The Krogan Reformation - Two

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Past the hangar was a wide open laboratory complex, filled with scientists flitting from one project to another while just as many guards watched them work. The open side to their left was lined by sensor suites, monitoring consoles, and seated aliens communicating with who he assumed were operators in other parts of the base. Or far overhead, maybe, in orbit. A few of them seemed a bit more tense than the others, he noted, bumping his arm into Shepard's and bobbing his head at them.

"Worried?" She asked quietly.

"Always."

"Hopefully it's nothing." She frowned, "More likely, it's something, but we can try and get out before it blows up."

"That's a bit mercenary of you." John pointed out, shrugging when she snorted and shot him a look from behind her helmet's visor. "I didn't say I disagreed."

"Ass."

The other side of the room, raised up and split by stairs and guard-posts, was lined floor to ceiling by glass boxes. Most were blacked out, with status monitors displayed on their fronts, but some weren't. Those held animals, plants, fungus, and one even contained an odd, faintly glowing white machine of some sort that hovered in place, its light-bulb eye seemingly watching the Salarians outside work while its 'hands', set at the ends of four arms on each of its sides, spun idly.

He eyed it for a moment, until a guard caught his gaze and caught his head and he shrugged and turned away, following the others to the elevator at the back.

"What in the world is all of this…" Vakarian asked, flicking the monitors and glass cases a look of his own. "It's like a zoo from hell."

"The STG locates specimens and locations of note across the galaxy." Commander Kirrahe answered as they reached the elevator and its guard started punching in the access codes. While he did, the Commander turned, clasping his hands behind his back, and went on almost boredly. "Relics, animals, plants- They all come here, or to one of several similar sites, for intensive study."

"For what purpose?" Shepard asked, bobbing her head at it all. "Just knowledge?"

"Sometimes." He shrugged, "In detail? It's classified. In vague enough terms no one here will shoot me, though?" He chuckled, "Everything from medicine to physics to weaponry. Whatever the Union can gain for the betterment of all our people, we will do so. And much of that will, naturally, extend out to the rest of the galaxy."

"Eventually." John grunted lowly, "When it's convenient. Right?"

"No." He answered, frowning, "When it's advantageous. Or necessary. Weapons, for instance, would be more than a little appreciated given current… Events."

"And the Union would just hand them out?" He asked, rolling his shoulders and adjusting the rest of his rifle against the front of his chest. "Just like that?"

"Some of them." He sighed, "But…"

"The best you'd keep for yourselves?"

"Of course." The Commander shrugged, smirking almost playfully. "There will be an after to this war, after all. The Union survives by staying ahead. So while we'll tighten the proverbial gap for this…"

"It'd be dangerous for you to hand out all your cards." Garrus sighed, "Typical Union."

"Not 'typical Salarians'?"

"No." The Turian chuckled, mandibles clicking mutedly. "That would be judgemental of me. Wouldn't it?"

The Salarian only snickered as the heavily armored elevator finally opened and he turned, bobbing his head in as he himself stepped onto the lift, "Come. You're cleared, and you've been granted temporary clearance for your deployment here."

"It's appreciated." Shepard said as they formed up, Wrex leaning against the rear wall and rumbling unhappily as the armored door closed on them and, slowly, they began to descend. Sighing, Shepard asked, "How long is this likely to-"

Suddenly, the elevator rocked, nearly throwing the ODST and his team-members off their feet. Pushing off the wall as the lift groaned and continued down, he turned and asked, "What was that?"

"Either a generator outage or-"

"Warning : enemy strike on communications systems." A Salarian reported over the intercom system, voice urgent and laced in static. "Slower-moving craft incoming. Kodiak laser-forms and engine readings. Others, unidentified. Cerberus suspected."

"Answers that, damn it all." Wrex grunted, turning to the Salarian and growling, "They reach my Female-"

"You don't have to threaten me, Wrex." The Salarian frowned, as the elevator finally reached the lower level and its door groaned, trying and failing to open. Frowning, he said, "The exterior frame must be damaged - it can't interlock to secure the lift."

"Which means we can't get in because…?"

"Because," The Commander sighed, "if there's an upper breach, or containment breach, they could use the lifts to get up and down. Lifts that would probably be damaged or somehow compromised to get them down. A lockdown keeps the floors contained."

"Alliance prisons use the same tech." Shepard offered, "Wrex, can you breach it?"

