Location: Krogan DMZ / Aralakh System / Tuchanka / SSV Normandy SR-2

Bright and early the next 'day', Shepard carefully extricated himself from Miranda's sleepy embrace and blearily walked into the bathroom. The familiar tasks of brushing his teeth, a brief shave, and then a shower all served to wake him up. The dull aches and pains from the last mission had made themselves known, but a long, hot shower went a long way to soothe that. The hypnotic sound and comforting feel of the cascading stream of water caused him to drift in thought. He must've stood under the flowing sluice longer than he thought, because his semi-trance was broken when he felt Miranda's hands on his back as she lathered soap on him gently. He closed his eyes and relaxed, letting her ministrations ease the tension he didn't know he had.

Once she finished, she nudged him aside and stood under the stream herself. She wordlessly handed him the soap and presented her own lovely—and decidedly perfect—backside to him.

He was tempted to make this another tryst, but with Tuchanka only hours away, it was probably better if they remained in peak physical condition.

He would just have to deal with aching mental ones on his own.

Like her, he was gentle, but made sure that while the act was almost salacious, it was also efficient and practical. She seemed to approve of his discretion, though he did catch her smirk at his erection. Fortunately for his sanity, she didn't make an issue of it.

Stepping out of the shower together, Shepard toweled off quickly. Miranda still had to go through the rest of her morning routine.

Speaking first, she finally said, "Good morning, John. Liara and I had Glyph work on Victus and the 9th Platoon all through the night. We'll have something for you shortly."

"Appreciate that," Shepard said. "I'll pop by your office after I get an update on the war."

She nodded, still unabashedly nude and toweling off her hair. "You know, we really need to find some time to ourselves."

"I wholeheartedly agree," Shepard said before rubbing his eyes, "but for the moment, duty calls."

She sighed. "As always. I can't speak for you, 'Agent Shepard', but being the Shadow Broker is challenging. I find myself wishing there was a pause button somewhere."

Chuckling, he said, "Yeah, I've had my fair share of days like that."

He leaned in for a brief but intense kiss before padding over to the closet, putting on a change of clothes, and was out the door before Miranda was even finished in the bathroom.

~o~O~o~

Entering the CIC, Shepard charted their progress to Tuchanka and listened to Traynor's war reports. Sadly, she didn't have good news for him.

"If you have a moment, Commander, you may wish to check the feeds in the war room," Traynor said hesitantly.

Looking away from the galaxy map, Shepard put his attention on the comm specialist. "Report."

Now Traynor looked distinctly uncomfortable. "Sir, I think it's best—"

"Traynor, report. That's an order," Shepard said sternly.

She nodded and took a moment to fortify herself. "Yes, sir. The Reapers launched an attack on the Petra Nebula… specifically the Vetus System."

Shepard set his jaw to just barely suppress his frown.

Elysium.

"I'm sorry, Commander. I know you have history there," Traynor said quietly. "The Seventh Fleet and the 103rd Marine Division slowed the Reapers down enough for some civilians to evacuate, but ultimately Alliance Intelligence Service declared the colony lost."

Shepard rubbed his eyes and sighed. "I have history in a lot of places, including Elysium. Got a lot of mileage in my career."

Traynor looked like she wanted to say more, but opted for discretion this time. All she said was, "Yes, sir. All the details are on your terminal in the war room for your perusal when you have the time."

"Got it, Traynor."

"Well, um, in brighter news, the Ain Jalut managed to rescue some N-Class operatives from the ICT training facility in Brazil," Traynor said. "Some remained behind to assist the resistance, but many were taken off-world and are now tasked with search-and-destroy missions on Cerberus assets."

Shepard's eyebrows raised. "Really?"

"Yes, sir, it was a daring move," Traynor said excitedly. "A couple of the senior officers had managed to get a QEC working at a nearby comms facility after sneaking past Reaper forces. Taking cues from the Normandy SR-1 and 2, the Ain Jalut's stealth systems were upgraded, which allowed her to sneak past the Reaper blockade and onto Earth. Admiral Hackett sent the Ain Jalut in to 'retrieve' them, since the N-Operatives stated vehemently that they didn't need 'rescuing', only a ride."

Shepard shared a wry smile with Traynor. "That is good news."

"Will there be anything else, sir?" Traynor asked.

"Carry on, Traynor."

"Yes, sir."

"Matthews, the moment we're in range, start a scan of Tuchanka," Shepard said. "Hadley, any Cerberus signals are your priority."

"Cerberus, sir? Not the Reapers?" Hadley asked.

"The Reapers aren't terribly subtle, so I think we can take the krogan at their word about the Reapers for now," Shepard said. "If Cerberus attacked us on Sur'Kesh, they're going to try something on Tuchanka. I'd rather not get waylaid by them again. Cerberus first, Reapers second."

"Aye, aye, sir. I'll begin long-range scans shortly," Matthews said. "Sir… Hadley and I might be able to piggyback on the CDEM satellites and start visual and audio scans early."

"Do it."

"Yes, sir."

Assured that all was underway, Shepard trekked towards the war room.

"The primarch seems like a good guy. He'll get his people moving in the right direction," Campbell was saying when Shepard entered the security room. Habitually, she put her hand on the butt of her sidearm, but relaxed when she saw who it was. "Commander."

"He's a good guy with his homeworld on fire," Westmoreland pessimistically retorted. She checked the readouts when Shepard stood in the scanner. "All he committed to was a war summit. A war summit we had to host, since the salarians won't even let a krogan onto one of their ships. All clear, Commander."

"Privates," Shepard said. "Anything happen that I should know about?"

"Nothing, sir," Campbell said. "The primarch and krogan chief have been keeping the peace so far."

"We did see the feeds from Palaven, though," Westmoreland said. "It's brutal. I'm amazed the turians are still holding. Better than how we did, anyway."

"They might have to thank my friend Garrus for that," Shepard said.

