Shepard seemed glad that Wrex was ready to talk business. She told him, "Well, according to the Unwelcome Guest," and jabbed a thumb back toward Okeer, "Grunt's undergoing what we would call 'puberty' back home," and she crossed her arms. Wrex took a moment to register that, looked at Grunt, then nodded.
"Right. He wants to undergo a Rite of Passage," Wrex offered, then scratched his chin, "Honestly, Shepard, if that's all you came here for, I'm kind of shocked the Salarian and Warlord couldn't tell you this crap ahead of time," before he stood up from his seat. He told the girl, "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you visited, but bringing a Tankbred in…"
"We figured it'd be safer to listen to the guy who created Grunt," Shepard shrugged.
Wrex walked toward Grunt, sniffed him, then nodded, "Smells like medicine, alright. Even after all this time," before looking the armored-up Krogan in the eye and asking, "You looking for a clan, kid?" while he examined him from head to toe. The Tankbred Krogan huffed, then gave a nod of confirmation to Wrex, surprisingly docile compared to a few minutes ago.
Wrex himself said, "We could always use a boost for our clan. Go see the Shaman the moment you wanna head out and undertake it," before looking at the other Krogan below. Not Okeer, but rather the one with a gradient green-to-brown carapace and clad in a tecched-up blue armor. He called out, "Uvenk. You wanted to speak?"
"I've seen all I need to see. The clans will not approve of your choice, Urdnot Wrex," The alien spoke, then glared at Grunt and Okeer. He added, "Not only do you allow the Criminal to tread your land, but you also let its little plaything do the same. You're making a mistake the likes of which will cost your people dearly!"
"If all you're here for is lodging a complaint, take a number, Uvenk," Wrex replied with a scoff. The Gatatog representative waved his hand and walked away toward the side, in order to seemingly have a chat with someone in an elevated area of the camp. Shepard walked up beside the Krogan and looked at him, worried. Seeing that, Wrex said, "Don't worry about it, Shepard. Trying to reunify the Clans is proving to be a bigger pain in the tail than I originally anticipated… Gatatog ain't exactly keen on sharing."
"Don't presume we can help somehow?" The Commander raised a brow.
Wrex snorted, "Thanks, Shepard, but I ain't dragging you from your current business to deal with Krogan politics," then he turned his head toward Halsey, Mordin and the Spartans, murmuring, "Looks like you've got enough crap on your plate as it is…" and he asked, "All those rumors circulating on the Extranet true? These people extra-galactic?"
"Seems like it," Shepard nodded, "Two human factions and one faction of Alien and Human soldiers with clones," and she shrugged, "Each with their own crazy backstories and wars they fought before we met them. Believe it or not, Wrex, I think dealing with Clan Politics might be less crazy than dealing with that."
"What about these ones? Seven-foot-tall humans guarding an old lady," Wrex asked.
Shepard hummed, then said, "United Nations Space Command. Spartans, more specifically. They and the rest of their humanity fought a war for survival a decade or so ago against an alien theocracy formed of multiple species," as activated and lifted her Omni-Tool to eye level. She opened a few videos taken from the Spartans' helmet cams and showed them to Wrex, including glassings and the like. Wrex had half a mind to jab at the Citadel, but… No, even they wouldn't do this.
Wrex whistled and said, "No wonder Grunt's eyeing them," before snorting. He motioned to Grunt, who was staring at the Spartans with a smirk, as if he wanted to fight, bloodlust in his eyes. He'd been eyeing Fred for a while for a fight, so it made sense, Shep thought. Wrex, meanwhile, quipped, "That kid's got quads. That's one Clan I don't think I'd mess with."
"Getting soft on us, old man?" Garrus asked as he and Tali joined them. Wrex snorted at that, then shook his head, before Garrus commented, "Yeah, we all saw the Vids. The Spartans and the UNSC in general are nothing to scoff at, though… The Republic? I've started looking into them through the General and the Clones."
"Tough bastards, too," Shepard replied, "Fighting a war for six damn years across their entire Galaxy versus an Army of always-replenishing droids commanded by some shadow council," she then clarified as she saw Wrex about to ask a question. She told him, "And they're engaged on every front. It's a brutal war on a Galaxy-wide scale."
"Sounds like they got their hands full," Wrex hummed, "They anywhere near here?"
