A/N: Okay, here is next chapter of Dark Space. Hopefully you will enjoy this long chapter. Because it was a pain in the ass to write. I like to think this is my best work yet. Please leave a review and think up a way to help improve the story with ideas. I might take them into consideration if they are interesting enough, or might use them later on.

Thank you for reading!

P.S. I wrote a story called Relics From the Past, a crossover with SCP game and MLP. Those that know of SCP is, please leave a review that explain it to everyone on how it is, due to fact that i can't really explain it very well. Those that wish to read a bit about it can go here:

scp-wiki.wikidot.com/

I will be working on the story for the next week or so, so expect an update soon.

-Tali and Garrus-

Tali gave a tired yawn as she worked in the living area of the Royal Barracks. She stood and stretched her arms over her head as well as stretch her back, giving every male nearby a pleasing view of her slim form. Many males stared hungrily at the young Quarian woman as she stretched. This included humans, ponies, and even several griffons. She gave a happy sigh before sitting back down and continued her work. Unaware that several males were quietly debating with themselves to ask the young woman on a date or not. Their plan was dashed when a Turian walked over to her and sat down near by.

Tali looked up, blinking owlishly at Garrus. "Yes? Can I help you Mr. Vakarian?" Tali asked as she typed away at her portable laptop. Garrus only chuckled at her statement.

"Please, just call me Garrus. Mr. Vakarian was my father, and he and I don't usually get along." Garrus took note of Tali's tired eyes. "Long night?"

"Keelah, yes it was." Tali yawned, wiping at her eyes "I was at MageTech Advancement giving Princess Luna the schematics to the improved armor piercing mod and several Geth weapons we picked up on the field." Garrus nodded his head at this.

"Knowing your enemy is part of the battle." Garrus said wisely. He heard grumbling and turn to see Shepard stomp past the living area, Destiny close behind him looking somewhat worried. Garrus turned back to Tali "What are you working on anyways?" Garrus asked as he watched Tali typed furiously on the laptop.

"I am currently trying to improve the Normandy's drive system while insuring that the heat build up does not effect any of the systems, nor blow us up." Tali said, her eyes scanning her formula on screen.

"Sounds...complicated?" Garrus ventured.

"Oh no, this is light work compared to MagiCrystals power distribution couplings and Shielding Power consumption-" Garrus strain to hear the rest of what Tali said, but gotten lost after several seconds into the sentence. After a moment of silence Garrus spoke up.

"Oh...well...Okay?" Garrus said quietly, unsure what he heard was even understandable.

"You didn't understand a word I said, did you?" Tali said jokingly, still typing away.

"Got me." Garrus answered. After a moment of silence, Garrus spoke up. "Listen... I want to apologize."

"For what?" Tali asked, a frown on her face.

"For simply calling you 'Quarian' when we met at the Citadel. You have a name and I ignored it." Garrus lowered his head.

"Its okay." Tali stop typing, giving Garrus her full attention. "Father told me that most of the Galaxy sees us as thieves and degenerates."

"Yeah, well, my pops taught me better." Garrus grumbled a bit. "Told me if it wasn't for the Quarians, half of the Galaxy wouldn't be as advance as it should be."

"He...he said that?" Tali looked at him in surprise.

"Quarians always pushed for better tech." Garrus stated. "That is what he said. Omni-tools? Quarians created it. Mech security? They improved it. Hell, the Destiny Ascension was created by Quarian ship builders as a gift to the Asari for their kindness. The older Asari tend to forget that. Dad always told me that if I were to meet a Quarian being accused of stealing that I better be neutral in the investigation. By the time I join though, most of your people were here in Alliance space."

"You Father sounds like a good man." Tali said quietly.

Garrus only gave a bark of laughter. "Yeah, but he was a total hardass. Still...he probably tear my ass a new one when he finds out that I quit C-Sec and I am working with a Spectre." Tali laughed at this.

"Father sent me several messages." Tali giggled, "He is currently demanding that I come home. He said and quote, 'Why is it that I received a message from the bloody Queen of Equestria that you are currently on a mission of great importance to the betterment of the Galaxy? What are you doing Tali! Your mother will kill me if she was still alive! Also, tell that reptile of a uncle to contact me!'" Garrus gave a laugh at this.

"Are you going to head home?" Garrus asked.

"Keelah no!" Tali looked at him in horror. "No one will see me for years if I do. When we finish this mission I will."

"When we finish this mission we will be heroes." Garrus pointed out.

"Exactly. He can't lock me away if I am!" Tali broke out into laughter, Garrus joining in. After a few minutes of laughter Garrus stick out his hand.

"Garrus Vakarian." He offered to her. Tali smiled and shook it.

"Tali'Zorah Vas Nevos Rannoch." Tali pulled back and giggled a bit.

"Heh, that is a bit of a mouthful. You don't mind if I just stick to Tali?" Garrus jokingly asked.

"Its fine." Tali smiled at him. "Please to meet you." For the next few minutes the two talked about anything that came up. The two soon hit upon the subjects of weapons.

"What about increasing the coil tensile strength. That should increase the shot penetration." Garrus growled at Tali.

"And what about the heat buildup!" Tali argued. "Sniper rifles build up a lot of heat. You will need a bigger heating chamber!"

"Then the gun will be too bulky!" Garrus stated. "Can't you simple reinforce the chamber with out compromising the weight?"

"Are you insane? What you are asking for will not only cause your gun to blow up in your face, but make it into a small bomb if you ask us to reinforce it as well!" Tali argued at him. She shook her head at his foolishness.

"Maybe I am a bit crazy!" Garrus said.

"Keelah it would explain a lot." Tali rolled her eyes at him. She stood up and walked away. "Come! We are going to improve your sniper rifle at the MageTech building."

"That won't be necessary." Garrus rushed to catch up to her. "We can head to the Citadel and pick up some spare mods from the Spectre terminals." Tali gave him a confused look.

"You can do that?" Tali asked him.

"Well...I can now. The Council has me on a 'Council Agent with Spectre' permit kinda of deal." Garrus answered.

"What kind of mods?" Tali asked, looking a bit interested in them.

"High tech. Prototypes. Anything really." Garrus answered. "We can even buy some spares so you can study them and improve the Equestrian weapons."

"You think they will allow that?" Tali said, walking towards her room.

"As long as I am there, they won't question it." Garrus said. "Grab some spare set of clothes, we will be gone for a couple of days."

"What if Shepard calls for us?" Tali questioned as she stood by her room.

Garrus turn back to see Shepard and Destiny carrying their gear, walking behind the Krogan Clan Leader as if on a mission. "I think they got their own things to handle right now Tali."

-Citadel/ 2 days later-

Garrus thought back on the last two days. All in all, the trip went well. The two of them talked, laughed, argued (Weapons of course) and general had a pleasant trip. The first leg of the trip was to Terra Nova by massive teleporter pads. Tali explained to him that these pads helped move gear, supplies, and people all across Alliance space. There was even emergency pads located in every colony for quick evacuations for all citizens. These pads were usually hidden underground, but sprang up during attacks or catastrophes.

Still, Garrus learned a lot about how the Alliance functioned and their outlooks on life. All life was sacred to them, especially to human beings. Garrus understood why, after all, they nearly killed themselves off. So there was no doubt they would make effort to save everyone they could. Garrus could respect that. However, unlike most beings, they also knew when the line was crossed and cut loose. No surrender, no mercy. Torfan was a prime example of that. Garrus shudder when he thought about it. He was still a new cop on the force when heard about it. The complete destruction of the massive pirate bases located there showed that while they could be kind and generous, they could also be as vicious and deadly like everyone else. No one dare attack them openly since then...till now. He was surprised that Tali knew all that. But Tali told him that she learn all this in her spare time as a child. She wanted to know the people that saved her own, and find a way to pay them back.

That being said, the trip wasn't all smooth sailing though. They landed on Terra Nova and soon boarded a merchant ship heading back to the Citadel. As soon as they got on board, the captain, an Asari, has been putting the 'moves' on Tali the entire trip. The Asari loved the way Tali looked, and more than once gave an appreciated glance at Tali's hips. By the time they reached Citadel itself, Tali was just about to beat the Asari to a pulp.

Garrus chuckled as he remembered as he and Tali walked off the ship, the captain decided to give Tali a goodbye pinch.

On her ass.

The fight that broke out nearly brought the Turian to tears in laughter. The poor captain tried to fight back, but the feisty Quarian was all over the Asari, cursing up a storm. Garrus was still laughing when he was pulling Tali off the black and...well...a deeper blue Asari.

Then things started going down hill since then. Garrus sighed as he heard the cursing Quarian, she was currently in her room, working on something or another for her stress. Garrus had wandered the Presidium while Tali went looking for anything that was interesting, to help in their quest against Saren. Garrus soon left Tali to her own devices as he left back to their room. No sooner did he get there did he receive a call from C-Sec stating that they 'caught' Tali stealing from several stores. Garrus went and bailed Tali out, and then the smug Asari had to say something.