"The birds don't quit when things get ugly, I'll give 'em that," Campbell said before realizing what she said and who she said it to. "I mean, um—"

Shepard waved her off. He knew she didn't mean it in a derogatory sense, and her tone was respectful of the turians' resolve. Leaving them to their task, he continued on his way. Nodding in greeting at the bodyguards stationed just outside, he maneuvered past them and into the war room. Victus didn't look up or acknowledge him at all, while Wrex muttered a greeting while typing something on his terminal.

Not interested in speaking to the primarch at the present time, Shepard made his way to Wrex. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Victus started to stare intently at them.

"Wrex."

"Shepard."

"So, how are things on your end?" Shepard asked.

"Well, I like what you've done with the Normandy," Wrex said. He stopped what he was doing, turned to Shepard, and grinned. "Got tired of always hanging around the cargo bay before. I still don't have a window like Liara does, but it's progress."

"I meant with Tuchanka," Shepard replied dryly.

Wrex grunted and kept poking at the keys slowly. "Got most of the bigger clans to parley with me. Just trying to convince them that the Kelphic Valley is the best place to meet. Ancient ground. No violence allowed."

"A Crush?" Shepard asked. "I recall that didn't exactly go your way last time."

"Because my father was a fool, and he died like one," Wrex said without any real feelings on the matter. "Our cure lies in a shaman now. 'Eve', as you've been calling her. Ancient rites need to be observed, out of respect for her. The other clan shamans will be in attendance, including ours, all of whom are brothers and sisters to her. It'll be peaceful this time, they'll make sure of it."

"As peaceful as krogan get," Shepard said neutrally.

Wrex eyed him. "I'll make sure the other clans play nice, or I'll put my boot on their throats."

Shepard leaned on the bulkhead. "Is Grunt going to be there?"

"Of course," Wrex said. "I need him and his troops to run security, just in case."

"You mean Aralakh Company?" Shepard asked. "I heard you put Grunt in charge."

Wrex blinked but nodded. "He's earned it. Still faces some shortsighted fools that don't believe he's worthy, but their complaints end when he asks them to step outside."

Shepard chuckled. "Good for him," he said approvingly.

"He'll be glad you said so," Wrex said. "I'm sure he'll be happy to see you. Respect for battlemasters runs deep. I still remember my battlemaster with fond memories."

"Well, we're gonna need security, if what you said about Reaper scouts was true," Shepard said.

"I'm still getting scattered reports of Reaper forces arriving," Wrex said darkly. "Something big is brewing."

"I'm having my people run scans now," Shepard said. "But if an actual Reaper is on Tuchanka, I think we'd all know about it."

"So far, it's just carriers full of those husk things," Wrex said. "Been looking over the Reaper intelligence your Alliance put together. My people saw the turian and human husks for sure. Might've seen the other kinds, but no confirmation yet."

"Just husks?"

Wrex nodded. "So far, but we'll keep on them. I won't let those things take Tuchanka, not when we're about to cure the genophage. My people have had enough bad luck in our time."

"To be fair, a lot of that was self-inflicted," Shepard said.

Wrex scoffed, but before he could retort, Shepard continued.

"Had a chat with Eve yesterday," he said. "She gave me a brief history and culture lesson. She also told me that shamans surrender their names."

Wrex nodded. "That they do, but I guess calling her 'female krogan' isn't all that respectful. 'Shaman' would've been fine, but she doesn't seem to mind the name the doctor picked out for her."

"Back on Sur'Kesh, it looked like Eve could hold her own."

Wrex wryly chuckled. "Our females don't lack for spirit. For males, a good show of force sorts things out—"

"Yeah, Grunt seemed to get that pretty quickly," Shepard said.

"—but females like to talk about it. Then think about it. Then talk about it some more," Wrex finished with a heavy sigh.

"I like how they think, then," Shepard retorted. "The women seem to have good ideas, Wrex. You should listen."

"Yeah, but they have so many of them," Wrex grumbled. "So sometimes I pretend to listen…"

"Yeah, that's not going to end well," Shepard said unsympathetically.

"Well, let's just say krogan females have tempers, too," Wrex muttered.

"Something you all have in common, then," Shepard sagely said. "I asked Eve this yesterday, but what will you do after the genophage is cured?"

"Once we deal with the Reapers, most krogan will want to settle a score with the turians and salarians," Wrex said gravely. "I won't let them. That isn't our path forward. This time will be different."

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle.

"What?" Wrex asked, slightly defensive.

"Eve wanted me to mention that you were different from others," Shepard said. "That you were a mutant. Her word, not mine."

"Really?" Wrex skeptically asked.

"I think she meant it as a term of endearment," Shepard said with a grin. "She believes the same thing, and she hopes that you will resist what the others want. A lot of people will be relieved to hear that. No one wants to repeat history."

"They know we'd probably win this time," Wrex said jokingly. "But war has never brought us anything except misery. It's time to focus on rebuilding."

"Glad to hear it," Shepard sincerely said. "And how was Mordin yesterday? You play nice?"

Wrex shrugged. "He took a swab out of my mouth and kicked me out of the room."

Shepard blinked. "That's it?"

"Hey, if the salarian says my DNA's important, who am I to argue?" Wrex replied.

"Shepard? Miranda and Liara wish to speak to you in their office," EDI said.

"I'll leave you to your messages, then," Shepard said to Wrex. "Let me know if there's any trouble?"

"You got it," Wrex replied.

Shepard moved to the main terminal and entered his credentials. He quickly took stock of the current war climate, current losses which did include Elysium, as well as a few minor colonies in the Gemini Sigma cluster who were helping with supplying raw materials for the Crucible. Most notably, the Reapers had started a push into the Aethon Cluster, which would put them on the doorstep of Irune, the volus homeworld. Shepard's countenance grew grim as he read the reports; the Alliance Eleventh Fleet had moved to assist with the evacuations, since the turians were not able to spare their vessels at the current time. The Alliance placed their focus on saving the volus heavy cruisers. Thankfully, because of the intelligence about Reaper forces spreading throughout the galactic community, the volus had been surprisingly effective against the Reapers: leaking false information to have enemy forces waste time destroying old facilities, ambushing Reaper destroyers, and taking advantage of their planet's toxic atmosphere to enjoy a husk-free invasion. According to volus military intelligence, any husk 'lifeforms' suffered severe tissue degeneration within twenty-four hours.

