I have an announcement to make: I have been getting complaints about the Jiralhanae weapons officer in the last chapter being two inches taller then Shepard. Listen the Jirarlhanae is shorter then regualr Jiralhanae, Shepard 6'2 so that would make the Jiralhanae 8'2. I would think you guys would get that, but you didn't all well. Other news I would like to announce MistaSilentKiller has joined me in helping to create my story, he is part of my team now.

December 2, 2683/2183 CE

Attican Beta Cluster

Theseus System

Normandy

Bridge

At the edge of the Theseus system, a slipspace portal opened up—within a minute came the Normandy heading straight to Feros. Joker began pressing a few buttons, and flipping a few switches. "Stealth systems are engaged Commander. Also we have detected Geth ships on our long range scanners over the planet Feros."

Shepard was standing behind Joker looking over the scanner; to his displeasure, there were three Geth ships over the planet. He then turned his attention to Equinox. "Can the Geth detect us?"

Equinox looked back at Shepard with a reassuring smile on his face. "No, of course not; as long as we have the stealth systems they won't know we're here."

"Can you hack their systems? Shut down their shields and weapons?"

With a sigh, Equinox shook his head. "Not unless you want them to know where we are."

The frown on his face had said it all; Shepard was not happy about that. "Equinox can you detect are people down there?"

He watched as Equinox focused his energies into scanning the planet—it took no less than a few seconds for him to speak. "Yes, but I'm getting two groups; one near Zhu's Hope and one at the UNSC Science Facility."

"Can you get me in contact with whoever is in charge down there?"

"The one who's in charge of this outpost is a UNSC Colonel by the name Fai Dan. I'm patching you through now Commander."

On the holo screen, the image of a man in his late forties wearing the standard UNSC Marine armor came up. "Hello, this Colonel Fai Dan can anyone hear me?"

Shepard went up to the holo screen. "This is Commander Shepard of the Normandy. The UNSC got your transmission and sent me to help."

Fai Dan didn't have a happy look on his face…in fact, he was expecting more. "They only sent in one ship?"

"The UNSC is busy helping the OSA deal with the Geth in the Traverse. And I am investigating a Council Spectre that might have come through here."

"This Spectre wouldn't happen to be Turian would he? Because one of the Spartans under my command saw a Turian leading the Geth, and I might know why he was here."

Shepard was surprised "Mind telling me what that is?"

"First you have to take care of those Geth ships in orbit so that my people can take care of the Geth down here; do that, and I will tell you everything I know."

The screen went blank as the transmission was cut, leaving Shepard to his thoughts. He then turned to Joker and Equinox. "Any ideas?"

Joker just shrugged with a blank look on his face, but Equinox had already begun formulating a plan. "There is a way to destroy the Geth ships without risking our cover."

Shepard was curious…now that was a good idea, but how were they going to pull that off? "What is it?"

"We use the teleportation technology to transfer a few of our nukes onboard the Geth ships."

Now this was a dubious plan—it had its merits, but Shepard could not help but feel a little skeptical. "Can we even do that?"

Equinox had a look of uncertainty on his face. "We would first need to take down those barriers to get a good lock on the Geth ships, but thankfully we have Ares-class nukes—an explosion from one of those on one of the Geth ships will cause an EMP to short-circuit their systems leaving us free to teleport the nukes on their ships.

Shepard liked this idea , but only if it worked. "Alright you do that, while I get Wrex and Tali ready on a shuttle and head to Zhu's Hope to help out with the counter-offensive on the Geth."

Joker turned his head to face Shepard. "You're going to leave us here so that you can fight the Geth?"

Shepard just grinned "What's the matter Joker? Is the best pilot in the UNSC scared that he might be outmatched by the Geth?"

Joker just turned his head back to the consoles. "Don't make me laugh! I'll show those A.I. wannabes what it means to face a pilot of the UNSC."

Once Shepard was satisfied with Joker's attitude and headed down to the cargo bay. He had some arming up to do.

Theseus System

Feros Orbit

In orbit of Feros, the Geth ships were making short work of the UNSC outpost—they were taking down any defenses and soldiers that might put up any resistance. As the Geth ships continued their attacks, the Normandy got close enough under their stealth systems and began firing at the closest Geth ship to them—the resulting attack caused the barriers to weaken to the point where a nuclear explosion ruptured from inside the Geth ship. The Geth ships turned their attention to the Normandy by releasing fighters to assault the Geth ships while the Normandy hid under the cover of its stealth systems. The Normandy began leaving Feros, drawing the Geth's attention away from the shuttle that departed the Normandy before it began its attack.

