Til I Change Your Mind (Mass Effect Krogan SI)

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The most surveilled Krogan in the Galaxy tries to obtain a happy ending to the Reaper War. Hijinks ensue.
Chapter 1: Welcome to the Jungle

Stratagemini

Totally a Fire Ferret.
Location
Central Park
Pronouns
He/Him/They/Them
Till I Change your Mind

Chapter 1: Welcome to the Jungle

2080 CE – No Entries

It was almost time. Hard to tell, actually, given that all of the dates in the games were given in CE and BCE. The Asari don't use that. Turians either. Nor Salarians. I'm not fully convinced my own people actually have a calendar. We definitely had one once, but no one seems to care about it now. Most Krogans seem to use Asari dating methods.

I dated an Asari once. Even had a kid. Didn't turn out too well. I found out that she fought in the rebellions a decade or two short of my thousandth birthday. She'd blown up Kalros Station up above Digeris. My favorite sister was the head medic on-board. Only reason I found out was that her spycraft fell through. She'd been sent by the council of matriarchs to 'keep an eye on me' and 'make sure I didn't get any big ideas.'

She didn't deny it when I confronted her. Admitted the whole thing. Said she'd have to kill me now that I'd found out. I told her that was fine, but we couldn't not tell Aye-Aye at least the basics of what was going on. Without the background that her mom was a spy who only had her to get closer to me, I came off somewhat of a villain in that call I guess. But we both agreed we didn't want to ruin Aye-Aye's image of her parents any more than we needed to.

My wife found a decommissioned space station closely orbiting a star far away from any population. Set it as the place for the Duel, and then set it up to crash into the system's sun. I blew up the station from the outside with her still in it.

Didn't turn out well for my wife, obviously. Couldn't face Aye-Aye after that. Ended up faking my death and leaving. Felt less awkward that way.

Little Aye-Aye had a few kids herself. I've kept an occasional eye on the girls but aside from one troublemaker-to-be they all seem to be living quiet lives. Maybe as a matter of rebellion? Probably says something that the grand-kid I know is going to end up in trouble is the only one that doesn't know little Aye-Aye. Aye-Aye's idiot wife didn't want her in the kid's life. Something about needless fighting ruining her plans.

Like I said, idiot.

Anyway. The First Contact war started in 2157 CE. The Rachni War started the year I was born. 1 CE, if you're wondering. I worked it out a while back; Jesus and I have the same Birth year. The Krogan Rebellions started in 700 CE and ended in 800 CE. My favorite granddaughter was born 3 years ago and the first Contact War's gonna start in 77 years. It's probably time to start getting ready.

Not that there's all that much more to do other than reach out to my contacts and start on my newest line of work.

My name is Nackmor Krall. As far as I know I'm the longest lived Krogan, ever, and I last played the Mass Effect over 2,125 years ago. I remember that I got the perfect Synthesis ending; all possible squadmates saved, Paragon all the way. Let's see how well I can do now that the stakes are a hell of a lot higher.

_________

2154 CE - The Shepard is born. The Shepard is the only hope to stop galactic genocide of all species by Reapers.

To say that I'm starting on easy mode isn't quite true. I mean, as a Krogan in this universe there's a lot of issues that I don't really have any way of getting around. As a former warlord and clan chief I'm under pretty much constant surveillance from every polity in the galaxy as they decide whether I'm worth spending the assets needed to kill me or not. And when I say every polity? I mean it. I've even caught my fellow Krogan spying on me from time to time.

I've managed to live a long life by following a couple simple rules; I don't get involved in politics, I stay away from biology research, and I don't do merc work.

'So what else is there?' I hear you ask. 'Do you work on ships? That's the only other thing that Krogan do!'

That's not a simple answer. I've been all sorts of things. A warlord, a clan chief, a father, a grandfather, an engineer, a writer, a musician, a poet, and even a philosopher. Nowadays I'm a researcher. Not a genetic researcher. I don't even research weapons, anymore. I used to, though. I'm responsible for the Nakmor Krell line of assault weapons. Well, the NK-47, anyway. Still my favorite weapon I've fired. Sturdy, packs a punch, easy to make, and so rugged you could take a shit down the barrel, rinse it in Ryncol, and it'll fire just like the day it was first bought.

In retrospect that was probably a mistake on my part, but I was young and there were Rachni that needed killing. Now it's the most prolific weapon in the galaxy and I've never seen one single cent of profit from it.

Anyway, nowadays I research the Reapers.

Now I know that sounds bad, but it's not quite so stupid as all that. Yet.

Technically, what I actually research are the Protheans. I look for their vaults, and beacons. I know where one is, obviously, but I'm never going to be able to get access to the Temple of Athame to use it. Which leaves a couple of remaining sources for the knowledge I need: the vid terminal on Joab, the beacons on Eden Prime and Virmire, the Prothean archives on Mars, and of course, Ilos itself. Though, good luck finding it.

Mind you, you'd also need the Cipher to comprehend the damn thing. And I don't feel like sacrificing an Asari to the Thorian in exchange for that just yet.

I applied for a grant to study the conduit directly of course, in my days as a Mass Effect specialist before the morning war made me shift my focus. Didn't get it. Asari politicking. Shame, but as a Krogan I just don't have the pull I need to get what I want in scientific circles.

Other circles either. A long life grants you a lot of benefits, time to improve your mind. Time to plan. Time to start some companies and amass a fortune. It does not grant you access to STG intelligence, or Asari matriarch parties.

Well, maybe it would if I were still married to an Asari. That didn't work out the first time, and I wasn't interested in trying for a second.

Anyway, what does the most heavily surveilled Krogan in the galaxy do with the knowledge that all the eyes of the universe are upon him?

Well, if he's not an idiot he starts researching things that he wants the entire galaxy to know. Stuff like the Prothean extinction, and by unspoken implication... the Reapers.

Which brings me to Eden Prime. Of course, it's not called Eden Prime yet, and it probably won't ever be now. It's called Krelltopia now. My idea of a joke, I'm afraid.

The Noveria Development Corporation, of which I am 30% owner and the largest shareholder, just bought surveying and technological salvage rights to the planet. I told them that I had evidence that there was a cache of Prothean artifacts on the planet including a Prothean vault.

I actually did have that evidence, shocking as it was to discover about 30 years into my study of the Protheans. Of course, it took over a hundred and fifty years just to get council approval to buy the world, and they want copies of literally everything found. The Asari campaigned particularly hard for that, after campaigning so hard against the giving us rights in the first place, too. Odd, isn't it? Almost like they have a reason not to want Prothean knowledge to spread.

Luckily I'm not the sole power in the Noveria Development Corporation. There's plenty of greedy Asari fingers in this pie that aren't part of the secret Asari conspiracy. After a couple decades of backroom deals, I finally had my rights.

If I do nothing else in this galaxy, at least I'll make sure we're fucking prepared for the Reapers. I have the date in my calendar actually; '2185 Reapers return.' 31 years hence. Makes me wonder what sort of code STG thinks I'm using with that notation.

Like I said, it's my goal to make sure everyone knows about and is prepared for the Reapers, and if that means spoon feeding everyone the information, then that's what that means. I've been putting important dates in my calendar years ahead of time for centuries. That's why the Quarians started bugging me actually. Turns out they take notice when you have a big entry labeled "The Year The Morning War Starts" in your calendar on the year the Morning War started. I got an angry visit or two after they found out about that. Quarians were a lot harder to kill back then. Didn't need their suits as badly. Kind of a shame really.

The Quarians eventually got the message and started bugging me like everyone else does. It's not like I keep my calendar private. Well, I say that, but for the last millennium or so I've suffered extremely mysterious software malfunctions every time I've tried to make my calendar public. I think my wife clued the Asari into its contents, bet they're doing it out of fear of what the public knowledge would do. Seems like them.

Wonder what they're thinking about this year's entry; "The Shepard is born."

I look over the world that now will never have the name Eden Prime and smile. It might take a decade or two but I'm pretty confident that we'll find Jaavik sooner rather than later.

_________

2155 CE – Joker Born.

You know what's more annoying than having a gaggle of Protheans unearthed from a subterranean bunker on Eden Prime bungling about your facility? Having a gaggle of Protheans unearthed from a subterranean bunker on Eden Prime stolen from your facility.

I have half a mind to complain to the council and see if it was all three of them or if someone pulled off a black op without the knowledge of the others.

Fuck.

I mean, it's not a total loss. I have the cipher now, and I'm pretty sure the Salarians stole the beacon that we found inside the Bunker so at least the Asari don't have a monopoly on Beacons anymore. And we managed to revive more than just Jaavik.

It's just really fucking disappointing to be on the verge of publishing the information I know and have the proof all stolen out from under me. Well, the facility's basically been declared off limits now that the council found out there are dead bodies in it. Weird fucking cultural taboo, but now the world is basically useless to both me and the Noveria Development Corporation.

Well, I guess it's time to start lobbying to get the rights to sell the place off as a colony world to a new species. Luckily one of those is just about to show up in two years.

It'll be nice to know if my calculations were accurate. I'll have to update my calendar if they're not.

_______

2157 CE – The First Contact War Begins.

I was right! I was fucking right! Take that Battlemaster Wren! I am too good at math!

The First Contact War just started. Course the Turians and the rest of the galaxy are calling it the 'Relay 314 incident.' Won't take them long to hear what the Humans are calling it though. I expect that the various intelligence services spying on me will have a fit at that. I'm pretty sure the search for the source of the information on my calendar has driven more than one Salarian insane. Gosh I hope Mordin's okay.

Anyway, I'm now a pretty respected expert on the Protheans. I'm certainly the foremost Krogan expert on them. For the longest time my analysis of the Protheans as a warlike empire focused on survival of the fittest were only introduced in classrooms as a classic example of cultural bias in observations.

I started getting offers to guest lecture at the University of Thessia two years ago. Around the same time as Jaavik and his goons disappeared. Odd, right?

I've stopped trying to publish my papers on the similarity of Protheans to the images of the Asari cult of Athame. I've been emailing it to the Matriarchs directly instead. And Liara, obviously.

She was in my first lecture at University of Thessia! She had such amazing questions. I've really taken a shine to her.

Hates my theories of course. Thinks I'm a lunatic for saying that the Protheans were warlike. She's turned her razor intellect to Reaper theory, if only to prove my support of it wrong. I think I might have rubbed her the wrong way by treating her like an adorable kid.

I've CCed her on my papers on Prothean methods of communication too, though I sent that one to all three of the councilors too. I actually got a thank you from the Salarian counselor along with a very nice gift basket of fruits and an offer to lecture at some universities on Sur'kesh as well.

I'm probably going to take that offer. The Salarians haven't tried to kill me since just after the start of the Morning War. Too much of a puzzle for them to be okay with not solving, I assume.

I haven't really decided what to do with Saren yet. He becomes a Spectre in two years, so now is really the last time to deal with him if that's what I plan to do. Of course, that sends the entire plot totally off the rails. With Saren the Council will at least be aware of the threat, even if they don't take it seriously. Without him? Sovereign acts in a way I can't predict.

I think I have to leave him alive, however much it galls me to do so.

I think I'm going to stop by Shanxi. I'm looking forward to becoming the foremost Krogan expert on Humans and being part of the delegation that brokered the truce between Turians and Humans would be a nice feather in my cap. The Asari can't stop me if the Humans are the ones bringing me to the table, after all!

__________

2161 CE - Tali'Zorah nar Rayya is born.

You know that feeling you get after fighting a Thresher Maw? Shanxi was everything I hoped for and more. Oh man. The look on Matriarch Benezia's face when I showed up as part of the Human detachment speaking perfect English! It's now my most treasured memory. Cut my daughter out of her daughter's life, will she?

She'll get what's coming to her. I don't have to lift a finger.

Shanxi was a ride and a half though. I had to pay a smuggler to get me past Turian lines and drop my unarmed shuttle near the planet. The shuttle was so low powered that the Turians completely ignored it coming in.

Once I was on the planet I started broadcasting; Morse code, radio, real 'I come in peace' kinda stuff. Whatever it was that convinced the Humans, it worked and they let me land on their remaining territory without shooting me out of the sky.

From there, as the only friendly English-speaking alien any of them knew of, I got debriefed and introduced to command to advise them. And of course they wanted my advice with them when they went to sign a treaty. Which I gave them. Pretty sure my description of the Genophage made them a lot more wary of the Turians and Salarians. Ah well, they'd find out soon enough one way or another anyway, right?

Since then the System Alliance has put my expertise to good use; and I managed to end up in the history books as the Alliance's first non-human citizen. I've been researching the Prothean observation post on Mars. Even helped the Humans discover the subterranean archives over two decades ahead of schedule.

Of course, this privileged position hasn't come without its perks! Not only am I the definitive mind in the field on Humans due to my incredible firsthand research embedded in their culture, I also got to kill two birds with one stone by selling the now useless world of Krelltopia to the Humans as a colony world! They renamed it Eden Prime all on their own, which, well... I might end up having to face some questions in a few decades about whether I knew the planet was going to be attacked before I sold it to them. But that's a few decades from now! That's future Krell's problem.

And of course my unparalleled access as the sole alien Prothean researcher on Mars has really made me a lot more prominent in my field. I think I might be giving Humans the wrong impression of Krogan though. I'm worried they're starting to assume we're all extremely talented intellectuals.

Well, maybe worried is a strong word. But I'm definitely feeling something reading these extranet posts of people asking about how they felt when they realized that most Krogan weren't like me. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have appeared on Sesame Street. But the show was almost 2 centuries old! And it still uses puppets! I couldn't resist!

Also! I was born on December 25th! Which means I don't just share a birth year with Jesus, I share a birthday! The reaction to that fact coming out on Jack Spacey's late night talk show was absolutely wild. Last year people took to wearing masks of my face on Christmas. They'd sold out the past couple of Halloweens so a lot of people had them. I'm really hoping that started a tradition. I can just imagine the faces on the matriarchs when they learned what happened this year. Asari were just starting to get immigration rights and the matriarchs were encouraging young maidens to start learning about Humans. Intimately. The fact that every year Humans have a holiday where they wear masks of my face must be excruciating to those old hags. Well, I'm hoping for every year anyway. It's only happened once, but it seems like the sort of thing that can definitely stick around.

Liara's leaving grad school soon. She emails me after every paper I publish. She doesn't even insist that I'm wrong all the time now! She seems to have come around to my Reaper theory, anyway. Still thinks I'm a scumbag with no academic integrity making up lies out of whole cloth, though. She wants to go out and find proof independently. I sent her an NK-47; told her to practice her marksmanship. Warned her about pirates.

Of course, the gun I sent my favorite granddaughter wasn't the only NK-47 I gave out this year. There was an extremely confused thank you card from Rael'Zorah vas Rayya thanking me for the shuttle craft full of guns I sent to him with a Quarian I caught on pilgrimage trying to open relations with the Humans as a birthday gift for his daughter since he had no daughter as far as he was aware, followed up with an extremely suspicious thank you card the next day wondering why I knew his wife was pregnant before he did.

Whoops.

Well, birthdays are hard. I can't be expected to remember every last one. Huh. That sounds sufficiently off-beat that it feels like it'd be a good response! I should type up my reply right now.

_________

2165 CE - Humans get an embassy on the Citadel.

8 years after first contact to their first embassy! I never really appreciated how fast Humanity shot onto the galactic stage until this happened.

I'm starting to have to worry about indoctrination. The Batarians discovered the Leviathan of Dis, and Saren's going to get indoctrinated sometime between now and 2183.

The Batarians and Humanity have been feuding in the Skyllian verge and I probably haven't helped that at all by expressing my opinion of the slaving scum to my new friends in the Systems Alliance. Mindoir's only 5 years away. I'll be able to narrow my search a bit either way, but if Shepard's the sole survivor I probably won't have to look all that hard for them. Oddly enough most earth street gangs don't have public records, and there are a hell of a lot of Shepards out in space and I'm not sure if anyone keeps a database of all of 'em. Certainly not one they'll let me have access to anyway. Although maybe I can ask as a researcher doing a Human ethnography? Maybe I can say that I want to do a paper on Human naming conventions? Of course, then I'd need to actually write the paper too. What would be a good design methodology for that kind of... Wait. I'm distracting myself.

It's going to be an interesting few years waiting for Shepard to come into their own. Wonder if they'll be my Shepard?

I can't wait to find out.

_______

2178 CE - Invasion of Torfan. A lethal airborne virus sweeps through the Quarian migrant fleet.

Jane Shepard is the Butcher of Torfan and there's only 5 years left before the Eden Prime War. I'm pretty sure that Binary Helix found the Rachni eggs 8 years back. But even as the main shareholder of the Noveria Development Corporation I can't make the companies involved give up their secrets. I guess I'll just have to go with Shepard to make sure I encounter them. Give myself some blackmail on Binary Helix.

There are a couple of points where I can intercept Shepard, actually. I know about the existence of the Normandy, obviously, but I'm actually not sure if they've started building it yet. I am pretty sure that I won't be informed about it once it's built though. Everyone knows I'm a security nightmare.

I can head to Eden Prime once they unearth the beacon, but I think the Normandy left as soon as that was announced and I don't think I'll have anything faster than the Normandy to get there. I suppose I could head to Eden Prime before the beacon is found and head to the area once it's unearthed. Never fought Geth before though, and having my first encounter be against an entire army with no backup... I have to admit that I like the idea. Of course there is Saren, and I wouldn't have anyone to watch my back... Something to think about then.

Of course, if I miss Shepard on Eden Prime, I can always just hang out in Cora's Den until Tali walks by, or Shepard pops in guns blazing.

I can visit my granddaughter on Ferum to check in on the progress of her dig, or I could wait by the Noveria hub for Shepard to stroll by there. There are a lot of options. I'll have to think on which one works best.

I wonder if I managed to save Tali's mom or not. I've had this year's virus in my calendar for a long time. I know the Quarians have been bugging my calendar the same as anyone else since the Morning War. I wonder if they managed to contain the plague? I'm not sure how I'd feel about that. The council is a lot more aware of Reaper theory now than they were in the original timeline. They know I take it deadly seriously. And they have access to beacons and real live Protheans. So if I butterfly away Tali getting the Geth data on her pilgrimage, that would be terrible, but maybe not a total loss. On the other hand, why risk it if I didn't need to? If it happened, it happened. I didn't go out of my way to influence the outcome one way or the other.

______

2183 CE - The Eden Prime War. Battle of the Citadel. The Shepard delays Galactic Extinction by 2 years. Shenanigans with the Normandy Crew. Shepard killed. Shepard resurrected by Cerberus.

As it turns out I didn't need to go looking for Shepard after all. As the leading expert on Reaper Theory, Udina hunted me down almost as soon as Shepard mentioned the term. That was a fun time, telling them exactly what the Reapers were, and my theories on indoctrination, the conduit, the crucible, and the catalyst. The Alliance already knew about all of this as of earlier this year, and like any democratically elected government they planned to completely ignore the problem until it was too late. They were building the Crucible just in case, but it wasn't a project with anything like major priority. I'd included the untranslated plans in my initial paper on the matter, sent out to the usual suspects, again, but this time also published in one of the scientific journals which had oh so graciously come to appreciate my genius when I was the sole access to Earth's Prothean archives for non-Humans. Minds other than mine, Human and alien both, would decode and translate them. Hopefully that would make all the council races start their own crucible projects. A cold war but instead of nukes, it's Reaper killers. Yeah, I can enjoy that fantasy. Shame I couldn't release the paper earlier, but with elements of the Batarian Government indoctrinated I don't have as much leeway as I used to. Didn't want to get Sovereign kicked off earlier than he was supposed to be, after all.

Anyway, it turns out that Tali did in fact get the recording. I got to help rescue her with my old buddy Urdnot Wrex after he dealt with Fist with Garrus and Shepard. Well, I say old buddy, but we don't exactly travel in the same circles. He's somewhere around a hundred years older than my son, but he's a battlemaster from another clan. I never fought with him in the Rebellions, and after the rebellions he did merc work and I didn't. I know him because he's a minor celebrity from another clan, and he knows me because I was a Warlord; which makes me a major celebrity from another clan. People forget I'm a contemporary of Shiagur. Humans, I mean. Krogan, not so much. I get respect and a little fear from it, even among old men like Wrex.

Wrex didn't tell me his reasons for coming to help Tali, but from what I can remember I think he wanted to secure her information for the Shadow Broker? I just claimed a personal interest in the case and that I sent her birthday presents every year on her birthday. A lie, that. I still had no idea when Tali's birthday actually was so I just randomly sent a gift once every Earth year. Usually a new gun or omnitool, but once I did send her a book on Quarian Fairytales written before the morning war by an Asari I once dated. It was a physical copy, and signed, to me actually; she personalized it before she died. I signed the card accompanying the gift as 'Uncle Krell.'

Anyway, I claimed a personal interest in saving the kid and Shepard wasn't in any hurry to argue.

Since Tali had the recording, and I recognized Benezia's voice, I was able to suggest that perhaps her daughter who was also an expert in Reaper theory might know more of what her mother might know about the Reapers and be better able to discern their motives.

The fact that she's an Asari and might be able to help Shepard out a bit was also something I might have mentioned.

I've seen what happens to Liara if she's trapped for too long in that stasis field. If I can avoid that for her, I will.

I don't think anyone else realizes what the Reapers are yet. I put forth the theory that the Reaper cycle's regular intervals were like regular cicada cycles, or a badly coded computer program. I don't think anyone took that line anywhere near as literally as I meant it though.