Satisfied that he had a handle on the war effort for the time being, Shepard made his way down to the crew deck and to the Shadow Brokers' office. Once inside, he skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the heart of the matter.

"Well?" he asked when the doors shut behind him.

"You were right about examining the soldiers involved in the mission, rather than finding out the mission itself," Liara said. "That information was less classified and easier to peek into."

"Alliance missions are the same thing. Pick the right people to go in and do the job. If any additional training is required, they don't hold back on the crash course," Shepard responded. "You don't send grunts on a sabotage mission. You send infiltrators and engineers."

"You made it seem clever when you put us on this track. It's much less mysterious when you explain it like that," Miranda chided teasingly before turning serious. "We still weren't able to find out the mission itself, but we have an educated guess now."

"I'm not going to like this, am I?" Shepard darkly asked.

"About a quarter of that platoon is fully trained in EOD. The others have more advanced knowledge of EOD than most soldiers would actually need in their careers."

"I hate being right," he muttered before straightening. "So, explosive ordinance disposal… we're dealing with a bomb or something?"

Miranda and Liara nodded. The former continued the explanation by pointing at the monitors. "While the data was classified, it wasn't as secure as the mission details themselves, so it didn't take long for us to find what we needed. What was interesting was the training the EOD techs had to undergo. They were studying bomb schematics that are over a thousand years old."

"A thousand years… the Krogan Rebellions?" Shepard asked.

This time, Liara answered. "Yes. From there, instead of asking any of our contacts in Palaven Command to go digging, I had Glyph check the Shadow Broker's old archives; the original, not our predecessor," she explained before taking a breath. "A rather large bomb was secretly placed in the Kelphic Valley, a densely populated area on Tuchanka before the Krogan Rebellions and remains somewhat populated today. The device was meant as a last resort after the genophage. If the krogan didn't agree to a ceasefire…"

"Then the turians would wipe out—or almost wipe out—the entire krogan species," Shepard finished.

"The same way the krogan wiped out the rachni before," Miranda added.

"Neither the salarians nor the turians wanted to commit total genocide, though. It was fortunate the krogan did stop," Liara continued. "The bomb was buried and left as a precaution."

"Buried?" Shepard asked skeptically. "Not dismantled and taken off-world?"

"A few weeks before the genophage was deployed, the turians had covertly brought the bomb onto Tuchanka in pieces," Miranda answered.

Liara continued the explanation. "Given the destructive and dangerous nature of the warhead, there was little doubt that leaving it buried on Tuchanka would pose a future risk. However, they deemed it even more dangerous to try to move it once they managed to assemble the components on Tuchanka. The krogan had just agreed to the ceasefire, so any show of further hostility could have reignited the war. The only option was to hide it, bury it, and leave multiple safeguards just in case the krogan, or anyone else, happened to find it."

"That doesn't make sense," Shepard said. "Why the need for a covert mission to disarm the bomb? Why not tell the krogan or just leave it?"

"Right now, we believe Cerberus found the bomb and has been working on excavating it," Miranda answered with a look of dismay on her face. "That little nugget of information was found by sheer luck alone. When Cerberus disturbed the site without the proper clearance codes, the weapon sent out an emergency signal to Palaven Command and ultimately alerted Victus."

"And Victus responded by sending a covert team of turians to clean up the mess," Shepard finished. "God damn it. First Sur'Kesh, now this. We need the turians and the krogan to have something left of Earth to save, and the Illusive Man is trying to burn our last chance. What the fuck is he doing?"

"No idea. We'll try to figure it out, but now we have a more immediate crisis to deal with," Liara said.

"Are you sure Cerberus is involved?" Shepard asked.

"The platoon had to get a full debrief on Cerberus tactics and units. They had to undergo training for that as well. I'm sure they're involved," Miranda answered. "It was foolish of us to think they were done after we rescued Eve."

"This might explain why Primarch Victus ordered his son to do this," Liara said. "He can't trust any other turian to do the job with the same amount of dedication."

"Either because of its covert nature, or more pessimistically," Miranda said before shrugging, "no other turian commander would care about the krogan as much as the primarch does as a solution to this war, rather than holding on to past grudges."

"I can see why we should leave the krogan out of this now," Shepard muttered. "At best, they'd get in the way. At worst, they'd accidentally detonate the bomb while they have a firefight with Cerberus. Either way, that's not making me feel better about this alliance."

"And yet we're still going through with it anyway," Miranda said.

"I don't suppose you have any idea how Cerberus knew and somehow beat us to Tuchanka?" Shepard asked.

Both Liara and Miranda looked at each other.

"Given the location and the depth that the bomb was buried at, I think Cerberus may have been on Tuchanka for weeks, maybe a month, maybe more," Liara answered. "This may have been their primary plan all along. Everything else they've done were either feints, distractions, or backup plans."

"They had to covertly land on Tuchanka with enough numbers and equipment to dig up the bomb in a reasonable amount of time and ensure they didn't get the attention of the krogan," Miranda added. "To be honest, it wouldn't surprise me that the Illusive Man knew about this bomb for years. He may have just sat on the information and waited until it could become useful."

Shepard rubbed his head in agitation. "Damn him… Okay, what are the bomb specs?"

"WMD, antimatter," Miranda answered without pause. "A final punctuation mark for the krogan to ensure total turian victory. Apparently, nuclear wasn't going to cut it. Not on Tuchanka, anyway."

"The city itself has been abandoned for some time," Liara said. "However, an exceptionally large population of krogan have settlements on its outskirts, all of which are well within the primary blast radius."

Shepard scowled. "Worse yet, Wrex is organizing the clans to meet in the Kelphic Valley. They'll all be caught in the blast."

"Well, that means the krogan definitely don't know that Cerberus is there, then," Miranda pointed out.

"Do we know anything about the progress Cerberus has made?" Shepard asked.

Both women answered in the negative.

"Well, what shall we do with this information?" Liara asked. "Are you going to confront the primarch?"

