To say I spent a long time answering questions would be an understatement. Liara kept me in there for nearly four hours, not only asking me to go over everything I knew in excruciating detail, but filling me in on some things I didn't know... in excruciating detail. Talking about what the Prothean Empire was like didn't anger her as much as I thought it would. I figured she'd defend her views and theories about what the Prothean's were like, but instead she sat in silence as I explained and then asked me to elaborate on what I could. I could tell it bothered her to know so many of her theories were so far off the mark when it came to their culture.
It was finally my stomach that ended the discussion with a loud gurgling sound. I just looked down at my stomach before looking back up to Liara, "Uh..."
"Oh, um," Liara started as she looked away and apparently realized the time, "Oh my, I didn't realize how late it had gotten. I'm sorry, you're sitting here starving and I'm rambling on about the Prothean's."
I smiled at her statement before saying, "It's alright. I enjoyed the talk." I stood and asked, "You want to go grab something to eat?"
"Oh, no thank you," she replied as she pulled her chair closer to the desk before turning to look at me, "I'm not hungry right now, plus I should probably go over my old notes to figure out how they line up with what you've told me."
My reply was less than graceful, a simple, "Oh, ok," and then I left heading back through the medbay and to the open area of the crew deck. Once I'd stepped out I realized how tired I actually was and decided I'd get a quick bite to eat, and then some sleep was in order.
I had stepped into one of the sleeper pods to try and get some rest. It was difficult to tell how much time had passed since I'd fallen asleep, but I guess it didn't really matter either. I'd been woken up by one of the crew members and told Shepard wanted to speak with me in the comm room, so I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I ascended the staircase to the CIC and then made the sharp turn to head into the comm room. When I stepped into the comm room I saw Shepard with his back to me, standing in front of the comm terminal and speaking to the holograms of Admiral Hackett and Nihlus.
Shepard turned when the door swished shut and I quickly cleared my throat before speaking, "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes," Shepard said with a nod motioning for me to come closer, "We were just talking about you actually."
"Greetings, Dazac," Nihlus said as I came to stand next to Shepard.
"Hey, Nihlus," I replied and then looked at Hackett, "Admiral."
"Praeletum," Hackett responded, "Glad you could make it. We need to talk about the Cipher."
"Ok..." I said, not really sure what about it the wanted to discuss.
"We've been going over what you've told us and have come to a disagreement with one of your statements on it," Nihlus explained, "Specifically the one where you said you thought we wouldn't need it now that we already now what is going on."
"You think we do need it?" I asked.
"Absolutely," Nihlus replied, "It appears as though the Cipher is what will allow us to operate any Prothean technology we might come across. We may not need it to understand the warning from the Beacon, but it does have other uses, perhaps even some we are unaware of."
I nodded, that made sense so I couldn't find any argument against it. "Alright," I said, "So we get the Cipher and the samples from the Thorian."
"Yes, but that's not all," Shepard said, drawing my gaze, "Having only me obtain the Cipher is going to make us rather ineffective if some Protehan data is uncovered and I'm not there to make sense of it."
I could understand that too. I turned my head back toward Nihlus and Hackett before I looked back a Shepard, "So we're going to have Shiala come with us instead of staying on Feros?"
The other three looked at each other and Hackett brought his hand to his chin in thought. "That's not a bad idea, actually."
"She has the Cipher and the direct contact with the Thorian," Nihlus said, nodding. "Mordin could obtain more samples from her as well as document the effects the Thorian has, and we'd have the Cipher."
"Is that safe though?" Shepard asked, "She is working for Saren and Benezia, and she's indoctrinated."
"The influence from the Thorian negates the indoctrination though," I said.
"It's a sound idea," Hackett said, "I say we go with it in addition to our original idea."
"Original idea?" I asked, realizing that what I had mentioned was not what they'd been planning.
"Yes," Nihlus said, "We believe it would be best if you obtained the Cipher as well."
..."That would mean Shiala going into my head," I said.
"That's correct," Nihlus said.
"And as an Asari commando, she would be a valuable assest in the field," Hackett added.
"But with her biotics becoming unstable, she may not be very effective in the field."
"Perhaps Mordin could find a way to fix that problem," Nihlus offered, "Either way, you'll still be taking her on board the Normandy once you find her. We can figure out where she'll ultimately end up once she's on board."
"Commander, we're ten minutes out from Feros," Joker's voice said over the rooms speakers.
Shepard looked up and then back to Hackett, "Was there anything else Admiral?"
Hackett shook his head, "No, I think that's it."
"Aye, aye sir," Shepard said, saluting the Admiral.
Hackett gave a salute back, "Good luck on Feros, Commander. Hackett, out."
