Chapter 87. Krogan Negotiation Tactics

Fifteen Minutes Later, 2. April 2417 AD, Salarian Stealth Cruiser Mirage of Halegeuse

When he'd first set foot onto the ship that was carrying them to Jasintho, Haugen hadn't been sure what worried him more, the fact that the salarians had managed to build a stealth cruiser or the fact that they were willing to show it off to their allies.

The former troubled him because there were few things as scary as the idea of a heavy cruiser that could sneak up on a fleet and fire a five hundred meter long mass accelerator and a broadside of twenty smaller mass accelerators and torpedo batteries right into the back of it before they ever knew what hit them. The latter troubled him because of what he knew about the salarians and the way they treated information.

If the Union was willing to reveal the Mirage and deploy it on a Council mission where everyone could see its capabilities, there was the subtle but clear implication that this ship wasn't anything special to them and that there were far more advanced and far more deadly designs already in service of the Union Navy. They might not have as many dreadnoughts or ships as the other three Council races but as the supervised round he'd walked across the vessel had confirmed, they probably didn't need to.

He wasn't a naval warfare expert, but he still recognized that even a small flotilla of ships like these would drastically change the way space warfare would be waged. After all, what was the point of a dreadnought, a cruiser, or a pack of frigates when they couldn't find what you wanted them to shoot at?

Council seat or not.

Humanity still had a lot of catching up to do.

He leaned against the railing and looked at the salarian crewmembers working in the hangar below. Right now they were in the process of disassembling a drone that reminded Haugen of a dog-sized dragonfly, albeit with more guns and less eyes. In a way it was similar to the hunter-killer drones the IFS had used during the Fringe Wars. Although the ASOC officer suspected that this thing was a lot more sophisticated and a lot deadlier than what the Iffies had managed to squeeze out of their local Hahne-Kedar workshops. One of the engineers realized that he was looking at them, threw him a suspicious look but then got on with his work. He was bothered by ASOC being here, but he couldn't change it, so he accepted it and went on with his life.

Come to think of it, that was a pretty good description of how his team had been received on the Mirage. The mixed Union and STG crew were professionals, so they didn't let it show, but it was clear that none of them were comfortable with human special forces on their stealth ship. They might have been allies, but as far as salarians were concerned, the allies of today could very well be the enemies of tomorrow and as such, deserved to be treated with the utmost caution. That was exactly how Haugen and his men were being received, with respectful uneasiness.

"Sight-seeing, boss?"

"Something like that, Mav," Haugen replied before turning around to face the dark-skinned soldier. "What's up?"

"What makes you think something's up?"

"You don't usually seek people out unless something's going on," the captain explained. "So. What's bothering you?"

"You really need me to say it?"

"I've got a guess. But yes. Say it."

Mav sighed. Then he folded his arms.

"This op's going to be a shit-show, Sir. We're taking an untrained civilian on a high-stakes infiltration. Might as well announce ourselves to the batarians before we drop."

Haugen leaned against the glass panel he'd been looking through and frowned. While the asari had picked up on what he'd taught her in regard to ASOC tactics rather quickly, a couple of days of going over the basics couldn't replace the years his team had taken to perfect their craft. If it was up to him, she'd stay put on the ship and let them do the mission on their own. It was far more likely that he could push a couple of buttons to get the readings she needed than it was for T'Soni to suddenly become as skilled as an ASOC operative. But sadly it wasn't up to him. The decision was made and he'd have to work with it. That was how the military worked.

"We have to work with the hand we're dealt, Mav," he stated. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"That's bullshit and you know it. Otherwise you wouldn't have been staring at salarian techs for the last hour."

It was rare for any of his team to call him out on things. He attributed that to the years they'd worked together and to the idea that he generally considered himself to be a pretty decent team-leader with good judgement. And whenever it happened, it was usually Hofmann who did the calling out. He could count the times Mav had disagreed with him on one hand.

That gave him reason to pause.

"You're not wrong. T'Soni's a risk to the mission and to the team. But no matter how you spin it, she has to come along. So what do you want me to do?"

"Tell whoever gave you the order to bring her to fuck off and let us do our job properly?" the man suggested.

"I tried that," Haugen countered.

"And?"

"And they made a good point when they said that T'Soni's needed on the ground. Neither you or me are ever going to understand the shit we might find when dealing with the Reapers. But she has studied stuff like that for years. Started way back when none of us even knew we had a problem. She's probably the closest thing we have to a Reaper expert."

"Doesn't that make her a liability?" Mav suddenly said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Haugen replied. That comment had caught him off-guard.

"I mean think about it. How many people have tinkered with that shit and walked away to tell the tale?" the ASOC soldier reasoned.

Haugen looked around and leaned forward a bit. "You're not really suggesting that she's indoctrinated, are you?" he whispered, forgetting that he was on a salarian stealth cruiser which was likely filled with bugs and other spy devices.

"What I'm suggesting is that everyone who's worked with her on this is dead. Arterius, Anderson, Shepard. They were Spectres, cream of the crop. And somehow they all get wasted pretty quickly after she joins the team," he shook his head. "Sorry. But I don't like it, Boss. This reeks."

If he was honest with himself, the paranoia surprised him, even if it probably shouldn't have. ASOC operatives were trained to see threats everywhere, it came with the fact that one small error could blow the one thing that was keeping them alive. Given how this indoctrination mechanism seemed to work, it was only natural for Mav to come to this kind of conclusion. Furthermore Haugen couldn't just claim that he'd talked to T'Soni and decided that she wasn't what Mav was saying she was. He was so far out of his depth on this one that it wasn't even funny anymore. He wasn't used to the idea of not being able to trust his allies. Iffies, slavers, batarians, geth, krogan clones and even those weird zombie things they reapers seemed to make wherever they went. He could fight against those day in and day out, wherever and whenever the HSA asked him to do so and he'd be perfectly fine. But indoctrination? An enemy who first and foremost targeted the minds of your allies and could make them turn their gun on you without them ever questioning why they were doing so?

That wasn't the kind of war he'd been trained for, let alone ever expected to fight.

"I can't say that you're right. But I also can't say that you're wrong either. We don't know, that's the problem with this mess," Haugen sighted. "We'll just have to watch our backs like we always do."

"That's it?" Mav stated. He'd clearly expected something more and Haugen wouldn't blame him. Given the circumstances, his concern was valid. So was his expectation that his squad leader would do his best to address them.

