“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking. I’d like to be the first to welcome you to the wonderfully irradiated dustball that is Tuchanka, homeworld of everybody’s favorite blood thirsty giant lizard people. We are on final approach to the holdings of Clan Urdnot where it is a balmy 37ºc or for those of you stuck in the twenty-first century a nice 99ºf. Remember your sunscreen folks, you’re going to need it, and thank you for flying Air Joker.”
Shepard sighed and lightly slapped the back of Joker’s headrest.
“Must you? I’m trying to run a respectable ship.”
Joker smiled at her. “Hey, gotta enjoy the perks of going private when I can. Besides, you can’t claim respectable until you convince Jack to start wearing a shirt.”
“How long before we land?” Shepard changed the topic with the grace of a brick to the head.
“Should be down in fifteen, Commander.”
Shepard nodded, that should give her enough time to get ready. “I should go.”
“Say hi to Wrex for me.”
-o-
To say that Tuchanka looked like a warzone was honestly an understatement.
Between the radioactive rubble, choking ash, hostile wildlife – and Shepard counted the local Krogans among that –, and an atmosphere so damaged that it required an atmospheric shroud to be put in place to lower the temperatures on the planet to something livable.
And that was just what it looked like from a far. Even the Urdnot Clan holdings which were supposed to be one of the more livable areas of the planet looked like bombed out ruins.
If she had the choice, Commander Shepard wouldn’t have set foot on somewhere like that while on a mission like hers but Tuchanka was the only place she and Chakwas could think of where they could quickly find out what was going on with Grunt.
The tank-born krogan had been having issues for a while, uncontrolled bursts of anger, restlessness, and even more aggression than a normal krogan, but it had gotten to the point that Grunt was starting to lash out at the crew. Even Grunt himself didn’t know what was going on, but it was not something he controlled.
The only options were to find him help or take him off the crew before he killed someone…or was thrown through a bulkhead by Jack or Revan. And if it had been a different member of her team, Shepard might have left them somewhere until they sorted themselves out but Grunt didn’t have anything like that. The tank-born might have had memories and imprints of his people, but that didn’t mean he had any actual connections to reach out to.
By going to Tuchanka, they would either find out what was wrong and how to fix it…or they would leave Grunt with the rest of his people and hope he found a future there. Cerberus’s files had said Wrex had come back to try uniting the clans but not much more than that. Her hope was that he could look after Grunt if they failed to find a cure for what was bothering him.
She wasn’t ready for Mordin to ambush her on the way back to the locker room. The Salarian scientist speaking so quickly she couldn’t get a word in if she wanted to.
“Shepard. Important news. Know you’re busy. Have to deal with Krogan and Collectors. Planning attack. Too important to wait. Just received data, still processing, analyzing likely scenarios. Not sure how to begin. Too much intel!”
“Why don’t you start at the beginning then?” Shepard offered when she managed to parse the rush of words.
“Right. Beginning, yes. Excellent place to start.” Mordin took a second to compose himself. “You remember our talk? My work on genophage modification?”
Oh this wasn’t going to be a fun conversation.
Yes Shepard remembered that little talk. During one of her attempts to learn more about her team and who they were as people rather than simple assets on the mission it came out that Mordin had been part of an STG operation to modify the Krogan Genophage since the Krogans were actually beginning to evolve so it was no longer effective. Their goal was to alter the Genophage so that it continued to keep the reproduction rate low enough that the Krogan’s wouldn’t be a threat to the wider galaxy. And they succeeded.
Shepard had been deeply revolted that Mordin would be an accomplice to such an act but after many hours of thinking about the issue and talking it over with Mordin, Samara, Chakwas and even Revan…she found that while she couldn’t fully accept it was a good thing, it might have been for the best that Mordin had been involved.
Even if Mordin had refused to work on the project, that didn’t mean the STG wouldn’t have released a new Genophage. It would just be some other Salarian and according to the scientist, modifying the genophage was a magnitude more difficult than it sounded. The slightest mistake could have wiped out the Krogans as a species.
That still didn’t mean she was comfortable with it.
“Yeah, I remember.”
“Blood Pack mercenaries captured former team member. Maelon. Last seen on Tuchanka. Might torture him. Make an example…” Mordin trailed off, no doubt lost in the various scenarios he envisioned of what a horde of angry Krogan would do to a Salarian that worked on the Genophage before shaking himself out of it. “Maelon last seen outside Urdnot territory. Retrieving him would be a personal favor to me.”
Shepard sighed explosively.
It’s not like she could, in good conscience, leave someone to be tortured. And they were already going to speak to the Urdnot clan chief. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too much more to ask for them to poke around the area without needing to explain everything. And if that didn’t work, maybe Wrex would be able to sneak them over to the site.