"Keep your pet Quarian whore on a leash, Vakarian. I don't want to return all the-GAH!" Sufficiently to say, he didn't stop Tali and made sure to keep everyone away from the furious Quarian as she abused the now nearly crippled Asari. Garrus then escorted her away while medical teams took care of the racist Asari. Garrus looked up when he heard sobbing coming from Tali's room. He slowly got up and walked to the door. He leaned against it, listening as Tali softly cried.

"Tali...Tali are you OK?" Garrus asked while knocking on the door.

"Go away!" he winced at her shouting. He open the door and saw Tali laying on her bed. She pulled her pillow off her head, glaring at him. "I said go away!"

"Sorry, I don't follow orders very well." Garrus said as he walked in and sat on the foot of the bed. There was a moment of silence before Garrus gave a small sigh. "You want to talk about it?"

Tali stayed silent, facing away from Garrus to the window, seeing the large expanse of the Citadel from the view. She watched as the aircars flew down the designated paths, each one of them filled with people. Each one view her people as nothing more than scum or easy scores. She turn to see Garrus staring at the wall, his fist clenched in frustration.

"My people have wandered the stars for almost 300 years." She whispered, Garrus turning his head a bit to listen. "300 years Garrus...300 years of abuse...300 years of watching the rest of the galaxy put my people as low as vorcha. This is what my ancestors lived through? This is what they had to suffer when on their pilgrimage? Everywhere I went, I felt stares and disgust. The moment you left, they descended on me like a rabid Varren." Tali softly said, sitting up and wrapping her arms around her legs. "Accusing me of stealing. Calling me a thief and scum."

"And I was one of them a few weeks ago." Garrus said, looking away from Tali.

"Not anymore, your not." Tali looked out the window again. She then growled and started to punch the pillow. "One mistake and they tossed us out and erased all the good things we did for the galaxy."

"The mistake did create the issue we are going through right now Tali." Garrus winced, waiting for the blows to land, but never did. He turn to see Tali staring forlornly at the window. "Hey, listen I just put my foot in my mouth. Just ignore it. I tend to do that from time to time."

"They said that the Geth are coming back to finish the job." She said quietly. "The officers at C-Sec said that it was only a matter of time before they break through the Alliance strength and hunt us down."

Garrus growled in frustration, sure he was a hot head and thick headed, but he never treated anyone like what Tali went through. True, he was a bit condescending to her, but he was like that with everyone. "Ignore them. They just ignorant assholes. They just want to see the Alliance burn."

Tali stayed silent, quietly sighing herself. "I think I should head back to Equestria already. We already have everything we need."

"True...Still, Tali," Garrus looked at her with a smirk, "When this is all over, people of the galaxy will look to you as a hero. They are kinda fickle like that."

"That would only make it worse!" Tali looked at him in surprise. "They would hate the fact that they owe their lives to me. A Quarian!"

"True, it would. But in the end, you saved their asses, and that is the best insult to make." Garrus said with a grin. Tali smiled as well, wiping away at her face to dry the tears.

"Yes...yes that would make a good insult." Tali smiled mischievously at the thought. Garrus smirked, internally cheering

"Come on, let leave with our heads held high. If they give you any grief, they have to deal with me." Garrus said, holding out his hand. Tali smirked as she reached over to take it.

"Oh? What are you going to do?" Tali chuckled as she was pulled up to her feet.

"Good ole fashion headbutts are still in, I heard." Garrus grinned as he left the room, chuckling as he responded to Tali's question. "I heard they do wonders on changing a person's opinion on something."

-Kaiden and Ashley-

Ashley sat down in the mess hall, savoring the lasagna that sat before her. She completely ignored everything around her as she wolfed down her meal. Several minutes past before she leaned back, patting her stomach as she finished most of her meal.

"Looks like you were hungry, Sergeant." a voice said before her, Ashley looked up to see Kaiden sitting in front of her, halfway finished with his own meal.

"What? When did you get here?" Ashley coughed in surprised. Kaiden rolled his eyes at her and kept eating, smirking somewhat.

"I been here...about 10 minutes." He swallowed his bite, smiling at Ashley. "Watching you stuff yourself is quite interesting." Ashley growled at him, stabbing her fork into the poor lasagna with more force than necessary. Kaiden only chuckled at this, continuing his own meal.

"How long do you think we will be waiting here, LT?" Ashley asked after several minutes of silence. Kaiden could only shrug at her question.

"Maybe a day? Or a full week. We are waiting for leads on Saren and his allies, Sergeant." Kaiden answered.

"Please, at least call me Williams, or Ashley." Ashley grunted, hated that she was being called by rank.

"Only if you do the same." Kaiden took another bite of his meal, his eyes catching the site of Joker standing in line.

"Gah! This waiting is boring." Ashley grumbled. "Hey! I know, lets head to the Mission Central and see if there is anything that needs to be done around Alliance space."

"Really Williams?" Kaiden rolled his eyes at her idea. "We just got off a mission yesterday, which I remind you nearly got us killed several times over."

"Yeah, so what?" Ashley stated, picking up her tray and began to leave. Kaiden looked up in surprise before hastily picking up his own to follow her.

"Hey! Wait up!" Kaiden called out, all the while taking several last second bites of his meal.

-Mission Central-

Dozens of ponies, griffons, and human scurried around Mission Central. Each one of them had the task of carrying orders, crunching numbers, and giving out missions all through out Alliance space. With the Geth invasion in full swing, they normally calm atmosphere had changed into one of utter chaos. Ashley marched up the front desk and began ask several questions. Kaiden jogged up behind her, taking several deep breaths while doing so.

"Getting out of shape there, Alenko?" Ashley teased, gaining a scowl from him.

"I almost threw up chasing after you." Kaiden growled. Ashley laughed, thanking the Unicorn for the information before heading down a hallway near the entrance.

"Where you going now?" Kaiden asked, looking at the hallway with curiosity.

"The N- Mission Center...You never been here?" Ashley looked at him with surprise. Kaiden only shook his head at her question.

"No. I been attached to Shepard side for the past 3 years." Kaiden answered, "Before that, I just receive my orders through Mission Central."

"Huh..." Ashley said in surprised. "Well, this is where all N-Operatives give and receive operations to their class. Only limited to Level 4 and above, so I wasn't allowed in here yet until I finished my N-4 test."

Ashley and Kaiden walked up to the desk, standing behind an Admiral who looked upset at whatever the Deskpony was telling him.

"Are you sure?" The admiral asked.

"I'm sorry Admiral." The earth pony said, her voice filled with sadness. "But right now, everyone is tied up at the moment. All N-Operatives are either on mission or on the front lines fighting the Geth forces."

"Damn it." The Admiral cursed, slamming his fist against the desk, startling the pony. "I'm sorry." he quickly apologized to her.

"Whats wrong, Sir?" Ashley pipped up, surprising the Admiral, causing him to turn around. "Sorry Sir." Ashley smiled weakly at him. The Admiral only shook his head at the apology.

"Its fine, Sergeant." he said, extending his hand to Ashley, "The name is Admiral Kahoku, Sergeant, Lieutenant. And right now, I am in some desperate need of help."

"What it is?" Kaiden asked.

"I am getting stonewalled by the Geth assholes." Kahoku growled. "Normally I would say it was bureaucrats assholes as well, but right now the Alliance is up in arms against the Geth and all of our forces are engaged with them, my Recon teams being a part of it. So far I been stonewalled by that and several elements within the Mission Central to keep me from sending anyone to the sector I sent my scouts in. I had my recon team scouting out Geth forces when they came across some strange activity out in the Traverse. I lost contact with them yesterday, and I've been trying to get anyone to head out to their last known position to check it out. I need to know why my team dropped out of contact."

"We can do it!" Ashley jumped at the chance.

"We can?" Kaiden said in surprise.

"It will be a good side mission for us."

"It will?"

"Besides, if we find anything related to the Geth, it will help in our mission against Saren. Hey we can ask Shepard if he wants to join us!"

"I'm sorry, but Commander Shepard has already has an assignment at the moment." The deskpony said, causing all three of them to turn to her. "He, along with Sergeant Major Sparkle, are heading to Tuchanka with Clan Leader Urdnot Wrex."

"What? Since when?" Ashley looked at her in surprise.

"About 1 hour ago."

"What was the mission?" Kaiden asked, but the pony shook her head.

"I'm sorry Lieutenant, but I am not allowed to give that information out. It is classified as N-7 Priority." The pony answered, Ashley frown, holding her head with her hand.

"Figures he leaves us behind." she grumbled. She then turn to the Admiral, "We can go in his stead instead. The LT and myself are both N-Operatives, so we can handle this on our own. As long you can provide us a ride." She said sheepishly, the Admiral only smiled at this.

"Thank you Sergeant." Kahoku looked relived. "I was running out of options. I was about to pull one of my other teams out from their sectors to go hunting for them. I will remain here, try to find out more about their last message they sent to me before they dropped out, and find out why I was being stonewalled by official channels." A small cough was heard behind him, and saw the pony holding up several sheets of paper.