"We have a General and a platoon of Clones aboard our ship, but we left them there for the time being," Shepard replied, "Added upon them we've also got members from a group called the Twelve Colonies. Sadly, there's only about 30,000 of them left due to their own bots rebelling against them… Nuking all twelve planets."
The Krogan looked back at Tali, who nodded and said, "I hear their President is going to meet my people with their sole guard ship as escort. Helo told me," as she checked her shotgun. She hummed and asked, "Hey, Shepard, if we do go by the Waystation any time in the future… Can we perhaps ask their local quartermasters to see their weapons? The M45 Shotguns the UNSC uses caught my eye."
"Heh, sure thing," Shepard nodded, then she stretched and said, "I should take Grunt to talk to the Shaman. Get the mission over with."
"I'll go see what your pals want," Wrex motioned to Halsey and Mordin, "Figured it'd be best to get that out of the way, too, if you wanna move out after the Rite," then he looked at Tali and Garrus and offered, "You two gonna hang around? I figure catching up with both of you while Shepard's off doing her usual would be a nice passtime."
"If she doesn't need us," Garrus shrugged, "Sure."
"I'm fine with it. A little break from the shooting," Tali chuckled. The group walked back toward the throne area, with Shepard calling Grunt and Okeer over so they could go chat up the Shaman. Doctor Halsey, meanwhile, wrote away on her tablet as she and Mordin continued to exchange small-talk about certain matters.
Wrex stopped in front of them and said, "Shepard told me about you and your people, doc," as he looked at Halsey. The woman looked up from her tablet and nodded in greeting. Wrex nodded back, looked at the Spartans and said, "And these guys, too. I didn't expect Humans to be this tough or tall, but here we are."
Halsey replied, "It sadly isn't quite a natural process… Urdnot Wrex, was it?"
"Yeah," Wrex replied.
She told him, "Doctor Catherine Halsey, UNSC. A pleasure to make your acquaintance," and turned to face him. Calmly, she added, "Any friend of Commander Shepard is a friend of ours," and extended her hand. Wrex gingerly gripped and shook the frail elderly woman's hand, but found her to still hold her own somewhat strong grip.
"Suppose she helped you and the other two groups you all met become friends?" Wrex inquired, well aware Shepard had both a penchant to be one of the most brazen people of her species, but also that the woman had a habit of making new friends out of thin damn air. And here she was, with a whole new set of additions to the platoon from all three sides.
"In a sense," Halsey offered, though she recalled it wasn't quite as informal a meeting. She told Wrex, "She allowed use of her ship as a neutral ground for all parties to meet," while gazing upon the rest of the makeshift camp in the tunnels. The place was what post-apocalyptic movies were made of, but the tunnels stretched so far, she could barely tell the distance.
"I still remember seeing them all walk aboard," Garrus spoke to Wrex. He crossed his arms and added, "You'd have thought we all went crazy back there," and he chuckled a little, thinking of just the sheer panic that must've happened between the Council finding out about their alien buddies and the subsequent First Contact after they destroyed that Batarian raiding party.
"In this line of work? More likely than one might think," Tali joked, getting Wrex to huff, amused, while Halsey herself contained her own snort. Tali then continued, I think Indoctrination's becoming the least of our concerns," while checking her Omni-Tool and her ability to summon combat drones. Her 'Chatika', she thought with a smile.
"Hm. Regardless, alongside the Alliance, the local human faction that I'm certain you know, we've made a rather tumultuous first contact with the Citadel, as well," The woman offered calmly, checking her tablet again for the target area she wanted to see. Sighing, she rubbed her temple and wondered if it was anywhere close by.
"Heh. I bet you rattled the bastards in the Presidium something good," Wrex grinned, glad to hear the Council got its pants scared off of it. Understandably for a couple of the people present, one of which remained relatively quiet. Halsey noticed the seemingly erratic gaze of Mordin, but also saw that the man managed a perfect Poker Face.
"More like they destroyed a Batarian raiding fleet and liberated one of their small slave-holding outposts," Garrus joked. Honestly, when he'd heard of that the first time, he was actually worried. Like, sure, their ships weren't Batarian-grade trash-heaps. They were highly-advanced, most being upgraded with current generation tech ranging from electronics to new mass drivers.
"Huh. I'd heard of that. Did not think it was them," Tali murmured, stunned.