"That door is armored enough to survive a shaped charge…"

"So, yeah, probably." Wrex laughed, holstering his heavy shotgun and sighing tiredly. Rolling his shoulders, he warned them, "Mouths closed, eyes down. Biotics in close quarters."

They all obeyed, turning and pressing themselves head first into the walls to either side. Even then, he could feel the static build-up as Wrex's Biotics built up. Then, with a familiar but at the same time unfamiliar rumble, the Krogan rushed forward. Metal screamed, and the static discharge washed over him, sending tingles up his spine, and he heard hinges shatter, turning to watch Wrex stumble forward, the bent outer hull of the elevator crumpled over his shoulder.

"Heh." He grumbled, shoving it off and staggering upright, turning a smirk on the STG commander. "That'll show you what happens when you get between a Krogan and his objective."

"Quite." Kirrahe nodded, stepping across the little entry area to a console where another Salarian was working. John and the rest of his unit formed up on him and Kirrahe explained, waving a hand above them and out to the side, towards the rest of the base, "There are breaches across all sectors. Landing forces scattered all across the base - no focus."

"What does that mean?"

"No focus, no objective." They turned as an older, scarred Salarian joined them, padding in from what looked like another large laboratory section , watching something on his Omni-Tool with a frown.

"Mordin!" Shepard smiled widely as he reached them. "What are you doing here?"

"My work." The doctor answered, lowering his arm and smiling as he paid them all a nod, "Likely conclusion, they do not know where the female is. Unlikely to last long. Commander Kirrahe, you remember our discussion?"

"I do." He nodded, pushing the other security Salarian away and grunting. "Check containment on the level's cells, report back."

"Yes, Sir."

Once he was gone, Kirrahe went back to work, frowning. "Scrubbing comm-logs now, Doctor. No one should be able to track anything back to you."

"Track back to him…" Garrus asked, the question in his voice until, suddenly, he laughed and shook his head. "Let me guess. Wrex, you had contacts inside, and I'm going to go ahead and guess we're looking at them?"

"Mhm." Wrex nodded, crossing his arms and laughing. "Didn't know the base commander was one, though. Would'a taken it easier on you."

"I appreciate the thought-"

"Likely better you did not." Doctor Solus cut in, "Natural acting. Better for hiding our actions."

"Not to mention-" John started, before the lights overhead suddenly died, leaving the room dark and lit up in emergency reds and blues. "Power's down."

"There is that, yeah." Kirrahe turned to face them, eyes flicking as he seemed to think everything through quickly. Finally he nodded, pointing at a lift-unit against the exterior wall, between dozens of swarming Salarians eagerly working through whatever their red alert orders were. Seemingly, to his eye, backing up data. "The Krogan female's pod is over there, and prepared for lifting to the air-pad. But we've lost the pad to Cerberus commandos. We've also lost power, which is on the sub-level."

"So you need our help securing them."

"I do." Kirrahe nodded, "My forces were in disarray from the response you caused. And Cerberus' strike was surgical, disabling long-range communications across the base. I'd appreciate borrowing your skills."

"I'll secure the pad." Wrex rumbled, jerking a thumb at the ODST and smirking, "But I want him with me."

"Wrex, why would you-"

"I like him." Wrex answered, "And frankly, I've seen you two in action already. I want to feel him out, if I'm going to need to use him in future."

"I don't…" Shepard sighed, shook her head, and seemed to resign herself and turned to John. "Doe?"

"I'm up for it." He nodded, "Not crazy about following alien commands, but…"

"You can be professional." She chuckled, "I know." Turning back to the Salarian she asked, "Where do we go?"

"I'll take you." Kirrahe answered, turning to the Krogan and pointing at the lift, "Hold that, and once the power is on, take it up to the mid-level. We bypassed it on the lift, but I need it secured for release access. Then it comes back down to meet us, and the Female will be loaded for transport. While we do that and make our own way up, you hit the upper floor."

"Back where we came in, to retake the landing pad." John nodded, "Right?"

"To start on it. We'll ride, or climb, up through the lift. If you can't, don't force it. Hold at the lift-stop and wait. We'll hit them from an angle and push them out while we form up. "But you'll need us to get local power up and running to get her pod, so if we haven't gotten it when you take the mid-level-"

"We'll have to hold either way." Wrex nodded, "We will. Eh, Doe?"

"We'll hold." He agreed, "I've held against worse before."

"You have?"

