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Requested by : Laurel

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"Human!" He turned as a Krogan from above him hurled a Mattock in his direction before a quartet of Husks rushed him, bearing him against the edge of the gallery he was in by sheer weight.

John caught it, checked the firing level, and sighted down the one on his head in one fluid motion, putting two rounds through its head. Free of the weight and able to see, the Warlord grabbed one in each hand and brought them together against the sides of the third, crushing all three while John peppered a Marauder trying to draw a bead on him a few feet away. The Warlord spotted the creature and charged it, shoulder checking it back, grabbing it by the throat and hurling it over the edge hard enough it smashed into the.

Satisfied the Warlord was safe for the moment he turned, looking for a target in the chaos of the melee and drawing down on a Cannibal that had pinned one of the Turian guards down and was trying to rip into his throat. Three rounds crippled an arm, and that was enough for the Turian to retake the initiative, clawing out the abomination's throat with his talons and grabbing his sidearm to cover the Primarch who pulled him up to his feet, using his own Phalanx to fight from inside a ring of Turian guards on top of the raised platform.

Which seemed a good hold point - but was too far away for him to push for.

Instead he turned, shouting over the din, "Pull together and form up! We're-"

"Wagh!" He turned, watching a Krogan collapse a few feet behind him. By the time he turned, though, another Krogan had come to beat the Husks to death.

Still, the first one didn't get up, chest armor and muscle ripped open and organs strewn around him. He spasmed, arm reaching for his gun on old instinct, and went still as the Husks were beaten to death by his comrades.

"We're getting torn apart!" He shouted, turning away from the dead Krogan and tracking another Marauder with his rifle. He heard his words echoed by a handful of those around him, almost lost amid the mad melee, "Biotics put defensive barriers up!"

"Everyone- Bubbles up!" Wrex seconded his call, bellowing and projecting a bubble of Biotic fury around the platform that knocked everyone back a step. And seared every Husk he laid his eyes on inside it. Roaring so loudly the sound almost seemed to reverberate through him, the Chieftain called out, "Hold your ground! We hold the Hollows or we all die!"

"For Tuchanka!" Another Warlord a few yards away from John did the same, albeit with a smaller barrier that repelled everyone, Krogan included. John turned his Mattock on the downed Husks and advances, cutting down half a dozen that tried to clamber up.

"Ammo! " He bellowed as his gun whined, "I need-"

He was cut off by a greyish blur in the corner of his eye and he turned to find a Marauder rushing towards him and pivoted on a heel, swinging the Mattock around like a club. The stock shattered in the monster's jaw and sent it reeling, and a robed Krogan rushed past him, grabbing the abomination in two hands and pulling it in half. A meaty hand on his shoulder turned him and he looked up into Tar's blood-covered, smirking face as a light grey rifle was shoved into his chest.

"Lancer." He grunted, "No reloads, but it can overheat. Watch the gauge on the side."

"Got it." He nodded, "Thanks."

"Mhm." Tar turned, putting his back to the ODST while Eve backed up on one side, holding a jagged metal axe in her hands.

Smiling, he turned his rifle on a charging Cannibal and opened fire, ripping apart its face in a spray of gore. Before it even finished falling he put another burst into a Cannibal behind it, and sent them both reeling to the ground. Around them, Krogan and Turians were forming small circles of protection around their wounded, passing guns back to them for reloads and trading out the spent weapons with new ones.

His boot snapped up and knocked a Husk back, and he finished it with a burst of rifle fire, swivelling the weapon up to put out another burst that ripped the throat away from a second. Ignoring the steam in his weapon, he turned and put out single shots at a group of Cannibals feasting on… Well, meat that he didn't let himself dwell on for the moment. They ignored him, aside from turning to feed on the ones he killed.

Then a Biotic cannonball careened into their midst, blowing them apart in a spray of gore and viscera.

Liara stood and turned, hurling the bodies into the survivors with a biotically warped scream. Blinking, John turned and looked up at the entrance as a dozen Turians and twice as many Alliance soldiers surged into the room, sweeping down the stairs in several rows of soldiers that methodically cut their way through the Reaper infantry. The Krogans saw them and bellowed, redoubling their fighting and collectively pushing to meet them, butchering the dwindling Reaper numbers as they went.

Until, finally, the noise simply… Petered out.

A few meaty thwacks, a few gunshots, and a few choking laughs echoed around the quiet room as John held out his Lancer, venting heat. Finally, as the victory settled, the Krogan around him pumped their fists into the air and cheered. Turians and Humans joined them, leaning on each other and nursing injuries. Others held their heads, or their chests, sliding down to sit against walls while medics flitted between them. Even Krogan warriors accepted attention from Alliance medics - and even from Solus, when he joined in.

