Chapter 44

Command Center – Pluto's Gate

"It's been a while since you've checked in. How is the situation we spoke about last time?" asked the Illusive Man curiously.

She looked hesitant for a long moment before finally answering. "Honestly, it's complicated. We discovered the Shadow Broker's location using an algorithm Shepard herself created two years ago before her death. And then she killed him."

For the first time in what had felt like eons, his brows rose in surprise. "Shepard killed the Shadow Broker?"

"Well, I guess it'd be more accurate to say that Doctor T'Soni dealt the finishing blow. But Shepard fought him to near death. Apparently, it was a yahg the entire time," she responded with her arms crossed.

"I thought as much. At least that it wasn't a council race," he said as he ashed his cigarette. "They were running before humans even discovered the ruins on Mars. Turians aren't smart enough and salarians don't live long enough to see an operation like that through. Among the non-Council species', none are great candidates for that kind of position. That leaves the asari from the Council races and the yahg being the only good options for non-Council."

"I'd only ever heard of the yahg as being bloodthirsty brutes. How could they be good candidates?" asked Miranda bewildered.

"Despite their reaction to Council first contact teams, many have tried and successfully communicated with the yahg since their quarantine to their homeworld. They're startlingly smart despite their brutality. They can run calculus in their heads easily and among some individuals can be as smart as salarians. Plus, they live for around three hundred years," he stated as he eyed her. "But the yahg were discovered around 60 years ago, and the Shadow Broker has been around for longer than that."

"According to the data in the ship, the previous Shadow Broker was an asari who captured the yahg as a pet. Then the yahg turned from a pet into an agent, and then into the new Shadow Broker over her dead body," said the operative as she shook her head.

"I see. A change of hands by force. The asari, with all their wisdom and diplomacy always tend to show their arrogance at the worst of times," he said with a smirk. Satisfied with the information, it was now time to put up or shut up for Lawson. "So, where is this operation running out of?"

"Well, it was running out of Hagalaz in the Sowilo system. It was using the lightning from the planet to power a self-driving ship through the storms. The violent storms kept them concealed while they did business," said Miranda with a shrug. "But both Shepard and Liara knew that now that they had full control, they couldn't keep the operation there. So, while we went to Tuchanka, Doctor T'Soni moved it. I don't think even Shepard knows where yet."

He frowned as he acknowledged what should have been obvious. There's no way Spectre Shepard and Doctor T'Soni would have kept an operation like that in the same place. If they had found it, that means anyone could have with enough time and resources. So, he wasn't going to be getting the information he wanted for the moment. He'd have to wait until the dust settled before Miranda could probe any further.

"Then do me a favor and see if you can get some information from the network while they're in transit. I'd like to know more about whatever it is that Jien Garson is spearheading. Despite their ships being larger than most colonies, the Alliance and Council have kept this information fairly close to their chest. I want to know what's going on, and I believe the Shadow Broker may have something on it," he ordered as he put his cigarette out in the tray on the arm of his chair.

"Understood. When I can get a hold of Doctor T'Soni again, I'll get the information and keep you informed. For now, is there anything else you need from me or the crew?" asked the operative seriously.

"When Shepard is done doing whatever she's doing on Tuchanka, tell her to come meet with me. I have some information on the collector ship that hit Horizon, and I think she'd want to know," he said firmly, getting a nod before the QEC darkened. He breathed in before letting a heavy sigh escape his lips. The collector ship wasn't going anywhere, so he needn't worry about her wasting time. Reaching down he activated the call function at the end of his other chair arm. Once the image of Thanatos popped up, he nodded to him. "How's training going?"

"I've mastered her technique. I could run circles around her," said the man with a confident smirk.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," said the Illusive Man before taking a sip of his fiery drink. "You may have a handle on how it works, but she has created an entire lethal battle style after it. If you go in thinking all it takes is learning the technique, she'll kill you as an afterthought."

The man sighed again and nodded. "Understood."

"Besides. It's unlikely you'll even need to fight her," he said with a solemn look. "As much as I trust you to get things done, I don't gamble on maybes." The Illusive Man knew his underling wouldn't like that. He wanted to prove himself, almost to an annoying degree. Before Shepard had come along, he'd been straightforward and obedient. But ever since the spectre started her work in the galaxy again, Thanatos had devolved into an unruly, jealous, child. Honestly, he hadn't expected the change and just chocked it up to another thorn in his side caused by Shepard.