"He has." Shepard stepped in, punching a fist into his shoulder in farewell and grunting. "Kirrahe, lead the way. I'll fall into your command."

"Understood, and thank you, Commander." He nodded, turning and picking up an ovular weapon before sighing. "Best of luck to us all."

"We don't need luck." Shepard chuckled, "We have a plan."

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The power came on within minutes while the three of them stood, ready and waiting for an enemy that never came. A fact that either spoke to Cerberus' lack of any real organization and direction for their raid, or the Salarians' defensive capabilities. Or, probably, a bit of both. Whatever the case, he was glad at least to save the ammunition if nothing else. And, quiet in the vague anti-climax of it all, they broke their holding pattern and pressed into the control cabin of the lift. It was a tight fit, but one they managed, pressing the Salarian to one side and John to the other, with the Krogan in their middle growling aggravatedly, one hand on the front door release.

"Prepare." Doctor Solus said from beside them, pressed uncomfortably close to the control console. "Cerberus entrenching above. Waiting for us. Will deploy systems to confuse them but-"

"What kinda 'defences'?"

"Fire defenses." Solus explained, "Mainly suppressant foam."

"Wait until after I charge." The Chieftain rumbled, "Then pop it. I'll throw in some real chaos, you add to it, and the Human sweeps in behind to pick off the first ones recovering. How's that sound, Doe?"

"You shock, he awes, I sweep." He nodded, tucking his Avenger closer against his chest. "Simple enough."

"Heh." Wrex rumbled, the sound filling the air of the small cabin as that same feeling of static clinging to his skin filled it. "We'll see, Human. Try and keep up, yeah? I'd hate to have to tell Shep I broke her new team member already."

"Hmph." He rolled his shoulder, "Will do."

As the lift finally groaned to a stop at the upper level, he finally got a look at it.

It was mostly, seemingly, office space. Three rows of long desks in large circles ran from the open-air side they were on and back, into the wall on the far side. Presumably, it was to collect and process reports from the other levels.

But now, it was mostly ruined, with scattered Salarian bodies left where they'd fallen in walkways and over the tops of the low desk backs. Most were unarmored and had died in groups, with only one or two small arms between them. Civilians, then, with their killers hiding behind the desks and columns they'd worked amongst.

"Troopers." Doe grunted quietly, recognizing their armor configurations from Cerberus briefings Shepard had seen disseminated across the ship. "Six forming up in the row closest to us, four more further back in the second row."

"I'm headed right up the middle." The Krogan rumbled, "Straight out, between the columns and to the back. Solus-"

"Will key fire suppressants when you reach wall." The Salarian nodded, "Already prepped."

"Alright." Wrex growled, "On my order… Go!"

The Warlord smacked the door release, but didn't wait for it to open all the way before he rushed forward, flaring his Biotics in a splash of raw power that washed ahead of them to hurl the incoming fire away. The Rush swept all the way out into the closest desks, shattering the laminated stone and sending the Cerberus Troopers covering behind them staggering away. Wrex ignored them, charging forward and raising his heavy shotgun.

It cracked like thunder and ripped one Trooper apart as he stupidly stepped into the Krogan's path, splashing vibrant red and hunks of pink and bloodied white across the wall. Another tried to step in his way, spraying automatic fire from his small gun, and Wrex slammed into him shoulder first. The Trooper screamed as his bones shattered, but the Krogan kept going, slamming him into the blood-stained wall behind him hard enough to crush through the stone itself. Turning, he hurled the limp Trooper at the fourth as he turned to fire on him, and the man stumbled and collapsed under his fellow's weight.

Then, the fire suppression units on the ceiling kicked on, hosing everything in water and chunks of fire-foam that stuck to the Trooper's helmets and masks.

"Moving." He said, more out of habit than anything.

Stepping out, he turned his rifle to one of the Troopers nearest to him, a grenade in his hand he brought back to hurl at the Krogan Warlord. His burst caught the man in the small of his back, pitching him forward as blood spurted out from the impact-point. More importantly, though, he fumbled his throw, dropping it on the desk in front of him. Only one of his fellows could see well enough to react, turning to run, but the grenade went off before he took a step, bright scarlet forcing John's visor to polarise against the harsh light.

When it cleared, all three were gone and he swiveled around to the other three on the other side of the open walkway between the desk areas. They had managed to get the foam off their faces enough to see, at least, and peppered him with fire. His Barriers flared and he stumbled, his own fire going wide as a Biotic blast slammed down into the desk behind them and hurled it forward, crushing them against the other desk with a meaty 'thwack'.