"You barely knew of us before you met our forces, miss Tali"Zorah," Halsey replied calmly. Though it took a minute for Tali to register that Doctor Halsey had addressed her by name, she soon looked over at the Spartans and saw that they were, in fact, looking back at her. Fred gently lifted his hand as if to say he'd written her into the reports. She smiled behind her mask and nodded.
"True enough, I suppose," She then replied to Halsey.
"Regardless…" Halsey couldn't help but crack a smile at that. She then turned toward Wrex and asked, "I have something to inquire about. More of a request if it's possible, that is," before pulling up the maps and scans from the Prowler above the planet to show Wrex. The energy readings from that particular location were strangely familiar.
"The whole 'any friend of Shepard's a friend of mine' bit?" Wrex began, "It applies for us as well. Go ahead," and he waved to her to continue. This was gonna be interesting, the Spartans, Garrus and Tali all thought at the same time. Wrex seemed fairly level-headed regardless of what his entire species might've been known for. Which Halsey hadn't gotten around to reading about.
She hummed, then spoke, "We've retrieved some data from the Waystation's direct link to our other Galaxies, which has given us coordinates for something in this general Galactic area," and turned the tablet to show the alien male, "With further translations, we narrowed the area down to the Aralakh system…" and then she zoomed in and pointed at the exact location. She added, "And then, to this spot on Tuchanka. I wish to take a team there to investigate it after the Commander is done aiding Grunt."
"That's Gatatog territory," Wrex warned, "They don't much like outsiders…"
"As evidenced by Uvenk," Garrus murmured, looking up at the location where the Shaman was. Shepard seemed to be having a heated discussion with Uvenk himself about something while the Shaman himself was just watching. Wrex huffed, then scratched the side of his face as he seemed to think of a solution.
"I think I can pull some strings, though no promises," Wrex said as he turned to face Halsey.
"Any attempt is appreciated. If it can't be helped, well… We have stealth craft to infiltrate the place," The good doctor replied calmly as she lifted a com piece to her ear and looked over the specific communication protocols for calling down a Stealth Pelican or a Chiroptera-class transport vessel to them.
"You could've just gone in, but you ask permission," Wrex snorted, then said, "Y'know, I'm starting to think most humans are too polite," while a distant thump filled their ears. The Spartans all tensed a little at the sound, but didn't quite take their weapons off safe yet. Disciplined bunch, too, Wrex thought. Would've been great if they could do the same for their own.
"Safer not to start a shooting war with a Krogan Clan," Chief spoke, well aware of the Krogan's propensity for combat, going by what Fred had told them of the mission where they had had to get Grunt and Okeer out from the Blue Suns. Krogan were tough bastards, even worse when in a blood rage, meaning a lack of pain and enhanced strength.
"Hah. Agreed with you on that one," Wrex gave a nod to the Chief, then paused as he could swear he heard a faint giggle in the back of his mind. Ignoring it for now, he spoke, "Now, for the Thresher Maw in the room," before casting a glance at the worried Mordin. He asked, "What're you doing here, Salarian?" with a terrifyingly straight voice.
"Searching for someone," Mordin seemingly chose to be honest with Wrex. He smiled sadly, then told him, "Related to Genophage work. Went to ground here. Rumors abound of research for Cure…" he breathed in, worried, as he saw Wrex's face morph into that of interest and concern. He'd had experience beforehand of false promises.
"Genophage…?" Halsey quirked a brow up. Wrex looked at Mordin, surprised that he was being so direct, especially with a group of people that suddenly seemed to get their interest piqued. The Spartans themselves tensed, while Garrus and Tali both seemed to stare with some measure of wide eyes at the Salarian.
"At peace with idea of you learning of my work, Doctor. Natural to share details of personal work in regards to Krogan, reason to be here," Mordin offered, basically telling Halsey indirectly that he trusted her, even if they'd only had one encounter in their lives. The Salarian then looked at Wrex and inquired, "If I may?"
Though his surprise only grew, Wrex huffed in agreement, simply nodding to Mordin, "Go ahead. Let'em know."
With a nod of thanks, the Salarian scientist considered how to start this. With the beginning, he thought, best point. He started, "... Millennia ago, Salarian scientists exploring unknown parts of the Galaxy opened a Mass Relay to a hostile alien race. Hive-minded, insectoid, hostile, violent. Call them Rachni," He calmly told Halsey, looking her right in the eye and seeing her curiosity pique, "Rachni were dangerous, fast to multiply, growing even faster. FTL-capable. First Contact grew into a War. Numbers overwhelmed us all. Postulated total annihilation of all sentient species. Drastic measures had to be undertaken… Uplifting the Krogan, necessary. Fast breeding rates, well-trained for combat, deadly soldiers, resilient."