We're heading to Therum next.

___________

2183 CE

Therum was a blast! Never had to escape an exploding volcano while it was still exploding before! Made my way onto the ground team by telling Shepard that I knew the girl and would make it easier for her to trust him. Tali came on the basis that there were Geth, she wanted to kill Geth, and she was good at killing Geth. Solid reasoning, that. Very Krogan-like. I approve.

Liara thought she was hallucinating when she saw me, poor thing. Probably should have mentioned I was her grandfather then. If there's ever a good time to do something like that then that was the time for it.

Shame I missed it. Kind of awkward to mention it now. She'll find out eventually when she offs the Shadow Broker anyway.

I'm actually not sure what to think of the Normandy crew. Joker's fun to talk to, but he's a bit wary of me, he stopped watching Sesame street before I was on it, I guess. He seems a bit... star-struck maybe? I heard him describing it to Shepard as if Enrique Farenko came up to talk to you covered in the blood of his conquered foes and then told you a dirty joke.

Enrique Farenko runs a popular kids show about sharing and dealing with emotions, by the way; a modern day Mr. Rogers. In case you thought maybe he was an action hero.

Pressly's kind of a jerk, but there's nothing for it but to be patient with him, I guess. I'm not really interested in getting too attached.

My sole interaction with Doctor Chakwas was making sure she got my updated medical records. I've been seeing Alliance physicians for years since, you know, I was working on Mars. For obvious reasons Krogan doctors are sort of sparse on the ground, even outside human territory; and we mostly focus on combat medicine when we do focus on medicine.

So, human doctors who literally didn't know how many livers a Krogans are supposed to have were both the superior, and only option. Still, after all this time I'm finally convinced that some of them might actually know what they're doing when they're trying to treat a Krogan. Don't know what to think about her yet though.

Honestly, I like Human Doctors. They're a hell of a lot more ethical than Asari and Salarians. And even at their worst they're more competent than Turians. I like the human Doctor oath too. Confidentiality, do no harm, all that jazz. Beats the pants off the Turian medical oath which includes always obeying your superiors and working for the good of the Hierarchy instead. So Chakwas is already in my good books, but aside from a positive inclination towards the woman I really haven't interacted with Chakwas enough to make a sound judgment about her as a person.

Engineer Adams on the other hand is actually really interesting. He's read some of my papers from back when I was a Mass effect researcher. Cited one too actually. He didn't realize I was that Nackmor Krell, asked if I was related. It's a weird thing with humans. they hear 'I have the same birthday as jesus' but they don't really understand just how much time that is until they realize that I spent 900 years studying Mass Effect science and still had the time to devote another 103 years to becoming an expert in the Protheans on top of that, while studying Humans as a hobby hard enough to make me the most cited author in the field of human ethnography. He asked me what other Krogans did with their long lives and I answered. 'The vast majority of my fellow Krogans devote themselves wholly and without reservation to the arts of war. There is no more experienced or bloodied soldier on any field of war than when a Krogan stands on that field. Even a dabbler like me has participated in far more battles than any human still living.'

He seemed taken aback by that.

It's true, though. Even counting conservatively and only counting the rachni war and the rebellions, and excluding my time in weapons development, I still have around 70 years of experience waging active war. No human has that kind of resume. Adams has been a lot more polite near Wrex since. Not that he was ever really impolite? but It lacked a certain amount of respect before. Now it doesn't.

As for Wrex himself? He's a pretty interesting guy. We swap war stories sometimes. He read some of my work from just after the Genophage. My philosophical stuff. I tried to emulate Marcus Aurelius after I was deposed and write the definitive work on being a good Krogan Warlord in the aftermath of the Genophage. There might have been an element of Machiavelli in my attempts to share my wisdom with the new leader of my clan.

I kept away from Tuchanka after the regime change though; It's one thing to be reading the works of a great former Warlord. It's quite another to be reading the books of a great former warlord while he's right there. One's acceptable, the other's a powder keg. None of my Krogan kids were in any danger, but they would have been if I decided to stay around.

They were all their own grown up people anyway. Didn't need me anymore.

I didn't expect Wrex to be a fan. He likes that I'm making the arguments and actually doing intellectual work to try and unite us. Of course, he also thinks I'm an idiot. Doesn't think much about my ideas for a shared Krogan morality code. My idea, copped off the ten commandments, and done far enough before first contact that I can totally claim the idea for myself instead of being accused of stealing human ideas.

Wrex doesn't think morality is so easily taught, or adhered to for that matter. Makes for an interesting discussion on a Human ship. It pulls in Garrus too, obviously. Former C-Sec, he has a lot of thoughts about morality and justice. I think Wrex and I are playing his requisite shoulder devil and shoulder angel respectively. I've been encouraging him to understand that justice doesn't exist without proper process, that the process is important and that if C-Sec has it wrong it's just a matter of degree, not kind.

Wrex has been encouraging him to shoot anything that offends him.

I'm pretty sure he's listening to Wrex a lot more than me.

Liara joins our discussions sometimes. Those tend toward academic research. I told her and Tali both to call me Gramps. That'll be amusing once Liara becomes the new Shadow Broker. On a number of levels, actually.

Liara mostly seems interested in the Protheans. She's seen enough to confirm my Reaper theory, up to a point. She doesn't think my papers on Indoctrination are very based in fact. And she thinks I'm making up some of the details I can't give her sources for in the papers to the matriarchs.

Didn't respond well to me patting her on the head and telling her that she'd understand why I didn't cite those sources someday.

She put me on blast for a full hour talking about academic integrity and spreading dangerously unsourced rumors to the council of matriarchs. Didn't take my laughing well.

Tali looks a little like she's in over her head during those discussions, but she really shines when Wrex and I talk about the mass effect. I studied it for longer than folks from most races are even alive, and Wrex has been a biotic for his entire life; so he's had ample time to play around with things too. Liara, despite being a biotic, hasn't explored her own powers all that much. She only knows 'a few tricks' she 'played around with' when she was younger. Tali, of course, is an aerospace engineer on an eezo-propelled vessel. So we actually all know a few things to add to the discussion.

Tali knows a lot about ships, and apparently weapons too. I brought up the NK-47 clamped on her back when we got back to the Normandy for the first time after rescuing her. Apparently she's had it since she was a kid. She's been getting birthday presents randomly for as long as she's been alive from this crazy Krogan. Never actually on her birthday, apparently.

I told her to stop for a second, and that that reminded me that I needed to do something and that I'd be right back. The only problem was that with that suit on I couldn't see the look on her face when I came back with a brand new Logic Arrest Tool mark X omnitool and a birthday card.

I've refused to tell her anything about my motives, but it's always fun telling her about what Rannoch was like back before the Morning War. Tali hasn't ever spoken to someone who's actually been there before.

I let her tinker with my shuttle when she's nervous. I made sure to bring my Kodiak UT-40 with me when we left the citadel. I've been using it as my personal transportation vehicle for years.

The Kodiak line was the only thing the systems alliance had that could handle my weight back then. Eventually they just gave me one for my personal use so that they wouldn't have to give me a car and a driver any time I wanted to go somewhere. It's kind of a status symbol, honestly. Turians go crazy over the chance to get a look inside a piece of military history, since my Kodiak served in the First Contact War. Krogans appreciate that she's seen battle and come out fine, and also the build in weapons locker in the seats. Humans like that I support Human engineering. Asari are drawn to the exotic, and Quarians appreciate I have my own ship. Not a big hit with Salarians though, or Hanar. Don't know why.

Tali and I avoid talking about the Geth. I've chided her before about her assumptions regarding synthetic life and she's yelled at me accusing me of having sympathy for the Geth. Which, I mean, I do. So that's a hard argument to refute. I don't think she took my argument that 'Maybe you shouldn't start a genocide if you aren't willing to suffer one yourself' very well. Garrus definitely didn't.

Kind of makes me wanna punch the Turian.

Of course, thoughts of punching Turians just makes me think of Kaidan Alenko. He still got BaAt closed in this timeline by killing that one Turian asshole, can't even remember his name. It made the news actually. I don't think anyone else on this crew besides the Humans and me realize just how well known Alenko is. Seems like kind of a dick move to bring up though, so I don't. Kid already avoids our Mass Effect discussions. Don't need to give him any more reason to avoid me.

Ashley Williams is not what I was expecting. I knew her grandfather. He was at the First Contact War treaty signing. It actually wasn't until a few years after that that his reputation started getting attacked. We talk sometimes about him, and about what it's like being so different from other Krogan, or about immersing yourself in an alien society not your own to do research. She's never said anything even vaguely Xenophobic where I can hear her, either. Hell, Liara joins in on those researcher chats! I'm not sure what to think of her, really. I've started giving her shooting lessons. Also, one of the NK-47s in my shuttle.

Weird aside, but apparently if you personally designed the weapon in question, it doesn't count as a weapon under Citadel law for the purposes of needing to be declared. It's instead classified as 'personal luggage of sentiment.' I'm pretty sure that's a loophole the Salarians put in to help make their STG work easier; but the practical upside is that I can drive around the praesidium with a trunk full of NK-47s and no one can stop me from doing it. So of course I do it all the time.

Which I guess brings me to Shepard. She's intense. Renegade I think, which isn't necessarily great news for me and the Krogan.

By now Saren's probably got a working Genophage cure and I can't do shit about it. There are upsides to being the most heavily surveilled being in the galaxy. Being in a position to to stealthily steal anything isn't ever going to be one of those upsides, especially if the thing I want to steal is a cure for the Genophage that other people know exist. I'm almost certain he got it through Binary Helix, which has that outpost on Peak 15 in Noveria. I think I'll need to go there with Shepard, see if I can steal the cure before anyone else knows what it is. Chances probably aren't great though. Peak 15 studied Rachni. I don't think they'd do Genophage cure research in the same facility.

Still, Binary Helix is going to get up to a lot of bullshit in the next few years. I definitely wouldn't mind having some blackmail. On them or on Exogeni. I think I'd rather stay in the village on that one. Which leaves a few things left unfinished before Virmire. I'm gonna have to address that. maybe talk to Shepard about it or something.

My very own Loyalty mission maybe? I do have some things I want to do...
____________

Author's Note: So, I don't have any idea why I'm writing this. No. That's a lie. I replayed Legendary Edition, so I do have some idea why I'm writing this. I sat down on August 10, 2022 and started writing. That's almost three weeks ago today. So far I have 114 pages done; about 57,151 words, approximately. I'm about half way through ME2 in terms of writing. I figure that's enough of a backlog to start posting it up here. The ME1 portion of this story is currently about 20k words. I might add a bit to that in editing, but I figure that I'll post at a regular, to be determined rate until I have all of ME1 up here, then start posting ME2 once I'm done with that and into ME3. I'm vacillating between once a week and once a day. I'll figure it out.

When I started writing this I wanted to write my own novel. I haven't worked on anything like a story this large before and I was inspired by the work of Saphroneth and TheIrishDreamer in terms of the sheer volume that they manage to put out. I tried to emulate the sort of narrative diary style of TheIrishDreamer and the short humorous scene style of Saphroneth to see if that upped my productivity.

It did.

Nackmor Krell is loosely based off my sense of humor, which I suppose makes him a self-insert in that sense. But I'm a pretty forgetful person, and I figure that without regular reminders, he's probably forgotten most of his major memories. That means that stuff like the events of the games? Which he actively works to remember and writes down reminders for? He'll remember it as long as I remember it without looking it up. Music, musical theater, history of the early 21st century; that sort of stuff will come pretty easily to him because at this point he can just look it up. Anything else? Not really something that is going to figure into the story. Krell's forgotten it.

The goal here for me is to complete a story large enough to be called a novel in a reasonable amount of time (a month or two). This is a warm-up, in a sense for me to write my own original story. Also, I need to get this thing out of my head before I can manage to even start on that. So... you know. There's that too.

I'm writing this in one long stream of consciousness, mostly. I edit before I post, but the only notes I'm going off of are the contents of Nackmor Krell's in-universe calendar app, both because those are the details he'll remember best, and because all those details are effectively public at a high level in-universe so I need to keep track of them.

I've filled it out from 1 CE onward until 2820 CE, but this story won't be going to Andromeda.

Mainly, I guess this is an excuse to write Mass Effect-themed Gilbert and Sullivan parodies?

We'll see how this goes. I hope it's gonna be a wild ride.
 
Chapter 2: Cold, Cold Heart
CHAPTER 2: Cold, Cold Heart

2183 CE

Things have been pretty quiet on the Normandy, actually. My Kodiak had a bit of a scare a few missions back when Shepard decided to land it on the Earth's moon in the middle of a VI attack. Better my Kodiak risk getting blown up on the Moon than the entire Normandy though, so I actually can't complain about that too much.

I haven't actually gotten to go out much. Shepard called me out on this big biotic cult thing led by her former CO. Felt like Alenko and I were walking into Jonestown. Honestly I'm shocked it didn't end in a shootout. I said as much to Shepard when she came around to do our normal debrief. Which is what she called her habit of walking from one end of the ship to the other and talking to every single person in the crew after a mission. She asked me if I had any opinions why it was we hadn't had to shoot our way out. My answer was that Shepard took the time to empathize with Major Kyle and respected his motives and needs. That she was honest, and trustworthy, and that regardless of the state of the galaxy those virtues and the reputation you incur from having them will always serve you better than a reputation for chicanery and vice. Used those exact words too. Or at least close enough to 'em.

Hope Shepard took that to heart. She's gonna need it if she wants to keep the Krogan on her side when the Reapers get here.

I think Liara's beginning to suspect something since she's started trying to work Shepard through the beacon visions. Archeologists aren't like Biologists. We can't just make evidence appear where it isn't. I've been touting a consistent narrative for the Prothean extinction with no ability to cite my sources for so long that Liara basically associates me with academic dishonesty (even if no one else does because they haven't see the papers I only send to the movers and shakers of the galaxy, unlike Liara). She thinks I just make up nonsense out of whole cloth and challenge people to disprove me. Which absolutely sounds like something I would do. I did it in class sometimes when I guest lectured. But that's not what's happening here. In the papers to Liara, the matriarchs, and the Councilors, I'm actually outlining my beacon knowledge as interpreted through the cipher given to me by Jaavik. I don't cite my sources in the papers because they all know where the information is coming from. All of them but Liara.

That opinion of me as a trickster prone to fanciful tests who regularly lies to the most respected Asari in the universe is incompatible with the fact that I'm telling the truth. And as Liara is learning, I am.

She does this kind of adorable little scrunching thing with her face when she's thinking. Makes me wanna pat her on the head. She's been making it a lot lately while staring at me. Makes me wonder how deep down the rabbit hole she'll realize this goes.

After all, if I know all the information in the beacon, it might be because I've seen the beacon before. Liara knows I worked a Prothean dig on Krelltopia. I mentioned it several times in my papers. She might not realize that Krelltopia is Eden Prime though.

Still, there are an awful lot of places where I might have been exposed to a beacon, and if I have, then the fact that I'm not citing my work to that beacon means the people I'm writing to probably knew about that exposure. It means that the Council of Matriarchs knew about the Reapers from a credible source for almost two decades, and did nothing.

Quarian separatists were blamed for the loss of the Prothean artifacts on Krelltopia. Never by me, of course; but by the Council. I wonder if Liara will figure out what really happened to the artifacts. I'll tell her if she asks. Might keep my mouth shut about the live Protheans though. She'd never believe a word I said again if I admitted it.

On second thought... That could be fun too.

_______

2183 CE

I think this Shepard's on the right track. She's doing right by her comrades, helped Tali with her Pilgrimage, helped Garrus with Dr. Saleon, and even helped Wrex get his armor back.

Then there was my request. I wanted Shepard's help getting Clan Nakmor into the Andromeda Initiative. And to do that I needed to get in touch with my son, Nakmor Drack.

It had started simply enough. I'd lined up permission on the Alliance side already for Clan Nakmor to head to Andromeda. All I needed Shepard to do was drop by Drack's last known location, deliver the letter, and buzz off. Simple, clean, no need to concern me at all. No need to even mention me!

That jerk ends up insisting I be on the ground team with her, and she wouldn't take 'I've been out of contact with my son for over a thousand years and so I don't want to talk to him now because it would really be super awkward' as an excuse not to come with her. Stupid Humans. Always headbutting their way into places they're not needed.

Drack was on a kidnapping mission. Well, maybe an 'Unkidnapping' is a better name for it. Clan Gatatog had kidnapped some of our females. Not fertile ones; but we still couldn't let the kidnapping stand. It was all Garrus and I could do to back Shepard up as she took down Krogan after Krogan with that shotgun she'd picked up, all in the name of getting to the females before my son did so that we'd be able to talk to him face to face.

It was lunacy! Pure Krogan sentimental lunacy! It also worked.

We'd barely waited 30 seconds when Drack burst into the room.

We had a heartfelt confrontation, full of wordless recrimination and pathos. It went something like this.:

'Old man?'

'Son.'

'What are you doing here?'

'I'm helping Commander Shepard deliver a message to you.'

'A message, who is it from?'

'It's from me.'

Drack nodded and picked up the message, opening it and reading it before refolding it and tucking it away into one of his belt pouches.

'I'll have to bring this to Morda.'

'I expected as much. Give Kesh my love.'

'Of course.'

Then Drack started freeing the females and directing them to his Tomkah, which was fairly easy since it was parked more than halfway inside the room.

I gave my son a heartfelt nod and we left.

Shepard was incredulous when we got back onto the Normandy.

'What was that?' she asked.

I told her that it was a heartfelt reunion with the son I hadn't seen in more than a thousand years; and that I thought it had gone well.

I think that actually made her more upset.

It took a while, but I think I eventually managed to get her to understand that we Krogan are not ones for dramatic displays of emotion. Anger tends to get acted on, but poetry? Acting? Most Krogan just aren't that interested.

Of course, then Liara had to go and ruin it by mentioning that I'm the most famous living Krogan poet in the universe.

That had Shepard back twice as mad. She wouldn't even believe that I'm not famous for my poetry because that's actually what I am in fact famous for. My poetry and philosophy are basically the entirety of the Krogan studies unit in most Asari educational facilities. Teachers get poetry, philosophy, history, and military tactics all in one place. They don't have to take the time and learn other Krogan authors, which is probably a relief for them because most of our literature got blown up in one war or another so I'm actually the main source of a lot of ancient Krogan myth stories too. Pulled an Ovid and switched the stories around a bit to fit my own personal goals too!

If you want to start a bar fight in a room full of Asari studying the Krogan? Mention my name.

Aside from my own prolific additions to the Krogan literary canon, Asari don't seem to know whether to love me for preserving so many traditional Krogan myths from before the Rachni Wars, or hate me for my historical revisionism of those same myths. I'm absolutely open about changing the myths to suit my political goals. You don't want to be seen as anything but forthright with Krogans. A reputation for honesty is extremely important, and mine is very robust.

We'll tolerate all sorts of atrocities as long as you're open about committing them and don't try to hide either that you did it or why you did it, after all.

So, I'm absolutely open about changing the myths for my political goals. What I'm not open about is what the original myths were. After all, my political goals aren't accomplished yet, are they?

I've had a dozen Asari Krogan researchers try to interview me about the original myths and I have told every last one that yes, I know the myths, but no I won't share them.

So like I said, you wanna start a bar fight? Mention my name at an Asari convention on Krogan research.

So yeah, Shepard was pretty pissed at me for my joke. And I don't think laughing at her made it any better. It took me a minute or two to stop laughing too hard to get enough air to speak.

I had to explain to her that my relationship with my son has always been like that. He was born before the Genophage and he had hundreds of brothers and sisters. We were never close, not like Krogans were with their kids after the Genophage. Well, some Krogan. Some Clans kept the dad's identity a secret so that all the men in the clan raise the kids communally. I never liked that strategy. I argued for communal raising, sure, but not through deception. My argument was that as the mind of a Krogan is his greatest weapon, teaching is a way to lend your weapons to Krogan in the future. Honestly the philosophy hasn't really been picked up by clans as much as it has by Merc companies. You can actually graph the improvement in employee life expectancy before and after publishing my 'Thoughts on War' in most Merc companies. You end up with a lot of Krogan battlemasters leading training programs after reading that book. And that makes sense, doesn't it? These aren't the guys aiming for fertile females on Tuchanka. These are the guys who gave up that dream, the guys who don't think they can get it without money, or some battle scars, or any other form of nonsense. They have that fear, the fear that they won't ever get to lay with a fertile female. The fear of death.

They want to mean something in the future, so they train others.

Anyway, I think Shepard got the point after that. She's started calling me 'Old Man' too, though.

Not a fan of that.

We're headed to Noveria next. I've got to convince Shepard to take Liara and me. Liara should see her mother's last moments, to have that closure. And my plans to steal the Genophage cure aside, I'm not going to leave her alone during all that. Here's hoping the stupid bitch Benezia doesn't ruin my fun the same way she ruined my daughter's happiness. I'm probably safe. She wouldn't want Liara to know I'm her grandfather, so why would she reveal that fact? Wouldn't make sense.

___________

2183 CE.

Well, Noveria was a shitshow. I got my ass bit by a Rachni! A fucking Rachni! I thought we'd wiped those fuckers out! I mean, I knew we didn't, but it's been the better part of 2,000 years since I've had to fight one and I'm very much not pleased by it.