Feros

The shuttle began its descent into the atmosphere of Feros after the Normandy drew the Geth away from the planet. As the shuttle broke through the atmosphere heading to Zhu's Hope, but came under Geth attack from the entrance, causing the shuttle to break off its course, causing the pilot to complain to Shepard. "Commander we can't get past the Geth! We have to go somewhere else!"

Shepard didn't like that idea, but knew he couldn't risk charging the Geth at this point. "Turn the shuttle around, we'll head to the science facility and head to the outpost from there."

The pilot did as he was told and the shuttle turned around heading for the science facility.

Feros

UNSC Science Facility

The shuttle landed at the LZ of the building and opened up its side door. Shepard and his squad departed from the shuttle and quickly headed to the building. Once inside, they were greeted with a short double-barreled shotgun to the face—it was the new WSTE-M5 combat shotgun. "Who the hell are you?"

Shepard stayed cool under the pressure of a gun pointed to his face and spoke plainly to the twitchy security officer. "My name is Commander Shepard, of the UNSC Normandy, what's going on here soldier?"

But before the officer could speak, a woman wearing a scientist's coat walked up behind him. "Lower that weapon soldier, they are obviously not from Zhu' Hope." The security officer hadn't lowered his weapon, but it was clear that he understood. "You can't be too careful Doctor Baynham."

Now Shepard was confused. "What do you mean by we're not from Zhu's Hope? What's going on here?"

Baynham walked up to the Commander after checking to make sure nobody was listening. Her hushed whisper made it clear that this was something she wanted nobody to hear. "We have a little problem Commander, and it's not just the Geth; please come with me."

At the wave of her hand, the security officer lowered his weapon, and the two of them escorted the Comander and his team deep into the facility and came in a room filled with scientists, soldiers, and two Spartans. Baynham guided Shepard over to a holo table while two other scientists came up right next to Baynham. "Commander allow me to introduce myself; I am Doctor Juliana Baynham, head researcher and scientist, and to my right is Doctor Ethan Jeong my second-in-command and to my left my daughter Lizbeth; we are very pleased you came here to help us."

Shepard looked around…the place was in bad shape—even the Spartans seemed a bit disheartened under their suits of heavy armor. "You don't seem to have a lot of security here, how have you prevented the Geth from attacking you?"

Juliana was the one to speak "We have powerful plasma cannons to keep the Geth ships from landing or attaching themselves on this building, and as for the Geth we set up a bubble shield around the complex to keep the Geth out. I don't know how long it will hold for."

Lizbeth then spoke up "are you here to help us fight the Geth."

Shepard was surprised at how well-staffed they were, considering that this was only a UNSC outpost. "That's one thing I'm here for; I'm hunting down a Turian Spectre by the name Saren, do you know anything about that?"

Juliana brought up a holo image of Saren on the table leading the Geth. "Is this who you're looking for?"

The fury had showed in his eyes, as Shepard nodded his head for yes. "Why was Saren here, and why are the Geth still here?"

"I believe they are here for species 37, or what we'd like to call the Thorian."

"What the hell is a Thorian?" asked Wrex

Ethan Jeong stepped in "That's classified information too anyone who's outside the UNSC."

Shepard didn't like how this Jeong person was pulling up the classified speech "I'm part of the UNSC so I suggest you tell me then."

"Then in that case, this information is way above your pay grade Commander."

Juliana turnd her head to face Ethan. She didn't like the way he emphasized on the word 'way' in her part of the conversation. "Are you forgetting I am the head scientist on this facility? I make that kind of call."

Ethan wanted to object but kept his mouth shut. Juliana turned to Shepard. "The Thorian is an ancient sentient plant at least fifty thousand years old. We discovered it in an underground passage of Zhu's Hope; when we discovered it, the Thorian began releasing spores into the air—at first we didn't know what it was, so we took samples and began studying it here in the labs."

