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Requested by : Laurel

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"We have to keep moving, Alec." Valarn reported, hiding in a little nook they'd found days ago in the ruined walkways that filled the insides of the Arena's great walls. It was almost too small, likely what was left of an old storage room before half had been filled with rubble and the entrance had been nearly buried. Kneeling behind the rubble at the entrance, she turned a look over her shoulder and scowled at her partner's back, "Are you still trying to call in?!"

"Protocol." Her brown-scaled partner answered, "Report in, seek exfil."

"We failed, the Genophage was-"

"Target fell." Alec cut her off, "That was objective. They must-"

"You're so naive." She sighed, shaking her head and adjusting her grip on the Scorpion in her hand. It was an explosive weapon, and not much use in such quarters - but when they moved, it would let her collapse the path behind them if needed.

And blowing a Krogan's leg off would at least slow it down,

She let Alec keep working at the comm-system tucked in against the wall where they'd found a power line to tap and turned instead to listen for sounds up the hall beyond their obscuring rubble pile. But, with the battle on either side of it - and in it in places - all she could hear was chaos. Gunfire, roars, screams- It was an echoing, nauseating mess that even she couldn't parse. And it made her…

Anxious.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and snapped, "Alec, we need to-"

Suddenly, before she could finish, the rubble concealing them exploded away from them, hurled away in a spray of staticy blue Biotics. Panic siezed her heart, but her body had months of training drilled into it, and she dove away, turning hur Scorpion on the gap as a distinctly Krogan shape stepped around the corner, ducking her shots. The rounds impacted on the wall behind her target, though, forcing them to throw up a Barrier-Bubble to protect themself. But, in spite of the explosions and the shrapnel of rock and metal, a smaller, more lithe figure slipped around the corner and lunged for her, one arm lighting up in a terrifying orange as Valarn tried to get her barrel around to aim for her chest and the woman weaved to the side, slamming an arm into the wall to push off of it and lunge for Valarn.

She almost got the Scorpion around when the woman reached her, flicking her arm and carving the Scorpion apart in a spray of metal and hydro-thermal liquids. And blood and bone, as her fingers came apart with it and she collapsed, pain flaring up her arm.

"Valarn!" She heard two more shots as the woman straightened and stepped past her, and rolled over in time to watch her bury the Omni-Blade in Alec's chest with enough force to pitch him up and into the wall.

"A-Alec!" She snarled, pushing up on her only intact hand and scrambling dizzily for the Predator he'd dropped as Alec's body slid down the wall.

"Don't even try." The woman snapped, turning and kicking the weapon away before she kicked Valarn over onto her back and stepped around her, kneeling and pressing the Omni-Blade to her throat.

"S-Shepard…" Valarn hissed now that she recognized the visor, and the eyes behind it. Eyes that seemed to glow faintly with the Omni-Tool's light. Except…

Red, not orange.

"I'm going to make this simple." The woman said as her Krogan companion stepped around the corner, staring down at them both and growling lowly. "You are going to testify before the Council that you attacked my friend, and tell them why."

"...Valarn, First Reconnaissance Division, Sixty-Fifth- Agh!" She hissed as Shepard withdrew the Omni-Tool from her shoulder and brought it back to her throat, cocking her head with the question. Trembling, she murmured, "Valarn, First Recon-"

"Wrex," Shepard cut her off, standing and slipping past him, "she's useless. EDI will get what we can from their 'Tools. Give her over to… Eh, pick your poison."

"Krant." The warlord rumbled, reaching out for her as Valarn scrambled away, "They're pissed, and have a few hungry Varren. After we get some answers out of her."

"I can't be involved." Shepard said, slipping away around the corner, "Citadel law forbids torture."

She tried to bite down, when she heard that. To crack the seal on the false-tooth at the back of her mouth, before Krogan fingers punched through her front teeth and stopped her. Wrex picked her up like that, smiling toothily and shaking his head.

"Oh don't worry," he rumbled, "I'll have a dentist look at your cavity."

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In the wake of the Reaper Destroyer's death, its lesser Husk pawns lost almost all of their cohesion, and the subsequent Krogan charges - buoyed by the Mother of Maws coming to their 'aid' - shattered their defensive points in and around the Arena. And beyond, letting parties push out into the Old City while Krogan clans funnelled in from every direction, hitting what was left of the Reapers' forces from both sides. In days, she'd been told, there wouldn't be a Reaper left alive on Tuchanka, and the Clans would convene to celebrate a great victory, and coordinate their forces for off-world fighting to help their new, unexpected allies.

It was grand news, but…

Shepard could only focus on one thing.

By the day after the Cure's dispersal, the Shroud had very nearly collapsed entirely, only kept mostly intact thanks to Mordin's expertise. That and swift responses by Turian engineers that kept the structure mostly intact, even if the controls had long since overloaded and burnt out. Engineers were working on it, but what was left of the Shroud was still pumping out the Cure, and cleansing Tuchanka's atmosphere. At a drastically reduced rate, of course, but it was doing its job. And would improve as Mordin and the Turian engineers worked on it and repaired it.