So, lets take it from the top. As we're headed down to Noveria I take Shepard aside and tell her about Binary Helix and Benezia and Liara's entanglements with it. I also ask her not to use my name, and to use a fake one instead, if she wanted too (She did. It's Old man. I hate it). When she asks why, I tell her that I'm the main shareholder on Noveria, and while that can help in some ways it restricts what i can do in other ways. If she wants this mission done fast it's best to start secret. 'You can always reveal who you are, you can't unreveal it.'

She actually agreed with me for once, which was nice, and argued that I'd need to come with her which of course I was fine with, and I suggested Liara as a potential third. Shepard was fine with that too since Liara might be able to get us in by trying to find her mother. Not actually likely to work, but I suppose there's always a chance if you play on sentiment that you'll succeed.

Shepard of course immediately got me embroiled in a smuggling operation. Peak 15, the facility where Benezia, my ex-daughter in law, had gone was cut off from contact and the ways closed. We'd need a garage pass to get there.

I could get one of course. We could even use mine, but stealth was the name of the game here.

Thus began the saga of Opold the angry Hanar smuggler, and Commander Shepard. In which Shepard smuggled in some polonium rounds, suddenly discovered that smuggling was morally wrong and... decided to keep the rounds for herself.

I told you Opold was angry.

Shepard also agreed to help Armali Council spy on Binary Helix. I'm not sure if that's just because Binary Helix is associated with Benezia, or if it's some of the shit Binary Helix has done over the years, or if it's just because Shepard wanted to make a little extra money on the side. Anyway, she bugged the Binary Helix sales rep's phone and gave the Asari that asked her to the codes to access the tap. All for about 750 credits. There's gotta be more to that than I'm seeing.

We finally ended up getting a garage pass from Lorik Qui'in. Somehow this ended up involving a running gunfight through Synthetic Insights, a confrontation with a dirty cop, brunch with internal affairs (who didn't recognize me in my cunning disguise of a n American football helmet), convincing Lorik to testify, blackmailing Anoleis with the evidence in our possession, and then giving the evidence to internal affairs, all so that we could get a garage pass. To investigate the Geth interest in Noveria.

Of course the helpful human in internal affairs told us that Benezia was at peak 15 on Saren's behalf, which was nice to know ahead of time for everyone else, I suppose.

We were of course immediately ambushed by Geth as soon as we used the pass, but after a few minutes we had the garage completely cleared.

I have to admit, the humans make a pretty good tomkah. The Mako isn't as sturdy as Krogan engineering of course. Almost nothing is nowadays. We Krogan build the consumer ideal; rugged, simple to learn devices that anyone can learn to repair.

There are some issues with weight, obviously. Other species usually aren't the paragons of physical fitness we Krogan are. I've made a small fortune endorsing human products as 'Krogan Tough' as a result. Of course, the product actually does have to be 'Krogan Tough' first before I endorse it. Companies pay me for stress testing products and then they pay me extra if their products pass the test for me to endorse them.

It lets me endorse all kinds of products, even by direct competitors! I got the idea from Shepard actually, though Shepard hasn't actually done it yet in this timeline. Why endorse one product when you can endorse every product! Of course, I did it a lot more ethically. I have a reputation for honesty to uphold.

Anyway, I've tested quite a few of these kinds of human tomkahs, both for military and civilian use. They're all to a one built 'Krogan Tough.'

Liara asks me why I recommended her once we're out of the garage. I told her that my information placed Benezia at the Peak 15 facility.

Of course, from there Liara wanted to know just how I knew where her mother was. I had to tell her that I've known Benezia for a long time, in both a personal and professional fashion. Longer than Liara's been alive. I mentioned that we were on opposite sides of the treaty table at Shanxi, and that we were on opposite sides of this fight too. 'I keep track of her for my own reasons,' I told her. 'One day you'll figure out why.'

I don't think Shepard suspects yet. Liara definitely doesn't; I hope.

The trip itself is actually pretty fun. I got to man the cannon and blow up Geth pretty much the entire time.

I did try to brace Liara for what was coming. I mentioned indoctrination theory to Shepard, but Liara hates that theory. She immediately argued against it as fanciful and unsupported nonsense. Arguing about it with Liara wouldn't fix anything. Benezia was indoctrinated. She had to die.

I pulled the old 'its quiet, too quiet' act once we actually arrived. We ended up fighting some Krogans with the Geth this time. Something that I pointed out was extremely odd since apart from the Quarians the Geth have never had any friendly relationships with any other organics, much less military alliances.

I insisted on unmasking the Krogan and getting some genetic samples... In the interest of figuring out who the Krogan was and what clan the Geth convinced to fight for them, of course.

The reality is that I already know what clan the Krogan's from. He's a tank-bred clone; one immune to the Genophage.

I know that Mordin had an issue with replicating and fixing Maelon's work using dead tissue. But having more samples is probably a good thing. Especially if I can't find the cure myself.

I haven't had a kid in over a thousand years. And my last kid was Aye-Aye. An Asari.

People underestimate the horror of the Genophage. We don't talk about it much with outsiders.

I'll need to start.

__________

2183 CE

I don't think Liara expected me to blast Renegade by Styx when we entered the Elevator. She assumed it was a Krogan band at first! So did Shepard actually, which made me very sad. Styx is firmly in what the Humans now call 'Classical Rock' a category which contains everything from the Beatles and Queen to Jimi Hendrix and Justin Bieber. Basically if it was at all related to Rock, Pop, or Metal and came out in the period from 1950 to 2050 it's 'Classical Rock' now. Electronic music gets a lot more focus in Human music history classes, to the point where it was actually hard to find what I wanted.

I actually did a paper on early 21st and late 20th century music trends. It's all about how the evidence from music sales shows that classical rock was actually the much more common, appreciated, and profitable genre compared to Early Electronic. Never sent it to Liara or the Matriarchs, it's well sourced and not actually about the Protheans so they can find it on their own.

Anyway. Shepard not realizing that Styx was a Human band horrified me a lot more than thought of the upcoming atrocities we were about to encounter. I ended up missing the rest of my classic rock playlist to lecture Shepard and Liara on Human music history, and the admirable convergence of Human and Krogan tastes in music.

I'm not surprised that neither know about classical rock. It's closer to 200 years old than 100, and there's no one left alive today who was a fan of this sort of music when it came out. If Humans are lucky, one of their grandparents might have gone to an Adele concert. But it's much more likely that it was one of their great grandparents instead. Liara herself was born in 2077, so this music is even before her time. I told her this stuff is what her grandpa probably would have listened to if he were human; which I guess is true on a number of levels, isn't it?

Early and modern electronic music is a lot more similar to Asari tastes than classical rock. The Asari don't really like songs with lyrics these days. Hell if I know why. So when Asari are exposed to Human stuff it tends to be the Human stuff Asari tend to like. All of this is new to Liara and she actually seems to like it. I'll have to be sure to stop playing it once the Elevator reaches its destination of course. I don't want Liara associating this kind of music with her mom's death after all.

________

2183 CE

Rachni. I recognized them immediately. Liara and Shepard both had the gall to question me about it.

'I fought in the rachni wars as a kid, you punks. I killed a Rachni Queen single handedly! Landed on this world in the ass end of nowhere, full of poison air. None of my squad mates survived the landing. The only weapon I had that worked was my own trusty NK-47. I had to fight a goddamn army of Rachni by my self just to get to the queen so that I could stomp her giant head into the muck. They're bigger than you think, you know, when fully grown they're taller than the Normandy. Baby queens are small enough to wrestle with, but I had to climb, in total silence, free soloing an entire rock wall just to get on top of her so I could Krogan Airdrop my ass onto her head and shoot her eyes in while we plummeted towards the muck below where I could stomp her head into it. You don't forget something like that, so yes. I am absolutely sure that these are Rachni.'

They seemed appropriately chastened. Kids these days. No respect for their elders.

I made sure to pack plenty of data storage, so I've basically just been stealing all the data that's not locked down with no respect for any kind of rhyme or reason. I haven't noticed any Genophage work yet, but I'm still hopeful. I'm probably gonna give the data to Wrex if he survives Virmire. I think he will. Shepard seems to understand the value of making and keeping allies.

The whole thing was a wild ride. I have no idea why these idiots disconnected their administrative VI. Probably a move by Benezia to keep people from following her, come to think of it.

With Mira fixed we were on our way to the tram to the rift station. I got to show Shepard and Liara a few Rachni-killing tricks I picked up during the war. Even got to talking about how strange their behavior was, saying that it was like they weren't being directed properly by their queen. Which was true. If you killed a queen and not her kids, this is how the kids would behave.

This really does feel like killing Rachni on easy mode though. When I was a kid the Rachni would act with uncanny coordination. If one of them sensed you with their mass effect fields or their psychic song, they all knew you were there. There was no surprising a Rachni. You could outmaneuver them, though you'd have to outmaneuver an entire army to do so. But surprise a Rachni? Never.

Anyway, with the tram back up and the way to the tram clear of the Rachni, we headed towards Rift station.

We ran into the little enclave of Binary Helix employees. I'd taken the time on the trip over to warn Shepard and Liara that in my experience as the Main Corporate shareholder on Noveria they should try not to believe everything the employees say.

'They'll lie to protect their employer even if it hurts our chances of solving the issue.' I told them.

Shepard then proceeds to completely without any incredulity whatsoever, get us sealed in an isolated lab so that we can be attacked by Geth and Asari commandos.

Liara didn't take Iallis' confession that she was killing us on Benezia's orders that well. She shot Iallis and ordered her to admit she was lying. Iallis died laughing at her. Really shook Liara up.

Poor kid.

We did heal those sick scientists though, so that was something at least!

Of course, that meant that there was nothing left but head into the secure lab to confront that heartless bitch Benezia.

_______

2183 CE

'You do not know the privilege of being a mother. There is power in creation. To shape a life. Turn it toward happiness or despair. Her children were to be ours. Raised to hunt and slay Saren's enemies. I won't be moved by sympathy no matter who you bring into the confrontation.'

'You're a shitty mother.' I replied almost instantly.

'Indeed? What has my family told him about me, I wonder?'

'What could I say, mother? That you're insane? Evil? Should I explain how to kill you? What could I say?' Liara asked, clearly distraught.

'Have you faced an Asari commando unit before? Few Humans have.' Benezia sneered.

"I can't believe you'd kill your own daughter.' Shepard stated, calmly calling Benezia's bluff.

Benezia's eyes narrowed. 'I now realize I should have been stricter with her.'

That of course was the moment when we had to fight a dozen Asari commandos. Have you ever had to face an Asari commando unit before? It sucks. All Asari are biotics, which means that in the hands of a skilled Asari, the entire room you are in can be a weapon. Even you can be a weapon. And the only way to stop that is either with Biotic barriers, or shields. Your shield drops even for a second, and suddenly you're being slammed against the ceiling.

Of course, that trick works fine for Humans and other Asari, but us Krogan? Well, I'm a bit on the heavy side, but I weigh in at half a ton. Not so easy to toss about even if you do have biotics.

All this goes to say that if you put a crack squad of Asari commandos up against a Krogan with an Assault rifle? The Krogan with the assault rifle is going to win.

The odds only got worse for the Asari when Liara and Shepard were added into the equation.

Defeated and cornered, Benezia went into a full scale villainous monologue.

'This is not over. Saren is unstoppable. My mind is filled with his light. Everything is clear.'

There was a dramatic pause. I've never liked Benezia. She's always been a drama queen. Every last moment always needs to be about her. If she's not the star, then there might as well not be a show at all. That kind of attitude.

I'm surprised it didn't change even after indoctrination.

'I will not betray him. You will-- You... You must listen. Saren still whispers in my mind, I can fight his compulsions, briefly, but the indoctrination is strong.'

'You're Indoctrinated.' I observed, probably a little too smugly from the look Liara shot me.

Benezia nodded her agreement.

'People are not themselves around Saren. You come to idolize him. Worship him. You would do anything for him. The key is Sovereign. His flagship. It is a dreadnought of incredible size and its power is extraordinary.'

'Thoughts echo strangely within Sovereign. Its rooms are built at unsettling angles. The longer you stay aboard, the more Saren's will seems correct. You sit at his feet and smile as his words pour into you. It is subtle at first. I thought I was strong enough to resist. Instead, I became a willing tool, eager to serve. He sent me here to find the location of the Mu Relay. It's position was lost thousands of years ago.'

With my pet theory confirmed, I sort of tuned out. Benezia gave us an OSD with the Mu relay location and confirmed that Saren was searching for the conduit beyond it. I actually knew that the Conduit was on Ilos, but since I didn't know where Ilos was, and since planets don't have giant neon billboards with their names on them, it wasn't actually all that useful mentioning that I knew where he was going.

Things were actually going unreasonably well until...

'You have to stop-- me. I can't-- His teeth are at my ear. Fingers on my spine. You should-- Uh, you should--'

'Mother, I-- Don't leave! Fight him!'

'You've always made me proud, Liara.'

Benezia glowed with Biotic power and attacked us.

'-- Die!'

__________

2183 CE

After a relatively short fight with Benezia and even more commandoes-- Where is she even getting these girls anyway? Benezia gave up.

'I cannot go on, you will have to stop him, Shepard.`

'Hold on, we've got medigel! Maybe we can--'

'No. He is still in my mind. I am not entirely myself. I never will be again.'

'Mother...'

'Good night, Little Wing. I will see you again with the dawn.'

Benezia's collapse was the most ridiculously over-dramatic thing I have ever seen. She could at least have a little more dignity in death so as not to scar her daughter.

'No light? They always said there would be-- Ah...`

And with that she died. Good riddance. I mean, Liara probably loved the bitch, but to me she'll always be the woman who broke my daughter's heart and cut her out of her daughter's life completely. Fuck her.

Shepard talked a bit to the Rachni queen, but when she asked me for advice all I could say was 'You probably shouldn't resort to genocide unless you don't mind being subjected to the same rules.'

Shepard decided to save the Rachni Queen. I smiled. Things were suddenly looking up.

________

2183 CE

Apparently I was a bit premature, but after neutron purging the hot labs, things were finally looking up. Of course, I now have a Rachni infestation on Noveria which... I'm going to have to deal with that eventually, won't I?

Maybe if I just ignore it it'll go away?

Yeah. That sounds like a great plan.

We got to the ship pretty much without issue after that. Well, a Krogan decided to attack us for whatever reason. Kept insisting we stole something from him. Not sure what that was about.

But after that everything was fine.

Well, relatively fine.

Liara was inconsolable. Tali, Wrex, Garrus, Kaidan, and I all tried. Even Ashley tried. Liara just locked herself in her quarters and wept. Only let Shepard in to see her. I may have made a mistake taking her with us.

As for me, I knew someone else involved with Benezia that needed informing.

'Benezia is dead.' I sent the email from my Alliance account so she'd know where I was.

I'm pretty sure Aye-Aye figured out I wasn't dead a few centuries ago. Hopefully hearing from me won't be a surprise.

There really isn't a good way to break it to your daughter that you teamed up with her estranged daughter that she's never been able to spend any time with and killed her brainwashed and crazy ex-wife.

Luckily, I don't have to tell her any of that. She'll learn on her own. Probably. Honestly that really should be a face to face conversation. If she's interested in one she can probably figure out where I am. She has my email now, after all.

It'll be fine.

Maybe.

Anyway, Shepard got an urgent message. We're going to Virmire.

Now, I've never actually been to Virmire before, and I don't actually want to be on the ground team for this one. There are two major inflection points where I need to gauge Shepard's measure. Her argument with Wrex, and who she's willing to sacrifice.

If Wrex lives, that's definitely something I want to know about. Apart from that I don't want to be anywhere near reaper tech.

I'm worried about Liara though. I should probably try and see her again. Maybe she'll let me in this time.

_______

Author's Note: So, I'm up to 64k words written now, and most of ME2 completed (including all the Loyalty missions save for one or two), which means I guess it's gonna be daily drops? We'll see how it goes.
 
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CHAPTER 3: My Sacrifice
CHAPTER 3: My Sacrifice

2185 CE

There's a Krogan myth about the creation of the Temple of Kalros. It didn't have a title originally, but it's now called 'The Tale of Nakmor Thall.'

The original story went something like this: in the beginning Tuchanka was just a planet. It had a spirit, of course, but that spirit was buried deep within its core. Tuchanka was a paradise; Giant beasts, carnivorous trees, fish the size of whales with teeth the size of slightly smaller whales! Everything anyone could ever want in a planet.

The Krogan roamed Tuchanka. Each day was a gift. We fought for our lives every second of the day. Everything tried to eat us and we repaid that respect in turn by eating them right back.

Perfect, right?

But one day, the foolish Krogan invented Concrete and began to build. They created safety, and with it, they invited weakness onto Tuchanka. Her spirit was angered, and as a result Kalros, the spirit of Tuchanka, gave birth to the Thresher Maws, sending them to destroy the Krogan works so that Tuchanka's blessed Krogans might never know weakness again.

The Thresher Maws rampaged, destroying the buildings.

This led Krogan architects to abandon the weakness and fear that had possessed them and understand true strength comes from challenging yourself to defeat others.

They built bigger, better, sturdier buildings. Buildings designed withstand Thresher Maws.

Angered with the progress of her favored species, Tuchanka sent the greatest challenge of all, Kalros, to challenge them.
Kalros rampaged across the world for 57 days and 58 nights, destroying every building in her path.

Eventually the Krogan banded together to defeat her, not with their fists, but with their wits. The Krogan hero, Thall, came up with a plan. They would build a temple, bigger than any building on Tuchanka, a temple dedicated to Tuchanka herself and the glory of her soul; a temple dedicated to Kalros.

This temple would be made not to cower from foes inside it's walls, but to invite them in in challenge!

There's a long complicated middle part where Thall has to go on a quest to get the proper mystical items it would take to build the building; things like Thresher Maw claws, and Harvester wings. All from specific, named beasts; beasts that had lived for thousands of years. But after collecting all the materials and building the actual temple, a task which involved defending it from twelve Thresher Maws followed by fending off Kalros herself with weapons and defenses he had built, finally the Temple was consecrated in all its glory with a glorious free for all, watched over by Kalros herself in approval of what was made.

I changed very little in my telling. Just two things, really.

Instead of anger at the Krogans building things, in my version of the myth, Tuchanka sent the Thresher Maws and Kalros because she was happy at the idea of Krogans building things and she wanted to challenge us.

The other thing was a small change really. It didn't even change any of the meaning of the tale.

I gave the hero of the story a clan name. The Krogan hero Thall became the Krogan hero, Nakmor Thall.

It's little things like that which change a culture.

____________

2183 CE

Liara finally emerged from her room for the first annual Normandy movie night, to be held every week or something. Look, I'm not great at dates. Tali will back me up here.

Anyway, I wanted to play something specifically for Liara, obviously. Something fun and maybe a little Cathartic. Something that shows that she has other people to rely on even if her mom is a terrible person who got indoctrinated and tried to kill her.

Basically, I wanted something to display my feelings.

So obviously we ended up watching Pixar's Up, a story about an amazing grandpa who takes a kid on the adventure of a lifetime and replaces the kid's parents in his life.

Also, balloons and friendship and giant probably extinct birds.

'This movie is... What's going on here?' Tali asked staring at the splash screen for the film, specifically the obscenely large number of balloons holding up the house.

'Up is a classic movie about friendship across different generations and species.' I replied.

Tali nodded, and I started the movie.

Eleven minutes and thirty seconds in, Tali, Shepard, Joker, Liara, Wrex and myself were all crying.

'What's going on, why are they building around his house? Humans get weaker as they get older. They have enough strength to defeat him and knock it down.' Wrex asked, his voice still a bit choked up from his sobbing.

'It's actually based off a real story, Humans have property rights. If you own something people aren't supposed to use force to take it from you. There was a woman who owned a plot of land that a shopping mall wanted to build on. They had bought out all her neighbors' land, but she wouldn't sell. So they just built the mall around her.' I explained.

The movie continued without anyone talking until...

'Do humans naturally get that round?' Garrus asked, staring at Russel.

'No.' Joker lied.

'Huh. This tiny human has an almost Turian-like respect for rules and procedures. Admirable perseverance. My father would have killed for a son like him.' Garrus observed

'YES! Show him the wrath of an elderly human scorned, small and elderly human man!' Wrex cackled as Carl hit the construction worker.

Followed shortly thereafter by Shepard chiming in. 'I see why you enjoy this film, Old man. Carl has an almost Krogan-like respect for authority and the rule of law.'

"You know Shepard, I'm gonna take that as a compliment.' I replied.

The house began to fly through the city.

'Are those balloons filled with Eezo?' Tali asked, interested.

'Humans hadn't actually discovered Eezo yet, but I did run a similar experiment around a thousand years ago with a mass effect field generator in a house. Even using regular helium filled bags it's possible to lift a house. Of course, you need to specifically build and reinforce the house to do it or it'll fall apart.' I admitted.

'How'd you learn that?' Joker asked.

'Experience.' I replied.

'Wait, the kid's there in the house!?' Liara gasped.

'Did that kid just fall?' Garrus asked.

'No. Carl was just imagining what would happen.' I explained.

'Is this how humans normally move houses? It's more... Quarian than I assumed.' Tali asked.

'Only on colony worlds. They move houses like that on Eden Prime. Fewer balloons though.' Ashley explained.

'What are those furry Varren?' Garrus asked a few minutes later.

'They're dogs.' I explained.

'Are they edible?' Wrex enquired.

'Yes, but humans get very upset if you eat them. Also, they don't taste very good.' I added.

'You ate a dog!?' Kaidan asked, outraged.

'No. I had some lab grown meat. It was never actually a dog.'