"What did you find out about this thing and its spores?" asked Shepard, curious about the situation at hand. Juliana took a deep breath and began to recount the tale. "The Thorian is unlike any creature we ever seen…it is capable of hibernating for thousands of years, making its real age impossible to guess. But the real intersesting part is its spores: they seem to be able to attach too you inside your brain and take control of you. Unfortunately, we discovered it too late and the entire military division on Feros came under its control along with two of the four Spartans assigned to us."

Shepard was surprised, and as he looked to the two Spartans with the disheartened air about them—he'd be sad too if his crewmates were being mind-controlled. But at the same time, he was a little annoyed. "That doesn't answer my question why did Saren come here then?"

Lizbeth answered that question. "Well at first we thought he was here for the Thorian's ability to take control of people, but I think it was becasue the Thorian was here during the time of the Protheans; when we discovered the Thorian, we took samples from it to study its DNA, and when we took a closer look at the samples, we discoverd a strand of DNA that only came from the Protheans; we think it consumed them to make itself grow."

Shepard had enough of this. "Okay I've had enough of this…just tell me how to fight this thing, without it taking control of my mind!"

Lizbeth walked over to a table and pulled out a vial containing a blue liquid. "When we discovered about the spores and what the Thorian was capable of, we managed to synthesize a cure and a vaccine to make people immune to it. We can inject you with this to protect you from the spores, but we have had trouble dispersing the cure to the soldiers becasue the Geth are still in the way."

"Why not we just put it in the missile and disperse it as a gas?"

Juliana shook her head. "No Commander, the gas would evaporate from the explosion; we would need to inject the cure into their blood stream."

Shepard just shakes his head. "you can't be serious; if what you said is right and the Thorian has the soldiers under their control how the hell am I suppose to make them take it?"

Juliana walked over to the table and brought back with her grenades and a pistol "we modified these smoke grenades to use nerve gas to incapacitate the soldiers and use this pistol to shoot darts that contains the cure when there down."

Shepard took a grenade and the pistol. "Okay then, now we have a way to help the soldiers at Zhu's Hope; what about the Geth blocking my way? You guys have anything here that can plow right through them?"

At this, Ethan chipped in. "We have two warthogs equipped with gauss cannons."

Now they could do this job properly! Shepard turned to his squad. "Equip yourselves with these weapons and lets head out." As Shepard and his squad went to the armory and begin equipping themselves with the grenades and pistols, Juliana stopped them for a second. "Commander, allow me to provide you with something else that may help you out."

Shepard looked at Juliana…he was open to more help, but he had to ask. "What is it?"

"I'm giving you command of our Spartans and one soldier to help you."

Shepard was surprised—he'd always wanted at least one Spartan on the crew…granted, this may be temporary, but still… "You're willing to give me your Spartans?"

"In case you've forgotten Commander, the Thorian has control of two Spartans; you may be a skilled soldier, but can you honestly tell me that you would be able to last a second against them?"

Oh, right…he just remembered. And as he thought on it, he remembered the day he was under the command of a Spartan. It was from that event that Shepard couldn't deny that he knew how strong one of them was—given that he had seen them in action firsthand. "Thanks I'll take all the help I can get."

Wrex on the other hand just snarled. "Speak for yourself, I'll take care of those Spartans myself."

Shepard ignored Wrex and took the group to where the warthogs were.

Feros

Connecting Bridge

Two warthogs jumped out of a garage of the building they were in and started driving on the bridge connecting to the UNSC outpost. In one of the diver seat is Shepard while Tali is sitting next to him and a Spartan is manning one of the gauss cannons; in the second warthog a soldier by the name Ian Newstead was driving the warthog while Wrex is sitting next to him and the other Spartan in control of the gauss cannon. The warthogs begin driving down the bridge to reach the outpost when all of a sudden they came across a group of Geth and two Armatures firing at the warthogs; Shepard and Ian drove the warthogs out of the way from fire while the Spartans took aim and fired the gauss cannons at the Geth, destroying them. The warthogs came across a couple of more Geth until they reach the garage entrance of Zhu's Hope.

Feros

Zhu's Hope

Garage Entrance

The group got out of the warthogs and came up to a creature that stood up from its crouching when the group came near it. The creature charged at the group, Shepard and his team pulled out their weapons and fired at the creature it exploded into a gooey green liquid. Tali commented on the creature. "That wasn't Human."

