In the shuttle, Meiou sat beside Nicholas, who went back into fiddling with his OmniTool. She caught a glimpse of what he was looking at and asked, "Is… is that Mordin Solus, Nicholas?"

Nicholas blinked, but Meiou was looking kindly at him, and so he nodded. "Yes. Mordin Solus was my inspiration in becoming salarian that I am today. Grew up reading his writings. Have been watching his videos and other works."

Meiou nodded, "Do you… miss him?"

"Salarians raised by Dalatress, not fathers. Reproduction contract only needed to create females." Nicholas shook his head, "However, Mordin Solus… he…"

Nicholas coughed, "Salarians raised to do best for species. Follow Dalatress and Queen's orders. Even if wrong." He opened up his OmniTool and showed her a video, "Mordin Solus went against orders and still cured genophage and cured Krogan. Always wondered why. Krogan history full of glorified killing and murders. Maybe I see Shroud, would understand why."

Meiou nodded, and soon the shuttle landed a few feet from the Shroud. Nicholas and Tristan jumped down first, with Jarred behind them. Meiou jumped down, her foot landed on an unstable rock, and her step faltered. Jarred caught her before she hit the ground. "Careful! The ground here is really unsteady."

She straightened, "Thank you." She looked up at the Tower, or rather what was left of it. Its top floor looks to have crumbled down, but the base was still intact. "So this is the Shroud? What happened to it?"

Jarred came forward and looked at the ruins, "It happened during the mustering of the Galaxy Forces. In order to secure the Krogan Alliance and help in Palaven, Wrex demanded that the genophage be cured. Commander Shepard allowed it, and had Mordin Solus and Urdnot Bakara make a cure." He said, "Reapers were attacking this area when they were trying to launch the genophage cure. But… Kalros, the Mother of All Thresher Maws, destroyed it."

Meiou's eyes widened, "Thresher maws? Those giant, wormlike things?"

Jarred laughed, "Yeah. Commander Shepard summoned Kalros to fight for them using that temple over there. Apparently, there were some hammers that could call on it. The damned thing fought with the Destroyer. It buried it underground." He looked around the horizon and saw an uneven landscape, "See there? That's where Kalros buried the Reaper."

"I… I see." She said, looking over to the canyon-like hole near the Shroud. She turned, looking around the surroundings, but she blinked. "Is… is that…?"

Meiou ran towards whatever to she saw, and the three followed her. When she stopped, they all looked up, and Nicholas gasped.

There was a statue of a salarian, standing a few feet from the Shroud. He was standing straight, with a datapad in one hand, clutched to his chest and a gun on the other. It gleamed silver in the Tuchankan sun, and they looked at it in amazement. Below the statue was a data console.

Jarred bent down, and scanned the console with his Omni-Tool. "It's a voice recording?"

He straightened, and the others gathered around him to listen. He pressed a button and listened.

"Greetings." Said a high pitched salarian voice, "I am Mordin Solus. Salarian scientist, STG Agent… and creator and curer of the Krogan Genophage."

Nicholas' eyes widened at the sound of the voice, but he remained quiet to listen.

"Made recording before heading to Tuchanka. Cure synthesized. Shepard getting ready to transport Krogan female and cure to Shroud…but still." He inhaled, "Cannot leave behind galaxy without leaving mark."

"Worked with Shepard for almost a year. Very… honored to have done so. Shepard very strong individual, and very unusual for human. Cares deeply for all species of the galaxy. Without Shepard, cure would not have been possible at all. Aims for peace, but do not know if we will achieve it. Still, her help invaluable for the future. Also… learned a lot of lessons from Shepard. Krogans seem like threat to other species, but now…" he seemed to have hesitated, "Have done many wrongs. Creating genophage a mistake. Krogans very misunderstood creatures. As is the geth. As is humans. As of any species. Focus too much on disadvantages species have, and war becomes a reality. Misunderstanding almost always reason for war. Turians and humans misunderstood. Salarian and krogan misunderstood. Geth and quarians misunderstood."

"Watched Reaper Wars occur, and soon understood everything myself. Reapers what humans call 'inherently evil'… wish for destruction because that is programmed. Because they thought it was reality and should be truth for galaxy. Reaper nothing more than flawed technology. Not alive. Not like us. Not like any species. Reapers cannot connect socially with any species. Only know how to kill and destroy. But species like us… have many emotions, many social behaviors, hence many variables."