"It's all I can come up with right now at least," the captain replied. "We keep her close and if things start getting real strange-"

"We ice her?" Mav threw in.

"I was thinking more along the lines of detaining her. But considering she's a biotic, you might be onto something," he registered the blue skinned figure that turned the corner as soon as humanly possible and immediately stopped his line of thought. "Doctor T'Soni," he exclaimed with a wave to tell Mav that they were no longer alone.

Had she heard what they were talking about?

"Captain Haugen," she replied. Neither her expression nor her tone suggested she'd been within earshot when Mav had suggested that the ASOC team might have to kill her. "I've been looking all over for you. You didn't answer your omni," the asari archeologist said, causing the ASOC officer to glance at the small grey box at his belt. Muting it had been pretty much the first thing he'd done after receiving it. It was a habit pretty much every ASOC operative developed at one point or another. If it made sounds, it was bad equipment and needed to be adjusted. If it couldn't be adjusted, it had to go. A simple rule he applied to everything, even if he didn't usually bring it to the field or use it all that often.

"Didn't realise you messaged me," he said before bringing up the orange hologram a bit fiddlier than most other people his age. As he'd just mentioned, he didn't make a habit out of using omni-tools. He quickly read over the holographic display and nodded his understanding. They were already on their final approach to batarian space. Clearly the Mirage was a pretty fast ship.

"Did he say anything about our exact ETA?" Haugen asked.

"ETA?" the doctor replied with a confused look on her face.

"When we're there," Mav explained. The ASOC captain could practically hear his thoughts. 'She doesn't know basic human abbreviations and you really want to bring her on a mission? Are you fucking serious, Tore?'

"He said something about eighteen hours."

Haugen looked at Mav. "You go and tell the team," then he looked towards T'Soni. "Get your armor. There's something I still want to go over before we get into mission prep."

Meanwhile, 2158 CE, Quarian Migrant Fleet, Alarei

"But he'll be fine, right?" Tali asked the doctor after two medics had picked up Veetor and were now carrying him out of the hangar they'd just landed in.

"I could give you a certain answer if you'd brought him straight to a medical ship," the doctor replied. He sounded somewhat angry and justifiably so. In accordance to what her father had told her, Tali had violated Migrant Fleet guidelines and brought Veetor straight to the vessel he was on, instead of following policy and delivering him to a ship equipped to deal with the kind of infection Veetor was suffering from. "But since you didn't-"

"I was just following the admiral's orders," she replied, suddenly and very uncharacteristically cutting off the doctor.

He shot her a look and even through the grey-tinted visor of his otherwise green suit, she could tell that he was infuriated.

"You mean your father's orders," he corrected before walking towards the ramp. "Don't be so surprised. We're not stupid. We all know who you are and what your father sent you here to do, Tali'Zorah. And if that pilgrim dies because of your choices, so will the rest of the fleet. Secrets always come back to haunt you. Remember that."

With that, the physician walked away, leaving her visibly confused.

She only snapped out of it when Reegar appeared by her side.

"What did he mean with 'what your father sent you here to do'?" the lieutenant wondered out loud. There was suspicion in his voice.

She hesitated, even if she was only going to speak the truth. A part of her was worried that the marine wouldn't believe her.

"I don't know," she whispered nervously.

Suddenly Reegar shoved past her and walked down the ramp as well.

"Where are you going?" she inquired while the marine went to bang on the door that had just closed after the doctor.

"If you don't even know what's going on, it's about time both of us find out. No offense to your father, but if we just committed treason against the fleet or whatever else had that medic so spooked, then my men and I damn well deserve to know about it. And so do you, Ma'am. Come on. I've got a feeling this talk is long overdue anyways," he said after a series of heavy knocks. "Open up already, I know you're still there!" he added with a shout.

"Lieutenant Reegar, I don't think this is such a good idea-" Tali began before the door pulled open and a quarian in a dark-blue suit stepped out. He wasn't one of the medics. Judging by the handgun on his hip, he was a marine just like Reegar.

"What's with the banging?" he demanded before giving Reegar a slight shove. "You were supposed to take off, weren't you? Why are you still here?" he questioned before suddenly being faced with a decision when Reegar made a move to walk by him. As expected from a guard, he got in the quarian's way.

"Get out of my way," the marine lieutenant demanded.

"No."

Tali was as surprised by the action as the marine. Just a few days ago on Freedom's Progress. Reegar had told her that marines like him followed orders with no questions asked. To see him act out like this could only mean that the lieutenant clearly only applied that sentiment to the battlefield, not the fleet.

Speaking of acting out.

"Hey! What's your problem, bosh'tet?" the marine wheezed before Reegar shoved him to the side, an action that prompted him to reach for his gun. "Stop! I asked you a question-" Reegar shot him a glance.

"You stand at attention when you talk to me, is that clear, Corporal?" he roared before forcefully stabbing his finger into the guard's chest armor.

The quarian froze in place for a second. Then his eyes seemed to dart at the weaving on the sleeves of Reegar's suits where clan emblems and rank insignias were stitched.

Immediately, he stood at attention.

"Are you done now?" Reegar asked challengingly.

"Sir, yes, Sir!" he shouted immediately.

"Good," Reegar nodded. "I applaud you for trying to take guard duty seriously, Corporal. But if I catch you thinking about pulling a gun on another marine ever again, I'll have your captain sent you on a suicide mission. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Lieutenant Reegar, Sir!"

"Good," he nodded towards Tali. "Come on."

The younger quarian immediately complied and followed Reegar.

"As you were, Corporal," the lieutenant said before they both turned the corner.

"What are you doing? What was that? Why did he just let us go?" Tali asked at a rapid-fire pace, still trying to process that what they were doing was dangerously close to what the Migrant Fleet considered mutiny. The punishment for that was exile.

"Getting us some answers, pulling rank on a junior NCO and because my clan name holds a lot of weight. Had a bunch of crazy ancestors who did some even crazier things during their time in the marines. Want to guess who was the first quarian to kill a colossus after the Rebellion? That's right. My great-great-grandfather," Reegar replied, answering her three questions at once while hastily walking down the corridors of the Alarei, the science ship they were on right now.

"We can't just-" Tali began before they turned another corner and Reegar started banging on the next door. "This is mutiny!" she added worryingly.