"Well, first thing first." Kahoku sighed, pulling out a pen. "We have some paper work to fill out before I send you two anywhere." This caused Ashley to groan in despair at the sight of paper work.

-2 days later; On board the SSV Trafaglar-

Kaiden watched the planet Edolus float in the sea of stars, his eyes narrowed in suspicious as he looked upon the planet. Ashley came inside, fully armored and ready to head down planet side.

"Ready to head down?" Ashley asked.

"Something is wrong." Kaiden said, his eyes trained on the planet below.

"There is a group of missing soldiers on the planet, of course there is something wrong." Ashley stated, Kaiden only shook his head.

"Not that, the distress signal. Its a standard automated message alone would of warrant a small team to be sent. But the fact that it is still going after we lost a recon team after landing? No, something fishy is going on."

Ashley stared at the planet, nodding her head. "So we have to be on our toes when we hit ground side then."

"Indeed." Kaiden said, crossing his arms.

"Well, we are not taking a Mako down, but a shuttle, this way we can do a fly by over the area the recon team was last located at." Ashley reported. The door the the viewing room open and a pilot entered, saluting Kaiden.

"Sir! Shuttle is ready to head down." the pilot reported. Kaiden return the salute, nodding his head to him.

"Thanks Cortez. We will be down to the hanger bay shortly." The pilot nodded before leaving. Ashley grin at him, a light blush on her face.

"You think I should ask him out?" Ashley laughed, with Kaiden raising an eyebrow at her. "He is pretty cute and he is a hard worker. I like that in a guy."

"Good luck on that." Kaiden said as he began to walk out.

"Why?" Ashley asked in confusion. Kaiden walked out, a shit eating grin plastered on his face.

"His husband might not appreciate that he is dating a woman behind his back."

"What!" Ashley stared at Kaiden's retreating back, stun at the implication. "Why is it always the cute ones that are taken!" She groan out loud.

-Edolus; Last known location of Recon Team-

The shuttle flew around the area, Kaiden and Ashley looking down at the ground below. Sitting in the middle of a empty plain was a M35 Grizzly, the former main battletank for the Alliance. The Grizzly was slowly being phased out of the Alliance, but until there was enough Makos to replace all the Grizzlies that were in service, they were still being used.

The massive tank was nearly twice the size of the Mako, and it was simply sitting there, with not a single soul around it.

"Well that is not good sign whatsoever." Ashley commented. Kaiden said nothing, but walked up to the pilot. "Looks like there some sort of large device near it."

"Right, Cortez, set us down about 100 yards from the Grizzly." Kaiden ordered.

"Roger that Sir." Cortez slowly brought the shuttle around and gently landed on the surface of the planet. Kaiden and Ashley place their helmets on, grabbing their weapons from their back.

"Ok, lets go find out what happen." Kaiden said, jumping off the shuttle. Ashley followed suit, groaning at the prospect of a long walk.

"Why couldn't we land closer to the damn thing." Ashley complained. Kaiden chuckled, shaking his head as they walked towards the Grizzly.

"I rather walk than somehow blow up our only way off this planet." Kaiden answered. Ashley rolled her eyes at this. About 20 yards away from the Grizzly, Ashley paused, lifting her rifle and looked around. Kaiden turn to her, looking at her in confusion.

"Whats wrong?" Kaiden asked, seeing the wary look on Ashley's face.

"The ground moved..." She muttered. Kaiden looked up to see dozen's of small meteorites falling from the sky. "Not those." She growled at him, seeing him looking up at the sky, "It didn't feel like something impacting the ground, but moving through it."

"Okay..." Kaiden taking a step away from her, his foot caught on to something, tripping him and making him fall over. Ashley eyes widen, taking a step forward to help but froze in place. "Gee thanks for helping." Kaiden grumbled, picking himself up from the ground and kept walking towards the Grizzly. Ashley continue to stare at the ground, pointing her finger at the object that Kaiden tripped over.

"Kaiden..." She spoke softly "I think I found one of the recon ground team members." Kaiden turn back around to see Ashley pointing at the ground. Kaiden looked down to see a a single hand raising out of the ground. Kaiden's eyes widen, falling to the ground and began to start digging. Ashley raised her rifle, looking around to see if she can spot anything, only to hear Kaiden shout out in surprise. She turn back to see what was wrong, only to turn green when she saw Kaiden holding a single arm in his grasp.

With no body attached to it.

Kaiden drop the arm, staring at the blacken stump in shock. "I think we better get out of here." Kaiden said.

"Fine with me." Ashley answered, turning tail and began to run back to the shuttle. Kaiden followed suit, calling to Cortez.

"Cortez, get the shuttle ready to-" Kaiden was interrupted when something massive exploded in front of them, getting between them and the shuttle. Ashley and Kaiden fell back, eyes widen in shock and horror.

"Thresher Maw!" Kaiden yelled. The thresher maw roared, focusing itself on the shuttle. The beast reared its head back before spitting at the floating machine. Cortez forced the shuttle into an impromptu barrel roll, causing the shuttle to bounce across the ground before lifting off and away from the monster.

"Cortez!" Kaiden called over the radio, Ashley and himself running towards the Grizzly for cover.

"I'm fine, Sir! Just a little banged up." Cortez called over the radio. "I can't make a pick up with that monster around. Uh oh. Watch out!" Kaiden turn around to see the Thresher Maw take notice of them, spitting at himself and Ashley. Kaiden eyes widen in fear before a large wall of earth rose before him, blocking the acidic spit.

"Lets go!" Ashley yelled out, her arms glowing a deep brown before a piece of the wall launched itself at the Thresher Maw, slamming into its head, stunning the monster. The shuttle appeared again, hovering around the Thresher Maw, firing several rounds from the its mounted guns. The Thresher Maw roared, shaking off the blow to the head before spitting at the shuttle, but it avoided the spit with ease.

Kaiden kept running to the Grizzly,the massive tank filling his view, his eyes doing a quick assessment of the tank's status. The trends of the tank was melted, but the massive 225 MM Mass Accelerator Cannon was still in good condition. Kaiden climbed up to the hatched and climbed inside, turning the massive machine on.

Ashley growled, her arms glowing a deep brown, launching several spikes at the monster, but it only annoyed the creature. The shuttle continued to fired, weaving in between the spits with ease. The Thresher Maw was about to spit again before its head was rocked by a massive blow from the Grizzly main gun. It gave a small whine before roaring at the tank, quickly heading underground.

"Crap!" Kaiden cursed as the Thresher Maw fled underground. "Anyone got eyes on it?"

"Sorry Sir, scanners are not telling me anything." Cortez answered, his shuttle flying over the area. Ashley eyes glowed a deep brown, her magic rolling off her body with ease. She immediately turned around, launching a large boulder at the area behind Kaiden's position. The thresher maw roar out, screaming out of the ground, only to meet a large boulder the moment it came out. The shuttle immediately pounced on the stun monster, with Kaiden turning the massive barrel to it, before unleashing its round directly at the head. It screamed once more, before heading underground.

"Ashley, you know where it is at?" Kaiden took note of Ashley ability to find the creature.

"Yeah, its just rushing around us...Hold it. Its coming up on your 4 o'clock." Ashley glowed arm glowed, launching another boulder at the Maw. Cortez swarmed the creature with dozens of rounds while Kaiden launched another round at the beast. The creature was beginning to bleed, giving out whines in between roars. The creature gave a loud groan, and tried to head underground once again, but Ashley wasn't going to give it the chance. The ground around the Thresher Maw squeezed together, holding the massive beast in place. Ashley began to swear, her breathing becoming strain with stress. "Hurry up and kill it! I can't keep this up forever!"

"Roger that, Williams!" Kaiden answered, launching another round that beast's head, Cortez buzzed around it, firing non-stop at the Maw. The creature cried out, thrashing around, desperately trying to free itself from the unnatural grip that Ashley had on it. Kaiden took sight on the Maw's head, launching one last round at it's head. The Thresher Maw gave one last groan before collapsing on the ground. Kaiden sighed, leaning back against the seat in relief. The shuttle flew around the body, scanning the massive creature to insure that it was dead.

"Thresher Maw is down. No life signs." Cortez commented on the radio. Ashley leaned against the tank, holding her head in her hands. Kaiden pulled himself out of the tank, leaning over the side to speak with Ashley.

"You okay?" Kaiden asked as he jumped down.

"No, really dizzy. I never use so much magic in one go before." Ashley tiredly groan as she stretched her back. Kaiden reached into his pouch and tossed her a small potion. "Thanks." Ashley gave a swing of the potion. Kaiden nodded his head, walking around the large tank to the other side, Ashley following behind him. "Whats up?"

"You did say there was something nearby didn't you?" Kaiden answered her.

"Oh yeah...I forgot about that thing." Ashley said as they walked up to the large device.

"Understandably." Kaiden grin at her, his omni-tool scanning the device before him, "We did just kill a Thresher Maw." Ashley turn around, a small gasp escaping from her lips. "What is it?" Kaiden turn to see what Ashley saw, the words dying on his lips.

