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Chapter 1: Under the Sun
Beating down, furiously it glew in the sky. Aralakh loomed over Tuchanka like a plague, scorching the torturous planet’s surface. Not like that was the planet’s only concern, drenched in Nuclear holocaust that only aided in the burning eye of wrath’s efforts.
Lone walked three inhabitants of the planet, Krogan. All three drenched in garbs to help combat the eye’s reign over their walk. The leading Krogan was big and bore green armor that escaped from his tan garb. Following him was a thinner tan armored Krogan and a dry blue armored one, shorter than both.
Stopping on a ridge overlooking piles of massive rubble and sand, the leader scoped it out. The thin Krogan found a rock to sit upon as the smaller Krogan stood up next to his leader. The smaller one spoke up to the scouting Krogan, releasing a stout gruff voice, “Brother, Khoh?”
“Yes, Anjehk?” said the one that presumably is named Khoh.
“Anything out of the usual?”
“Just sand, sand, and nuclear rubble number four all in the same place as last patrol.”
The shorter one, Anjehk, peered over lingering on the rubble that was once a tall tower that once peered over Tuchanka, “Sure there’s no one in rubble number four?”
“Not even Pyjaks would go in there, doubt there’s Krogan hiding in those fallen floors.” Khoh lowered his hand from blocking the sun out of his eyes, moving away from his spot to join with the Thinner Krogan on the rock. “So, no checking it out then?”
“Not Saturan Territory, no point.” Khoh responded.
“Odd for a Shaman like yourself to say that. Usually it’d be wise to check all borders even suspicious parts beyond them.”
“Don’t get wise on me.”
“Correct, that’s your job.” Anjehk sat down next to the thin Krogan, “Wouldn’t you agree Kiri?” He asked nudging the thin Krogan.
The thin Krogan broke out of her gaze at the sand on the floor, and turned her attention to the short Krogan, “Excuse me?” she questioned, earning her a glare from Anjehk.
“That our Shaman here should be the one that is wise, and let us scope out the borders more thoroughly instead of just assuming like a cowardly pyjak.” he broke his glare at Kiri and did a gloating smirk to Khoh.
Khoh raised a brow as he pulled out his claymore shotgun from his rear to inspect it, disregarding his brother.”Using the female to make fun of me, Anjehk? Of course a pyjak would hide behind the females to do the work.”
Kiri the stood up staring down both of the sitting Krogan, “And using me as an object just sounds like a cowardly Gatagog tactic for getting out of trouble with Clan Urdnot!” she snarled at both her fellow Krogan, stomping away to the point where Khoh peered out earlier. Anjehk laughed, but his brother, Khoh watched Kiri go up to the point. “Looks like we pissed her off.”
“She has the right to be, we shouldn’t have used her to sway our conversation that way, Anjehk.”
“She has to deal with it, you don’t see us getting mad when we break into playful banter.”
Khoh shook his head to his brother, putting his Claymore back in its place, he then stood up and walked over to Kiri. Anjehk stared at both of them as he stayed on his rock to relax, “Not my problem.”
Kiri overlooked the Tuchankan landscape and gave a long groan, as she put a hand up to her head to rub her eyebrows. Groaning more, she thought about showing Khoh and Anjehk what for, for using her in a conversation like that. She stared up at the Sun, Aralakh, though being blinded, she did not care if it hurt or not; she justed wanted to embrace it’s warm feeling on her face. Interrupted, she heard Khoh walking back to this point, where she broke her attention from the sun and moved back to looking at the landscape.
“Enjoying the view, Kiri?”
“It’s reminding me of how hard I should pound you both for using me in that bantering session.” she scowled, putting Khoh at an unease.
Khoh cleared his throat and spoke, “Oh Kiri, don’t let that get the better of you. It was just play, no real teeth baring or intimidation was intended for it.”
“So I can’t react to it?”
“No, you certainly can, but please don’t take it seriously. Stupidity caused by such little antics are not priority.” Khoh gave Kiri a glance, in which she responded with a deep breath. Khoi turned his attention back to the landscape, “Besides, if my brother needs to be pounded, I'll do the beating personally.” That earned a chuckle from Kiri.