With that the forms of Hackett and Nihlus disappeared and I turned to Shepard. The commander looked at me and gave a curt nod, "Let's gear up and get to it."
I nodded silently and followed him as he made his way out of the comm room. we went down and let everyone know we were about to land. Five minutes later, everyone was present and getting their gear on. "So, Dazac, what can we expect in the colony?" Kaiden asked.
"Well," I said as I finished attaching an arm piece and grabbed the other one, "In the game there were Geth attacking the colony trying to get to the Thorian. There was a guy who ran out to meet you that got blown away by a rocket... the colony was in disrepair and needed help getting things like water and power running again."
"I thought we were here to fight," Wrex complained, "I didn't come with to play 'engineer.'"
"Well," I continued, "In order to put the Geth out of commission we'll have to head to the Exogeni headquarters. On the way, there should be some survivors from there... hopefully the Jeong guy from the game doesn't exist here..."
"Why's that?" Ashley asked as she checked over her rifle.
"Cause I'm gonna deck him if he is there," I explained.
"He really that bad?" Garrus asked.
"Most of the people he works with are dead and the only thing he's worried about is protecting the company's secrets," I explained, "Besides, decking him is better than the alternative of putting a round in his head." I finished with the second arm piece and then pulled on and secured the gloves before continuing,
"Where's the Thorian at exactly?" Ashley asked.
I put my helmet on and secured it, activating the internal HUD so that I could see despite the solid plate covering most of my face. "Beneath the colony. They should have moved a ship over the entrance. We can move it with a crane when we're ready."
"You said there was some data on the Geth here?" Tali asked.
I turned to her and nodded, "Yeah. It'll be in the Exogeni building in the same room with that shutter we can close to dislodge the Geth ship."
"Alright, let's make sure we have everything we need," Shepard said. "Kaiden, if you would..."
"Yes sir," Kaiden replied, grabbing a datapad and listing off items. "Probes for collecting samples from the Thorian and it's creepers?"
"Check."
"Knockout gas to use on the colonists once we get them locked in that living unit?"
"Check."
"High yield explosives to destroy the Reaper tech from the shrine in the Exogeni building?"
"Check."
"Aim?"
…...
I glared and replied, "You're an ass, Kaiden."
Everyone laughed or at least chuckled at the statement before getting ready to head out. I secured my pistol to my side and joined the others as we all moved to the elevator. Everyone was going... this was going to be interesting.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
As soon as we stepped out of the airlock and walked onto the platform we saw the guy running up to meet us. Without missing a beat Shepard surged forward while the rest of us drew our guns. "Get down!" Shepard ordered as he practically tackled the man out of the way just before a rocket went sailing by and slammed into the wall, sending fragments of stone flying as we all ducked into cover or began firing at the Geth. They went down quickly under the combined fire of the eight of us.
"Ashley, Wrex, you're on point!" Shepard ordered
"Liara and Dazac, you stay back here with him," Shepard said as he motioned toward the colonist, "We'll radio you once we've cleared the Geth and then you can make sure he's gets back to the colony safely. The rest of you, with me!"
I looked at Shepard incredulously even though he couldn't see it from behind the helmet. My first major mission and he was having me hang back to watch a colonist with Liara. Was it really necessary for me to be there? I mean, I'd contributed to taking out the Geth just a minute ago. Instead of saying anything though I just nodded. It was probably for the best anyway. I knew I'd be seeing action soon enough here.
"I don't understand why he asked both of us to stay back here," Liara said, "Only one would be adequate."
"Hmph, I know," I replied as I looked at her, "I get the feeling the Commander isn't exactly convinced of our combat abilities."
"Hmm, I suppose so," Liara said, "On Therum I only cowered while the others fought."
I nodded, "And then I had that oh-so-wonderful experience on Arcturus, courtesy of Nihlus."
Liara laughed lightly and tried to hide a smile before asking, "What exactly happened with that? The admiral mentioned that you were unconscious for two days afterward, and they had to show you the recorded footage of what happened because you didn't remember any of it?"
I paused for a moment before looking at Liara and explaining, "I... actually... lied about that. I don't really remember anything from after the time the doors shut on me until the last few minutes. But I do remember those last few minutes."
Liara looked at me with a curious frown, "What do you mean?"
"Did Hackett say how I destroyed those last mechs?" I asked her. She shook her head and I let out a heavy sigh and turned away. I was facing thee wall, but I wasn't looking at it. I wasn't looking at anything. I finally started speaking again, but didn't move my eyes toward her. "I feel like I should have felt scared. Like I should have felt regret for dying without ever really understanding how I'm here. I should have felt those things..."
"But?" Liara prodded.
I sighed once more before finally looking at her, embarrassed with the fact that I could clearly see the ripple of tears on the edge of my vision. "But," I answered, "I just felt... hollow..."