Shepard looked at everyone with determination on his face. "Remember to only use the nerve gas on the colonists and to shoot them with the cure in these pistols." The group nodded and opened the garage door. Behind the door waited for them was a group of Thorian Creepers and four soldiers off to the side pointing their guns at Shepard and his team; as the Creepers charged at the group, Shepard and Wrex used their biotics to push the Creepers back while the two Spartans ran up to where the soldiers were and used the grenades to release the nerve gas and shot them with the cure darts. After the Creepers were taken care of, the group moved in to the elevator and went up to the main base of operations.

Feros

Zhu's Hope

UNSC Outpost

When the elevator stopped at the top of the base the group moved out of it covering all sides; Shepard told the group to head to the main base of operations. The group moved down some stairs and came across several more Creepers and soldiers; the Creepers were easy to take care of, but the soldiers proved difficult and by difficult they were using grenades and a missile launcher, Shepard used a biotic field to block the missiles, while Tali overloaded their weapons to stop working and Wrex brought the soldiers down with a tackle. Shepard gave them the cure and moved on; these kinds of attacks happened all over the facility until they came across the last person, Fai Dan was taken down and the cure injected into his system.

Shepard contacted the scientist over the radio "Juliana we've taken care of the soldiers, but the two Spartans you mentioned are not here, do you know where they could be?"

Juliana's voice came over the radio. "They must have gone underground to protect the Thorian Commander, you must help them."

Shepard didn't like that idea, but had no choice in the matter…and he especially didn't like having to kill Spartans—not simply because they were stronger than him, but because many of them had earned his respect. "What about the Thorian, what do you want me to do with it?"

"I have orders to keep it alive and study on how it is capable of taking control of other species."

Shepard was furious when he heard that. "You have got to be kidding me! Why the hell would you want to keep this thing alive?"

"What else for Commander? The UNSC wants to use it as a weapon now that we have a cure for our people; if you don't like it take it up with High Command."

Shepard shook his head in disappointment…to think that High Command would use this thing as a weapon! "Fine, will take care of the other Spartans and any Thorian Creepers while we're down there. But after that, you and I are going to have few words with High Command." Shepard cut off the radio and turned to his squad "Alright people we have to go down there to help the two Spartans and deal with the last Creepers. Tali, Ian, you two stay here and watch out for these guys; the rest of you come with me."

As Shepard was about to walk down the entrance Joker came on the Radio "Commander I'm back! Missed me?"

Shepard got on the radio. "Joker, where the hell have you been?"

"I'll take that as you did! And as for the Geth, well me and Equinox took care of them, but two more ships came in the system and they weren't Geth—they were Terminus Coalition ships, they fired at us and we had no choice but to destroy them."

The sigh of anger was clear even through his helmet…Shepard wasn't surprised by that. "It was only a matter of time before someone in the Coalition decided to go against Aria's demands of not attacking us, but how the hell did they knew to attack Feros when it was at its weakest?"

"Don't know commander, but do you want us to dock?"

"No stay, where you are; I need you in the sky to watch are backs." Shepard disconnected the transmission and started to head down the stairs to where the Thorian was.

Zhu's Hope

Underground

Shepard and his squad walked down the flight of stairs to where the Thorian was; when they reached the Thorian, Shepard could only marvel as to how big it was. "We are going to need bigger guns for this." Shepard then walked up to the Thorian as he got closer the Thorian began regurgitating and it spit out a green Asari. "Invaders! Your every step is a transgression upon my domain! A thousand feelers praise you as meat, good only to dig or decompose. I speak for the old growth, as I did for Saren. Your are within and before the Thorian. It commands that you be in awe!"

Shepard was surprised to not only see an Asari, but a green one. "You and your master have done enough damage to my people—it ends here."

The green Asari only spoke in a menacing tone. "The Thorian is but a piece of this world, extending across the land and back through the ages. You can no more kill it than you can cut the sky."

Shepard had enough of this Asari, and was about to use a biotic blast to knock her over the edge only to be stopped by a Spartan. The Spartan grabbed Shepard's arm with his left and knocked the Commander back with his right sending him flying acrross the room as he hit the concrete. Wrex charged at the Spartan but was blasted back by the green Asari with her biotics, while the other one came out of nowhere and stand next to her too. The Spartans that came with Shepard and Wrex attack their fellow Spartans to keep them busy, while Shepard and Wrex got up from their attack and began taking out the Asari and Creepers.