"No, Ma'am. This is me doing my duty and you finding out what kind of treason you father dragged us into," Reegar cursed. "I've been quiet about this for way too long already. Finding a dozen talking geth platforms way outside the Veil and handing the only witness over to your father without even thinking about telling the rest of the admiralty is where I draw the line," Reegar said before banging against the door for two more times and looking here directly in the eye." All this secret mission crap and fleet intrigue ends today. And the only reason I'm dragging you along is because I like to think that somewhere underneath all those father issues and anxiety, you feel the same about what we've been doing. Going off on an unsanctioned mission was a mistake and so was bringing Veetor here without telling anyone," he banged again and a hiss of air signaled that the door was being opened. "There's a clear threat. The geth aren't trying to find a way to leave. They've been leaving for months. And for some reason your father doesn't want the rest of the fleet to know about it. That's the real mutiny here," he stated before the door opened to reveal a quarian who was probably as confused as Tali right about now.

"You're not Gera," the quarian in grey began before she took a step back and looked at Tali. "You're Admiral Zorah's daughter, aren't you?" she asked. Judging by the lack of a gun and the absence of Reegar immediately pulling rank, this one wasn't a marine.

"Yes, she is," Reegar replied while Tali herself still tried to wrap her head around what Reegar had said and fighting with herself on whether or not he was right about her knowing that this was wrong and her father for some reason not wanting the rest of the fleet to know about the geth.

There was some truth to the statement that she'd been having a bad feeling about what they'd been doing. But was her father really capable of treason?

"Is everything alright with her?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Because she's quiet and you're the one answering all my questions," she took another step back and brought up her omni-tool. "I'm calling security. Stay away from me."

"-on't-" Tali stammered. "Don't! I'm fine!" she repeated after realizing she'd swallowed most of her sentence. The quarian paused, her hand halfway through the motion of calling security. "I just wanted to talk to my father while I'm still here. Do you know where he is?" she asked, seemingly convincing enough to lower the quarian's alertness. If she hadn't been part of Reegar's mutinous behavior before, that lie had earned her the honor.

"In the lab, probably," the quarian said. "But I don't think you can go there right now. He's working and he doesn't like being disturbed."

Suddenly a burst of courage and confidence went through Tali. She wasn't sure where it came from, if it was Reegar's faith in her or her own conscience finally making an appearance and telling her that the lieutenant was right about what he'd said. But she seized it nonetheless.

"Are you implying he'd be disturbed by his daughter? Do you realise how insulting that is to me and my family?" she questioned with an arrogance to her voice she didn't know she could produce. She'd never been one to exploit clan names or lineages before. She didn't like how natural it seemed to come to her.

"I wasn't-"

"I'm sure you weren't," she interrupted with a dismissive wave of her hand "Care to point us to my father now?"

"Yes. Of course. Right this way," the quarian said before lowering her omni-tool completely, which caused the hologram to vanish. She turned their backs to them and pointed down the corridor, which like most of the Alarei's interior was made of a rust-brown alloy that hinted at the age of the craft. Ships like this hadn't been built since the Fall of Rannoch and the foundries which had created this advanced material were likely covered in ash, if they had even survived the closing days of the war.

"That was some good thinking right there, Ma'am. Playing the uppity admiral's daughter," Reegar suddenly said. She was about to freak and tell him to keep quiet because the other quarian might here them. But then she realized that the marine had used the suit-internal communication channel they had set up for the duration of their work together. "Kind of came natural to you," he added with a chuckle.

"The same goes for your role as the marine officer bragging about his ancestors and pulling rank."

"Oh. That wasn't a role," Reegar said as they climbed down a set of stairs and headed towards a sealed, circular blast door. Judging by its fresh, silver appearance and the uncovered cables that connected it to the rest of the ship, this was something that had only been added recently. "That was just me doing the best impression of what enlisted think officers do day in and day out."

"Your father should be right behind this door," the quarian who was leading them observed, prompting Tali to shut the channel of again. "This is where I'll leave you. I suggest you call in first, though," she added before gesturing towards a terminal next to the door and taking a step back up again. "Admiral Zorah doesn't like being disturbed when he works. But I'm sure you already knew that." With those last words the quarian left Tali and Reegar behind. They shared a look.

"Do you have any idea what he could be doing here?

"No," she said before shaking her head. "But you don't install doors like this unless you're worried about someone walking in on you," she said, her voice suddenly trembling. Underneath her mask, Tali bit her lip nervously. Just what was her father doing here? And why did he feel the need to hide it?

In a sudden, impulsive decision, she smashed her hand against the call-button of the terminal and pushed it down hard. For more than half a minute, the only thing they heard was the annoying sound the device made to inform the other side of their desire to talk, but then, just as she was about to let go, an annoyed voice answered with a growl.

"Keelah, what is it Jal?" the quarian on the other end snarled and Tali instantly recognized the voice. She became paralyzed. Not because she was scared of her father like Reegar probably suspected when he pulled her hand away and stopped the ringing, but because of what she might find when he opened the door. "Jal?" he asked again. "Jal, that is you, right?"

"It's me, father," Tali replied.

"Father? Jal, what are you talk-" the older Zorah began before his brain registered the meaning behind the sentence and recognized her voice. "Tali? Is that you? What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you," she heard Reegar cough. "We need to talk," she added.

"Tali, I'm working and I didn't even know you were coming. I can't talk now."

She looked to the quarian marine. He nodded his reassurance and prompted her to remember what they'd talked about. It gave her the courage to do something she hadn't done since she'd been a little kid. Demand something of her father.

"Now, father."

It didn't get the response shew as hoping for.

"No."

Again she looked to the marine for guidance. It came in the form of the private communication channel.

"Considering what happened on Freedom's Progress, I think you've earned the right to some answers," he suggested and Tali nodded her thanks.

"After what happened on the human colon-" she began, only to be cut off.

"Fine, fine, fine. Stop," her father said quickly. "I'll come out. Just stay there and keep quiet until I do. Some of these walls might have ears."

A minute or so passed after the promise and when she was about to ring the terminal again, the door pulled open just far enough for the tall quarian admiral to squeeze through it and then closed again instantly. Even if she had tried to take a peek inside, it would've been impossible. The entire room was pitch-black. Her father waved his omni-tool towards the terminal, which shut the device off, and then looked at Tali and Reegar.

"I thought you'd be alone," those were the first words he'd directly said to her ever since she'd departed on his mission. No greetings, no how have you been, just straight up observations. Exactly as she'd expected. The tall quarian, who was wearing a white and red environmental suit that appeared to have been specifically modified for lab work, turned away from Tali and looked at Reegar. "Who are you, marine?"

