Diplomacy, part 1: Odds and Ends 5 (Mass Effect, Paragade Shep, mentions of dubcon)

[ashacrone]

Odds and Ends 5:

Diplomacy, part one

Warnings: Dub-con, heat-cycles, slash, gender-bending, adult language and situations, and threesome/moresome suggested. If I have left something out, please tell me and I will update this list accordingly.

Timeline: Immediately after Grunt and Mordin's loyalty missions on Tuchunka, which take place before Tali and Legion's, in Mass Effect 2.

Characters/Pairings: Shepard, Wrex, Grunt, Garrus and Mordin.

Summary: Getting Grunt accepted into Clan Urdnot was just the beginning. A formal alliance must be made, and traditions that cannot be shoved aside. Derek finds himself in the uncomfortable position of having to fulfill an obligation to strengthen an alliance, or weaken his own Clan before the eyes of the krogan people.



~*~*~*~*~

"No."

"Shepard," the krogan shaman said, as they strode out of the tomkahs and towards Wrex's throne room. "This is an important Rite. It must be completed."

"I said no. We went through your Rite of adulthood," Derek went on, and noticed that he was being followed by an incredulous Garrus. Grunt was trailing behind, shuffling, all of his lines in a pout. "You said that would be enough to get him accepted into Urdnot."

Mordin, who had stayed on-site in case they needed a medic, seemed to be taking notes.

"Indeed, and you completed the Rite of Adulthood. And in doing so, Urdnot Grunt has chosen you as his battlemaster, who is part of another Clan. An alliance must be made, and in the strongest way possible."

The climbed the pile of rubble up towards Wrex's throne. The krogan himself was sitting there, flanked by his guards, silent and inscrutable.

"Is there a problem, Shepard?"

Derek stopped in front of Wrex. Most other humans would be intimidated, but Derek was livid. His green eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms.

"Your shaman has said we have to perform another Rite. And this one-" he stopped, clenching his teeth. "You want to gangbang one of the women in my crew because it's supposed to-" His vision throbbed with anger. "You want to-"

"Shepard-"

"This, Wrex, do you seriously want to-" he clenched his fists, growling as he flashed a biotic corona. "No. I'm insulted your shaman even suggested it. I'm leaving this planet and-"

Wrex stood, putting his hand up for silence. "Shepard, let me explain. This isn't just for Grunt's benefit; it's for yours as well."

"I fail to see how this benefits anyone besides a bunch of horny krogan," Derek snarled, leaning in. Wrex took a step back. Then he paused, and rubbed his chin.

"Come with me," Wrex said, walking towards a door. When Derek balked, Wrex rolled his eyes and pointed his thumb towards the door. "I promise you, your crew is safe. This isn't about abusing your crew, Shepard. Give me a chance to explain." His court, who was eavesdropping, quickly looked away when Wrex growled. "Alone."

Shepard grunted, and he felt Garrus quickly step up behind him, while the rest of his squad hastily followed to do the same.

The room was bare, save for what looked to be a krogan sized bed, an armor locker, a water cooler and something Shepard would never have expected: a desk covered in datapads.

The room was, thankfully, large enough for Wrex, Shepard, and three other bodies.

"Shaman, what the hell did you tell Shepard to get him so pissed off?" Wrex asked as he took spun his chair around and took a seat. "Because whatever the hell the Rite of Blood Ties is, it's not gang rape."

The shaman looked discomfited. "I told the off-worlder that he would need to prepare one of his fertile females for the embrace of many krogan, so that we could enjoy her, and then our seed would mix and clans be as one." The shaman shifted his weight under the heat of Wrex's glare.

Wrex palmed his face. Shepard crossed his arms. The silence lasted for several minutes as the two eyed each other.

"Shepard, the Rite of Blood Ties is meant to cement bonds between Clans, and one of the ways to do that was to mix the blood lines. Your Grunt has already been invited to breed; we don't know if any of those couplings will be successful but he's going to be in high demand after you lot killed a Maw. The reverse is also true. We invite a fertile female from the Clan we are negotiating with, one who has had at least one successful pregnancy, and the strongest males of the Clan takes turns with her. After that, any child she has that survives birth will be considered a child of the entire Clan. Before DNA testing, this meant that we had no idea who the child's sire was and all the males were obligated to protect her and all her children," Wrex explained. "She's not to be abused, and usually a volunteer." He chuckled. "And the more she enjoyed it, the more eggs in the clutch. So we did our damnedest to make sure she had a good time. No hurt, no pain. That would mean the eggs would suffer."

"Then what would be the point, Wrex?" Derek rubbed the bridge of his nose. "If you haven't noticed, I have no female krogan in my crew." He reached down to rub his own gut, a sudden flash of remembered pain, even more intense than the pain of his miscarriage, rippled over his belly. "What you're talking about is impossible."