'That's not cool.' Joker replied.

'Like I said, Wrex. Humans get very upset if you eat them.'

A few minutes later Garrus chimed in again.

'That's a snipe, right? Is the Snipe supposed to be a Turian?' Garrus asked, somewhat offended.

'The movie's from the early 21st century, Garrus. You Turians hadn't even met the Humans yet.' I corrected.

'It certainly has the agility and cunning military cunning of a Turian commando.' Garrus countered.

'You know Garrus, I think that I agree with you.' Wrex grinned.

I shot him a look. We were both definitely on the same page.

Several more minutes later Dug appeared and, apart from some small amounts of confusion over whether early 21st century Humans had the technology to make dogs talk or not, everything was right with the world.
____________

2183 CE

The movie ended without a single dry eye in the house as Carl pinned the badge on Russel.

'Thank you. That was... really nice.' Liara admitted as the credits finished rolling.

'The humans have a saying, 'No man is an island.''

'Isn't that self evident? Most organic beings are not also land masses.' Garrus remarked.

'It means that Humans, like most sentients, are social creatures.' Shepard explained.

'What's the relevance?' Garrus asked.

'We all need company and camaraderie to thrive and heal.' I explained.

'The moral of the movie. You picked this for me?' Liara realized.

'It seemed like you needed it.' I smiled.

'Thank you.' she smiled back.

Overall, I think the first annual Normandy Movie Night was a success.

___________

2183 CE

Virmire honestly looked like a paradise. It was a paradise. A paradise that the Citadel could not manage to settle due to their own inability to defend their borders against pirates.

Of course, there was one race that wouldn't have that problem.

In a galaxy without the Genophage, Virmire could have been the shining jewel of the Krogan race. We'd need to import some Thresher Maws of course first, and maybe some Harvesters and Klixen... The native fauna, the pod crabs, weren't exactly aggressive enough for Krogan tastes. Though they probably were delicious enough for Krogan tastes...

Under normal circumstances, I'd be happy to enjoy a virgin world like Virmire.

These weren't normal circumstances.
____________

2183 CE

Joker really is an amazing pilot. He came in low, dropped the Mako, and then we were all off like a shot.

I told Tali to make sure my shuttle's in working order on the way in. I have a feeling that we're going to need it.

About a half an hour later we were standing in front of Major Kirrahe, with Wrex running off to sulk and confront Shepard.

I cleared my throat. It sounds more like a rumbling purr when we Krogans do that; it's approximately the same sound and volume as an old Harley Davidson starting up. You know, from when the humans still used gas? Not like the eezo-powered flying Harleys of the modern era. Still it definitely grabs attention, so it serves the same purpose. 'You know, Shepard, Prothean sites from their era of extinction tend to speak of the Reapers. Vast fleets of ships harvesting them. You can find the signs across the entire galaxy if you look. If I were fighting a giant fleet of Reapers? I'd want the Krogan leading the charge.'

'What's your point, Krell?'

'Only this, if you see any chance to get data on that cure, any chance at all? You should do so. The Protheans fought the Reapers for centuries. In that time period only the Krogan breed fast enough to replace our forces against that kind of threat.'

I turned around and looked back at Shepard. 'Something to keep in mind.'

__________

2183 CE

I missed the confrontation with Wrex.

Purposefully.

Not a great idea to be in the target lines if they're shooting Krogan.

Shepard managed to grab his armor, so I wasn't too worried about the outcome.

I'm happy to say that I wasn't surprised on that note. Wrex came through their conversation just fine. I'm not sure what Shepard said to him, but whatever it was, it worked.

I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

Without Wrex I could probably still serve as a stabilizing force for my fellow Krogan. Maybe. The problem is, it would have trapped me on Tuchanka, and made me rewrite all my plans.

Also, Wrex would be dead.

I'm glad Shepard made the right choice. I think I have her measure now.

I'll have to trust her more.

Shepard didn't take me into the compound. But that was fine by me. She sent Ashley Williams with Kirrahe's team. I happily did not remind her that I too was familiar with Alliance communication protocols and thus qualified to take on this newest suicide mission.

Anyway. I needed to be on the Normandy for my plan to work.
__________

2183 CE

It's weird staying on the ship for a mission as consequential as Virmire. I hate it.

Shepard's down there with Wrex and Liara fighting legions of cloned Krogan and indoctrinated Salarian. She's fighting Geth and learning secrets that man was not meant to know. And I'm... up here, missing out on all of that fun.

It sucks! I hate it! But I need to be on the ship in order for my plan to work, so it's not like I really have a choice here. I'm leaning on the copilot seat in the cockpit, gently. I don't want to wreck it after all.

Joker's here with me, obviously. He's just as nervous, but he doesn't know what's going to happen.

'Humans are the most Krogan-like species in Citadel space.' I offer as an ice-breaker.

Joker blinks at me. 'What?'

'You heard me.' I replied.

'I did, but what you said is pure lunacy. How are Humans the most Krogan-like species in Citadel Space?' Joker asks.

'Tell me Joker, have you heard of mosh pits?'

'Oh, you mean those places which are custom designed to break every single one of my bones and ruin my experience at concerts? No. Never heard of them.' Joker snarked.

Two could play at that game.

'Well, as the foremost authority on Humans in Citadel Space--'

'That can't possibly be true. There are actual Humans in Citadel Space. I'm in Citadel Space!'

'And yet, when University of Thessia wants a guest lecturer on Humans, who do they call?' I grin.

'You? Wait, they call you? Why are they calling you? There are actual Humans they can call!' Joker protested.

'That's an extremely Krogan-like thing to say.' I compliment him.

'Wait, what? How?'

'The Asari don't think that a species can ever really understand itself. The Protheans taught them math, and writing. And there's that whole weird melding thing they do with their breeding. They're drawn to other species, like a human moth to a flame--'

'Like, a half-human half-moth? Because those definitely don't exist.' Joker corrected.

'Yeah, but you can't just say an Earth Moth, can you? They're an invasive species on at least Shanxi. I saw them during the First Contact War.'

'Yeah, but a Human moth implies they're part human. Or maybe a human in a giant moth suit.'

'You're a fan of The Tick?' I asked, surprised.

'No, what? You're just making random stuff up now.' Joker protested.

'The Tick was a popular superhero satire in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. I'll send you a copy of one of my favorite versions of it, you might get a kick out of it.' I decided.

'Thanks. You know, you know an awful lot about obscure Human culture.' Joker realized.

'Maybe, I've been studying Human society incognito all this time? Blending in among you, unseen?'

The look Joker gave me let me know exactly what he thought about that idea.

'Yeah, sure. You wore a trench coat, a fedora, and a set of glasses with a fake nose, and no one recognized you.' Joker laughed.

I pulled out my omnitool and queued up a video.

Joker looked over only to see my 'early attempt at human stealth' on my first visit to New York City.

'What! You actually--!' Joker choked.

'Careful. Don't break a rib!' I cautioned.

'They're all ignoring you! How did you do that? That can't possibly be from before the First Contact War, right?' Joker asked, baffled.

I grinned. 'It's not. But when you told me what I should wear to blend in...'

'I can't believe you actually did it. And it worked.' Joker groused.

'It worked for the purposes I wanted it to work for, and probably only because it was New York City. It's my first visit to NYC. They're ignoring me because I'm clearly signaling how weird I am. Humans purposefully ignore things like that. Homeless too. They notice me, but for all intents and purposes I might as well have been invisible until I talked to them.'

'Wait, your first visit to NYC? I remember reading about that in school. You addressed the UN. That was in 2157. The same year as the first Contact War! You had only just met your first Humans a month before! How did you even know you could pull that off?' Joker demanded.

'I told you, I'm the foremost expert on Humans in Citadel Space, and Humans... are the most Krogan-like species in Citadel Space.' I grinned.

'There's no way that can possibly be true.' Joker protested.

The radio crackled and Shepard's voice emerged. 'Joker! I need you to land in the giant courtyard with the fountain. We need to place the bomb!'

'Back to work then. Nice talk, but the commander needs me.'

I nodded as I left the cockpit for the loading bay. After all, plans are just like jokes. The most important element is timing.

__________
2183 CE

Shepard disabled the guns and I was tasked with moving the bomb.

'You know how to fly a Kodiak, right Alenko?'

Kaidan looked up at me curiously as he armed the bomb.

'I got the basic training that all alliance enlistees get on the Kodiak. I can't make it sing like Joker can, but I can get from place to place.'

I stared at him.

'I'm gonna leave my Kodiak here next to the bomb. I like my Kodiak. It's an antique. It was also a gift from the Systems Alliance. All my stuff is inside.'

That last part wasn't true of course, I made sure to take everything important out and put it in my locker back when I first boarded the Normandy. But the point wasn't honesty, it was an emotional appeal.

'Bring it back to me. Okay?'

Kaidan blinked. 'I'm not sure why you're telling me this. Doesn't that just make things needlessly complicated?'

'We've got a split party. Ashley's over on the AA tower and you're here. Problem is there's only one way out. I'd be a lot more comfortable if each of us had a way out, and since I can't lend my Kodiak to Ashley, that means you, kid. So, I'm trusting you with my ride here. Make sure to bring it back. The seats in the back fold up to access the weapon lockers. Should be some firepower in there if you need it. There's even a medkit full of medigel. Just replaced that last week, so it should still be fresh.'

Kaidan nodded in understanding as I retreated back to the ship.

Shepard had decided to take Garrus and Tali with her to fight the Geth at the AA tower. That left Liara and Wrex on the ship with us. The Salarians were on the ship too, two of the three squads. Not the one led by Kirrahe though. Shepard was leaving to bring them up.

A quick look at Wrex resulted in a slight shake of his head. I don't know if that meant 'Not here' or if it meant 'I couldn't get it' but either way it could wait until the Salarians were gone.

'You were right.'

I looked at Liara, I hadn't expected this little non-sequitur.

'I was right?'

'About the Reapers. About indoctrination. About everything. You were right. How did you know? All those papers. You couldn't be making things up, if you were you'd be wrong. But instead you were right. How did you know?'

I smiled at Liara.

'Can you keep a secret?'

'Of course I can! I'm not a child, Krell!'

I nodded, then very overtly moved my head to stare at the STG teams, all of whom seemed to be studiously pretending not to listen in. 'So can I.'

'What? Oh. I suppose this could be-- You'll tell me later then?'

'If I can find somewhere it's safe to do so.' I agreed.

I felt like Kalros had decided to nest in my stomach. Had what I'd done been enough? Did they get Binary Helix's Genophage cure? Would my Kodiak be enough to get Kaidan free?

Joker picked up Shepard, along with Garrus, Tali, and even more Salarians, this time led by Kirrahe.

'Krell, you and I need to have a long talk about Indoctrination and exactly what you know and how you know it. Joker, why the hell aren't we off this planet already?'

'Kaidan's still down there!' Came the voice over the intercom.

'Kaidan's dead! There's no way he can escape that blast!'

'That's not quite true.' I interrupted.

'Speak plainly!'

'I lent him my Kodiak before we left. Didn't like the idea of two teams one getaway vehicle.'

'Joker, get us out of the blast range, then wait for no more than a minute before getting us out of here. I don't know where Sovereign is and that's a problem.'

'Aye Aye, captain!'

Kaidan's minute ran out with no more than static in response to our hails.

As Joker jetted us away, my heart dropped. I hadn't been able to save everyone.

_____

Author's note: Yeah, I know I said an update a day but Virmire's a really small update, and I'm already at 68k words, so I've basically written an entire Virmire's worth of update just today. So think of it as a bonus. This update was actually so small that I felt almost bad posting it, so I took an hour and added the scenes with Up and Joker to pad it out a bit. Next chapter will finish off all the bits before Ilos.
 
On Saren's Genophage Cure
I think Krogan would get a kick out of Paul Verhoven's Starship Troopers.

I was under the impression that Saren's Genophage "cure" was just a bunch of Reaper-provided cloning/gestation tubes. Who needs to worry about being infertile when you can just mass-produce your guys.
Okay, so this is actually something interesting about Mass Effect. In ME1 you can, as part of your trips in the Elevator, come across a news story wherein "Binary Helix has settled out of court with a Krogan group that charged the corporation with fraud. They paid BH for research to cure the Genophage, and then sued for their money back when nothing came of the research."

Now, if the name Binary Helix sounds at all familiar, it's because Binary Helix is the company in whose facility you fight Benezia. Saren is a large backer of Binary Helix. Now, everyone in the game treats the Cure for the Genophage as legitimate until Shepard, who has never acttually seen any cloned Krogan, and won't until the Okeer mission in ME2, says that the Krogan with the Binary Helix cure are slaves. It's pretty well implied that they're slaves due to Indoctrination, not because they were tank-bred.

So Binary Helix was working on a Genophage cure for a group of Krogan. Binary Helix then tells the Krogan "Sorry, we took your money and didn't solve your problem!" Saren, an investor at Binary Helix then, suspiciously, at around exactly the same time, gets a cure for the Genophage. The Krogan sue, and instead of going through the Discovery process, which might incriminate them, Binary Helix gives them their money back.

Weird, right?

I think we can all read between the lines here.
 
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There were (at least) two beacons on Eden Prime
I'm a bit confused: why did the attack on Eden Prime still happen if he already took the beacon decades earlier?
It's a different beacon. We learn on Ilos that the beacons weren't initially meant as the sort of device that Liara builds in Mass Effect 3 to tell Shepard's story. They weren't meant to be a warning to the future. They weren't time capsules. They were just communication beacons built to communicate at interstellar distances that the Ilos team jury rigged into a warning remotely.

In Mass Effect 1 a beacon is unearthed on Eden prime.

In Mass Effect 3 we unearth an entire Prothean facility/survival bunker, which presumably would have its own beacon to stay in contact.

The Salarians took the beacon from the facility. But the humans still unearthed their beacon.
 
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CHAPTER 4: The Joker
CHAPTER 4: The Joker

2183 CE

I promised Shepard and Liara both an explanation. It was Shepard's decision to invite the rest of the team, but it wasn't one I disagreed with.

Honestly, there wasn't much reason to hide anything from them anymore. With Wrex alive, Shepard's choice on the Genophage is almost irrelevant. I can tell Mordin the information he needs, and I'll have a few opportunities at Maelon's data in a few years. I can compensate for Shepard. Not that I think I'll have to.

No, there wasn't much reason to keep any of them in the dark anymore. I would need Wrex's help, and this was information that could help us save the galaxy. Honesty had always been the best policy with sort of thing. Open and forthright, that was the way to go.

'Alright Krell, what do you know about what's going on?' Shepard confronted me as soon as we reached the room where she liked to dial up and the hang up on the council. All the seats were full save one. Kaidan's chair was empty. Still, the rest of our band of merry misfits were all in attendance.

'Well, that's a complicated question, isn't it? I know a lot about what's going on. What do you want to know first?' I asked.

'Indoctrination. What is it, how do we fight it?' Shepard demanded.

'At the turn of the 20th century there was a Human writer named H.P. Lovecraft. I can't recommend him. His work was racist then, and it's comically so now. He was important in creating the genre of literature you know of as cosmic horror.' I explained.

'What does this have to do with the Reapers?' Ashley growled.

'I'm getting there.' I replied.

I took a deep breath.

'In the stories by Lovecraft there were these old gods, or outer gods or elder gods, the point is they were weird sea-fish monsters with the powers of deities. One of the big things about them was that just seeing them could cause your sanity to fracture and drive you mad, causing you to worship them.'

'Indoctrination.' Shepard realized.

I nodded. 'Basically." I agreed.

'He had this one character, Cthulhu. It slept, dead, yet still dreaming underneath the sea; waiting for the stars to align and signal the time for it to wake once more. There's a line about it: 'That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange eons even death can die.' Reapers are the same.' I continued.

'Wait, wait, the same? What do you mean by the same?' Ashley asked frantically.

'Indoctrination isn't an active process. It can be, if the Reaper's attention is focused on you, but Indoctrination isn't really something that Reapers do so much as it's a product of what they are. Their tech indoctrinates. Even pieces of it. Even broken pieces. Even a dead Reaper can dream, and the dreams of beings like the Reapers are far too powerful for us mere mortals not to get caught in their sway.' I stressed.

'Are there ways to stop it?' Liara asked, hopefully.

'There are ways to shield Reaper tech. Indoctrination works on a frequency. If you can find that frequency you can probably set up a shield to stop it. There's just one problem of course...' I answered.

'While you're testing frequencies to shield the damn thing you're going to be exposed to unshielded Reaper tech.' Shepard realized, nearly cursing at the realization.

'And thus indoctrinated.' I agreed.

'Alright. What are the Reapers, then? … And, how do you know all this?' Garrus asked.

'The same way Shepard does. Tell me Shepard, do you remember the story of the Alliance's first colony? Do you remember the story of Eden Prime?' I asked, smiling.

'We bought it... from... you.' Shepard realized.

'Yes, you did. I acquired the world you now call Eden Prime way back in 2154 CE. I say that I acquired the rights, but really the Noveria Development corporation acquired the rights, and I'm just the main shareholder of the NDC." I admitted, with what I hoped was a charming grin.

"The reason I acquired them was that I had documented evidence of a secret Prothean facility on the planet. A facility meant to be the last stand of the Protheans, which included cryostasis pods, and a Beacon.' I added.

'You saw the visions in the Beacon too! That's why you never cited your sources!' Liara exclaimed.

I nodded. 'That's right. Everyone on that email list besides you was fully aware of the source of my knowledge. There was no need to cite my sources. They knew where my sources were. After all, they stole them.'

'They, what? No. That can't be right! The council of Matriarchs are on that email list. The Citadel Council is on that email list! You're saying that, what? They knew this entire time!?' Liara demanded.

'That's exactly what I'm saying.' I smiled.

'No. Wait. No. That still doesn't make sense. When did you--? You found the beacon almost immediately, didn't you?' Liara asked.

'Some time in 2155 I think. It was just under a year later.'

'Yes but, you began explaining Reaper theory and Indoctrination almost immediately! There's no way that you could do that without a cipher! The timing just doesn't work out right!' Liara retorted.

'You're right. There's no way I could do it without a cipher. But you remember when I said there were Cryostasis pods?' I grinned.

'You didn't. No! Tell me I'm imagining things! You can't mean what I think you mean! There's no way it could be true!' Liara cried out in horrified, yet extremely eager shock.

Honestly, I'm impressed she managed to do it. A Krogan tries to feel that much at once, we just default to rage. Well, in the immortal words of Ted Danson, You really only need two emotions, anger and confusion. We Krogan have definitely got those covered. So really we're just incredibly minimalist, emotion-wise. Or maybe 'selective' would be a better word?

'I can't tell you if it's true or not unless you tell me what you think happened.' I replied with a shit-eating grin.

'I can only tell you what didn't happen. There's no way that you could have possibly spoken to a real, live Prothean.' Liara asserted firmly.

My grin was so wide I was showing teeth now. I never did that. Asari find it threatening. Well, Asari find most things Krogan do threatening, so that's nothing new.

'You're right. I didn't speak to a live Prothean.' I replied.

Liara visibly collapsed in relief, tension leaving her body as she exhaled, slumping into her chair.

'I spoke to fifteen. That's how I obtained the cipher.' I added, joyfully.

'By the goddess. Fifteen live Protheans! That's the story of the millennium! You found a working Prothean beacon and fifteen live Protheans! How does no one know about this?' Liara demanded.

'They got stolen. Abducted actually. I'm pretty sure that rhe Asari kidnapped my Protheans, and the Salarians took the beacon to decipher it. I've known about the return of the Reapers ever since.' I explained.

'Why didn't you prepare for it then!?' Shepard demanded angrily.

'I did prepare for it, Shepard. I'm the most heavily surveilled being in the Milky Way. I published paper after paper on Reaper theory and indoctrination. Before me Reaper theory wasn't even a footnote in Prothean research. I make sure that warnings and context have been getting set in front of the council for the past 30 years. I can do a lot, but I'm the most heavily surveilled person in the galaxy, Shepard! I can't lead a military build up! I can't recruit an army. I'm not free to act as I wish. The Quarians are convinced I can see the future, Shepard. How closely would you watch someone you thought could see the future? Whatever that amount is, the Salarians are even worse.'

'You absolutely can see the future, can't you Gramps? You sent me a birthday present before my mother even told anyone she was pregnant with me. My mother wasn't anyone back then. She and you had no connection whatsoever, except for the fact that we're all serving on the Normandy together now. On a team to defeat the Reapers.' Tali spoke up.

'Calling it the ability to see the future is ridiculous.' I protested.

'What should we call it then?' Garrus asked, amused.

'It's a lot more like I stole the answers from a teacher right before the test.' I admitted.

'That would be academically dishonest!' Liara gasped horrified. Notably, she was the only one to do so.

'I think we're all more focused on the fact that the Old Man here admits to knowing the future, Liara.' Shepard corrected.

'That's so grandiose! I don't know the future. I know a few critical points here and there. Minor stuff, like the First Contact War, and maybe a few birthdays. I keep it all in my Calendar. Have for over a millennium. Pretty sure it's why I haven't had to pay my secretaries in centuries.'

'You put the First Contact War in your calendar?' Shepard started to ask, but she was interrupted by Ashley.

'You were there! that's why you were there when the Turians attacked! you knew what was going to happen ahead of time!'

'That is indeed why I was there, yes. I like Humanity. You guys are the most Krogan-like species in citadel space. Didn't wanna let the Turians set a bad example.' I grinned.