Scattered behind them, bodies of Alliance soldiers lay on the ground, dirt slowly covering their bodies from the high winds. Most of the bodies looked black, like they were set aflame. Ashley quietly walked to one,reaching down and pulling out a small tag from the belt. Ashley lowered her head, giving a small prayer for the person. Kaiden walked up next to her, his eyes studying the body before him.

"Looks like the Thresher Maw took them by surprise." Kaiden said after a moment. Ashley look up at him in surprise. "Look at how most of the bodies are laid out. The Thresher Maw popped up, catching them off guard, it let loose a single spit, taking them all out at the same time. I am guessing that arm I tripped over was flung from over here." His omni-tool chimed, causing him to look down at his arm.

"What is it?" Ashley prompted.

"I have a program going through the device. It says that it is a transmitter?" Kaiden looked at the device before him. "This definitely doesn't look like a Alliance Transmitter. This transmitter is running off Mass Effect, not MagiCrystals."

"So how did this transmitter managed to gain Alliance transmit codes? Isn't there some sort of safety program to protect the Alliance from this kind of thing?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah, there is. Whoever did this wanted the Alliance to show up here." Kaiden stated, his eyes narrowing at the implication.

"You mean they lured Alliance personal here...to kill them with a Thresher Maw?" Ashley said incredulously. "Wouldn't it be better just to lure them into some sort disguised pirate base or something?"

"I don't know...All I know is that we got to report back to Admiral Kahoku and give him the data and the status of his men." Kaiden said, waving his arm to Cortez to land.

"He is not going to be happy about this." Ashley said quietly as they walked to the shuttle.

-Shepard, Destiny, Wrex-

Shepard growled as he paced in his room, dozens of reports were scattered around his temporary lodging.

Each report had the face of a young woman with a dark hood on, covering her eyes.

"When I find you, you are in so much trouble." Shepard glared at the picture of the smiling woman. His door open, revealing a purple unicorn. "Where the hell have you been?" Shepard grunted at her, trying his best to figure out a pattern to the young thief's heists.

"With Conrad." Destiny smiled as she walked to the bathroom to freshen up.

"Who?" Shepard asked, his mind bringing up a list of people he knew and came up with nothing.

"Conrad Vernon." Destiny said with a sigh.

"Oh...that guy." Shepard muttered. As far as he was concern, Conrad was on his shit list, near the top in fact. He was bumped down to number 4 after he found out about Kasumi Goto, who now owns number 3.

"Why are you not happy for me?" Destiny asked, giving Shepard a small glare. "Conrad has been good to me for the past 5 years."

"Because he is a hero worshiping pansy." Shepard answered, rolling his eyes at Destiny. "If he is not with you, he is following me around like a lost puppy."

"John, he wants to be on your good side." Destiny said as she sat next to him. Shepard only sighed and wrapped an arm around Destiny, giving her a hug. "You tend to scare away people when it comes to my love life. Isn't it enough that Conrad is still around, even after all the problems you give him."

"Oh? And why hasn't he asked for your hoof in marriage then?" Shepard growled.

"Because you scare him something fierce. John, I love you like a brother, but sometimes that works against me. Especially when it comes to Conrad and him popping the question. He is afraid you might do something to him if he does." Destiny said, glaring up at Shepard. Shepard at least had the decency to look somewhat ashamed, scratching the back of his sheepishly.

"Okay, okay. Fine." Shepard relented. "I am completely fine with you and him tying the knot." Destiny beamed at him, her smiled made the room a much brighter place. "But so help me, if something happens..."

"Its fine. I know how to take care of myself." Destiny hugged him.

"Why is he looking for my approval anyways? What about your dad? Shouldn't he ask him?" Shepard asked, looking somewhat confused.

"In his mind, if you approve of it, then asking my father would be a cinch." Destiny answered, hopping off the couch. Shepard rolled the idea around in his mind before nodding.

"Huh...makes sense. Hey wait up!" Shepard locked the door behind him as he caught up to Destiny down the hall.

"What was all those reports I saw in your room?" Destiny asked as she rounded the corner.

"Oh those? Those on some sort of master thief that been plaguing the galaxy as of late." Shepard answered, stretching his arms somewhat.

"I think we got enough on our plate as is, John?" Destiny sighed at him.

"Oh no, this is personal business." Shepard answered.

"Personal how exactly?" Destiny narrowed her eyes on Shepard.

"New Canton personal." Shepard said, avoiding Destiny's eyes.

"You cannot be serious about this." Destiny looked upset at Shepard.

"It is to me!"

"Its outdated Gamestation! Let go already!"

"Oh no, this was a limited edition, diamond encrusted, gold plated with beefed up harddrives and RAM! I spent a fortune on it!"

"You got it at half price."

"Still expensive! And I didn't even have in my hands for more that 5 minutes before it was taken!"

"Then you shouldn't have placed it on the floor."

"I was tying my shoe! So help me oh mighty gods." Shepard started, Joker happen to walked giving them both of them a smile, which was promptly wiped away when Shepard finished up his speech. "When I find her...I am going to rip her to shreds!"

Joker quickly walked away from them after Shepard finished his speech.

Destiny hoofface, shaking her head. "You are such an idiot sometimes."

"Sparkle, Shepard." a deep voice echoed from behind them. Both turn to see Wrex standing behind them.

"Clan Leader." Destiny bowed to him. Shepard was slightly more deadpan with his greeting.

"Wrex." Shepard nodded to him. Destiny only sighed, but stayed silent.

"We need to talk. Privately." Wrex stated. Walking past them, leading them towards the garden.

-Few minutes later/Inside the garden maze-

"What can we assist you with Clan Leader?" Destiny asked, Wrex waved his arms at Destiny.

"None of that Clan Leader stuff, Sparkle." Wrex grunted. "We are brothers and sisters in arms. You have the right to just call me Wrex."

"Oh...Okay." Destiny said, put off somewhat. Wrex looked around, taking a couple of sniffs before turning back to the two before him.

"I need to go to Tuchanka." Wrex stated, looking around in worry.

"What for?" Shepard asked. Wrex sighed, sitting down on the bench that was located there.

"What I am about to tell you is top secret. Guardian level kinda of stuff." Shepard and Destiny both stiffen up and nodded their heads. "Right then. As you know, my people have been living in your sectors and under your care for the past 26 years. About a decade ago, I called Cerberus for a major undertaking."

"What kind of undertaking?" Destiny asked.

"The revival of my home planet. For the past thousands of years, it was nothing more than a giant ball of dirt and death. There was no hope for it to ever return to its once pristine lush lands and jungle. However, your people on the other hand proved other wise. Your magic can terraform an entire inhospitable planet in something livable in just a couple of decades. My mate, Clan Shaman Bakara wished to see Tuchanka a decade ago. So I took her. It was...hard to see it after living on Infestus for so long. She wanted to see the jungles of Tuchanka to flourish once more. I want my mate to be happy, so I asked. Lord Discord said it will be an enormous undertaking of great proportions."

"Why is that?" Shepard asked, leaning against a pillar.

"Tuchanka is dangerous, Shepard. Very Dangerous. So dangerous that if I sent your people down there, I could not guarantee their safety, even if I sent thousands of my warriors with them. So I only sent my people, with a bit of Cerberus' help in the shadows. In case we need them."

"I don't understand?" Shepard asked, walking to Wrex. "So what's the secret?"

"My people living on Tuchanka are showing signs of the Genophage." Wrex said, Destiny and Shepard both gasped at the implications. "Your doctors and scientists manage to cure the Genophage somewhat, 1 in 350, which is a far better number than 1 in 1000. They said that my people are slowly overcoming the Genophage anyways, and that we will be cured in a couple hundred years. My people on Tuchanka on the other hand...The last Krogan born on the planet was 3 years ago, and not another one since then."

"I...I don't..." Destiny walked up to Wrex and leaned against him. Wrex said nothing, only looking at the ground.

"I dare not bring them off planet." Wrex said quietly. "Cerberus conducted some test on several tissue samples." Wrex stayed silent for a moment, staring at the clouds above. He closed his eyes for a moment before turning back to Shepard and Destiny. "The samples showed an improved Genophage virus in their system."

Shepard stayed silent, staring hard at Wrex before speaking. "Its worse than that...Isn't it."

Wrex nodded his head. "Very perspective of you, Shepard. You do your teacher proud."

"Wait. You mean there is more?" Destiny said in surprise.

"The Genophage can now be spread through the touching of the skin. Even the most gentle touching of the skin would guarantee a 100% infliction of the plague. There is no signs of a Krogan being infected either, it is a perfect weapon. " Wrex said quietly. Destiny looked at him with a horrified expression on her face, while Shepard face was filled with rage.

"That means if a single infected Krogan landed on Infestus..." Destiny whispered softly.

"The entire planet would be in danger of being infected with it, and no one would know it until it was too late." Shepard finished.

"I am getting reports that there are signs of disturbances throughout the clans areas. Signs of tampering with the food supplies and water sources." Wrex paced around the small clearing. "No signs of who it was. So I asked Cerberus to stand guard of the new food and water supplies for the new batch of warriors and workers that will arrive tomorrow."

