38 The Battle of the Shroud

--> A Reaper has landed on Tuchanka.

Thankfully it’s one of the smaller destroyer-class monsters, not a Sovereign-class megalith. Nonetheless, a sentient and deadly-cunning hunk of metal one hundred sixty metres tall is a matter of grave concern. Not to mention the army of Husks, Marauders, Cannibals, and Brutes clustering around its feet that have commandeered the Shroud and are using it to disperse poison into the atmosphere of Tuchanka.

Available resources are limited. Despite the associated stakes, this showdown on Tuchanka is but a backstage skirmish compared to the ensuing battles of the Alliance and Turian fleets against the Reapers.

The Normandy can’t join this fight on account of Cerberus occupying, repairing, and arming an old Krogan planetary defence cannon in range of the airspace over the Shroud. We can’t spare the time to disable the gun, not while the Shroud is actively pumping toxins into the air. Without time to neutralize that cannon, we'll be marching on the Shroud without even the chance to attempt meaningful air superiority.

The presence of the Primarch aboard the Normandy makes it all the more impossible that we expose the ship to the direct view of that heavy gun, to say nothing of the Reaper. One or the other the Normandy might stand some chance against. But against both combined the outcome would be certain defeat.

We need a way to take down that Reaper, but despite the ferocity of the Krogan footsoldiers, they possess little in the way of advanced military hardware, certainly nothing to match a mountain of prehistoric alien metal. The best they can bring to bear against the monster is a few detachments of small-scale mobilized artillery, largely outdated.

The most that Palaven can spare us at this time is one fighter squadron, craft too small for the Cerberus gun to threaten. This, with Krogan artillery vehicles, will have to suffice for fighting the Reaper. They may or may not manage to bring it down, but they should at least be able to distract it and draw it away from the Shroud.

Here's the plan. The Krogan artillery will in concert with the Turian fighters engage, and if possible destroy, the Reaper. The bulk of the Krogan infantry, spearheaded by clan Urdnot and their redoubtable chieftain Wrex, will engage the Reaper footsoldiers while I take a small insertion team to the Shroud. Hopefully we can get Mordin and Eve there without exposing them to the attention of the entire Reaper defence force.

It is uncertain if Eve will survive the process. I hope so. She’s proven herself capable of impressive leadership skills in rallying the dubious Krogan. Should both she and Wrex live, they will make an excellent match.

--> The Salarian Dalatrass has just covertly made contact. She says that the STG sabotaged the Shroud years ago to prevent just such an attempt as we are about to make. Mordin will likely detect the malfunction and repair it. Otherwise the cure will be rendered inert, and no one the wiser. She all but told me to murder Mordin, promising me in return full Salarian support.

I’m insulted. To think I’d kill a trusted friend for political leverage. Besides, I would never betray the Krogan like that. Of course there’s a chance the Krogan will start a war. Wars happen. There is no nation, no treaty, no mortal provision of any kind perfect enough to guarantee lasting peace. All such constructs are innately flawed because they are made and held by flawed creatures. History is one long account of disaster and renaissance, treachery and virtue, triumph and defeat, peace and war, civilization constantly pulling itself out of the rubble to rise and fall again in endless struggle against mortal failings. We cannot guarantee the future. All we can do is our best to make peace in our time. This cure for the Genophage, and the leadership of Wrex, constitute the best possible chance for lasting peace between the Krogan and the rest of the Galaxy, and there is no more certain way to guarantee their undying enmity than to betray them now. I will not for fear of war lend my hand to ensure it. The Dalatrass can go to hell. But that’s none of my business.

--> We’re groundside. Turian wing Artimec is inbound to the Reaper. Krogan tanks will rendezvous with them at the Shroud in one hour, infantry moving to engage.

This will be bloody, and it looks like the Krogan are up for it. It's been centuries since the Krogan have fought a proper war, and the soldiers I see before me are chaffing at the bit to spill some Reaper blood. Despite the very real threat posed by this Reaper on Tuchanka, despite the possibility that it could prevent us from successfully curing the Genophage, this fight for the Shroud gives us a perhaps essential opportunity to motivate the Krogan. When asked to go fight alongside Turians, the average Krogan will find but little motivation to risk his neck for his hereditary enemies. But when a new enemy arrives in presumptive arrogance to directly threaten their own homeworld of Tuchanka, every Krogan will immediately reach for his shotgun; and once committed to their own war against the Reapers, deployment to Palaven is a mere extension of that reprisal.