Meiou swallowed, and tears swelled in her eyes. Jarred watched as the tears rolled down her cheeks, and she closed her eyes to listen some more.

"Made audio recording for others to understand. Was focused on big picture, but not looking at smaller pictures. Effects caused by my decision. How it would affect other species. Did not look into everything as whole. But now, everything changed. Understood now. Genophage was not worth it. Krogan misunderstood creatures, but did not deserve genophage. Rectified it now. Hopefully, other generations understand as well. Galaxy much bigger than we thought. Many species, many cultures. Difficult to understand them all. Would take asari centuries to understand everything. But all species the same. All alive. All with life. All with emotions. No species deserve punishment like Krogan genophage, or Reaper attacks. Genophage cure my… salvation for wrong doings. Hopefully, other species will not make same assumptions as I did."

Nicholas lowered his head, and Tristan patted him in the back.

"This my way of saying goodbye." Mordin's recording continued, "This my way of correcting mistake. Hope no one makes same mistake as I do. If you listen to this, hope you also understand. And learn. Galaxy has many discoveries. Many knowledge. Focus more in understanding knowledge, and life more worth it."

Mordin sighed in his recording, "I guess that is all. Thank you for listening. Once Reaper wars over, for better or worse… it has been a good life. A great journey. And an honor to have served under Shepard. On Normandy with crew. Goodbye."

The recording stopped, and Meiou opened her eyes and wiped away her tears. Nicholas' head was still bowed, but soon he straightened, and looked at the three of them. "Understand now. Am ready create Biotic Relays."

"Would you like to talk, Nicholas?" Meiou said, laying her hand on the salarian's arm.

But the salarian shook his head, "Fine now. Used to ask why brilliant scientist like Mordin Solus sacrifice life for something like Krogans. Or why other species fought alongside other life forms. Solus right. Many things to learn about galaxy and cultures. Still have much to learn. Much to discover." He smiled at them, "Would like to learn more about human cultures, but know that if solar flare destroys Earth and all colonies, would not be able to study them at all."

Meiou smiled, "Thank you. That is a good way to honor his memory. Maybe… maybe when this is done, and my training is done, I can teach you some things that we humans do. Like games and traditions and stuff."

Nicholas smiled and nodded, before looking at Tristan. "Permission to use shuttle to return to Normandy? Will start on calculations of size of Biotic Relays, measurements of Meiou's shield… other variables."

Tristan nodded, "Certainly. Ask one of the crew to return it once we're done. We probably won't take long."

Nicholas nodded and headed back to the shuttle, humming a little tune. Meiou blinked as the salarian walked away, "Gilbert and Sullivan…?"

Jarred stood beside her, "What?"

She pointed at Nicholas' retreating back, "Nicholas was humming Gilbert and Sullivan."

"Yeah. My mother told me Mordin Solus sang Gilbert and Sullivan once to her. It made her really amused. Imagine that high pitched voice singing the 'Scientist Salarian'."

Meiou giggled as Tristan bent down and scanned the ground. "Your mother… she was really something to have done all this."

Jarred nodded, "The Krogan leader was named after her. So she must've done something right." He sighed, "Still, I don't think I would be as great as her. Since the Reapers are gone, I don't think I would do much battle. All I'm targeting now are Cerberus remnants, batarian slave traders and red sand dealers. And compared to killing Thresher Maws, rogue Spectres, and Reapers… well, sometimes it's boring."

"You do not have to be your mother to be something great." Meiou said, looking up at the remains of the Shroud. "You just have to be great as Jarred Vancair. And I think you're doing a magnificent job at it."

Jarred smiled at her, "Yeah. I guess so."

Tristan straightened up and closed his OmniTool, "The Shroud is in ruins, but there's an underground area that could contain Shroud technology. There's an entrance nearby, but I think it's all covered in debris."

Meiou nodded, and they walked to where the entrance is. She looked at it and held out an arm, "Stand back. Maybe I can clear it with biotics."

The two men nodded, and backed off to give her some room. She raised both her hands and blue biotic energy engulfed the debris. She lifted her arms and hurled the stones aside, revealing a heavy steel door.

Jarred went forward and used his OmniTool and hacked the door open. "There's very little energy left, but I think there's enough to get the data."

Tristan nodded and headed down the stairs, with Meiou behind him and Jarred following. They stepped in a room and Jarred fiddled with the power source a bit, to get it to turn on. The lights flickered a little, and a console turned on near what looked like a couple of power generators.

