They left Aya and were escorted out the Shroud the same way they went in. They were instructed to go to the Nol System to talk with their informants then the cruisers went back in, the Shroud closing behind them. Scott nodded to Kallo to keep them on course and he went out to talk with their newest crew member down at the cargo bay.

Marcus had to vacate his room and camp in the Tech lab since they didn't think to allow a stranger within arm's reach of their tech station was a good idea. He hoped Jaal would see it as them offering a better room for a guest and not suspect the real reason.

Scott knocked on the door and heard Jaal answer so he asked, "Jaal, can I go in?"

The door swooshed open and he stepped through. He found their guest was busy unpacking his belongings to make the cabin comfortable enough for him. Fortunately, Marcus hadn't started decorating his room yet and he always made his things easy to pack and move. Only his couch was left as a reminder that someone else had roomed there before.

"Need any help?" Scott offered as he leaned in the door frame.

"Thank you, but no. I've brought only small things. It should not take a long time to set them," Jaal answered, putting a box with his stuff down on the desk. There was a hammock already set up at the corner. It seemed he preferred the swaying over the steadiness of the retractable bed at the wall.

"We haven't had a chance to talk alone. Are you comfortable here?"

"Yes. This room is adequate," he answered, gesturing to their surroundings. "As for my things, I had a talk with your 'procurement officer' about what I can bring on board. I've brought blankets just in case your beddings are insufficient or uncomfortable, a crate with some of my personal projects inside, jugs of nourishment paste, my armor and weapons along with their repair equipment and my toiletries. I hope you'll find them compliant," he said.

"Yes. They'll be returned to you shortly. Vetra had to put your things in her accounting on our equipment. Your meal packs and bottles were being checked by our doctor, Lexi T'Perro to check whether you might be allergic to our things," he said evenly. His things were quarantined until Vetra and Gil cleared it, though they were currently stumped on the crate which had resisted their efforts to scan it. Meanwhile, Dr. Lexi expressed surprise at seeing twenty-five bottles of salves, creams, and perfumes but informed him to warn Jaal about the candies in the kitchen. "Dr. Lexi says that if you find some brightly colored food in the kitchen, you should avoid it. She says it may give you a painful, burning sensation if you eat it. But mostly, our food is harmless to you though I can't guarantee the taste."

Jaal nodded then his skin grew murky and he gave an uneasy glance at the Human. Though he did not say it then, he found their appearance extremely strange, what with the fine moss on their heads, their color and their physique, which was both familiar and uncanny especially when he focused on their legs. And that was before he met his companions the other aliens. To his eyes they looked monstrous; he does not understand or know the purpose for the sharp, metallic planes of the Turians, the broad, leathery and rough faces of the Krogans, the blue-skinned and smooth faces of the Asari with the fringe on top of their heads and the smooth-skinned and long faces of the Salarians with their big, dark eyes. But they were bi-pedal with two arms, one mouth, one nose and two eyes like them and that was comforting.

Luckily, some of the aliens ended up on Aya, which gave them weeks to observe them and grow used to their appearance. So, he did not scream as he would have surely done if this was their first contact. He just said, "It feels strange to stay with the others. They're—you're—aliens."

"And you're also an alien to us! See, we're even," Scott said brightly.

He considered that and smiled. "We can consider that a place to start. Perhaps then, if we're all aliens, it's about what kind of aliens we are."

"Yes. But there are some things I need to understand here because we're new here and all. I'd like to ask you some questions if you don't mind?"

"Of course."

"First of all, where are we going?"

"Voeld. It is one of our colonies. It was said that it was once a thriving world, full of life. Now, it is a cold barren wasteland, where our people cling precariously to life and eke out a living on the unforgiving ice."

"What happened there?"

"Its vault has stopped working and we had not succeeded in activating it since."

"I'm sorry."

Jaal gave him an amused look. "For what? You did not cause it."

"I'm just saying that I feel for your loss, that I am willing to help you in any way I can."

Jaal was scrutinizing him intensely through his monocle so Scott cleared his throat and talked of something else. "Your city, Aya, is beautiful."

"Thank you. Your group was the first outsiders permitted to see it," Jaal answered stiffly. He wasn't completely truthful though. They've picked up some of their people wandering in the cluster, oblivious that they were deep in some of the Families' territory. The Families did not know what to do with them. Half of them wanted to get rid of them immediately while the other half pleaded for decency. As with all disputes, they deferred to Aya, so they sent the aliens there, hooded and then placed in windowless observation cells with no idea that they were in the most important city of the Angara. This fact Jaal didn't tell. Let the aliens work out how the initial contact with them went and how much of them they knew. His debt to him has a limit.