Shroud is in sight, Reaper in the way. The rumble of our tank-treads is matched by the growl of occupants eager to tear and rend. Now let the Krogan do what they do best.

--> The cure is deployed, the Reaper destroyed. The Krogan emerge victorious.

The Krogan soldiers tore through the Reaper thralls like a fire through dry grass. The Krogan may have been largely disarmed by the Turians, but they've not lost that brutal ferocity that earned them the fear of the entire galaxy. Now that Krogan have gained a taste for Reaper blood, they hardly need asking to march against the Reapers on Palaven.

Despite the Krogan's easy victory against the Reaper footsoldiers, the Reaper itself proved a far harder nut to crack: available forces proved insufficient to defeat the monster, and Wrex resorted to the summoning of Kalross, the Mother of All Thresher Maws. It was quite a sight to see, two behemoths, one metal the other flesh, grappling under the fierce Tuchanka sun and laying waste to the terrain around them. The Reaper disappeared underground in the grip of the Thresher Maw, and now appears completely inert to orbital readings. Kalross’ status is unconfirmed. Liara has issued strict warning to the Krogan to avoid approaching the Reaper corpse. The last thing we need now is for the Krogan to become Indoctrinated.

The Shroud was razed to the ground in the ensuing carnage, and Mordin sacrificed his life braving explosions therein to ensure the successful launch of the cure. The Salarian who died to save the Krogan will live as an example of goodwill to strengthen the bonds of peace between the races. 
 

Mordin was a good friend, and comported himself with all the selfless courage that may be expected of the bravest soldier. At the end, he insisted that he could not have done otherwise: “Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong.”

And he was likely right. Due in no small part to his caring expertise, Eve survived, and will be rallying the Krogan at home while her husband leads them into battle.
 

Wrex is much pleased, and with good reason; the Krogan united, invaders smited, the Genophage cured, and peace made with the Turians? Not bad for a bloody merc who three years ago had nothing to his name but his armour and a gun. I'd known when I first met him there was more to Wrex than most Krogan, but what he has accomplished surpasses all possible expectation. He's done well by his people, and they've made him proud this day.

Wrex is as good as his word. Now that the Cure is delivered, there will be no more delays, and his soldiers will begin deploying to Palaven immediately. Even better, they’ve revealed massive stockpiles of nuclear weapons, carefully hidden from Turian eyes till now. The Turians will now welcome those weapons as the Krogan bring them to the defence of Palaven. Logistics must be seen to. We'll need troopships and supplies, rations and shipping to get the Krogan to Palaven and keep them sustained once they arrive. Keeping our vicious and voracious friends nourished throughout this war will be no light consideration. Krogan can sustain tremendous injury, but that entails a monstrous appetite.

It remains to be proven how the Krogan will live once the war is over, but with this Cure we have good reason to hope for peace. Friendship is born of shared adversity, and the strongest bonds are those forged in war.

With the Krogan and Turians fighting side by side, we just might live long enough to see that peace.

Even the Reapers have to be worried by that alliance.

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37 Tuchanka

--> Mordin is well on his way to developing the cure, working feverishly while maintaining his signature cheery-chatterbox manner in constant (and nearly one-sided) conversation with Eve. When I asked him privately about how easily, even readily, he is voluntarily undoing years of his work, Mordin insists his motives are purely practical, providing the means for the now essential cooperation of the Krogan in order to save the Galaxy from immediate destruction. But I suspect there’s more to it than that. Mordin isn’t a callous or unempathetic fellow. Despite all of the very good reasons for the Genophage, I think having reinstated the waning Genophage took its toll on Mordin’s conscience. Despite the risks, I think he delights in the opportunity to undo that work.