'Oooh. Not gonna lie, Krell, that one hurts. Having a Krogan set a better example than us Turians, yeah. I'm gonna feel that one for a while.' Garrus groaned.

'You could have saved my grandfather!' Ashley realized.

'I did save your grandfather, Ashley. Well, he probably would have survived anyway, but my intel about the Turians saved a lot of Human lives and ended the Shanxi invasion a lot faster than it otherwise would have. General Williams was rightly hailed as a hero at the time. It wasn't until later that his own government started to tear into his reputation in search of a scapegoat.'

'So then what's the Conduit? And where's Saren headed?' Wrex asked, cutting right to the chase.

'Okay, I do know the answer to both of those things, and I promise I'm going to tell you, but you have to promise me that we'll go to Ferros and save the colony there.'

'Why? If we know where Saren's headed, we'll be able to beat him there and stop him earlier! What's the point in waiting?' Shepard asked.

'You know, that's a good point. Okay. Let me tell you what I know. We can make this decision together.' I decided.

I looked sharply at every single one of the people around me. 'Nothing I say here leaves this room until it's absolutely necessary.'

I could hear murmurs of discontent.

'I don't think you understand what a threat Indoctrination is. Back in 2163 CE, The batarians discovered a wreck in the Dis system that you humans have codenamed the Leviathan of Dis. It was a Reaper, killed in battle.'

'How?' Wrex asked.

'Not the focus of this story, sorry, Wrex. You remember how I said even dead Reapers can dream? That's how I know. The entire science team became indoctrinated. Along with a number of high ranking politicians. The entire Hedgemony is basically under Reaper control and the only thing stopping them from acting up with Saren is that they don't know that it's a Reaper plot that they could help with. By the time this comes to a head? The Batarians will fall without any fight at all.'

'So, you're saying that anyone can be working for the Reapers? That's why we must keep this information safe?' Tali asked.

'That's exactly what I'm saying, kid. Anything we say will be used against us. Now, back to what I know.'

I stood up and started to pace.

'This goes back to the start of the Reaper Cycle, I think. Reapers are machines, but they're made from organics. Are you familiar with the paperclip optimization problem with computer intelligences?'

'You make a VI and tell it to maximize paperclip production. It does so with no consideration for anything else, including Human life, until the entire Earth is paperclips.' Shepard replied.

'Those are the salient points. The Reapers are basically the paperclip optimization problem writ large. An ancient race built them to preserve organic life. They do this by harvesting the spaceflight-capable species at the end of every cycle and turning them into new Reapers. This is what caused the massive harvests of entire planets that you're seeing in your visions from the Beacon, Shepard. The Reapers then built the citadel as the central means of controlling each cycle. The Citadel controls the relays. It sends the signal that invites the Reapers in.'

'Your technology progresses along paths we desire.' Shepard realized.

'Son of a bitch! It's not just the citadel, the whole relay system is a trap. If you use the relays to travel then all of your population is going to settle around the relays! The side would controls the relays controls all travel in the galaxy. They could cut us off in a second!' Shepard cursed.

'They could! If... the last remaining Protheans hadn't sabotaged the controls after the Reapers headed back to dark space to await the end of our cycle. That's why Saren needs to access the controls on the Citadel if he wants to kickstart the Reaper invasion and to do that he needs to get around the citadel fleet. And that's why Saren wants the Conduit.'

'But what is the Conduit?' Tali asked.

'You've actually seen it. Well, you've seen half of it. It's the relay monument. The relay monument is a working mass relay. The Protheans built a link to it on the planet Ilos. With it, they snuck back onto the Citadel and sabotaged the automatic signal that is sent to dark space to recall the Reaper fleet.'

'So, we don't need to find Saren. We just need to be where he intends to be before he can get there.' Shepard realized.

'Right. That means Ilos or the Citadel. But there are other concerns too. You have the contents of two separate beacons. You need access to the Cipher.'

'But don't you have the cipher?' Shepard replied.

'I do. But I can't give it to you, and I'm not about to trust that Liara can manage it when she has no experience with it. There are also... personal reasons why I'm unwilling to meld with her like that. And I definitely don't trust any other Asari to even make an attempt. Which leaves two courses of action to get you the Cipher. The Asari could admit that they abducted my Protheans and let you get the Cipher the same way that I did. Or, you can go to Feros and get it from the Thorian.'

'The what?' Garrus asked.

'The Thorian. It's a giant.... I guess tree probably isn't really accurate. It resembles a plant, but it's sentient and long-lived. It predates the Protheans, but it interacted with them. It has a copy of the Prothean cipher as well as a way to transfer it to you. But it's also probably hostile. The transfer method would survive its demise. It controls peoples minds using pheromones. At least, I think that's how it does it. Never really interacted with it myself.'

'Do I really need the cipher if you have it?' Shepard asked.

'I think you probably do. This won't be the only Prothean artifact you interact with. I'm hoping it's not the only Prothean, to be honest. The Cipher will help a lot with that. Also, it would serve as independent confirmation regarding what I've been telling the council and the matriarchs this entire time. If you get the Cipher from me, or the Protheans then that might make some of them question, but if you get all of this information through totally unrelated means to how I did, that's independent verification.' I replied.

'And Ilos? What's the benefit of even going there if we know what Saren has planned?' Wrex asked.

'Well, there's Vigil, a Prothean VI that's on Ilos. It's probably the most Reaper-focused of the Prothean VIs that are still around-'

'There are still working Prothean VIs!?' Liara immediately interjected.

'Three I know of. Vigil on Ilos, Vendetta on Thessia in the Temple of Athame, and Victory, which was on Eden Prime until it was stolen. I assume by the Salarians, but I guess it could have been the Turians or Asari. The problem with skipping Ilos is that Vigil has a data file that will grant temporary direct control of the Citadel's functions. And that's... probably essential if we want to beat Sovereign.'

'I can't believe that massive advances in Prothean archaeology are just being hidden and hoarded away like that! What is wrong with the matriarchs?' Liara grumbled.

'I can't believe you had almost 30 years of personal evidence of the conspiracy, and you still didn't realize the conspiracy existed until I literally informed you of its presence. I really thought you would pay more attention and ask more questions about it.' I confessed.

'I did! I wrote you long angry emails after every one of those papers! Oh Goddess... I CCed every person on that list complaining about your lack of academic integrity! They must think I'm the stupidest Asari in the galaxy!' Liara finally realized.

I laughed.

This was apparently not the right response.

'Anyway, Liara's mortification aside, we clearly need to go to Ilos, and we also need to go to Feros. Are there any other surprise visits we need to accomplish?' Garrus inquired.

'Did we stop the rogue AI on Luna from nuking the Earth?' I asked.

'What.' Was Ashley's response.

'Yes.' was Shepard's.

'And we stopped Balak from crashing that Asteroid into Terra Nova?'

'No.' was Shepard's response.

'We probably will need to do that at some point then.' I decided.

'Can you perhaps... elaborate on that statement?' Ashley asks with what sounds like barely restrained fury.

'Right, so Batarians are all slaving assholes. And this may sound racist, but I've never met a Batarian I didn't want to punch in the face. And I've met a lot of Batarians. Balak was sent by the Batarian government to pose as a 'terrorist' and get revenge for the Skyllian Blitz.'

'But the Skyllian Blitz was revenge for the attacks by Batarian Slavers on our colonies!' Ashley protested.

'And Torfan was revenge for that too. Lots of cycles of revenge in this galaxy; the Genophage among them. They all suck, but good luck breaking them. Anyway, Balak is a jerk, and he decided that an extinction level event is the appropriate response for the Humans fighting back against Batarian piracy and slaving. He takes over an asteroid and takes hostages.'

'So how do we stop it?' Shepard asked.

'Why are you asking me? You're the Alliance super soldier, aren't you? I assume you'll stop it how you normally do; some weird mix of shooting people, talking to people, and maybe occasionally pressing a button.'

'You do tend to hog all the button pressing to yourself.' Garrus agreed with me.

'This isn't about my button pressing! Anyway, do we even know when that attack is going to happen?' Shepard protested.

'Nope. Sometime this year. I have the entire year blocked out for 'Shenanigans with the Normandy Crew.' That's literally how I have it written in my calendar. Have for over a century.'

'That definitely raises deep fundamental philosophical questions, doesn't it?' Liara asked. I think she was in shock.

'It's probably easier if you don't think about them. I don't know how many Salarians have gone insane trying to figure out what's going on with my calendar but the number is definitely not zero.' I admit.

'Right, so... Feros, Ilos, Terra Nova, anything else?' Wrex asked, getting us all back on track.

'Nothing I actually remember. I think the Normandy gets impounded and we need to steal it back? I'm not sure if that'll actually happen. It was premised on the Council not believing that the Reapers were an actual danger. I'm hoping we're past that now.'

'You really are a fountain of good news, aren't you?' Shepard asked. I assume it was rhetorical; of course that's why I decided to answer the question anyway.

'Just wait till 2185. You're going to have a very wild ride. Make sure to pick me up for that. I'll leave a forwarding address with Liara.'

'You're not going to tell me what to expect?' Shepard asked.

'I'm not an oracle. I don't want to distract you with something that's not really relevant to what we're doing right now. We have enough to focus on.' I lied.

'Right, then let's weigh in on this. Saren plans to use the conduit as a back door into the citadel so that he can call the Reapers back from wherever the hell they are to kill us all. Am I right so far?' Shepard asked.

I nodded. 'That's the broad plan, yeah. I'm sure there are specifics I don't know.'

'To stop him I need code from Ilos. To interact with the Prothean VI on Ilos I probably need the Cipher.'

"Or someone with the cipher. You could bring me, and I'd probably understand it. But having independent verification of my research would be better. Someone's been yelling at the Matriarchs and the Council that I'm... what was the phrase you used Liara, 'morally bankrupt and a stain on academic society'?'

'Right but when I said that, I didn't realize that--' Liara protested.

"Let's just keep our focus on the plan right now? You can troll Liara later.' Shepard interrupted.

'Troll? What does that mean?' Liara asked.

'Later.' Shepard commanded.

Liara nodded, and I gave Shepard an expression that I know from experience that other Krogans interpret as a wry grin, but Humans assume is a serious face.

Judging from Wrex's reaction, I think he's had the same experience with the expression.

'Right. So we need more verification. is there any way we can do Feros later? Is there something keeping us from putting it off until after we deal with Saren?' Shepard asked.

I titled my head, considering the issue.

'There are Geth attacking the colony, and Exogeni is hiding some big secrets. But I suppose that even if the Thorian is killed it's just inconvenient and not something that spells disaster. Just means you either need access to those Protheans, or we need to find a trustworthy Asari that isn't Liara. Matriarch Aethyta's out of the question for the same reason as Liara. But Aria T'Loak might work.'

'Aria T'Loak. The queen of Omega?' Garrus asks incredulously.

'Trustworthy here means not connected to the vast Asari conspiracy to conceal the fact that they have a Prothean Beacon and have been using it to maintain Asari superiority for millennia. It doesn't mean someone of good moral character, it means someone unlikely to betray us.'

'You literally don't know of any other Asari who aren't likely to betray us besides Liara, a random matriarch you won't meld with, and Aria?' Tali asks incredulously.

'Oh, is the Quarian going to stand up for the Asari? The same Asari that stripped you of your status as a Citadel race after the Morning War instead of helping you out? The Asari run an E-Democracy. We need an Asari willing to not fuck with my mind to help the Asari maintain control over the galaxy. I'm sorry if there are very few Asari I'm willing to trust with that. It's just those three and Pelessaria B'Sayle.'

'Pelessaria B'Sayle?' Liara asks.

'Peebee, she's half Elcor.'

'Well, that tells us absolutely nothing.' Garrus griped.

'What I'm hearing is that we can probably skip Feros, but we can't skip Ilos. And that if we do skip Feros I need to take you down onto Ilos with me.' Shepard observed.

'Yeah that sounds about right. Might wanna take the whole crew actually. Don't wanna be stranded at the citadel.' I agreed.

'How likely is it that the Council will impound the Normandy?' Tali asked, trying to get a handle on our odds.

'Well, in any situation where the Council has to choose between making a correct decision on the Reapers versus making a stupid decision... I'd say we have 100% chance of being impounded? But I could be biased by the fact that the Council keeps making extremely stupid decisions.'

I pause.

'Actually, you should probably alert Hackett that you'll probably need the Alliance fleet to protect the council when they flee the citadel. They're idiots, but they're more helpful than their replacements would be. Gets Humanity a seat on the council too.'

'A seat on the council! We fought their fucking war for over two hundred years and we didn't get a seat on the council!' Wrex roars.

'You didn't even fight in that war, Wrex. I did. Get over it.'

'How long did it take you to get over it?' Tali asks unhelpfully.

'The better part of half a millennium.' I reply.

I pause again. Looking over at Shepard.

'Anyway, message Hackett, tell him about the threat. Don't tell him about what's at stake for Humanity. We've got Salarians on board. They'll know. Maybe alert him about Balak too? I don't know the Asteroid, but I do know a woman named Kate Bowman works on it.'

'Yeah, that way the Alliance can save Terra Nova and we can focus on Ilos.' Shepard decides.

'Then we have a plan?' Ashley asks, hopeful.

'We do.' Shepard agrees.

I book it to the door. 'Well, as fun as that was, I need to take a nap. It's been a very stressful day.'

'Tired? You didn't even fight on Virmire! you could at least answer my questions about the actual live Protheans you met!' Liara reacts angrily.

'It was fifteen live Protheans! And I'm sorry, but I can't hear you. I'm asleep. Krogan can do that. Sleep standing up, I mean. It's all the extra brain capacity we have from being Krogan. But since we're asleep we can't answer questions.' I lie.

'See you tomorrow!' I smile, before opening the door and letting myself out.

Never liked meetings anyway.

__________

2183 CE

In the end, Shepard alerted Hackett to the issue on Terra Nova, and the threat to the council, and asked if Hackett could locate Pelessaria B'Sayle a.k.a. PeeBee for her.

I 'slept' the entire trip to Ilos. Well, mainly only when Liara asked me questions about the Protheans. Since we were headed straight to Ilos from Virmire, the Salarians stayed with us; and I didn't want to give the damn lizards anything more than necessary.

I warned Shepard that we're going to need to be in an enclosed structure when we travel through the conduit. We can't just go on foot. She seemed grateful for the heads up, but otherwise in a bad mood. I'm not sure why. I've been in a great mood ever since our talk. Nothing but smiles and jokes!

Well, whatever Shepard's feeling it probably isn't enough to put her off her work.

I did catch her kissing Liara in one of the more secluded corners of the ship though. I should probably have a talk with Shepard about the importance of faithfulness in a relationship.

Don't want her deciding to date Jacob when she comes back to life. She'd get to learn that lesson the hard way.

Anyway, the plan, as far as it goes, is to get to Ilos, get the data, preserve Vigil, and if possible follow Saren through the conduit and get out. Shepard came to ask me if I knew how to kill Sovereign a day or two later.

'A fleet. It's gonna take an entire fleet.' I replied.

'He's got some sort of link with Saren, I'll tell you when we see it. If we fight him on foot, we can take Sovereign's shields down. after that it'll be up to the fleet.'

Shepard was less than happy about that.

'What weapon do we need to make to kill these things?'

'If I knew that, I would have made it back during the Rachni Wars when I still designed weapons.'

You know, just heartening uplifting conversations.

I still don't know if Wrex or Shepard picked up the Genophage cure. That shouldn't be bothering me as much as it is, but I'd expected that these damned Salarians would be off the Normandy by now. Normally I'd retreat into my Kodiak, but I can't do that anymore, can I?

Fuck. I really had hoped I'd be able to save Kaidan. If I lost my shuttle doing that it would have been worth it, but losing my shuttle and Kaidan still dying anyway just... hurts.

The worst part is that I still feel like I'm lying to the crew. They all think I know something I'm not telling them, but I don't think they realize the implications of what I know.

Would Liara thank me or punch me if she realized that I'd known Benezia was going to die on that mission? Maybe she already realizes it and feels like asking will just... make it real?

Fuck. I hate everything about this.

_____________

Author's Notes: And just as promised, that's everything before Ilos wrapped up in a bow. I'm at 72.7k now, and I just finished up writing the third to last Loyalty mission.

One of the fun things going through the Mass Effect series for the first time as it was released was making choices based on your own gut feelings and thoughts on the situation and then finding out what the results would be of a given Paragon or Renegade choice in the next game when it came out. So, how do you preserve that feeling with a character who knows the plot ahead of time? Have him make all new moral choices, the results of which he has no way of knowing ahead of time. Flip the board. Change the status quo up enough that his knowledge actually presents a problem just as much as it does a solution. I'm going to try and do a little bit of all of them. We'll see how it works out.
 
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CHAPTER 5: I Will Survive
CHAPTER 5: I Will Survive

2183 CE

We actually beat Saren to Ilos, oddly enough.

We didn't beat the Geth though. Had to murder at least a hundred Geth on our way to Vigil. Liara put me on blast about shooting up important archaeological finds, and I had to remind her that I was being shot at. Besides, it's not like her biotic mass effect fields don't do any damage to the site. You can't throw a Geth into a mural and then complain that shooting at the mural is worse. Even if it is, that's a matter of degree rather than kind!

'This is the most important Prothean site in History!'

'It's barely even Prothean. Most of this site is Inusannon.' I explained.

'That just makes it worse! you can see how that makes it worse, can't you!?' Liara shouted back.

Like I said, Liara was being absolutely unreasonable. I'm expecting the next words out of her mouth to be 'That belongs in a Museum!'

Actually, I should send her those movies before Shepard bites it They start getting really good again after the sixth one, when they cast Nicholas Cage as Indy's grandfather. She'll probably appreciate them far less once she decides that she's a stern serious information broker.

Anyway. I forgot how damaged Vigil was, and the fact that it could sense Indoctrination. If a machine can tell if someone is Indoctrinated, then that means that Indoctrination is measurable by machine sensors. I think I'm probably going to need to run some highly unethical tests next year. A space ship packed with sensors to monitor the crew would probably work. Program it to strand itself and then add in some Reaper tech? I'd be able to monitor the brains of the crew as they slowly became indoctrinated, and then I could blow the ship to hell at the end of the experiment.

I can probably make it a little less unethical if I make sure to run the experiment on people who were already asking for it?

Maybe I can trick pirates into boarding on the assumption that it's full of vulnerable passengers that would be excellent slaves?

No wait, there's no way to get away with it. I'm still being monitored by pretty much every government in the universe. One of those jerks is sure to interfere with the experiment. They'll unleash the indoctrinated assholes, and ruin the data in the process.

I'll have to mention the idea to Miranda Lawson, or Mordin Solus. They could probably get the work done in a way that'll let me steal the data. And I trust them enough to believe that they won't get themselves indoctrinated out of sheer stupidity.

Actually...

'Vigil, do you have any data on how to detect indoctrination?'

'I do. There is a data file on my console. I will highlight it for you.'

'Any data you have on devices that can kill a Reaper too, while you're at it.' Shepard added.

'I regret that I have no such data. The staff at the Ilos facility never encountered a Reaper, nor did we encounter anyone who had fought them.'

'Worth a try, Kid.' I smiled.

'So what now? We have the information that we need, and the Conduit is uncontested.' Liara spoke up.

'Yeah, but we need Saren to go through the Conduit so that he and Sovereign are in the crosshairs of our fleet. We can't fight Sovereign anywhere else because the fleet won't go anywhere else.' I replied.

'So what, we lay in wait and continue to fight the Geth until Saren arrives?'

'Either that or head back to the Citadel and deal with the Council. If we're lucky they might surround the relay monument with some of C-Sec.' I replied.

'Big help that'll be.' Shepard rolled her eyes.

'Then I guess we will stay here, and hunt Geth.' Liara spoke up.

'Sounds like my idea of a good time.' I grinned.

__________

2183 CE

It actually took almost a week before Saren showed up. An entire week of Liara questioning Vigil about the Protheans and doing taking notes on Inusannon architecture and culture. She's pretty sure that the Inusannon were a peaceful race of philosophers. I'm not so certain.

Just as planned, Saren managed to make it to the Conduit. We followed in the Mako shortly after him. We caught up with him in the Praesidium, which meant a running gun battle to the Council chambers. Sovereign managed to pull off the initial attack, but looking up at the sky, it looks like Joker managed to grab the 5th fleet and bring it in for back up before Sovereign could lock the mass relays. I hope that's a good thing.

We ran after him and thanks to being only seconds behind him we didn't even have to climb the outside of the Citadel Spire! We got to have an elevator gun battle instead! Those are always really fun, though never very decisive. I know there's another one in store in the future when we have to rescue the Council from Udina's assassination plot. I had been planning to avoid derailing that because what sort of deranged maniac gives up a chance to fight an elevator gun battle? Now I think I'll probably just send Sparatus, Valern, and Telos an email giving them a head's up beforehand. Maybe Ashley too? She'd probably be pissed at me if I didn't warn her that she was going to be secretly taken advantage of by a traitor for the benefit of Cerberus. She kind of makes a big deal out of Cerberus, doesn't she?

Yeah, it would be a total dick move not to tell her. I'll send her an email a couple days before.

The gun battle though was great! Everything you want in an elevator battle! And it's even better than the one to save the Council because this one has glass walls and gorgeous views so you can enjoy the scenery at the same time as you shoot Geth, and there's even a nice undertone of breaking glass to add a bit of spice to it! Wrex is going to be so jealous when he hears about this. I wish I could show him!

