The shuttle pulled away from Sur'Kesh safely. Despite Esone's protests, they still had a job to do. John ignored his injuries for now and joined Shepard, Wrex, and the others in the<span style="font-style: italic">Normandy</span>war room. The krogan female left with Mordin to begin decontamination and medical testing. Above the hololith, two planets' images hovered. Wrex planted both fists on the hololith and picked out one location on each planet, marking them with white dots.<br/><br/>'So here's the situation,' Wrex said. 'Before we can cure the genophage, I need to make sure Tuchanka is absolutely secure. First off, there's the matter of this surface-to-orbit defense station on Tuchanka.'<br/><br/>The corresponding dot blinked yellow. Alongside it, the hololith manifested a wire frame diagram of the installation in question, a small base in a desert, surrounded by rocky crags and canyons with multiple arrays of anti-ship railguns aimed skyward. They looked ancient. John guessed they had been present since the Rachni Wars.<br/><br/>'Cerberus has gotten a foothold on Tuchanka and they've set up shop here.' Wrex crossed his arms. 'So far, they've managed to push back every assault made on the facility, and don't talk to me about stealth. Krogans aren't exactly the most inconspicuous fighters. With this base in Cerberus hands, they've got free reign to shoot down Victus' reinforcements before they break atmo, as well as anything else that wants to get boots on the continent.'<br/><br/>Shepard raised an eyebrow. 'Any info on troop strengths?'<br/><br/>The krogan battlemaster shook his head. 'No. Every single scout team I've sent to scope the place out has been discovered and executed. I've gotten conflicting reports from our unit leaders in the area as well.'<br/><br/>'And what's the other mission?' John asked.<br/><br/>Wrex pushed aside the other holograms and highlighted the second planet. 'I've lost contact with a good chunk of my men while they were out scouting this world. Aralakh Company, some of my best. I'll need their skills and firepower on Tuchanka. It's a day's travel away by your ships' standards.'<br/><br/>Shepard nodded. 'Noted. I'll go for Aralakh Company, then.'<br/><br/>'Consider that base taken, Wrex,' John added.<br/><br/>Wrex harrumphed. 'Alright, then. It's decided. I'll send Cirok with you, too, Golden Boy.'<br/><br/>John shrugged. 'As long as he keeps the important stuff intact, it's fine with me.'<br/><br/>Wrex chuckled darkly. 'That's your concern now, Commander. Once those two objectives are complete, we can settle this genophage business once and for all.'<br/><br/>Bau appeared at John's side, as if out of thin air. How did he keep doing that?<br/><br/>'And you'll keep your end of the bargain,' he said.<br/><br/>Wrex drew himself up to his full height, his sheer bulk and presence enough to give even an Exalt pause. 'Don't you worry your little cloaca, Salarian. You scratch the krogan's back, he doesn't break yours. If things work out, Shepard gets her reinforcements and her shiny friend gets his Exalted.'<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">___</div><br/><br/>When the others departed, Victus pulled John aside for a private chat. They returned to the war room. Victus seemed distracted, anxious.<br/><br/>'Commander,' he began slowly, 'there's a matter regarding Tuchanka we must discuss.'<br/><br/>'I'm all ears, sir,' John replied.<br/><br/>'It's a rescue op. The Turian Hierarchy dispatched a spec ops platoon down to Tuchanka's surface. Their mission was to retrieve a Cerberus explosive, a planet cracker warhead. They dropped out of contact shortly after they broke atmo--just a few hours before this meeting--but then they popped a distress call on encrypted channels.'<br/><br/>'Do you know anything else? Timetable for this mission? How much time we have before Cerberus detonates the warhead?'<br/><br/>Victus shook his head. 'Nothing.'<br/><br/>He was hiding something, that much was obvious. 'Primarch, whatever you're holding back, I need to know. If this was an Alliance request, you can be sure I'd be giving you every single detail I could.'<br/><br/>'There are things even a Primarch can't say, Commander.'<br/><br/>'Sir, you're asking me to risk my team on this mission. Furthermore, if your intel's sound, a whole lot of krogans could suffer. For their sakes, at least, give me something.'<br/><br/>'It's my son,' the Primarch said at length.