"The purpose of the Rite is to unite two Clans." Wrex shifted his weight. "After the genophage, these couplings were often as infertile as most others. But most of our males and females were so baby-hungry-" Garrus took a step back and Wrex snorted at him. "Not like that. We craved children so badly that afterwards, if the female did give birth the entire Clan called that child theirs. Even if it was years after the fact. Even if there was no possible way that the child was a result of the Rite, we welcomed all children of that female, and protected them with all the might we possessed."

"Speaks truth, Shepard," Mordin interrupted. Wrex lifted a ridge at the salarian. "Older Rite, not often performed because of implications of peace," and here Wrex chuckled," but still one that carries great weight. Krogan enjoy violence, sex, almost to same degree. Carries great political weight to any who would try it."

"See? Even the salarian agrees with me."

Derek shook his head. "I can't do it, Wrex. Asking, let alone ordering, one of my crew to do this would be an abuse of my authority." A bleak smile crossed Derek's face. "Hell, the only person on board who might be able to handle it is a rape survivor, and I feel sick even-"

Mordin cleared his throat.

"Yes, Mordin?" Derek had a feeling he wasn't going to like this.

"Agree with assessment. Most organic beings on Normandy would not be able to handle stresses of mating with multiple krogan. However..." The doctor had his omnitool out, and hesitated. "Clan Chief, Shaman, how to do krogan define sex and gender?"

"Like most species, I guess. Females lay eggs. Males seed them," Wrex answered with a shrug. "Why? Don't other-"

"No." Derek found himself backing towards the door. Another flash of pain brought sweat to his face.

"Shepard, important." Mordin's hands were flailing about. "Only person on Normandy capable of comfortably taking krogan. Muscle, skin, bone upgrades all mean body able to handle talons and," he paused, clearing his throat and inhaling, "scaled genitalia. Also, with enough arousal, body acclimates-"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Wrex asked, looking back and forth between them. "And Shepard, why are you acting like a reluctant virgin varren?"

"-human female arousal response creates vaginal tenting effect, widening and lengthening the vaginal cavity. Extra dose of hormones should assure you have enough response. Important Shepard-" Mordin inhaled. "Take this offer. All children later be part of Urdnot, protected, and able to call upon Urdnot for aid."

Shepard growled.

"Want to tell me something, Shepard?" Wrex had his hands on his knees. "Because I took showers with you on the Normandy, and while human junk is soft and squishy it looked male enough to me."

"Shit." Derek ran his hands over his face as muscles twitched, then clenched in knots, in his neck. He made sure not to look at Garrus, but he could feel the turian's gaze on his back. "Wrex, work with me here. Could we go kill another thresher maw?"

Mordin opened his mouth, but Wrex beat him to it. "The symbolism of taking the spirit of the Clan into yourself and making children who are part of that Clan. That's what matters." He shrugged. "I've overturned a lot of traditions, but some are close to sacred. This is one of them."

Shepard shook his head. "I am not having sex with random strangers. I like sex, I enjoy sex, but fuck, I am not going to spread my legs for people I don't know."

In the background, he could hear Garrus and Grunt whispering to each other, and Derek grimaced. There were few things that frightened Commander Shepard. Death was not one of them, nor was his own pain. But losing control of his body again, and being helpless under someone's weight and dear god he couldn't get him off-

He couldn't move, couldn't breathe to call for help. His hands clenched shut and opened again as he fought to not grab his Claymore shotgun and blast his way out as he felt himself helpless under the weight yet another who would use him-

Derek wasn't sure when he had walked out, clutching at his shotgun. There were krogan in his way, but when the first few went flying out of the way of his shockwave, and the group that took offense were either punched or tossed into the varren pit, they left him alone.

He kept walking until he couldn't walk anymore, as there was a wall in front of him. That wall had been there since the Krogan Rebellions, and had seen many battles over the ensuing millennia. It had been slammed into by mortars, gunfire and falling bodies.

It didn't stand a chance.

Derek stepped through the hole, and continued through the barren space, feeling heat and dust on his bare head. The wind whistled in his ears, smelling of dry rot and varren dung, but it wasn't the smell of -

- sterile emptiness, a warm gush and the need to push -

Derek took a deep breath, almost gagged at the scent of the camp, and came to something he couldn't just force his way across. The ravine behind the Urdnot camp provided a defensive backbone, keeping it from being attacked by ground forces. While this was not any kind of protection from guided missiles or drops, those were easily countered by Udrnot having their own stockpiles of weapons and anti-missile countermeasures and the ability to retaliate. A small strike team would have one hell of a time making their way across that divide without being noticed.

There was no way to get further off without just jumping off, and Shepard blinked dry, sore eyes down at the bottom before falling into a squat.

It felt different from before his change; there was a gap in the armor where his balls used to be. The muscles up and down his legs, back and neck all rippled and cramped in waves, before he got to his feet again. There was another ghostly need to push, and a sound of-

"Shepard."