That's an idea. Maybe get an in-suit vid recorder to record all the really fun battles and hold them over Wrex? I'd get to gloat, and he'd get to witness me gloating. Everyone wins! You know, statistically. I win twice, and there are two Krogans, so on average, that's one win per Krogan, right?

I grin as I knock a Geth juggernaut off the Elevator next to us and into the open air, enjoying the sight of it fall-

'They have jetpacks!? Why did no one tell me that the juggernauts have jetpacks!? Why do they never use them?' I ask incredulously as I watch the juggernaut that I was certain I had killed in a really fun way slowly coast to the ground using its jetpack.

I look around at my companions and Shepard just shrugs.

'I'm an expert on the Protheans, not the Geth.' Liara reminds me.

'You're barely an expert on either.' I scoff.

I take a second to shoot a Geth rocket trooper.

'But you're definitely more of an expert than anyone else in the Galaxy other than me, and I guess the Protheans your government kidnapped, and maybe whoever is researching them, and Shepard, obviously.' I reassured her.

'Was your intent to be reassuring? Protheans can't be experts on Prothean culture anyway.' Liara asked skeptically.

I shook my head at Liara's instinctive cultural bias. 'You really should examine those cultural biases, Liara. I expected better from someone who's a quarter Krogan. Anyway, if we completely and baselessly exclude the fifteen actual real life Protheans that I unearthed, you're definitely in the top ten Prothean experts, though! You know, probably.'

'Wait. What do you mean a quarter Krogan? My mother wasn't part Krogan! And anyway, Asari reproduction doesn't work that way!' Liara protested.

'I know your dad. She's half-Krogan.' I admitted.

'Who is she? Can you introduce me?' Liara asked, hopefully.

'We're... not exactly on speaking terms.' I admitted shooting a Geth hopper out of the air as it tried to leap onto our elevator.

'Also, I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm dead.' I continue.

'Why would she think that?' Liara asked, confused.

'I faked my death.'

'When? I read your biography, you've never had another name. Isn't that a big part of faking your death?' Liara asked.

'Huh. I knew I forgot something... But, in my defense, I was very, very drunk.'

'If she doesn't believe you're dead, maybe you can introduce me to her after all?' Liara asks hopefully.

'In that case... Definitely not. I'm pretty sure knowing I'm alive would only make her angrier. Also, it would be really awkward too.'

Both of our elevators reached the top just as Sovereign touched down on the tower, throwing us all to the ground.

Well, not Saren. He scrambled up onto the console and input a code. Literally just three buttons.

Suddenly all the noise of the Citadel just... shut off.

Shepard and Saren talked at each other and I sort of ignored the conversation to study him.

'--Krogan.'

'What?' I asked.

'Were you not paying attention?' Liara asked, incredulously.

'Yeah. Sorry, I zoned out a bit.'

'Sovereign is minutes away from calling the Reapers back and killing all organic life in our Universe and you're distracted?" She asked incredulously.

'Just the Milky Way galaxy, I think.' I replied.

'Krell, we are in the Milky Way galaxy.' Liara emphasized.

Our argument was interrupted by a gunshot. I immediately grabbed Liara and ducked behind the nearest waist-high barricade, only for that to be completely unnecessary. The shot came from Saren, but it was also aimed at Saren as well.

'Shepard, did you talk Saren to death?' I asked, shocked. I didn't think Shepard was enough of a Renegade to do that, not missing Feros. She definitely shouldn't have been Paragon enough. I wonder what happened?

The rest of the day proceeded mostly according to plan. Shepard locked Sovereign out of the Citadel. Liara and I headed down and make sure Saren was really dead. He was. I shot him in the head a second time to make sure.

And then he got up again and Sovereign puppeted his body like a robot made of meat to fight us.

We shot him a little, then we shot him a lot, and then the Saren-thing died and Sovereign's shields dropped and the Reaper was shot to bits. A good outcome all around!

Of course, now there's Reaper bits all over the Citadel; unshielded Reaper bits.

Fuck.

I guess I have another paper to write on Reaper Indoctrination through Reaper wreckage.

I should probably forward the data from Vigil about detecting Indoctrination as well for that one.

Damn it. I'm not going to get any sleep tonight, am I?

_____

2183 CE

No sooner than Shepard had nominated Captain Anderson for the position on the Council than we were on the Normandy again and headed back to Feros.

Sovereign apparently took its Geth from the planet once it made its run on the Citadel, so there actually wasn't all that much left to do other than rescue the staff in Exogeni headquarters, retrieve the Exogeni data, blackmail that one Exogeni suit into supporting the colony, and then head over to the Colony and take out the colonists with stun weapons before fighting our way to the Thorian.

Shepard killed it, and got the Cipher from Shiala.

Oddly enough she wasn't willing to let me fight the colonists. Something about 'unacceptable amounts of collateral damage.' Which is a totally unfair charge, by the way. Sure I've blown up at least one space station that I can remember, but that's nothing Humans haven't done too and they don't get a reputation as adrenaline junkie warmongers who love explosions!

They really should, though. They're not the most Krogan-like race in the galaxy for nothing. Even Wrex agrees with me.

We headed back to the Citadel for an awards ceremony. I gave Wrex a copy of my paper on the dangers of Reaper Indoctrination and the code from Vigil for identifying Indoctrinated agents. He worked for the Shadow Broker, but he was also going to try and restore Clan Urdnot. Either way the wider the distribution of this particular information the better. Tali also got a copy to send back to the Migrant Fleet as part of her Pilgrimage. Anderson too. I added both him and Shepard to my email list. I even forwarded them an archive of all my past unsourced papers. Hopefully they would be of use.

That night, I cornered Shepard outside the Normandy.

'You're dating Liara?' I asked as nonchalantly as a Krogan in full battle armor holding an assault rifle in a vaguely menacing fashion can manage.

'I am.' Shepard replied with a challenging expression in her eyes.

'Liara means a lot to me. I think of her as my own grandchild. If you break up, you break up. But don't cheat on her, understand?' I subtly threaten her.

Shepard takes a look at the barrel of the weapon which I have thrust in her mouth. It's not an actual NK-47, I lost most of those with my shuttle. It's a toy mock up made of plastic. Still, despite the small bit of deception, I was at that time very hopeful that it would make my point without being excessively unsafe.

At which point some jerk with biotics threw me off the catwalk and onto the Normandy, leaving my fake assault rifle hanging inside Shepard's mouth.

'Damn Pyjak! Do you know how dangerous that was--!"

I blink.

'Kaidan?' Shepard asks.

'Are you okay Commander? I saw Krell about to execute you and I panicked!' The formerly dead man claimed.

'About to execute-- You damned Pyjak! Do you know how fucking dangerous what you did was? I pulled the trigger when you threw me!' I shouted.

'You were trying to kill her!' Kaidan yelled back.

'If I were trying to kill her I'd have used a real gun!'

'It's plastic.' Shepard realized, looking at the prop.

'Of course it's plastic. A move like that would be way too dangerous if I'd used a real gun!'

'What... What is going on?' Kaidan asked, now thoroughly confused.

'Nothing to worry about. Just a little light threatening.' I grumbled.

'He was telling me to treat Liara right.' Shepard explained.

'You and... Liara? But I thought we-'

'Back off, Pyjak. I didn't save your life so you can get Shepard to try and two-time Liara. And gimme back my damn shuttle, you obviously used it to get out of the blast radius.'

'Ah right. Your shuttle.' Kaidan blushed.

'Kaidan. Where's my Shuttle?' I asked with rising curiosity and anger.

'Virmire?' Kaidan replied.

'Why are you asking that like a question instead of saying it like a statement, Kaidan?' I threatened.

'Because I think the rest of your shuttle is in space.'

'In sp- In Space! Alenko! Did you blow up my shuttle!?'

'The bomb blew up your shuttle! I got clear of the blast but the secondary emissions knocked out navigation.' Kaidan defended.

'WHO SET THE FUCKING BOMB, YOU JACKASS!' I roared.

'I SET THE- Right... I guess I did blow up your shuttle. A little bit anyway.' Kaidan finally admitted.

'How little.'

'Half?'

'Half!?'

'No more than three quarters!'

'That's worse though! You can tell that that's worse, can't you!?' I raged.

'I'll get you a new shuttle!'

'You'd better fucking get me a new shuttle! You trashed my last one! All my stuff was in it!'

'Didn't I watch you transfer all your personal effects to your locker before Virmire?' Shepard added, unhelpfully.

'That's not the point!' I yelled at her.

'Damn it. You've sucked all the fun out of this, Alenko. See you around, Shepard. Ring me up in 2185. I'll see you on the SR-2 then.' I decided, leaving in a manner which in no way, shape, or form could be described as a huff.

It couldn't be a huff. After all, I was singing.

Well, grumbling, anyway. That was close enough to singing. After all, I was a musician once too. If I said it was singing, it was singing.

'And now you're back, from outer space. I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face. … I should have changed that stupid lock. I should have made you leave your key. If I had known for just one second you'd be back to bother me...'

Stupid Humans. They really are just like Krogan. You think they're dead and then there they are, just as alive as when you last saw them.

And Joker thought I wasn't an expert on Humans!
___________

Author's Note: So this is the last chapter until I finish writing up Mass Effect 2. I'm at the derelict Reaper mission and 78k words. I don't actually know how much is left in that. I need to go through it and add some foreshadowing for some stuff I want to reveal in ME3 that's happening behind the scenes. People missed some foreshadowing I've already put in, so I want to give you guys another chance to catch it. Anyway, I have a whole warmup chapter for the interregnum between ME1 and ME2. You guys'll get that once I've finished 2 and start on my final revisions. Might be a few days.

And don't worry about the various speed running skips that Krell has done that were already foreshadowed. There will be plenty of all new content to make up for them in ME3. Well, at least one new scene of content. Already have it written. Probably will add more.
 
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CHAPTER 6: My Evil Plan to Save the World
CHAPTER 6: My Evil Plan to Save the World

2183 CE

I was off the Normandy, but Tali, Liara, and Garrus stayed on a little longer. Shepard was called immediately after the Awards ceremony to help out Terra Nova. I didn't really pay attention to how that turned out. Instead I sat down in my apartment to try and figure out what to do until Shepard comes back to life.

I'd told her, in private after the ceremony. Turns out when you save the Council even the Krogan get medals; take that Chewbacca! Anyway, I told her what I remembered. Collectors blow up the Normandy, it happens in the Terminus, it's an ice planet, there's a large green or orange planet nearby, and the name is Al-something or other. I also told her that the Collectors were hunting her specifically, and I know she can be revived if she dies there, but I'm not so sure about anywhere else. She asked if the crew made it out. I told her that Joker did, thanks to her; as did Liara. But Pressley definitely dies as do several others.

Shepard pondered it for a while, before coming to a conclusion. She told me that she had orders and she had to follow them but thanked me for the heads up. I told her to make sure to save Joker and my granddaughter's asses, that we'd need them for the next big fight. Then I told her I'd see her again in two years.

_______________

2183 CE

A month after the battle of the Citadel, I still hadn't figured out what to do about my newfound free-time. Which wasn't to say that I was doing nothing. I was going back and reciting all my papers on the Protheans, reapers, and indoctrinating theory, but now with Commander Shepard as the cited source of all the information.

Liara was absolutely livid at me.

Still, it needed to be done. And anyway, technically I cited it to the Prothean beacon as related to me by Commander Shepard. So really it wasn't that bad since the original source was the same anyway. What's a little academic dishonesty between friends when you're trying to save the Galaxy?

Liara stopped speaking to me for a week. Even temporarily blocked my emails.

I also wrote all new papers on Indoctrination theory, and the existence of the Prothean cipher. Since the council hadn't ordered me to keep quiet, and the Human military didn't actually control what I did and couldn't order me to zip it, and the Krogan government basically didn't exist, these were as much narrative military reports about my missions with Commander Shepard as anything else; with massive footnotes explaining the exact circumstances by which I came by each bit of information, including a thorough analysis of the husks and the Geth. This included after notes with theories about the implications of dragon's teeth, and all the other little bits of reaper tech lying around. It also included links to my paper on Vigil's Indoctrination detecting software, as well as links to the same.

I had them edited together and released as a non-fiction adventure novel. The publisher's store crashed three times from too many people trying to order it. On the third day, the site went down completely, only returning to the Extranet without my book for sale.

This only made demand skyrocket even higher.

Unfortunately, I couldn't seem to manage to keep the damned thing hosted up. Even the intrepid book pirates couldn't manage it. I sold several million copies before things came crashing down though, so I'm hopeful that the information will at least pass along through word of mouth.
_______________________________

2183 CE

It was three days after I had given up on selling my book that I got news of Commander Shepard's death.

'Did you know about this?' Liara accused me over email.

'With strange eons, even death may die.' was my response.

I'm pretty sure she understood what I was hinting at. Probably.

Like, 30% sure at least.

I probably shouldn't stay at any locations she knows about though, just to be safe.

I think I need to talk to Wrex and Morda about the Andromeda Initiative.

_______

2184 CE - Eden Prime War officially ends. Raloi discover Asari. Alliance first encounters Vorcha. Collectors begin harvesting Alliance worlds to create new Reaper.

'Did you know Shepard was gonna die?' Wrex asked as I jumped into his Tomkah.

'I told her ahead of time. She's only mostly dead. She got sucked out an airlock in a depressurized suit and then made an atmospheric reentry onto an ice planet. Smaller than Tuchanka, with thinner atmosphere.' I explained.

'Huh. She's a tough one if she survived all that.' Wrex remarked.

'She needs surgery and like a year or two of cutting edge medical treatment before she gets better, but once she does she'll have these glowing scars beneath the skin of her face.' I continued.

'Ah, no wonder she decided to stay the course. She'll be able to get any lover she wants, Krogan or Human!' Wrex chuckled.

'Which is why I'm gonna join her on her ship once she gets back to fighting fit.' I agreed.

'You sure it's not all those amazing fights she finds? Still can't believe you got to fight in an elevator like that.'

'Of course it's the fights, Wrex. But if I can make sure Shepard's attention doesn't stray in the meantime and ensure my daughter's happiness in the process...' I trailed off.

'It's like bombing a fuel depot.' Wrex agreed.

It took several hours, but eventually we managed to rendezvous with Morda.

________________

2184 CE

Morda liked the Andromeda initiative idea. Wrex didn't. I told them both some highlights.

Morda got the story of Alec Ryder and his kids. She also got a short summary of the Kett, the Scourge, and the Remnant. I mentioned the Angara as well as the fate of the Keelah Si'yah, the Quarian Arc. Finally I spoke of the Nexus Uprising and the treachery of Jarun Tann.

I don't know if Morda believes me, but at least she knows.

Wrex got something far more interesting. First, I handed him copies of all my papers on the Reapers, as well as all my Binary Helix data that I stole in Peak 15 but still hadn't actually gotten around to sorting through yet. You know how it is.

Then, I told them the backstory of Maelon Heplorn and the Salarian sabotage of the Shroud.

'I have a plan for how to cure it. There's one guy in particular I absolutely know can do it. I'll be working on it. Don't approach the Shroud till then. Don't try to cure it yourself unless you can manage the needed stealth. We don't wanna tip the Salarians off before there's enough political pressure to force them to let us be cured. So keep quiet about all this and don't tell anyone, understand? No one.' I warned.

Wrex nodded.

'If the Genophage is to be cured through science it needs to be cured through the Shroud.' I explained.

'Through science...' Morda noted.

'Maelon's story tells us something useful. We can evolve past the Genophage as long as the Salarians aren't there to stop it. Just make sure you keep control of any Remnant tech on New Tuchanka.' I agreed.

'Anyway, we're going to need Maelon's data. I'll work on getting it my way, but Wrex? Unless you have a Genophage cure in your pocket, you're gonna want to secure a copy another way. Maybe send in a nice promising scientist who knows to get the fuck out once the place is attacked?'

Wrex smiled knowingly at me.

'Nah. No Genophage cure here. I didn't manage to get the data off of Virmire.' he replied.

I wasn't sure what to make of that at all, but with that meeting settled and Wrex and Morda both warned, I was free to make my plans.

___________

2184 CE

I didn't want to stick around on Omega. ME2 opens with a plague. I'm not a big fan of that. Presents an unnecessary risk. Unfortunately that means helping Garrus and Mordin were both out of the question.

Liara was doing her own thing. She had my email if she needed it.

Tali was a big bad agent of the Quarian fleet now. Helping her now wouldn't help her in the long run. She needed the experience, and the respect. She'd emailed me asking if I knew Shepard was going to die. I told her that Shepard was aware, and that Liara was fixing the problem.

Ashley was busy the Alliance. Horizon, I think. Didn't even get an email from her.

I wasn't about to join Cerberus to follow my old friends, yet.

That just left one person unaccounted for.

'Kaidan! Old buddy! Old pal!'

The terror in Kaidan's eyes as he threw me through his coffee table told me that all the effort I'd spent to sneak into his apartment and hide for hours in the dark until he came home were totally worth it.

'Krell! What the hell is the matter with you!'

'With me? You're the one that keeps attacking me every time you see me! I'm not the problem here.' I lied.

'What the hell do you want, Krell?'

'You owe me a new shuttle.'

'I already told you, I can't afford a new shuttle right now! It'll have to wait a few years! I thought Krogan were supposed to be patient.' Kaidan replied, exhasperated.

'Yeah, I thought about that, and then I realized, we can kill one Salarian by throwing the other at them.'

'That's not a saying. You're definitely making that up.' Kaidan declared.

'Of course it's not a saying. It's incredibly hard! Salarians aren't aerodynamic at all, and they flail the entire time. You've gotta pick them up just above the hips and-'

Kaidan had the nerve to cut me off. 'Are you trying to teach me how to kill Salarians? Because I'm not anywhere near as strong as a Krogan. I can't lift something that size!'

'Size matters not! Look at me. Judge me by my size do you?' I quoted.

'I- How do I even answer that?' Kaidan asked as I pull myself out of the remnants of his coffee table.

'You can grab 'em with your biotics. Now take notes, kid. This is useful stuff.'

'It really isn't. Is this really why you broke into my apartment and scared the crap out of me? To teach me how to kill Salarians less efficiently?' Kaidan asked, confused.

'It's more efficiently! You kill one Salarian with another, you double your efficiency!' I corrected.

'That's not the point I'm making, Krell.'

'Fine. You're on paid leave, and you owe me a shuttle. I know where a shuttle is but I need a Biotic to get me in. You help me with this heist, and I'll write off your debt.'

'What is this, a gangster movie? A heist? Are you really serious, Krell?'

'Deadly.' I reply.

'Why should I help you?' Alenko asked.

'You mean, besides your appreciation for the fact that I saved your life, your broken promise to me, the fact that you wrecked my last shuttle, and the fact that there is a heavily armed and increasingly upset Krogan in your living room telling you to do something?'

'All of those are extremely good reasons, but yes, I did want some motivation beyond that.'

'The shuttle currently belongs to The Blue Suns; and the jerks we're stealing from are the same guys who tried to give Shepard's body to the collectors.'

'The Blue Suns?' Kaidan asked.

'Wait, Shepard's body?' Kaidan replied a second later as his brain finally caught up with him.

'Well, Shepard herself, maybe? She's only mostly dead. Not sure you humans have a word for that like Krogan do. Liara's given it to Cerberus to revive her.'

Kaidan blinked. 'Krell, you're joking right? This is serious. Cerberus are really bad guys! We can't just leave them with Shepard's body! All their experiments are insane and catastrophic! They tried to control those weird husks! Then the weird husks got loose and killed all their scientists!'

'Those were Thorian Creepers. We figured it out on Feros. They also tried to control the Rachni, who then got loose and killed all their scientists. And thresher maws, which did the same.' I explained.

'So then why would giving Shepard's body to Cerberus ever be a good idea!?'

'You really should calm down, kid. This can't be good for your blood pressure.' I soothed.

'That's not an answer to my question, Krell.' Kaidan observed, gritting his teeth.

'Right, so far here's what you established; every time Cerberus has a secret project trying to control something, that thing then breaks free, and slaughters all their scientists. If Cerberus has a secret project to control Shepard...'

'You can't be serious about taking those odds, Krell!' Kaidan asked, severely misjudging me.

'I definitely am. Anyway, I'm not gonna let the kid travel around the Galaxy without me. She's interesting. I'll be sure to keep an eye on her. Make sure she's the real deal and not that clone they're working on.'

'Clone!'

'Calm down, kid. You're gonna give me anxiety just looking at you. Are you gonna help me steal this shuttle from the Blue Suns or not?'

The answer, apparently, as 'Not.'
_________

2184 CE

I sent Tali a letter telling her to be on a lookout for Shepard sometime next year. I told her that I had reliable evidence that Shepard was recovering from severe injuries and would be recovered by then. This was technically true, if you thought of death as a 'severe injury.'

Tali asked about the rest of the Normandy crew. I told her I didn't know, but I thought Joker and Chakwas got out, and I knew Liara was safe too. I also praised Shepard's intuition and how she'd probably had a gut feeling it was coming.

I think Tali understood the subtext. She was much more observant than Liara, after all.
_________

2184 CE

I honestly did not expect Hackett to find Peebee, much less to be able to send her my way, but lo and behold, he managed it. Pelessaria B'Sayle a.k.a. Peebee, stands at my door.

'Peebee?' I ask, just to make sure.

'Professor Krell?' Peebee asks in return.

That's me.' I nodded.