The Krogan were bloodthirsty and aggressive to begin with: that’s the reason the Genophage was created in the first place. But while it curbed the full potential of the Krogan race as a dominant force in the Galaxy, it also nearly guaranteed that Krogan would almost uniformly seek out conflict rather than build families, ruling out even the possibility of a peaceful and productive life. With the Genophage technically reducing Krogan reproductive viability to a barely sustainable birthrate, the steady decline of the Krogan population, and their eventual extinction, was all but ensured.

Before Wrex, there was no recognized leader of Tuchanka: the Krogan race consisted of disparate clans that killed each other as much as anyone else. Wrex is an anomaly among Krogan. He not only had the strength and brutal charisma to unite most of the violent and volatile Krogan under his rule, he also has the sense and foresight to see that retribution and galactic war would be counterproductive for all concerned. It’s true he’ll want to expand; Tuchanka is little more than an ashen waste heap, but he wants to do so peacefully, through colonization rather than conquest. As fate would have it, the creation of a cure for the Genophage coincides with the arrival of a leader among Krogan who represents their first real chance for peace. If anything were to happen to Wrex, it would be a very different story.

Wrex has discreetly informed me of some ominous news. He’d heard rumours of activity around the Rachni Relay, and sent a team of scouts to investigate. They never reported back. He’s prepared to send in Arlakh company, his best men, to find out what happened to the scouts, and wants me to accompany them. If something’s gone wrong, if the Rachni are once again a threat, it could mean being caught between them and the Reapers.

Primarch Victus has also asked for my help in addressing an immediate emergency. He only spoke in private, and told me almost no details, only that a Turian platoon had been deployed to Tuchanka in secret, “a matter of galactic peace,” he says. The platoon crashed and lost radio contact. He asks that I rescue the team and ensure that they complete their mission, at any cost.

I have no idea what a Turian platoon could be doing on Tuchanka, but it’s bound to be something truly extreme to draw dearly needed assets away from their imperilled planet. The Turians are up to something desperate, and don’t want the Krogans to know about it.

This should be good.

--> Platoon secured. Turians were surrounded and outnumbered by Reaper forces. We’ve yet to see a true Reaper show up in Krogan space, but they’re slipping in various infantry, clearly trying to stall proceedings in the region without devoting resources already engaging Human and Turian fleets. We’re still loosing territory to them at an alarming rate, being forced to flee nine out ten engagements, but it is some hope to see that their assets are not unlimited, that they too must allocate forces carefully in effort to not compromise their primary operations.

The platoon is commanded by Lieutenant Victus, the Primarch’s son. He says their mission is to disarm a massive bomb held by Cerberus on Tuchanka. The Lieutenant has rallied his disgruntled men, and will scout out the bomb site. I’ll rejoin them in twenty-four hours’ time. In the meantime, I have a few questions to ask the Primarch.

--> Primarch Victus still won’t tell me anything more, only insisting again that I must see to it that the platoon completes its mission no matter what. I won’t disagree with that, but I would like to know why he didn’t tell me about the bomb before, what more he isn’t telling me now.

Mordin reports the cure complete, ready for mass production and dispersal. Consensus is that the Shroud, a facility on Tuchanka built by the Salarians to stabilize the atmosphere, and also used by the Turians to spread the Genophage, is the best way to disperse the cure.

I'm ordering a delay. We have a major situation brewing with this bomb, an imminent catastrophe that could render the Cure all but meaningless. Why Cerberus wants to blow up half of Tuchanka is anybody’s guess. We don’t know what’s going on, and locking down this bomb takes absolute priority.

--> Bomb secured and disabled. Lieutenant Victus sacrificed himself to ensure the success of the mission. The bomb had been planted centuries ago by the Turians as a safeguard against potential Krogan aggression in the event that the Genophage fail or prove insufficient. Had Cerberus succeeded in detonating it, all chance of peace between the Turians and the Krogan would vanish.

Wrex knows. And he is not pleased. Tis certain he would be angry with Victus, if time were convenient.

I don’t know what Cerberus thinks they’re up to, but it sure as hell looks to me like they’re helping the Reapers.

If so, it’s quite possible even they don’t know that.

Victus said that the platoon sent to Tuchanka must complete its mission, at any cost. That cost has been paid. Half the men of that platoon, the Primarch's son among them, fought and died on Tuchanka to ensure the survival of the Krogan. The Krogan should honour them.