After the Asari and Creepers were taken care of, Shepard looked around for some way to take the Thorian down when he came across a door that revealed some kind of tendril that connected to the Thorian Shepard looked to Wrex. "Wrex I think I found something to take the Thorian down."

Wrex ran up to Shepard. "What about your Spartans?"

Shepard looked over to where the Spartans were fighting the renegade ones. "They can handle themselves let's just kill this thing before they get killed by their own comrades." Upon receiving a nod from his partner, Shepard and Wrex brought out their weapons and fired at the tendril. The tendril exploded and cut off of the wall it was attached too; Shepard and Wrex continued to take the Thorian down, but along the way Shepard and Wrex came a cross more Thorian Creepers and the green Asari. After a couple more tendrils take down the Thorian collapsed in the whole it was hanging over and died. When it was over, an organic pod broke and released an Asari—she got up and was very grateful to be released "I'm free. I~I suppose I should thank you for releasing me."

Shepard was a little suspicious about this Asari, since her doppleganger tried to kill them "Who are you? And how did you end up inside that... thing?

"My name is Shiala. I serve - I served Matriarch Benezia. When she allied herself with Saren so did I. I came to this world in search of the Thorian. Saren needed its knowledge, and he needed my biotic abilities to communicate with it. Saren offered me in trade…I was sacrificed to secure an alliance between Saren and the Thorian."

Shepard was suspicious. "If that's the case, then why were the Geth trying to destroy the Thorian?

"After Saren had what he needed, the Thorian became a liability. Saren knows you are searching for the Conduit. He knows you are following his steps. He attacked the Thorian so you could not gain the Cipher."

Shepard was confused "What's the Cipher? And why did Saren need it?"

"The beacon on Eden Prime gave you visions. But the visions were likely unclear, confusing. They were meant for a Prothean mind. To truly comprehend them, you must think like a Prothean. You must understand their culture, their history, their very existence. The Thorian was here long before the Protheans built this city. It watched them and studied them, and when they died, it consumed them. They became a part of it."

Shepard understood a little. "So the Thorian taught Saren to think like a Prothean? How?"

"The Cipher is the very essence of being a Prothean. It cannot be described or explained. It would be like describing color to a creature without eyes. To understand, you must have access to the endemic ancestral memory; a viewpoint spanning thousands of Prothean generations. I sensed this memory -the Cipher- when I melded with the Thorian. Our indentities merged, our minds intertwined. Such knowledge cannot be taught; it simply exists."

Shepard had enough of this vague crap. "You taught Saren, maybe you can teach me."

"There is a way. I can transfer the knowledge from my mind to yours, as I did with Saren. Try to relax Commander, take slow and deep breaths; let go of your physical shell—reach out and grasp the threads that binds us one to another. Every action sends ripples across the galaxy; every idea must touch another mind to live each emotion must mark another's spirit we are all connected every living being united in a single glorious existence. Open yourself to the universe Commander; embrace eternity."

The Asari's eyes turned black, and images flooded Shepard's mind of people dying, metal merging with flesh, pictures of worlds that were unknown to Shepard, and finnally a ship matching the one at Eden Prime. After it was all over, Shepard came back to the real world confused and unsure of what he saw.

"I have given you the Cipher, just as it was given to Saren. The ancestral memories of the Protheans are a part of you now."

Wrex comes up to the Commander "You alright Shepard? You almost look like you were about to pass out for a minute."

Shepard just shook off the feeling and try's to remember about the vision. "I saw... something. It still didn't make any sense."

"You have been given a great gift. The experience of an entire people, it will take time for your mind to process this information. I am sorry if you have suffered, but there was no other way… you needed the Cipher. In time, it will help you understand the vision from the beacon."

Before he turned to leave, Shepard realized that he wasn't finished with Shiala just yet. "Do you know anything about the Conduit or where it is?"

"No, I'm sorry. All I know is Saren believes it was the key to the Prothean extinction."

Wrex wasn't impressed "Then whatever it is, we can't let Saren have it."

"You have the Cipher. In time the visions will become clear; I only pray you come to understand it before Saren does."

Shepard wanted to know more. "What else can you tell me about Saren?"

"There is little I could tell you that you do not already know. He's powerful, he's charismatic, and he is dangerous. Once, I followed him blind to his true nature, but now I see he is leading the galaxy in an age of darkness and suffering."

Shepard asked one more question "What can you tell me about that ship Saren has?"