Scott observed that the color of his skin swirled but as to what that meant, he doesn't know yet. Perhaps if he asked more questions…"So, Paaran Shie, is she your ruler? Like a queen?"

"No. She is only a governor. She only mediates between the Families but never rule over them. That power resides in the Great Mother in each Family. But in an extraordinary time like this, she is fit to speak in all our behalf."

"I see. Who's Efvra?" he asked, keeping his tone light as possible.

Jaal's mouth quirked up and Scott had the feeling that Jaal knew that his embarrassment at the hands of the giant Angara was greatly in his mind. "Ah. He is the leader of our Resistance. He leads the group dedicated to fighting the Kett."

"He's very…friendly," was his comment on Evfra, choosing not to offend.

Jaal chuckled. "If there's a word to describe him, it won't be friendly. You can say he is harsh and short-tempered, but not friendly."

"Won't it offend your people?"

"When is honesty offensive? You call things by their proper names and to do otherwise is to be mistaken."

Scott noted that his people value brutal honesty and filed it away for later use. "So, if I call him harsh, then he won't be offended?"

Jaal's smile faded. "He won't. But he will attack you. That is his nature. You should do your best to survive him."

Scott's brow drew together as he stared at Jaal. "I don't understand," he said shortly. "He's not offended, but he will attack me?"

"He holds no ill-will against you. But he will fight you as is his nature, and you should defend yourself as best as you can. That is the only way he will respect you."

Scott still doesn't understand but noted that he should avoid calling Evfra anything if he valued his life. "It does explain how he welcomed us back earlier."

"Experience with the Kett makes us distrustful of all aliens," Jaal answered, with a hint of anger. The speckles in his skin glowed brighter.

"I can understand that. We've had a few fights with the Kett too."

"Then you do understand our reasons for distrust. When they came to Heleus, they took our freedom to travel where we wished and destroyed our peace. The Kett abduct Angara, often, and we never see our people again."

Scott noted that, despite Jaal saying he distrusted aliens like them, he seemed to be freely giving information to them. He also noted it occurred whenever he spoke with emotion. "Do they have a leader?"

"The Archon. They came to us before when they first arrived. They never showed themselves openly after we chased them out, but we know they are there, hiding in the darkness of space, directing all kett to wage this relentless war that has no meaning." His voice grew stronger and harsher, his skin growing darker with the speckles brighter, as he said, "If we find them, we will make them pay dearly for what they'd done."

Scott observed that changes in the color of his skin coincided with the times that Jaal was feeling a strong emotion.

"I detect heightened electrical levels from him, consistent with physiological changes in his skin which results in the change of color that you perceive," SAM thought.

"Thanks," Scott thought back. "And SAM?"

"Yes?"

"We should stop scanning our friend here until we know how they feel about their privacy."

SAM paused. It searched Ryder's memories in an attempt to understand why.

"Which also means that you should stop scanning my memories without my permission," Scott thought.

"Do I have your permission?"

"No."

SAM paused again. It searched its mandate and found a directive to comply with Scott's requests, even if it didn't understand why. "As you wish, Ryder," it replied, then deciding to scan its memory banks instead to make sense of it while noting Ryder's instructions towards Jaal and also about itself. A folder titled Privacy was created where it stored all its observations.

After dealing with SAM, Scott focused his attention to Jaal.

"They?" he asked, referring to Jaal's pronoun for the Archon.

Jaal frowned. "I did not mean the Archon was of many. I meant only one, with undetermined sex. The Kett have no biological sex I believe."

Scott understood the translation error and skipped it. "Can we go from the first time your people met them?"

"Of course. You must understand first that we don't believe we have arisen naturally but due to design by a higher being."

Scott gave a wry smile. "I understand. We believed the same thing a long time ago. Some of us still believe in it. Our co-pilot and xenogeologist, Suvi Anwar believes that God exists."

Jaal looked curiously at him. "Your co-pilot is interesting. But do you consider it fact as well?"

Scott blinked and he frowned. "It's just a belief. Facts had nothing to do with it," he explained. Technically, this is true. Believers insist that the existence of their deity or the truth of their faith cannot be proven by empirical or rational means, so objective reality really has nothing to do with it.

"To us, it is. The Forge has proven it."

"I'm sorry-what? What is the Forge?"

"The cradle of our civilization, where all Angara originated. It is defunct now and buried in our birth planet's ruins but it looked similar to the vaults. Our archaeological studies tie our origins to it. If they allow you, you can view a copy back at Aya."