"Lieutenant Reegar, Sir. You handpicked me to protect your daughter. Spoke a couple of times, actually," while a non-quarian never would've noticed, the shift in Rael'Zorah's body language was immediately obvious. As soon as the marine had said his name, he'd become aggravated.

"I don't remember handpicking Reegar's brat," the head of Clan Zorah stated and suddenly she remembered the gossip from when her father had become admiral. He'd been chosen over a Reegar and as rumors had it, he'd rubbed it into the woman's face. Of course there'd be bad blood between the two of them if that was Kal'Reegar's mother.

"Yet you did," while the shift wasn't as obvious with Reegar, Tali still picked up on it. This time he really was offended.

"I doubt that," her father replied.

"Do you want to see my orders? I have them right here."

"No, no. Your clan is a lot of things. Chiefly adventurous fools. But liars aren't one of them," he looked back at Tali. "I must've made a mistake, picked the wrong lieutenant by a slip of my finger or what not. I'm sorry you had to spend time with a Reegar, Tali."

Neither of them commented that.

Her father seemed to notice that.

"Follow me please," he stated. Then they silently fell in line behind him and followed him to a bunking room just large enough for the three of them to stand in without rubbing shoulders. As far as space on quarian ships went, that was a luxury. Unlike the compartment they'd found him in, this one wasn't sealed with a fancy new door or pitch black. It was however covered in reflective tarps that were hung over the walls and stapled to the ceiling.

Before they entered, he held out a hand.

"Does he really have to come along?"

It was clear that he was talking about Reegar, who else could he mean?

"Yes."

He deserved answers just as much as Tali. Come to think of it, he probably deserved them even more. He was the reason they were even standing here to begin with.

"Very well then," he retracted his arm and waved them inside.

"Keelah, father. What is this?" Tali after they were inside. It looked like something out of one of the conspiracy novels her mother used to read to her before that damned virus had killed her.

"As I said. These walls have ears," the admiral replied before sitting down on his bunk and visibly dropping his guard. "And those ears can't hear what we are about to talk about. You want answers. I understand that. So go ahead, ask your questions."

Needless to say, that was unexpected. Just like before, she seemed to instinctively look at Reegar for guidance. This time however the marine stayed quiet. He only threw her a look that she interpreted as 'this is your father, Ma'am, you talk.'

So she did.

It quickly turned into a hail fire of questions.

"What are you doing here, father? Why'd you sent us to Freedom's Progress? What makes Veetor so important? What's with the lab? Why are the medics so scared of anyone else finding out about it? What's with the secrecy? W-why- she stuttered, feeling the pressure crack down on her and opening the door for her nervous side to show again.

"Tali," he said softly but firmly. "Do you trust me?"

She looked at the room and the quarian admiral inside.

Who was this man?

What had he done to her father?

"I don't know!" she suddenly shouted, this time without needing to look at Reegar for guidance. "Ever since I've left, it seems like you've turned into a stranger. I've only been here for ten minutes but I already don't recognize my own father anymore."

"An honest answer, good. I expected nothing less of my daughter," he reached for something underneath his bunk. It was another omni-tool. "The responsibility of an admiral is to maintain the stability and safety of the fleet. You know this," he explained before exchanging his omni-tool with the one he'd just retrieved. "That is a task that requires a strong will, an even stronger decisiveness and above all, cunning and a gift for keen observation," he shot a look at Reegar. "Your mother only ever had two of these traits," then he waved his hand and produced a hologram. "As you know, the geth have been spotted beyond the Veil ever since the attack on the Citadel two years ago. Clearing up their intention was your mission. But I never told you how we first heard of what they were doing," he turned his wrist and suddenly the omni-tool shifted into an unnaturally green color. It now depicted a quarian without their mask. While she obviously didn't recognize the face, she recognized the name written underneath the image. Veetor'Nara.

Yet the age was all wrong. How could a thirty-something quarian be a pilgrim?

And come to think of it, why were there ten other names underneath Veetor's?

"When reports of the geth holdouts on the Citadel committing suicide reached me, I turned in a favor with Admiral Raan," wait. Auntie was in on it too? "With her permission, I went to one of Fleet Security's dark ships."

"Fleet Security's what?" Tali interrupted. Given the look her father shot her, he felt like she should've known what that was.

"A dark ship," Reegar repeated. "They're the vessels that trail behind the rest of the fleet. Our rear-guard so to speak. Only thing that's really noteworthy of them other than that they get the best ships is that their crews don't mix with others. Everyone born on a dark ship stays on it, even after their pilgrimage," the marine explained. "No one outside of their own ship knows these people. It's why they're so damn popular for clandestine operations," he folded his arms. "I guess Veetor isn't actually Veetor but some Fleet Security guy?"

Her father nodded his agreement.

"You guessed right. Veetor is a Fleet Security technician who specialized in geth threat analysis. He's been tracking geth movements ever since he became a full crew member of his ship. It made him the natural choice," Rael'Zorah said. Then he looked at his hands. "Where was I?"

"The geth attack on the Citadel," Tali reminded him.

"Right, right," he nodded. "After I heard of the holdouts destroying themselves, I got worried. It's atypical behavior for geth platforms to destroy themselves without damaging their enemies. I started to look around for other strange patterns. That way I learned that the geth were starting to show up on inhabited planets. I looked at the sightings and noticed that they were heading from the Veil towards Council Space. As you can imagine, that worried me even more. Nearly three hundred years of inactivity and suddenly they decide to leave the Veil? I realized that couldn't be good," Tali and Reegar both nodded their agreements. "So I went to Fleet Security and had them analyze the geth's movements again. Using neutralized geth programs, they were supposed to try and draw a path that told me where they thought the geth wanted to go. They came to the same general conclusion as me but were also able to predict their eventual heading. You saw the end result of that analysis last week."

"Freedom's Progress?"