"They brought us in to fight their wars," Wrex spoke rather proudly, his arms crossed to his chest. It painted a rather vivid picture for Halsey. A bunch of sentient, hive-mind bugs that swarmed over the entire Galaxy the moment the gate was opened for them. It was understandable that they needed the Soldiers to outfight and outbreed them if they were going to win.
"Indeed. Saved Galaxy. Rachni, presumed completely extinct…" The Salarian Scientist spoke, then winced, "Krogan numbers, aggressivity, issue, however. Multiplied almost as fast as Rachni. Encroached on territory the moment we gave them FTL. Possible new Galactic Threat…" And his shoulders ever-so-slightly sagged, "Took combined work of Turian and Salarian scientists… Plague. Rapid Krogan adaptations later required me and my team to update Genophage to… Counteract birth rate spikes," his voice seemingly growing a bit low.
"... You used a Bioweapon on them to reduce their numbers?" Halsey balked, eyes widening behind his glasses while the Spartans stared. Garrus and tali exchanged a quick look, then stared at Mordin with both a degree of sympathy and horror. The Salarian, despite his cold outer demeanor at the moment, was clearly conflicted by his choices.
"Not just any kind of Bioweapon," Wrex seemed to dislike the simplification. He clarified to Halsey, "A fertility plague. Only one in ten of our young make it out to the world from the egg clutch," which caused the woman to almost double over. A plague that targeted the young before they were born, a suppression field that murdered youngsters fresh out of the egg.
"... Horrifying," The Doctor couldn't truly word it any other way, her voice a low murmur as she made the calculus for population loss over time. When she finished it, she sighed, deleted the data and set the tablet aside, crossing her arms and staring at Mordin. She was not one to judge other scientists' murky actions, but this was a level of insanity that every man in ONI would feel squeamish about… No, not true. They did try to NOVA Bomb Sangheilios at one point. Emphasis on try.
"Fairly mild reaction to hearing my people and Mordin's basically committed a Genocide," Garrus spoke with mild surprise in his voice. Tali nodded, rather horrified she was face to face with one of the people that made the Genophage, while Wrex simply stared at them.
"I have my own skeletons in the closet, mister Vakarian," Halsey said, slightly dejected, as she cast a quick and almost unnoticeable glance at the Spartans. She added, "However, I can't say that my heart doesn't sink just thinking about what this means for the Krogan, especially taking into account your long lives. These Krogan Wars…"
"Rebellions," Mordin corrected warily.
"Whatever they are. They most certainly couldn't have warranted this," The woman answered, staring at the scientist. Mordin, to his credit, remained quiet, simply fiddling with his fingers as his seeming attention deficit caused him to look around for any other ways out of this conversation. At least, Halsey appreciated that he kept his opinions about his work to himself, because she could easily tell he was not against what he did.
"Not gonna try to deny, deflect or defend with me around, eh? I get it," Wrex offered in the meanwhile, absolutely calm.
"Hope I'm not interrupting, folks…" Shepard spoke as she cracked her neck a little, rubbing the back of it. She then ordered, "Fred, on me. We're going out," only to see Spartan-104 take a pause. She clarified, "Grunt needs a Krantt, a war party to fight this. I and you are it, per his choice. Hope Blue Team doesn't mind."
"Not at all, ma'am," Cortana replied for Chief, "Have fun, Fred."
"Thanks…" Fred sighed.
"You alright, Shepard?" Wrex inquired, noticing the fact that she was rubbing the back of her neck pretty hard. And her forehead had a couple of marks from what looked to be Krogan carapace. Garrus went to check on her without another word while Grunt stomped his way forward, grinning from ear to ear, proud. Okeer was behind him, a little surprised at Shepard's wits.
"She headbutted Uvenk when he came to mouth off," He told them matter-of-factly, then let out a low chortle.
"Hah. Two headbutts in a day? You trying to earn favors, Shepard?" Wrex raised a brow, looking at the Commander like she was one of them already. It was pretty clear to everyone involved, Halsey included, that Wrex did, in fact, see her as one of his own family members in a way, going by how friendly they were with each-other.