"No. Nothing changes except we're going to assist the 9th Platoon with their job after we bail them out of whatever trouble they've run into. I'll talk to the primarch and Wrex after," Shepard answered. "What kind of Cerberus resistance can we expect, Miranda?"

"If the turians are sending a platoon, then Cerberus is most likely there in force with a platoon of their own or greater," she answered before tilting her head thoughtfully. "Still, they're conducting a massive excavation project, and they were probably prepared to have their presence noticed by the krogan, which I'm betting means more than a platoon hiding there to dig up and defend the bomb. I suppose it was Cerberus's good fortune that the Reapers showed up to distract the krogan, but bad luck that the turians responded instead. Either way, they must have been on Tuchanka for some time now, enough that they will have entrenched themselves and are prepared to defend the bomb by any means necessary."

"Whatever numbers Cerberus has, we could probably handle them ourselves, but not while dealing with an antimatter bomb at the same time," Liara pointed out.

"We'll secure the 9th Platoon's help and have them guard our flank while we make our way to the bomb," Shepard said. "EDI?"

"Yes, Commander?" EDI asked.

"I assume you heard everything we talked about?"

"Yes, Commander. Did you want your privacy?"

"No, I need you to download the 1,000-year-old turian antimatter bomb schematics into your mobile platform," Shepard said. "Be as proficient as the EOD techs. I'm not hedging my bets on this one. If worse comes to worse, we may need to defuse that thing ourselves."

"Downloading now," EDI said.

"Shepard, out of curiosity, how do you plan to explain this to Wrex?" Liara delicately asked. "If we're seen leaving for some secret mission, he'll want to ask questions. Lots of questions."

"Liara has a point," Miranda said. "If you leave without an explanation, then Wrex will look for answers elsewhere. And without you to keep the peace, then chances are likely that those bodyguards outside the war room will act less as deterrent for trouble, and more likely used for actual protection for their respective leaders when violence ensues."

"I already came up with something," Shepard muttered darkly. "And for once, Cerberus might work in our favor."

Both ladies stared at him expectantly.

"That bomb is plan A, but we have to assume Cerberus has a plan B as well," Shepard said. "Landing covertly on Tuchanka isn't exactly easy, but if they can do it on Sur'Kesh, they can do it on Tuchanka. I've already got Matthews and Hadley running sweeps to find any traces of Cerberus involvement anywhere else. Once we get a positive ping, I'll let Wrex know that Eve's security is jeopardized and that he needs to get down there and clean it up before she can go down."

"That's… that's actually quite plausible," Miranda said thoughtfully.

"It'll have to be somewhere in the vicinity of where the krogan clans are set to meet," Liara said. "Since the krogan aren't exactly known for discretion, we can be sure Cerberus knows where everyone will be meeting."

Before Shepard could reply, Matthews called him, and he sounded urgent. "Commander? Requesting your presence in the CIC. There's something here you'll want to see."

"On my way," Shepard said. He exhaled forcefully. "How the hell is Cerberus always one step ahead of us?"

Miranda tilted her head. "Actually, from what I've observed, I think we've been very fortunate so far."

Shepard arched an eyebrow at her. "Oh yeah? Do tell."

"If we hadn't been as quick as we had been, I believe events could have ended very differently," Miranda said. She playfully nudged Liara aside and took over the main terminal. Liara smiled and obligingly moved over. "We've been compiling a timeline on every known Cerberus attack. Look at this."

Shepard turned his gaze to the monitors and saw some of their earlier missions against Cerberus.

"In most instances, all of Cerberus's movements began while you were in incarceration. Events that took planning and preparation," Miranda said. "Eva Coré was imbedded into the Mars Archive to find the Crucible blueprints a little after Liara arrived and had been there for weeks, subverting security, learning Alliance patrol timetables, that sort of thing. Cerberus covert teams slipped onto Tuchanka with excavating equipment and had to dig quietly and slowly in preparation to take out the krogan. And the defenses at Sur'Kesh were tested for months while a sizable incursion team was landing on the planet's surface. The only 'off-the-cuff' attack was on Eden Prime, given how sudden the discovery was and the small force Cerberus was only able to send. Even the attack on Grissom was planned well ahead of time with dossiers on select students, the appropriate timing to sabotage communications, and force necessary to complete the mission."

"And each time, we managed to show up and disrupt their plans," Liara said. "If we'd been a week or even a day later in some of those cases…"

"They were always planning to take out the krogan and the salarians," Shepard said after reviewing the data.

"Perhaps the turians, too," Miranda said. "It might be that the Reapers beat Cerberus to it."

"It was bad luck for Cerberus that we were quick to go to Sur'Kesh, given Wrex's request and that both you and the primarch agreed to it so quickly. We arrived just in time to foil their plans there. And the safeguards on the bomb alerted Palaven Command, which in turn got our attention, and soon our intervention," Liara said. "However, it does mean they will have several other plans to ensure that we're the ones kept out of the fight."

Shepard crossed his arms. "Including some for Thessia? Have they been warned?"

Liara opened her mouth before slowly closing it, making a small 'o'. Even Miranda stood stock-still. They turned to look at each other before Miranda grabbed Shepard and started tactlessly shoving him out the door.

"Well, if you'll excuse us, we have lots more work to do," she briskly said. Her hands were firmly placed on his shoulder blades as she roughly escorted him out. "Go to the CIC and find out what Matthews wants. Oh, and prepare to receive Feron. We need the equipment he's delivering to Mordin before we head planetside to assist the 9th Platoon."

"I have to make some calls!" Liara frantically said.

Shepard resisted Miranda's attempts to give him the boot and called out over his shoulder, "The asari have the best dreadnoughts in the galaxy! If I wanted to hit a critical target or targets, those ships or their shipyards would be it!"

"Yes, thank you, we have it handled!" Miranda said. With one final heave, she got him past the threshold and closed the door.

Shaking his head at their sudden embarrassment, Shepard chuckled to himself as he returned to the CIC. Settling in at his station, he asked, "I'm here, Matthews. Did you find something?"