'I was told you needed to see me and that it was a matter of galactic security? I'm not sure if this is more like 'We Meet Again, Doctor Fear' or 'Krantt Hardly Wait'?' Peebee asked.

I couldn't help but laugh at the comparison.

'Hah! A little of both, I think. Though the roles in Krantt Hardly Wait would be reversed. There was a matter of galactic security, but it was resolved. With that said, there's a second matter of galactic security I think that you could help with.' I decided.

'Alright, old man. If you say so.' Peebee stated skeptically.

'So, not to panic you or anything, but the attack on the Citadel wasn't just the Geth. It also included the sentient synthetic race that wiped out the Protheans; the Reapers. Sovereign was a Reaper ship. Also a Reaper. There isn't really a distinction between the two because synthetics are weird.' I explained offhandedly.

'Okay.' Peebee nodded. She was with me so far.

'Sometime after the Andromeda mission leaves, in about two years give or take a few months, an army of ships like Sovereign will invade and start killing everyone in the Milky Way.' I continued, blithely.

'Has anyone ever told you that you are literally the worst at not panicking people and at breaking bad news? Because you are. You're literally the worst.' Peebee replied, with an underlying note of panic.

'The good news, is that the Reapers do not care about Andromeda at all!' I replied.

'I know this format. This is a human meme format! You're doing a human meme! And in the meme the bad news is always--'

'The bad news, is that the Kett do.' I finished.

'Terrifyingly bad.' Peebee finished at the same time.

'That wasn't as terrifying as I thought it would be?' Peebee confessed once I was done.

I looked at her, wondering why. I was actually kind of impressed. Maybe she was braver than I thought?

'What are the Kett?'

Oh. That explains it then.

'We'll get to that. But first, I want to talk about what you're going to encounter in Andromeda.'

'Doesn't that include the Kett?' Peebee asked, trying to use logic.

'Yes. Anyway. There's this really cool thing going on there. It's like if the Protheans built giant terraforming structures. They're technically still alive today? They're called the Remnant. They won't be alive when you get there, but their structures will! All kinds of neat robots and cool tech all wrapped up in an archeological enigma that literally no one else has studied!' I revealed.

Peebee stared at me. 'And?'

I narrowed my eyes at her. 'You know given how enthusiastic you will be after seeing it I sort of assumed that telling you about it would spark something, at least.' I admitted.

'What can I say? I'm a simple maiden with simple needs?' Peebee declared.

'You know what? I think I'll just give you the same data package I gave to Morda and my son.' I decided.

'You have a son? But I thought all Krogans were impotent and couldn't get their dicks up without Asari help?' Peebee asked, shocked. Or perhaps feigning shock.

I stared at her. 'You know, if you told that joke to any other Krogan besides me you'd probably have lost your head by now.'

'Joke?' Peebee asked, confused.

'What the hell is wrong with the Asari education system?' I wondered, desperately.

'Oh! I know the answer to that one! The Council of Matriarchs says it's immature maidens who don't take learning seriously! I wrote something like that on my essay for history of education, and I got a really good grade!' Peebee admitted.

'It really sounds like the issue there is the Council of Matriarchs, actually.' I admitted.

I started to pace.

'Okay, let's do a broad overview. You, Peebee, are currently dating a sociopath called ... Something or other. Very Asari sounding. She sucks and is a jerk. You should dump her.' I explain.

'Hey! I don't tell you who to date!' Peebee protested.

'I'm almost certain that's due to a lack of opportunity rather than a lack of willingness.' I respond.

'Oh! I know this nice matron who's about your age that's still single! She has a thing for Krogan.' Peebee immediately decided.

'First, I don't date Asari anymore. The last time I tried My ex-wife tried to blow me up on a space station and crash the whole thing into a sun. Second, I'm over 2,000 years old. There are no Asari in the entire universe that are about my age.'

'Maybe you shouldn't have divorced her, then? Some Asari can be really clingy.' Peebee helpfully suggested.

'I didn't. She became my ex when I blew up the space station with her on it.' I admitted.

'Oh! Were you also on the space station? Because honestly, that's kind of hot and romantic at the same time.' Peebee admitted.

'No. I was in a space ship. It's a bad idea to blow up a space station while you are currently inside it.' I attempted to impart.

'But much less cool! Think of all the running from slow but inevitable death you get to do!' Peebee countered.

'That's why you like remtech!? The vault purge sequence where you have to run for your life from a slow but inevitable force field that will kill you the instant it touches you!?' I realized. If I were still human, I would probably describe my emotions as some strange mixture of shock, horror, awe, and fascination. But as a Krogan I had a much more efficient collection of emotions so mostly I was just feeling the main two, anger and confusion.

'Oooh! Something like that actually exists in real life!? Sign me up!' Peebee decided.

'You're already signed up to go to Andromeda. I pulled strings to get you woken in the first batch as a xenotech and first contact specialist.' I admitted.

'I'm definitely none of those things!' Peebee asserted, amused.

'Not yet. But you will be. You will be.' I agreed.

'Ooh! That was ominous! Great job!' Peebee grinned.

'Thanks. I wanted a nice blend of ominous and reassuring.' I explained.

'You definitely failed, then. That was the most ominous thing I've ever heard. Not reassuring at all!'

I frowned. 'How about if I do it like this? You will be. You will be...'

'Less ominous, but you definitely don't have reassuring down at all. Maybe more like this? Don't worry, you will be! You will be...'

'That's good. But there's too much tonal whiplash shifting from the first sentence to the second. I want a smooth consistent blend. I'll have to workshop it.'

'Yeah, it definitely needs work!' Peebee agreed, much too readily.

'Anyway. Big picture. You get to Andromeda okay, but in the time between now and then there's this big thing released called 'The Scourge' that hunts down and destroys Remtech. It's like this sort of static energy in space. It looks really weird. I have a drawing I made of it.' I explain, retrieving the visual aid I made for this purpose.'

'That looks like some sort of weird blend between lightning, snowflakes, and literal holes in the paper. How does it hunt down anything?' Peebee insults my artwork.

'Very slowly.' I replied.

She still looked confused, so I clarified. 'It's more of an environmental hazard than an enemy. You can find it on planets, but there's also an awful lot of it out in space.'

'So... Try not to run into it?' Peebee asked.

'Yes. Try not to run into it. It will kill you.'

Her eyes lit up, sparkling with delight.

'Then there are the Kett. They're a weird alien race that forcibly convert other beings into Kett by altering their genetics for as yet unknown religious reasons. They will also try and kill you.' I explained.

Peebee began to smile.

'Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to join a small elite team to research this unknown but extremely dangerous alien technology, fight and liberate the Heleus cluster from a barely understood evil alien race, and team up with a cybernetically advanced but really pretty Human who is probably into you to do it. All while getting to annoy another human who is way too into Asari Huntresses.'

'Oh wow! Sign me up! This is going to be just like Bloody Mary!' Peebee grinned.

'Bloody Mary?' I asked.

'It's a girl-power vampire buddy comedy flick. Just came out. You should watch it!' Peebee urged.

'I'll... put it on my list.' I agreed.

'Awesome! Is that all?'

'Don't you want to know how to defeat them? Or to end the Scourge? Or anything about what will happen or what you're up against?' I asked, confused.

'No way! That would ruin all the fun!' Peebee protested.

'Huh.' I replied.

'So yeah, old man. Is that all?'

'Yeah. That's all. Oh. Wait. One more thing. You're going to be traveling with my son. Nackmor Drack. Tell him I love him, okay?'

'Sure thing, Old man!' she grinned.

Beebee practically danced out the door. 'Whooo! This is great! A whole new galaxy to explore and it's definitely full of adventure! They have actual slow moving inevitable walls of death! This is the best day ever! I need to tell my mom! Oh! And break up with Kalindra. Can't be taken when there are hot human cyborgs around to bang!' Peebee gushed as she rushed out the door.

I rested my face in my palm.

'Well... I guess that could have gone worse?' I admitted.

'I'm just not quite sure how...' I finished up the thought.

Several hours later, I realized my mistake.

'Damn it! I forgot to give her the data packet!'
_________

2185 CE

'Damn it, Krell! You can't keep hiding in my apartment in the dark waiting for me to get home!'

'A wealth of evidence shows otherwise, kid.'

'You're not gonna pay me for any of the coffee tables you made me destroy, are you?'

'Why should I? You destroyed them. Besides, you learned a very valuable lesson in friendship, so really I should be charging you.'

'Friendship?'

'Friends don't use friends as projectiles.'

'Touche.' Kaidan admitted.

The human took a deep breath.

'Alright Krell, what undeserving group of shuttle owners do you want me to help you steal from this week?'

'This one's special, kid. This one I know you'll wanna help me on.'

'You said that one the last 5 shuttles you've proposed. Including the one you wanted to steal from that Salarian Orphanage.'

'I told you kid, that was an STG front.' I know he didn't believe me, but he could have at least pretended to humor me. Besides, the orphanage was way too well funded to not be STG. They could afford to lose a shuttle.

'You definitely told me that, and it definitely wasn't.' Kaidan denied.

'You don't know that for sure. Those Salarians are tricky.' I insisted.

'Who's your target this time, Wrex? Not another Terminus warlord, I hope?'

'What? Never heard of 'em. No, this time, we're going after some real pieces of work. Just, like, real jerks.'

'Oh god, It's another orphanage again, isn't it.' Kaidan asked, horrified.

'Like I said! They definitely weren't orphans.' I replied.

'Krell, are you ever going to take these conversations seriously?'

'Of course.' I lied.

The neat thing about Humans was that you could lie to them, and as long as they knew the truth, and knew that you also knew the truth and that you knew that they knew the truth as well, they'd take the lie as an inside joke instead. That's not something you can do with Krogan, but it definitely makes bantering with Humans a lot more fun.

Kaidan took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

'Who are you telling me to steal from this time, Krell?' Kaidan finally asked.

'Some real bad dudes. Even you think they're completely irredeemable!' I gloated.

'Who is it, Krell?' Kaidan asked with a hint of impatience.

'It's a pack of remorseless irredeemable killers. It's Cerberus. The same unit that has Shepard. I just got word they docked on Omega. All we need to do is steal their shuttle and get out. It'll be the perfect crime. No complications, I promise.'

This was definitely a lie, and Kaidan definitely didn't know the truth, but the other neat thing about humans? They loved harmless pranks.

_______________________


Author's Note:

Hiatus over. I'm at 97.5k words and finished with ME2 but for the interregnum between it and 3 (which includes Arrival, but Krell's not part of that since Shepard does it alone). ME3 is fully plotted out and my writing will probably be split between that and some additional scenes for Companions I neglected a bit the first time through, like Thane, who got a total of 0 scenes and dialogue because I literally forgot he existed. I need to fix that so I'm going to add a few scenes for him, Samara, and some others.

ME3 is a wild ride as plotted. I'm going to be focusing a bit on those scanning missions. It's all well and nice to say 'Shepard picked up such and such artifact from Reaper controlled space' but some of those missions actually sound like they have some really cool potential, so I'll be digging into some of them.

Anyway, ME2 starts next chapter.
 
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CHAPTER 7: Getting to Know You
CHAPTER 7: Getting to Know You

2185 CE

'WHAT PART ABOUT THIS IS NO COMPLICATIONS!?' Kaidan yelled unnecessarily loudly in my ear as he fired over my shoulder at the army of Vorcha chasing us through Omega.

'Don't worry! I've got everything under control!' I lied, unable to keep the laughter from my voice as the heat from the flamethrowers grew nearer.

'Krell! Is that you?'

'Sure is Shepard! And I even brought Alenko with me!'

'Shepar-- Shepard! You set me up, Krell! You knew she'd be here!'

'Of course I knew she'd be here! If you had helped me steal a new shuttle last year you wouldn't be in this situation!'

'Krell! That makes no sense!' Alenko whined like a child.

'Mordin! Take out those Flamers!'

'Pleasure to help Shepard!'

And with that, the Vorcha chasing us began exploding.

'Hey Shepard, long time no see!' I smiled as I ducked behind cover with her as Mordin Solus took care of Kaidan and my Vorcha problem.

'You son of a bitch. You knew I was gonna wake up in that Cerberus lab with Robots trying to kill me, didn't you?'

'Guilty as charged. but in my defense, you don't warn a kid away from fire just because you know they're gonna burn themselves. They'll be fine, and learn a valuable lesson.' I admitted.

'You absolutely do warn a kid that's going to burn themselves, Krell! What's wrong with you?' Kaidan yelled, again unnecessarily loudly, in my ear.

'You're some piece of work, Old man. You coming with me on this suicide mission?' Shepard asked, amused.

'It's only a suicide mission if you fuck up. And I'd rather Joker not have to fly that lovely ship home alone.' I replied.

'Wait, what? Joker? Suicide mission?' Alenko repeated. I wonder if he hit his head when I hauled him over my shoulder. He seems confused.

'Joker's my new pilot. Apparently a lot of the old crew joined Cerberus when they heard I was alive. Are you here to join up too?'

'We sure are.' I agreed.

'What's this we business! I'm just here to steal a shuttle and go home. And I don't even want to steal this shuttle anymore! I have qualms! Serious qualms!' Kaidan whined.

'Qualms? That sounds terrible. You should get that looked at by a doctor.' I reply with a grin.

'I can't just go AWOL from the Alliance!' Kaidan protested.

'You aren't.' I grinned and produced the coup de grace.

'Here are your orders, straight from Hackett himself.'

'Lt. Alenko. Effective immediately you are promoted to the rank of Commander. You have also been granted a mission of the utmost secrecy. You are to join the Cerberus-aligned Crew of the SR-2 Normandy and spy on them to ascertain whether the commanding officer is actually Commander Shepard or not.'

'Kid. You weren't supposed to read that part out loud.' I explained to him. Was he concussed? Nah. He didn't hit his head that badly. His barrier blocked most of the impact anyway.

'You will report your information to Nakmor Krell who will ensure your reports reach the Alliance, and the Council.' Kaidan ignored me.

'You definitely weren't supposed to read that part out loud, you dope.' I noted.

'Spies, huh?' Shepard grinned.

'Well, more like back channels.' I clarified.

'You had these orders the entire time!?' Kaidan whined, once more, unnecessarily.

'Obviously.' I agreed.

'Why the hell am I only seeing them now?' he complained.

'Honestly? It seemed a lot more fun this way.' I explained.

Mordin took a second to interrupt our conversation. 'Do not want to interrupt heartfelt reunion, but would be remiss if did not point out that the vorcha may have had friends.'

'Excellent point, Professor Solus! Let's get back to the ship. I'm sure we're going all become the best of friends.' I grinned.

'Why me?' Kaidan implored an uncaring universe.

'Because you destroyed my shuttle. This doesn't wipe out that debt by the way. You still need to get me a new one. You're here for orders now and you already said you're not gonna help me steal theirs.'

Shepard rolled her eyes. 'I'll get a second shuttle for you out of the budget if we can afford it. Now, Commander Alenko, it seems you'll be serving on my ship again. Personal article allowance is one footlocker. I'll ask Miranda to lend you some petty cash to fill one so you can go shopping before we leave. Krell, is there anything you can tell me that will help me here?'

'Besides the Identity of Archangel if you don't know it already? You need more than just the people willing to join you on a suicide mission if you wanna succeed. You also need their loyalty and your own good judgment in assigning roles. You're also gonna wanna make sure your shiny new ship can handle the strain. Beyond that? Just be yourself and it'll all work out fine. You know, probably.'

Then, with a nod from Shepard, Kaidan and I were members of the Normandy crew again.

________

2185 CE

'So, Mordin Solus, is it?' I asked as we stood in the airlock for decontamination.

'Nakmor Krell. Am familiar. Lost many good friends to you.' Mordin replied.

I've killed a fairly large amount of Salarian STG, in my days, but not any time in the last 50 of so years that I was aware of, which is why I was confused at that statement.

'Sorry?' I offered.

'Oh. Not in combat! They were part of Krogan studies department. They were assigned to your surveillance. Investigation of sources of your information. Very compartmentalized, even for within STG. High turnover. Unfortunate.'

'Well, don't worry, I won't ever tell you my sources.' I grinned.

'No? Had hoped. Still, probably better for long term health to not know.' Mordin replied.

'Eh, don't worry too much. You're part of the Normandy crew now. Shepard and I will look after you.' I promised.

'Excellent news. Did not look forward to this mission's retirement plan.' Mordin joked back.

The airlock opened, and for the first time ever, I entered the new Normandy.

________

2185 CE

'Joker! Long time, no see!' I called out happily. Mordin was already heading with Shepard to go inspect the lab.

Presumably she'd be back to talk to us later as part of her daily exercise routine of jogging through the entire ship and entering every room and talking to everyone. Might need to set something up myself. Don't want to risk getting flabby.

'Krell? Kaidan!? What are you doing here? I thought this time around the Professor was gonna be a Salarian.' Joker joked, more than a little shocked.

'You get two for the price of one this time!' I joked back.

'Apparently I've been assigned to check out Shepard and determine if she's real or not. I'm gonna be verifying those orders as soon as we get somewhere with an Alliance station comm station, by the way.' Kaidan warned.

'They're legitimate.' I reassured him.

'What are you doing here, Joker? I thought You got a promotion.' Kaidan asked.

'Yeah, to Anderson's personal shuttle pilot. Man, I like the guy, but flying a shuttle isn't really flying. No offense, Krell.' Joker explained.

'Some taken, mostly because mine got blown up by this yahoo, here.' I say, pointing at Kaidan.

'Are you ever gonna let that go?' Kaidan asks, plaintively.

I grin perkily. 'Sure! When you get me a replacement!'

'Well, whatever you do, don't steal one from Cerberus. They built me this beautiful shit, and then they threw in this enormous design flaw for free.' Joker confessed.

A large blue holographic ball on a stem flickered into existence next to him. 'I am not a design flaw, Mr. Moreau. I am working exactly as intended.'

'Yup. There it is. Liara's old room is now a fancy AI. You know, like the ones that rebelled against the Quarians. Or that thing on Luna.' Joker complained, using a surprisingly accurate example.

'Careful. You might upset her.' I quipped.

'I do not get upset, such emotions would run counter to my purpose.' EDI explained.

'See? It was Highway to the Danger Zone, but now it's Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto.' Joker lamented.

'Don't worry Joker, you'll be good friends soon enough, I expect.' Kaidan reassured him.

I grinned.

'Now, if you don't mind, I think I should find a place to sleep before all the good one's are gone.' I announced, turning to leave, leaving Kaidan to catch up with his old friend.

Before I could get too far, Joker called back. 'Yeah, well, nice to have you back, Krell!'

__________

2185 CE

'So this is the armory?' I asked as I walked into the room. It wasn't a bad setup. Had everything you'd beed for making weapons, assuming you had the blueprints. I saw a few avengers lying about, in the midst of being modified. A tempest and the outer shell of a Mattock, too. No NK-47s though.

'Wait, you look familiar... are you... Nakmor Krell?' Jacob asked trying to puzzle it out.

'That's me. And you're Jacob right?

'Jacob Taylor, that's right. Miranda tell you about me?'

'Something like that.' I admitted.

'Anyone ever tell you you have an eye for weapons design? The NK-47's a thing of beauty.' Jacob praised.

'Once or twice. That rifle's the culmination of over a hundred years of constant work and refining. That much time spent working on something you almost feel like it's one of your kids.' I explained.

'You have kids?' Jacob asked.

'Not many. Not anymore. It's been an awful long time and only two of em seemed to survived this long. Not really in either of their lives.' I admitted.

'Oh.' Jacob replied, disappointed.

'I saw my son two years ago, though! We parted on good terms.' I revealed.

'I guess when you live over a thousand years, a year or two here or there isn't very much, huh?' Jacob decided.

'Depends on the years, I guess. These last few have been pretty eventful.' I admitted.

'What's it like? Knowing you're going to outlive everyone else on this ship?' Jacob asked.

'Well, discounting the whole, suicide mission, thing, you mean?' I asked.

'Yeah.' Jacob agreed.

'It's almost jarring, sometimes. I'll see something ,or hear a songs and I'll immediately think of an old friend and want to call them up or write them, but they'll be over a decade dead. You go in to check in on people occasionally and they're just gone and no one even remembers who they were or that they lived there. Asari are better, but a Salarian? You meet them one year and they're gone in the blink of an eye. Sometimes you want to avoid getting attached.' I admit.

'Sometimes?' Jacob asked.

'Other times it's worth it.'

________

2185 CE

'So, just out of curiosity, were you planning to recruit Alenko and me on this suicide mission of yours?' I ask Miranda, admiring her office.

'Potential Dossiers were written for both of you, but we expected Commander Alenko to be unreachable at Grissom Academy. Since you already had 'Hijinks with Shepard' noted on your calendar, we assumed that you would either find us or make yourself available. As such a Dossier was assembled, but no means of contact was finalized.' Miranda explained.

'Huh. That actually makes sense.' I admit.

'Now, if you're done gathering information for your report?' Miranda groused.

'Come on Catsuit, don't think of it as me spying on you! Think of it like you just won a place on a reality show that won't pay you anything!' I encouraged.

'That just makes it worse; you can see how that makes it worse, can't you?' Miranda demanded.

'Well, now I can.' I admitted.

"Get out. Just... get out.' Miranda demanded tiredly.

'Any time, XO!' I grinned back.

What a wonderful start to a beautiful friendship.

__________

2185 CE

As I walked out of Miranda's office and towards the mess hall to make sure they had enough portions for me and the correct rations for my friend Garrus, the balding man behind the counter called out to me. 'Nackmore Krell! You know my kids all loved you growing up. My sister even took her youngest on a trip to Earth to see you perform in some show or another, a few years back. It'd mean the world to my nieces and nephews if I could get a vid capture with you.'