But none of that really mattered. She was getting things done. The Council, while they sat on their pampered asses, accepted Shepard back. Shepard had stopped one colony from being abducted and gave the collectors a black eye they wouldn't forget. That was more than he could have hoped for when they dragged her carcass in from Alchera. And now she was an uncontrollable typhoon of change in the galaxy. One thing was for sure, though. He would not be deposed by her or anyone else. And he saw her being an obstacle rapidly approaching the longer she stayed out in the galaxy.

"Keep your guard up," he ordered to the man. Immediately, Thanatos perked up at the order. "I will deal with her if she crosse me. But once she's out of the picture, we'll need someone to replace her in being humanity's sword. If you want that to be you, then I need you to get rid of your ambitions of outmatching her. There will be no place for ego among the heroes of humanity."

He could see the smile creep onto the man's face at the idea of being the new face of hope for humanity. "I'll do as you say."

"Good. Get rid of your ambitions quickly because we're closing in on the collectors and I don't want you unprepared for what comes next," he said, the phrase echoing in his head. What comes next depended entirely on Shepard and whether she lived or died beyond the Omega 4 Relay. Whatever she found out there wasn't going to just allow her to take what she wanted. They needed data on the reapers, and this was their best bet. And to get that data, he needed her to survive for at least that long.

"Understood. Thanatos out," said the younger man as he vanished from the arm of the chair.

The Illusive Man watched the spot he had been hovering for a long moment before sighing and shaking his head. "He's even egotistical about getting rid of his ego." It was then that he hit another button to make another call. The man's face popped up in front of him with a grin. "Saracino, report."

Cargo Bay – SSV Normandy SR2

As he finished his inventory for the parts of the new weapon, Garrus flexed his neck. Thankful that turians couldn't sweat like every human aboard seemed to do, he stood up and flexed his limbs and bounced back and forth on his feet, letting some of the built-up heat in his body out by increasing his heart rate and breathing heavily. According to Ash, in order for humans to cool themselves, they oozed fluids that cooled down their skin.

On the surface it sounded disgusting, like something you'd see in an old scifi vid from pre-spaceflight Palaven. There were plenty of renditions of aliens that oozed slime as they moved across the ground or floated through the air. But in practice it was a lot less dramatic. Humans just… became wet, as if they had dunked themselves in water. Which wasn't all that disturbing, the smell it left behind was fairly acrid.

Reaching up, he massaged his neck gently before walking off towards the elevator. It wasn't chow time yet, but he'd grab a raltae protein bar or something to snack on. As he called the elevator, Lia'Vael exited engineering and stepped up as well. If she noticed him, she showed no signs, especially since she also reached up to call the elevator which he had just done.

"Got a lot on your mind?" he asked softly as he leaned over.

She immediately jumped in surprise and looked up at the taller figure. "Keelah! Garrus!" she said before putting a hand presumably over her heart. "You snuck up on me!"

"Actually, I was here first. Not that that matters, I was just curious what had you so wrapped up that you didn't notice me," he said, chuckling at her surprise.

"I see, I'm sorry I didn't notice you," she said as she looked at the elevator that had just reached their floor. They both stepped inside before she continued. "Sorry, it's just… I've been on the Normandy for a long while now. And the Admiralty Board and Conclave are both aware of what I'm doing here, but even so they are expecting me to return eventually."

"Ah… you were thinking about your pilgrimage gift," he said knowingly as he got another surprised look from her, though this one was much tamer.

"Right. I sometimes forget that you all travelled with Tali'Zorah. Many other species don't care to learn about the quarian pilgrimage," she said awkwardly. "But… well, you know all about it then. In order to be accepted in a new role aboard my future ship, I have to bring back a gift worthy of returning to the Migrant Fleet."

"What did you have in mind?" he asked as the elevator brought them up to the crew deck.

"I don't know. Honestly, I know what I WOULD offer if I could, but that's as unlikely as the quarians getting a Council seat," she said as she waved off the thought.

"Tell me about it," he said as the doors opened. He looked forward and saw Tali standing there waiting for the elevator. "Ah, good timing!"

"What's good tim-" started the commander, but Garrus pulled them both over to the tables of the mess hall.

"Have a seat, Tali. Lia was just speaking about her potential pilgrimage gift," said the turian, fascinated by the concept. If he'd tried to give a gift to his first commanding officer, he'd probably have been shot for bribery. But he also knew the cultural divide between turians and quarians was vast.