It was not a pleasant memory, but Shiala gathered herself and tried to recollect her memories about it. "Benezia foresaw the influence Saren would have. She joined him to guide him down a gentler path. But Saren is compelling and Benezia lost her way."

Shepard didn't want to hear excuses. "You chose to side with Saren…so did Benezia."

Shiala felt ashamed but continued "Benezia underestimated Saren, as did I. We came to believe in his cause and his goals. The strength of his influence is troubling."

Shepard was surprised…now this was something he did not foresee. "I was told that Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy. How could one fall under Saren's control?"

"Saren has a Vessel. An enormous warship only rivaled by OSA vessels, he calls it Sovereign. It can dominate the minds of his followers, and so they become indoctrinated to Saren's will. The process is subtle; it can take days, weeks if it were a stronger mind. But in the end, it is absolute. I was a willing slave when Saren brought me to this world."

Shepard was satisfied with his answers. "Alright then, I've heard enough; so what do I do with you?"

Shiala just looked confused unsure what to do now. "I don't know…although I assume the OSA will put me away for life for my actions."

Shepard saw the fear in her eyes, and decided to make a deal. "If you can give any other information on Saren or his allies, I'll see if the OSA will pardon you for your part in this attack."

Upon Shiala was a little pleased. "I will be willing to turn myself in to the OSA without question."

Feros

Zhu's Hope

Top Side

After the conversation with Shiala, Wrex, Shepard and the Spartans came out from underground with her, there they were greeted by Juliana and her science team. "Commander you did exactly what I told you not to do; Good job."

Shepard was really confused…this was not something he expected—he expected to be yelled at…to be taken in for a court martial…not to be praised for disobeying orders! "I don't understand, I thought you wanted the Thorian alive."

Juliana shook her head. "No I didn't; I saw what the Thorian did to the soldiers and knew the UNSC would want that kind of power, but I could not destroy the Thorian without being charged with treason. You on the other hand were able to do it without being charged with treason, you could write in your report about how you had no choice but to stop the Thorian."

Shepard smiled when Juliana was on the page as Shepard. "Thank-you doctor Baynham." Shepard looked around at the soldiers who were infected. "Did you gain anything from this chaos?"

Juliana looks around at first and pulls out a vial containing a green liquid. "When we discovered the Thorian, we took massive samples of it's spores to create our own mind control or create a way to break one. We ended up with this; I want you to have it." She handed it to Shepard.

Shepard took the vial…he had a very skeptical eye on it. "Won't the UNSC want this to make more of it?"

A sigh of frustration left her mouth as Juliana shook her head. "It's impossible to recreate! When you killed the Thorian, all the spores we had died with it and that is the key to creating more of it. I want you to have this as thanks for saving us Commander. Hopefully, you'll use it for a better purpose than what the UNSC may plan for it." Juliana then left to attend the wounded

Shepard walked over to his group. "You guys alright?"

Wrex was just cheerful. "This was actually my kind of mission Commander. Thanks for bringing me along."

Tali on the other hand was little angry. "I'm just glad we killed some of those Geth bosh'tets along the way."

Shepard satisfied with his squad moved out to where the Normandy parked.

Normandy

Comm. Room

Shepard wasn't feeling so good after Feros and Liara noticed. "Commander? You look... pale. Are you suffering any affects from the Cipher?"

It was there that Shepard looked at Liara…there was actual concern in her eyes. "The Cipher shook me up a bit."

Liara came up with an idea to help "I might be able to help you. I am an expert on the Protheans. If I join my consciousness to yours, maybe we can make some sense of it."

Shepard was a little hesitant, but needed help with this "Do it, but hurry up…we don't have much time."

Both Shepard and Liara stood face-to-face to one another. "Relax Commander, embrace eternity!" Liara's eyes turned black and images flooded into Shepards brain again with the same visions. After it was over, Liara was fatigued. "That was... incredible all this time, all my research and yet I~I never dreamed. I am sorry, it's just that the images were so vivid; I'd never imagine the experinece be so intense. You are remarkably strong willd Commander, What you have been through, what you have seen would have destroyed a lesser mind."

Ash didn't like how Liara was admiring the Commander, but kept her cool "Did you see anything?" Within a moment, Liara recollected herself. "The beacon on Eden Prime must have been badly damaged—large parts of the vision are…are missing. The data transferred into the commander's mind is incomplete."