"You are sending more people there!" Destiny said in surprise.

"They know what they are getting into." Wrex held up his hands to calm Destiny. "This group is going to be the last one. They will be guarding the last TerraConverter to be placed in the area."

"And you have your people guarding the area?" Shepard asked.

"No, Cerberus is sending their own to do it." Wrex began to walk out of maze, Shepard and Destiny following behind him.

"I didn't know Cerberus started taking Krogan into their ranks?" Destiny commented.

"They know good talent when they see it." Wrex smirked, but was shaking his head. "They have very few, but they got something even better."

Both Destiny and Shepard both stop and tilted their head to the side in confusion. "They do?"

-Tuchanka/TerraConverter location 10-

The dark and dusty skies of Tuchanka surrounded TerraConverter 10. Several Krogans along with patrolling Varren littered the area, insuring that the area was secured from intruders. 2 Krogan and a Varren stomped through the area, grumbling all the way.

"I can't wait to get back to Infestus." Grumbled one Krogan

"Be silent, pup." The elder Krogan muttered to the younger. "You should be proud of what you are doing. We are saving Tuchanka from our past mistakes."

"If you say so." The younger Krogan muttered. The Varren growled, causing the two Krogan shake out in laughter.

"Alright you mutt, we will feed you." The elder Krogan laughed, the three soon left the area. The clearing was silent for several minutes before there was a sound of shifting rocks and a Salarian pulled its free from the rubble.

"Scent nullifer proves to be effective. Proceeding to food stores." The Salarian murmured over the radio. "Estimated time of completion is 20 minutes...*Deep breath* Should be no problem."

The Salarian continue on, avoiding patrolling Krogan and groups of Varren "Hmm...very well train Varren. Able to do patrols on own. Very interesting. Will capture later for study." The Salarian muttered to himself.

"Doctor Solus? How goes the infiltration?" The radio rang out in the Salarian's ear.

"Quiet, no problems to report."

"Quiet doesn't always mean a good thing Mordin."

"These are Krogan. Quiet Krogan indicate no problems, nothing to worry. Only worry if things are loud." Mordin said with a smirk as he quietly climbed. "Should worry less, Kirrahe. Will live longer that way. Less stress on the body."

Mordin continued on for several more minutes before finally arriving at his destination. "Arrived target location. One guard, small room. Standby." Mordin reported.

Mordin slowly made his way up to the Krogan, who was standing guard at the fresh supplies that were delivered earlier that week. Mordin shook his head, his weapons were too loud and setting the Krogan on fire would only attract attention. He slowly turn, scanning the area before smiling grimly.

"Hmm...yes, that will do nicely."

The Krogan grumbled, he hated this job, but he had to do it. Protecting the clan's food and water sources was major priority. He lifted its heavy rifle, frowning when its senses were warning it of danger.

"Excuse me, can I have a moment of your time?" A voice popped up behind him, the Krogan spun around, bringing its weapon up to the intruder, only to receive a pitchfork to through the throat to its brain. Mordin sighed sadly at the dead Krogan that dropped to his feet. "Wish this never came to be. But your people must be contain. Sacrifices must...be...made?" Mordin watching in fascination as the Krogan seemingly melted and twisted before returning into a familiar form. "Pony? How? Wait, not pony. Fangs, insectoid wings, compound eyes...not pony. Something else." Mordin looked to the sky when there was flurry of wings was heard. Angry buzzing sound filled the air, causing Mordin to pull out his sub-machine gun.

"Have not planned on this." Mordin grimaced as the sky filled with similar creatures, all of them glaring darkly at the Salarian. "Mission aborted. Running is a good idea." The black creatures dove at him, forcing Mordin to open fire while he rushed inside. "ALL STG MEMBERS! COVER HAS BEEN BLOW! RETURN TO SHUTTLE NOW!"

-2 days later-

Wrex paced around the shuttle as it was brought down to the surface of Tuchanka.

"Clan Leader! Your brother is on the comms. He says its important." The Krogan flying the shuttle reported. Wrex stomped up to him, muttering under his breath.

"The hell does he want." Wrex muttered. "Put him on."

"Wrex." a deep voice echoed out of the speakers

"Wreav. What does your ugly ass want?" Wrex chuckled.

"We got a problem...well, not so much of a problem, but the source of our...'Problems'." Wreav said cryptically over the comms.

"What is it?" Wrex said, his eyes narrowed at how Wreav was skirting around the issues.

"Salarians are on Tuchanka." Wreav reported, Wrex growled and slammed his fist into shuttle's wall.

"Damn them." Wrex growled. "Are they still here?"

"Damn right they are still here." Wreav chuckled darkly. "Our...'Allies' manged to keep them here. Blew up their shuttles before they could get off. They are holding up in an old Armory. I am sending you the coordinates to our location."

Wrex nodded to the pilot before walking back to the holding area with Shepard and Destiny.

"Change of plans." Wrex stood before them. "Looks like we found out what is happening to my people."

Destiny jumped up from her seat, her eyes wide with surprised. "Really! How?"

"Turns out the Salarians were sneaking around Tuchanka." Wrex growled.

"And Salarians are really anal about you Krogans and breeding." Shepard stated. Wrex nodded his head at this.

"That means they have something to do with this vicious return of the Genophage." Destiny angrily stated.

"Lets get some answers." Wrex growled as the shuttle landed, shoving the shuttle door open. Shepard and Destiny followed Wrex as he stomped his way towards the temporary HQ, which only consisted of still standing building with a single room. Inside, computers and radios were strewn around the room, with 3 Krogans standing around, waiting for Wrex.

Wrex walked up to one of the Krogan and headbutted him.

Hard.

The other Krogan stumbled, but laughed out loud at the greeting. "You are a right bastard Wrex!" The other Krogan laughed. The other two Krogans remain silent, staring at Shepard and Destiny.

"Something you two want to say to us?" Shepard growled, grabbing his sword handle, his eyes glowing in light blue, bolts of lighting flaring from his iris. Destiny stood behind him, her horn giving off a soft purple glow.

"Calm yourself, Shepard." Wreav laughed, slapping the shoulders of the two Krogan. "These two are your side. In fact, they belong to Cerberus."

Shepard released his sword, staring at the two Krogan, Destiny eyes narrowed though. "I can feel magic coming from them." She said, her eyes trained on them.

"Hah! Alright boys, drop the disguises." Wreav laughed. The two Krogan began to shift and melt before Shepard and Destiny's eyes until two pony like beings stood before them.

"Changlings." Destiny looked at the two of them surprise. "But...they look pretty big for Changlings."

"I am Lorak, this is Gradex. Right and Left wings of Queen Chrysalis." The one called Lorak introduced himself to the two. He was the larger of the two, his wings a deep blue, while Gradex was smaller and had light red wings.

Shepard bowed his head to the two, "I hope the Queen is filled and her people are satisfied."

Gradex nodded his head at Shepard. "The Queen is satisfied and we are fine. Cerberus sent us to find out who is doing this to our Allies, and we succeed in our mission."

"A single Salarian was found infiltrating TerraConverter 10. Killed one of our hive members. Avoided capture for several hours until we get to the Armory. Lost many hive members, but insured they could not leave." Lorak relayed to the two.

"I am sorry for your loss." Destiny said to him, she felt something being drain and both Lorak and Gradex looked better than before.

"Your kindness is appreciated, as well the emotion freely given to us for food. Tired of eating Krogan emotions. Pony and Human emotions much more filling." Lorak thanked Destiny.

Shepard grin at Destiny. "Giving your love to another? Cheating on Conrad, Des. For shame."

"Shut up." Destiny growled at him.

"What do we know?" Wrex said, ignoring the small talk between the two. Lorak nodded his head, closing his eyes, giving a small insect like hum before opening them once more.

"There are 35 STG members inside, 2 story building with several open courtyards inside, the appear to be talking to someone, no doubt trying to get a way off world." Lorak stated.

"Let me guess?" Shepard drawled, "You have several Changlings posing as STG members inside there." Gradex smiled and nodded his head.

"There was 40 of them, but we replaced 5 of them." Gradex answered.

"Okay, so now what do we do?" Destiny asked.

"We get in touch with them. Demand that they surrender and reverse whatever they did to our people." Wreav answered, walking towards a console.

"And if they don't comply?" Shepard stood behind him.

"Then we storm the building and force them too. We will not allow this to happen." Wrex growled, nodding to Lorak. Lorak nodded his head, and spoke several numbers to Wreav, who pushed in several buttons before stepping back.

A holoscreen sprang up, its view was obscured before a Salarian appeared. It was an elder looking one, with part of his horn missing and had a small bandage on the left side of its face, just above the mouth. "Yes Command, we are..." He fell silent, eyes widen in surprised at seeing a Krogan instead of STG.

"Expecting someone else?" Wrex chuckled darkly.

"Who is this? How did you get this STG channels?" the Salarian asked angrily.

"Thats for me to know, and you to never find out." Wrex smugly said to him. "We are here to deal, Salarian. I would first like to know who I am talking to."

