Chapter Two
The small colony had grown in leaps and bounds since Kaidan's last visit. He marveled at the effeciency in which Zhu's Hope was now run. Gone were the days of water shortages and power outages. Now the place ran like a well-oiled machine, ready to turn the ancient ruins of Feros into a genuine place to call home.
Many of the familiar colonists greeted Kaidan warmly, reaching out to pat him on the shoulder or shake his hand. He smiled to see a handful of children playing among the structures, laughing and behaving blissfully normal. If he hadn't witnessed it himself, he would've fooled himself into believing the incident two years ago had never happened.
Shiala led him away to the main living structure, calling out a greeting as they passed through. From one of the side rooms, Juliana Baynham poked out her head, eyes widening at the sight of Kaidan accompanying Shiala. "Lieutenent Alenko!" she cried, coming out of the room and grasping his hands. Kaidan smiled kindly at her.
"It's Commander Alenko now, Juliana," Kaidan corrected her gently, causing the older woman to exclaim in surprise. "How are you and Lizbeth doing?"
"Oh, we're fine, we're fine," Juliana brushed his questions away with a hand. "Leaving ExoGeni was the best thing for us, let me tell you!"
"Yes, I'm sure it was," Kaidan nodded, glancing at Shiala briefly. How much did the other residents of Zhu's Hope know? He didn't want to confess to his reasoning for being on Feros again without knowing how many were aware of the Thorian's remains being taken off-world. Shiala seemed to catch onto this and gave him a slight nod, granting permission to speak freely. Kaidan turned back to Juliana. "Then you know what else ExoGeni took with them?"
At this, Juliana sobered. "Yes, those vile bastards. I can't believe they had the gall to raid the colony for that thing's remains! How could they even think about bringing it back?"
"Is that what you think they're trying to accomplish?"
"Of course it is! Losing the Thorian was the worst thing that could've happened to ExoGeni!" Juliana insisted, her anger at her former employers bursting forth. "God only knows what kind of awful things they've managed to do in these two years."
"If they are trying to revive the Thorian and remake the thralls, something must be done," Kaidan declared grimly, looking to Shiala. "Can you get us down into the nest?"
"Yes," Shiala nodded. She turned to Juliana. "I need you to create a diversion while the commander and I make our way below the freighter."
"I'll tell them there's been an incident in the tunnels again. Rogue varren, another issue with the water mains, something. Give me half an hour before you attempt to go back down. I'll get Lizbeth to help me," Juliana assured the asari. She glanced between them. "What are you hoping to find down there?"
"Evidence. Maybe even something of the Thorian itself. I can't go back to the Citadel with this without proof of their involvement," Kaidan replied.
"As if what happened here wasn't proof enough of ExoGeni's corruption?" Juliana cried, gesturing to encompass the colony with a sweep of her hand. "You have our word and Shiala's word; is that not enough?"
"I'm afraid not. The Council cannot act without solid evidence. They wouldn't even believe us about...certain things," Kaidan finished the sentence carefully. No sense in alarming them further about the on-going threat of the Reapers. Thankfully, Juliana was too absorbed in her own rage to notice his omittance.
"I'll do as you asked," Juliana asserted firmly. "I only hope you can find something to convict them." With that, the older woman hurried passed them and out to the center of the colony. Kaidan could hear her calling to the people, feeding them her lies to give them the chance to search. Deceiving the colonists was unfortunately necessary, especially if it meant other colonies could be saved. It was this mantra Kaidan repeated to himself mentally as he and Shiala rounded the town center, heading for the controls that would reveal the Thorian's nest.
They lingered long enough to be sure the colonists had cleared out, then Shiala triggered the lift. The great partion of the freighter creaked apart, grinding against gears long since rusted from disuse. Kaidan gazed down as the crumbling stairways were revealed, another memory flashing to the surface as the steps were illuminated. These, too, he shoved into the recesses of his mind as he and Shiala began the long descent into the Thorian's lair.
As they moved steathily through the maze of staircases and broken corridors, Kaidan could still make out the bullet scars from their firefight with the creepers. It was eerie, being back here. Not only had the original situation disturbed him, now he felt as though he were chasing ghosts. Aged bloodstains colored the walls with sprays of black, patches of oily green. A darker stain near one of the stairwells -- quarian blood -- made Kaidan wonder briefly how Tali had been faring since Saren's defeat. He'd lost contact with nearly all of the old squad; Liara had been the only one who'd bothered to contact him post-Shepard's resurrection. Still, these were memories he would have to visit another time, another place. Right now, people needed his help. This steeled him to the task at hand, even as the crest of the platform where they'd stood facing the Thorian came into view.