"Actually, I was talking about impossibilities," she said with a sigh.

"We're all about impossibilities aboard this ship," said Tali, her tone chipper as she sat next to Lia.

"Or have you forgotten how the captain of the ship returned from the dead?" asked Garrus playfully as he sat across from them both.

"I… I suppose…" she said as she tapped her helmet deep in thought. "It's a lot to deal with. Not just my responsibility to this crew and ship, but also the knowledge that comes with being a part of this team." She grasped her helmet with both hands. "How am I supposed to go back to normal aboard the Migrant Fleet knowing that a fleet of Sovereign-class starships run by a bloodthirsty artificial intelligence are waiting outside of the galaxy for their first chance to harvest us?"

"I'm afraid you never really get used to that," said Tali as she shook her head. "Especially as a quarian."

"Even the turians who know it's coming are rattled by the thought that they could reach a mass relay any day now and start the cycle again," said Garrus as he shook his head. "It's a lot to deal with."

"Of course! And I keep thinking to myself, how can I contribute?" she said as she finally released her helmet and folded her hands in front of her. "I mean, more than I already am."

"That's a tall order. You're already doing a lot," said Garrus thoughtfully as he reached over and grabbed one of the protein bars he had come up here for from a nearby rack.

"Yes, but we'll all need to put our everything into defeating the reapers," said Lia as she looked down at the table. "Anyway, that thought about what I can do to contribute turns into me asking what all quarians can contribute. What can our people offer to help fight the reapers."

"Given our circumstances, we're the least able to contribute," said Tali with a sigh as she rested her head on her hand.

"Of course! But that made me think. I mean, really think!" she said nervously. Garrus noticed her start fidgeting like Tali used to do when she first came aboard. He didn't know if she was embarrassed about what her answer would be, or if she was just nervous about her words. "The quarian people have one thing that no other species in the galaxy has. We have the largest fleet of ships in the galaxy, over 50,000 by our last count."

"Yeah, but it's not like you can use those ships for combat. The quarian people are living aboard them," said Garrus, realizing how stupid he sounded explaining that to two quarians. But the realization struck him as she nodded and pushed her hands forward as if the answer were obvious. "But what if they weren't?"

"Right. If we could find a place for our people to settle, a world where we could sleep without worrying about a hull breach ventilating us into space, then we could contribute the fleet to the defense of the galaxy as a whole," said Lia as she looked between them as if waiting to be berated.

Tali sat stunned in her seat before looking over at Garrus. "Data on the geth of Rannoch seems underwhelming now…" she said jokingly before turning back to Lia.

"Shepard did say that the Council was struggling as far as building ships from scratch. They keep running out of raw resources," said Garrus as he scratched the scarred side of his face.

"D-Do you think it's a good idea?" asked Lia as she looked between the pair.

"It's an incredible idea! Though, whether it'll work or not depends entirely on the Council. Shepard will definitely have to be present for those negotiations," said Tali as she shook her head. "I can't imagine the Council would be thrilled at the idea of allowing the quarians back into Citadel Space."

"We'll have to continue this discussion when Shepard gets back from Tuchanka. She'll have a lot more insight than we do given her dealing with politicians," said Garrus thoughtfully. "That said, I think you may actually have something here."

"She can have the politicians," groaned Tali as she waved her hand, as if dispelling the images of said people. "He's right though. I'd have never thought of it, but after the Battle for the Citadel, the Council can no longer ignore the threat of the reapers. They have to at least try to negotiate with us given the enormous amount of unity it's going to take to defeat the reapers."

Lia inhaled sharply at their praise. Garrus thought she looked as if she was going to cry. But instead, in a shaky voice, she simply said, "Thank you. Thank you both."

Weyrloc Facility – Tuchanka

It appeared that many of the krogan in the facility, as well as a good deal of vorcha were standing nearby the pipeline when it exploded. Many krogan whose skin was melted after being doused in burning hydrogen, vorcha whose bodies were torn to shreds and scattered across the room by the explosion, all of them unlucky enough to be standing close by as the pipe erupted.