"From above!" Doctor Solus warned, and John turned, watching six more Troopers descend from the upper levels on rope-lines, three to either side of the lift pod.

Three of them were hurled away by a blast of Biotic fury, tumbling through the air with muted screams. The other three jumped into the office area as he leveled his Avenger and depressed the trigger. Automatic fire washed over them, the Troopers flinching and jerking as the rounds sparked off their armor and ripped into their soft spots. Two of them collapsed, bleeding out on the floor, but one survived, and his Avenger whined as his Thermal Clip reached its limit.

Collapsing it, he slid it into his back and charged, drawing his knife from his belt as he went. He caught the man shoulder-first, but he didn't budge, Cerberus gene-mods pushing his strength far past what John was capable of. It didn't matter, though - he collapsed when the knife punched into the inside of his groin. The ODST followed him down, landing on top of him with the Cerberus sub-machine gun stuck between them and dragging his knife up. The Trooper tried to bring the weapon around, but the knife came back down as he leveled it on his head, the rounds sparking off his refreshing Barriers as the knife punched into the front of his throat.

The Cerberus soldier went still, coughing wetly, and John twisted the knife, wrenching it across his throat and out the other side and leaving him to bleed out as he stood, cleaned his knife of the thigh of his bdu-unders and traded it out for his rifle.

"Damn, Human." Wrex grunted, thudding over to the far wall to hit a few buttons as the ODST reloaded and turned, watching the upper floor through the 'window wall' for more rapellers.

"Codes confirmed." Doctor Solus reported, "Connected to Omni-Tool. Follow prompts, Warlord."

"Mhm…" Wrex grumbled, going on while he worked. "A bit savage for a Human. At least, for one that isn't Shepard."

"You don't approve?" He asked as the Warlord and the Salarian worked.

"Contrary." Wrex answered, booming a laugh as the lift door closed and the Krogan stepped onto the open platform beside the cabin. When he joined him, and Solus cued it to head down, the Warlord clapped him on the back and rumbled, "Damn fine work, Doe. I didn't know any better, I'd think I had Shepard with me! Or another Krogan, hehe."

"Thanks." He murmured, a bit of… Disquiet flaring inside him.

"Prepare." Doctor Solus warned, "Motion below - likely Cerberus."

Neither answered, simply kneeling where they stood while Wrex let his Biotics flare.

As it descended back to the previous floor, the Krogan threw up his hands, a bubble of Biotic power flaring out and protecting them from the small-arms fire the handful of Cerberus Troopers peppered them with. John waited until their leader, a Centurion hiding in the middle of them, behind the bulwark of a Guardian's shield, pulled back a grenade to throw. He had to step out of cover for his angle, though, and the minute he did John's rifle snapped up.

"Wrex," he ordered, "drop the bubble and charge, right side."

The Warlord huffed, miffed to be taking orders, but did as he said, bellowing a roar as he leapt off the still-lowering lift and crashed down in front of the line of troopers, bowling through them and carrying one into the railing in front of the isolation chambers. The railing buckled a bit but held, while the soldier buckled entirely, coming apart in the middle as the twisted, jagged metal carved through him.

A well-aimed burst of fire caught the Centurion's protector in the same moment, just as the Gaurdian turned, trying to ward off the Warlord. The shots were too light and inaccurate to kill the heavily armored Gaurdian, but they made him stumble just a bit, into the Centurion who fumbled his throw as a result of it. The grenade rolled away and blew apart some of the desks, but this time, the Troopers had seen it and pulled away, off to the ODST's right-

And straight in between him and Wrex as the ODST smiled and shouted, "Wrex, to me!"

Realizing his intent, the Krogan laughed and surged forward, Biotics flaring brightly. The maelstrom carried him forward like a shot out of a cannons, ripping apart the Troopers in a spray of blue fire, grey metal, and vibrant crimson. The Canturion and Guardian backpedaled as the ODST stood, but neither made it far a glob of blue surged out of the control unit for the lift and caught them each right on their legs, blasting them away and leaving the crippled soldiers crying out in pain.

Two bursts of fire from the Salarian's Shuriken ended their pain, though, and the Doctor said, "Quickly. Must move female. Preferably before more come."

"Right, Doc."

"Understood."

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