Tristan looked over the console and fiddled with it before nodding, "This is great. Everything about the Shroud technology is here. Try and get everything in here, Jarred. "

The turian-human nodded, and used his OmniTool to save every data the console had. "Got it."

As soon as Jarred got the data, the lights went off, plunging them into complete darkness. "What the hell?!" Tristan exclaimed.

"The power ran out." Jarred said as he used the flash light on his OmniTool, "Of all the bloody rotten luck…"

"Wh… what about the door…?" Meiou whispered, her voice a little strained. Jarred turned his flashlight to her to see her pale against the light, her violet eyes flickering from side to side.

"With the power out, I think we're stuck in here for a while." Tristan said as he used his OmniTool, "Maybe I can radio someone to help…?"

But Meiou's eyes widened in panic, and she hugged herself and started panting, "It's too dark. I can't breathe…"

Jarred shined a light at her again, rushing forward, "Hey! It's going to be okay, Meiou."

But she crouched down and grasped her head, "No… no… I'm trapped again… I'm trapped again!" She fell to her knees, shaking violently. Even if Jarred had a light, it seemed like the thought of a locked door and the dark scared her, "I promise I'll be good! I promise I'll be good! Don't lock me here! Let me out!"

She ran away from Jarred, almost tripping in the stairs to the locked heavy metal door. Jarred and Tristan followed her, "Meiou!"

"Let me out! Let me out!" She cried hysterically, her fists pounding at the metal door, her nails clawing at the steel. "I won't do it anymore! Just get me out! I'll do everything you want! Let me out! I promise I will…!"

Jarred watched her as she pounded and clawed at the door, and soon he saw spots of blood appearing on the metal. Meiou had wounded her hands and almost ripped off her fingernails trying to get out of the door. He quickly came forward and wrapped his arms around her, trying to stop her from hurting herself. They ended up sitting on the floor, so that Jarred could stop her struggling.

"Shhh… shhh…" Jarred whispered, soothing her as her cries became yells of fear, "I'm here. I'm here, Meiou. You're not alone. Look at me." He grasped her hands in one hand and used the other to turn her face to him, "I'm right here. I won't leave you alone. I have a light, look at it. Look at me. You have me. Just… calm down."

Meiou's tear stained face looked into his eyes, and she whimpered, "They locked me up. They locked me up. I was a bad person. They… they… locked me up because I didn't do what they wanted me to do…"

Jarred looked at her, and then up to Tristan, who just nodded and pressed a finger to his ear. "Nicholas? Are you still in the Normandy? We got locked up in the basement of the Shroud. The power ran out."

"Ahh… Problematic." Nicholas' voice drifted to their ear piece, "Will return to Shroud ruins. Perhaps use power cells of shuttle to provide enough power to restore and open door? Yes… yes… will be there in a few minutes."

Meiou whimpered again, and Jarred held her tighter in his arms. "He'd better hurry. Meiou's having some sort of panic attack."

"Post-traumatic stress disorder?" Nicholas said, his voice sounding worried, "Understood. Leaving on shuttle now. Keep her comforted. Be there as fast as I can."

Tristan nodded and bent over Meiou, "Hey… don't worry, Nicholas is coming. We're here with you, alright?"

Meiou reached out and grasped Tristan's armor, "Don't leave me."

He nodded, "We won't. Just hang tight."

She nodded and buried her face into Jarred's neck, grasping for dear life on the turian-human. He could still feel her shivering in fear, and her tears felt cold against his neck. Jarred reached out to the back of her head, and slowly combed his fingers through her hair. Her shivering lessened, and her grip on Jarred's armor softened a bit. He kept combing her hair slowly, and soon, she sighed in contentment and fell asleep. Her soft sigh made something flutter in his stomach, and he smiled to himself.

"You know, if you keep doing that to her, I'm going to have to give you some shore time to take her somewhere nice."

Jarred's head snapped up to Tristan, and he saw his best friend smirk. "Shut up, Tristan."

But the human merely chuckled and looked at her, "You really like her, don't you?"

He looked down at her peaceful face, and he swallowed at her beauty. "I… yes."

"Then what's the hold up?"

Jarred shrugged gently to not disturb her sleep, "It doesn't seem right."

At this, Tristan's brows furrowed, "What do you mean?"