It made a good portion of the compound a lot easier to deal with, but Shepard knew she wasn't getting out of this without a fight. Weyrloc Guld and his closest men were likely closer to Maelon, and Legion had already told her he didn't see any of the pipes leading there. So, she was more than prepared to have to fight her way out of the situation she found herself in. She just hoped it was worth it. With Mordin sliding further into despair with every thought of Maelon, and every word from Ash, she might have thought this mission would be too detrimental for him, making him a hindrance rather than helping him.

But it appeared that Ash wasn't the only one bothered by the goings on of the Weyrloc. She noticed that Jack had a sour expression on her face. Which would be normal under any other circumstances, but it was much worse as she was outright scowling. "Everything alright?"

"I know what it's like to be experimented on. All of this disgusts me," growled Jack as she swung her hand and flung a barely living vorcha out of her way, smashing them against the wall.

"You said you were raised by Cerberus, right?" asked Ash curiously as they travelled through the halls with groaning all around them as the krogan regeneration finally started to set in. They'd have a few hours before most of the clan were back on their feet.

"Raised is a polite way to put it," said the convict as she held her hand up. "They tore me open and closed me up again. Every time they created a new upgraded amp, I was on the table being cut up again. When they weren't experimenting on me, they used me for entertainment. Sedating me and using me, then giving me drugs and making me fight the other kids."

Ash's donned a look of horror at the claim. "Jesus Christ, and I thought I had it rough."

"Yeah Army, we all have different circumstances. Since I've been here, I've learned that different doesn't mean better or worse. You had it rough for your circumstances, and so did I. Me having that shit happen doesn't make your pain any lesser."

"I'm sorry…" said Shepard as she halted the conversation. "That was extremely emotionally mature of you, Jack. Where did that come from?"

"What can I say, therapy helps," she said with a shrug. "I don't know many people who had it worse than me growing up, but it doesn't help anyone to compare dick sizes when it comes to trauma. Shit's gross," she said as she shoved her hands into her pockets.

"Gross indeed," said Ash as she stared at the young woman. But as they entered a new area with multiple catwalks, she raised her weapon, as did everyone else as three krogan and a dozen or so vorcha aimed at them from two different floors.

"Interlopers! You dare intrude upon the Weyrloc's facilities and kill our people!? This means war!" shouted one of the krogan from above.

"War with who? I asked you nicely to hand over the salarian you have in captivity. YOU declared war when you refused," said Shepard with a scowl on her face. "You really wanted to keep us out because you didn't want us to know you were forcing Maelon to fix the genophage. You didn't want us to see what you had done to your own people to get it done. But now we know."

The krogan from before was about to speak again, but he was shoved aside by a bigger, meaner looking krogan wielding a shotgun as big as Grunt's Claymore. It looked like it could punch a hole in the hull of a starship. "You offworlders have funny rules. You come to my building and make demands of me, and when I don't comply, you get to kill my men and destroy my property."

"You know, when you put it that way…" said Shepard as she thought for a moment. "I don't really care. Hand over the salarian or your property will be the last thing you have to worry about."

"Your threats are hollow, human," said Guld as he glared at them from across the gap of another catwalk. "We have you surrounded. There is nowhere you can escape to now."

This time it was Zaeed who sneered at the krogan. "You had twenty or so blokes in this same guddamn position not ten minutes earlier and now they're all dead. You really wanna fuck with us, mate?"

The leader glared at the human. "Massani. I should have known you would come back. You're harder to get rid of than a rash on my quad."

"This rash'll kill ya," he said as he held his battle rifle aloft. "Give us the guddamn salarian before I give an encore and kill another Blood Pack leader."

"Weyrloc Guld," said Ash as she stepped forward, her battle rifle lowered. "I challenge you to a mak'gora."

Every krogan around the room reeled at the challenge and looked from one to another. Shepard herself had no clue what Ash was talking about, but whatever she said seemed to have stunned most of the Blood Pack in the room. Weyrloc Guld stepped forward, his own face looking perturbed. "You know not what you say, human. In a challenge of Mak'gora, you cannot have your legendary spectre help you win this fight. If you do this, it'll be just you and me."

"That's the idea," she said with a smirk.

"A duel?" asked Shepard curiously. "You sure you can handle this?"

"You sure you don't wanna leave that to one of us?" asked Jack as she held up a hand glowing with biotics.

"Your biotics are nice," said Ash with a grin to them both. "But they aren't everything. Sometimes you've gotta do things the old-fashioned way."

"You're guddamn right," said Zaeed with a smirk of his own. "Show him who's boss, girlie."

