I could, slamming right into the back of the krogan, snapping his back, grabbing his friend, and launching him as far into the desert as I could, I grabbed the beacon, and launched the injured krogan out with his friend.

+1 minute

Dashing back he passed it to Shepard, "It's on! We need to get the hell out of here!" he screamed.

"Grunt is the family telling you anything!?" I asked.

Grunt was looking around the room, nodding at statues, "There's an underground passage where the Shaman is supposed to come and greet us." He pointed to a statue, grabbing it and forcing it to move, we were met with a staircase leading into the abyss. "Light~," Grunt huffed, sending out a light orb down the stairs.

I patted him on the back, "That's my boy~, let's bounce." We were running down the stairs, no doubt my school teachers would be appalled at my flagrant disregard for safety. Reaching the bottom which opened to a tunnel, we began to feel the earth vibrate. I created an earth ramp and pushed us forward at 40 mph.

Quest completed: ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!? You have bloodied Clan Gatatog's honor and they will chase you to the ends of the Galaxy unless you put them down.

10/10 Gatatog Troops

Reward: 20,000 exp, 1 M-11 Wraith, 15,000 Credits, friendly with Clan Urdnot, no longer an enemy of Clan Gatatog.

They did not last as long as I wanted.

5:30

5:29

And it's still heading toward us!? Love me tenderly~.

"Heads up!" Shepard warned as a Tomkah headed our way. Dodging to the left, the Tomkah came to a stop with the Shaman popping out.

"How did you get down here? You're supposed to-"

"We need to go!" I cut him off, "Big Thresher Maw! Too big!"

"Wha-" A tremor knocked us to the ground and shook the entire tunnel system. "Kalros~," the Shaman muttered, "Let this be a lesson Grunt, survival sometimes means getting the void out of danger! In, all of you!" he ordered. "Turn this thing around!" he ordered the driver. I don't know who pays this driver, but feck me this man needs a pay raise, he drifted a tank to get us facing the correct way and gunned it.

Unfortunately~.

00:03

00:02

00:01

The earth exploded behind us, bringing us face to giant eye with Kalros.

"Got to go faster! Got to go faster!" I yelled to the driver.

"SHUT UP! Someone get on those guns!" the driver roared.

"Nick! Magic this thing to go faster! Grunt with me!" Shepard ordered.

"Love me tenderly~," I muttered

I started adding runes for durability, speed, power, and weight. "We need more power!" Shepard roared shooting into Kalros's mouth.

"Come on~," I muttered.

Do you wish to enhance tomkah to your preferred vehicle level?

Cost: 2 mini-arc reactors, 20 steel ingots, Rune work (expert rank), and 800MP

YES!

The Tomkah began to light up and morph around us, "WHAT THE VOID ARE YOU DOING!?" the driver screamed back at me. The Tomkah finished forming, I didn't know what it looked like outside but the inside looked just like my train chair.

"MOVE!" I shoved the driver out of his seat. "HOLD ON!" I pushed it to the max. We came out of the tunnel into a huge silo filled with thousands of tunnels with roads leading back and forth to places unknown and seemed to stretch deep under the earth. "Where are we going!?"

"DOWN!" the shaman ordered, pointing to a red-painted tunnel below the road we were on, there was a ramp that was meant for us to take but it looked like something you needed to cross at a slow rate.

Slamming the flight button, the tomkah lifted off the ground, and I plunged over the edge, much to everyone's shock.

The Tomkah was bigger than one of my warthogs and handled like a drunk rhino but I'll be damned if it didn't give its best as the stabilizers and boosters engaged, allowing me to juke left and right past roads and the poison darts the size of a bus and road debris that Kalros destroyed chased us down the silo.

"HOLD ON!" I roared, pulling hard on the wheel, causing the tomkah to stall and turn straight up. Holy shit! Kalros was huge! It really was a moving mountain!

"DODGE DODGE DODGE!" the Shaman screamed.

"I SEE IT!" I roared back, dodging one of its massive mouth tentacles as it flew past us. I could hear the gunfire going off as Shepard and Grunt gave it hell.

"THERE!" The Driver pointed out the red-painted tunnel, juking hard to the right we flew at top speed through the tunnel, my danger sense was going wild at the speed I was going and how close the walls were. A huge crash and dust cloud came behind us as we raced down the tunnel.

