The Krogan settlement is located in a fairly isolated region, near the edge of the forest, making both jungle expeditions as well as trips into savanna similarly convenient. It is good distance away from any infrastructure, both the historical metroplexes of African Union and the intensively developed "New Dawn" corporate sector, now mostly turned into slag anyways. You note that most of the major population centers have a small blue zone with impromptu refugee camps and public service amenities alongside a patchwork of green zones, while the "New Dawn" cluster consisted of a more or less regular lattice of red and green zones denoting property of the various corporations that had installations in the area.

Two of the blue zones have been highlited by Eve. One of them housed an Alliance outpost. Apparently it has grown in size over last few days as the Alliance command anticipates some sort of intervention may be necessary. The other highlited zone was a refugee settlement that has recently seen irregular influx of people from all across the world, among them a number of declared environmentalist activists.

Eve helpfully points out some minimal Ambition presence according to NSD files, although that is to be expected given that the issue made the news.

You bring up overlay showing the natural preserve. A sizeable chunk of terrain flares up, seemingly disregarding historical political divisions of the continent. Formation of the preserve was part of the megalomaniac development plant issued several decades ago, shortly after the AU treaty amendments came into effect and was quickly followed by seeding it with gene-engineered samples of extinct species.

Unsurprisingly, up to date census of the specimens was not available. You could only hope that enough samples are around to repopulate the area - assuming it was necessary. With some optimism it could well be the case that Krogans were not able to put a dent into the populations. In fact it could well be that more specimens have been hunted down for food during the Reaper conflict by the resistance.

Satisfied with what you've learned so far you turn to your Krogan friend.

"Kris, your assessment? Did you come up with anything since we discussed the matter last time?"

The Krogan sighs heavily.

"If I did, Henri, I would not feel as out of my depth as I do. But let's see..."

Kris closes his eyes for a few seconds as he orders his thoughts.

"...this mess started when chieftain Kara proposed organizing some war games between clans somewhere out in the wild, arguing that the landscape was messed up already so some wanton violence would do little damage while giving the men a chance to relieve their battle lust. I'm not sure who was involved in discussing the idea afterwards, but after some deliberation it was decided to not allow this - from what I know the possible factors were Warlord's unwillingness to endorse organized violence at this scale and possibly also Alliance unwillingness to allow further property damage, especially given the unclear legal status of the land."

"Um, Kris, but... isn't the Krogan battle lust kind of... physiological need for your people?" Lea asks hesitantly. Your friend harrumphs in response.

"Did you see me wreck any shit since joining the crew to stroke my physiological need?" He asks.

"Well, we did get into some fights since then." You point out.

"Fair. Those were fun, too. But rest assured that I would not be adversely affected had such opportunity not have arisen. Bottom line is, the battle lust is more psychological than physiological thing, even though admittedly it can run quite deep in some families that have been raised specifically to serve as fodder for the rachni wars."

A silence descends on the four or you for a few seconds before Kris picks up again.

"Anyway, although Warlord made some concessions such as tolerating the not formally sanctioned combat rings, in the end some of Kara's followers who came to see the Urdnot policy as promoting weakness have picked up and left for greener pastures." He waves his hand towards one of the holographic displays that is currently presenting a map of the region. "Which, as it turned out, were here, where you Terrans used to have a natural preserve."

"So, they settled for wrestling wild animals in the end?" You ask.

"Settled, for now. As I said, Warlord is neither blind nor dumb and Kara knows his patience is not boundless. So he and his are holding back, for now... even if stretching and exploring those boundaries of what they can get away with."

"Alright. Clearly though they are aware of their limits, otherwise they wouldn't have posted that ad for us to follow."

"Yeah, that puzzles me. I took Kara for a bit too prideful to ask for help, even in such a roundabout manner."

"Well, I'm not gonna question our good fortune if it provides us with an opening." You say. "We'll just have to keep our eyes peeled... as has become the norm, lately."

"Heh."

You spend next few seconds looking out of the viewport as the sky darkens as Chariot speeds up and away. Then Lea breaks the silence.

"So, what are we going to offer?"

"Good question. We're not exactly in position to be offering comprehensive solutions..." You say. "But we did discuss some options before, haven't we? Let's see..." you jog your memory past some eventful last few days...

"Well, the most obvious way to resolve the issue would be to give the Krogan exactly what they wanted to begin with." Eve takes the vote, prompting the three of you to fix your gazes on her.

"What do you mean? Set up Krogan war games in red zones?"

"Yes. While there are multiple valid reasons for Alliance to oppose this solution, the obstacles are not insurmountable. With some diplomatic maneuvering it should be possible to negotiate such concession."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Kris growls. "To begin with, allowing this sort of bloodsport would reflect poorly on our people, as would creating sources of new conflicts between Terrans and my people just so we can 'blow off some steam'. And especially now that they both made their stances clear - backing out now would be seen and presented as sign of weakness." Kris makes a pause. "Especially now with the political fight in the media."