Shiala paused before the rotten remains of her captivity pod. It was wrinkled, like an old prune, and smelled distinctly of stale blood. Hints of green clung to its withered tendrils, a reminder of the prison she'd been forced into for so many months. She pulled her gaze from it forcefully, eyes scanning the perimeter carefully. "There. We might be able to find something in the node rooms," she pointed off to the right. Kaidan followed her gaze, lips thinning into a taut line as he moved towards it. Here, too, lingered the last remnants of the creeper battles. Bullet scars, bloodstains, slick green puddles -- all of it, a testimony to the war that had raged far below the unseeming citizens of Zhu's Hope. Knowing ExoGeni was out there, somewhere, attempting to restore something so horrific pushed Kaidan onward and upward to the other rooms. As they passed through them, it was as though ExoGeni had combed every last inch of the walls and floors of anything resembling the Thorian. Dingy walls gleamed from the aggressive scrubbing of samples, shining a little too brightly in the faint sunlight streaming above them.
"This is...insane," Shiala breathed, taking in the expanse of the circular chamber beyond the room they stood in. "Anyone coming down here now would believe the Thorian had never existed! What madness has driven those scientists to be so thorough?"
"I don't know," Kaidan admitted darkly. "But whatever it is, they can't have cleaned up everything." He moved to the window's ledge and peered down. The bottom of the chamber was impossible to discern. The Thorian had tumbled to its death down there. Perhaps the cavern walls were smeared with the blood from it. He couldn't just give up, not when he felt in his gut something would be there.
"Come on," he tugged at Shiala's elbow gently, turning from the window and starting back down. "Time to do a little excavation of our own."
"Right behind you, Commander," Shiala's voice was hard as she followed him, her eyes lingering on the space where the Thorian had once suspended itself.
The climb to the abyss below would be a steep one. Kaidan surveyed the outcroppings of rock and damaged stonework carefully. Shiala came beside him, her eyes cast downward as well. Perhaps they wouldn't have to climb. He flexed his fists, clenching and unclenching his muscles as though preparing to dive into freezing water. Shiala caught this, a secretive smile curling her lips. Her biotics were unstable, but Kaidan's were sound.
"Get on," Kaidan shifted his pistol to his belt and bent slightly at the knees. Shiala climbed onto his back, arms curling about his neck for purchase. He linked his arms under her legs, securing her tight against him, closed his eyes and let his biotics flare.
Great curving arcs of blue light cascaded from him, coiling around their joined figures. He felt them lift from the ground a few inches before he mentally pushed them down into the canyon. He felt his muscles would tear from the exertion as he carefully navigated his way down, his mind focused entirely on keeping them from plummeting to the ground. It was a harsh demonstration of his biotics, one he never would've imagined using until now. He'd not only be exhausted after this, but also extremely hungry. How he would push that from his mind enough to concentrate on continuing their search, that would be something he'd deal with once he reached it.
"There," Shiala pointed over his shoulder. "I can see the bottom. Carefully, Commander! I will try to slow our descent further." She allowed her unstable biotics to erupt over her skin, buffeting his long enough for them to reach the ground. The second Kaidan's boots touched solid ground, Shiala slipped from his back, kneeling beside him when he collapsed, exhausted. She placed a supportive hand on his back as he got his breathing under control and looked about them.
It was very dark this far down. Even the smallest sound echoed harshly; Kaidan's ragged breathing was like a wind tunnel's roar, causing Shiala to wince from the enormity of the space around them. How deep they'd actually gone was hard to determine. The air was colder this far down, and Shiala shivered. After a few more minutes of inactivity, Kaidan lifted his head.
"Can you see anything?" he asked, his voice still a little breathless. Shiala shook her head. She heard him mutter a curse, then a red light flashed to life at his side. A small cluster of incendiary ammo lay ablaze at his feet, offering both light and warmth. It formed a halo of crimson light around them, further accentuating the vastness that swallowed them. Kaidan struggled to his feet, brushing Shiala's assistance aside absently as he looked around. "Can you create a biotic sphere, Shiala?"
"I can try," Shiala replied, then opened her hand, palm outward. A flicker, a burst of electricity, and her hand became encased in brillant blue light. She suspended it above them as they began to inch forward cautiously, their feet finding purchase on the rocky ground beneath them. "It goes on forever!" Shiala exclaimed, passing her hand left and right to illuminate dark corners and steep drop-offs.
"The Thorian had to have stopped falling somewhere," Kaidan remarked logically. "Can't have fallen forever; I don't see any other holes big enough."