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14 Distractions... and a Seed

--> Any good soldier knows that, before going to war, any matters at home must be squared away, all distractions dealt with. If unfinished business is left hanging, focus is compromised. When we finally launch through the Omega 4 Relay, we'll be in uncharted territory in the enemy's element without intel, without support, without backup; it will be a mission as dangerous and demanding as any of us have ever seen. There'll be no room for hesitation, no margin for error: every soldier will have to have a clear mind absolutely focused and clear of doubts or regrets. It won't be enough to have the best. They need to all be at their best.

--> Jacob has a missing Father. Ten years gone, and word of his missing ship surfaces. An anonymous message through the Cerberus Network about his father’s ship, the Hugo Gurnesback. Lost for ten years in the Alpha Draconis system, a distress signal suddenly appeared. Jacob doesn’t expect his father to be alive after all this time of radio silence, but he would like to find out just what the heck is going on.

Zaeed Massani wants to attack a refinery held by the Blue Suns. Something about revenge. As the refinery utilizes slave labour, it seems I also have cause to stop by.

A trip to Tuchanka is necessary for both Dr. Solus and Grunt, but for very different reasons. Mordin received word that one of his assistants in a secret STG op, re-establishing the waning Genophage, has been captured by Krogan clan Weryloc and taken to Tuchanka. I immediately agreed to help Mordin effect a rescue. Grunt, for unknown reasons, has begun to grow increasingly anxious and angry, saying he doesn’t know why, only that he wants to kill, rend and destroy, with his hands and teeth. This anger, he said, seemed foreign to him, a sickness rather than a response or choice. Krogan Medicine is not a popular study, and the Krogan are understandably defensive concerning such matters, and only rarely at best consent to divulging relevant information to the galactic public. If a cure to Grunt’s condition can be found, it will be on the Krogan homeworld.

Miranda has with verbalized regret asked for my help. She needs my assistance to oversee the safe relocation of her twin sister, whom she helped escape from their father. She tells me Mr. Lawson is a ruthless man of wealth and ambition set upon defining his legacy, and his daughters were merely tools to that end. Miranda’s sister, Oriana, is on Illium. The scheduled relocation occurs in a few days time. I’ve agreed to bring the Normandy into Illium in time for Miranda to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

Jack has completed her research. She’s found the location of the secret Cerberus base where she was raised, and wants to blow it up. It seems she was taken by Cerberus in her infancy and raised to become a super-biotic. The methods used were horrific. Other children were used as test subjects to ensure that Jack herself would not die from the treatments they inflicted on her. 

Cerberus is composed of isolated Cells, the commanding officer of each answering directly to the Illusive Man. It is a system that allows people like Jacob to believe that, because they personally are doing good things, Cerberus as a whole is good. It is uncertain if The Illusive Man knew the extent and nature of means that Cell was using toward their assigned end, but I suspect he didn’t care to look too closely, so long as they delivered their end product. But instead Jack broke out and tore the place apart. It now lies deserted and empty, an abandoned house of horror that Jack wants to thoroughly and finally obliterate. I can certainly sympathize, and have promised Jack a detour to that end before we make our move through the Omega 4 Relay.

--> The distress signal from the Hugo Gurnesback originated from the planet 2175 Aeia. When we investigated, we found Jacob’s father, Ronald Taylor, the only surviving officer of the ship, the rest of the remaining crew all cognitively compromised. They’d crash-landed on 2175 Aeia, a planet capable of sustaining human life, but providing only toxic food that resulted in significant neural decay. The decision was made to reserve food stores from the ship for the officers who were building the distress beacon, the rest of the crew would have to eat the indigenous plants and hope for treatment upon rescue; a calculated sacrifice of limited scope to ensure the eventual recovery of all concerned. 

 

But in the end, Ronald Taylor had slid into the role of supreme being on the planet through his maintained intelligence and control of the security drones, dominating the camp, turning out the other men, and living for ten years in a harem of the crew women. When after ten years food stores from the ship ran low, and he faced the threat of also surviving on the mind-decaying vegetation, he finally activated the distress beacon. 