"Yes, those are justified concerns." Eve admits. "Although if the situation deteriorates chaotically, the fallout is likely to be much worse."

"Hmm." Kris hums. "I'd say that depends on how readily Kara's followers would be put in their place." He grumbles. "Still, I suppose you have a point."

"What other options are there? We were discussing some organized battlesports, weren't we?" Lea asks.

"That's right. Maybe building a suitably large arena for battlesports would be enough to give the Krogan a suitable outlet. Perhaps even a simulated battlefield." You muse.

"Armax Arsenal has set up an extremely lifelike combat simulator in Citadel. The technology is clearly available." Eve says.

"And expensive... in both licensing and implementation, I expect."

"Yes, such an installation would require securing land, construction equipment, intellectual property and, for the more sophisticated solutions, supply of Element Zero." Eve confirms.

"And since we have none of that, we'd have to negotiate with third parties. Well."

It seems your little brainstorming session has yielded several avenues you could pursue. Is there any one of them you are going to propose?

>Eve's first idea seems most viable, despite caveats. There's enough space in red zones still, and though many people won't like it, it might be the easiest way of resolving the issue at least until the relays are open again.
>Kris raised an interesting point - if matters deteriorated into something worse, Alliance will be judged for the way it contains it. Maybe you could try to navigate this trainwreck in a way that would allow Alliance to step in and end it on the least bad terms? Krogans will not like you for crossing them, though - assuming you can even pull it off.
>You should push for a battlesport venue to be erected in a blue or a green zone planetside - it would give Krogan, and possibly others as well, a chance to let go with their appetite for violence. However, you would require to assist in securing land and construction resources.
>You should push for a sophisticated virtual arena in a blue or green zone planetside - it would give Krogan and basically anyone else an attractive entertainment venue. However, you would require to assist in securing land, construction resources, technology and eezo.
>None of these plans are good enough. How about... (specify)
>go back to researching (specify query)
>other

>>3868455

>You should push for a battlesport venue to be erected in a blue or a green zone planetside - it would give Krogan, and possibly others as well, a chance to let go with their appetite for violence. However, you would require to assist in securing land and construction resources.

The resourses and work could come from the krogans, as the money we should cash in some good will we have with the parties we already helped

And since others would be able to use it will not be only a solution to krogans but to others in the community too, maybe even add other sports in the vanue, the opportunity for distractio and exercising is important now.

>>3868455
>You should push for a battlesport venue to be erected in a blue or a green zone planetside - it would give Krogan, and possibly others as well, a chance to let go with their appetite for violence. However, you would require to assist in securing land and construction resources.
However, we should leave an option open to expand it to a virtual suite once the problems of scarcity die down. A Krogan/Alliance joint venture could go a long way in terms of mending trust and building morale. That said, the planning process could be put in the works right now: how long could it take for a red zone to be reclassified as blue or green if enough man/krogan power gets thrown at it? Fix up a closed off area of land to eventually put that arena down might be viable if the timeframe is good and the idea is presented in an appetizing fashion.

>>3868455
>You should push for a battlesport venue to be erected in a blue or a green zone planetside - it would give Krogan, and possibly others as well, a chance to let go with their appetite for violence. However, you would require to assist in securing land and construction resources.
If they helped with the clearing or rubble, and maybe construction, then they would also gain some approval from others.

>>3868455

>You should push for a battlesport venue to be erected in a blue or a green zone planetside - it would give Krogan, and possibly others as well, a chance to let go with their appetite for violence. However, you would require to assist in securing land and construction resources.

"Well," you begin, mulling over the options available to you. "Going off what we know so far, it seems to me that best compromise between desirability of an outcome and its viability, our best shot could be trying to facilitate some sort of sanctioned arena for battlesports somewhere on Earth."

"Hmm." Kris grumbles. "We're gonna have our work cut out for us then. Unless you suggest erecting an extralegal structure, which would create further issues down the road, we're going to have to secure a sizeable chunk of land, get someone to prepare a project robust enough that could withstand Tuchanka level of punishment and then actually secure resources and labor to make that all happen." The Krogan lists.

"I was kind of hoping your people would chip in at the very least with the last part. After all, it's for their enjoyment and benefit first and foremost."

"Something tells me there are those who would just as much enjoy butting heads with your authorities. But let's say you can be cautiously optimistic on that one. Still, I don't think that will be the biggest issue - securing the chits among all this cut up red tape will be, I expect."