"We did, Commander," Matthews reported. "Hadley caught a few whispers of Cerberus activity on the surface, just like you thought. I zeroed in on the source. Looks like they're restoring some old military installation."

"Any idea what it is?" Shepard asked.

"Afraid not, sir. Sandstorm," Matthews answered.

"Alright, keep on it," Shepard said. "Good work, both of you."

"Yes, sir!" came the tandem replies.

Armed with this new information, it would serve as a suitable distraction for Wrex so Shepard and his team could assist with the primarch's mission without krogan interference. He made his way back to the war room and approached his old friend.

"Hey, Wrex, got something you need to look into," Shepard said once he got within earshot.

Wrex looked up from his terminal. "Judging from that look, it isn't good."

"Cerberus is on Tuchanka," Shepard said. Slightly behind Wrex, Victus looked up sharply with a panicked look directed at the Spectre. Shepard ignored him and continued. "They're all over some old krogan military base at these coordinates."

Stepping up to the central console, he tapped a few buttons and showed where Cerberus was at. Victus breathed a quiet sigh of relief that was missed by Wrex as the krogan studied the topographic map.

"Hmm… That's Firebase Giant," Wrex muttered.

"Firebase Giant?" Shepard asked skeptically.

"I didn't name it," Wrex defensively replied. "We've got tons of old military leftovers all over Tuchanka. Naming them got pointless, so my ancestors kept it simple."

"Any idea what's there?" Shepard asked.

"Big guns," Wrex answered. He studied the readouts. "Strange. Those guns haven't worked since the rebellions. Decommissioned. Used to shoot turian cruisers out of orbit."

"Decommissioned… could Cerberus get them working again?" Shepard asked tightly.

Wrex slowly nodded. "It's possible. Depends on if they brought or fabricated replacement parts that are compatible."

Shepard looked at the scans himself. "Wrex… are any clan leaders flying to your Crush, or are they going by land?"

"Shit," Wrex said. He straightened up. "I've gotta handle this now. Those bastards are going to gun down the other clan chiefs and end the Crush before it starts, cure or no."

"We'll stay here with Eve," Shepard said. "We can't risk her safety, and it's probably best that we don't let Cerberus know we're here yet. You get a team together and take Cerberus out."

Wrex nodded. "You've got it. I'll take my shuttle down to the surface. I'll let you know when it's all over."

"Good hunting, Wrex," Shepard said.

Wrex nodded. He marched out of the war room, barked some orders at the krogan outside, and promptly left.

Victus slowly walked up behind Shepard. "I confess, you had me worried for a moment."

"I'm still telling him when it's over, Victus," Shepard said. "I just don't want him to ask why my team and I are leaving the ship without him or Eve. And I don't want either of you going to blows if or when he confronts you demanding answers and I'm not here."

"A savvy move, Commander," Victus rumbled respectfully. "Once again, I thank you."

Shepard didn't bother to reply. Instead, he made to leave the war room when EDI chimed in.

"Shepard, Feron is on approach to Tuchanka," she said. "Shall we hail him and provide approach vectors?"

"Do it," Shepard said. "I'm on my way to the hangar now. If Mordin isn't too busy, can we have him meet me down there?"

"Understood, Shepard. Contacting Mordin now."

Down in the hangar, Shepard winced when he spotted an irate Wrex arguing with Cortez, with James hovering just behind his friend.

"I need to get down there!" Wrex shouted. The krogan bodyguards shuffled in place, unsure if they should act intimidating aboard a human ship or merely let their clan chief vent.

"And you will after we receive this shuttle," Cortez said as calmly as he could in the face of an angry krogan bearing down on him. His hands were up in a pleading manner, and he took a step back from Wrex's looming presence. At least James wasn't armed; otherwise, the situation had the potential to escalate violently. "The commander authorized it."

"Way to throw me under the shuttle, Cortez," Shepard said, though he smiled to offset any implied offense. "Feron is here to deliver goods to Mordin, Wrex. For Eve's cure."

Hearing that his delay was still for the benefit of the krogan, Wrex relaxed. "Well, why didn't you say so?"

"Hell, I didn't know. I just work here and do what I'm told," Cortez grumbled. He and James moved to the other end of the hangar to coordinate docking procedures on the portside, just forward of James's space.

"Sorry, Wrex," Shepard apologetically said. "We'll get you underway as soon as possible. Just need to make sure Eve has everything she needs before taking her planetside."

Wrex nodded. "Gotta say, Shepard, Cerberus was annoying three years ago, but this is something else. This is a direct attack on the krogan."

"They're at war with us," Shepard said. "And right now, we have no idea where they got an army to even go to war with in the first place."

"No way they had an army when we fought them," Wrex said, "but they're gonna lose some people here, I guarantee it."

It didn't take long for Feron's shuttle to arrive and dock. Once the engines were off, the drell himself hopped out, looking much healthier than the last time Shepard had seen him.

"Feron, good to see you," Shepard greeted. "You're looking good."

"Feeling good, too," Feron said. He shook hands. "I'm told you needed some sensitive stuff. Got some specialty items here: equipment, chemicals, some biological agents…"

"I have no idea what you have," Shepard admitted with a shrug. "It's unconventional for a ship captain to allow unknown items aboard his vessel, but since it was Mordin asking for this stuff, I felt it was better just to let him order whatever."

Feron shrugged. "Well, I don't know what I was hauling, either. I just see expensive-looking machines and chemical and biological hazard signs all over the place. That's why I got out of the shuttle so fast."

"Ah, Shepard!" someone else called out.

Both men turned to see the salarian scientist enter the hangar excitedly.

"Ah, good, good," Mordin said happily. "Glad to see shipment arrive so quickly."

"Feron, this is Dr. Mordin Solus," Shepard said. "Mordin, this is Fer—"

"No, no, no, too much work to do, much to do," Mordin impatiently said. He looked up at Feron. "Introductions not important. Must transfer everything to lab immediately. Stop speaking."

Feron blinked. "But I didn—"

"No, no, no. Don't want to hear it. Must check goods," Mordin abruptly said. "Have to get back to lab. Can't leave Eve alone for too long."