The Salarian sniffed, his eyes narrowed at Wrex. "Doctor Mordin Solus, STG. You are?"

"Surprise you don't know. Or is the Krogans so far under you that your people refuse to see us anything more than animals?" Wrex grunted. Mordin said nothing at this. "Urdnot Wrex, Clan Leader of the United Krogan Clans." Mordin head jerked back in surprise, then gave a grim smirk.

"Was not expecting the Krogans to unite. A pipe dream at best. Krogans too stubborn to remain this way. Will fall apart." Mordin stated, almost condescendingly.

"We are not like that anymore. We are better." Wrex said, his anger seeping into his voice.

"Bah! Krogan will always challenge one another. Resources, mating rights, fighting for fighting sakes. Will always fall back into-" Mordin never finished. Wrex roared, slamming his fist into steel beam next to him. "Made my point." Mordin said smugly.

"You call my people animals, Salarian." Wrex growled. "I take offense to that."

"The Alliance made the mistake of helping the Krogan." Mordin said to Shepard and Destiny. "They will-"

"Shut up, you god damn murder." Shepard stood next to Wrex, his eyes glowing with magic and lighting. Mordin eyes widen, visibly taking backing up a bit.

"Never killed with med-" Mordin started but Destiny step up, her eyes filled with anger.

"You killed dozens, if not hundreds of children in the last 5 years!" Destiny horn glowed, her mane floating off her back with visibly heat emitting from them. "Your 'medicine' kill them!"

"Needed to do this. Krogan would be left unchecked if-" Mordin tried to keep going, but Wrex laughed out loud.

"If I remember correctly, your people upraised us." Wrex laughed "To fight your war." Mordin said nothing at this, then smiled at Wrex.

"How long have you been on this planet.?" Mordin asked suddenly. Wrex tilted his head the strange question. "Not very long, but you had to meet several Krogan on the way to wherever you are." Mordin looked to the side, almost looking proud of what he was saying. "You are infected with the Genophage, Krogan. The moment you step on your new home, your people will be, once again under control. You will never plague the Galaxy with your numbers." Shepard gnashed his teeth at Mordin, while Destiny looked worryingly at Wrex. Wrex said nothing, only looking down, his eyes closed before opening them once again, zeroing in on Mordin.

"I may be infected, but I will still lead my people." Wrex began. "I will lead them through this time, even if I am not there to do it. Stubborn we may be, we will prevail. It is the Krogan way, it is how we survived, and it is how we will always survive."

"You lie to yourself." Mordin said.

"I never lie." Wrex said calmly. "I never did when I was younger, I won't start now. Especially to my people. I will lead them, through hard work and keeping them in line. I promise this on my life." Wrex's eyes glowed with a deep soothing red before his entire body was enveloped in a bright light.

-Wrex's mindscape-

Wrex blinked several times, clearing away the spots that floated in front of his eyes. Wrex reached back to reach for his shotgun, but found nothing there. Wrex grumbled, but otherwise stayed on his guard. He found himself surrounded by trees, specifically apple trees. He took a careful look around before he started walking, all the while watching for any enemies. His mind on the other hand, was working on what the hell happen. One minute, he was talking to the Salarian who was condemning his people, and he made it clear to him that he will guide his people out of their ways, promising both the Salarian and himself. The next he was standing inside a grove of apple trees. He heard a loud thud, spinning quickly to the noise, expecting a pain, but felt nothing. He heard the thud again, his eyes narrowed, and started walking to the noise.

For the next few minutes, he followed the sound, expecting trouble at any moment. Finally he found the source of the noise. Standing next to a tree was elder mare. Her coat a dull orange with a light shine of gray adding to her age. He mane and tail was a bright silver, both looked well kept. She also wore a hat on her head. She turn to the tree was standing to and gave it a good kick. Dozens of apples fell from the tree into various baskets that were strewn around. Wrex grunted, causing the elder mare to turn to him and smiled.

"Well howdy there stranger." she called out to him, waving a hoof at him. Wrex mentally shrug before moving towards the elder mare, questions beginning to form in his mind.

"Whoa nelly, you are certainly a big fella." She said as she looked up to him. "The name's Applejack." she held out her hoof. Wrex complied, only to be somewhat surprise on just how strong the shake was. He arm jerked up and down for at least a couple of seconds before stopping. "Who might you be?"

Wrex stared at the mare before speaking. "Urdnot Wrex." he simply said, looking around for anything to pop up. Applejack only smiled at him, shaking her head somewhat.

"No need to worry about anything getting to ya. You'll be safe here." Applejack said, taking a seat against the tree. "Come on now, take a seat." She patted the floor next to her. Wrex looked upon the small pony before sighing and took a seat next to her. She tossed him an apple, which Wrex accepted and proceeded to eat.

"Where am I?" Wrex asked.

"Hmm...you know. I don't rightly know. Limbo maybe?" Applejack answered, causing Wrex to nearly choke on the apple. "Now now, don't think you'll be dead now. This is more of a meeting point for you and I."

"Meeting for what?" Wrex coughed out, staring at the small pony.

"The Element of Honesty." Applejack said, a small jewel necklace appeared before Wrex, floating in front of him. Wrex stared at the jewel before turning away, grunting somewhat.

"You think I deserve that?" Wrex chuckled. "I done a lot of bad things in my life."

"I know." Applejack said, giving him sad smile. "But you did those thing because it was your job, that or surviving in a harsh galaxy. You are straight man, what you see is what you get kind of person."

"Why would try to hide who I am?" Wrex question, "I like simple things."

"But you lead your people in a position that often leads to complicated events. I don't think that is simple at all. Kinda of the opposite really." Applejack said, giving him a smile. Wrex said nothing to this, so Applejack continued. "You never lie to yourself or your friends. Its what causes your people to follow your lead, they know exactly what they are getting from you." Applejack pointed at him. "You follow your beliefs with determination, you lead with a strong front, never backing down from any one, and you owe up to your mistakes. I say you have the stuff for the Element of Honesty."

Wrex stared at the glowing jewel, which then flashed into a single large ruby before his eyes. Applejack stood up and walked in front of Wrex, with the large ruby in between them.

"What if it rejects me?"

"You wouldn't be here if this thing here thinks you are not all up to snuff." Applejack smirked at him. "Sugercube, sometime you just have to grab life by the horns and steer it in the direction you want to go."

"Grab life by the horns huh?" Wrex smiled at the saying, he reached over and grab the ruby tightly. "I like that saying." The world flashed in a bright light.

-HQ-

The bright flash of light vanished, and Wrex looked down at his arm in surprise. Where once his right arm was covered in regular armor, a golden armlet now stood in his place. Dozens of ancient Krogan language covered the armlet, with the a large symbol of Clan Urdnot stood proudly on his shoulder. A single beautiful ruby was encased in on the glove. Wrex squeezed his arms and golden glow washed over him. He blinked several times, before he began to laugh out loud.

Mordin eyes widen in surprise at the turn in event. "You...you can use magic! Impossible!"

"Ha!" Wrex laughed. "Shows what you know. Oh! And one more thing, Salarian." Wrex said, grinning at the Mordin with knowing look. "Turns out I am now immune to your update Genophage. Thanks to this nifty armor. Good to know."

Mordin blinked his eyes several times, looking almost struck dumb by the implication. "I am giving one chance, Salarian." Wrex continued, his eyes locking on to Mordin. "Give yourselves up and you will be taken to Infestus to help the Alliance with the cure."

"No." Mordin said, his eyes narrowing on Wrex. "I can't do that. The Genophage must be used." Wrex sighed before turning off the communications.

"So be it." Wrex said softly. "Shepard, Sparkle. Come on, we got a Salarian to catch."

"What about the rest of us?" Wreav asked.

"Surround the building. Make sure none of them try to find a way to escape." Wrex ordered, Gradex and Lorak both landed next to Shepard and Destiny.

"We will come too. We will instruct others to remain near the Doctor Solus, take as much information before leaving." Lorak said.

"Glad to have you two on board." Shepard said.

"I heard Changlings have a different way of fighting." Destiny said. Both Lorak and Gradex only smiled at this.

"It will be interesting for everyone."

-2 hours later-

Wrex stared at the door to the Armory. There was nearly 200 yards of open terrain between them and the building itself. Shepard lean back down, his eyes glowing white from his Eagle Eye.

"Three snipers, powerful looking guns in their hands. Shields might be taken out from 2 hits." Shepard relay to them.

"Can you take them out?" Wrex asked. Shepard only smiled at this question.

"Are you a Krogan?" Shepard smirked, nodding at Destiny for the spell. Wrex only grunted but remain silent. Destiny cast a powerful Haste spell on Shepard, and Shepard quickly popped up and fired.

*BLAM, BAM, BAM!* Rang out in quick session.

"Snipers down." Shepard said, blowing on his sniper rifle.