His lips parted and his brow raised in surprise. Apart from the hanar who believed that they were uplifted by the extinct race, the Protheans, he knew no other race who claimed to be designed at this present age or shown tangible proof of it. "Wow. That's really incredible. I've never heard of another race with an origin like yours."

Jaal nodded gravely. "I explained this to you because this is important to understand our war with the Kett. About sixty years ago, some of our bands found a dead ship floating on the outer edges of the cluster with Kett clinging on to the debris like people drowning at sea. They went to investigate and were surprised to find them still alive, despite being in vacuum. They brought them to Aya for our leaders to examine them. At that time, we just discovered the truth of our origin and were curious to meet the being that made us. The Kett's survival was miraculous to us. When they were lucid enough, we asked them if they were our creators."

Scott had an inkling where the story was going but he wanted Jaal to tell him himself so he asked, "What did they say?"

"They claimed they were. They told a long tale that their people have created us long ago with a mission to seed the galaxy with life and now had returned to see their creations. They did not expect the Shroud to be there and shred their ships. They convinced our Moshae then and some of her people to build them a place of worship in one of our worlds so we could ascend like them and our people happily agreed. They said they have an answer to immortal life and looking at their ability to survive, we believed them. A long time after they left and which none returned, our current Moshae, who was next in line then, felt suspicion in her heart and went down the vault at Aya to remove her doubts. But the vault told her they did not create us and that they were merely just another sentient race."

So the vault is maybe sentient, Scott thought. It may also have knowledge on the rest of the galaxy since it apparently recognizes the Kett. However, something about it made him wonder if the Angara were either just that gullible or simply naïve. "There's something I don't understand. The Kett weren't able to pass through the Shroud and yet you believe they were your creators? Shouldn't they also pass through it like you do since your technology is based on the vaults they made?"

"It was the first time we met another race other than us. We were more curious than cautious and also ecstatic to have confirmation of our origins. We did not suspect them then when they said they had created us long ago and that their technology's evolution diverged from the vaults due to some upheavals in their own worlds. They said there was a period where their civilizations lost contact with each other and it was only now that they started reconnecting. Then they discovered that their ancestors have seeded races in their early history and so they set out to find us. All lies of course." He gave a rueful chuckle. "I admit our actions then were unwise. In our eagerness to meet our Maker, we forgot that the universe may not be so favorable to us; that other beings we encounter may not be as considerate to us as we wish for them. Still, even though this incident has given us and still is giving us a lot of grief, we value its lesson. We won't be so trusting and welcoming to strangers as before," he said and gave Scott a look of acute awareness.

Scott tried not to react on Jaal's look of suspicion and continued to act as if he was harmless due to their being in need. After all, who would doubt a beggar and refuse them help just because they were a stranger? He also noticed Jaal's knowing stare and fought the urge to act on the doubt in his mind; the knowledge that Jaal was aware of what he was doing and so all the things he told may not be all true. Maybe they are now playing a mind game and Jaal was testing to see if he gives him a reason not to trust them. Maybe not. But for both scenarios, the best step for him was not to rise to the baiting. "It's unfortunate for us both that the Kett have already spoiled your trust on alien relations. I hope you'll see that we aren't the Kett and we really wish to have your friendship."

"We shall see," was Jaal's only reply to that and he continued his story. "As to the Shroud, we are not certain if it is a creation of the vaults. It appeared during the Cataclysm about a hundred years ago, when all the vaults failed and started destroying the planets they made bountiful. We were only able to pass through it due to our scholars who survived Aya and improved our ships in its barren moon. Aya was far more beautiful then, its cities dotting its surface like dewdrops caught in a spider's web in the early morning light. Now, it was reduced only to one city and we could not restore it to its former glory through its vault without inviting the Shroud in and tear the planet apart."

"So what happened after the vault told the Moshae the truth about the Kett?"

"She spread the news to everyone. At first, we didn't believe her and were angry at her for revealing it. Some of us must have informed the Kett so they returned. They told her that she committed blasphemy against them and tried to take over the Aya vault. She and her believers stood their ground and prevented them from taking it, whereupon a fight broke out and some of our people lay dead. When we saw what they had done, we grew angry. Creators or not, we will not tolerate injustice. We drove them out and hunted them until they were never seen again. Some survived or else we wouldn't be fighting them until now. But we never saw again the previous Moshae and some of our people who went with them."

"So how come they're back?"