<br/><br/>'What about him?'<br/><br/>'He was in charge of the platoon sent to retrieve the bomb.'<br/><br/>John sighed. Shit. Nepotism was taboo in the Turian Hierarchy. Victus' son may have screwed up this mission. If people found out that the Primarch allowed his son to be promoted beyond his abilities, Victus' reputation and political pull could be ruined. The war effort didn't need a turian political scandal on top of everything else. And dammit, in Victus' place, John would be dropping in with every single asset he could pull if his family was in danger, too.<br/><br/>'Alright, Primarch,' John said. 'You'll get your rescue mission. As soon as we've finished Wrex's op, I'll have my team divert to the crash site.'<br/><br/>The Primarch relaxed slightly. Though he was still understandably worried, the prospect of Exalted support calmed some of his fears.<br/><br/>'That's all I can ask for, Commander. Thank you.'<br/><br/>They parted ways. Shortly later, John returned to the<span style="font-style: italic">Midway</span>. Bau broke stealth as they exited the airlock leading to the cockpit.<br/><br/>'He's still not telling us everything,' the Sidereal said. Bau suspected everyone, but he was almost always right about these things.<br/><br/>'No,' John agreed, 'but it's better to push him for the other bits later, assuming we pull his men out of the fire. He'll be a lot more talkative once he realizes he owes us.'<br/><br/>The salarian shrugged. 'Your call, Commander. If you want, I could dig through the Primarch's comm activity, decrypt his exchanges.'<br/><br/>The Solar refused. Subterfuge was fine and dandy when used against one's enemies, but snooping around their allies' datalogs would only open up new cans of worms. And Tuchanka had more than enough worms as it was, thank you very much. No, better to stay honest.<br/><br/>'Not yet, Bau. Maybe after the rescue mission, if you still think the Primarch's not giving us everything.'<br/><br/>The salarian nodded and faded back into the shadowed skeins of Fate. Damned stealth charms. John checked his omni-tool's clock. Still some time before the drop. Enough to get patched up, washed up, and rested, at least. He took the elevator down to the crew deck and entered sickbay. Doctor Czevak looked just as stressed as the others.<br/><br/>'Doc,' John began as she saw to his laundry list of injuries, 'you look like hammered shit. You getting any rest?'<br/><br/>The Twilight Caste shrugged. 'Too much to do, Commander. Genophage research, combat prep, inoculations, and your penchant for getting your ass kicked get tiring.'<br/><br/>He knew how she felt. The few hours of sleep he'd caught since the Citadel had been restless, and most of his waking hours had been occupied by mission planning, logistics, gear maintenance, and data analysis. Even the Exalted needed a break now and then.<br/><br/>'You sure you're okay? Back on Earth--'<br/><br/>'It's nothing,' she interrupted, jabbing him with a needle to punctuate her point. 'I'm squared away, mission ready.'<br/><br/>'Ow,' John mumbled. It was a regular inoculation shot. Tuchanka's harsh environs made for some very dangerous microbial life. Though the ground team had Exalted physiology (or construction) on their side, it was better to make absolutely sure nobody had to suffer the runs in the middle of a mission. Or worse. 'Look, Doc, you're stressed and exhausted. We all are, except maybe for 042. Fucker's ice cold, but you get what I mean. I'm guessing you haven't invested as much time in combat charms as me, Esone, or 042, either. You're draining yourself in the field. We'll need you on the ground for Tuchanka, but once that's done, you're out of the away team roster for a week.'<br/><br/>Baggy eyes regarded the Zenith carefully. 'Is that an order, sir?'<br/><br/>'Yes. 042's Jade gear can fill in while you're out. Six hours to jump, Doc. Get some sleep and let Miller and Zhang take over the next shift.'<br/><br/>Next stop was the armory. He'd check in with their resident cantankerous supply officer, run some quick repairs on Gold Experience, and maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to catch an hour of shut-eye after.<br/><br/>Belatedly, John remembered that Saber Team had no drop shuttle. He groaned. They'd have to make do with jumping from the ship's open cargo bay doors. Mentally, he made a note to help ready the ship's supply of jet packs as well.