Quest completed: Munch munch munch! Kalros has heard your dinner bell and is heading your way! Escape or defeat Kalros!

Escape reward: 100,000 EXP, neutral with the Krogan race, one gold loot box

I slowed us down to a safe speed, the tomkah was quiet, our ragged breathing being the only noise we heard, and my hands were still holding the wheel in a death grip.

"Please tell me someone got that on camera~," I gasped.

"RAAAAAR!" Grunt cheered, "THAT WAS AWESOME!"

"Maker blessed, we're alive~," Shepard muttered. "That was some crazy flying Nick~. Joker might have a little competition~."

I gave the driver back the wheel and wobbled my ass to a seat in the back, the shaman seating next to me. "Wrex was right, you aliens are crazy~." The Shaman laughed.

-/-

It took another 2 hours to get back to the Urdnot camp, where we were greeted like returning heroes, apparently, there were cameras in the tunnels. Grunt was given the clan's name of Urdnot, making him an adult.

Krogan ancestral guardian

Urdnot Grunt

Lvl: 32

Age: 3 weeks

HP 750/750

MP 150/150

CP 50/50

Grunt is a genetically engineered krogan super soldier. Bred and educated in a tank, he was intended to exemplify the best traits of the krogan and help reinvigorate his species. He has found his purpose as a Krogan of Clan Urdnot, 'help raise the Krogan people to their former glory'.

He became an Ancestral Guardian during his rite of passage getting help from the ancient warriors of Clan Urdnot. He is an apprentice of Nick Walters.

He respects you and considers you his krantt.

We of course had a party, killing a thresher maw was always celebrated, but escaping Kalros was another thing entirely. I had to make enough food to feed another army but that didn't stop me from test to see if my magic food could fight back the genophage. The results varied, for some older krogan nothing happened, and the MP required to cure their disease stayed the same, but for the younger Krogan the cost was cut by at least 300 MP. I could only conclude that the younger generation was already better at fighting the disease, Mordin was right, the krogan people were outbreeding the genophage, I wonder if Clan Urdnot was affected by Mordin's modification yet.

The Party went deep into the night, I was even seen as a hero after I summoned a barrel of Maraas-Lok and whiskey, poor Shepard~, he took a shot of Maraas-Lok and started choking getting every Krogan to laugh and pat him on the back, he was going be sure as hell tomorrow~. The party finally came to an end with more than a dozen krogan knocked out, and another four-dozen singing drunk on the floor, Sereda leading the broken chorus. I left the krogan to their singing and took my dwarf to sleep off the alcohol in my magic tent.

What a night~.

The morning was another story.

You have slept in your bed

HP, MP, and CP are at max

All ailments cured

"I'm ready for the day!" Sereda cheered jumping out of bed. I love this woman, but why did she have to be a morning person?

"That's nice sweety~, come back to bed~," I muttered, blindly reaching out for her.

She flung the blanket off me and jumped on my hips. "Come on you lazy wizard~," she began rubbing against me, very slowly, "We need to take a shower~, and talk to Wrex, and you know Jak is gonna want to see the place and she can't do it from space~," she teased.

My hands snapped to her hips stopping her in place, looking up at her she had the smirking face of a spoiled princess who got whatever she wanted, that look drove me and Nat fuming with barely controlled rage, who is this dwarf to think she is better than me~, I who have fought monsters and demons every other day, my hands traveled down and gripped her plump ass, I'll bring her down to size. I lifted her and dragged her into the shower, hearing her melodic giggling all the way. Every one of my ladies knew how to play me~.

-/-

Tali POV

"Whose tent is this?" I asked Shepard, he was half awake and still somehow tipsy lying on the floor.

"Forgive me Maker for I have sinned~," he groaned. Oof~, that alcohol Nick brought really hit hard. I gave Shepard a heavy once over, checking every single piece of cybernetics Cerberus shoved into him. I didn't find anything that seemed like a bomb or a mind control chip, but what I did find just enhanced his body to peak condition. I'm not sure about his 'holy energy' but he was okay otherwise.

"This is Walter's tent." Mordin answered, "Doesn't like camping, too many creatures on the floor, most likely magic." he circled the tent trying to understand what he was looking at.