"Do you accept or are you backing down?" asked Ash as Shepard ran a hand through her hair. She wasn't exactly up to date on Ash or her style of battle. She also didn't like risking crew while she stood on the sidelines doing nothing. Unfortunately, Ash stepped into this herself and would have to follow through.

The krogan chuckled as he stepped forward. "I don't know how you know our traditions, human. But you've just sealed your fate."

"Sorry, still human here. What exactly is happening?" asked Jack curiously as she looked at them.

Mordin spoke up from behind them all. "Williams challenged Guld to a duel. Start at far end of room, once duel begins, run at each other and aim to kill. Once duel is over, the winner receives all titles and property belonging to the dead. More modern version has krogan hashing out what winner gets. Much cleaner that way."

"I highly doubt that the Council would just hand over her spectre title to Guld because she lost this duel," said Shepard with a cheeky grin. "But that means that he could get her weapons and armor, and any holdings or ships she may have had in Citadel Space." Shepard wasn't sure if Ash even had any property or vehicles in Citadel space.

"What do you offer?" asked Guld as he stepped forward.

"My armor, weapons, and money," she said as she turned and showed the weapons on her back. Guld's eyes seemed to light up at seeing heavy weapons that would be vastly harder for him to get in Citadel Space. Shepard doubted he knew what they all did. But she could see he was easily taking the bait. "If you win, Shepard here will give you all of my savings, and you're free to collect my weapons and armor from my body. But my body is to be returned to her."

Weyrloc Guld snorted and nodded. "I offer the same."

"I don't want nor need your weapons or money," said Ash as her brows furrowed. "If I win, you'll give us the salarian, and your clan will go back and integrate with Clan Urdnot."

"You dare make demands of me?" asked the krogan angrily.

"No offense, but my weapons are better than yours. I also probably have more money than you. If you want my cash and my brand-new heavy weapons, you've got to offer something better than your own weapons and armor," she said with a glare.

Guld stepped back and began speaking with another krogan who seemed less like a warrior than the rest. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but she knew he was discussing the fate of his clan with the person. After a few minutes of bickering between the two, he finally stepped forward again. "Alright human. You've got a deal," he said with a large grin. "But if you think you've got a gnat's chance in hell then you're fooling yourself."

Shepard turned to Ash as the krogan left to talk to his men. Eyeing her seriously, she sighed. "I know you can handle yourself in battle, but Guld is a mark above the Gatatog krogan we took by surprise in the arena. Do you think you can do this?"

"I wouldn't have challenged him if I didn't, skipper. Besides, it'll save us a lot of fighting if we do it this way," she said as she nodded towards the crowd of Blood Pack that were still in fighting shape. "Most of those who weren't hit in the initial explosion probably gathered around Guld. This is too many to take even for us," she said with a frown.

"I know you're probably right. But the risk of fighting alone is more than fighting together," said the spectre as she gripped Ash by the back of the head and pushed their foreheads together. "You sure you've got this?"

"I've got it, Shepard," she said with a confident smile before stepping back and bouncing on her feet. As she turned around, Shepard noticed that one of the heavy weapons on Ash's back was new. It was one she hadn't seen before, meaning she was carrying a total of three of them altogether.

After a few more minutes, Guld also turned around. "Everyone who isn't fighting, get your asses up top." They all did as they were told, leaving just Ash and the krogan leader himself down on the catwalks below. "Mak'gorah! No time limit! Battle to the death!" he shouted before slamming his fist into his chest.

"Mak'gorah! To the death!" shouted Ash as she did the same with hers. Guld sneered as he held aloft something that his men had given him.

"When the countdown hits zero," he said simply as he tossed the device into the middle of the floor. It grew outward to the size of a dinner plate before a clock counting down suddenly appeared. There was a full minute on the timer.

Ash held her battle rifle up before looking up at her crew above. Shepard smiled at her and nodded. Zaeed leaned on the railing and watched before leaning over to Shepard. "A right nutter if you ask me."

"Haven't you killed a krogan leader before?" asked Shepard as she eyed him sternly.

"Never said it was easy. And wasn't really my choice," he said with a smirk. "Still did it though, so I suppose you got a point." Finally, he leaned over again and tried to whisper to her inconspicuously. "You know these are Weyrloc. There's no way they're gonna sit back and watch Guld get killed."

"You think they're going to try to jump in?" asked Shepard as she eyed the rest of the onlookers above.