But this time, repaired it for Krogan use.

Tents had popped up around the lake that had been created in the Arena's great base, like a colorful city of metal plates, stretched leather, and old, worn cloth and synthread that had spawned over night. Open spaces along the lake's sides had been left, where scraps and bodies were heaped up for blocky Krogan scrap-haulers to come down from space and carry them off while several worked where the Reaper had fallen, carrying away hunks of it to be unceremoniously hurled into Aralakh itself.

On top of the wall, however, there were no tents. Instead, prefab segments lined either side, hanging out over the edge by a few feet with powerful supports and anchors holding them in place. Almost all of them were medical rooms, where wounded soldiers were treated, or bodies were prepared to be moved back to the warships waiting in the skies above, or to clan burial sites to be burned.

That was where Shepard was, leaning on a railing between two of them and watching the city below slowly come to life while she waited for news.

"Shepard…"

"Wrex." She grunted without turning to meet his gaze, "What have you got for me?"

"Salarian wouldn't talk." He rumbled, joining her at the railing and bumping her aside for space. She huffed and granted it, sliding over a step while he sighed. "She's dead. Krant agreed to handle it. No paper trail. No one will say anything."

"You're sure?"

"Krant owes Doe a bit more even than the rest of us do." He rumbled, "Even if one of 'em talks, the rest won't. One Krogan's word isn't worth much out there."

"Not to most, no…" She agreed, hating how true the words were. No one beyond their given clan tended to give a rat's ass what a Krogan thought or wanted. Unless it involved a gun and a paycheck, plenty assumed Krogan didn't think much at all, in fact. "The Union knows when to listen, though."

"Fair." He sighed, "But it's a risk we'll have to take. We knew running down those worthless scrapheads would come with any of a number of risks."

"Mhm." Shepard nodded, "EDI says she's noticed nothing, though. So there's that, at least."

"Neither have I." He nodded, "Between my own, heh, network and your AI, we should be safe to at least guess they abandoned the two of them."

"Disposable assets." Shepard nodded, "Unsavory, but… Someone like the Dalatrass would be more than ready to see it as necessary. Even if her plan doesn't seem all that well thought out."

"I imagine," Wrex rumbled, "the plan began and ended with 'kill Shepard' and 'buy time for the Reaper to stop us'."

"But if the Reaper won, how the hell does that serve her? It just means the Reapers reach Union space all that much sooner." Shepard asked, frustration and anxiety bubbling through before she could catch it. Reign it in and shackle it, compartmentalised into the back of her mind until a burst of anger could be more productive. Sighing, she straightened and turned, peering up the walkway crammed with storage and workers and doctors coming and going and asked, "How is he?"

"Stable." Wrex grunted, "You'd know if you went to see him."

"I… Want to. But…" She grimaced, an ache settling in the base of her chest and a knot forming in her throat as she considered the idea and turned, leaning against the railing again and scowling. "I'm beginning to see why the Prothean Empire banned Bonds once the Reaper War was in full swing…"

"That bad, eh?" She nodded and Wrex sighed, peering at her with one eye while the other watched the burgeoning city below. "You should know, Krogan talk as much as they fight when you get a lot of them together."

"And…?"

"Who did it hasn't gotten 'round yet. I have ears out, listening for if it does. Krant are trustworthy, but…" Wrex rumbled a laugh and let the implication lay, shaking his head as a shuttle shot by in front of them.

This one was Krogan, branded on either side with bright white marks like a claw, and turned to land at the base of the wall further along, where most of the tents were white or grey, and a section of metal had been pulled up onto the Arena's ruined wall with the same white claws. Even from here, she could see Krogan clearing away rubble around it and flattening the ancient, ruined seats where they wanted support struts for the huge sign. And, looking around the time-crushed seating around the arena, she started to pick out even more spots like it, with the same going on.

"Clan's are staking claims…?"

"Mhm." Wrex rumbled, "No fighting so far, but don't worry. There will be. Right now, though, everyone is more focused on the story that's getting around."

"I see…" She frowned - she did not want to talk about this right now, not so soon. Even if, past the pain of it all, she knew her definition of 'soon' hadn't managed to survive the week. In spite of it, she asked, "What are they saying?"

"That the Union tried to stop him." Wrex grunted, smiling widely in that way he did when something got his blood boiling - whether in a good way, or a bad one. "That he didn't give a shit how many times he got shot, and didn't let 'em. That what's left of the Shroud, and our future, is down to one Human not knowing when to stay down."

"Dramatic, aren't we?" She chuckled, a spark of… Pride blooming in the base of her stomach.

"That's how the witnesses told it."

"Witnesses?"

"Krogan were fighting on that side, too." Wrex explained, "Old Krogan. Some of 'em were alive after the Genophage came down. They remember it, the Salarians used the same trick to kill any upstarts back then, too."

"They did?"

"Disruptor rounds to knock out shields or overload Biotics," Wrex nodded, "then something local, or foreign but not Union, to finish. They used a harpoon this time, but the MO is the exact damn same."

"I see…"

"And what the story has everyone asking," Wrex rumbled, "is what happens next."