"She was locked up in that Cerberus facility for years, and from what just happened, I could see that she was hurt, out-casted and isolated. She probably felt like she was a freak of nature… an abomination." Jarred looked at his friend, "I think she needs time. Time for herself. To find out what she is supposed to do with her life. Everything she ever had was gone. I think she should discover things she wasn't able to learn about from the time she was locked up. And… I don't want to hold her down."

Tristan looked at Jarred, thinking, before shifting so that he sat and leaned on the wall, his legs stretched out in front of him. "You know, I read about a book once, out of curiosity. It was called 'Interview with a Vampire'."

Jarred scoffed, "That book about creatures that drank the blood of humans? I didn't know you were into that."

He chuckled, "Just shut up and listen. Yeah, it was a book about vampires. But, there was this one vampire who turned a human into a vampire too, because he wanted someone from that time to teach him everything about the new 'world' he woke into."

Jarred's brow plate rose, "Meaning?"

Tristan looked down at Meiou, "Meaning… maybe you were supposed to be the one to guide her into this 'new world' she got into. Like her teacher."

The turian-human shook his head, "I don't know about that."

"Why not? You're smart, and you know as much as I do about the galaxy we live in. I know you can lead her to the right path. Hell, maybe even she can help you find yours."

"I already know my path. I fight to protect my parents, to help those who are weak, and people working for Cerberus." Jarred said.

Tristan shrugged again, "Yeah, but I just think you need a new goal, a new… direction. And I think Meiou could lead you to it."

Jarred shook his head. And then he thought of something, "No wonder Amira likes you."

At this the human perked up, "Amira?"

A wicked grin spread across Jarred's face, but he hid it, "Yeah, man. The girl is crazy for you. Don't tell me you're too blind to notice."

Tristan blinked, "N… yeah. I guess I was." He looked down at Jarred, "Did she tell you that?"

Jarred shrugged again, "Yeah. But you know how girls are all 'hush-hush' about this sort of thing. You should totally go out with her, man."

"Hmm… I never really looked at her like that." Tristan said, and now he was the one thinking, "Huh. Amira likes me? Well… that's…"

"A good thing." Jarred said, smiling at his friend, "She can be your guide. Your teacher. For all your glorious achievements, Commander Tristan Alenko, you still suck at Tech stuff."

Tristan scowled at Jarred, before chuckling, "Yeah. I guess I am. I'm too much of a soldier to learn anything tech…"

"Tristan?! Jarred?! Are you there?!"

Tristan stood up from his place and ran to the door, "Yeah! We're here, Nick!"

"Asked assistance from Normandy crew to connect shuttle power supply to door." Nicholas said on the other side of the metal, "Ahh… power supply re-routed. Should be able to open now… there!"

The heavy metal doors opened, and Tristan smiled when he saw Nicholas with his OmniTool, and Engineer Radley by the shuttle. He nodded at the two of them, and mentioned to Jarred, who took Meiou into his arms again and stood up. He carried her out and Nicholas scanned her with his OmniTool.

"Ahhh… blood pressure still high. Heartbeat slowing. But still need rest." Nicholas said as he laid a hand on Meiou's forehead. "Still a little cold. Fear could induce shivers and panic attacks. Must let her rest in Normandy."

At Nicholas' touch, Meiou blinked her eyes and looked at the salarian, "Thank you, Nicholas."

The salarian smiled gently at her, and Meiou pushed off from Jarred a little, and he let her down. She looked at him shyly, "I… I'm sorry you had to see that."

Jarred nodded, "Cerberus must've done some really horrible things to you, Meiou, to cause something like that."

She nodded, "Yes. They did. I hoped no one would ever see that. But when the lights went out and I heard we were locked in, well…" She shrugged again, before bowing, her face blushing a shade of pink, "Sorry about that."

Jarred nodded, and she smiled again, before boarding the shuttle behind Tristan. Engineer Radley bowed his head at her, and as Jarred passed, he felt like the human was glaring at him. He looked down at the engineer again to see him fiddling with the cables he had used to power up the doors. Nicholas then boarded, before Radley got into the shuttle. He put a finger to his ear, "Extraction completed. Returning to the Normandy."

Nicholas was bent down in front of Meiou, scanning her with his OmniTool. She shook her head, "I'm okay now, Nicholas. Really. You don't have to worry."

But the salarian looked at her worriedly, "Have witnessed several Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder patients before, Meiou. Stress can be dangerous to humans."