"Reaper blood has soaked our sacred lands!" Wrex bellowed, voice echoing around the empty rooms, "They have come to us and fallen, like every enemy to face our people ever has!"

"Raaaaagh!" The Krogan bellowed, pumping their fists again and turning to slap each other's shoulders and grin. Even John got a thump, turning to glare up into Tar's face for a moment before Wrex went on.

"Treat your comrades, reload, and be ready." Wrex roared, "We have a Reaper to kill! At least… Assuming the other Warlords agree."

Even now, John realized, Wrex's mind was working. Twisting the situation and turning it to his benefit before anyone else could. Politicking what had happened here to his own ends, and making sure to keep a hand on the Primarch's shoulder the whole time. A show of solidarity, John knew, but he also knew enough about Krogan to understand that it was a display of control.

And, judging from his pursed mandibles, the Primarch knew as much too - and accepted it, in silent trade for help for Palaven. That was all the Turian cared about, in the end… His homeworld.

Which was something John could understand.

"John!" He turned as Wrex nodded and let the Krogan go about their tasks. Shepard threw an arm around him, the other holding her rifle, and pressed her face into his neck. He chuckled and gave her a pat on the back and she withdrew, smiling thinly. "It's good to see you alive and well. And with a… Cloak?"

"Mantle." Eve offered, stepping up to their side, shoulders trembling gently. "A sign of… Respect."

"Ever, are you-"

"I am fine." She sighed, dipping her head a bit. "Just… Winded."

"Have Solus look you over." Shepard said quickly, nodding her head at where the Salarian was speaking to a Krogan on the ground, apparently walking him through cleaning his own injuries since he, John supposed, didn't trust Mordin to.

"Commander…"

"I'm not doubting your strength." Shepard argued quietly, "We just… Can't risk you. Not now. Alright?"

"...Very well, Commander." She nodded again, brushing past John as she left and leaving the ODST behind, watching her go with a raised eyebrow.

"Krogan Whisperer now, I see…"

"We spoke a bit, while I was running errands on the Citadel, establishing contacts and… Helping the populace get the spirit to fight." Shepard explained lowly, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and seemingly taking comfort just in the contact. Shaking her head, she went on, "Never thought I'd spend so much effort on mercenaries… Or that she'd be such a great asset when it came to the Batarians."

"The Hegemony is still active…?"

"A nice enough portion of their fleet escaped the loss of their capital and major systems, and withdrew to Citadel space." She shrugged, "They're repairing, and plenty wanted to just head back in when they were done. But… Eve explained the need for patience. She convinced me to take the Normandy in and get some stuff for them, to help their new leader establish control."

"Every little bit helps." He shrugged in turn, "Right?"

"Right…" She sighed, "It's just… Batarians."

"I know." He nodded, "You did the right thing, though."

"We'll see…" Shepard sighed, and he understood a lot in that sentence. She was torn, and he understood why - the Hegemony had done a lot of harm, and not just to other races. Helping them went against plenty of what she tended to stand for. She shook that off, though, and instead turned to say, "Eve has been a good councilor, weird as that might sound. And not just for me."

"No?"

"Javik even spoke with her." Shepard smiled, "And for more than fifteen minutes, once. He seems to value her opinion."

"Ah." John nodded, "Well, here's hoping that she gets through the stubborn alien…"

"And 'stubborn alien' would that be, Human?" In spite of the acid in the words, John smiled as he and Shepard pulled apart and turned.

Javik looked better, somehow, than he had before - more green, and with dark silver, new armor like his old set. He offered John a hand and inclined his head and, understanding the gesture, John took it. Weeks of memory flitted back and forth between them, cut down to morsels for John to take in more readily while Javik learned what he had been through here. What he'd done. When Javik pulled away, the ODST felt… More tired, than before, but filled in on what few truly important things Javik had experience.

Smiling, John said, "I'm glad you have a new therapist. Does she do remote? You may have to, once we leave Tuchanka and Eve stays behind."

Javik only sighed and muttered, "I hate you, Human."

"Sure you do." He and Shepard both said at the same time, chuckling between themselves as the Primarch turned to look their way. Sighing, Shepard said, "Come on. We have a strategy meeting…"

"What for?" John asked, flicking Javik a look that asked, 'Why didn't you include that?'

He just shrugged slightly and shook his head, 'I didn't know.'