“Yeah, I’ll mention it to the clan chief when we meet him. We’ll figure it out. See if he has any news on any Blood Pack in the area.”
Mordin smiled and nodded. “Appreciate it. My assistant. My student. Want to see him safe.”
Shepard could relate but there was no more time for a conversation, she was already running behind schedule. She needed to hurry to the hanger. “I should go…”
-o-
After a…friendly...greeting by some of the locals, Shepard made her way through the ruins towards where she was told the clan leader was waiting for her. Part of her was annoyed that none of the Krogan seemed interested in acknowledging that she and her team existed unless it was to threaten them or not so subtly suggest they leave, another part was relieved that whatever was affecting Grunt was so common that the random guard that stopped her at the entrance to the building could identify it on sight – whatever the Rite was, she had no idea and anyone else refused to elaborate or tell her how to get him to do it – and the rest of her was just glad that no one had started a firefight to show how little ‘aliens’ were appreciated. Especially Mordin and Garrus.
She couldn’t exactly tell Mordin to wait on the Normandy while she went searching for his assistant without him and Garrus was just as interested in seeing Wrex as she was. She couldn’t blame either one for coming along, but damn was it not helping her blood pressure.
“Halt!” One of the guards demanded as her group finally reached the clan leader’s location. “You must wait until the Clan Leader summons you. He is…in talks.”
Looking past the almost literal wall of Krogan, Shepard could in fact see that there was already someone speaking very animatedly at a very bored looking…
“Wrex?”
The massive Krogan’s head snapped up and focused on her at the sound of her voice. His scarred face twisted into a smile as he stood, visibly ignoring the Krogan he had been talking to, and making his way towards her.
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“Shepard! My friend!” Wrex shoved his way towards her and seized her hand in a crushing grip. “You look well for dead, Shepard. Should have known the void couldn’t hold you.”
“You heard about that? I’m shocked. But look at you! You seem to have done well for yourself.”
Wrex grunted. “Not just for me, Shepard, but for all Krogan. Clan Urdnot is just the start. When I’m done we will be ONE people again.” he declared, throwing his hands up in the air.
Shepard smiled. “Well, now I’m really glad we didn’t end up killing each other. Sounds like you’ve got big plans.”
“Ha! Shepard, you made the rise of Urdnot possible. Virmire was a turning point for the krogan, though not everyone was happy about it.” Wrex glared at the krogan that had been speaking earlier. “Destroying Saren’s Genophage cure freed us from his manipulation. I used that to spur the clans to unify under Urdnot.”
“You abandoned many traditions to get your way.” The previously ignored krogan interjected. “Dangerous.”
Wrex looked at him with an almost bored look on his face and slammed his armored headplate into the smaller krogan’s face.
“Speak when spoken to, Uvenk. I’ll drag your clan to glory whether it wants it or not.” He sounded so disinterested in his warning that Shepard realized no matter what Uvenk’s position actually was, Wrex was putting up with him out of obligation not out of respect.
The Clan Leader moved back to the pile of rubble that served as his chair and collapsed into it, looking at his former teammate with interest.
“Now, Shepard. What brings you all the way out here. How’s the Normandy?”
Shepard raised an eyebrow. “You heard I was dead and still have to ask?”
“News from out in the galaxy isn’t the best out here.” Wrex said with a shrug. “And if you’re walking around at least some of what I did hear was false.”
“Well the Normandy was destroyed in a Collector surprise attack. I ended up spaced.” Shepard glossed over the details, not really wanting to talk about it. Something Wrex picked up on.
“Well, you look good. Ah, the benefits of a redundant nervous system!”
“Yeah…humans don’t have that.” The Spectre deadpanned.
“Oh, it must have been painful then. But you're standing here, and you’ve got a strong new crew.” He looked back to where Grunt and the others were clustered. “And even some of the old one as well.” He remarked when he saw Garrus.
“Wrex, good to see you.” the Turian nodded back.
“Garrus. Finally getting up close and personal in a fight? What gave you the scar, or did a whelpling just get lucky?”
“Tried catching a dropship missile pod with my face. Can’t say I recommend it.”
“Heh. Heh. Sounds like quite the story.”
“One we’ll have to share later.” Shepard said, feeling a bit bad about interrupting her old teammates from catching up. “I’ve got another krogan on my crew with some kind of sickness and needs treatment.”
Wrex leaned forward in interest as Grunt moved in front of him.
“Where are you from, whelp? Was your clan destroyed before you could learn what was expected of you?”
“I have no clan, I was tank-bred by warlord Okeer.” Grunt stated, and then went on to list the lines of krogan that went into his creation. Not that he seemed very interested himself. Even when Uvenk, seemingly unaffected from a headbut that would have caved in the skull of any other species, decided to call him the product of a syringe rather than a descendent of warlords, Grunt just brushed it off.