"But I'm fine." She said again, "Thank you for being worried, but Jarred and Tristan helped me stay calm. As for my vitals, I can feel myself returning to normal. So please…"

The salarian nodded, "Understood." He straightened up and looked at Tristan, "Grissom Academy contacted Normandy while you were gone, Tristan. Ready for arrival of Meiou. Also requested to hurry. According to calculations, solar flare to occur in a month. Need as much time to increase Meiou's stamina."

Tristan nodded, "Alright. Let's head back. We can drop off Nicholas at the Citadel before heading to Grissom Academy."

Nicholas and Tristan sat down together, talking about the preparations for the Relays, and Jarred sat down beside Meiou, who was facing a tired looking Engineer Radley. He had a cap on his head, covering his eyes, and from his steady breathing, it looked like he took a nap.

Meiou smiled at him as he sat down, "You sure you're okay?" Jarred asked, looking over her face. The pale complexion she had when she was locked was gone, replaced with a soft, pink tone.

"Yes. I'm okay now. Thank you for comforting me." Meiou said, and she looked down at his hands, "The… thing you were doing to my hair… It reminded me of my mother. She used to do the same thing to me when I was younger… when I'm afraid or sad. It was… very calming for me."

Jarred smiled, "My mother did the same thing to me. Every time I was sad or alone or afraid… or hurt."

She looked up at him with her violet eyes, "Someone… hurt you?"

He nodded, "A long time ago, yeah. It was my first time entering the Alliance Military. I was… bullied by the other humans because of my half-breed status. But I remained brave, and took the bullies down by myself. Nobody ever helped me at all. But when I would go home for summer break, I would be hurt. I came home once with a gash on my face from having someone punch me. She looked at me, understood, and held me to her chest, stroking the back of my head."

Meiou smiled, "Even someone as tough as Commander Shepard is bound to feel motherly toward her son."

He laughed, "Yeah. Hero of the Galaxy becomes a regular mom. Many people didn't think it was possible. Hell, they didn't even know that turian-human babies can be made. My mom's a trail-blazer."

"But if you don't mind me asking… how were you made?" Meiou realized the mistake of her question and blushed a faint red, "Not like that! I mean… I was told that human and turian physiology is too different to create an offspring."

"To a degree, yes. But you're forgetting one thing. Evolution." He pulled up a hologram of the human body on his OmniTool, "Humans have a knack for it. You have all adapted to every situation, to every climate. Because of my mother's relationship to my father, her own body had evolved to my father's cellular make-up. Her body had adapted to my father's dextro-amino cells, so she doesn't get an allergic reaction to him anymore. And her reproductive cells… well, I guess they adapted too. And here I am. The product of human adaptation to turian reproduction."

Meiou nodded, "I see. I understand now." But she bit her lip and looked down at her hands, and soon enough she took a strand of her hair, and started twirling it around her fingers. Jarred grinned, "Thinking of something?"

She blinked, "Well… yes. I know this might seem impossible, but I… would like to meet Commander Shepard."

"You want to meet my mother?" Jarred said.

"Yes. Her exploits fascinates me. And… there are so many things I would like to ask her. But since she's in hiding, I am thinking that would be impossible."

Jarred leaned his head back for a while, thinking, as Meiou stared off into space. Finally he sighed, "Well, maybe when this is all over, or when Tristan grants us some shore leave, I'll take you to her."

Meiou blinked and looked up at him, "Are… are you sure?"

He smiled down at her, "Yeah. Why not? You've kept my secret safe. And I'm pretty sure my mother would be interested in you, too." He shrugged and smirked at her, "Besides, she's been telling me to bring home a girl once in a while. And I think you'd fit right in."

Meiou's face flushed red, and when she saw his smirk, she giggled and lightly smacked his arm, "Oh, you! You're joking me!"

Jarred laughed at her expression and put his arm around her. It caused her to blush even more, but surprisingly she didn't remove his arm. She even leaned over to his shoulder for comfort. He looked over to Tristan, who was grinning and put up a thumbs-up sign, but Jarred merely returned the gesture with one that caused his middle finger to flex and would probably earn a smack on the head from his mother if she had been there.

But he had to admit, having Meiou on his arm felt right. He couldn't quite explain it. But he felt so relaxed, so at peace with everything when she was with him. He smiled down at her, and she smiled back in return. His mandibles flared in happiness, as he closed his eyes. As his eyelids lowered, he thought that he saw Engineer Radley glaring at him again, but the soft snore from the man made him think otherwise.