"Exactly. For some reason their final heading was the point of human space that was closest to the Veil. As soon as that was clear, 'Veetor'," Rael made air quotes when he said that name, "was sent there as a scout under the guise of being a pilgrim. He had orders to report to me as soon as the geth started to show up," her father paused. "But for some reason, he didn't. A year passed and he only called in when he had twenty of them standing in a shed and got worried about someone finding out about it. As soon as I heard that, I obviously had to extract him. Fleet Security wanted to do it themselves. They assumed that he'd been compromised and wanted to act accordingly. But since Fleet Security extracting him likely would've made a mess and ended up with humans shooting at us, I took initiative and send you ahead of them. Without the approval of anyone else," he turned his omni-tool again and the green image of Veetor was replaced by an image of a geth that looked exactly like the ones they'd found on Freedom's Progress. A tall, lean platform build form smooth dark alloys and clad in much more synthetic muscle than other geth. All in all it was an impressive sight, but what worried her more than this strangely militarized geth was that the background of the picture looked strangely like the inside of a quarian ship.

"Veetor might have gone rogue, or he might've taken initiative by himself. I don't know," her father went on. "However what I do know is that he was beyond successful in his mission. He did everything I asked him to do, and more. He figured out what the geth want and he sent me a specimen to work with. Chose a good hiding place too. No one on the Alarei ever knew it arrived." Tali's eyes widened.

"You brought a geth to the fleet?" she exclaimed

"A disabled geth," her father corrected.

"A geth? To the fleet?" she repeated again.

This wasn't just mutiny. This was straight up treason. Geth couldn't be brought to the fleet, under no circumstance. If they transmitted their location back to the Veil, the geth might show up to finish the job. If anyone ever heard of this, they'd be exiled in a heartbeat.

"You're missing the point, Tali. If you just let me explain what I found-"

"You brought a geth to the fleet! What point could that possibly have?"

"They are trying to tell us something, Tali."

"What?"

"Despite what they look like, these platforms aren't combat drones. They're emissaries. They're here to deliver a message."

"What kind of message?" Reegar, who had been silent up to now, asked.

"A warning, I think," the older quarian explained. Then he shifted his omni-tool and produced a line of translated code. He held it up and Tali read it out loud.

"The servants of Nazara are within," she mumbled. "What does that mean?"

Her father closed his omni-tool.

"That is what I've been trying to figure out for the last six months. So was Veetor, before the attack at least."

"And?" she asked.

"And I've made no progress whatsoever," her father replied. "I can't tell you what it means and I don't know why they're trying to bring that warning to the humans," then he looked at Tali. "But I do know what we have to do next."

"What?"

"I looked through the old archives and found out where these geth are coming from. Or at least I think I did," he explained. "This kind of drone is based on a classified project that was finished just before the war. It and about twenty other geth designs were part of a program that aimed to include geth into our military. They were supposed to give the Conclave a chance at becoming a council member," he got up from his bunk. "They called it Project Kaziel. It was based on Haestrom, one of our first colonies. From what our latest probe run gathered, the Kaziel foundry has been turned on again some time in the last three years. Right around the time a large geth presence appeared on Haestrom," he unplugged the omni-tool and handed it to Tali. "I know that what I'm asking you to do is dangerous. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of geth on that patch of land," he said while looking at Reegar. "But someone has to go to the Kaziel Foundry and figure out if it really is the place where these things are coming from. Finding their point of origin might be the only chance we've got at understanding what their warning is about," he paused for a second. "Will you do that for me, Tali?"

She looked at Reegar.

He only shrugged, likely falling back into his logic of marines doing and dying without asking questions.

In turn she swallowed and fell back right into her own usual behavior pattern.

"Yes, father."

3. April 2417 AD, HSASV Normandy

"Shepard!" Mordin Solus exclaimed from behind her, prompting the red-haired N7 to turn around right after she left the armory. By the time she did, the former STG operative was already standing next to her. Despite presumably being rather preoccupied with all the data General Arterius had sent to them ever since his successful taking of a Collector Ship, Mordin had been behaving strangely since yesterday, even during their Tuchanka briefing.

Maybe she'd find out the reason now?

"How can I help you, Mordin?"

"About to head to Tuchanka, correct?"

"Yes."

He gestured back to the lab.

"Still have time to talk?"

"Sure," she said. The two walked back to Mordin's workplace and strangely enough, the salarian began pacing through the room, instead of going straight back to work as he usually did whenever they talked.

"Have personal request," he began. "Can turn it down, of course if it interferes with mission perimeters. Understand perfectly that personal troubles are outweighed by importance of mission."

"What is it?"

He paused, closed his eyes and inhaled.

"Received worrying news from Captain Chaleen."

"Who?"

"The unit commander of student of mine," before she could say that she hadn't known that Mordin had a student, the salarian went on. "Chaleen called yesterday. Told me that Maelon has gone missing during operation on Tuchanka four days ago. Believes he's been abducted by krogan."

"Hold up," she said while raising her hands. "Who's Maelon, why is STG running ops on Tuchanka and why would the krogan abduct him?"

"Maelon Heplorn. Student of mine from STG times. Mentored him for five years before retirement. Below-average field operative, but brilliant mind. Talented geneticist, partially due to my tutelage, partially due to natural aptitude," Mordin explained then he took a breath. "Maelon was part of scheduled reconnaissance mission to Tuchanka's surface. Objective, study of Genophage potency. Likely abducted because krogan believe that can reverse effects of Genophage," the salarian answered, once more bringing up more questions.

That was a lot of information at once.

"You're monitoring the Genophage's potency? And its effects can be reversed?"

"Genophage old and krogan adept quickly. Loss of potency over course of centuries expected and planned for accordingly during initial deployment. For sake of galactic safety, Genophage has to be adapted regularly. If krogan population growth goes unchecked, next Rebellion only a matter of time," he reasoned and, partially thanks to her sympathies for Wrex, Shepard had to somewhat disagree. Although it was widely accepted that the turian deployment of the salarian weapon had been the best course of action and only way to end the war shy of yet Council genocide, the N7 had always found that to be a strange argument. No one had ever attempted to reform the krogan after the Rebellions. From her perspective, the Council had just gone straight to the Genophage with the excuse of a partial genocide being better than a complete one.

"It's been a long time since the Rebellions. Don't you think the krogan deserve another chance?"

"Absolutely not. Killed billions, will do it again if left to own devices. Council treatment assured desire for vengeance. Don't expect humanity to understand though. Culture has to experience a war to understand steps taken to end it. Ask you not to judge actions taken by my people to end Rebellions. Similarly, won't judge actions taken by your people to achieve victory in Fringe Wars. You consider Genophage atrocity, salarians consider orbital bombardment of urban territory war crime. Different perspectives, different times, different justifications. No basis for judgement," Mordin said before taking another breath.