 

He is now in Alliance custody with charges pending, his crew in rehabilitative treatment. Jacob has denounced his father and put the matter behind him. For a moment, when we met Ronald Taylor on the planet, I’d thought Jacob was going to kill him. I’m pleased to see he not only had the self possession to refrain without my intervention, but the strength to, once resolved, put the issue behind him.

The tip about the distress signal came from Miranda. She told Jacob that she’d been keeping a promise. It seems those two have more of a history together than I’d thought. Given their disparate characters, I’m not surprised it didn’t work out. Jacob is a true-blue honest and straight-forward chap, a regular brick whose greatest fault lies in trusting too easily, believing that because his own intentions are pure, Cerberus is too. With the likes of Jack and Grunt aboard, he’s far from the most powerful team member, but he and Garrus are the most trustworthy and dependable squadmates I have.

--> It turns out Zaeed founded the Blue Suns, him and his business partner Vido. Vido turned on him and tried to murder him. That was twenty years ago. Now that he’d finally caught up to Vido, Zaeed was so reckless and angry he deliberately set the whole bloody refinery ablaze when we moved in. Consequently we had to devote our immediate attention to saving the slaves from the fire. Zaeed seemed to think it my fault that Vido got away. After I explained to him the principle he had just so clearly demonstrated, the danger in putting personal emotions ahead of the mission, he ruefully consented to fall in line. Hopefully the demonstration of priorities has not been wasted on him.

--> Tuchanka is in the midst of political revolution, as in there is a movement for the clans to stop killing each other and work together. Wrex has been busy over the last two years. Not only did he rise to the position of Chief of clan Urdnot, he’s busy at work trying to establish regular diplomatic ties between the clans, foment alliances and cease constant infighting. I’d known since I first met him that Wrex was, despite possessing the typical ferocity and bloodthirst of his kind, more contemplative and thoughtful between battles than most Krogan, but I never would have expected him to possess the magnetism and will required to compel his warlike kin to put aside traditional animosity and unify in mutual interest of survival.

It seems nothing was strictly wrong with Grunt, he is merely hitting maturity, and was experiencing what was more or less the Krogan equivalent of teenage angst. Upon successfully weathering the Krogan Rite of Passage, a sequenced battle against beasts in an arena that culminated in surviving a Thresher Maw, Grunt was granted full citizenship in the clan, becoming Urdnot Grunt. When told to choose a Battlemaster to serve, Grunt surprised me by declaring me his Battlemaster. It seems that despite our initial cold terms, Grunt has grown fond of his “matchless” commander. I’m touched.

Now having found his place and purpose, Grunt has ceased fearing and resenting his rage, and instead embraced it for its purpose, making him a vicious Krogan warrior with Clan and allegiance. As he puts it, “our enemies are in trouble, Shepard.”

Having touched base with Wrex, calmed Grunt, and solidified respect in clan Urdnot, we can seek out Mordin’s assistant, Maelon.

--> Weyrlock hadn’t captured Maelon. He’d gone to them willingly, to undo his and his teacher’s work by curing the Genophage. He’d stolen the STG Genophage data, and was conducting experiments on living subjects; Human, Turian, Varren, even Krogan. Weyrlock Guld, the clan chief, was a racial supremacist megalomaniac with delusions of destiny, intent upon reviving the Krogan Rebellions and forming a Galaxy-spanning Krogan Empire, killing all Turians and Asari but keeping the Salarians as slaves and food.

Creating the Genophage was arguably the lesser of two evils. I’m glad that the decision to deploy it was never put to me. I can readily understand and sympathize with any Krogan wanting to cure the Genophage, but when the Krogan in possession of a potential cure also possess the intent to “spread across the Galaxy in a sea of blood,” I have no compunctions about shutting down their operation with lethal force.

When we fought our way through the base guards and confronted Maelon, he insisted he was doing the right thing, that the end justified any means to achieve it. Mordin declared his goals unacceptable and his means the same. Had I not intervened, he would have punctuated the sentence with a bullet. 

The research base has been gutted of all data, the servers inside wiped clean.  Weryloc Guld and his guards are dead, Maeolon has been sent packing, and his research is in Mordin’s custody in the Normandy’s lab.

I wonder how long he can keep his hands off it.
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