"Do we knock?" Garrus asked. Suddenly Dogmeat's head popped out of the drapes, looking right at us.

"Bark!"

"UGH~, Please~, no, shhh~," Shepard begged.

"What up boy? We got guest~?" Nick's voice came from the tent.

"Ah, oh, uh," my mouth became very dry, as a very shirtless Nick opened the tent's drapes. He had one of those towel hats to dry his hair.

"Oh no~, are all of you also early risers~" he whined.

"Not wise to make yourself easy targets in Krogan land," Mordin answered.

"I guess... Shepard, what are you doing on the floor?" Nick asked.

"Dying~," he moaned.

Nick sighed, "Alright, I want to see if you could figure out some of your powers on your own, but I see you've been reluctant, you will be joining Grunt and me for morning practice, I'll get Ava and Sereda to teach you the ropes."

"Please~, put me out of my misery~," Shepard whined.

"So dramatic, you should have been an actor~," Nick rolled his eyes, "here drink this~." he passed Shepard a glass bottle filled with a red drink.

"No please, I never wanna drink again,"

"It's a cure-all potion, meant to, well... cure all your ailments," Nick shrugged, "We're a simple people."

Shepard slowly sipped at it, blinking at the taste, before chugging it down like a dying man in a desert. "Whoa~!" he jumped to his feet, "Magic is amazing!"

"Hold on? That potion could cure every disease?" I asked. The migrant fleet would kill for it.

"Yep~, well, maybe. The multiverse is a big place, I've found some diseases that hold on rather stubbornly, but the first ones are always free~, for some reason, people think they'll never get sick again, that's how I get them~," he teased leading us into his tent.

Whoa~, Nick's tent was incredible, it could easily fit 20 to 30 families in here, the temperature was cool compared to the outside, and it even had hardwood floors!

"You uh, don't do camping huh?" Garrus muttered looking around in awe.

"Garrus~, have you ever had a spider, crawl on your face before?" oh Keelah~, I was shivering at the thought, "I have Garrus. Never again. The tent comes with a rune that kills any varmint that gets too close, it even kills any fleas Dogmeat has. So, what do you want for breakfast?" he asked, walking into his kitchen. Does this tent have everything!?

"You got Dextro food?" Garrus asked.

"No, but I do have a portal that connects to the one in my room on the ship," Nick pointed to the wall where a large mirror was mounted. "If you want, I could get you to the ship."

"mmm~, tempting but we have work to do first, I might use it to skip the shuttle back. Avoid being chased by thresher maw," Garrus muttered.

"You're missing out, nothing but heart-pounding action, with a side of certain death," Nick teased, working on the food. "And you Tali?"

"uh?"

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

"Oh! I, uh, can only eat Dextro food, like Garrus, anything a human might eat can make me sick," I rubbed the back of my head, it felt weird explaining it again.

"Mmm~, I really should run more tests on you."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I pardon you," what? "When I said I cured your immune system, I meant I changed it to the only one I knew... mine, and, as I can eat just about everything in the multiverse, you should be able to eat anything in the multiverse~. I should get in contact with Captain Fin, he should know all this," he muttered.

"Hold on. I ate plenty of Dextro food yesterday," I pointed out.

"Yeah~, so did I," he shrugged nonchalantly, "You shouldn't compare me to the humans of this reality, where I come from Dextro amino proteins aren't life-threatening. I think my magic helps break down nutrients so my body can absorb them correctly. Mordin we might need to run some tests." Mordin just nodded typing away at his omni-tool.

"But I don't have magic," I pointed out. Nick pointed to the golem, masquerading as my bracer.

"I thought Julee told you about the golem's purpose?" I just shook my head, "Right~, the golem acts as your temporary mana core, it is, as we speak, holding your mana and increasing your body's ability to store more, as you work out your core by doing magic, the golem will become more of a focus until you no longer need it, I would still suggest you keep it close, a fireball to the face tends to make anyone second guess messing with you." he teased, passing me a slab of meat on a plate, I may not like my mask, but I missed it giving me descriptions of things.

"Is that meat I smell?" Sereda called out from one of the rooms, coming out wearing a similar towel hat as Nick's and normal clothes. "I told you we wasted too much time in the shower. And put on a shirt~."