"We're taking the Shroud and curing the Genophage, and damn the Salarians' protest." Shepard said, purposefully a bit louder than needed, so the Krogan nearby would hear. They did, turning to her with wide, multi-colored eyes. "The Hierarchy and Alliance finalised it three days ago. If the Salarians want to stop us, they can come here with an army and force it."

"Damn straight." John nodded, "Let's get to work."

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With the Meeting Place in the Hollows purpose finished, and the abundance of corpses, Wrex directed them out through another one of the smaller exits while John stayed behind to find his armor and make sure he was squared away. Shepard wasn't excited about leaving him and Javik so soon after finally getting back together, but… Well, compromises had to be made for Hackett to believe that they could serve together regardless of the Bond. So Shepard grit her teeth and forced herself to bear it.

Even as much of a bitch as it was…

"So..." Wrex rumbled as they descended the sloped hall, passing by a handful of guards slinging dead Husks onto their shoulders who made space as they passed by. "How'd our business go?"

"Garanog Branik is dead, as is his personal guard." Shepard answered quietly, pursing her lips, "I found him where you expected, hiding out on Tana, in the employ of a Human named David Drumpf."

"And Drumpf worked for…?"

"A Salarian conglomerate." She answered, wary, at least somewhat, of the Turians following behind them. Allies or not, she knew the Primarch was only really interested in what he saw as the best option for Palaven. Not an ally that could be relied on too terribly. "He specialised in negotiation with Human banking enterprises in the Terminus. Lowballed his client's debts, highballed their properties, and used the Krogan for 'enforcement' whenever someone caught on."

"You have evidence…?"

"I do." She nodded, tapping an armored thigh, "Branik knew enough to know that he was working for Salarians. Unless he was an idiot, at least."

"So, stupid or a traitor." Wrex rumbled a smirk, "Garanog got hit hard in a flare-up a few months back. This will break their backs…"

"And then?"

"I offer them a chance to bend the knee." Wrex shrugged with one shoulder, "Like every other lesser rival clan I could get away with not destroying. And with them, we get access to the Iron Forge in the East."

"You mentioned it…" SHe trailed off, leaving it to him to decide whether or not to explain what that even was - the Codex didn't even have mention of it.

"Old, hidden foundry far from here." Wrex answered quietly after a few moments of thought, weighing whether or not he should trust her - or, at least, the Turians he was leading - to hear about it. "They can alloy steel there better than most places on Tuchanka. With it on our side, scrap recovery efforts and orbital works will come along faster."

"I see." She hummed, "That's good."

"With your intelligence networks, I figured you knew when you agreed to handle him for me."

"I could have found out." She agreed - EDI was too much of an advantage in that regard, and with Doe's VISR and integrated systems studied, and the Alliance's work beforehand on VI assistance, her armor could play host to EDI now, so access wasn't an issue. But, "I trusted you, so I didn't bother."

"Ah, I see…" He hummed, and Shepard smiled. Wrex was hard to fluster, and hard to tell when he was flustered, but she knew enough to catch it.

And took some satisfaction from it.

Finally, they reached a large chamber at the end of the hall. It was ovular, with a table built above a depressed cutout in the floor. One that, she realised after a moment, made the room look almost perfectly like a model of the Meeting Place. Which, in turn, her built in sense of direction told her would be, more or less, directly above them based on how the pathway had turned in on itself.

The archeology was… Impressive.

Wrex's spot was directly across from the door, where a raised ridge came up along the small of his back. But the rest lacked backs at all, and with the gaps between the table and their seats on the edge of the old stone, they had to lean forward a bit to reach them. Which was awkward enough for Shepard to expect it was purposeful - a suspicion she confirmed when she looked over the table at a gently narrower side on Wrex's side. Which she understood as soon as she gave it a heartbeat's thought.

Krogan politicking was, after all, as much about good sense as it was instinct and bravado. after all, and projecting bravado was harder when you were hunched forward uncomfortably.

"Now then…" Wrex rumbled, leaning forward to set a blocky projector on the table and connecting a wire to it so he could hook it up to an old battery he left beside it. It projected a holomap of the Shroud, and the surrounding ruins, as well as the Reaper destroyer currently crushing them to make space. Wrex gestured at it and frowned, "As you can see, the Reaper knows enough, somehow, to guess at the Shroud's value. And it's preparing to defend it."

"Why?" Victus asked, voice flanging as he waved his guards away, who retreated to stand just inside the door. "Without codes, its atmospheric system is useless."