"I think they'd be stupid not to. Your buddy Wrex would die before he allowed that. But these are bottom of the barrel krogan who wouldn't know honor if it bit 'em in the bollocks," he stated firmly as he clenched his own rifle.

Shepard reached to the others and tapped her helmet. Getting the message, they all connected to her on a private channel. "Zaeed thinks we're going to be betrayed the moment Guld starts losing. So prepare yourselves for that eventuality."

"Weyrloc far less concerned about honor in battle than other clans. A likely outcome," said Mordin over the radio.

"I wanna see them fucking try," growled Jack as she interlaced her fingers and cracked her knuckles.

"Just be ready. Don't get too antsy though," ordered Shep as the timer finally hit below ten seconds. The final countdown was here and she looked down as Ash readied herself for battle. "Good luck Ash."

The spectre limbered herself up as the countdown hit 10. Leaning on her front leg, she waited until it finally hit zero before raising her gun and firing at Guld across the room. He charged forward, his shields taking the brunt of the bullets. She knew she wasn't going to get his shields down before he got to her, so instead she shot forward and slid downwards.

With his speed and momentum, he barely had time to react as she slid between his legs and sprung up behind him. Spinning around, he stumbled back as he felt her fist impact his face. He clearly wasn't prepared for the punching power of her mechanized armor because the blow caused him to stumble back into the wall. Shaking his head, he went to raise his shotgun, but she kicked it aside and raised her own weapon to fire. But just like her, he smacked it aside and lurched forward, slamming his plated head into her helmet.

Unlike the one from Wrex, this one was meant to hurt. And she did see stars as she fell back and hit the ground hard. Shaking her head, she hadn't realized she'd been on the ground for a few seconds until the krogan's boot came down hard on her stomach. She gasped painfully as she stared up at him. "Sorry human, but you weren't even close," be said with a smirk as he raised his shotgun.

But it was clear that he wasn't used to how limber humans were. Ash lashed out with her leg, kicking the barrel of the shotgun and causing it to fire just to the right of her, blasting a hole in the ground that nearly matched her head. If he were surprised by that, then he was definitely shocked when she reached up with her fist and slammed it directly under his codplate and into his quad.

He sucked in air heavily as she managed to shove his foot off of her. He stumbled forward a few steps before he spun around and growled angrily at her. But she'd already drawn the first of her heavy weapons. He raised his shotgun again and blasted just as she fired. His shotgun blast shattered the front of the weapon, destroying it while the rest hit her shields. But her cryo blast also managed to strike his weapon, freezing it solid as well as a portion of his hand.

He shouted painfully as he dropped the weapon and shook his hand to get the frost off. The gun shattered as soon as it hit the ground, leaving him without his main weapon. But once he recovered from her attack, he drew a smaller, less powerful shotgun from his back while she also tossed hers aside and drew another weapon. She knew he was wary now. Before he'd been cocky in his approach, but now he was slightly worried as he stared down the barrel of her rocket launcher.

She fired one and he blasted it out of the air before it reached him. It was one of the unfortunate side effects of eezo powered rockets. They flew much slower than the former jet powered ones. The main benefit of these was that each rocket was paired with a chip fragment that was fired just before the rocket was. This fragment buries itself in the target, and the rocket itself is guided towards the fragment. This makes it near impossible for the target to escape from them.

Guld managed to knock two of her rockets out of the air due to their slow nature. But she threw him off by aiming up and firing over the catwalks. He followed it with his eyes as the explosive round arced up and over the catwalk before coming back down and aiming right for him. He raised his shotgun to blast it again, but instead Ash ran forward and double drop kicked him in the back of his hump. The attack sent him careening directly into the attack, resulting in an explosion that blasted him off his feet and sent him slamming into the ground with half his face torn off.

He began to thrash around as the blood rage took hold. Ash tossed aside the now spent rocket launcher and drew the last of her three weapons. Turning it on, it hummed to life, but she knew that it'd take too long. In order to fire it required a few seconds to charge, and unfortunately the krogan was back on his feet and charging straight for her. She knew she needed to find an opening to finish him off. But he likely wasn't going to give her that opening.

He swung his fist at her and missed, instead punching a stone pillar and cracking it likely at the cost of his hand. But if he was in any kind of pain, he didn't show it for even a moment. Instead, he kept swinging his fists, his eyes orange with the bloodrage. She knew that he was basically swinging cinder blocks at her, and if he landed a single hit, she likely wasn't going to get back up. Instead, she attached the weapon to the back of her magnetic belt and took up her boxers' stance.