For his part, Wrex seemed more interested in Okeer’s role in Grunt’s creation. But Shepard was surprised to hear Wrex say that the only way Grunt would be with her crew is if Okeer was dead.
She wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that but she was unable to investigate when Wrex started talking out loud about a clone undergoing the Rite. Or basically, as Mordin put it, a krogan puberty ritual. Something that pissed off Uvenk so much that he stormed off in disgust.
“Idiot.” Wrex commented dismissively once Uvenk was gone. “So, Grunt? Do you wish to stand with Urdnot?”
Shepard breathed a sigh of relief as it seemed at least one of the issues they were here for was going to be resolved easily.
With some luck they would be finished on Tuchanka soon and back hunting the Collectors before the growing feud between Revan and Tali blew up the ship.
Hopefully an opportunity presented itself to mend that rift. Shepard had managed to get half of her crew to get over their various issues and focus on the mission, she just had to do it with the other half before they tore the team apart.
-o-
“What are you doing.”
Revan slowly released a breath to temper her annoyance at the demanding tone of Tali’Zorah’s ‘request’. She finished screwing on the metal casing of the device she had created before turning to acknowledge the Quarian.
“Since everyone is so terrified of a single droid walking around unsupervised I’m preparing a device that will restrict it from acting against us so I can talk freely with it.”
“You’re still trying to talk with that thing?!”
Revan rolled her eyes behind her visor. Despite Shepard trusting the Geth so far as to access the Normandy’s FTL communications suite and collaborate a technology exchange as well as the platform to join in on ground operations, the rest of the crew was far less welcoming. In fact they were so suspicious that Revan had not been able to discuss anything with the fairly interesting droid without supervision from at least two shipmates and EDI monitoring the conversation.
Not the easiest way to secure an alliance considering Cerberus would certainly not approve of her securing the Geth’s assistance for her own plans. The Illusive Man might be content to allow the treasure trove of technology she possessed to remain out of his hands as long as Revan was forced to work through his organization, but she was sure the second she was no longer reliant on him, he would make a move.
Thankfully, Shepard had decided as long as there were steps taken to make sure the Geth, or Legion as it had been decided to be called, couldn’t subvert the Normandy’s systems Revan could speak with it privately.
“I am. Personal curiosity on the development of a collective hive-AI managing class 3 sentience aside, managing to find out more about these ‘Heretic Geth’ and possibly securing the rest of them as allies against the Reapers is much more important than the hangups your people have about AI.” Revan partially lied.
Yes, gaining the Geth’s military forces would be a massive boon against any Reaper forces. But she was aiming for a more…personal cooperation with them. The Geth were not unwilling to follow an organic if the situation with Saren was any indication. And she had more to offer than just being the puppet of another, older droid.
“The Geth destroyed my people! They worked with the Reapers! How could you possibly think they can be trusted?”
“I’m not.” Revan brushed past the irritated Quarian. “That’s why I went out of my way to make a restraining bolt.” She held up the device with distaste. It was a shame the only widespread use of AI had gone hostile and created such a fear of sentient droids. Revan would have preferred to not clue the residents of this galaxy that electronic slavery was possible. But the Force Phantom of Bastilla was right about one thing, Revan had been dragging her feet establishing her own powerbase.
And as relaxing as it had been to allow others to make grand scale decisions, it was time for her to accelerate her plans for her eventual break with Cerberus.
“What is a restraining bolt?” Tali’Zorah asked and not content to just allow Revan to walk off, began trailing her.
“A device that scans and restricts the logic flow in a droid’s decision processes. They are unable to act against any directives set by the paired caller remote, and they are unable to do anything that would result in the bolt being purposely damaged or removed. Additionally, active disobedience is punished by the bolt scrambling the droid’s logic matrix.”
“You have something like that?! That’s amazing! If we could install those on the Geth we could finally end the war! My people could go home!”
Revan scoffed.
Sure, the desire to end the fighting and return her people to their homeworld was an admirable goal. Revan wasn’t going to facilitate mass slavery to achieve it though, she fully recognized she had done terrible things for the ‘Greater Good’ of the galaxy when needed, but becoming a slaver was a line she would put off crossing as long as there was another option.
Thankfully due to the nature of the Geth as a hive mind, Restaining Bolts would only be useful on independent platforms like Legion.
“But we could expand on the technology.” Tali’Zorah insisted when Revan explained why the restraining bolt was useless against the majority of Geth and would not be sharing the blueprints anyway. “This could be the single most crucial discovery for the Migrant Fleet since…ever! You have to be willing to share it for something!”