Jaal shook his head in deep bafflement. "We don't know. We had a decade of peace after they were driven out. But then, our people started disappearing. Tradition then was for our males to live in the wild upon reaching maturation while our females stay with their mothers in the cities. Then there was a year when very few males returned to the cities for our festival. The Great Mothers didn't think much of it then, since they would wander long and far, sometimes not returning for years. When it continued into the second year, they grew concerned and talked with the other Families which experienced the same and agreed that it was very odd. By the third year, they sent some soldiers to go out and track their sons who were on their first journey out. They found that the kett were lying in wait to kidnap them as soon as they were out of sight of the city walls."

"And then?"

"The Families ended the practice and recalled all their people back into their cities. No one now can explore freely wherever they wished and to go from city to city, world to world, required a party. This has caused great frustration among my grandfathers' generation, who find living in the cities too confining and tedious. Aya can explain more how this affected our lives. The war is still on, but now the Kett have grown numerous. They attacked our colonies, severely limiting our territories and kept each Family separated from each other. As of present, they are currently circling our worlds, waiting for any lapse of our vigilance so they could capture us all while our families repel them, day after day, year after year. It was only here, in Aya, that we can feel the sense of peace and freedom we had before their arrival."

"Because of the Shroud," Scott said.

Jaal nodded. "The Kett may have strange technology but it does not allow them to pass through it."

Scott was also curious how they can pass through it but decided it's a question for another time. Asking it too early may spook Jaal and stop telling important information freely as he does now. "Did they explain why they were trying to capture your people?"

"Before we drove them out, they said that our existence as we are now will lead to the destruction of the galaxy. They came here to save us and everyone from that fate by asking us to join them in unity and eternal peace, free of oppression or war," Jaal answered. He fell silent, the speckles in his skin waning. "We don't know what they meant, since all that they do is contrary to what they preach. They refused to explain it and the Kett we captured refused to speak more about it, whatever we did to them."

"You can't make them talk?"

"No. If they are captured, they can decide not to eat or drink for months and lapse into a catatonic state, until their body eats them inside and they die of hunger. They do not feel pain, loneliness or madness. Their zealous belief that they came to save us from ourselves was the only thing they will speak. That makes it difficult to wipe them out completely. They don't live like us; they have no cities, no supply lines, no factories we can cripple. They seem to be only living in their ships but how they managed to live all these years, we don't know."

Scott tutted softly. If they were going to defeat the Kett, it will not take conventional military strategies. But then, he wondered, if the Kett cannot pass through the Shroud, then how did they build up their numbers? There were two possibilities. Either they figured some way past the Shroud to get reinforcements or they have a rapid rate of reproduction. Maybe they're like the Asari who give birth via parthenogenesis. Maybe they clone themselves. But he remembered there were differences in the faces and arrangement of the facial bones on the Kett they encountered so cloning was unlikely.

Or maybe they reproduce by breaking off a limb which will then grow into an adult. He knew enough about alien reproduction, which may not be the same as the human norm. Anything is possible.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. It was useless speculating with little information and so returned his attention to the topic at hand. "Back on Aya, I'm wondering what Evfra meant by you. I meant-"

"My failure?" Jaal uttered a harsh sound. "Yes, you heard right."

"I'm sorry-"

"It is alright. And you apologize too much, even for things you did not do." Jaal looked at the screen, the light shining on his monocle. "I was part of a scholar team sent to study the vault in Eos. I was supposed to protect them but-I failed. The Kett were not content to take our people; they want to take our inheritance too. But they cannot open it, so they were laying in wait for any Angara to claim it. And my team had."

Scoot was about to express his condolences, but he remembered that he apologized too much.

"We fended off their attacks, week after week after week. We decided to retreat and try another time, this time with the might of the Resistance behind us but the Kett would not let us go. They hunted us like animals. Until," he bowed his head shamefully, looking at his empty hands, "I was the only one left."

He looked so pitiful there, with so much grief and shame hanging over him that he reached a hand placed it gently on his shoulder. "We'll pay the Kett back for that," he promised.

Jaal turned to look at the hand on his shoulder. His gaze was not hostile, but Scott felt self-conscious about the gesture and withdrew it quickly. Jaal then directed his gaze to him, searching his face.

Jaal did not know if the alien was being sincere. Though his alien blue eyes looked at him earnestly, his skin remained a dusty white color with its pinkish undertones. Throughout their conversation, it never changed with every word he spoke despite the feelings he expressed. There was no light in his skin, the light indicative of life. His was a dead color, the color of non-living things, like rocks and trees and- the Kett.

He suppressed the urge to shudder and nodded. "I look forward to the time we arrive at their base and carve the names of my team into their skulls."

Scott and Jaal talked more about Aya, the governor and some basic etiquette before they called it a night.