Every time he swung, she ducked or swatted it away effectively. One of the benefits of him being in a blood rage was that he wasn't smart enough at the moment to understand that his tactic wasn't getting him anywhere. As she swatted another blow away, she hammered into the side of his head with a punch strong enough to shatter a human skull, her momentum aided by her mechanized armor. The blow sent him reeling, but he didn't stay that way for long. Instead he spun back around and grabbed her bodily, lifting her up and slamming her between himself and the wall.

She gasped sharply as the wind was driven from her lungs. She recalled Wrex doing the same thing with the aid of his biotics back on the Citadel, and could only imagine what kind of damage he could have done if the pain was this bad. Guld swung her like a sandbag and hurled her across the room where she tumbled and skidded to a halt. She looked up, hoping he had thrown her far enough to allow her the time needed for the weapon. But he was already charging at her once more.

She sighed and got to her feet, ready to start boxing again. He tried to grab her like he had done before, but she easily dodged his clumsy efforts and paid him in kind with a cannon-like punch to the head. She was quickly running out of energy, however. And knew if she didn't finish fast then he was going to outpace her and eventually kill her. She needed an exit strategy. But before she could even think of one, a blur slammed into Guld as he was charging and sent him careening sideways.

Ash was surprised but drew her weapon and began charging. As soon as she looked over at the krogan, she was shocked to see the varren from before sink its fangs into Guld's arm. The warchief of the Weyrloc roared in pain before hurling the dog away in his bloody haze, then turned back to Ash and charged again. The spectre threw herself onto her back with her legs up as the weapon charged to full power. The bloody krogan tried to get to her, but her legs kept him at bay long enough for the weapon to finally swell with power.

A bolt of electricity bright enough to light the entire room lanced from the weapon and melted through Guld's armor, his flesh, and out his back. She slowly dragged the weapon upward, allowing the arcing weapon to do massive damage to his insides and essentially vaporize his spine. Releasing the trigger, she thrust both legs and hurled him backwards where he slammed into the ground, dead before all of them.

Ash stood up tiredly, but held her weapon aloft and glared at the rest of the Blood Pack in the room. Stepping over to the corpse, she noted that the varren had gotten back up and began to tear at the krogan's throat. "Anyone else wanna try?" she asked as she looked between them all. Among the krogan and the vorcha, not a single one of them moved an inch forward. "Good. Now take us to the damn salarian."

Medical Lab – Weyrloc Facility – Tuchanka

It turned out that the lab was almost right next to where the fight had taken place. Ash dusted herself off before ordering the remaining Blood Pack to take them to Maelon's location. When they finally arrived, the door slid open and Legion stood directly in the doorway with his weapon primed. Ash almost drew her weapon again before remembering he was with them. "Jesus, Legion! I almost blasted you in half!"

"It is fortunate you did not," stated the geth as he stepped back and out of the way. Mordin stepped inside to see his assistant working on a large monitor. There were so many numbers and symbols that even Shepard with all her math experience was nearly brainlocked.

Shepard looked over and noticed several more medical tables in the room. One of them had a krogan wearing Urdnot colors sitting on it while three others had sedated krogan women laying on them. But the doctor didn't focus on the screen or the krogan in the room. Instead, he stepped up to Maelon, the dark-skinned salarian student who continued as if they weren't there. "Maelon, alive, unharmed. No signs of restraint, no evidence of torture. Hmmm… don't understand."

"For such a smart man, professor, you always had trouble seeing evidence that disagreed with your preconceptions," said the student as he finally turned to face the man. "I'm here because I want to be here. I chose to be here. You're not rescuing me."

Shepard's brows furrowed at his words. "He wasn't taken by the Weyrloc, he volunteered to help the Weyrloc fix the genophage."

"Again!?" snapped the older salarian as he threw his hands up. "Whole team agreed! Project necessary!"

"And how was I supposed to disagree with you. I was your student! I looked up to you! And the moment I put up a fight you sedated me," said the salarian as he crossed his arms angrily. "Is that what you usually do to your students? When someone disagrees with you, do you just drug them until they shut up?"