"How do you mean?"

"Every Krogan out there is pissed and out for blood." Wrex rumbled lowly, rolling a shoulder and straightening. Sighing, he went on, "Some, it's because the Union tried to destroy our last hope. Some, because the fuckers snuck onto our homeworld, again, to kill our people's friends. And some because they shot him, and they've seen him fighting for our world for a bit now. Or a mix of any of the three."

"Point is," she frowned, "they want a fight… And I'm guess they want you to lead it."

"Yeah," he rumbled, "they do."

"Well, shit…"

"I would if we could." He shrugged, as if that had been her problem with what he'd said. Rather than the apparently fairly loud, if he was coming to her to talk about it, call for the Krogan to march off to a war that would only help one side. Shaking his head, he seemed to agree with that idea, murmuring, "Getting them all to focus on the real threat is… Going to be a challenge."

"Eve have any ideas?"

"Only one." He sighed, "And it's… Complicated."

"How so?"

"He needs treatment." Wrex grunted, turning to give her a hard look when she straightened and turned to him, confused. "The Citadel is the only place that can really save that arm. At least, well enough for him to fight again."

"And we know he'll want to fight again…" She frowned, "But if the Dalatrass targeted us for a more personal reason, then the Citadel won't be safe."

"Not if he's part of the Alliance, he won't be." Wrex nodded, smiling toothily, "But if he had a clan-guard…"

"But… He's Human." She said, waving a hand at the masses below them. "They couldn't possibly be willing to accept something like that, Wrex. The Krogan are disunited as it is, something like this would throw the doors open for the traditionalists to go against you. Wouldn't it?"

"Shepard…" Wrex rumbled and chuffed, "Krogan clans already tolerate non-Krogan."

"They do…?"

"How else do you think so many off-worlders settle down with Asari and the like?" He shrugged, shaking his head in a way that reminded her of when they'd first met, and he seemed to take pleasure from making her feel dumb for not knowing things he considered oh-so-obvious, "Some of them came here to fight. Their clans would never have tolerated them fighting with them if they cared."

"This is a bit different…"

"Which is why Eve suggested we…" Wrex snorted, "Do some mythmaking."

"Wrex…"

"What?" Wrex huffed, "You want him to survive getting into Huerta, right? Clan-guards would keep him safe, and if the Union tries anything, and they're half as smart as they play, they'll take his adoption for the not-so-subtle warning it is."

"That's a fairly big bet…"

"Yeah, well…" Wrex shrugged, "It's my best idea. Do you have better?"

"I'd say sending the Dalatrass a pointed letter would make the point on the Alliance's behalf…"

"If all the Krogan see from this is a letter," Wrex argued, crossing his arms and frowning in thought, "then they'll lose faith in our alliance. They need to see strength. If the Krogan are the ones with a claim on him, then Clanguards will come off as an obvious, overt display of power. Especially on the Citadel, of all places. The Turians have already offered an aid package to me- I can couch it as reparations on the Council's behalf, oh so cleverly disguised."

"Someone's been paying more attention to Eve…"

"Of course I have." He smirked, "I'm the Chieftain, and I can't risk losing that. But don't try and jump topics, Shepard. This is our best bet. And you know it, too."

She deeply, painfully hated to admit it, but… She didn't. Huerta was the best facility on the Citadel, and exactly where she planned to use her rank to get him taken care of. Anywhere the Alliance ran would be just as vulnerable to the STG, and wouldn't have half as good treatment options. And John would still need guards, and she doubted he'd be willing to take Marines off the front-lines.

Clan-guards, though, rarely ever left Tuchanka, and probably wouldn't even now. They protected important clan members on visitations to other clans, or to other worlds. A few would leave to fight with their Chieftains, of course, but…

"It'd work." She sighed, "If he agrees."

"We'll have to wait and-"

"Excuse me, Commander?" They both turned as an exhausted looking Turian stepped closer, dressed in bloodied medical service armor and holding a clipboard. Reading from it, he reported sharply, in spite of his fatigue, "Doe, John is conscious and requesting you at crit-care installation-

"Forty-Two." She nodded, smiling, "He's awake? How is he?"

"Awake, and asking for you." He nodded, turning and grunting, "I have duties."

"Well," Wrex sighed, "let's pitch the idea, shall we?"

"I suppose…" She sighed, "You're a hell of a politician now, though, aren't you?"

"Bah, politics…" He grumbled, "I preferred it when I could just smash my problems."

Shepard only sighed. It wasn't like they had much choice, in the end, if she didn't want to risk the Krogan going off to war or doubting the alliance…

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Very much another of my quieter segue chapters. Hope you all enjoy the set-up for coming events, and see ya next time on the Citadel.

Side bar in case some wonder - no, John's perspective didn't come up this chapter. His reaction to stuff will come later. He was injured enough I didn't see him in a position to do much. And besides, he'd trust Shepard saying this was for the best, and the reasoning when they obviously explained it.

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Dragons Guard :

I mean… Different scene entirely, but hope it scratched a similar itch.

Lea :

XD