"Not really… We're ready to go," The Commander shrugged off the pain and nodded.
"I'll tell the Driver to be ready. Go to the other end of the compound and you'll find him and the truck," The Urdnot leader replied, pointing back toward the Motor-Pool off to the rear and side of the camp. The trucks waiting for them there were seemingly Krogan wheeled tanks, with twin heavy cannons on top and tan camouflage and all that. Neat.
The Citadel
In the meanwhile, away from the mess of Tuchanka and to the East of the Waystation, the Citadel, center of the Galactic Community's trade and cooperation efforts, lay calmly in the Serpent Nebula, hovering amidst lilac-shining clouds of gas and space dust. Around her, the Citadel Fleet stood on guard. Lead by the Destiny Ascension, they were the Citadel's armored fist and the shield against which most threats broke.
The Ascension herself guarded the center of the flower-like Citadel, hovering above the Council Chambers with her advanced mass drivers and laser defense weapons pointed outward. After the Battle of the Citadel, they were all on high alert, with the Alliance Navy's own supporting elements deployed beside her, a show of gratitude to humanity.
They were the first to pick up the new arrivals on scopes, too.
Maybe a dozen vessels emerged from a random direction, not from the Relay. Sensor pings tagged them as part of the fleets of the Waystation. Among them, the seeming leading ship was a 900 meter long wedge of some kind that led the formation. Smaller starcraft flew around it, all of them heavily armed. Including other wedge-shaped three-engine escorts.
The entire Citadel Fleet tensed for a moment, waiting to see just what their angle was. They knew that the Waystation would've sent ambassadors at this point, but an entire task force? The closer they got, the more the CDF could see that the Waystations' ships were armed to the teeth, with the 900-meter long craft also bearing everything from heavy cannons to torpedo tubes, while its escorts seemed to have spinal mount guns, missiles and point-defenses.
The wedge-shaped vessel itself had silver colors with red stripes and two circular marks on its rear-most wings, gold outlined by interrupted scarlet circles. Sensors pointed out each of the guns on the craft, displays lighting up like famed Earth Christmas trees with how overtly well-equipped it was for an escort vessel.
And its guarding Frigates were nothing to scoff at either. At just a little over half the length of the leading ship, clad in black with white stripes, they carried the heavy spinal mass cannons with pride, their point-defense seemingly being a mix of energy weapons, missiles and kinetic autocannons of some kind.
Spirits cooled only when the leading ship of the formation contacted the Citadel over com. Citadel Control answered, "This is Citadel Control to Waystation Fleet. Go ahead?" with slight concern in her voice. She saw the ships gently settle into position ahead of their own, but none of them charged their weapons. Instead, communication links were opened.
"Citadel Control, this is the Republic Victory-class Guardian, requesting permission to join perimeter defenses and send forth our delegates," The seemingly female captain of the vessel spoke, her accent heavy, almost British. Her face appeared on-screen. She was a red-haired, emerald-eyed young woman with rank pins on her chest and with the demeanor of a seasoned officer.
The CC officer looked to the woman that had been waiting for their arrival and raised a brow. The blue-skinned Asari Councilor, Tevos, nodded, with the Officer immediately turning back. She hit the transmit button and said, "Guardian, Citadel Control. You're clear to send your Diplomats and join the defense force. Sending docking ring coordinates now. Citadel Control, out."
Tevos scratched her chin, then said, "I will go await their arrival. Eyes open," before she walked out of the control tower. Descending down to 'street' level, she took her Skycar and Citadel Security escort over to the docking ring. Lifting her hand, she activated her Omni-Tool from the rear seat and spoke, "Send Captain Bailey down to Docking Ring Four, please."
An affirmative reply later, the woman turned her head to watch the spires of the Citadel rushing by them, the tall towers and habitation areas in the wards. Gently, the Skycar took a left turn, then moved up the central docking ring toward the fourth area. Overhead, she saw the three-engined, red-clad consular vessel shift its orientation in order to properly dock. Even their consular vessels were armed, she thought, noting the four cannon barrels on the top and four more on the bottom.
Arriving at the docking ring and disembarking with her security detail, she was met by the sharp-jawed, older captain with slicked-back hair. He saluted and said, "Seems we arrived just in time, ma'am," as the rest of his squad piled out of their Shuttle, weapons on their backs. They held position, however, at Bailey's unspoken order.