For the first time, Mordin looked genuinely mad as he turned and pointed at the younger salarian accusingly. "Nearly attacked our group! Had no choice. Had to sedate, had to finish mission!" snapped the salarian as he looked over at the tables nearby. "Experiments performed here, live subjects, prisoners, slaves, torture! Death! Your doing?"

"You and I already have the blood of millions of krogan on our hands, professor. If it takes a few more lives to fix what we've done, then I can deal with that," Maelon said with a scowl that transcended species. "These experiments," he started, pointing at the screen, "They're monstrous because I was taught by a monster!"

"Never taught you this, Maelon!" snapped the doctor with ice in his voice.

"So, your hands are clean, right? Who cares if we committed cultural genocide?" asked Maelon as he pointed back at the professor. "What you did teach me was that the ends justify the means. I will undo what we did at any cost!"

"Why are you working with Clan Weyrloc instead of going to Urdnot?" asked Shepard curiously as she leaned up against one of the empty medical tables.

I went to the leader of the female clan in Urdnot. They refused to allow me to do the experiments that needed to be done. They threw me out, so I went to Weyrloc instead. They had both the resources and the females available."

"Women," snapped Shepard, getting a look from both Mordin and Maelon.

"Pardon?" asked the student, slightly bewildered.

"They're not females, they're women. You talk a lot about the wrong done to the krogan but you're still depersonizing them just like he did," said Ash as she stroked the head of the varren next to her.

"Right, krogan women," he growled as he looked at them all. "Weyrloc had the women and resources available for the experiments I needed."

Mordin let out an angry snort again. "All simulations came to same conclusion! Krogan population explosion led to war! War led to genocide! Genophage was only solution!"

"You can't condemn a people to genetic genocide over a damn simulation, professor!" shouted Maelon as he whipped out a pistol and held it up to them all. "You can't face the truth, can you! You can't admit that your brilliant mind led to this atrocity! You dust yourself off, able to sleep at night because all you did was work in a lab. You didn't have to look at the effects of what you caused!"

Once again, Mordin was shook at the claim. He stayed silent as Shepard examined him. She knew he was deep in thought. Ash's words from earlier about how Mordin simply created the new genophage modification so that he could be a part of some massive puzzle to solve hit home. He hadn't taken the genophage more seriously than that, and used simulations and theory of what the krogan would do to justify why he had done it. But that world was crumbling down around him.

"Perhaps correct," said the salarian as he looked up at his student, still with anger in his voice. "Perhaps I was wrong about genophage. Perhaps we all were," he said as he pointed to Maelon. "Doesn't justify what you've done."

Shepard knew the conversation was now done with. Reaching up, she overloaded the pistol, causing the heatsink to shoot out and causing Maelon to drop it. Mordin reached forward, grabbed his burned hand and punched him before whipping his own pistol out and aiming it at the younger salarian. "Mordin…" started Shepard as she saw his face mix between anger and sadness.

"Need to kill him. Monstrous things done. Atrocities. Torture. Death…" he said, his voice almost a whisper as if not wanting to be heard. Maelon's face showed he was terrified. He probably never expected his own teacher to threaten his life. The doctor held the gun for a few more long seconds before finally shoving Maelon away from the computers. "Not a murderer. You're finished. Go."

"What do you mean go?" asked the student as he eyed the professor.

"Weyrloc Guld dead. No longer have access to this data. No longer have access to STG resources. Get out," ordered the older salarian in frustration.

"And do what!?" snapped the apprentice angrily. Shepard gripped his shoulder to make sure he wasn't about to try anything.

"Don't know, don't care. Maybe go to Omega. Could always use more help at clinic," said the man as he began typing on the computers. Ashley and the others gripped the young salarian and escorted him out, leaving Shepard and Mordin in the room alone.

CODEX ENTRIES

Raltae Zoology Palaven
A large, ground-based predatory avian from Palaven. Like ostriches and emu from Earth, they have large, dangerous legs that can kick and kill easily with blade-like talons for tearing. Despite their predatory nature, they are farmed and eaten for their high protein qualities.

Mak'gora Culture Krogan
A duel of honor between two individuals. It's usually a duel between two krogan to see who is the better. However, there has been precedent where krogan have pit krantt against krantt in battles that sometimes last for days. The battle isn't over until one side is completely dead, allowing the other to adopt all titles and properties of the dead party. While the tradition has fallen out of favor in modern culture, it has since seen a resurgence due to the gathering of clans by Urdnot Wrex.