Derek got out of his squat and composed his face. One thing he did not need was to lose face in front of Wrex. The canny old monster was unlike others of his kind, but he needed to keep Wrex's respect. He couldn't show weakness, or whatever the hell was happening to prompt him to run the fuck away.

"Wrex." Derek didn't turn around.

"What the hell happened to you?"

The voice was an honest, deep and concerned rumble. Derek grimaced.

"I didn't tell him anything, Shepard," Garrus said, and then Derek did turn, because he hadn't heard the turian arrive. "I figured if you wanted to say something, it was your choice. But I'm here."

"You can go ahead and say you're fucking, Vakarian," Wrex said, and Garrus backed up. "You smell like each other. Not a hard leap to make. Now, you going to say why you acted all spooked like that? That salarian said something about you being female?"

Derek grimaced. "I get kinda sick of explaining, Wrex. I'm both. Male gendered, but physically, I have both sets." His gaze wandered again, and he realized he could see the female camp from where they stood. Younglings played, but there were very few of them. In the distance there was a pit in the ground, filled with grayish oblongs. Unhatched, unformed eggs. "I'm female enough for your Rite," and here he crossed his arms. "But the idea of doing this with strangers, people might-" what the hell is happening to me? "Hell. I don't know. Work with me, Wrex." He felt a shudder go through his spine. "You're talking about a bunch of strangers using me as a sex toy, no matter how nice you make it sound."

"What's your objection?" Wrex kept his hands open, tilting his head to the side. "Having sex with krogan, or having sex with many krogan?"

Derek bared his teeth. "Do I need to have a reason?" He had his hands on his gut, and he tried to relax from another wave of clenching going down his neck, back and abdomen, and attempted to haul out some charm. "I'm flattered you want to sweet talk me into bed, Wrex, but I don't..." He was sick of it: the loss of control of his body, the outraged helplessness that seethed under the wave of pathetic, whimpering lust; his old childhood nightmare of living out his days as a baby-factory as he let himself be used, and used, and used because he couldn't say no and no one cared if he did. The idea of being forced to make himself available to strangers just...

Get him off me! Zaeed, Hock, it didn't matter. Not again.

Wrex grunted. "Shepard, I trusted you when we destroyed Saren's cloning facility, and I trusted you when you said that Grunt was worthy of being krogan. In turn I have a second chance to reunite my people and the first krogan in almost a thousand years to kill a Maw on foot." He gave Derek a long look. "Who do I need to kill?"

Derek pinched the skin between his brows, gritting his teeth and tried to will away the next wave of cramps. There was a quiet moment, punctuated by a joyous cry coming from the female camp; one of the eggs had hatched, and a live youngling emerged to be picked up by its overjoyed mother.

And he hurt. Derek's fists clutched at air, struggling to stay in the here and now when he remembered holding his brothers when they were babies. The way Aaron...

-she cried when she was taken away-

"It's not sleeping with krogan, Wrex," Derek said, crossing his arms. "Hell, sometimes I'm up for a challenge." He heard Garrus snort behind him and he chuckled. "But this isn't about having some fun with you."

Wrex went silent for a moment, rubbing his chin. "I think we can come to a compromise."

Derek felt himself relax, just a bit. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad.

"The Ritual is about taking in the strength and spirit of the two Clans. It doesn't have to be all the males in the Clan. I'm the leader, and the strongest warrior of Clan Urdnot. Your Grunt is part of our Clan now, and is, as you have said, meant to be the perfect krogan. With the shaman's blessing, we should be able to complete the Rite ourselves."

"Besides," Wrex said, with a faint leer, that turned into a genuine smile. "I gotta admit I'm interested. Someone kills a thresher maw, you gotta wonder what they're like in bed..."


To be continued
Questions, comments and criticisms welcomed and encouraged.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I feel for Shepard. Always gets into the stockists places. Pun not intended.

[ashacrone.livejournal.com]

I've looked up stockists and I'm not sure what you mean? He's not putting things on shelves? If you mean stockiest, that might make more sense.

Still tempted to have Shepard just say 'screw it' and have him walk away.

Then I thought about krogan having two penises and that just sort had me going... but- but- but- (this has been a weird head discussion. This Shep is curious despite himself because after Garrus he's all 'alien sex is fun!' but not with people I don't know because PTSD but WREX!)

Yeah. *shrugs*

[ireyon12.livejournal.com]

I have the weirdest feelings right now. I know that the situation is probably somewhere in the more morally grey area, but somehow I really want Shep to do this.

Make it happen please?

[ashacrone.livejournal.com]

This one had me freaking out a bit. Derek is having flash backs, and he wants to run. Very badly. But the smut writer in me is trying to talk him into it and he's just looking at me and saying NO. No no no no no.

I am thinking I'll write two versions. One where Derek gets to leave, and one where there is happy smut. Because if there wasn't the pressure of a potential treaty... I think Derek would have no problem fooling around with Wrex. He likes weird alien dongs.