"Lets go!" Wrex roared, running around the cover and began the long run to the door. Destiny and Shepard soon followed suit, while Lorak and Gradex took flight. Several more Salarians appeared from the windows, firing at the 5 as they rushed the building. The Changlings flew higher in to the sky to avoid the shots, they were loaded down with weapons, making it harder to fly, but they managed to get out of firing zone. Destiny's horn glowed and all of their shields doubled in strength, shrugging off bullets with ease. The door was getting closer before a Salarian with a rocket launcher appeared from a window above the door.

"RPG!" Shepard yelled out.

"Got it!" Destiny cried out. The Salarian launched his payload, watching the missile streak towards the leading Krogan. He blinked at the missile vanished from sight in a flash of light, only to appear right in front of him, speeding straight at his face.

The building shook as the return to sender RPG exploded, causing many of the Salarians to fall from their feet. Two of the Salarians managed to get back up quickly, both of them on either side of the building and took aim at the three. Their plans were dashed when two of the Changlings slammed into them, sending them tumbling on to their backs. They never got the chance to get back up as there was flash of light and painful sensation of claws digging into them.

Wrex roared as he ran at the door, his armlet glowing a deep gold as he neared the door. He raised his fist back before unloading everything he had at the door.

-Inside the Armory-

"Keep steady. You there, tighten up. Leave no holes for them." One of the Salarians were ordering the rest of the group, trying his best to keep his cool. "Even a Krogan charge would not survive this fire power."

At least 30 members of the STG were in the courtyard, each of them readying to kill whatever came through the door. The building shook violently and smoke began to appear from the room above the door.

"Merdick? Merdick? Damn it!" The sounds of shouting sounded from other rooms, but before the Salarian could give the order to get the others to check it out, the door flew off its hinges. The flying doors slammed into 3 Salarians, crushing them against the wall in bloody green smear. Something came flying out of the dust, impaling itself in the head of a Salarian. There was a flash of light, with a human and pony appearing at the impaled Salarian. The human ripped the sword from dead Salarian, the Krogan came through next, running over a Salarian who was attempting to get a better shot at the two. He turn around and loaded the body with shotgun rounds.

The sounds of gun fire erupted from the top floor. 4 Salarians that were covering the door from above fell to the ground. Two large griffons appear from above, firing onto the Salarians on the ground. The majority Salarians focused on them, while the rest took care of Shepard, Destiny, and Wrex. The griffons flew around the room, firing their weapons before they placed them onto their backs. They both nosedived at separate targets. Just before they were to hit their targets, there was a flash of green light and two Earth ponies appeared. Both of them kicking their powerful legs at the Salarians, crushing their ribs and hearts. The two rolled onto the ground before they started running, rushing at another target.

Gradex was in the form of brown coated earth pony, he rushed at a Salarian before leaping forward at him, changing in mid flight into a human, spearing the Salarian into the ground. He grabbed the Salarian's head, snapping it's neck before ducking around the corner. Two of the Salarian ran around the corner, only to nearly shoot one of their own.

"Where did it go?" The Salarian said in surprise. The two Salarians turned around to check and see if climbed up the wall, only to receive separate shotguns blasts to the back. The Salarian grinned before a flash of light replaced it into a Pegasus.

"Idiots." Gradex chuckled before taking flight.

Lorak was in the form of a massive red earth pony, rushing at the leader of the Salarian. His shields brushing off the Salarians' fire as he neared his target. He took a mighty leap, changing in flight into a griffon. His claw slammed into the Salarian's soft head, causing him to scream in pain. Lorak began to flip upside down, his wings beating once to remain in the air, dragging the Salarian into sky with him snapping his neck in doing so. He completed the flip, his powerful arms held the leader over his head. Two Salarians stood in front of him, their weapons being raised to shoot, but Lorak never gave them the chance. The Salarian on the right was slammed into the ground with Lorak's improvised blunt object, the leader's body. He quickly lashed out with his claws, blinding the other. He quickly slammed his claws into his neck, silencing him. The other groaned, pushing the dead body of the leader off of him. He received a kick to the gut by an earth pony, causing him to lean down. Lorak shifted forms to a human, doing a quick front flip, breaking the Salarian's neck with his heel. He turn back to see several Salarian moving in on him, causing him to take cover behind some rubble.

The Salarians found themselves focusing on the Changlings, so focused on the shapeshifters that they completely forgotten about Shepard, Destiny, and Wrex. A Salarian was firing his submachine gun on full auto when he felt something pierce right through his chest. He looked down to see beautifully crafted blade jutting from his chest. Shepard changed his grip on the sword, while grabbing the collar of the dying Salarian. He lifted the STG member over his head by the sword and collar, before slamming him head first into the ground, killing him instantly by the deadly move. Shepard removed the sword from the body, quickly spinning around and slicing through another STG in the neck. Green blood flowed as the Salarian fell to his knees, clutching his neck feebly, only to get launched away from Shepard as he kicked the Salarian in the chest, sending him flying through a weaken wall.

Three Salarians turn to kill Shepard, only for a shadow to fall on to them. The three looked up to see a large piece of rubble floating over them. They screamed as the rubble crushed them, several more tried running towards them, only to dive out of the way when the rubble was blasted towards them, leaving green smear marks as it did. Destiny ran right at one group of 3, her horn glowing as she did so. She leaped up at one of them, spinning her body as she did so. Her right forehoof landed on his face, and there was a flash of light before the Salarian on the right felt a blow to the back of the head, the final one felt another to the gut. Flashes of light appeared all around them, images of Destiny appearing as she landed blow after blow. There was final flash of light and Destiny appeared above them, her horn pointed at the ground as she released a powerful spell before teleporting away from them. An explosion ripped through them, killing all three.

Wrex roared as he shoulder checked the closest Salarian, pushing the Salarian away from him. The Salarian barely had time to bring up his weapon before Wrex brutally slammed his shotgun into the Salarians gut, rupturing several organs. As the Salarian bent over, Wrex grab the back of his head with his right hand, slamming the Salarian's head into the ground. The last thing that went through the Salarian's mind was Wrex's armor boot, crushing its skull like melon. Wrex, who was ignoring the other Salarian, turn his shotgun on him and blasted him wide open from waist up.

Shepard looked around in surprise to see every Salarian in the room was dead. "Well...that was fast." he commented as he placed his sword away. Wrex looked around in surprise too, he was expecting a bit more of trouble.

"Hmph. Why don't you two fight like that more often?" Wrex said as he looked at the two Guardians.

"Most of the time we are going against an unknown number of enemies, Wrex." Destiny said, breathing somewhat heavily. Shepard passed her a potion, which she caught with her magic. "So we hold back a bit until it is necessary."

Lorak and Gradex landed next to the two. Shepard smiled at them, giving them a thumbs up. "That was some impressive skills you two have there."

"Many thanks, Commander." Lorak thanked Shepard. The comms rang to life, Wreav's voice blaring through.

"Wrex, more problems heading your way." Wreav relay to Wrex.

"What?" Wrex grunted in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Scanners barely picked up a Salarian frigate inbound to your position. Coming in fast too." Wreav said.

"Come on." Shepard called out. "That thing is coming up for a pick up!" The three took off into an open door, while the Changlings flew outside to cover them.

"How much time do we got, Wreav?" Wrex barked, his heavy footsteps pounding onto the stone floors.

"Less than a minute."

"Damn."

They came to the final room on the first floor when Gradex called over the comms, the sounds of gunfire echoing in the background. "Clan Leader. Salarians on the roof. Tried to take them out, too close and have heavy weapons on hand. Need assistance."

"On our way. Lets go people." Wrex roared out, rushing to the stairs. The barely made it to 2nd floor when a large rumbling sounded filled the building. "Damn it! Its here." Wrex growled as he took the final flight of stairs.

Wrex ran onto the roof to see 5 Salarians boarding the frigate through its hanger. He growled and threw a powerful biotic throw at them, hoping to hit Mordin. Sadly, one Salarian managed to jump in the way, taking the blow for him, sending him flying off the frigate onto the harsh Tuchanka ground. The hanger doors were closing behind Mordin, who turned around to stare at Wrex in the eye. He brought up his omni-tool to contact Captain Kirrahe.

"Captain."

"Yes Doctor Solus?"

"Take aim at the Krogan on the roof. Mass Accelerator round should suffice." Mordin ordered.

"A little over kill don't you think?"

"Leader of the all Krogan clans. Krogan class structure will fall into disarray. Krogans on Tuchanka most likely to leave to Krogan worlds in Alliance space. Infect with Genophage." Mordin said, then smiled grimly. "Also would like to see building destroyed, very dirty, unhealthy."

"Very well."

Wrex growled as he saw the frigate float several hundred yards away before the nose of the ship began to turn and point downwards.

At them.

Destiny's eyes widen in shock at what they were doing. "They aiming right at us!"

"Des, can you teleport us away from this place?" Shepard asked, his fist tightening up in anger.

"Even if I could, it wouldn't be far enough away to escape the blast!" Destiny answered. Wrex growled again, taking several steps to the edge of the roof.

"COME ON THEN! DO IT!" He roared at the ship.

On board, Mordin and Kirrahe saw Wrex goading them into firing. "Foolish bravado." Mordin muttered.

