The Tank Born Diaries

Chapter One: Rebuilding Tuchanka

Whear are yOu?
SHEPERD S HEPAURD SHEPARUD!

Grunt stared at the message on the terminal, amazed by how terrible his grammar once was. Did he really spell Shepard like that? It seemed funny now, but nearly a year ago that was all he was capable of. How far he had come in such a short time.

He was stronger now, smarter, a true krogan warrior. He didn't charge into battle, he planned and prepared, just like he had seen Shepard and Wrex do. He learnt from his elders, as Wrex and Shepard had, and what he had learned made him a better fighter.

He closed the terminal and left his chamber, a square and large room in one of the new krogan temples. He had been one of the first to choose to live on the surface, after the Reaper Invasion his kind began to rebuild Tuchanka and what new buildings were constructed were used as homes and temples.

Bakara had begun restoration on the old temples buried beneath Tuchanka's surface, with a team of specialised archaeologists and cartographers the forgotten krogan world was becoming clearer and soon they would be able to go into its depth without fear of losing their way.

While Bakara focused on rebuilding and digging up the past, other females began to boost the krogan population. At the moment Bakara was unconcerned with children, being with child she knew she could focus on other things. Wrex, meanwhile, focused on uniting his people under a new Krogan Union that would be ruled by representatives from each clan.

This new Union would control how Tuchanka and the krogan race were ruled, in a new diplomatic way that was still in the experimental phase of development. It had been so long since the krogan had an established form of government that the idea was a little strange to them.

Many krogan, however, were not keen on the name, it reminded them of the Salarian Union, but what better name for a united race of krogan? He - along with other clan representatives - began to set some rules that all krogan were to follow, one of which was to not overpopulate lest they face problems like they did centuries ago.

Children may now be an option for any krogan, but that didn't mean they currently had the resources to take care of a million more children. Tuchanka needed to be fertile once more, it needed to live as the krogan live once more, if they didn't then this chance Shepard gave them would go to waste.

Shepard...

Grunt had spent many nights wondering where she was right now. She was alive, he knew that, he had watched the report as her body was found amongst the wreckage in London and she was brought to a hospital. After only a few days, though, she and Garrus dissapeared and no one knew where they were.

He missed her.

Sometimes when he was alone, he thought back to when Shepard released him from the tank. She was so calm, even when he pinned her to the wall, she didn't shoot him. She had her gun aimed in his gut, but she didn't shoot, she didn't need to. The fact she had brought a gun was enough to prove she was a worthy warrior in his eyes.

On the Normandy he spent most of his time below in the Cargo Hold, he didn't go up to see the other crew men and they didn't come to see him. Shepard did though, whenever she had a moment to herself she spent it with her men, but she made her time with Grunt special.

While others would have judged him for what he was or questioned why he was so determined to follow Okeer's forced education, Shepard just listened. He cared for her opinions, even if he didn't entirely agree with them, he still sort of understood where she was coming from.

Perhaps his attitude was what scared the rest of the crew away, he learnt to see the funny side of his enemies deaths. Not even Shepard could stand by and listen to him when he spoke of a turian's execution, she even warned him not to try anything on Garrus. She was so passionate in her argument that he understood what it meant to feel affection - love? - towards another being.

He had been sad that she had gotten so mad at him over something that - to him at the time - was so simple and natural, killing enemies and revelling in their deaths was what Okeer taught him. Now though, after fighting in a real war, Okeer's education seemed to prove no other purpose than to brainwash him.

He realized it now, war wasn't pretty. He could enjoy fighting, there was no harm in that, but when he was on Utukku and leading Aralakh Company he realized something - he was willing to sacrifice himself. There was nothing in Okeer's education about self-sacrifice, it had always been war and the drive to live.

He offered to stay behind in order to push Shepard onto victory, he didn't know he was going to survive the attack, all he knew was that he wanted his battle master to live - even if it meant giving his own life for the cause. Perhaps what drove him on was what Wrex had once referred to as 'trust'.

Wrex trusted Shepard so much he allowed the fate of his entire species to be handled by a human, he called Shepard his sister. Grunt called her mother. It was a word he learnt on his own, there was nothing in Okeer's vid's about 'mother', so he had to find out why he had such feelings for this woman.