Wrex looked alarmed. "Is she alri—?"

"No, no, silence!" Mordin said curtly. He jogged up the ramp into the shuttle to inspect his delivery. "Too much to do, not enough time. Be quiet. Why is all this still here? Must be moved now."

Shepard pointed at several random crewmen in the hangar. "You lot, get this up to the med bay, and be gentle about it."

"Yes, yes, very fragile," Mordin said. "Glad to see you understand, Shepard."

Wrex glanced at Shepard.

"He's in work mode," Shepard answered to his unspoken question. "He's… um… focused. That's better than having a lazy scientist helping Eve, right?"

Wrex muttered something unintelligible. He looked at his bodyguards. "Boys, help them out. The sooner it gets up there, the sooner we go home. And be gentle with that stuff; our future depends on it."

The krogan bodyguards nodded or vocally affirmed their orders and moved to take the heavier objects to the elevator. Mordin directed them to take the important items first in his usual rapid manner.

Shepard assisted Mordin with the supervision of their new cargo to the med bay—though the salarian continued to use the moniker of 'lab' instead, and no one saw fit to correct him—while taking care not to damage or, possibly worse, open anything that they shouldn't.

He followed the human procession into the med bay, and spotted Javik and Chakwas. They were seated as far from Eve as possible, with a kinetic barrier around Eve for added protection. He and the crewmen paused and waited for the decontamination procedure to complete.

"Put those over there. Away from Eve," Shepard ordered to his crewmen. "We'll need to sanitize the equipment further, then head back down for more."

"Aye, aye, sir."

Shepard sauntered up to Chakwas and Javik's corner of the room. "Everything okay?"

"Just fine," Chakwas murmured as she cross-referenced her scans with the records Javik had provided for her. "Just determining if Commander Javik will be fit for duty. So far, I don't see any problems arising from being in stasis for so long."

"Your doctor is competent," Javik said dismissively.

"I recommend we do a thorough decontamination of Commander Javik's room, Shepard," Chakwas said, tone all-business and no-nonsense.

"Sure, I don't see a problem with doing that," Shepard said, shrugging. "Mind telling me why, though?"

Chakwas eyed Javik speculatively. Javik seemed to understand and nodded.

"According to his medical records, Commander Javik's sensory talent is considered exceptional among Protheans," Chakwas said. "I imagine that if he wasn't born into a war, he may have been selected to be a scholar instead."

"Wait, 'may have been selected'?" Shepard repeated.

"We served the empire in whatever roles would suit us best," Javik said uncaringly. "As I explained to your physician, my abilities are more developed than others of my kind. It would have allowed me to have a wide range of choices for my future… had I been born in a different era of our time. In my cycle, soldiers were needed."

"So that's why you can still sense Grunt's presence in your room," Shepard said. "I knew the Normandy would've been sanitized from top to bottom when the Alliance took custody of her."

Javik didn't bother to reply to him.

"We need to sterilize the room to remove all organic materials in there," Chakwas said. "After that, it will need to be scrubbed down of any inorganic items as well, just in case."

"I'll assign some people to it," Shepard said. "Should be done by the time the mission is over."

"Good," Chakwas said. She continued her examination with a clinical air about her as she studied her readouts and compared them to the records she had been given.

"Everything okay, then?" Shepard asked.

"I'm just developing my own baseline and matching it against the commander's outrageously outdated records," Chakwas answered. "Also, he hasn't been sleeping."

Now Javik glared at Chakwas. "That was confid—!"

"I warned you that any impact to any missions you undertake are not covered under confidentiality," Chakwas snapped, unafraid of the level of hostility Javik was levying at her. "Your sensory abilities were confidential, but you gave me permission to speak of them. A lack of sleep will affect your performance, putting you and the team at risk. I have an obligation to the commanding officer to report if you are combat-ready or not."

Shepard frowned. "Is it because of the room?"

Chakwas shrugged. "I suspect so, but Commander Javik hasn't exactly been forthcoming with his answers to my questions. Probably some outmoded perception of weakness or some such foolish notion."

"This examination is over," Javik snarled, and he stood up.

"Then I have to declare that you are not fit for duty," Chakwas said. "You'll be confined to the Normandy until I and the commanding officer say otherwise."

Javik whirled on her, biotic aura blazing. Chakwas crossed her arms and legs, and remained coolly seated.

"Javik, sit down and let her fuss," Shepard ordered. His own aura flickered to life for a moment in response before he pulled it back under control. "You don't have any resources or options to fight the Reapers right now. We're your best bet, which means you have to play nice. Like it or not, I'm the one in charge of this mission now. Not you."

Javik glared at Shepard, too. In the end, he snarled once more and woodenly sat down. His aura faded moments after.

"Good," Chakwas said, and she calmly continued her work. "He's not exhausted yet, Shepard. Barring any unpleasant surprises, I believe he should be fine to go down to Tuchanka with you. I'll have my report ready shortly."

"That's good to know," Wrex said from the doorway. He let the decontamination rays dance over him. "Heard he was a fighter from the bad old days."

"I am a soldier, not a 'fighter', krogan," Javik said critically.

"Soldier, warrior, mercenary, fighter; the only difference is the reason why you jump headlong into danger," Wrex said indifferently. "See, a soldier fights for their people, their planets, or their governments. You don't have any of that anymore. A warrior fights for honor: clan, family, and self. I hear you don't give a pyjak's ass about honor. A merc does it for the paycheck. A fighter just looks for a fight, might have emotion or some reason behind it: pride, passion, anger, hate, and in your case, revenge."

Javik bared his teeth at Wrex. It looked like he was about to lunge at the krogan and attempt to throttle him with his bare hands, despite the massive size difference.

Wrex appeared unbothered with Javik's attitude. Continuing, he said, "But if you're ever tired of the easy life of luxury aboard this tub—"

"Whoa, easy there," Shepard said in mock outrage.

"There's work to be done on Tuchanka, real things to shoot at," Wrex said. "And that's a legitimate offer."

Javik was a bit thrown off by Wrex's sudden proposal and merely stared at the krogan as if he were mad.