Khoh, moved to his point, deciding to take the initiative to check the building rubble, to the delight of Anjehk’s ego. Kiri followed the two downwards to the tower’s rubble.
Anjehk spoke up halfway to the rubble, “Speaking of Clan Urdnot, hear about what happened to them?”
“No, I'm not part of the radio team.” Kiri replied stepping across some ruined road.
“They found out that Clan Weyrlocc, was stealing females! Something with some Salarian wanting make a cure for the Genophage too.”
“What in the void is a Salarian doing on Tuchanka? Curing the Genophage too?”
“I have no clue, they made the Genophage to kill us, now one’s trying to cure it!” Anjehk laughed, vaulting over some debris.
Khoh spoke up, “Did the Salarian succeed?”
“Now that part’s fuzzy. Something about a human Commander coming in to look into the matter himself, along with some clanless runt and another Salarian!” Anjehk retorted.
Kiri vaulted over the debris, standing on top of it, “Two Salarians, a Human and a clan-less? Sounds awfully suspicious looking into a cure for the Genophage. Sure the council just wants us to die off rather than actual hope?” Kiri grunted jumping off the debris.
Khoh replied while pushing over a rock in the way, “Don't judge by how it sounds, Kiri. Maybe that clan-less was interested in the cure, and just wanted to volunteer; including that other Salarian”
“Give a clan-less krogan enough credits, he'll betray his own people. Just telling a Salarian that anybody’s making a cure for us, they'll go with killing us off…”
“And what about the Human? What'd they usually do?” Khoh gave Kiri a stinging stare.
“They're… Harder to know.”
“Because they're so young to this?”
“I… Guess… Never really met one to finalize an answer.”
“So don't judge entirely then.” Khoh told her off, Kiri replied with a scowl. Khoh the questioned Anjehk, “How about our disappearing patrol-members along Saturan borders, brother?”
“Dunno, no word about them, I've heard nothing on the whereabouts of them.”
“Is Clan-Leader Hrug doing anything about it?”
“Aside from tightening patrol security, no. It's like he's not wanting to investigate it.”
Kiri spoke up, “It's not like he wants to mess with what he has already.”
Khoh lingered on Kiri as she moved past him, knowing he'd give her a stare. Continuing on, the small group maneuvered past rocks and debris that jutted up. Making it to the fallen tower, Khoh ordered his fellow Krogan to be armed while venturing inside. “I thought not even Pyjaks would be in here.”
“Yeah?”
“So why the guns at the ready?”
“Pyjaks won't be in here.” Khoh gave Anjehk a grin. Kiri loaded her Striker Assault Rifle covered with little markings that were etched all over the gun, pulling back the lever to finish the ritual of loading in the clip. Khoh led the way followed by Kiri, last followed by Anjehk. Slowly moving, they were confronted with dying light; they got the idea to turn on spare flashlights they carried with them.
The group proceeded through the ruined structure, Kiri whispered, “I wonder what this place was used for back in the glory days of Tuchanka…” Anjehk shook his head, both Krogan were too young to know the exact specifications of every building that was on Tuchanka. Khoh stopped and looked down the way, he told Kiri to check left ways through the rubble while he checked right ways, leaving Anjehk to stay where he was, much to his dissatisfaction.
Kiri parted down the rubble, easing with every step she took, she was lost in thought about what humans were like. They sure did act like Krogan, resorting to violence with the First Contact War, not setting them up the best way with the Council species. But they act a bit like Salarians and Asari, hearing that they like generalizing subjects and topics to equations and essentials in what they benefit at the end. Yet they shared components of Turians as well, with their heavy emphasis in war politics and military structure. All conflicting yet understandable.
Kiri stopped at a wide gaping hole in the ground with a sunlight protruding down into it. She must’ve found where the basement was to this place. Scoping out the rest of the floor, she decided to linger and reminisce on thoughts. She pulled out a heavy knife that was single-edged, and put her decorated Striker rifle on her lap and decided to exercise her creativity. Looking at the gaping hole she scraped the tip of the blade along the area above the choke of the rifle. Scratching off weathered paint of the rifle, she constructed a scratchy silver halo with a big gun-metal silver spot looming over it. Blowing off paint shavings she focused on the small drawing she left there. Smiling at it she lingered on what it represented, emptiness.