"Nonsense~, Shepard couldn't even walk, shoot, Grunt's still missing~. We had all the time in the world~," Nick smirked at her, passing her some 'pancakes' and 'milk'.

"I'm here!" Grunt rushed into the tent, breathing heavily.

"And where have you been young man~," Nick huffed like Auntie Raan when I forget the time.

"I've been dodging mating requests from a bunch of females," he huffed taking his own meat steaks and eating them without hesitation.

"That's my man~, make them work for it," Nick joked. Sereda rolled her eyes.

"You probably shouldn't go out there, after seeing you transform the Tomkah and kill krogan with your bare fist they've taken a liking to you," Grunt pointed out, "That goes for you too Shepard," causing Shepard to choke on his food.

Nick just laughed, "Well, I'm flattered, but I'm not ready to be a father~… at least I don't think so. Sereda~."

"Don't even think about it mister," she pointed her fork at him, "Jak has it all lined up. 150 years from now, Jak Walters the second will be born. Then it's a free-for-all, so~, get ready for that."

Nick just laughed, "I'll make sure the baby's room is ready. So~, what are we going to do today."

"I need to teach Wrex some simple Paladin skills," Sereda answered,

"I need to ask Wrex if he's seen Mordin's student," Shepard answered.

"Mmm~, seems like we're going the same way, I need to get Wrex's permission to fix this place, I wasn't joking about adding a waterfall. Maybe see if I can get clearance to cure the Krogan women of the genophage," Nick sighed.

"Is that wise? Krogan... violent to outsiders," Mordin pointed out.

Nick huffed, "The reapers aren't going to wait around for us to get our shit together~, we need to take the first steps to unite, or at the very least make some alliances. Say what you will about the krogan, but they have experience saving the Galaxy. If the 'council' get upset, they can kiss my ass. Shepard brought them proof of eldritch abominations, that are coming here right now to kill everyone, time and time again, and what did they do? They buried it, shoved their heads up their ass, and hoped Shepard's just crazy. But he's not, is he~. No, if this galaxy wants to survive, the council is a waste of time, we need to work around them, the Krogan is a good start, and so are the Quarians," that got my attention, "people not under the council's thumb."

"My people aren't exactly fighters," I pointed out.

"Not yet~," he countered, "But when, not if, the Reapers get here, everyone will become a fighter."

"Like a Blight," Sereda muttered. I don't know what a Blight was but it didn't sound good.

"So, after we're done with the collectors, you'll join the alliance?" Shepard asked.

"The only uniform I've ever worn was a naked apron~," What kind of uniform is that!? I took a quick glance at his body... I mean there could be worse uniforms~. "But I'm probably going to help upgrade some of Earth's defenses, you saw that patch job I did on Horizon, imagine if I got some real time to work on that~. I can tell you that the melting problem wouldn't have happened and it would have fired more than three shots."

"You seemed annoyed at the GUARDIAN laser for taking down a collector ship," I pointed out.

He looked me straight in the eyes, "I don't like it when the things I create only work once. That's a failed experiment." Wow, his eyes were intense.

"Is that why you've been asking me how the Normandy's guns work?" Garrus asked.

"Yep~, with a better understanding of this universe's weapons, the better I can enhance them. Horizon was pure guesswork, with me just adding arc reactors and power runes. I'm still a bit worried about where that first shot ended up~, that thing punched clean through the collector ship and flew off into space, that thing is going to ruin someone's day," Nick huffed.

"I'm sure it'll be fine~, the collector ship probably slowed it down just enough to keep it in Horizon's orbit," Shepard shrugged. That man sure is too easygoing sometimes. "I'll send Anderson a message about you working as a contractor."

"Thanks, I feel like a good word now will smooth things out in the future," Nick smirked. "Tali, I would suggest you eat, I'll be here if something happens. We have a long day ahead of us~." I looked down at my steak.

It was one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted.

-/-

A/N: alright another chapter down. Wanted to get to Tuchanka and get Tali aboard. I know I made Grunt's loyalty mission a bit different but I wanted to play with Tuchanka a bit, all we got to see in the 2nd game was like 3 places, I also wanted to expand on what the Urdnot Camp looked like, I felt like it could have been made bigger, I don't know. They talk about a deep underground city in some books but we never get to see it.

Anyway, sorry about the grammar, I'm only human

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