Shepard was disappointed about that. "So you didn't get abuthing from it?"

"I was able to interpret the data relayed through your vision…or what was there at least, but something was missing—Saren must have the missing information; maybe he found another beacon. If we can find the missing data from your vision I can…I can oh, I'm sorry the joining is exuasting—I should go to the medical bay and lay down for awhile."

Shepard looked around at everyone else—at this point, they were watching…some were even recording the entire account. "We're done here. Everybody dismissed!"Oh, he heard them snicker—and he thanked whatever god was listening when Joker came on the intercom "I sent off the Feros mission reports. You want me to open a comm.-link to the ambassadors?"

"Do it." said Shepard. Ambassador Udina was the only one who appeared on the comm. link…unsurprisingly, the man had a very furious look in his eyes. "Shepard! Do you have any idea what you just did?"

Shepard crossed his arms and leaned a little closer to the screen. "If you mean that I saved our soldiers from being mind-controlled by a plant, then yes I know what I did."

Fighting back the urge to yell, it was clear that Udina was not happy about the Commander's snide remark. "If it weren't for your outstanding record in the UNSC, I would have had you court-martialed for destroying a weapon we could have possibly used."

"Did the OSA Senate know about the Thorian?"

Udina kept a straight face. "That's not the point…you should have thought about your actions before making them."

Oh he was not happy about it…and in response, Shepard just shook his head. "Is there anything else you want to complain about?"

There it was…the burst of anger that was being held back! "No, I am finish with you!" On that brief note, Udina cut off communication leaving Shepard alone in the comm. link. Shepard turned around and began heading to the doors until Joker came on the comm. link again. "Commander Admiral Hackett is on the line; he wants to talk to you, he's says it's urgent."

Shepard turn back to the comm. tired of going back and forth; as he stepped over the table, he sees Admiral Hackett on the other side hologram. "Commander thank you for having time for me, we have serious problem."

Shepard was surprised. "Is it the Geth, becasue I already sent data on how we can hurt them badly."

Hackett shakes his head. "No Commander! Your intel on sending a nuke on a Geth ship using the teleporter is helping us out in the Traverse, and honestly we never thought about doing that. But that's not why I called; we have received a transmission that something disturbing has happened with a Citadel expedition group; they stumbled on a Forerunner outpost on the border of OSA space."

Shepard was shocked to hear that…and then he thought of the implications. "How the hell did that happen? And why aren't we sending someone to deal with them?"

"Well that's the problem Commander; we are too busy dealing with the Geth in the Traverse, and the Citadel expedition has already been dealt with by the monitor of that outpost. We want you to take your ship and deal with this rampant monitor before the Turian ships make it to the installation."

Shepard became serious…he knew the answer, and he was hoping that it wasn't true. "What do you mean by 'the monitor already dealt with expidition'?"

Hackett just looked down and away from Shepard's eyes for a second. "The monitor slaughtered them and destroyed their ships in orbit, but not before they sent a message to the Citadel telling them about drone like machines killing the scientists and destroying there ships, we intercepted their message about the incident and need you to get there before anyone else does."

Shepard rubbed his neck unsure of what to do—this was a fine kettle of fish! "Admiral I don't know what I can do about a rampant Forerunner A.I."

"Shepard our scientists believe the monitor is acting this way because the Citadel scientists touch something they shouldn't and may require a Reclaimer to shut it down. But if all seems impossible, you are authorized to nuke the outpost."

"And if the Citadel Council asks why we did it?"

Hackett became aggressive. "Then you tell them that Forerunner outpost is property of the OSA since that planet and system were on our borders. And they came into our area without our permission."

Shepard had a smile on his face…now he had ammunition to use against them. "Yes sir! Also sir, did you also read the report about the Coalition ships that entered the Theseus system?"

This elicited a sigh from Hackett as he nodded his head. "Yes, and we are keeping our eyes open around are colonies, but we sent that information to Aria…she says she'll take care of it, but I don't think that she'll be able to handle it. Good luck Shepard, Hackett out."

Normandy

CIC

Shepard walked up to the galaxy map. "Joker set a course for sub-sector 37."

Joker was a little surprised…Shepard was deviating from the plan a bit. "Uh, I thought we were heading to Noveria?"

"Change of plans…looks like we have to go save the Citadel Council from destroying themselves."