"Good timing, Captain," She replied, pausing in front of the docking tube. The red vessel touched the docking umbilical and connected, transmitting the last of its codes to the CC staff as Tevos said, "I was not expecting them to share a shuttle over, but I suppose it only makes sense not to occupy too many docking areas."
"Yeah," The man hummed.
The C-SEC units arranged themselves in such a way to be at parade rest, so that when the door opened, first contact would be friendly. Tevos sighed, hands together, then mumbled, "I should've asked Sparatus what exactly to say to these people," only to pause as the door slid open. The first people out of the door were not the Ambassadors, terrifyingly enough.
Clad in heavy armor, the UNSC's representative troops marched forward, weapons stowed as they did so. The leader of the formation, a woman clad in white armor with red highlights and a blue visor, saw the Asari Councilor and her escort and hummed, then ordered, "Alpha-9, clear the path…" as she stepped aside with the team.
Beside them, troops clad in white armor with white detail, maybe a head shorter than the UNSC's staff, turned right and stood at attention. Led by a man wearing armor that was inverted in color scheme to his comrades:a heavy amount of red with white details, but with the added intricate symbols on his shoulders and what looked like some sort of black skirt, attached to it being two holsters for pistols.
Finally, out came the Ambassadorial staff. Leading the trio was a blue-skinned, beautiful woman with similar face tattoos to those of an Asari, but with long, white hair made up into an interesting hairdo. She also had her own holster, though it was more ornate and contained a sleeker-looking personal defense pistol, while her outfit was a combination of regal purples with red, gold and white.
Behind her, a human male clad in a pure white uniform, bearing rank pins on his collar and a peaked cap underneath his arm. He had a row of medals on his chest. In stark comparison to the leading woman, too. Beside them, the last one in was clad in a blue uniform and had jet-black hair. Both of the men carried pistols as well.
"Welcome to the Citadel, ladies and gentlemen," Spoke Tevos, though she felt a lump in her throat for a moment. She spoke, "I am Councilor Tevos, representing the Asari Republics, and I am your assigned guide for today. We'll be making our way to the Presidum, where the Waystation's Embassy is… If that's alright."
The leading woman bowed and said, "That'll be fine, Councilor Tevos. Greetings, by the way. I'm Senator Riyo Chuchi, representing the Galactic Republic as its Ambassador," then she motioned to the two gentlemen, first to the UNSC man, "This is Captain Alexander Summers, ONI Section One. The ambassador of the Unified Earth Government…"
"Ma'am," The officer nodded.
"And Captain Johan Strauss, of the Colonial Navy and Ambassador for the Fleet," Riyo then motioned to the man. He remained quiet, but nodded in greeting to the folks. Riyo smiled, then said, "It's a pleasure to finally meet our friends from another Galaxy. I must say, the discussion I had with them on the way here opened my eyes to just how strange this meeting is."
"Indeed," Tevos blinked. She leaned toward Bailey and spoke, "... Does she sound familiar to you as well, Captain?" in a whisper. Bailey nodded in approval and watched as the leader of the UNSC/Colonial Escort troop snorted. One of the men clad in black armor looked up at her, his large blue visor shimmering.
When Riyo turned toward her, confused, the woman spoke, "Nothing, ma'am. Just one of my moments," only to see the faces of the two change in horror. Bailey blinked, while Tevos was already praying to the Goddess that they were hearing things. Yet again, another snort echoed. The Clone officer in charge of Riyo's escort hummed…
Riyo blinked, then smiled a little, "Ah. Ask away, please," as she looked at Tevos
"... You sound like someone we know. Both of you," Tevos spoke, pointing at the Spartan commander and at Riyo, "Specifically, Commander Shepard," and then watching the two women laugh. Tevos blinked and knew it was better not to question it at this point, looking at Bailey. When the two women stopped, basically seconds apart, Riyo turned toward them.
And said, "I and Commander Palmer, not to mention our comrades… Observed the similarities, yes. Regardless, shall we begin the tour?"
The captain mumbled, "Let's head out, then," as he led the way toward the C-SEC Shuttle that would take them up to the Presidium. Riyo turned to the Spartan commander, nodded, then turned to her Guards. The leading man gave a wave of his hand and the teams formed up, with him and Palmer in the lead.
At this point, Bailey was worried he had someone who sounded like him…