As expected, the genius was making sense.

"Apologies. Very opinionated regarding the Genophage."

"It's fine. I get your point. We weren't around during the Rebellions, so we can hardly begin to understand what fighting the krogan was like," Emily reasoned with a shrug.

"Glad to hear you agree," Mordin replied. "Had this discussion many times since reviving its potency twenty years ago."

"You worked on the Genophage?" she said before leaning back against the wall.

"Most of my career, yes. Adapted it twice."

"And you never had any doubts about what it does?"

"Never. Already explained. Did what had to be done. As I said. Krogan adept quickly, Genophage has to follow," Mordin responded. He began pacing again. "Would like to return to matter of Maelon now."

"You think he got abducted," the N7 repeated.

"Captain Chaleen believes so, yes," Mordin nodded. "Usually believes correctly."

"Do you know how it happened?"

"Vanished while taking samples off of Shroud," he clearly registered her questioning look. "Shroud is name for series of structures built by salarians to stabilize Tuchanka's atmosphere during initial uplifting. Was later altered to also disperse airborne Genophage agent. Still maintained for both reasons."

Given what she'd just said about not judging the salarians for their actions during the Rebellions, Shepard bit her tongue before she could say that it was pretty sinister to use something like the Shroud to distribute the Genophage. She was glad for that choice as soon as she came to the conclusion that it was kind of generous for the salarians to keep stabilizing Tuchanka's atmosphere after the krogan had tried to conquer the galaxy and killed billions of their people. Maybe they still felt responsible for them? The salarian role in the krogan's development was after all hard to argue away. If not for their uplifting, the krogan probably would still be trying to recover from their own nuclear war.

"Any idea where they could've taken Maelon?"

"Not off Tuchanka. DMZ patrol fleets controlled every vessel that departed since his disappearance," Mordin said.

"And what if they missed one?" Space was a pretty big place so it seemed like a natural conclusion for her to draw.

"DMZ fleet made up of handpicked veteran turian crews and supported by state-of-the-art asari and salarian detection equipment. Haven't missed a single ship in centuries," Mordin countered. "Mentioned that you have krogan contact on Tuchanka. Urdnot Wrex?"

"Wrex wouldn't abduct someone," she realized that it was strange for her to argue that since she'd met him during a bounty hunter job and he'd worked morally dubious mercenary jobs for the beter part of his life.

"Wasn't implying that. Was hoping he could provide information," Mordin said as his pacing found an end on the footlocker that contained his armor. "Would like to have conversation with him. Find out what he knows. Locate Maelon," he looked at the footlocker. "Understand if you consider this interference with mission and won't think less of you for not granting personal favor," he stated. "But ask you to consider danger of Maelon actually reversing Genophage. Furthermore, will tell you now that I consider Maelon personal responsibility. Will find him. With or without your assistance."

She hadn't expected an ultimatum. But she definitely took it serious. Mordin didn't seem like the kind of guy who made empty promises. Considering how crucial he was to their mission and how they technically lacked an objective right now, the turians had yet to even scratch the surface of the crashed Collector ship, let alone figure out how it traversed the Omega-Four Relay, the choice seemed obvious.

Furthermore, she kind of had to admit that the thought of leaving someone behind when they were right around the corner to help them didn't sit well with her.

"That won't be necessary, Mordin. I'll help you find Maelon."

"Appreciate it."

"Don't. No one gets left behind on this ship," she nudged her head towards the salarian's footlocker. "Gear up. I'll meet you in the hangar."

Since the krogan homeworld wasn't exactly a nice place, Shepard would bring her full team again, including Callius and Garrus. With Mordin and her two human companions, the collection of people who were unpopular on Tuchanka was just one asari shy of being complete.

She walked out of the lab and bit her lip.

This would be interesting.

Fifty-Five Minutes Later, 2158 CE, Tuchanka

Wrex looked at the collection of body parts laid out on the tarp in front of him and recognized what was left of the heads of his veteran scouts.

"Weyrloc fools," he cursed before shifting in his chair. The thing was uncomfortable and he much rather preferred standing. But appearances had to be kept up and battle masters were expected to sit during war meetings. "Make sure they're buried properly and ready a war party. Ten Tomkahs, at least. This was Guld's last mistake."

The leader of his vanguard nodded and jogged off.

Next the bounty hunter turned clan head looked at the envoy of Clan Nakmor, one of the smaller clans that considered joining the confederation he'd been building these last two years.

"This is your chance to proof your allegiance to Urdnot," Wrex stated. "Join us."

The envoy, who was the brother of the clan's battle master, nodded.

"I will send word back to the Kraddack Wastes. We will send everyone we can spare," he extended his arm and Wrex clasped it just below the elbow. "It's time to blood this alliance and it's our luck that it will be Weyrloc blood. Their deaths are long overdue."

"Agreed," the red plated krogan replied with a nod of his head. Then he spotted a set of distinctively non-krogan figures within the edge of his vision.

Now what was that about?

Traders?

He had no patience for outsiders right now.

"Battle master, these people have come to see you," one of his trusted lieutenants began.

"Bad timing," he growled before turning his head. Then he let out a laugh when he recognized them.

With everything that had happened during his time on the Normandy, he really should've seen this coming. The universe had a sense of humor when it came to this one.

"Shepard!" he exclaimed while jumping from his chair and simply grabbing the human's tiny arm before she could do as much as offer a handshake. It took her a second to comprehend what was going on, but then his arm was grasped as well. "Of course dying wouldn't slow you down."

"Good to see you, Wrex. It's been long."

"Too long," the krogan corrected before noticing the turian who was accompanying her. His face was messed up, more so than with most other turians, and his C-SEC armor had been altered to fall more in line with that of the group calling themselves the Blue Suns. But there was no mistaking. That was Vakarian. Few other turians came close to radiating as much brooding as him and while it seemed impossible, Wrex got the impression that the C-SEC detective had gotten even more jaded. "And you brought my favorite turian too!" he cheerfully, but lightly punched the turian against his chest armor and let out another laugh. This was a more than welcome distraction. "What happened to your face, Blue? Tried to kiss a missile?" he asked while inspecting the grey combat bandage that half his jaw was wrapped in.

"High caliber round, actually," the turian corrected.

"And the other guy?"

"Gunship, actually. And dead, obviously," the turian said dryly. "For the record, I'm offended that you feel the need to ask."