ONI

Freelancer HQ

ONI Infinity-Class Battle Cruiser "Susanoo"

Director Church and the A.I. Alpha were watching the Commander taking the Normandy to sub-sector 37. "Well will you look at that…the Commander is getting further ahead on the Prothean information than we are, and he's dealing with that mess the Council has gotten themselves into."

The Director was not impressed…and Church was definitely far from amused at the situation. "The only reason he is ahead is because of that Cipher. But that's about to change now that we have Shiala in our custody."

Alpha just shook his head. "Yeah, I don't see how that's going to work seeing as how she needs to download that information into a person's head. Anyway what are we going to do for Shepard, are we going to send any support?"

As he thought, Director Church got up from his chair and went over to his brandy case and poured himself a drink. "I would think Shepard would be capable of handling this himself, but from what I learned over the years, you don't send a soldier to do a Spartan's job. I will send agents Nevada, California, and Arizona to deal with the Forerunner A.I." He took a sip of his brandy and sat back down in his chair looking at the holo-screen.

Feros

UNSC Science Base

A scientist by the name of Gavin Hossle was waiting in the labs, looking around making sure no one was watching. After a few minutes, a woman wearing all black and white clothes stepped in from the shadows, Hossle was startled for a second, before he calmed down upon recognition of the woman. "About time you got here, I was beginning to think you weren't going to show."

The woman just smiled. "Do you have what we asked for?"

Hossle brought up a UNSC data chip. "Everything we learned from the Throrian, including on how to create the cure and the information on reverse engineering the spores are in here. But I have to say all this is useless now the Thorian is dead. My recommendation for you is this; don't bother with the Thorian—it is more trouble than it's worth."

"You let us worry about that. We have sent the money into your account as you asked, hand me the chip."

Hossle first checked his omni-tool to make sure they were telling the truth. "I confirmed the money. Here you go." he hands her the Chip and stepped back. "I'm curious though, what are you going to do with that information."

As she walked away, she turned her head to face Hossle. The cold glare she shot at him told him enough. "That wasn't part of the deal." She exited the compound and boards a shuttle at the LZ. As the shuttle leaves Feros the woman conatcts her people "I have it. yes all of it, prepare the labs for studying and testing and make sure to report anything we find to the Illusive Man."

Serpent Nebula

Widow System

Citadel Tower

Council Chambers

The Citadel Council was talking about the incident involving the expedition team. Sparatus was not happy. "We finally found working Forerunner technologies, and the damn scientist triggers an automated defense systems that killed them all."

Valern stood up for his people "The scientists could not have known about that. The Forerunners are a mysterious race that we still do not understand. Tevos, you agree with me don't you."

Tevos had other things on her mind than the fate of the scientists. "I'm more concerned the OSA will find out we entered their borders without asking."

Sparatus just snarled at that comment. "We should not have to ask for anything from them! We are the Council, our word is law! And besides they're too busy fighting the Geth to even notice what we are doing, and even if they did we have already sent a fleet to secure the area for the Citadel Council, and I have personally sent SPECTRE Kryik to make sure everything goes according to plan."

As the Council prayed that everything went according to plan, unbeknowtist to them a Salarian overheard their discussion with a tiny microphone. "Hello? This is Agent Alrive…I have information for the Shadow Broker…"

Looks like everyone is interested in the Forerunner outpost and Shepard is about to be caught right in the middle of it. So as before tell me what you think and what I should change or put in.

Codex: Spartans

Of all the Human warriors ever to grace the OSA's counter-offensive during the First Contact War, none were more feared than the Spartan Super-Soldiers of the UNSC. Although the UNSC and the OSA still refuses to disclose any concrete information, accounts from Citadel forces reported sightings these soldiers wearing highly-advanced and impossibly heavy armor striking down Asari Commandos and brutally murdering Council SPECTREs with arrogant ease, in addition to performing feats that would be considered impossible by non-biotic human standards…and from then on, the Spartans made a name for themselves as the best that humanity could offer. Even regular Asari troopers have trouble fighting even one of them…thus securing their legendary reputation, and keeping them on par with the operatives of the SPECOPS ELITE and BRUTE units. Today however, Spartans are commonly scattered around OSA space—some were assigned to protect highly sensitive areas, others were used in their traditional role as elite special operations soldiers, but all remain deadly to this day.