Further discussion was put on hold when Mordin entered the med bay.

"Ah, good. You're here," Mordin said. "Heard you tried to leave. Problematic. Must acquire tissue samples now. Shouldn't run away."

Wrex sputtered. "I wasn't running away! I have to coordinate security!"

"Reasons don't matter," Mordin dismissively said. When his decontamination was complete, he marched past Wrex to the far corner of the room. "Here, please. Will erect privacy barrier."

"I need a privacy barrier?" Wrex asked with some trepidation.

Mordin nodded. "Quite. Will need more than one sample. Acquire from different regions. Will try to be quick."

Speaking for the first time, Eve bowed her head down to Shepard and whispered conspiratorially, "And painful, I hope."

Shepard mock glared back at her, though a smile tugged at his lips.

"So, what the hell did we just do yesterday?" Wrex asked.

"Minor test to determine suitability," Mordin answered airily. "Results came in. Healthy enough."

"Just enough, hmm?" Eve repeated with a giggle.

Wrex blanched a bit, but with so many eyes on him, there was no turning back. "Fine, let's get it over with."

"Spare nothing, Doctor. He's a big boy. He can handle anything you do to him," Eve cackled with amusement laced in every word.

Wrex glared at Eve, then at Shepard when the Spectre barked out a laugh which he tried to smother immediately. Even Javik let out a small, dark chuckle.

While Wrex trudged towards the bed, Mordin cast his eyes on the newest occupant in the med bay. "Oh. Heard there was a Prothean aboard. Fascinating. Medical examination?"

Chakwas nodded.

"Would love to examine personally," Mordin said excitedly. "Didn't have much interest in Protheans before. Dead. Gone. Fossils. Not relevant to current medicine. One alive. Different. All biological functions present. Exhilarating!"

"You are a medical professional?" Javik asked skeptically.

Mordin shrugged. "Also chemist, biologist, dabble in some physics."

"You should be aware that raw salarian livers were a delicacy in my cycle," Javik said to Mordin. "How far they have come."

"Quite," Mordin said agreeably. "Must adapt. Must change. Must evolve. However, to meet an extinct species. Extraordinary. Shepard spoke of meeting two other extinct species. Would have loved to meet them. Maybe dissect them. Hmm. A request: permission to dissect you?"

Both Chakwas and Shepard gaped at the salarian, who appeared completely serious about his 'request'.

Javik had a feral smile on his face. "Very well. But only if you can defeat me in combat first. To the death."

Shepard was unsure if he should step in to mediate or not at this point as he glanced between the two men.

Mordin tapped his chin as he studied Javik from head to toe. "Hmm… problematic."

Javik's stare was stony.

Eventually, Mordin shrugged and proceeded to raise a privacy barrier around Wrex's bed. Three thin metal panels were elevated from the deck until it effectively hid Wrex and Mordin from view.

Javik blinked all four of his eyes and turned to Shepard. "I do not understand."

"I think he would rather work on something more his speed," Shepard said carefully. "Back to the subject of your room. I'll have it scrubbed for you. If it isn't up to your standards, let me know."

Javik looked away and muttered, "My thanks."

"Also, I think we need new armor for Commander Javik," Chakwas said. "His is outdated."

Shepard tilted his head. "Really?"

"It's not so shocking," Chakwas replied, slightly preoccupied with the readouts on her terminal. "Given the war climate in his cycle, resources would have been scarce. Weapons, armor, supplies… am I correct, Commander Javik?"

In stark contrast to his earlier rage at her, Javik appeared to look at Chakwas in a different light, akin to respect. "Your doctor is correct. Much of what we used was scavenged from the remains of others before us. It may have failed them, but we hoped it would serve us. The weapons and armor of our Empire at its apex dwarfs the equipment we were forced to use near the end."

"Great, so where are we supposed to get Prothean armor?" Shepard muttered.

"We don't. It will have to be custom made," Chakwas replied.

Shepard drummed his fingers in thought before an idea struck. "We could contact the hanar. If they learned that they were assisting a Prothean with the war—"

"—or just assisting a Prothean," Chakwas added.

"—then they'd bend over backwards to make sure Javik would be kitted out in something suitable," Shepard said.

Chakwas nodded and faced her patient. "It's a good idea. Commander, with your permission, may I send some of your physical characteristics to some people?"

Javik had been silent throughout their exchange. He was scrutinizing his armor with a critical eye before frowning. "Very well. To complete my mission, I must adapt. From your records, it seems that the hanar would put forth suitable effort into helping me complete my mission."

"All while venerating you and your name in the process," Chakwas said distractedly as she tried to make sense of Javik's records. "While I don't wish to speak ill of any species, with the hanar I cannot say if being worshipped by them is a good or bad thing."

Javik grunted. "I do not care as long as they are willing to help me destroy the Reapers."

Shepard arched an eyebrow. "That being said, if the hanar knew a Prothean was helping me with the Reapers…"

"… then they would dedicate their lives to the cause," Javik finished with a savage smile. "It would be advantageous, if they had anything worth offering."

"I was going to say help us out with tremendous resources towards the war and the Crucible," Shepard said evenly, "and perhaps ask if the drell would be willing to send their assassins against Cerberus."

Javik scoffed. "If you believe that is the best use of their talents, so be it."

"You'll need to say something to the hanar leaders, the Illuminated Primacy," Shepard said. "My word won't be enough, though the hanar do owe me an exceptionally large debt, since I did save their planetary defenses. You'd tip the scales for sure."

Javik closed his eyes and huffed. "Very well. I shall speak to them."

"For help. Not enslavement, and definitely not sacrifice through suicide runs at the Reapers," Shepard ordered. "Don't make me have you read from a script, Javik."

Glaring, Javik stiffly nodded. "I understand, though I do not approve."

"They're allies, not a subservient race," Shepard said calmly. "Remember, that tactic didn't serve your empire against the Reapers. Time to try mine."

Javik frowned at the reminder but nodded once more.

"I'm finished," Chakwas announced. "Apologies for the delay. It will take me time to go through your records, but I promise I'll be as proficient as I can be for any possible treatments for you, Commander Javik."