"Ironic, isn't it." You mutter. "Well, we have some time to do our homework before we make our approach to the landing. Let's make the most of it. Eve, Lea?"

"On it!" Lea says.

"Composing queries." Eve adds.
You spend rest of the trip going over the available real estate and its proprietors. Eve provides a database of suitably large parcels of land and together with Lea they keep updating it with various circumstances. Before long you have before you a list of potentials narrowed down to several feasible alternatives - if you use the term loosely, as you would still need to convince whoever is in posession of those lands to surrender them to your proposal. And that's even assuming the wayward chieftain would agree to such an enterprise.

Well, there will be enough time to deal with such problems as they come up. For now you scan the data your crew has brought together. The most interesting candidates look as follows:

One option would be a ruined national stadium in Kinshasa. Ownership issues are fairly straightforward here - the area as well as the structure belongs to an Alliance constituent government and the installation that underwent several modernisations both during the AU bubble period and later when it hosted the Olympics already has portion of necessary infrastructure in place. There are however several caveats: one is cultural, where the local citizens are unlikely to appreciate such repurposing of their national athletics venue that would fundamentally change character of the compound, already listed as a cultural heritage object. Second issue would be that Alliance signing over state property of this magnitude would be presented as appeasment policy and would be attacked by more hawkish opinion makers.

Second alternative was a blue zone slated for creation of a recreation and amusement centre in the midst of several green zoned towns and blue zone temporary habitation, though construction has not yet begun due to other projects receiving higher priority. This offered a chance to negotiate your intentions with the authorities. This would be likely less controversial than repurposing an existing historical stadium, though reactions from the locals could be less than enthusiastic if what was meant to be a recreation compound would be turned into a battle arena. Furthermore, the political burden on Alliance would be the same.

Then there are several viable plots in the "new dawn" corporate cluster. The girls have narrowed down three pieces of real estate best suited to the purpose you had in mind - one is controlled by Cornucopia, a corporation dealing in food processing and catering services. Second is Fratelli Vragov, a company with business in waste processing and sanitary services, and finally there was a chemicals and pharmaceutical company going by the name PeVeGe. Each of them have a reasonably large area connected to partially rebuilt infrastructure while their business was projected to be slow to nonexistent until economy has grown to the point to justify cluster's reconstruction, meaning that each of those companies might be willing to part with the land - assuming they got something in return.

And then there was one more option - sizeable swathes of lnd at the outskirts of a few larger cities have been already greenzoned and listed as belonging to the Catholic Church, a religious organisation that might be willing to offer use of this terrain for a suitably worthy goal. This presented an interesting opportunity while at the same time potentially creating an insurmountable obstacle. On one hand, the goal of easing tenstions between the Krgoan and rest of the coalition would be undeniably a worthy one indeed, you were not quite sure if the means by which you wanted to realize it by setting up a place for sanctioned violence were something the clerics would be willing to stomach.

As you finish going over the analyses you let your gaze wander to the flight instruments and notice that Chariot has begun final phase of its approach. It was time to decide how to approach your clients.

>Walk around the camp before going to the chieftain, maybe you'll be able to figure out the general mood?
>Head straight to the leader and offer him your services
>Head straight to the leader and try to persuade him to your solution
>Change your mind and land somewhere else first (local Alliance command, refugee camp with elevated traffic, wilderness and proceed with skycar...)
>other plan (specify)

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Sorry about the slowness, friends.

>>3881861
>>Walk around the camp before going to the chieftain, maybe you'll be able to figure out the general mood?

then we offer our services


as for the options, I loved the chatolic church one, pundits can't very well criticize the church if it's willing to appease things, and we have that badass monk contact that can help us out with this one
If that doesn't work out we can ask the landowners, better not get the alliance involved

>>3881862
no worries friend

>>3881861

>Walk around the camp before going to the chieftain, maybe you'll be able to figure out the general mood?

>>3881861

>Walk around the camp before going to the chieftain, maybe you'll be able to figure out the general mood?

Engrossed as you are in digesting the analyses and ruminating over your options you almost don’t notice the ground swiftly rising to meet you, the green expanse taking up most of the viewport, even though it’s obscured by a bluish haze of the mass effect fields allowing freighter’s otherwise unremarkable thrusters to slow its descent down to safe velocities. Fortunately you do remember yourself in time and are awarded with selection of possible landing zones.

The decision which to take comes easily to you - you have no interest in wasting time by a trek through the wilderness, but although the ship could fit fairly neatly to a clearing where several of Krogan land vehicles are parked, short distance off the cliff with the main cave, you decide to invest at least some time into taking measure of the local climate and set the Chariot down on another clearing, slightly further out but clearly still within the camp perimeter, as evidenced by a few containers stacked at its edge.