"Hah! I'm just messing with you, Blue. I know that anyone who takes a shot at you doesn't get the chance to regret it," then he offered his arm to the turian as well. "Good to see you, Garrus."

The turian grabbed it firmly.

"Likewise, Wrex," he looked around the partially bombed underground structure they were standing in. "Love what you've done with your place. Could use a few curtains though. Maybe some plants as well."

"You've never been here before, Blue," the krogan observed.

"Yet this is exactly how I picture your home. Funny, no?"

Wrex chuckled.

"Just my luck that I befriend the one turian who thinks he's funny."

"I wasn't joking, Wrex. You're in desperate need of interior decoration."

"Heh."

He moved on to the rest Shepard's team. He didn't recognize the other two humans and the salarian but as he came to a halt in front of the turian in Blackwatch armor, something in his ancient brain rustled.

"I know you," he stated.

"I know you too," the black-armored turian replied.

"Therum," he stated.

"And Noveria," she added.

"You're Arterius' personal cabal."

"I prefer Lieutenant. Or commander of the Blackwatch honor guard if you want to get all formal."

He turned his head towards the N7.

"Don't get me wrong. It's great to see you again, Shepard," the bounty hunter growled. "But why'd you bring Blackwatch," then his eyes shot to the tall alien in white and orange armor "and STG to Tuchanka of all places? There are easier ways to start a fight around here."

Something in the small human's posture changed, like an additional weight had suddenly been added to her shoulder.

"You ever hear of a species called the Collectors?"

"Course I did. I ran an extortion racket based off of them for the better part of a century," he caught Blue's glance. "Youthful stupidity. I grew out of it eventually," he chuckled. "What about them? Someone trying to squeeze humans for money? Don't pay up. They're just a myth."

"They're not a myth, Wrex," Shepard stated while reaching for her omni-tool. Just by her tone alone, he instantly knew that this wasn't a joke. "They've been raiding human colonies ever since I nearly died."

"Wait. Only nearly?" he asked, but Shepard either didn't seem to notice or didn't want to notice. Instead of answering the question, she was all caught up in bringing up a series of images on her omni-tool and extending its screen so that all of them fitted. In the center of the holographic collage was an ugly brown ship that had crashed in a forested area and turned the entire place into a scorch mark. Outside of it were pictures of various creatures and depictions of fighting on what looked like a human colony.

"This was their latest attack," she said before shifting her weight. "Up to now, they've taken well over a hundred thousand people that we know of. Probably even more that we don't know about at all. They're hitting us where we least expect it and usually, they're already gone by the time we respond. They're the ones who tried to kill me and stopping them is my current mission," she sighed. "To top it all off, we just learned that they're also working for the Reapers."

His face locked itself in a grimace at that last word. It reminded him of the promise he'd made. He'd given his word that Tuchanka would be unified when they made their return. He'd failed to live up to that up to now, in parts due to the problems of his people and in part due to Clan Weyrloc trying its hardest to do the opposite of Urdnot. Where Wrex sought peaceful confederation, Guld went about his dream of unifying Tuchanka the old-fashioned krogan way. Conquest through blood.

"Tuchanka isn't ready, Shepard," he declared with shame in his voice.

"Neither are Earth, Palaven, Thessia or Sur'Kesh," the human responded before closing her omni-tool. "Right now everything we do is about buying us more time, Wrex. We stop the Collectors before they achieve whatever the Reapers are using them for and then we move on to the next target. Damage control. That's all this is. And to that end, I need your help."

He had a guess what she'd ask and every fiber of his being wanted to say yes. He hadn't had a decent fight since the Citadel. But what he wanted and what he needed to do where two very different things.

"I can't join you, Shepard."

"I know and I won't ask you to," she replied, surprisingly enough. "I came here hoping you might be able to help me with something."

"What do you need?"

"Answers mostly."

"About what?"

"A couple of things. But let's start with the obvious," the human began. "Given your reaction to the Collectors, I assume you know nothing about them?"

"Nothing out of the usual at least. Show up every now and again from beyond the Omega-Four Relay, abduct a bunch of people, run away the way they came when they're satisfied," Wrex listed with a shrug. Just because he'd used something to squeeze money out of a bunch of asari colonists seven-hundred years ago didn't exactly mean that he knew anything about it. "Sorry, Shepard."

"Don't be," Shepard sighed. "Onto the next then. Does the name Okeer ring a bell?"

Wrex' eyes narrowed.

It did. As much for him as for the other krogan within earshot, who'd dropped whatever they had been doing and were now looking at Shepard. He could hear growling, whispers and curses.

Okeer was a bad name to bring up in any Urdnot encampment.

"Where did you hear that name?"

"The group I'm working for believes he has information on the Collectors. After I'm done on Tuchanka, I'll continue to look for him," the N7 replied before looking around. "I already assumed he was trouble. Judging by this reaction, I think I was right."

"That bastard isn't trouble, Shepard. He's a mad monster," Wrex replied bluntly. "He cut up just as many krogan during the war as he did our enemies. Even before the Rebellions he was obsessed with creating the perfect soldier. Butchered thousands of us to that end," he threw a glance at the two turians. "He got even worse after your people showed up. That's when he started to mess with experimental weapons. Biological, chemical, nanites, you name it, he tried to develop it and kill people with it. Lucky for you, he was only really good at krogan genetics, otherwise there probably wouldn't be a lot left of Council space these days," Wrex grunted. "My suggestion? Look for him. But don't talk when you find him. Just put a bullet in his head and nuke whatever place he was hiding in. That's the best solution for all of us."

Shepard considered his words for a moment.

"I was worried you'd say something along those lines."

"Look on the bright side, now you know who you'll be dealing with."

She nodded. "There's one more thing. And I don't think you'll like it."

"Just say it."

"I'm looking for a salarian who went missing a couple of days ago. His name's Maelon. He's the student of Mordin over here," she said while looking towards the salarian who was accompanying her. That at least explained what she'd been thinking when she'd brought a salarian to Tuchanka's surface. Wrex was glad that dying hadn't made her less sensible after all. "We think krogan forces might've captured him in hopes of having him reverse the Genophage and we were wondering if you'd heard anything about it."

The gears in Wrex' ancient head began to turn. When they were done, a suspicion began to form. With the suspicion, anger surged. The timing was just too perfect for it not to be true. All it took now was the right answer.

"Where exactly did your friend vanish?" he muttered while looking at the salarian.