Then suddenly, she could hear footsteps and laughing from across the hole. She raised her rifle from her lap, sheathed the knife and aimed down the iron sights of where the collection of sounds came from. They were definitely not Khoh or Anjehk.
Moving out of the shadows were two Krogan, both with black crests and blood red light armor. Blood pack members from the looks of them, scouts too, judging by how light their armor looked too. Kiri retreated to where she couldn't be seen. Letting the two speak openly. The one on the right spoke up, “It sounds like the runts over at the Gatagog base sure were in for a surprise! Commander fucking Shepard showed up and wasted the whole crew, with a Salarian no less!”
“Pfft, I bet that Salarian was calculating Arithonomics or something like that while the human and that clan-less were doing most of the work!” The left one grunted peering over the hole. Both of them stared down it. The left one took a seat as the right one looked down it, “What do you think’s down there?”
“Varren mating for all I care. When’s that patrol coming by?”
“I think we got here a bit early, Loupiq…”
“Greeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaat. Just perfect.”
“Oh shut it, they’ll come in a couple of hours or so.”
“What do you think we do then?”
“Could go down there to watch the Varren mating.” he grinned to the disgust of his partner, as well as Kiri overhearing them.
Krogan weren’t known for stealth, hell stealth is the last thing you’d associate with a Krogan, but Kiri attempted to crouch and get a clear shot of them across the hole. Silently she took every breath, lining the first one’s head in the center of the ironsights. The the one looking down the hole moved over to his friend taking a seat with him. The one that was sitting on the rock before his friend the questioned, “Why’re we here again?”
“Meet with the patrol of course!”
“Yeah I know that, but what for?”
“Saturan has females that work freely throughout it’s clan. So Clan Weyrlocc hired the Bloodpack to start persuading certain patrol groups into leaking which border patrols had females in them!”
“Oh… So we’re stealing females?”
“Yes, you doofus.”
“For Weyrlocc…”
“Yes”
Kiri’s eyes widened as the dumb Blood Pack Krogan chuckled from hearing it, only making her want to pull the trigger more as the ironsights hovered around the right one’s head. Though everything they were saying was valuable information to Clan Saturan, she must learn more. Taking thought that these Krogan still have a bit of a while to wait, she managed to sneak off back to Anjehk and Khoh. Leaving the two Blood Pack buffoons she could only imagine that they’d sit down and wait for the patrol after her’s.
Getting out of ear distance, she ran towards where she last saw Anjehk. Jumping over structures in her way, snapping her Striker assault rifle back to it’s place on her waist. Dashing through the ruins she found light source and fluctuating shadow symbols morphing into different shapes, she readily put a hand back to her rifle as she inched closer. With the shadow that fluctuated into a flying creature of sorts, she could hear a familiar voice go, “Caw! Caw!”
… It was Anjehk.
Anjehk was sitting against a wall with his flashlight held between his meaty legs, casting light against the wall across, along with him making shadow puppets with his three-fingered hands. Kiri came around the corner and gave him a discontented look as he noticed her and put on a grin. Anjehk continued his shadow puppet of a bird as he greeted Kiri, “Sup?”
“I found two Blood Pack members down that way. They’re waiting for our patrol or even the next after us.”
Anjehk stopped before he could continue his sound effects to his shadow puppets, “Ca- What? What’s Blood Pack doin’ here?”
“Something with females and Clan Saturan!”
“Stinking Pyjaks!”
“We need to capture them and find out why, Anjehk! Where’s Khoh?”
“Still over yonder that ways, Kiri. Why do you think we need him?”
“Because he’s a biotic and has the ability to pull them!”
“Pull? Why do we need to pull them?”
“A bit of an obstacle…”
“What kind?”
Kiri pulled out her rifle and stuck it in Anjehk’s face, showing him the freshly scratched marking above the choke, “That’s in our way.”
“They have lots of big guns?”