He left the large temple, spotting a crane beside it, probably someone doing some last minute changes. Tuchanka had changed so much since the Reaper Invasion, the Shroud was gone and in its place a giant memorial statue of Shepard, Bakara and Mordin would be erected.

Many more homes had been constructed, very flat and square, deeply resembling something known as an Aztec Temple in design. Each temple had around eight to ten floors, with large square apartments big enough for a krogan family of five. The streets had been repaved and a new Memorial Hospital built.

It was nothing like the Tuchanka Grunt had seen nearly a year ago, when he first stepped onto the desolate planet it was nothing more than a mere shadow of its former self. He spent three months on Tuchanka, training and getting to know the Aralakh Company, before the Reaper's came. As much as he hated to admit it, perhaps the Reapers were the best thing to ever happen to them.

No, he thought. Shepard's the best thing to ever happen to the krogan.

Grunt made his way to a building that, for the moment, was nothing more than a skeleton. It was going to be much like different to the other temples, he could tell by the design. It was bigger and with a rounded roof. The outside walls had been completed and a few gifted krogan and asari were painting the complete history of the krogan thus far.

Grunt entered the new building, passing builders with loud tools and drills and came to what was to be the Council Hall. Around the top were a row of seats, allowing diplomats to look down at where the round table was to be set up below. Wrex was stood in the centre of the Hall with a salarian, examining some construction design the salarian must have come up with.

Wrex spotted the young krogan and handed the design back to the salarian.

"The designs are fine," he told the salarian. "Keep it up."

"Uh, sure," the salarian nodded once and quickly left the hall.

Grunt stepped aside to let him pass and he noticed the salarian wearing a small smile.

"Do the words of Tuchanka's new leader mean so much they can make a salarian smile?" Grunt joked.

"Don't call me that," Wrex said. "Tuchanka does not have one leader, it will have many."

"How is that going, by the way?" Grunt asked.

He moved over to a work bench table and sat on it, watching as Wrex leaned against the high walls that encircled them.

"Most of the clans have signed onto the Union," Wrex answered. "But we're still having a problem with a few clans like Weyrloc and Jurdon."

"Of course Jurdon would protest," Grunt huffed. "They hate Urdnot."

"It makes no difference if they join us or not," Wrex said. "We still have the majority of Tuchanka on our side. Once the Hall is finished we will have clan representatives come together and finalize our Union."

Wrex examined the hole in the ceiling and noted the sky was still a washed out brown, soon though they were going to fix that too along with everything else. He noticed the young krogan was still there, a look on his face Wrex had seen often in the past nine months.

"I haven't heard from Shepard yet," Wrex told him. "She's hiding under the radar, but knowing her she'll resurface as soon as there's another threat to the galaxy."

"Right," Grunt said as he climbed down from the table.

"Grunt," Wrex called. "I know you're worried about Shepard, but you need to push those feelings aside for the time being. Tuchanka needs you."

"Yes, sir," Grunt obeyed. "Duty first."

Wrex smiled approvingly. "Now that I got your attention," he said, "I can finally tell you why I called you here."

Grunt frowned slightly. Earlier that day he had been awakened by a message from his terminal, Wrex asking for the young krogan to meet him in the Council Hall. If he had not stopped to check back on old messages and reminisce he may have arrived sooner.

"If Tuchanka is to survive and grow stronger we need to face threats both internal and external," Wrex said. "There's going to be people who don't want to see us succeed."

"So you want me to handle these threats?" Grunt assumed.

"Yes, but not alone," Wrex smiled at him. "You're going to lead the new Aralakh Company."

...

ENTRY 001

How do I get this damn thing to work? Bloody Wrex, how is an audio log supposed to help with 'coping with my new stress'. What the hell am I even supposed to talk about? My feelings?! *BEEP* It's already on?! *BEEP* I do miss Shepard, it must sound stupid coming from a krogan, but she was... *sigh* I don't even know what she was.

But I have to obey Wrex's orders and push aside my feelings for the best of the Union. In three day's time I will meet my new regiment, the new Aralakh Company... heh, it's like my old's company come back from the dead.

To Be Continued...

Thanks to Raven_Jadewolfe who suggested the name of this series. I originally said in my Spectre's fanfic this would be focused on Grunt in the Normandy and his relationship with Shepard, but I decided to extend that and make this my third 'After ME3' fanfics, alongside Seashells and Platform.