Lazarus Project: Mass Effect 2 (Shenko)

Chapter 33

Milky Way/Eagle Nebula/Imir/Korlus

Earth year: 2185 CE –-- June

"Failure is not an option!" Came a loud female voice from a nearby speaker.

"Canned orders over loudspeakers?" Garrus scoffed with a low chuckle. "Someone likes the sound of their own voice."

"Come on." Callie said, taking point. "We're looking for a krogan warlord named Okeer. This is a known Blue Suns facility and from the sound of it, they know we're here."

She led Garrus and Kasumi through the compound, taking out Blue Suns mercs as they progressed, seeking a way inside. As they rounded a bend in the path, they came across a lone krogan who was returning fire with several mercs on a platform above his position. Taking cover, they joined the fray and helped the krogan take down the mercs blocking their path.

"You are different." The krogan said in a deep, gravelly voice. "I am built to kill, but you... something makes me speak."

"Are you one of the krogans we've heard the Blue Suns talking about?" Callie asked him.

"I don't know. I fight because it gives me purpose, but I am not perfect."

"Who told you that you weren't perfect?"

"The voice. I called it father and it was pleased. It taught me things I would need. It spoke to me while I slept, but I was not perfect and so I fight."

"Do you know a krogan named Okeer? Or someone named Jedore?" Callie pressed.

"Okeer was the voice that spoke to me while I was in tank mother. It taught me how to kill, how to fight. Jedore is not a name we will sing of during our battle march. I don't know what that means, only that it is a name that does not command respect."

Callie sighed. This wasn't getting them anywhere. "Do you know where we can find Okeer?"

"He is up. Past glass mother. Here, I will show you." Turning, he walked to a large barricade made of rusty, galvanized steel and tossed it aside. "You fleshy things are slow when large objects get in your way."

"Glad he's on our side." Kasumi muttered.

"Why have you stayed here?" Callie asked. "You could have run away or joined the others."

"I am not perfect, but I have purpose. The voice told me to fight and so I will fight. But I will not run and I will not hide. I will stay until the voice tells me to stop."

Callie shook her head as the krogan turned away from and headed back to where he'd been when they found him.

Fighting through several more waves of Blue Suns began to grate on Callie's nerves and she began throwing out Singularities and Warps faster than ever before. The force and speed of her biotics unnerved the hell out of her and she caught Garrus' nervous glance as she took down a merc with a throw that tossed him into a wall hard enough to snap bones.

Ignoring Garrus, she pushed ahead, tossing mercs aside one after another without breaking a sweat. As the last of them fell, they came to a door that opened onto a vast room where a lone and impressive krogan was monitoring a fluid-filled tank that held a smaller krogan subject.

"Are you Warlord Okeer?" Callie asked, unable to keep the angry tension from her voice.

"Shepard." Okeer said, turning to face her.

"You know who I am?"

"Every krogan knows the name Shepard. Saren sought to cure the genophage and here comes Shepard to destroy it to save the galaxy."