“Well I’m not. This galaxy is better than my home one about slavery, I’d rather not become the reason that changes if I don’t have to.”
“The Geth aren’t people. They are machines that have done their best to kill anything organic.”
“That may be so,” Revan wasn’t going to get into a debate about what makes something a ‘person’ capable of being enslaved or the generalization of a droid race being genocidal. Not when she was already on her way to another long conversation. “But I don’t trust anyone else to not look at the technology and decide to repurpose it for their own devices. I know the Baterians in particular would probably love a way to ensure slaves wouldn’t be able to rebel against them.”
“Like that would be pos…” Tali’Zorah paused. “Wait, are you saying that thing works on organics as well?”
“Not these specifically, no. But where did you think the initial inspiration for these came from?” Revan replied. And she wasn’t lying to the Quarian. The modern restraining bolt might have advanced to the point that it no longer physically resembled the slave chips used back home, but both were derivative technology from the same source meant for organics.
But there was no point in delving into that particular history for now. Not when she was just outside the AI core that Legion had decided to use as its residence.
“Darth-Revan, Creator-Tali’Zorah.” The Geth greeted simply as both of them entered.
“Legion.” Revan returned. “Before we begin, I have the restraining device I mentioned last time. Are you still willing to wear it?”
“Will the device cause harm to this platform?”
“No, but you will be incapable of acting against my orders as said previously.”
“Then our answer is unchanged. We will accept the restriction if it means Darth-Revan’s assistance.”
“Wait, what does it mean by assistance?” Tali’Zorah broke in. “You’re working with the Geth?!”
“I did tell you I was trying to secure an alliance with them against the Reapers. There needs to be some benefit for them as well.” Revan explained the obvious.
“The Geth have expressed interest in utilizing Darth-Revan’s abilities to better understand organics in support against the Old Machines. She has agreed to provide upgrades in return for Geth support.”
“What kind of upgrades?” Tali’Zorah asked cautiously.
“I’m going to improve their storage, memory, and processing units so even common Geth units are capable of operating like Legion here as well as giving them access to various samples of emotion algorithms that should help accelerate their understanding of such things.” Which in theory should push the Geth to class 4 or even 5 AI, being theoretically indistinguishable from an organic mind.
Additionally Revan planned on subtly introducing bits of code here and there that would encourage the Geth to follow her orders. Not a full on compulsion, but they also wouldn’t resist much.
Tali’Zorah sputtered at that. “Are you insane?! We were only able to hold off Saren’s Geth because they required a large number of platforms in one area to operate efficiently! And you want to change that!?”
“The Geth realize sudden upgrades might be a cause for distress. Hence the acceptance of restrictions decided by Shepard-Commander and Darth-Revan.” Legion said.
“No amount of restrictions would be enough to make the Geth safe for the rest of us!” Tali’Zorah snapped. “Not when Revan won’t enforce them on the rest of you. Nothing would be enough.”
“What about Rannoch?”
Tali’Zorah’s head snapped towards Revan so fast the Sith was slightly concerned it had given the girl whiplash.
“What.” Tali’Zorah demanded.
“From what I’ve researched about the Geth and from the data Legion provided, it doesn’t seem like the Geth are truly dependent on Rannoch at all. For a few concessions on the behalf of the Quarians, I could add turning Rannoch over to the Migrant Fleet as a condition for providing the Geth the upgrades they want.”
“Creators are unlikely to accept peaceful turnover if it leaves them surrounded by Geth space without additional requirements. Requirements that present unacceptable risks to the Geth. ” Legion warned. “Just as Creator-Tali’Zorah wishes to protect her people, we must also protect our people from the Creator threat.”
“Which is why there would be negotiations.” Revan said calmly. “A compromise between the Geth, the Quarians, and myself so that all three get what they want.”
“And what do you want from us?” Tali’Zorah asked suspiciously. “I doubt you would help us out of the goodness of your heart.”
Revan brushed aside the insult. “Of course not. The Quarians are a race with some of the most advanced engineers around. In return for helping you return to your homeworld, I would demand you all assist me in creating weapons capable of destroying the Reapers when they manage to arrive.”
“I-, I can’t promise anything.” Revan could feel the conflicting fear and hope wafting off Tali’Zorah. The near instinctual fear of the Geth clashing against the chance of her people returning to their home. “That’s far beyond my authority, but my father is on the Admiralty Board. I’ll send him a message with your…offer.” Determination welled up in the young Quarian and she quickly strode out of the room, no doubt going to compose the message she had spoken about.
Revan watched her leave before turning back to Legion.
“Well, with that taken care of…why don’t we discuss exactly what kind of restrictions your platform will be under while I install the restraining bolt…”