"Untrue." Mordin said from his other side, sitting perfectly straight with his wrists resting on the table and his fingers interlaced. Nodding at the display, he said, "Shroud important morale point for Krogan. Know its purpose. Knowing Reapers have it… Distressing."

"Krogan can handle distress, Doctor."

"Indeed." Mordin nodded, "But not all… Shroud could be altered. Co-opted. Using Reaper tech."

"How?" Wrex asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Many ways." Mordin answered, "Reaper technology… Adaptive. Invasive. Results, unpredictable."

"They could turn it to poisoning Tuchanka's air." Shepard filled in quietly, frowning deeply and shaking her head as she turned to give Wrex a look. "Alliance ran sims on similar plans, in training."

"For us?" She nodded and he rumbled a laugh, shaking his head, "And?"

"Poison the air to induce paranoia using any of a dozen toxins we found that do it, then leak that to several leading clans." Shepard explained quietly, shrugging without a hint of the shame - and very real anxiety - she felt about having come up with the next part of the idea, which was a fact she kept to herself. "Plant some evidence it's a rival, whichever clan is vying for power, and go from there. Sweep in when full war breaks out and alter the Shroud to release toxins lethal to Krogan."

"But not to Humans…" She nodded again and Wrex turned to Mordin to ask, quietly, "That would work?"

"Presuming Shroud access gained? Yes." Mordin nodded, "Reapers likely to use similar tactics. Known to turn groups against each other. Make extermination easier."

"Javik wrote a dissertation on it, with Liara's help, for the war effort." Shepard added quietly, "She's helping with the wounded, but I can call her in if need be."

"No, I believe you." Wrex rumbled, flicking the Salarian a look. "Both of you. Eve told me how much you did for her, around processing my… Samples."

"Your trust is appreciated." Mordin nodded, "Greatly."

"Mhm." Wrex nodded, sighing and shaking his head, "Damn Salarians… Screwing us over even now."

"Ahem…"

"You don't count, Doctor." Wrex smiled, turning to Shepard and the Primarch as the smile fell. Laying his hands on the table he leaned back and looked at the looping recording of the Reaper's devastation. "So… What's our plan to get this thing off my damn homeworld?"

"I have two strike wings that can deploy to counter air assets and target the Reaper's heavy defences, if there are any." The Primarch answered, raising his arm to use his 'Tool to project a holo-display of the prototypical Turian heavy fighter-bomber. "I also have forty of my own personal guards, the First Watch, that I will personally oversee deployed to combat operations in support of your forces."

"The Alliance has fifteen Mako assault tanks-"

"Will you be driving?"

"Shut up, Wrex." She went on, rolling her eyes and sighing wearily. "They will commit them as part of an armored assault unit that will strike from the open-sand beyond the temple, while the Turian forces back you up through the rubble and the temple-ruins."

"How many men?"

"A dozen specialists, operating with the armored unit, plus forty Marines aboard the Normandy." She answered, cutting off his frown before it could turn into a point he could raise by adding, "We don't aim to take the Shroud. Not entirely. All we need is a team to get in with Mordin, prepare the Cure, and use the laboratories there to get it airborne."

"How long will you need?"

"Half an hour." Mordin answered, "Then fifteen minutes for a dispersal pattern. Only this hemisphere will be cured, if the Shroud falls before that, but…"

"The Kelphic Valley is in the Cure-Zone we've projected." Shepard said quietly, smiling widely as she stood and leaned forward, resting her chest against the table for how high it was, "That's twenty percent of the Krogan population, cured of the Genophage. And most are Urdnot, or of clans allied to Urdnot or under their control. You will have delivered the means to rally the Krogan to you loyally, and ensure you are too powerful to be challenged, in one smooth move."

"And I can spin to the hardliners that the only Cured clan on Tuchanka is my ally." Victus added quietly, "They'll argue, they'll whine - but once Krogan boots retake Palaven?"

"Arguing against our alliance will be political suicide." Shepard nodded, leaning back and taking a long breath.

"...You're scary when you get like this." Wrex rumbled, sounding… Amused, almost, but also afraid, before he shook his head and smiled. "I can rally a thousand Krogan to this. It'll be a blood-vath, but… The Krogan will honor it. And honor our alliance. I'm certain of it."

"Good." Shepard nodded, "Then let's get it done."

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Evilstatistic :

Fuck- My bad, sorry. I always feel like the Turians were around longer lmfao.

Lea :

*smirks* I mean, for the best scouts and sensors in the galaxy, the Dalatrass didn't say much about the incoming Reapers…

HelloEver :

XD