“No they ha-”
“They have crudely made art on their big guns?”
“No, Anjehk! they’re-”
“They have a very bad sketch artist with them?”
Kiri groaned and grabbed Anjehk by the collar of his armor, “There’s a big gaping hole between them that is reminding me of what your head's going to look like if you interrupt me again!”
Anjehk gave her a sly grin, or what a Krogan would consider a grin, patting her hand. “Okay, would’ve better if you opened with that instead!” Kiri gave him a groan and let him go. She put her rifle back in it’s place. Anjehk rose a hand to help him up, Kiri took it then pulled the short Krogan up. He adjusted his collar shifting it back into place, “So I suppose we go find big brother then?”
Kiri nodded picking up the small Krogan’s light off the floor, tossing it to him, he almost doesn’t catch it. Kiri rolled her eyes at the short Krogan as he chuckled it off. Anjehk pointed in the direction and the pair moved that direction. Moving on, Kiri thought of what those to Krogan Blood Pack members were talking about. Stealing females from Clan Saturan, ethically an unwise decision. Clan Saturan is stronger than Urdnot! More manpower and greater borders! Letting females walk freely amongst the ranks and be more than just snivelling breeding tools like mass produced meat or consumption. A Saturan Female is as strong as a pack of varren! Unlike a Gatagog pyjak that whines like a pup. Kiri scowled as these thoughts ran through her head, so much tension raged inside of her. Gripping his claymore, Anjehk took notice of Kiri, raising an eyebrow, “Uhh Kiri?”
“What, Anjehk?” she spouted distastefully.
“Are you… Ok?”
“Does it matter?” she spat at him, with him losing his charismatic features that he usually bore.
“Yes… This thing about females and Weyrlocc…”
“I’ll rip their crests off myself, when they spill their guts to Clan-Leader Hrug.” Kiri coldly stated, making Anjehk take a step away from her while they continued on down a wide hall.
Moving through they encountered dead insectoid husks, not dealt with by gunshots, but biotic power oozed off their bodies. They were met with a pleasing sight of Khoh, who was scavenging from a pile of rubble and pulling out slabs, raising Kiri’s suspicion. Khoh took notice as he threw a rock aside and shone his light at what was under it, “Hah! Perfect!” his bellowing voice echoed through the ravaged room. Kiri looked over his green armored hump, to be met with him picking up strange ovular objects, “What… Are those Khoh?”
“Klixen eggs, from said small Klixen Hive I just destroyed with my mind!” Khoh laughed as he reached under his chestplate and pulled out a roughly made bag, in which he shoveled in the eggs.
Kiri questioned again, “What are they for?”
Anjehk spoke up, circling around to get a better view instead of overlooking his giant brother, “Probably some Shaman crap he wants to make into a fine stew.”
Khoh raised his hand silencing both from any further comments, “Yes and no. I plan on breeding a little farm of these freaks for ingredients and hopefully, food.”
Kiri jabbed her tongue out of her mouth from hearing that, “You’d want to eat Klixen? They have a nasty habit of exploding, remember?”
“Not if you get rid of a couple of parts, which the babies don’t develop until much later in life. Thus you can eat the newborn right as they pop out of these suckers.” he said holding up a hand full of eggs to his female comrade, “Or you could eat ‘em real fast.”
Kiri sucked her tongue back as she gave a huff of disgust. Anjehk coughed to get her attention back on track. She adjusted herself and a hand on Khoh’s shoulder, “Khoh, stop messing with the Klixen. There’s something else than them and not Pyjaks.”
“What do you mean?” Khoh closed his bag and tied it to his belt, raising himself back to his towering stature.
“There's two Bloodpack Krogan morons down where I guess what is left of the basement is. They are across a massive hole and I doubt we are going to be able to grab them… intact.” Anjehk answered for Kiri. Khoh gave his brother a wary glance as he nodded slowly.
“I’ll see what I can I can do… No promises that I can fully lift them across, unscathed.” Khoh told his Krogan company,
“Well, we’ll make sure they won’t be able to stray far away from that mind’s reach, then will we?” Kiri said, equipping Inferno Rounds to her rifle, with wicked grin.