"Near Shroud Eighty-Five," the salarian stated. "Believe your people call it the Bone Desert nowadays."

A growl slipped out of Wrex' mouth.

"Weyrloc," he snarled before pointing at another lieutenant. "Find Karx! Tell him to double the war party! Twenty Tomkahs" he roared. "Now I know why that bastard Guld's confident all of the sudden. He's actually got someone to back up his claims."

"Does that mean that you know where Maelon is?" Shepard injected.

"Yes," he replied quickly before walking to the throne and retrieving the rest of his guns. In camp he only ever carried a shotgun, to keep up the appearance of safety. "And if you're really lucky, he might actually still be alive."

"Explain," the salarian suddenly demanded. Wrex hadn't even realized that he'd followed him.

Sneaky bastard.

Definitely a field operative.

"Weyrloc Guld has been bragging about taking over Tuchanka lately. If he's got your little pal and thinks that he can reverse the Genophage, that explains everything, including the war declaration he just sent me," Wrex stated before pointing at the bloodied tarp.

"Location of Weyrloc clan?"

"They're holed up in an old hospital complex in the Bone Desert," Wrex replied. "Shroud Eighty-Five is just a thirty-minute hike away from there."

"Considering reaction, assume that military action against Weyrloc imminent?"

"You assume correctly, salarian."

The STG operative looked at Shepard.

"Permission to join operation to retrieve Maelon?"

The N7 in turned looked at him.

"Wrex, do you mind the company?"

He let out a laugh.

"Shepard, you just came back from the dead. I can't think of a better way to celebrate that than killing some Weyrloc fools!" he exclaimed before looking at the two humans and the salarian. "Granted, I don't know half the guys you brought. But this one has the same badge as you," he said while nudging his head at the other black-armored human with an N7 tab, "that one's practically bursting with eezo," he said regarding the other human female, "and this one probably murdered more krogan than half the warriors in my clan combined," he finished before looking at the salarian. "Although you might not want to brag about that to their faces."

"Never bragged. Professional standard," the STG operative replied before slashing his hand through the air. "Besides. Archives sealed. Operations never occurred to begin with. Nothing to brag about."

"Sounds boring," Wrex observed with a shrug before looking at Shepard. "Watch his back out there. Theirs too," he added, regarding the turians. "Not everyone's as tolerant as me."

"Always," the N7 replied. "But just for the record, I'm pretty sure they can watch their own backs, so maybe tell your guys not to try anything. It'll end poorly." Wrex didn't doubt that one bit. If one set aside the justified hatred most krogan had for turians and salarians, one couldn't argue that their respective elite branches were filled with impressive warriors in their own right. They didn't have to be pressured into training in their down-time like his own Urdnot rank-and-file, who viewed relatively safe training far less favorably than actual, lethal fighting and conducted themselves accordingly whenever they were forced to partake in the former.

He nodded and then headed to the stairs of what passed as his war room. Below him, a crowd of warriors had already been assembled. As per tradition, they were waiting for their battle master to make an address.

Hence Wrex delivered in the manner krogan preferred.

Brief and to the point.

"Listen up!" he roared. "Weyrloc has insulted us for the last time! Today they'll pay!" he turned around and pulled the turian closest to him to his side, obviously it hit Blue. There were some growls in the crowd and the turian was visibly on edge as soon as one rifle was lifted into the air threateningly. The stupidity stopped as soon as Wrex picked up his voice again. "These people are krantt to me. Treat them in battle like you would treat each other!" he stated before pointing at the rest of Shepard's team. "If anyone just as much as points their rifle at them again, I'll personally pull your plates off and feed you to the varren! Is that understood?" A series of grunts and foot stomps was the reply Wrex had been looking for and also the one he received.

"Urdnot! To battle!" he roared.

"To battle!" the assembled crowd shouted with enough voices to seemingly make the metal stairs Wrex was standing on vibrate.

A smirk crossed his face.

With all the confederating he'd been doing, he'd forgotten how fun good old-fashioned krogan negotiation tactics were.

Codex: Uplifting of the Krogan Species

Starting in 11 CE as a highly classified project of the scientific branch of the Salarian Special Task Group, the uplifting of the krogan was the most ambitious display of xeno-sociology and diplomacy in the history of the Union. It was predated by seven years of covert observation and took the combined efforts of a thinking pool of thirty thousand of the Union's sharpest minds. Additionally, it is estimated that the Union spent the economic strength of half of the parts of salarian space that hadn't been ravaged by the rachni yet on the project. At first, the process only had a singular aim:

Convince the krogan to voluntarily fight against the rachni.

To that end, the salarians brought a number of bargaining chips to the table.

After their language had been deciphered, salarian diplomats initiated First Contact with the krogan and, in a very uncharacteristic move, immediately showed their hand. They informed them of the threat of the rachni, the salarian observation of the krogan people and their intentions. As a sign of good faith, they immediately offered to fix Tuchanka's broken atmosphere with the Shroud, a climate control system the Union had specifically developed in the years of covert study and offered medical, agricultural relief for the back even more irradiated krogan home world and, most convincingly, a way off world.

Although initially overwhelmed with the load of information presented by them, the selected krogan clan leaders quickly accepted the offers presented by the Union and spread around their solar neighborhood with the help of their salarian patrons. Out of blind desperation, only little distrust was shown by the krogan and after the first troops returned from their fights against the rachni, that distrust was replaced by excitement. The rachni had turned out to be everything the salarians had promised and the Union's aid and technological assistance propelled Tuchanka's survivors a thousand years into the future within the span of as little as five years.

For a time, time it seemed like the project had been a complete success for all parties involved.

However as soon as the rachni were defeated, the ramifications of the rapid progress were starting to surface.

The krogan had been unleashed.

A/N:

We're back, after a month of absense and once more... we have a set-up chapter.

While I want to say that this is the last one for a time, we do have three parallel mission sequences coming up for each of the background characters, I also know that I'll inevitably land on more set-up chapters again after we're done with Bekenstein, Jasinto and Tuchanka.

I actually don't have a lot to say, other than that Wrex is finally back (and unlike canon, will actually do some fighting in SV:ME 2, if only once.

Other than that.

Nope. Nothing. (weird, right?)

For the record we're at 700 reviews, 1092 favorites and 1193 follows. So unless I once more give you a lighting fast update, I'm confident that we'll crack 1100 and 1200 respectivly this time around.

Nice.

As usual, review and let me know what you think.

See you around next time.