"My thanks," Javik said. Standing up, he left the med bay without another glance or word.

Shepard followed him out sedately. At the opposite side of the common area, Feron was talking with Liara casually, but stopped conversing when both caught sight of Javik's predatory gait from the med bay towards the elevator.

"Whoa… so it's really true," Feron said with a bit of awe. "A living Prothean."

Liara nodded, but a frown pulled at her lips.

"Something wrong, Liara?" Feron quietly asked.

She shook her head and manufactured a smile for his benefit. "No, nothing."

As Shepard went to get more stuff out of the hangar, Liara jogged up behind him before he could get on the elevator. "Shepard, a moment?" she asked.

Shepard nodded. "What's up?"

She grabbed his arm and tugged him. She smiled at Javik, even as his neutral visage remained fixed in place as the doors closed.

Shepard arched an eyebrow at Liara as he missed his ride down.

"About your conversation with Javik yesterday," she hesitantly said. "The latter half, not the part you were talking about before I came in."

It took a moment for Shepard to realize and remember what she was talking about. "What of it?"

"I was wondering if you weren't a bit too critical to him…"

Shepard shook his head and pressed the button to recall the elevator. "All he wants is revenge, Liara. That's what I have to watch out for. To him, the galaxy ended 50,000 years ago. Now the only thing left to do is kill the Reapers. For him, anything and anyone is just an expendable resource to accomplish that; we're just a means to an end to him. He couldn't care less if the galaxy could rebuild or burn more when it's all over."

Liara bit her lip and looked contemplative.

"Look, it's a work in progress, okay?" Shepard said. "We don't trust each other yet. I don't know him, and he doesn't know anything or anyone here. In his eyes, we're probably retreading familiar paths that ultimately led to the end of his cycle. He's probably worried he'll fail in his purpose, and I can't honestly blame him."

Liara took on a contemplative look.

"Has he ever really answered any questions of yours?" Shepard asked.

"A few," she admitted. "Very few."

"Didn't like his answers?" Shepard asked.

Liara sighed. "I'm still hoping that we could have more dialogue soon."

"He'll get to stretch his legs," Shepard said. "Maybe he'll be more amenable after this mission. You know, see us in action, prove we're no longer 'primitives', maybe have a chance against the Reapers."

"I certainly hope so," Liara said fervently.

"Well, you can take the time to observe how a Prothean fights," Shepard suggested. "Rules of engagement, strategies, what's their first instinct versus their first thought."

"Oh, that's a brilliant idea," Liara said, perking up immediately. "Well, I'll let you get back to work."

"There'll be work for all of us once Wrex takes off," Shepard said.

Liara glanced at the med bay, but the windows had turned opaque. "What are you going to tell him after?"

Before Shepard could answer, the elevator arrived. They stepped aside to allow two krogan to exit. They were carrying another large and bulky piece of equipment that neither of them had any idea what it could possibly be used for.

Shepard stepped into the elevator himself and hit the button for the hangar. "I'll just tell him the truth," he said before the doors closed.

~o~O~o~

"We have multiple distress beacons from life pods," Hadley reported. "All turian."

"Got what looks like the remains of a crashed turian frigate in the ruins, Commander," Matthews added. "Also got positive ID on Reaper forces. Getting heat signatures in several locations. I can't tell if that's just fires from the ship or if the survivors are in a firefight."

"Probably both. The surviving turians won't give up without a fight," Shepard said. "Alright, forward the data to Cortez."

"Yes, sir," Matthews answered.

After Wrex finally left—and doing his best to hide a limp, much to the amusement of Shepard, Garrus, and Eve—Shepard placed Mordin in charge of unpacking Feron's shuttle while he went to the CIC to look for any sign of the 9th Platoon.

"You're sure it's the Reapers?" Shepard asked. "What about Cerberus?"

"We're checking, but if they're at the coordinates Commander Lawson gave us, they're hiding really well," Matthews said. "We'll keep trying, sir."

Shepard frowned, but wasn't terribly surprised. Cerberus had to have been digging and hacking through the security on the bomb for some time. They would have taken precautions to avoid detection.

"EDI, get the team down to the hangar. We're going down," Shepard ordered before leaving for his quarters.

"Of course, Shepard," EDI said.

In his cabin, he saw Miranda gearing up in her Animus armor while his own modified Kestrel armor was on the bed already next to his combat suit.

She was sitting on the sofa, slipping on her boots. "What are we up against?"

"Reapers," Shepard answered. He doffed his clothes before slipping into his skintight combat suit. "No idea if Cerberus knows that we're on to them, though. They're masking their presence."

"Let's hope they don't know we're here," Miranda said. "If they feel they're in danger, they'll probably trigger the bomb regardless of whether Eve is there or not. On the plus side, we'd be dead before we knew what happened."

"There's a nice silver lining," Shepard sardonically said. He started putting on the greaves.

"Survivors?"

"Some."

Finished with her prep, she nodded. "Okay, assuming Cerberus hasn't done anything to the trigger mechanism yet, Liara and I have the disarm codes. However, I don't know if they're going to work, since Palaven Command must've tried to disarm the bomb remotely."

"Nothing like a high-stakes mission that has absolutely nothing to do with the Reapers," Shepard muttered.

She rubbed his back soothingly before he started putting on his chestplate. "We'll manage. I'll see you in the hangar."

After she left, Shepard put on the rest of his armor with practiced ease, which served to calm him.

Reapers, Cerberus, turians, and krogan with an antimatter bomb sitting pretty much in the middle… sounds like the setup to a really bad joke. I really do need a pause button somewhere in my life.

~o~O~o~

Author's Notes:

Yeah, I was going to write up the mission, but I totally got carried away with the storytelling. Here's a shorter chapter instead a massive one. Also, some content—as well as some future content—was taken from the Expanded Galaxy Mod created by Nexus users KkJiro,Rusm0,and lmorri8165. That mod is a must-have to really bring out Mass Effect 3's potential from being a great game to an outstanding one.

I know about the Happy Ending mod, but I have my own all typed up already. Don't worry, I'll try to get there.