"Helmsmen, targeting solution?" Kirrahe asked.

"Inputted and ready to fire."

"Ready on my mark."

Wrex growled, in his mind, he saw his people readying itself for war against the Salarians. His brother in the lead, demanding the heads of the Salarians who cursed his people once more. He saw the Alliance backing them up in their cause, but he also saw the Council backing up the Salarians.

He saw nothing but death and ruins for the Galaxy.

He closed his eyes for moment, a small smile on his face appeared. "Grab life by the horns..." he said slowly, his armlet's ruby glowing brightly.

"I AM IN CONTROL OF MY LIFE!" Wrex roared. "I WILL NOT DIE HERE TODAY!"

"Fire!" Kirrahe ordered. The frigate fired a single round at the Armory, directly at Wrex's face. His armlet glowed a deep gold, Wrex holding his right arm into a blocking position, and a golden shield appeared before him. The MA round slammed into the shield, causing cracks to form around the building from the shockwave, before it bounced off and slammed back into the frigate, destroying the hanger bay.

"What hit us!" Kirrahe cried out as alarms blared out all around him.

"MA round Captain." one of the technician reported.

"From where?"

"Uh...it was our own." The technician stated. Kirrahe shook his head at the absurdity of it all.

"Pilot, get us out of here."

"Yes sir."

Wrex and the rest of the group watched as the damaged frigate pulled away from them. Roars of victory echoed out from all around them. Wrex only sighed and sit down, Shepard took seat next to him on his right, while Destiny sat on his left.

"How you feeling?" Shepard asked him.

"Tired." Wrex whispered, his eyes trained on the setting sun before the three.

"We will help your people Wrex. You know the Queen will never abandon you." Destiny said to him.

"I know your Queen will help, but it took them 15 years just to get to a point where we are now. The Salarian would no doubt make it nearly impossible to cure now."Wrex said."Once more, my people are in danger of dying out. If one Krogan leaves this planet and meets another krogan...all is done for."

"We have some information taken from the STG." Lorak said from behind them "Our people disappeared when the fighting began. We will relay the information to the right people, Clan Leader."

"See, we got this. Right boys...guys?" Shepard look behind him, as well and Wrex and Destiny, to find the Changlings gone. "Hmm...guess they have to go. Pretty quick too." Shepard then patted Wrex's shoulder. "Hey! Come on now. You are the Leader of the Clans! You are strong leader and terrific motivator."

"I headbutt people to get their asses going." Wrex smirked.

"See! The thought of pain going through the skull would motivate anyone!" Shepard grin cheekily at him. Destiny only sighed before turning to Wrex.

"Clans Leader. Your people look up to you. They will understand why this has to be done. They will not hate you for keeping them on the planet." Destiny said to him. "The Alliance will support you, as well as Quarians. We are your allies, it is our obligation to help you in your time in need."

Wrex nodded his head to Destiny, giving her a smile. "Thank you Sparkle. I am glad to call you friend to me and my clan." Destiny smiled at this and nuzzled him a bit. "Bah, enough with mushy stuff." Destiny giggled somewhat at the comment and just leaned against him.

"Welcome to the Elements of Harmony, Wrex. I think you will be a good addition." Destiny said to him. Just as they were relaxing, the building gave a small groan and shook a bit.

"I think we better get off this thing." Shepard commented warily.

"Smartest thing I heard all day." Wrex grunted.

-Joker and Lonar-

Joker stared at the ancient wooden chest with Turian writing all over the surface. Joker took a step away from it, clearly not wanting to touch it.

"What?" Lonar asked.

"Its not going to start moaning and shaking all on it own is it?" Joker questioned her, giving the chest a once over. Lonar rolled her eyes at Joker, shaking her head at the question.

"The supernatural is your people's territory." Lonar said, smiling at him.

Joker frown a bit, tilting his head a bit, before nodding his head in agreement. "Hmm, that's true. Still doesn't make the freaky looking chest any less freaky looking."

"Nihlus said this chest was in his family for over 5 generation." Lonar explain. "It has a lot of memories for his family. I was just lucky enough to take it off the Nihlus's ship before Saren's goons took off with it."

"Well, family is important." Joker said quietly, which Lonar thought was strange. "Come on, lets get this stuff on the shuttle."

Lonar could only roll her eyes at the word shuttle, which was what Joker called his personal ship which was about half the size of a regular Council frigate. "You call this a shuttle?"

"Its small and cramp." Joker said, "Shuttles are small and cramped. So it's a shuttle in my books."

Joker helped Lonar inside, pointing out several items inside his ship of importance, like escape pods and bathroom. After several minutes of waiting for the engines to warm and doing last minutes checks on the ship, Joker jumped into the pilot seat.

"Alright my Lady, strap yourself in and get ready for take off." Joker said as the holopads popped up around him. "There is only one way to stop this bird and that is when we get to our destination, so if you need anything, tell me now." Joker turn back and smiled at Lonar.

"I am ready to go, Joker." Lonar said quietly, a small smile on her face. "Lets head to Palaven." Joker smiled and nodded his head. The ship, which was call the Moreau, lifted off the ground and slowly made its way to space. Joker flew slowly around Equestria, taking in the sight of the beautiful planet.

"Lets go." Joker said as he guided his ship away from Equestria.

-The Next Day / Outside of Cipritine-

Joker and Lonar stood in front of the pyre, about a dozen of Turians stood with them. Nihlus laid on top of the pyre, dressed in what appeared to be robes that were highly decorative. Lonar felt tears stinging her eyes, but was unable to wipe them away due to being in an evirosuit. Joker was adorning one as well.

"Tonight, Nihlus Kryik will be free from his mortal bonds." A Turian priest started. "His spirit will be cast from his plates, allowed to go free and roam the green pastures of afterlife. But today, he is among family, friends, and loved ones."

Joker's mind flash back to the funeral of his parents, watching them slowly lower into the ground.

"Nihlus knew his duty in life. To help others."

Wingstreak placed a hoof on his shoulder, apologizing for letting his family down. For letting him down.

"Nihlus became a Spectre to make the Galaxy a bit brighter. To do what needs to be done."

Joker whirled around and hugged Wingstreak, saying he didn't blame him for what happen.

"Now we cast the fire onto his body to be purified. So the bonds that leave him attach to this world is severed."

Joker promising that he will do his parents proud. To succeed above and beyond what everyone expects of him. But to also smile and cheer up everyone around him to the best of his ability.

"Miss Maerun. Will you do the honor in freeing Nihlus. You were his partner, friend, and lover."

Lonar nodded her head, tears shedding from her eyes. She took the torch and slowly walked up to the pyre. She lean over and place her head against Nihlus's forehead.

"Goodbye Nihlus. May the Spirits watch over you as you pass from this realm to the next." She said softly. She slowly walked around the pyre, igniting the wood as she walked until return to where she started. She handed the torch back to the priest and managed several steps before she fell. Crying out loud, she weep openly in front of everyone. Nihlus's mother sat next to her, hugging the asari, tears pouring from her own eyes.

Joker took several step to the burning pyre, his eyes locked onto the horizon. He snapped a salute and held it for several minutes. A small smile on his face.

"Don't worry Nihlus." Joker said out loud. "We will get the bastard. You can count on Shepard and the rest of us. Lonar will be right there by Shepard's side in hunting him down." Several of the Turians gave an approving nod at Joker's statement. Lonar looked up at Joker, who was still holding a salute. She slowly stood up and walked over to Joker, standing next to him.

Joker brought down the hand, finishing the salute. He turn to Lonar, nodding to her with a smile on his face. "Lets go make Nihlus proud of you." Joker said. Lonar sniffed once , a smile on her face, nodding once to Joker.

"Yes." She said, her voice gathering strength. "Lets." Lonar turn and walked away, Joker on her heels.

The Turians parted to make way for them. All of them saluting to the two as they walked by them. Lonar felt like she was ready to take on the galaxy and felt like she just drop a lot of weight on her back. Joker felt like he just solidified his vows he made when he was just snot nose 15 year old teen.

'We will get him, Nihlus. You can count on us.' Joker thought to himself.

End of Division/ Start of We Need Bigger Guns

Shepard tales: Shepard's Shit List

Shepard is what you can call a simple man. He makes a list of everyone he likes and hates.

Lets take a look at one list now...

SHEPARD'S SHIT LIST(Updated and approved by John Shepard)

10. Those Bastards Sales twins- sold him the faulty component for his omni-tool

9. Rex Stars- Sold me a fake gem

8. Freddie Mercury- For making every other song sound like a failure in comparison to his own. (Also number 3 and 1 on his list for making a difference in his life and Epic music tastes)

7. Discord- Playing dozens of pranks on me

6. Salarians in general- For making everyone feel inferior around them

5. Hardcore racists- General hate them for their views

4. Conrad Vernon- Dating best friend and kisses my ass to much.

3. Kasumi Goto- Stole my GameStation

2. Balak- Skyllian Blitz, Enough said.

1. Saren- Causing all the problems at the moment, plus he is kind of a dick.