Moments later the freighter settles down and you and your crew pick up your kits and head for the airlock. Outside a group of three Krogan, armed to the teeth, is waiting for you.

"Human. What business do you have here?" The one in the middle addresses you as you emerge from the ship. He scans your companions as well, lingering a bit longer on Kris than on either of the girls, then returns his gaze to you and keeps it locked with yours.

"I'm here to reply for a job ad." You reply. "I understand the local authority is looking for one of us to help them navigate the politics and legal affairs."

"You an attorney?" He asks doubtfully.

"Not quite. I am, however, a consultant."

"Hrm." The Krogan welcomer growls at the choice of words the posting offered. "Fine. You're welcome to try and make an impression. Rest assured that if you're another imposter I'll take no small amount of enjoyment in giving you a lesson in natural law."

"Fair." You nod. It seems others have taken advantage of the invitation, perhaps to infiltrate the camp, rendering the Krogans distrustful. Or more so than they would've otherwise been, anyway. You should consider your course carefully as it seems likely the chieftain will want to test your intentions somehow.

"Chief should be somewhere in or around the Lodge. That's the big cave upstream from here, once you reach the riverbank over there." He points in a direction where you estimate majority of the settlement is located.

"Thank you for your hospitality."

"Keep your sass in your ship." The Krogan says nad turns to leave to whatever his usual posting is in the undergrowth, his companions following his step, leaving you along with your crew, though likely not unwatched.

>Head straight towards the Lodge (you will take note of what you see on the way)
>Take the scenic route, try to learn more about the camp
>Split up (who goes where?)
>other plan

>>3890059
>>Head straight towards the Lodge (you will take note of what you see on the way)

they are paranoid, better not to be snooping around

>>3890059

>Head straight towards the Lodge (you will take note of what you see on the way)

>>3890059
>Take the scenic route, try to learn more about the camp

>>3890059
Supporting >>3890073. We can ask Kris about a few extra details along the way but it's best not to kick up too much dust when they're looking for a reason to headbutt us til there's nothing but a butt left.

>>3890059
>>3890073
+1

Deciding you would rather not raise further questions about your intention you look over your crew and motion towards the direction the Krogan indicated.

The four of you leave the clearing and enter the woods. As your eyesight adapts to the shadow of the dense canopy you can easily make out a clear path through the foliage. You follow it, passing by branching paths. You don't follow those, but looking down them you can occasionally spot improvised structures - perhaps provisional dwellings - as well as relay stations of settlement's power and data infrastructure.

You trek for maybe a few minutes before a curtain of light ahead announces a breach in the green roofing above you - after a few more steps you find yourselves on bank of a lazily flowing river. And as the flow of water cuts through the forest it allows you a clearer view on part of the settlement. You can make out few more dwellings, constructed partially from local wood, rock and salvaged ship tech scattered between the trees in small clusters.

"Are Krogan settlements often this splintered?" You ask.

"Depends." Kris answers, "Not that often, no. Chieftain Kara picked up bunch of malcontents from several clans and that is likely how the little groups split up. Age could also be a factor."

"Why age?" Lea asks.

"Different motivations. Older ones came because it meant putting distance between them and Warlord Wrex's reforms. Younger ones just want to fight. Although there are exceptions."

Remembering you better not tarry needlessly, you turn against the current and head upstream as instructed. The landmark you're headed for is already apparent - the cliff face rises above the canopy, adorned not only by vines but also by communication and sensor installations, several solar arrays and a few objects that would turn out to be animal trophies.

"Seems they've been busy." Kris nods. "There's twice as much up there compared to when I was here previously."

"Well, it's what they came here for." you note. "Let's go and give them some alternatives."

With that you stride forward, following the path along the riverbank, passing by several inlets where Krogan have set up fish traps and more branches leading to more clustered campsites. Eventually, as sounds of wildlife give way to sound of rushing water you reach second, larger clearing. It is cut in two by the river that falls from extension of the same cliff chieftain set up shop in, although the flow is shallow and wide, widened further by tracks of massive land vehicles you see parked at the edge of the treeline.

You stop and look for a way to cross the river to get to the Lodge. At a glance, it appears you'll have to either get wet or resort to using the jetpack. Which seems strange, given that the settlement spans both banks of the river...

"So. You're the new visitors." A Krogan approaches you. He looks old, as much as you can tell by the state of his skull plate which seems scarred and dented compared to Kris's relatively smooth one.

It seems it is time for you to introduce yourself.

>Henri Ford, consultant for the CIX
>Henri Ford, freelancer
>other introduction
>keep silent
>say something else

>>3892491

>Henri Ford, consultant for the CIX

Our name was probably on the news, don't know if they watch it but better not lie maybe

>>3892491

>Henri Ford, consultant for the CIX