I looked at him something about the way he'd phrased that was odd. His nieces and nephews would want a vid capture, but not his own children? But there was something in his eyes that made me not want to ask. Almost automatically I slipped back into my professor persona. I found it worked best when dealing with fans. Quiet, slow speaking, no large and boisterous movements, soft in tone of voice, smiling with my eyes instead of my mouth; all emulated on the idea of an older tweed-wearing college professor. It all came together to help to make me seem non-threatening; a must for dealing with kids, and my non-Turian fans. 'Well, I don't have any problems with that, but you seem to have me at a disadvantage. You know my name, but I don't know yours.'

'Oh, right! Sorry bout that. Was just so excited to see you that I forgot myself. Mess Sargent Rupert Gardner, at your Service, Mr. Krell.' Rupert replied.

'Krell's my personal name. No need to put a 'Mr.' in front of it. You can just call me Krell. Or Professor if that seems like too much.' I offered.

'Krell's fine! Anyway, what brings you to the mess?' Gardner asked.

'Well, I wanted to make sure that we have enough for for me and my friend. I can eat pretty much anything Humans do, but my friend's a Turian, so he'll need dextro provisions.' I explained.

'Don't actually have all that much experience cooking for dextros, but Dr. Chakwas made us stock some Quarian provisions, just in case. They're processed to hell and back, but they keep for eternity and they're easy to store, so we've got more than enough to a while even if you wanna pick up two or three Turians.' Gardner assured me.

I smiled, making sure not to show any teeth in the process. 'Thanks. That's great news!'

'Any time, Krell! And it's great to meet you. Not sure how much help a scholarly man like you's gonna be on this thing. But we'll need brains and brawn if we wanna beat the Collectors, right?' Garner tried to reassure me.

'I'm sure I'll pull my weight, Rupert. It's been a pleasure to meet you.' I said, excusing myself. I looked over at Karin Chakwas' office. She seemed busy, so I'd bother her later. Didn't wanna be in her way, after all. That just left... the Engine room.
________________

2185 CE

'Oh my god. Ken, don't look now, but I heard that Professor Nakmor Krell just joined our mission!' Gabby Daniels gushed as I entered the engine room unseen from the door where Tali usually stands.

'Nackmor Krell? The krogan? Aye, what's he gonna do to help us? He's not a fighter. Is he?' Ken Donnelly countered.

'No, he's just a brilliant Mass Effect Engineer. Like, half of the Alliance's advances in Mass Effect technology come from his studies and notes! He just gave them to us at Shanxi! Jumped us forward a thousand years!' Gabby gushed.

'Aye, that's an exaggeration. A hundred, maybe, but a thousand?' Donnelly protested.

'It's not an exaggeration, Ken. He literally gave us a thousand years worth of research.' Gabby replied.

'I don't know. I think I agree with Ken. It may be a thousand years worth of notes, but they're still the notes of just one person. Science and engineering are collaborative efforts. It's only by working with each other that we advance the course of knowledge.' I chime in from the other side of the room.

Ken doesn't see me. His back is facing me so he's looking in entirely the wrong direction; but Gabby? Well, Gabby certainly does.

'See! He agrees with me to.' Ken replies, not even looking in my direction.

'Ken! Do you even know who that is?' Gabby sounds like she's on yhe verge of a panic attack.

'Someone with good taste in arguments!' Ken states in his scottish brogue.

'That's Professor Nakmor Krell!' Gabby reveals.

Ken spins around.

'You're a much bigger fellow in person.' He states, amazed.

'And you certainly know your way around a compliment.' I praised him back.

'Are you here to help us down here in Engineering?' Gabby asks, hopefully.

'I can lend a little help if I'm needed, but mostly I'm here to assist Shepard in a combat capacity.' I explain.

I can almost see the gears in Gabby's brain screech to a halt.

'I'm sorry, I think I misheard you. Could you repeat that?' Gabby asks.

'Certainly. I said that I'm mostly here to assist Shepard in a combat capacity.' I repeat.

'Combat? That's something you do?' Gabby asked. She seemed somewhat shocked.

'I'm quite proficient, I assure you. I fought on the front lines for around fifty years in the Rachni Wars, and I was Warlord of clan Nackmor for another two hundred and twenty years, about one hundred and twenty of which were during the Rebellions. There was also that adventure woth Shepard two years ago hunting Saren. I should be up to the task, I think.' I reassure her.

'You were in combat with Shepard too? I thought you were a mass effect engineer?' Gabby asked, stunned.

'I was, but that came much later; after my career as a writer.' I explained.

She blinked, slowly and I walked deeper into the room to examine the ship's core. It really was a marvel of engineering. Nice sound to it. No obvious dangerous distortions. I couldn't sense any leaks either. You get a sort of tingling in your bones near a leaking mass effect core, but there was none of that here. Looked like the ship was in good condition. That was good.

'Gabby! You look white as a ghost!' Ken worried.

''I think I'm in shock, Kenneth.' Gabby explained.

'Why's that? I know the man's a Krogan but he didn't say anything that upsetting.' Ken mothered.

'It's kind of like learning that Sir Issac Newton was actually the secret Identity of Ghengis Khan.' Gabby admitted.

'Man's a contemporary of Jesus, isn't he? He's bound to have had more than a few careers.' Ken observed as I walked out the door.

It was time to visit Zaeed.

___________

2185 CE

'Huh. You're Nakmor Krell.' Zaeed remarked as I entered the vhamber of the ship he'd chosen.

'You recognize me?' I asked, surprised. My reputation in Human space wasn't the sort that Zaeed would really be interested in.

There was no way that someone like Zaeed was recognizing me from a place like Sesame Street.

'Yeah. Stormed the ship of this Batarian raider party once. Their asshole pilot stole my ship and left me stranded in their unmoving junk heap for two weeks. The only thing they had to read was your 'Thoughts on War.' Your face was on the inside cover. Must have read and reread that book at least a dozen times before I got rescued by a sightseeing tour of Turian women. Took one look at my guns and my scars and promised to give me a lift as long as I entertained them with dome old war stories.' Zaeed admitted.

'What did you think of it?' I asked a bit curious.

'Good book. Solid fundamentals. Bit dry though. Needs more anecdotes.' Zaeed declared.

I grin. 'I'll keep that in mind.'

'I look forward to working with another goddamn professional at least. You set yourself up yet?' Zaeed replied.

'Not yet. Looking for a space I can use to keep up with my exercise.' I admitted.

'I always find I get enough exercise running around and being shot at; but if you want more I won't stop you. Cargo Bay has some open space for it.' Zaeed suggested.

'I'll look there next.' I agree and unhastily make my exit.

_____________

Author's note: So this is a shorter chapter at just over 3.5k. Wanted something to ease us in to Mass Effect 2; you know, give people more of a view of how people who have never met Krell before think about him and how he manages to pull that off.

In my first run through of ME2, I actually passed over the chance to have Krell talk to Jacob, Rupert Gardner, Ken and Gabby, and Zaeed, but I actually like how all those scenes turned out on the second pass. Originally none of them really got scenes, save for a fun scene with me teaching Ken some facts later on, but I'm going to add at least a couple more for each of them on this second passthrough before I post. If I'm being honest I'm really excited to see how their opinions of Krell will change over time. As a sort of fun piece of trivia, originally Bioware had it plotted out that Mordin and Grunt were going to have a confrontation scene like Tali and Legion, or Jack and Miranda, but it was cut. That was probably a good call, but after this chapter I think I might be able to manage my own confrontation scene if I swing it right. We'll see how my additions are when I get to that point.

As an additional bonus, my total number of words written (not including author's notes) on this whole project just hit 99,905. So this story's probably going to easily break 100k Words (written, not posted) between just ME1 and 2 by the next update.
 
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CHAPTER 8: Renegade
CHAPTER 8: Renegade

2185 CE
I set myself up in the docking bay. Nowhere else really made sense. Between Tali, Zaeed, Jack and Grunt, the engineering deck was going to basically be full. I couldn't sleep with the Human crewmates in the bunks; they were definitely not designed for my size. Garrus, Miranda, Kasumi, Thane, and Samara would take up all the rooms in the Crew Quarter deck... Except for the AI Core, which was locked. And Mordin and Jacob had the CIC deck. So unless I wanted to sleep in the comm room, where I could be drunk dialed by the Illusive man... A fate I'd prefer to avoid; that left the docking bay.

Shepard confronted me as I was setting up. She asked me who Archangel was. I told her that our Turian friend had taken the stick up his ass and started to beat people with it.

Of course, that lit a fire under Shepard's ass to go save Garrus, and as the only people here who actually knew Garrus personally, Kaidan and I were grabbed for this squad over the strident objection of Miranda that we were both clearly spies from the Alliance.

I corrected her of course. I'm not a spy for the Alliance. If anything I'm a spy for the Citadel Council.

Miranda didn't take being wrong well. She started telling me that who I was spying for wasn't the point. But obviously it was very much the point. You let very different information get to your allies and your enemies. Is she were any good at spycraft she'd know that.

Anyway. Kaidan and I were tapped to pull Garrus' ass out of the fire. I made sure to bring an extra stash of Dextro first aid supplies and trauma kits. And of course I'm going to steal every dextro first aid kit these three gangs have too.

Unfortunately, Shepard's armory didn't have any NK-47s. Only human-made guns. So I had to grab an avenger instead of something with some kind of durability.

The mission honestly wasn't all that hard. We got ourselves recruited and went over to the assault planing camp in an air-taxi. I made sure to keep my Helmet off and repeatedly gave Archangel wings and thumbs ups while sabotaging the Merc supplies. I even made sure to set some Frag grenades here and there around the camp tied to things like doors, and cockpits.

The trip across the bridge was nerve racking, but actually pretty peaceful. And it really wasn't all that hard to shoot the remaining aspiring mercs who'd made it across with us once we reached Garrus' stronghold at the far end.

'Garrus, you Turian son of a bitch! You're a full grown Turian Batman.' I congratulated.

'Krell? Alenko? Shepard's the last person I expected, being dead and all; but you two are definitely up there on my list. What brings you to my humble little corner of Omega.' Garrus asked.

'I was kidnapped.' Alenko replied.

'Don't be so dramatic. You're here under orders to spy on Commander Shepard for Alliance command.' I refuted.

'Ah, one of those famously blatant and open spies I keep hearing about from Salarians. I'm sure you'll do great, Kaidan.' Garrus praised, well I'm pretty sure he thought he was praising Kaidan, anyway.

'And you Krell?' Garrus asked with a tilt of his head.

'I'm here to make sure Kaidan pays me back for wrecking my shuttle.' I declared.

'And why are you really here?' Garrus asked.

'I knew you'd be in trouble so I decided to find Shepard and help you out. Also, we're going to stop the collectors from turning Human colonists into puree to build a new Reaper.' I added.

'We're what.' Shepard asked, blinking.

'Human Reaper. It's a thing. Each one is made from the puree'd genetic material of an entire sentient race. The Collectors are working for the Reapers. There's a Reaper named Harbringer. Like I said it's a thing.' I reply.

'Wait. What's going on. How do you know this Krell?' Kaidan asks.

'Alenko wasn't with us after Virmire, if he doesn't know... you didn't tell him?' Garrus realized.

'It was kind of awkward to explain, and honestly it's funnier this way.' I replied.

'Funnier, what's funnier?' Kaidan asked.

'We don't have a lot of time so let's deal with these mercs before we eat a missile to the face or something.' I decide.

Garrus agreed with my proposition and after a few extremely stirring rounds of tower defense, the airship appeared on the playing field with an opening move of rocket to the face.

Damn it. I was sure the frag grenades would have taken out that asshole.

While Shepard played hide and go seek with the airship, I rushed in and grabbed Garrus and the medkit and booked them both out of the room before setting up triage.

'Well kid. You're gonna be a hit with the Krogan dating scene from now on.' I reassured Garrus as I looked at his wounds and treated them with my Turian Medkit. Honestly, I'm pretty sure Tali was into scars too. She only ever goes for Shepard and Garrus, both of whom have facial scars, and she only seems to gain any sort of Romantic interest in them after those two gain them. Zaeed's personality probably turned her off, I guess. Or maybe he's too old for her?

'Kaidan! I need some Biotic support here!' Shepard called out.

I reached out and used overload on the airship's shields before turning back to my patient and binding up his mandibles.

'You're damn lucky Tali loves watching Fleet and Flotilla.' I muttered under my breath as Shepard fought.

It only took a few minutes, but a few minutes of combat is a fucking eternity when you're under siege and trying to treat a patient.

'Krell! Any help you can give would be great!' Shepard quipped at me.

'Alenko, keep an eye on Garrus. I'll burn through the armor.' I called out as soon as I finished stabilizing him. As Kaidan rushed over I switched on my fortification system and my incendiary ammo mod.

I roared as I entered the room, rolling and ducking behind one of the strangely sturdy and bullet proof couches.

'It's almost done for. I just need you to get the last bit of armor for me.' Shepard explained.

I nodded and popped my head out, unleashing a spray of rounds at the Airship and driving it back. With a swirl of Biotic power, Shepard threw herself toward the airship and shot it with a shotgun. Hovering for a moment outside the building before the airship detonated sending Shepard back through the window, into a controlled flip.

Shepard extended her feet and landed in a perfect T pose.

'Well now you're just showing off.' I complained.

From there it was a frantic rush back to the Normandy taking advantage of the respite gained by killing all three merc company leaders to blast our way back to the taxi stand and fly our way back to the Normandy's medbay.

Good thing we recruited the doctor first.

______

2185 CE

Joker was the one asking the questions the next time I came up. 'Hey Krell, everyone on the Normandy was acting like you knew the future last time. We're friends right? Better friends than you and Garrus, anyway. You'd warn me if I was about to take on a lone last stand against impossible odds, right?'

I tilted my head. That was a good question. Maybe it would be a good idea to let Joker know about the Collectors and EDI ahead of time? On the other hand since it worked out fine before, maybe it would be better to leave him in the dark. It wasn't like I was going to let that happen this time; if I could help it, anyway.

I patted my chin. 'No.'

'No what? You're not gonna warn me?'

'Relax. You'd be fine without my warning.'

'Despite the existence of telepathic and telekinetic abilities in the form of biotics, Mr. Moreau, there have been no verified incidences of precognition.'

I turn toward EDI's glowing hologram.

'Not real fond of the AI either. You were joking last time, right? You'd tell me if some moron decides to unshackle the Cerberus AI and lets her take over the Normandy?' Jeff admitted.

'If that happens, Jeff? I'm sure you'll be the first to know.' I reply trying desperately to hide my grin.

'That's a weirdly ominous tone of voice you got there, big guy. Not sure I like it.' Joker confessed.

I erupted in a big long menacing belly laugh as I walked away.

'That evil laughter doesn't make that tone of voice better. You know that, right?'

Another round of laughter echoed down the corridor to the cockpit. Joker really was hilarious.

____________

2185 CE

'You, the doctor, me. This boat is just full of old soldiers, isn't it?' Zaeed Masani remarked as I walked into the Starboard cargo hold.

'It turns out that when you are really good at your job, you tend to grow old doing it.' I replied.

Massani laughed.

'I haven't been a soldier in years though. Last time I fought in an actual war war, the Tang Dynasty was still a thing.' I added.

'What the hell do you call yourself if you aren't an old soldier then?' Massani asked, incredulously.

'I'm a professional diplomat.' I insisted, pointing to the NK-47 that I picked up on Omega while waiting for Garrus to get out of the med bay. I broke the human gun they gave me pistol whipping a Batarian while shopping. Broke the Batarian too, and his friend when I stabbed him with the broken remains of the shit the Alliance calls an assault rifle.

'Carry a big gun for a diplomat.' Massani observed.

'I'm a Krogan diplomat.' I insisted.

Massani raised an eyebrow.

'Haven't you heard Theodore Roosevelt's advice to diplomats? Speak softly and carry a big gun. Really inspired me to try my hand at Diplomacy. It's worked out really well so far!' I grinned.

Massani laughed. I'm not sure if he understands that my joke was that Human diplomats are the same as Krogan ones, but at least he has some kind of a sense of humor. That's a start.

'What do you really consider yourself, though?' Zaeed pressed.

'A man shouldn't just consider himself one thing. Poet, philosopher, musician, professor, engineer... I've been all of them. I still am.' I replied.

'And then occasionally you kill people?' Zaeed quipped.

'Sure. You can put it that way. Occasionally, I kill people.' I agreed.

We spent a little while talking about guns, and what it's like to design one. Zaeed seemed real invested when I told him why I designed the NK-47.

'It came down to reliability. We didn't have Mass Effect weapons before the Salarians came and uplifted us. But all their damn weapons were made for Salarians. Even the stuff the made for Krogan was just scaled up Salarian bullshit. Fancy nonsense weapons with too many parts and no reliability. You heard those Lizards are working on a gun that shoots sticky mines? Here's how that works out. You use it. You shoot someone, and the mine sticks to them, giving them three or four seconds to shoot you in the quad before they blow up! What kind of stupid nonsense weapon is that? And they're all flimsy pieces of shit too. We were landing on poisonous worlds where you couldn't see a meter in front of your eyes. You'd pull the trigger on this Salarian shit and it would jam up on you! That's why I made the NK. Reliability. You can shit down the barrel of this gun, pour a barrel of Ryncol over it, bury it in toxic mud, dig it up a day later and shoot the head off a Rachni with it with no problems. That's the kind of durability a Krogan weapon needs.'

Zaeed nodded. 'Never really tried Krogan stuff myself. Seemed all big and flashy.'

'Some stuff is. You wouldn't catch me within a hundred meters of a Graal Spike Thrower. But even the big pointless flashy shit is robust. It has to be. The abuse a Krogan puts their weapons through demands it.'

The conversation basically ended there, but I think I managed to lay a good foundation for future cooperation.

__________

2185 CE

'I'm on to you, Nakmor Krell.'

That was the first thing Miranda Lawson said to me when she saw me.

'I should hope so! I openly brought a self-proclaimed spy on board and am working as his back channel to report back to the Alliance.'

'He's got you there Miranda!' Jacob laughed.

'I'll be monitoring your communications, Nakmor.' Miranda insisted.

'You and half the galaxy, Catsuit. What else is new?'

Miranda seemed to struggle to respond. I took the opportunity to steal the meal that Mess Sergeant Gardner placed in front of her; also, the meal he placed in front of Jacob, a man who actually realized what I was doing and protested.

'Hey!'

'Sorry. I'm a growing Krogan. I have needs.' I apologized without one scintilla of regret in my voice.

I think me and Miss Lawson are going to become the best of friends!

________

2185 CE

'Garrus is out of danger, but he still needs rest.' Karin Chakwas explained as I tried to get through her to visit my friend.

Normally, as a half ton of Krogan, I wouldn't have any issue barging my way past a single older human woman.

Normally that human woman isn't a Doctor defending her med wing.

There's not a lot of respect for medical professionals among the Krogan. A Krogan combat medic is just the Krogan that's been carrying the medigel. The closest thing we have to dedicated medical professionals are shamans who basically act as the Krogan equivalent of Human gynecologists.

It's backlash against the Salarians after the Rebellions. We used to have doctors, but leading up to the Genophage most doctors that Krogan ended up actually seeing were Salarian. Combine that with a concerted effort by the Asari to murder any Krogan with advanced enough medical knowledge that they might figure out what had been done to us and how to undo it, and after the Genophage we Krogan got real suspicious of doctors.

I can't say that I blame my fellow Krogan for it either.

Still, Human doctors are very different. They're one of only two species in Citadel space that I know of that swears an oath upon becoming part of the medical profession. And they're the only species whose oath is to the welfare of their patients rather than the benefit of the Turian hierarchy.

Reminds me of my sister, before the damn Asari blew her up, anyway. Had to remove that genetic knowledge some way, after all.

Fucking assholes.

'I'm not here to see Garrus. I'm here to see you.' I lied.

Chakwas narrowed her eyes. Smart woman.

'Really? You spent the entire trip on the Normandy SR1 avoiding my office, and now you're here to see me? You expect me to believe that?'

'Of course I am! You're my doctor aren't you? I'm here for my annual check up!' I lied.

'You were due for your annual checkup last year.' Chakwas observed.

'Yeah, you kind of didn't leave a forwarding address to the Cerberus base you were staying at. I was going to come visit!' I snarked.

'I've already spoken to Kaidan about how he managed to find himself on this ship. I think we can all agree that is for the best that you did not get that chance for mischief.'

'So that's a no on my annual check up then?' I confirmed.

'Goodness no, of course not!' Chakwas declared in what I'm pretty sure was feigned over-exaggeration before continuing.

'As you rightly observed, your annual checkup is a vital part of keeping a Krogan of your advanced age healthy and hale! I couldn't possibly deny you that! But I can schedule your appointment for after Garrus gets out of the medical wing. After all, we will need the extra space just for all of the blood draws that I'll need to do! It's been a whole 2 years since you got your last checkup! I'll have to run all the tests I can think of!'

I narrowed my own eyes.

You win this round, Chakwas.

This round.

__________

Author's Note: So we're finally into the meat of ME2 itself. I'm at 103k words so far having just added in most if not all of the additional Grunt scenes I wanted. His arc's a little bigger than ME2, I think, but that's a good thing. The more important thing is that I feel like it's going in fun directions.
 
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