"Could it have...splattered?" Shiala shuddered at the thought of the Thorian erupting in a sticky mass of viridian mess. Kaidan shook his head.
"I think it would've been a lot more disgusting down here if it had. And given the darkness and cold down here, I doubt ExoGeni could afford to be as careful. There'll be something down here; I can feel it."
"I hope you're right," Shiala murmured, her tone somewhat dispirited. As they walked, Shiala continued to sweep her hand across the ground and walls, both searching fervently for clues. "There!" Shiala announced suddenly, clutching Kaidan's arm with her free hand. "I think I see something!"
"Excellent!" Kaidan breathed, darting to where she gestured. He crouched low and scooped something into his hand. Bringing it back to Shiala and her biotic orb, he presented what appeared to be a scrap of green flesh, presumably from the Thorian. Shiala inspected it closely.
"It's such a small portion; no wonder they didn't find it!" She looked up into Kaidan's eyes, concern etched in her expression. "But how will we use this as evidence of what they're doing? It just proves the Thorian existed."
"It's a start, that's enough," Kaidan reminded her, withdrawing a small container from his belt and pressing the sample into it. He replaced it back onto his belt, then returned to the corner. "There might be more..."
"It would just be more samples; hardly worth taking back with us," Shiala insisted, coming up and leaning over his shoulder. Kaidan sighed heavily, then glanced back at her.
"Then what would you suggest?" he asked a little tartly. Shiala seemed to flounder for a response before sighing herself.
"I don't know. Maybe someone dropped an identification chip?"
"Doubtful. They could only afford to be so careless." Kaidan stood, brushed his hands off, then placed them on his hips as he thought. "Would the old headquarters have anything?"
"No, they demolished it when they left. Besides, it was already quite ruined from the geth invasion. And you yourself went through it the first time; did you find anything there?"
"Yes, but the commander and I had already taken care of the rogue facilities on Nodacrux and other planets," Kaidan said. "They'd confessed to creating creepers who were docile, claimed they were going to make workers of them. They said the creepers went insane after the Thorian died. Any that survived were killed by us as well."
"Even if they had lived, I doubt they could be questioned," Shiala pointed out with a small smirk. Kaidan had to agree with that. Thorian creepers didn't do much in the way of talking. "Suppose ExoGeni had other facilities on other planets? Ones you didn't know about?"
"It's possible. Unfortunately, in the wake of the Thorian's discovery by the Council, ExoGeni was thoroughly searched by the Alliance and ordered to cease all research relating to it."
"They can't all have listened! Did the Alliance find Thorian remains on any of these shakedowns?"
Kaidan thought for a moment. "No, I don't think so," he replied grimly. "Wherever they took the remains, it wasn't even listed with the company itself. But you're probably right: they can't all have listened. The remains could very well be somewhere undisclosed. Even with this," he plucked the sample container from his belt again, "there's not enough to convict them of negligence. No, we would have to find our where they're keeping the remains and wipe them out ourselves."
"That would require more political and military backing than either of us have combined," Shiala said, exasperated. "Two people couldn't hope to take on an entire corporation, especially not one that could have advanced creepers on their side!"
"Again, you're right," Kaidan was beginning to see the futility of their current position. Even if they did manage to find something linking ExoGeni to the restoration of the Thorian creature, he was still functioning under Alliance law. If ExoGeni had taken the remains outside of Council and Alliance space...he shook his head quickly. He didn't want to think about that avenue, not just yet. That was a bridge to be crossed when they came to it, if they came to it. His furlough status had allowed him to come this far, but it wouldn't last forever. An off-duty soldier shouldn't even be walking around with the kind of ammo and guns he currently had in his shuttle. Embarking on a solo mission without Alliance say-so was grounds for permanent dismissal from the military, coupled with possible charges of galactic treason and imprisonment. No matter how driven and right he felt in this, Kaidan couldn't go against his personal ethics, not even for this. No, he would need the approval of a higher power, a more respected power.
Shiala started when Kaidan gripped her arm. "Come on. We're going to the Citadel. If nothing else, we can check ExoGeni's records through the Alliance networks. There's no way ExoGeni has managed to escape the law this cleanly."
"With you all the way, Commander," Shiala reaffirmed with a stern nod. Kaidan returned the nod, a determined smile on his features. Shiala looked upwards. "Uhm, how are we getting out of here?" she asked uncertainly. Kaidan followed her gaze.
"Same way we got in," he replied simply. Turning his back to her, he instructed, "Get on."
"Are you sure?" Shiala asked as she mounted his back again. In response, he ignited his biotics, raised his head heavenward, then shot up like a blue flash of lightning, with Shiala clinging to his back for dear life.
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